From Marie

Over the last fortnight we have welcomed back Katharin (3/4E), David (2K) and Lucy (1M) and welcomed Jasper (2K) and their families.  We look forward to you all settling in and becoming part of our community.  There have been a couple of staff changes this week as well - Ben Clarke who has been our Before and After School Coordinator for nearly seven years has been successful in gaining an ongoing position with Camp Australia and has moved to Mooroolbark East Primary School to run their program.  We wish him all the best in his new venture and welcome Danushika who will fill in until the position her is filled.  We are also saying farewell to Elise Heeger, one of our Education Support staff members who has picked up employment in her chosen career.  We wish Elise all the best as she takes on these new challenges.

Harmony Day - Everybody Belongs

On Friday, 22 March, we will be celebrating Harmony Day. Students are encouraged to dress in cultural clothes that reflect where they, and their family, are from or they can wear orange, the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. The children are encouraged to bring food in their personal lunchbox that reflects the foods we enjoy from different cultures.  Harmony Day is a time when we come together to celebrate the diverse cultural tapestry that makes our school so vibrant and unique. In this spirit we invite any family or students that would be interested in performing something (instrument/song/dance) that reflects and honours your cultural heritage to our special Harmony Day Assembly.  Please get in touch with Eliza Surkitt via email on eliza.surkitt@education.vic.gov.au to assist and organise the details for your performance.  Students will be encouraged to go to lunchtime practice on Friday 15 and 22 March in Room 4 to rehearse their performances. There will be a whole school assembly at 2:30 on this day.

Student-led Walk Through - Tuesday 26 March

Twice a year in March and September, families are invited to spend 30 minutes with their child in their child's classroom, your child (supported by the classroom teacher) will lead lead a discussion about their learning so far this year.  When you book a place in the Student-led Walk Through you need to book one ticket, per session; per child.  So...your family need one ticket, of 30min, for each child at school, the whole family come on the one ticket.  We are using SignUp to organize the bookings.  Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

1. Click this link to see our SignUp: https://signup.com/go/vvMiGCK
2. Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3. Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.

Note: SignUp does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact the office and the staff can sign you up manually.

Maroondah School Community Club

We are very excited to let you know about a new afterschool sporting activity aimed at building community, being active and improving mental health.  Downball Australia have run a number of workshops with our students over the last few years and have recently received funding from VicHealth to expand and develop their vision to run community based Downball clubs in local government areas across Victoria.  The Maroondah School Community Club is the first in Victoria and will be run at Mullum Primary School on Monday afternoons from 4-6pm, commencing Monday 15 April (first day back next term).  Registrations are open and can be accessed via the QR code in the poster below. More information will be coming your way after our next Downball workshop on Monday 18 March.

NAPLAN - Grade 3 & 5

Every year the Grade 3 & 5 students are assessed in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy.  Tests are administered in Reading, Writing, Conventions of Language, Numeracy.  All tests are administered online, with the exception of Grade 3 writing which is hand written.  NAPLAN assessments commence next week and a schedule of these has been sent home to families and can be found in the 'Dates for your Diary' section of this newsletter.

Please find below a link to NAPLAN Parent Information for more details.

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/naplan/Pages/parents/index.aspx

New School Council

On Monday 18 March at 7:00pm we will be running the Annual General Meeting, all community members are welcome to attend.  We will be electing our new School Council leadership roles.  This meeting will be followed by the first meeting of the new School Council.  After calling out for additional interest in joining School Council, I would like to thank Poonam Oberoi-Singh (Iraa 5/6B) and Mark Eames (Ben 5/6B) for volunteering their time.

Shop for your School

On Monday we launched Eastland's "Shop for your School" campaign to be one of the schools to gain a share of the $20 000 on offer.  Check out the details on the separate page in this newsletter.  A few people have commented that it may not be a fair competition as some schools have more students.  Please be assured Eastland have already thought of this and will divide the total of receipts by the number of students in each school, making this an equal playing field.

Easter Raffle

Our annual Easter Raffle is well underway with donations of eggs and Easter themed items being collected at the office.  Ticket sales are going well and we will draw the raffle at an assembly on the final day of the term. 

Sickness 

Just a reminder that if your child is unwell, they must remain at home.  We have had to send a lot of students home over the last week with high temperatures, coughing, vomiting, and diarrhoea.  Often students will tell us that they were not feeling well in the morning but were sent along to see how they go at school.  This usually results in your child going home during the day and increasing the chances of passing on the 'bug' to other students and staff at school.  

Absences

Unless your child is sick, they are expected to be at school every day.  Five or more days of absence per term is a contributing factor to disengagement in education and will leave gaps in your child's knowledge and skills.  Please talk to your child's teacher if you have any concerns relating to attendance and together we will support you to address the issues.   If your child is going to be away, please use Compass to advise the school.