Welcome back to our MPHPS community.

I hope you have all enjoyed a positive and relaxing holiday break with your family and friends and are ready for another fantastic year of learning and engagement. We welcome you all back to MPHPS and especially welcome our new families to our community. I am excited to be sharing the Principal role this year with Mel Lloyd, who will be acting Principal on Mondays and Tuesdays, and I will then return to my role from Wednesday to Friday each week. Both Mel and I work seamlessly together and will be happy to work as shared leaders this year. We will continue to be strongly supported by Kate Stimpson in the Assistant Principal role, Nat Kennan and Leeann Ferris as the Business Management team and Natalie Becker and Ebony Ritchie as our Learning Specialists.

We also welcome our new Year 6 student leaders for 2026 and we know they will be very excited to begin their roles. They will have their first chance to lead at our opening Assembly in week 4 on Friday 20th February. The following assemblies will occur in week 6 and week 8. From term 2 to term 4 our student led assembly will run in weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8.

Hopefully you have all connected with your 2026 classroom teacher at the Meet and Greet and introduced yourselves. This is a great opportunity to highlight any individual goals, achievements or concerns, and to put a face to a name. These discussions help to support positive relationships between families and the teacher and allow for honest and transparent conversations throughout the year.

The beginning of the school year often presents with a little anxiety and nervousness when settling into new routines. Not only for the students but also for the parents and carers. This is a great time to remind your children that change can be tricky and new class locations, teachers and expectations can play havoc with our emotions. We are always aware that the first few weeks takes a bit of time to build new relationships particularly as your child looks to settle in and join with new children in the class. I ask you to give your new teacher a chance to connect and to support them with classroom expectations and programs. Of course, please remember if you have any concerns, contact your child’s teacher via a Compass email or ask to make an appointment so that you can resolve any worries.

This week our teaching staff are taking the time to assess their students as part of our Assessment Week. This is a great chance to collect immediate student data and match this with the 2025 end of year report information. This allows the 2026 teachers and year level teams to plan for differentiated programs and to support your child at their point of need. We thank our Specialists who are working with classes to support the assessment process during this week. The Specialist programs will officially start on Monday 9th February.

As we begin this term, I remind you all about recent weather conditions. I encourage you to provide sunscreen for your child, a water bottle and their school hat. We have a sunscreen bell that rings every day at 10.43 and staff ask the students to administer their sunscreen if they have it. Unfortunately, due to child safety restrictions teachers are unable to administer or provide sunscreen. Hats are non-negotiable and must be worn in the yard from September 1st to April 30th each year. Please NAME your child’s hat and ensure it is in their bag each day or alternatively, remind them to keep their hat in their locker so that it is accessible each school day. Students will not be allowed to play outside without it and will be sent to sit in an undercover space to ensure they are in the shade. In the event of extreme weather we may call a hot/wet day weather indoor play day, based on the weather conditions. This will decision is made close to the time of recess and lunch each day.

Our 2026 School Council nomination process will be attached to this newsletter. We have a number of vacancies that need to be filled. Current members are able to reapply, and new members are welcome. Should we gain more nominations than vacancies we will hold a school based election. All nominees will be asked to provide a photo and blurb descriptor to add to the election forms.

If your interest is more around volunteering in the class or school events, I will be hosting a Parent Induction session on Thursday 26th February at 9am in the Staff Room. If you have already done this induction, you do not have to attend. This is purely for new volunteers only. Please contact the office to book in. Please be aware that all parent volunteers must hold a current Working with Children Check and sign a Child Safe Code of Conduct and OHS form each year.

Finally, I remind you that we are continuing our Attendance initiative in 2026 and encourage all students to be at school and ready to learn in their classroom at 8.45. Being on time sets up lifelong habits and routines and this will certainly help as your children navigate the workforce as a teenager and eventually as an adult. I also encourage you to make a note of the end of term dates and pupil free days for this year so that you can arrange child care or book into Camp Australia, should you need care for your children. Early preparation may help ease any worries closer to the date.

Have a great fortnight,

Chris

Camp Australia Newsletter