Leadership @ MPS
Maths at Monty
Our students continue to impress us with their positive attitudes towards learning in Maths. You may have seen the fantastic snapshot of Maths learning during Education Week (if not, take some time to do that now!). As a staff, we are continuously striving to achieve better outcomes for our students in all areas, and next semester a lot of our professional learning will be around reviewing and refining our instructional model, auditing the curriculum and developing a stronger scope and sequence model, which will simplify goal-setting and differentiation in the classroom. If you are looking for ways to develop Maths skills at home, check out these videos from Michael Minas for games that you can play with some advice on how to support your child's learning.
Look what has arrived!
As we announced at the beginning of the year, 2022 is the 'Year of the Book', where all fundraising and donations go towards building up our library and reading resources. We have had a great start to our annual fundraising and our first delivery of books have arrived with impeccable timing! The fantastic team at Readings, in partnership with Mr Lewis and Ms Margarita (Inclusion and Diversity Leader), sourced a huge range of Indigenous literature. Students are eager to get their hands on these books!
The next books we will be adding to the library will be the shortlisted 'Book Week' books found here. If you would like to donate any of these books to the school library, please contact the office.
Tutor Learning Program
At Montmorency Primary School, we are continuing to receive funding through the Tutor Learning Initiative, supporting the intervention, extension and differentiation approaches targeting each students learning at their point of need. This has meant that we have been able to introduce a new literacy intervention program at the beginning of this year, supporting students who were performing in the bottom 25th percentile for Reading with fantastic results. Heather Sierak and Stacy Austin work with small groups of students 4 times per week utilising the Minil-Lit intervention program, building on letter-sound knowledge and developing decoding skills to support reading. We have also been able to target literacy extension in Grades 3-6 through workshops with Lucinda Thom. Through these workshops, students have been able to engage in writing extension and book studies.
Although like many other schools we have experienced challenging times with staff and student absences, we have been able to keep up the momentum and achieve some great results through this program. Thank you to all the staff and students who have engaged enthusiastically and collaborated willingly to make this a success.
What's ahead in Term 3?
We are planning some great things for the second semester at Monty Primary. Our students have been thoroughly engaged in our whole school history unit reflecting on the last 100 years in Montmorency. We cannot wait to celebrate our 100th birthday next term. Keep an eye out for more information at the beginning of Term 3.
As NAIDOC week falls in the school holidays, our students will be marking this important week of learning either side of the holidays starting with a free dress day in indigenous flag colours next Friday 24th June. This will be a SRC fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation through a gold coin donation.
You can also check out our NAIDOC page to see some of the learnings that have been taking place and for more information on what you can do at home.
Science Week will be celebrated in Week 6 (15th-19th August) of Term 3. After a few years where this has not been possible, we are looking forward to another Family Science Night! For those who have not attended, this is a fantastic opportunity for families to engage in some science activities and investigations (and of course it is always very exciting to be at school at night!).
Book Week is coming up in Week 7 so you have plenty of time to start planning your costumes. Our Book Week planning committee already have some great ideas! The theme for 2022 is "Dreaming with Eyes Open". We will also be welcoming back the Scholastic Book Fair which is always a fantastic fundraiser for our school and the perfect time to purchase a few new books for home. We will be requiring parent helpers on the day and will post a call out on Compass closer to the time.
New Industrial Agreement
The new agreement is now at Fair Work Australia and provided that this agreement goes through, there will be some significant implications for many, many schools in Victoria. The most notable impact, which you would have already heard of in the media, is the impact to the school camping program. With this new agreement, teachers will receive hour-for-hour time in lieu for out of hours work they do while on camp and at evening activities and information nights. For a school that receives very little equity funding and relies on the good will of teachers to participate in school events, this will have a great impact. For example, a 3-day school camp that requires 11 staff to attend, this equates to 33 days in lieu - an additional cost of approximately $13,200. This is not only additional time for our teachers out of the classroom, but an unaffordable expense as we will not receive any additional funding. We value our camping program and the opportunities that it provides for our students to develop independence and self-confidence. We are now looking into ways that we can provide the camp experience without the significant financial hit. This may look like day camps, smaller groups, or shorter camps. Regardless, we are committed to providing students at MPS with the best experiences and opportunities possible. Stay tuned for more.
House Athletics Carnival
Students in Grades 3-6 will be heading to Willinda Park to participate in our House Athletics Carnival. Contingencies are in place should the weather turn bad - this may include completing events at school on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Students are encouraged to dress in house colours and cheer loudly! Please ensure you have provided consent and payment in advance (see Events in your Compass app).
Staffing Update
As announced earlier this term, we are thrilled to welcome back Junko Nicholls as our Japanese teacher from the beginning of Term 3. We will also be welcoming back Charlotte Hunter for the first six weeks of Term 3 to cover Mr Josh who will be taking some leave, travelling to the US. We wish Mr Josh a happy and safe time away and look forward to seeing Mrs Hunter in Term 3.
Take care everyone,
Janene and Bek