Welcome back to our Mill Park Heights Community

What a terrific fortnight we have had. We continue to focus on student learning and wellbeing and have been extremely pleased with our end of Term 1 student outcomes and progress.

Congratulations to Coaches Maxwell & Talevski for the fantastic organisation of our House Fun Run. A fabulous event which was well received by our students, staff and parent community. Well done to the Year 3-6 students who made the top 10 in their age group. Many of these students will now represent MPHPS at the district cross country. Thank you also to the many wonderful parents who gave up their time to come along and support the students.

Our Easter Egg raffle was a sight to behold. I hope you managed to purchase some tickets to be part of the lucky draw. Thank you to everyone who participated in the out of uniform day by donating an egg for the raffle, your support was truly appreciated. A huge thanks to the fundraising team for organising this wonderful event.

NAPLAN was a little more challenging this year with some of the applications not working as expected. A huge thanks to Daniel and Danielle for their support in managing some of these issues. I would also like to acknowledge Mel Lloyd for her absolute strength and persistence in ensuring all students had the best opportunities and no disadvantage due to technical issues.

I hope many of you have made appointments to meet with your child’s teacher over the next few days. The end of term interview discussion is a great opportunity to reflect on strengths and opportunities to improve over the next term. We value and appreciate our partnership with you as we all work to support your child’s learning growth.

We will have a few facilities updates over the term break and will make the most of this time to have contractors completing a range of yearly inspections and audits. We pride ourselves on our adherence to OHS compliance

Unfortunately, I must ask parents to please remind your child about toilet etiquette. It is very upsetting to know that a number of students are dispensing and emptying the hand soap creating slip hazards, damaging and breaking dispensers and toilet roll holders, and making a mess. Lately we have needed to close a toilet block due to the concerning state. Students who are caught creating damage will be asked to clean their mess.

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank the many supportive parents who have worked with our school and/or individual staff when managing student behaviours. While it is not uncommon for students to have “big feelings” or emotional outbursts, there is no place for swearing, aggression or failing to comply with staff direction. As adults, we are all responsible to drive positive values that will help all children navigate their futures. We need to work together to help our children make mistakes, problem solve and accept responsibility for their choices, even if this means a consequence is put in place. Supportive boundaries will certainly help our children develop into brilliant young adults who can work in teams and deal with unexpected disappointment.

I can’t believe this newsletter marks the end of Term 1. On behalf of our leadership team, we wish you all a terrific term break and look forward to seeing you all again at the start of next term. Please remember hats must still be worn until April 30 so make sure those hats go into the school bag to begin Term 2.

Have a happy and safe Easter with your family and friends.

Cheers Chris, Mel & Kate

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