WE ARE BACK!

We want to shout this from the mountain tops, we are so excited to have everyone returning to school on Wednesday 3 November. This is all year levels, all day and face-to-face with their teachers. This is exciting. The health and safety of our students is paramount and we have many strategies in place to minimise the risk of students being in contact with a COVID case and to keep the school open, these include:

very regular hand sanitising, stations across the school and in each classroom
face masks for teachers and students Grade 3-6, with face masks recommended for Foundation to Grade 2
Vaccinations for all staff, visitors and parents are collected if attending onsite
Density limits in place (1:4m2) for staff
QR code for visitors and contractors to the school
doors and windows remain open as much as possible to allow for airflow
conducting high point cleaning of tables, door handles and light switches
Main entry to the school remains locked and visitors are asked to call the office from outside to request access

Despite these measures I am not able to 100% guarantee that we will not experience a case of COVID at school, however, there are extensive processes in place to manage such an event and I feel confident that we are in a good position to respond quickly and effectively.

Arrival and Departure of students from Wednesday 3 November

With the return to school there are some changes in place to arrival and departures of students. We will continue to use both Mullum Mullum Road (Grade 3-6 students) and Panfield Ave (Foundation to Grade 2), in general. There are a few exceptions:

if there are siblings in younger year levels then our Grade 3-6 students can be dropped off in Panfield
children who are walking can enter the closest gate to their house

The gates will be open to students from 8:45 - 9:00am and no earlier, this is to allow students to move directly to their classrooms to start their day and not congregate outside waiting for classes to open.

Camp Australia are running their full program and families can book for their child to attend this if they need to be at school any earlier. We are noticing children who are walking are arriving very early to school, please discuss with your child the right time to leave home to match the arrival time.

Curriculum Day - Monday 1 November

As communicated to families this week we will be going ahead with our planned Curriculum Day on Monday 1 November. After much deliberation it was decided that this day was the least disruptive for the community as it was a day already planned and all staff and new staff for 2022 will be onsite attending professional learning in literacy and numeracy.

Grade 3 and 4

Students read a story called “The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story” and learned that strawberries symbolise kindness, respect and forgiveness. Two kind people from Toolangi and King Lake wanted to do an act of kindness, so, during lockdown, they potted up eighty strawberry plants. This was enough for each student to take one home. We needed to research how to care for these plants so we can eventually taste these delicious fruits. Thank you to Kay and Julia for their hard work and generosity.

First Transition Session for Foundation 2022

Last Friday we ran our first transition session for our 2022 Foundation students. This session needed to be run online in three, half hour sessions which went very well. The children met their Foundation teachers for 2022, Narelle Sencek and Kristy Sitoropolous, and their future classmates. We are excited to run the remaining sessions here onsite.

Lamont Book Fair

On Monday 8 November we will be inviting students to visit our Lamont Book Fair. A range of novels, non-fiction text, picture story books and novelty items will be available to purchase. The students will bring home to you a 'wish list' of items they have seen that they would like to purchase. There is then an option for families to buy items and the school receives a percentage of these funds as fundraising. All fundraising monies are being prioritised for new playground equipment.

Class Placements for 2022

Each year a significant amount of time is put into organising class groups for the following year. Consideration is always taken of social and emotional needs of students, academic performance, friendship groups and teacher's knowledge of how the student works with others in their class. Each year we provide parents with the opportunity to have input into this process by asking for a confidential email to be sent to me regarding your child's particular social or emotional needs. Parents are not able to provide recommendations for classroom teachers, but can make recommendations about friendship groups. If you would like to email me before the end of next week, Friday 5 November, using the email address - marie.beale@education.vic.gov.au

Grade structure for 2022

The following is a list of the grade groups that will be operating in 2022:

Foundation - 2 classes

Grade 1 - 2 classes

Grade 2 - 2 classes

Grade 3/4 - 2 classes

Grade 5/6 - 3 classes

We will also be offering specialist classes in Italian, Physical Education, Performing Arts and Visual Arts, along with two tutoring teachers. The composite class of Grade 3/4 will be used in 2022 to address a gender imbalance in each cohort of students.

Optional Activities at MPS

Term 4