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 out 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.

WELCOME TO COUNTRY CEREMONY AND DIDGERIDOO (YIDAKI) PERFORMANCE

We are excited to be having a Welcome to Country ceremony and didgeridoo (yidaki) performance this year. Uncle Colin Hunter Jr will be conducting the Welcome to Country ceremony and Ganga Giri will be conducting the yidaki performance. The success of recognising and celebrating culture in this way last year was enjoyed by students, staff and the community.

The ceremony and performance will take place on Friday 8th of March at 2:45pm on the top oval. We invite parents and friends to join us to mark this special occasion and look forward to seeing you then.

YEAR 2 DANCE INCURSION

To start our new unit of inquiry ‘How We Organise Ourselves’, we have begun the first of three dance workshops. Last Monday, Year 2 began with African dance and were introduced to stories related to African culture as well as some specific dance moves. We are excited for the next session on Monday!

YEAR 6 MILGATE CITY MARATHON

As part of our Who we are unit of inquiry, the Year 6's spent the first few weeks of term preparing for Milgate City Marathon. Students were given a melways and locations with allocated points and collaborated in small groups to plan a route around the city to gain the most points. Students visited locations such as MCG, the clocks at Flinders, Sealife Aquarium and Melbourne Zoo. It was wonderful to see everyone working together and to achieve a successful day in the city! 

YEAR 5 TEAM BUILDING INCURSION

As part of our ongoing Who we are unit of inquiry, the Year 5 students participated in an incursion to discover the power of teamwork and collaboration. Throughout their sessions, they participated in a series of dynamic activities designed to challenge their self-management, communication, and social skills while working towards common goals.

With each challenge they faced, they demonstrated outstanding teamwork and problem-solving abilities, supporting one another every step of the way. Well done Year 5!

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA WORKING BEE

On Monday, our school community came together for a fantastic Working Bee in celebration of Clean Up Australia Day. We were thrilled to see so many parents enthusiastically join us as we spread mulch, tidied up our gardens, and carefully pruned trees around the school grounds. Our students also cared for a dedicated area in the school over the course of the day. Their hard work and dedication truly made a noticeable difference, creating a cleaner and more beautiful environment for all of us to enjoy. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time and energy to make our school a better place!

JSC AND ENVIRO PROJECT

MILGATE GARDEN RENOVATION

Milgate Primary School is renovating our garden beds! We will have each class adopt a garden bed - helping students learn more about gardening and caring for the environment. We would love our community to get involved and are putting the call out for plant donations from families. We have suggested a list of natives and other hardy plants but donations of anything appropriate for a busy school environment would be great!

In Week 7 (Thursday 14th and Friday 15th Match) we will start accepting plant donations to your child’s classroom. 

Week 8 is Planting Week, with different year levels participating across the week.

From the School Leaders

GAGA PIT

This week we had a digger on site moving mulch to garden beds and preparing the site for our new Gaga pit, and our maintenance person Harry has been busy building it! The Gaga pit was purchased last year thanks to funds raised through the P&F Committee and we’re looking forward to seeing students play the game later this term. 

We will be painting the first coat next Tuesday at 9am if you are available to assist.

LOCKDOWN & EVACUATION DRILLS

Last week we had our first whole school practice of the lockdown and evacuation procedures. All staff, students and visitors who were on site did an excellent job of taking on their responsibilities and following all the procedures to make sure we all stay safe in these situations. We do lockdown and evacuation drills several times throughout the year to ensure that we have all the necessary procedures in place. Please speak to your children about the drills and their importance in knowing what to do in an emergency. 

ENVIRONMENTAL TEAM

Hello from the Environmental team! We have 6JH as the winners for this week’s Trash free Tuesday with 3 pieces!  They will receive our environmental mascot Ernie the earth for doing a great job at bringing the least amount of trash this week. Good luck to all classes for the upcoming week.

PYP - STUDENT AGENCY

“When students see tangible actions that they can choose to take to make a difference, they see themselves as competent, capable and active agents of change” (Oxfam, 2015)

The PYP considers that when students have agency they use their own initiative and will, and take responsibility and ownership of their learning.

We see many examples of student action and agency at Milgate. When considering the change to our reporting process to families, we wanted students to be more actively involved in the process - this led to our new continuous reporting model where students regularly reflect on their learning and are aware of the next steps that they need to take in order to move forward. 

We have made changes to our student leadership model this year and have a team of 6 school leaders who are leading the Environment Team and Junior School Council. Their first initiative is to improve the gardens at Milgate and they will be letting families know more about this in the coming weeks - we would like families to become actively involved in supporting the students to achieve this.

Throughout the year, your child is sure to ask for your assistance to enable them to take action from their learning. These might be small acts, such as showing more interest in recycling at home or asking you to contribute goods to a food drive for families in need. We truly appreciate your support of your children in taking action from their learning!

SECONDHAND UNIFORM SALE

Our secondhand uniform sale will be held on Monday 4 March at 9am in our staffroom.  Please note, no cash payments are accepted, we accept card payments only.