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.

WOI WURRUNG WORD | CULTURAL CALENDAR

THANK YOU TO THE PARENTS & FRIENDS COMMITTEE

A huge thank you to our Parents & Friends committee for the organisation of the sausage sizzle and cake stall for the Voice Referendum on Saturday. It was fantastic to see our Milgate community put in so much effort to bake cakes, organise the food and volunteer their time. The funds raised from this event will go towards upgrading our playgrounds. 

PYP EVALUATION VISIT

This week the school was evaluated by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). The IBO sends evaluators to their schools every 5 years to ensure that their programmes are being successfully implemented. 

“The aim of programme evaluation is to support schools in continuously extending their capacity to implement and develop IB programmes to have a greater impact on student outcomes through the development of teacher and leader practice.”

Our evaluators were Shaz Bailey and Zaida Puyo. Shaz has been a PYP Coordinator and Assistant Principal in a number of independent and Government schools in Melbourne, is the Past Chairperson of the Victorian PYP Network and recently started her own Educational Consultancy. Zaida visited us from BINUS, Jakarta, an international P to 12 school, where they offer the PYP, Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme.

The evaluators met with representatives from all of our learning community. They visited all the classrooms, met with groups of students, teachers, school leadership, the school council and parents.

The Evaluators enjoyed their time with us and were very impressed with the school, the school community and particularly with our students. They will now complete a report that will be submitted to the IBO and be sent to us in a few months.

ENVIRONMENTAL TEAM

Congratulations to 3CF for being this week’s trash free Tuesday winner and having 4 pieces of trash! They will receive ’Ernie the Earth’ our environmental mascot. Overall as a school we got 213 pieces of trash. Well done to everyone who has contributed to our composting already. Please remember to put your food scraps in the compost bin.

-The Environmental Team.

ASSEMBLIES

We are trialling a different structure for our school assemblies this term so they are more engaging for the students. The changes are that we will have a new seating formation, we will have a slide show of photos celebrating the week and we won’t be reading out every name of the Milgate Achievers. The Milgate Achievers for the two weeks will collectively be asked to stand up and come to the front to collect their ribbon. We hope the new structure will make assemblies more enjoyable for the students.

FUN RUN - PARENT VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED

Our Fun Run is only two weeks away! We are asking for parent volunteers to assist with various roles including counting laps, marshalling, and assisting with the activities as the students run the course.

If you are able to assist on the day, can you please complete the Google Form: 

https://forms.gle/F6zeKcaMfANYYGYx5

Running times:

Year 1 - 9:10-9:40

Foundation - 9:40-10:10

Year 5 - 10:10-10:40

Year 4 - 11:15-11:45

Year 2 - 11:45-12:15

Year 3 - 12:15-12:45

Year 6 - 2:00-2:30

Also, a reminder to sign your child/children up for our Milgate Primary School Fun Run if you haven’t done so already. Funds raised will be going towards new playgrounds. https://milgateprimaryfunrun.goraiseit.com.au/

BULLY ZERO | PARENT SESSION LINK

Please see the button below for the Milgate PS - It takes a village, Understanding Bullying Parent Session from our Bully Zero Incursion.

LAST WEEK FOR PLACEMENT REQUESTS

The placement of students for the coming year is a complex process where teachers and leadership put great thought and sensitivity into the planning. When developing individual classes each year, teachers and leadership consider a number of factors including academic ability, social competencies, gender, students who do/do not work well together and friendship groupings important to the social and emotional development of the child. While the students are consulted about current friendships, it is only one of the criteria considered because building new relationships is also part of our education process and an essential skill for students to develop. We discuss, reflect and review our decisions thoughtfully over a significant period of time.

As part of this process, parents are invited to offer their insights. If students have any learning or social needs to be considered when placing them in classes for 2024, parents can email David Mander and request the online form to complete. Please email david.mander@education.vic.gov.au 

Please note, that we do not retain previous years’ requests as students’ needs and friendships change from year to year. If the consideration from a previous year is still important, parents will still need to request the form from David.

Additionally, multiple student friend requests or requests that impact another student’s class placement cannot be considered in the process. Parents are also not able to request specific teachers. The closing date for these considerations is FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER. 

Any requests received after this date are not able to be taken into account.

Kind Regards,

Kate Mancarella

Principal

ART CARDS FOR SALE AT THE OFFICE