From the Principal's desk...

P-2 Athletics Afternoon

What a wonderful afternoon we had at school with the modified P-2 Athletics Carnival that occured onsite here whilst Landy Field was renovated which prevented the Surf Coast Schools coming together for the normal event.

Of course after last week's deluge of rain and wet end to the week, we were blessed with some sun and warm weather which actually caught us all out! I think this was obvious with energy levels, but despite this the students thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and it was a great taste of what athletics is all about.

Thank you to Aaron Randall for coordinating this event, the staff for jumping in and assisting and our student leaders for supporting the running of the events. We also really appreciated all the parents that attended in the numbers that we had as the children just thrive with an audience although we know this is not always possible with working families, I understand this well myself!

Next year, I am anticipating this event to be coordinated back at Landy Field with our local schools too.

Jump Rope for Heart- Thankyou ❤️

A message from the Heart Foundation- 

On behalf of the National Heart Foundation and the Jump Rope for Heart team, I would like to thank you all for your hard work this term, encouraging fundraising, skipping and keeping your student's hearts healthy. I was blown away by your effort and enthusiasm to raise important funds AND improving your skipping skills! Thank you Video At the end of the program Moriac Primary School finished with the following numbers;

• 64 Students registered
• $8,257 Raised
• 19 Hours of skipping logged.

These Funds will go a long way at the Heart Foundation. Helping to fund:

• Research on heart disease and how we can work towards preventing it,
• Doctors who can help treat people with sick hearts, and
• Education, so Australians know how to take care of their hearts and bodies.

Even though your school has finished Jump Rope for Heart this year, I hope you all continue to practice your skipping and exercise your heart every day. By doing this, you continue to be a Heart Hero and help the Heart Foundation achieve our goal of a heart disease free Australia.

What an amazing effort from our school community!!

Sun Smart Term-👒

A gentle reminder that Term 4 is a sun smart term, although we can all be forgiven for thinking otherwise with our crazy weather raining one day, hot the next. Nevertheless, please ensure your child attends school with a wide brimmed hat to protect them from what little sun pokes through the rain clouds as it is compulsory at our school. Students without a hat are sent to a shaded area and must remain there for the duration of the play/break.

For events, excursions etc where students are outside, please provide your child with a small sunscreen that they can apply so that we are extra protected from UV. We cannot share sunscreen here at school between students and due to allergies and skin conditions do not provide sunscreen for students. 

Planning for 2025- 

Planning is well underway on many levels for 2025 which is a scary thought just how quickly this term will fly by. In coming weeks, our teachers will be looking at creating class lists for 2025 and whilst this is often a complicated puzzle to achieve in schools, I always like to inform families of the process at a school level. Staff will give students the opportunity to identify friends, peers or trusted people they would like as options to be in their new class and whilst the list is never something we can 100% guarantee, capturing student voice here is really important and will be taken into account. Like last year, we will be sending home a friendship hand which will give families time to discuss who those friends might be and this will help staff begin to build class lists. Keep an eye out for this soon!

If there are specific pieces of information that you would like me to know about prior to this work taking place, please email me directly via compass. I ask families to please remember that I can't take specific requests for teachers, especially as I am still finalising the staffing profile, however there may be specific things you need me know or be aware of and I am happy for this communication to be passed on.

At this point in time, it is looking like the class structure for 2025 will be identical to this year with regards to the number of classes with enough students enrolled in Prep to structure two classes. More of this will be discussed at our upcoming School Council meeting and then I will inform the wider community of the firm plans. Our overall student numbers are continuing to rise slightly each year, 233 for 2025, and will likely plateau by 2026 until further housing and land subdivision impact this at some point in the future. 

Farewells-

Officially I have had word of a few resignations with staff that have previously been on long term leave with the school making the big decision to move on from Moriac PS-

Georgia Harcourt who is currently working in the UK has decided to continue to pursue her career overseas and won't return to the school.

Kirsty Rixon who has been on long term leave this year and was a part time teacher here at Moriac for many years has decided the time has come to take a leap into a new chapter.

Aaron Randall is taking 12 months leave and has accepted a position at Clifton Springs PS for 2025 which is an exciting opportunity after working at MPS for many years.

We wish all exiting staff all the best as they move into a new chapter and would like to acknowledge the contributions and work they have been a big part of at our school for many, many years!

As a result you might have seen we are currently recruiting for replacement staff and I am confident that we will expand our team to include some excellent teachers to work with for the future. We are very fortunate here on this side of town that we do not feel too greatly the teacher shortage that our counterparts in some areas of Melbourne feel and I will update community on who are new recruits are once the process is complete. It is for this reason that our current teachers are not yet confirmed what classes they will teach in 2025 until we know the incoming skillset etc. 

Prep Transition for 2025-

Our Prep team have been continuing the tradition here with the implementation of a very thorough transition program. This allows for the strong connection between the school and kinder to contiune and supports the students when they formally come across to school next year- such an exciting and big step!

A prep transition booklet was emailed out to all new and current families that will have a student in Prep next year, however if you did not receive this, please check your junk email and of course call the office for support. 

The official transition dates are- 

The booklet also contains detailed information regarding start dates for Preps, which Wednesdays are stay at home days and how to book for Prep assessments which will occur early in 2025. Lots more information to come.

Library Borrowing-

Small reminder- 

Final date for borrowing books from the library will be Friday 15th of November.  All books – Student & Staff borrowings – are due back by 29th of November.  

Annual School Concert

I wanted to mention that rigorous planning, rehearsals and dance routines are underway this term in preparation for our annual school concert which is a theme based on songs through the decades. Mr Jared Smith is again coordinating this event for us and uses one day a week to work across all cohorts of students from Prep-Year 6 supporting them with their performances.

This year we are utilising the newly refurbished Geelong Arts Centre and not the Arena as in previous years to support keeping costs to a minimum for families. As this is a new venue for us, there is a lot more attention to detail with regards to the use of the space and stage however as we are in the capable hands of Jared, I have no doubt it will be a spectacular event. More information regarding this even will come out via Compass shortly.

Events in Term 4

There are still a great many exciting events to come this term and these are included on the Key Dates page for families as well as on the Compass calendar. If the event is an excursion/incursion or an event that requires a payment or permission, these will also be pushed out as normal on Compass as the information becomes available.

Currently there is a lot of final organisation being completed and as soon as this occurs, families will be updated.

Have a great weekend,

Mel