PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

Milgate Primary School would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land of the Wurundjeri People and we would like to pay our respects to the elders both past and present. Staff, students and the school community understand that we thrive, learn and live on Wurundjeri Country and we stand with all cultures united as one.

MILGATE VISIT TO SISTER SCHOOL IN BEIJING

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

I am putting a call for an Expression of Interest to see if our Milgate families would like to visit our Sister School in Beijing, China. The trip would entail students being accompanied by their parents and the trip would consist of visiting our Sister School and participating in activities with students as well as enjoying Beijing and its surroundings. The trip will be self-funded.

If there is enough interest, the visit will most likely take place in 2025 during the September school holidays.  Please register your interest below:

FIRST P&F MEETING FOR THE YEAR

It was great to see so many parents attend our first Parent & Friends (P&F) Association meeting for the year. A reminder that any parent is welcome to join. The next meeting will be held on Friday 22nd March in the staffroom. Be sure to click on the next page of the newsletter to read about updates from the P&F.

MILGATE IS REGISTERED FOR THE CONTAINER DEPOSIT SCHEME

As a fundraising initiative, Milgate has registered as a Donation partner for the Container Deposit Scheme. At refund points, our community can choose to donate their refund to our school. Simply search for Milgate Primary School when returning your cans and bottles. The closest locations are the Doncaster Athletics Track and Doncaster Hockey Clubs. 

Download the CDS North App and search for Milgate Primary School. You can then nominate Milgate PS as your preferred donation partner. 

https://www.visy.com/services/container-deposit-scheme

Thanks in advance for your support!

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY | WORKING BEE

 MONDAY 26TH FEBRUARY

Clean Up Australia Day is Sunday 3rd March. At Milgate Primary, we want to mark this event on Monday 26th February and contribute by cleaning up and beautifying spaces around the school. Each class will be allocated an area of the school to spend some time cleaning up and improving throughout the day.

We will also be holding the Term 1 Working Bee on this day. We would love to see as many parents as possible assisting between 2:45-4:00pm. Please bring a broom, secateurs, shovel, gloves and/or a wheelbarrow with you. As schools are not allocated specific funding for grounds maintenance, we rely on the generous support of the school community to help maintain our grounds. It would be impossible to maintain them without your assistance. Thank you for your support and we hope to see as many parents, children, family and friends as possible. 

ENVIRONMENTAL TEAM

Hello from the Environmental team! We have three winners from this week’s trash free Tuesday! 5JH, 5CW and FLP  have both had the lowest number of trash for week 4 with 7 pieces each.  They will receive our environmental mascot Ernie the earth for doing a great job at bringing the least amount of trash this week. As a whole school we had 251 pieces! Good luck to all classes for the upcoming week.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We have welcomed in the new year and our students have been learning through their Unit of Inquiry, Who we are. A key component to developing the conceptual understanding of community and responsibility, is to develop a sense of belonging and understand our own roles at Milgate Primary School. Through the Language Arts lens, students have been developing their understanding of reading and writing workshops. They have been practising classroom routines and deepening independent practices and problem solving. This fosters not only their literacy skills but also their sense of ownership and agency in their learning. 

Writing 

Within the first writing workshop for the year, students have been exploring diverse genres, studying author’s processes and craft. They have investigated the intricacies of storytelling, dissecting narrative structures, and character development. Simultaneously, our students have also explored informational texts, with some noticing specific techniques and others learning to research, organise, and present factual information in a clear and engaging manner. The first writing units from Foundation to Year 6 provide choice of genre for students, enhancing engagement, agency and the exploration of voice and perspective. 

Reading 

Our Foundation to Year 2 students learn to read through explicit and systematic phonics instruction. Our focus on Reading, as outlined in our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), centres specifically on the teaching of phonics. Last year, we purchased additional decodable books and invaluable resources to enrich the reading experience and offer enhanced support for our learners. Thank you again to the parents who helped to contact these books, we will be forever grateful for your time. 

Year 3 to Year 6 students are reading a wide variety of texts linked to their units of inquiry, gaining information and building content knowledge in order to support themselves as inquirers. At Milgate, we are constantly building our classroom libraries to ensure they are diverse and filled with quality books that represent inclusive and diverse perspectives. This broadens our students' understanding of the world, cultivates empathy, and fosters a sense of belonging and acceptance within our school community. 

STUDENT SHOUT OUT

Garim in Year 6 has been chosen to will work as a member of the Victorian State Youth ballet (VSYB) Company for a year and will appear in The Little Mermaid in her first season.  Congratulations to Garim on this wonderful opportunity and well done! 

YEAR 6 JACKETS AND POLOS

Year 6 jackets have been distributed to classrooms late today. Those Year 6 students who ordered jackets will receive them either today or on Monday.  Polos will be distributed on Monday.