Thursday 21 November

Dear Families,

Year 5/6 Camp

Monday to Wednesday this week the Year 5/6 cohort had a wonderful experience down at Neerim South for their 3-day camp at Forest Edge. Staff and students made the most of the weather and challenged themselves in a supportive environment. We were very impressed with how well they were able to manage themselves to get the most of the opportunity – they represented our school superbly. It was our first time at Forest Edge and it will be a place we will go to again. Students enjoyed river sledding in the Latrobe river, mountain boarding, bushwalking and experiencing the 312m long dual flying fox – the second longest in Victoria, plus much more.

Camps are a great opportunity and it is nice to see the enjoyment on faces when students accomplish something out of their comfort zone. Again, I would like to acknowledge the staff for their efforts in organising these opportunities. Thanks to Daniel Sutera, Sonya McLeod, Sarah Homans and Rosie Luyken for their organisation, energy, care and support to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Congratulations to Zanna

Last night Zanna participated in the Rotary Grand Final of the 2024 Primary Schools Speech Contest held at the Manningham Club in Bulleen. Zanna was representing the Rotary District of Emerald as the winner of our local EDEC Speech Competition. She was up against other District winners and the level of competition was high. Zanna presented her speech beautifully was very deserving of being awarded 2nd place. It was a very proud moment to share with Zanna and her family. Zanna will be sharing her speech at tomorrow’s assembly.

2025 Parent payment contributions

Please see the news feed with details for our parent payment for 2025 that will have all the details, due dates and arrangements for books.

Schools provide students with free instruction to fulfil the standard Victorian curriculum and we want to assure you that all contributions are voluntary.

Nevertheless, the ongoing support of our families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students. Thank you for all your support, whether that’s through Voluntary Contributions, fundraising or volunteering your time. This makes a huge difference to our school and the programs we can offer. Essentially, it is your contributions that make Menzies Creek Primary School so special! Collectively your contributions allow us to provide opportunities and support above and beyond the traditional educational experience.

2025 staffing update

As is common most years we will have some staff leaving and some staff changing roles next year. With only a month left of the school year we need to acknowledge some staff who won’t be with us to give you the chance to send your well wishes.

Mandy Rudeforth will be moving to a teaching position at St Christopher’s PS next year in Glen Waverley. Mandy has been an incredible teacher and support for our community for 7 years. I’d personally like to acknowledge her passion for our students, her support and assistance and thank her for what she has done for our school as our literacy leader. We have seen positive results with our literacy program and look forward to continuing seeing positive results. Our change of literacy program, started a few years ago, is now how the Department of Education is directing schools to teach literacy.

We will also be saying goodbye, good luck and thank you to Rebecca Burley, Kylie Morgan and Liza Walden.

Rebecca and Kylie have been with us during the last two years. Both have taught Performing Arts as well as our Year 3/4 classes. Kylie also taught STEM last year. Liza has been part of our Education Support team assisting students (and staff) in the classroom during the past few years.

We will be in a position to announce new staff members who will join our team in the news feed next week.

Local walking excursions

There may be times when staff and students wish to go for a walk this term. We would like to do one next Friday 29 November as part of our Emergency Management off-site drill. Please provide consent for staff to be able to do this during the term via this link.

Emergency Management

Please access the fire rating for LGA’s- https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/total-fire-bans-fire-danger-ratings/central-fire-district

Schools and children’s services such as Menzies Creek Primary School are listed on the DET Bushfire At-Risk Register (BARR). We are classified as category 3 school on the BARR (Bushfire At-Risk Register) and will only be closed on days where the fire danger rating is Catastrophic in the central fire district. Closure of our school due to a forecast Catastrophic day will be confirmed on the day prior and we will provide you with advice before the end of the school day. Any information regarding potential or confirmed Catastrophic fire danger days will be communicated to you by a news feed notification via Compass and a SMS text message.

Once confirmed, the decision to close will not change, regardless of improvements in the weather forecast. This is to avoid confusion and help you plan alternative care arrangements for your child.

With fire season fast approaching it is a good time to remind our families to ensure that all your details are up to date at the school.

Transition to 2025

This term we will be conducting a number of transition sessions to support all our students prepare for 2025.

On Wednesday our new students enjoyed some Auslan and Visual Arts lessons

Statewide Transition day

Tuesday 10th December (9:30am – 3:00pm)

Our Year 6 students will have their own taster days at the respective secondary schools this term as well as having a statewide transition day on Tuesday 10th December for all government schools.

Our students who will be moving year levels will also have a chance to taste what next year can be expected to bring as we start the process of our internal transition sessions and 2025 class creation.

Assembly

We will have assemblies on the following Fridays at 2:45 this term:

November 22
December 6 (presentation of annual MCPS awards)
December 20 (at 1pm)

Take care,

Dale

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