Welcome Back to Term 4! 👋 ☀️

A very warm welcome back to all our MPS students, staff and families for Term 4! I hope everyone enjoyed the break, whether that meant some well-earned time away, a chance to relax at home or simply a change from the usual school routine. For those families juggling work, children and holiday care, I hope the logistics weren't too challenging!

It's hard to believe we're already into the final term of 2026. We have a big and exciting term ahead, with plenty of learning, celebrations, special events and opportunities to come together as a school community. I'm looking forward to finishing the year strongly and making the most of what promises to be a fantastic final term at MPS!

Developing Our School-Wide Behaviour Matrix 🤝 🌱

Throughout this year, part of our staff professional learning has focused on Positive Classroom Management Strategies (PCMS) and strengthening consistent approaches to supporting positive student behaviour across MPS. As part of this work, we are currently developing a school-wide behaviour matrix that will establish clear, consistent and student-friendly expectations for behaviour across different areas of the school, while supporting students to better understand and demonstrate our school values in their everyday actions.

Our staff have recently been working together to co-construct this matrix, and I'll also be discussing the work with our Student Representative Council (SRC) members in the coming weeks. Our intention is to introduce the matrix across the school in 2027, providing a consistent and positive approach to behaviour expectations for all students and staff. I look forward to sharing more with our community as this work progresses.

Protecting Student Privacy Online 🔒📸

Following recent advice from the eSafety Commissioner regarding the risks associated with sharing images of children online, we have made the decision to move away from publishing identifiable images of students' faces on our public social media platforms. This is a proactive step to further protect student privacy and online safety, particularly given the emerging risks associated with artificial intelligence and the potential misuse of images. We will continue celebrating the wonderful things happening at MPS through more considered photography and content.

Importantly, this change only applies to our public social media platforms. Student photographs will continue to be shared through our login-protected platforms, including Compass and school newsletters, in accordance with our usual parent/carer permissions. All previous posts on our public social media accounts will be deleted on Friday 30 October.

Thank you for your understanding and support as we continue prioritising the safety and privacy of our students.

SumSmart Hats - Term 4 Reminder ☀️ 🧢

A reminder that our SunSmart requirements are now in place for Term 4. All students are expected to have an MPS SunSmart hat at school each day and hats must be worn whenever students are outside. This includes recess breaks, PE lessons and other outdoor learning activities.

If you've had trouble tracking down your child's hat after the holidays, replacement hats are available to purchase from the school office. Thank you for your support in helping us keep our students safe in the sun.

Celebrating Our Parent Opinion Survey Results! 📊 🎉

A big thank you to the randomly selected families who took the time to complete the recent Parent/Caregiver Opinion Survey. The feedback provides us with valuable information about the experiences and perspectives of our families and the results will be carefully considered as part of our ongoing school improvement work.

I wanted to share and celebrate one particularly pleasing section of the results, which I've included below. In the 'School Ethos and Environment' area, MPS received an incredible 100% positive endorsement for General Satisfaction, with every responding family indicating they were satisfied with the education their child receives at our school. This is an exceptionally positive result and one we're incredibly proud of. We also received 97% positive endorsement for School Pride and Confidence and 94% for our Physical Environment.

While there are always areas we can continue to strengthen, these results are a wonderful reflection of the hard work of our staff and the strong relationships we share with our families. Thank you for your continued trust and support.

2027 Class Structure and Student Placement 📚 🏫

Earlier this week, I sent a Compass newsfeed outlining our 2027 class structure and the process for providing information to support student placements. I wanted to include a reminder here in case anyone missed the original communication. Next year, MPS will have 18 classes: three each in Foundation, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 5, and two each in Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6.

Families wishing to share specific information about their child's learning, wellbeing, social or individual needs that may be relevant to class placement are invited to email me directly at paul.wickham@education.vic.gov.au by Friday 30 October.

Please note that requests for specific teachers will not be considered. Our staff put considerable thought and professional judgement into developing balanced classes, and all information received will be considered alongside their knowledge of students and the needs of each cohort. For further details, please refer to the original Compass newsfeed and attached below, our Student Placement Policy.

Melbourne Marathon Festival - An Incredible Community Effort! 🏃 🎉

A huge congratulations and thank you to everyone from our MPS community who participated in the recent Melbourne Marathon Festival. It was wonderful to see current and former students, staff, parents and wider community members taking on a range of distances, with many also using the occasion to raise funds and awareness for Lily's Library. The continued support for such a special cause, one that remains very close to the hearts of our school community, is something we should all be incredibly proud of.

I was particularly impressed by the commitment of those who took on the longer distances, especially knowing the training and preparation involved. In fact, I've already made a commitment (at least in my own mind) to tackle either the 10km or half marathon in 2027, after not quite finding the time to train for it this year. I've now got 12 months to make good on that promise!

Well done again to everyone involved and thank you for continuing to support Lily's Library.

TeamKids - Information Session and Free Coffee! ☕ 🎈

As we prepare to welcome TeamKids as our new Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) provider in 2027, families are invited to join an online information session next Wednesday 21 October at 7:00pm. The session will introduce TeamKids, explain how families can register and provide an overview of the programs, activities and experiences available to children. There will also be an opportunity to learn more about the service and ask questions.

Families can join the session using the link below:

TeamKids Online Information Session - Wednesday 21 October, 7:00pm

TeamKids will also be joining us at school on Friday 23 October, from 7:30 to 9:30am, with a free coffee van for our families! This will be a great opportunity to meet some of the TeamKids team, enjoy a complimentary coffee and ask any follow-up questions from the information session, or simply find out more about what's ahead for OSHC at MPS.

We encourage families to take advantage of both opportunities as we begin this exciting new partnership.

Paul Wickham, Principal paul.wickham@education.vic.gov.au

Ady Wall, Assistant Principal & Disability Inclusion adrienne.wall@education.vic.gov.au

Matt Lewis, Curriculum matthew.lewis@education.vic.gov.au

Margarita Strateas, Wellbeing & Engagement margarita.strateas@education.vic.gov.au

Visual Art