Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and carers,

Welcome to Term 3.

I hope the mid-year break enabled all families the time to slow down, relax, spend quality time with loved ones and regenerate for the second half of the school year. This term continues to be filled with many exciting learning opportunities for our students.

Prep Enrolments 2026

It is that time of the year! It certainly has been exciting to see so many prospective parents and their children attend our school tours over the past few weeks. Please call the office to make an appointment and we are more than happy to arrange a tour of our fabulous school for you.

If you have a child (or know of a child) who is due to start school next year, please get your enrolment form into the office as soon as possible. Spaces are limited as we have had several students enrolled already for next year, and are nearly at capacity.

Prep teachers are planning some special transition times next term for pre-school kids. Families will be notified very soon, as part of our transition process.

We are already beginning to plan classes and teachers for the new year. The sooner we receive their enrolments, the sooner we can plan our Transition Program, commencing in term 4.

Stay Connected

Please ensure you are checking compass. Compass is our main form of communication, so please check this so you are up to date with everything. If you have misplaced your login details, please contact the office on 9386 2510.

Supervision Before and After School

Please note that supervision for students before school commences at 8:45am and after school until 3:45pm. Staff are not on duty beyond these times. Please do not drop off your child before this time or leave them waiting after school beyond this time as they will not be supervised.

100 Days of Prep (Foundation)

In week 3, the Foundation students celebrated their 100th day of school. Students were invited to dress up as what they thought they will look like when they are 100 years old, or something that marked that milestone. This day was followed by a brief parade, where students had the opportunity to share their costumes, share their favourite memories of school and what they learnt all about the number 100.

Father's Day/Special Person Stall

Anthony Cianflone, MP for Pascoe Vale, has kindly donated $100 towards our upcoming Father's Day/special person raffle. We also thank our families for their kind donations, and we are accepting ‘dad/special person-style goodies.’ These may include chocolates, jams and sauces, plants, socks, toiletries, and more. Donations can be dropped off at the school office, commencing next week.

The Father's Day/special person stall will be held on Friday 5th September.

Respectful Behaviours Within The School Community Policy:

It is important for everyone to be respectful and kind to each other.

The Department of Education have released a policy entitled Respectful Behaviours within the School Community. You will see posters displayed around the school which outline what good relationships are based on and the types of behaviours that will not be tolerated which include threats, harassment and rudeness. Our staff work very hard to provide the best social, emotional and academic environment for your child. Please remember that we are human too and deserve to be treated with respect.

Learn more about the new Department of Education and Training policy - Respectful Behaviours within the School Community. Respectful Behaviours within the School Community Policy (education.vic.gov.au)

School Concert: Night at the Movies

Tickets are currently on sale at the cost of $20.00.

The expectation is that ALL children participate in the concert and attend the evening. If your child is unable to participate, please communicate this to Aysu or myself as soon as possible. They will not be able to stay in the holding room if they are not involved in the performances.

Students of Merri-bek PS attend the event for Free. Students will be in a holding / breakout room for the duration of the concert, while not performing and will be released class by class for collection at the end of the concert. All children in attendance to remain for the entire concert. Children CANNOT be collected during the concert.

Every Day Counts

As we move into the colder months, please ensure your child attends school every day unless they are sick or are away for a valid reason.

If your child is absent, please notify us using Compass to explain their absences. All absences must be accounted for on the day of absence.

Students must arrive at school by 9:00am. Classroom doors are open from 8:50am to allow students time to settle in and get themselves organised, as part of our Soft Start program, ready to start instruction at 9:00am. Arriving at school late interrupts student learning and classroom instruction.

There is no safe number of days for missing school. Each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes. Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in all curriculum areas.

Thank you for being an essential part of our school community and for your unwavering support. Should you have any questions or require additional information, please feel free to reach out to me:

Maria.giordano@education.vic.gov.au

Let's work together to make our school an even better place to learn and thrive!

Maria Giordano

Principal

Assistant Principal’s Report

Dear wonderful Merri-bek families,

Welcome back to Term 3. Term 3 is flying so fast as it is a 9 week term this term and very short. We are already almost halfway. We have had a very busy and fun first 4 weeks with many exciting incursions, excursions and local walks happening throughout the school.

Keep an eye out for the Weekly Wrap Up and What’s Coming Up on Compass. The School Captains do a wonderful job of gathering information from across the school and supporting what’s going on.
Ask your children how the fantastic NATIONAL STEM/SCIENCE week activities were this week. All students participated in a range of incursions across the school this week, Joe has also organised some Maths experiences. Thankyou to Dan and Joe!
We had an amazing Smoking Ceremony to Open our investigation into Merri-Creek. Years 1-6 have all done at least 1 visit to Merri-Creek as part of their Merri-Creek projects and the reactions from students has been fantastic. They have really enjoyed the opportunity to be in nature, engage in real life learning, inquiring into their local environment.
Preps have celebrated 100 days of school and are getting ready for their excursion to the Melbourne Zoo next Friday which will be amazing.

Staff have engaged in much Professional Learning this term. We have continued our focus on the new approach to Disability Inclusion from the Department, digging into possible adjustments connected to the Disability Inclusion Domains to make sure we are supporting all students. Our Curriculum Day last week had a large focus on Child Safe Standards led by Maria. We also had some fabulous learning about the child brain and the impact of trauma.

BOOK WEEK - is coming up and we will be celebrating with a parade on Monday the 25th of August. We can’t wait to see the students’ costumes and favourite book characters. I know all the staff will be busily planning their outfits. Next week in the Library all students will be reading a BOOK WEEK book that is up for awards and on Monday the 25th after the parade all students will be engaged in some enjoyable experiences related to the nominated book they have read in the Library. Thanks to Helen for all her hard work in relation to BOOK WEEK.

We are looking forward to seeing you next week at Open Streets.

Kind regards

Bianca Hudson Assistant Principal

Books we are exploring at the moment:

Science Week