Leadership @ MPS

Staffing Update

We have found a fantastic replacement for the Wellbeing/Inclusion position which was recently advertised for the remainder of this year - the one and only Ady Wall! Many in our school community will know Ady from the close to ten years she has spent teaching at MPS across many different year levels. 

Ady has returned to work this term after some health issues earlier in the year and has worked closely with Lucinda since joining us again. We know that Ady will do an amazing job and the leadership team will be supporting her in this important role.

Lucinda has been an invaluable member of our staff, particularly in the wellbeing space. She has not only supported the mental and emotional health of our students with care and dedication, but she has also led significant positive changes in our school's platforms and processes. Her efforts have streamlined our wellbeing programs, making them more accessible and effective for both students and staff. We wish Lucinda all the very best as she embarks on a new chapter within the Department of Education. 

Adjusted School Day

As you may have seen earlier this week and in newsletters throughout the year, Thursday 5th of September will be an adjusted school day due to Term 3 Parent Student Teacher Conferences. Please read the newsfeed below, which was sent out earlier this week, for further information.

Adjusted School Day – Thursday, 5th of September

Dear MPS community, 

A reminder that Thursday, 5th of September will be an adjusted school day to accommodate our Term 3 Parent Student Teacher Conferences (this has also been in the ‘Important Dates’ section of our newsletter throughout the year). 

Bookings are now open on Compass and close on Wednesday, 4th of September. These 15-minute interviews are running between 8:45am and 5:15pm and we advise parents/carers to action this as soon as possible to get your preferred time/s. Please ensure that if you are booking for more than one child, you leave at least one 15-minute booking window between interviews, to allow time to move between rooms across the school. 

What does an adjusted school day mean for my family and my child/ren?

School won’t be running as usual on this date and care will need to be organised by families. Camp Australia have been advised of the adjusted school day and will be in operation for the day. Your child/ren are expected to attend their interview with you, which will be run by the teacher. Students will be marked present for the day if they attend. 

Building Update

I am sure that many of you have seen Gav and Scotty working hard on the new front entrance. Please read the description of the works in the previous newsletter, it may now be easier to understand as it is taking shape! If you still can't make sense of it, find and ask Paul. Work is likely to be completed in the next month or so, it's moving along very quickly! See below for some progress shots.

2024 NAPLAN Highlights

Although there has been some negative news in the media recently regarding the national 2024 NAPLAN results, predominantly this was not the case for many Victorian schools - and definitely not for our MPS students. The school achieved some outstanding results, as well as an incredibly high participation rate. Majority of the Year 5 domains saw 100% uptake. 

The below snips show the percentage of MPS Year 5 students who achieved results in the top two levels of achievement, 'Exceeding' or 'Strong'. These percentages are also compared with similar schools, schools in our network as well at those across the state.

Similar schools: A group of Victoria Government schools that are like MPS, in relation to socio-economic background, the number of non-English speaking students as well as the school's location and size.

Network: Schools within our local, Banyule/Nillumbik, network.

State: Schools across Victoria.

Book Week

Another fabulous Book Week has been had at MPS!  We were so fortunate to secure not one, but two authors to come and speak to our students about their journey and subsequent publications. 

As well as a huge thank you to all families, who, as usual, went over and above for our annual Book Week dress up and parade. What fun!

Lily Whitney Writing Competition

At this morning's Book Parade, the winners of the Lily Whitney Writing Competition were announced. This year, there was an extraordinary amount of high-quality entries, which made the final selection difficult!

Congratulations to the following students:

1st place: Isla Gardner

2nd place: Jemima Coyne and Elise Whitney

3rd place: Charli Davis

We look forward to reading these stories over the coming weeks!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Janene and Paul