Dear MPS Families

How quickly the year is drawing to a close, and with the summer holidays looming closer there is still much to do.

TRANSITION ‘STEP UP’ PROGRAM

Students have already been involved in transition classes to learn more about the activities and programs to look forward to in their 2024 school year. Over the next couple of ‘Step Up’ sessions, they’ll experience the different classrooms and even get to meet their new year level teachers.

The ‘Step Up’ program provides students with the opportunity to know where the newline up areas and classrooms are and play areas are reinforced. The state wide transition day on Tuesday 12 December is the day when the 2024 classes are announced. It takes an exceptional amount of time to formulate classes based on the student and the teacher's knowledge of the students so no requests for change will be accepted.

As soon as the 2024 classes are announced, expressions of interest for parent class representatives (generally one parent per class) will be requested and due by Friday 15th December.

STAFFING CHANGES FOR 2024

Every year we farewell some teachers and welcome the new.

We would like to thank the teachers who are leaving us for their contributions to our school and wish them all the very best as they pursue further opportunities and experiences.

We say goodbye to Julia Kantor (Year 6), Anthony van Berkel (Year 5), Elise French (Year 4), Georgie Mountford (Year 2), MJ Ryan Bennett (Year 1) Kelly Goodwin (Year prep).

Following an extensive recruitment drive, we are thrilled to welcome new teachers to our school. We look forward to the expertise they will share across our school.

Teaching Teams for 2024:

Prep- Chelsea Quirk, Paula Bain, Ari Demirtis, Elisa Hendriks

Year 1- Anna Lancia, Brianna Newbond, Elle Avery, Joshua Lowe, Shanlan Moore

Year 2- Laura Bainbridge, Candice Nassim, Elijah Roberts

Year 3- Mitch Houston, Teagan Laskey, Ethan Mountney, Steph Protektor/ Kathryn Parker

Year 4- Natasha Williams, Maddison Grandi, Zach Mc Mahon

Year 5- Phil Cook, Radhika Perera, Maxine Shue

Year 6- Joe Calderone, Jen Kepa, Annie Lui

STEM.- Oliver Johnson

P.E. – Todd Pullar

Art- Jade Marquis

Performing Arts- Shelly Nugent

Japanese- Josie Briggs

Curriculum Support & Intervention:

Mel Short, Michelle Tzialis

Leading Teachers (responsible for curriculum, assessment, reporting, coaching and mentoring)

Angela Houghton, Maureen Delane, Andrew McKibbon

YEAR 6 EXHIBITION

I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Year 6 team (Joe Calderone, Jen Kepa, Julia Kantor) and our PYP Coordinator (Angela Houghton) for the outstanding success of the Year 6 Exhibition. This year’s exhibition moved away from the ‘project style’ presentations and toward our students piquing the interest of visitors with provocations that invoked curiosity, thinking and questions. Our students demonstrated deep knowledge of their theme of choice and competently spoke about the issues and possible solutions. Thank you to the parents and carers who showed genuine interest in not just their child’s work but also the work of others.

GROUNDS AND MAINTENANCE IMPROVEMENT

The facilities school council sub committee has identified a number of areas around the school buildings and grounds for improvement. These include:

Painting - classrooms on the ground floor of the main building were painted in the term 3 school holidays. In the upcoming summer vacation, the upstairs classrooms will be painted in readiness for the school year.
Carpet installation - the carpet in the main building is in the process of being replaced. The ground floor classrooms will be completed by the end of the year and the upstairs classrooms will be re-carpeted once the painting has been completed. These improvements have already proven to brighten up the classrooms with many saying the classrooms now look bigger.
Asphalt Pathway behind the hall - if you take a look behind the hall adjoining the car park, you will notice the large mounds of dirt have been removed and replaced with an asphalt pathway. This will make it easier for the garden classes to obtain fresh compost from the delivery storage boxes.

Weeroona Road fenceline- between the edge of the oval and the Weeroona Rd fence the soil is eroding away. At present, there's no point replacing the soil because it will fall straight through the fence to the pedestrian pathway. We have obtained quotes to install a concrete sleeper retainer along the fence line which will hold in the soil. We hope to have this work completed over the summer school holidays.

New play area for the year 3 to 6 students - the area between the hall and the learning centre has been cleared of rubble and old plantings in readiness for a new playground ‘quiet’ area for our senior students. The student representative council have been meeting with a playground designer and landscaper to share their ideas and review possibilities. We look forward to keeping you up to date with their ideas and plans.

VOLUNTEERS- Special Morning Tea

Without volunteers, our school would not be able to run the many programs and services we offer. It’s our turn to say thank you.

We are holding a special morning tea to show our gratitude to our volunteers on Wednesday 6 December 10:30 - 11:30am.

If you have given your time to volunteer, then please let us know if you are able to attend by completing the RSVP form that was posted on Compass or register your attendance using the following link. https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1153250

Think U Know - Cybersafety Parent Information Session

DON’T MISS THIS Education session led by the Australian Federal Police (for the prevention of sexual exploitation)

When: Tuesday 5 December

Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm

Location: MPS Library

The school holidays will provide opportunity for students to be online. Parents and carers have the responsibility of keeping their child safe from harm when using the internet.

Do you know who your children are gaming with?
Do you know what your children are viewing when online?
Do you know who your children are chatting to and are they really who they say they are?

Parents should be aware of what your children are seeing, hearing and doing when online and the signs to look out for when something goes wrong.

Please register your attendance through Try Booking: https://www.trybooking.com/CNQKK

ART EXHIBITION

Following the enormous success of last year’s Art Exhibition, we all look forward to admiring the work on display by this year’s students.

Families are invited to wander around taking in the colourful art works while listening to the melodic sounds of students singing and playing instruments.

Setting up the Art Exhibition is an enormous task but one which Art teacher Jade Marquis and her assistant, Performing Arts teacher Shelly Nugent undertake with passion. Their joy of the arts most definitely rubs off on our students. Please thank these dedicated teachers for the many hours they have given in preparing this show for our enjoyment.

Chellee Plumb

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