Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and carers,

Welcome to Term 3.

I hope the mid-year break enabled all families the time to slow down, relax, spend quality time with loved ones and regenerate for the second half of the school year. This term continues to be filled with many exciting learning opportunities for our students.

Some of the activities planned are:

Incursions- Footsteps, Prep Fire Incursion
5/6 Camp- Waratah Beach
100 days of Prep
National tree Day
Father’s Day Stall and Breakfast
Book Week and parade
Wear It Purple Day
Random Acts of Kindness Week

It was great to see parents at our Parent Teacher Interviews last term. Teachers discussed each child’s learning progression and the goals for term 3. As you know we have a strong commitment to student health, wellbeing and learning. Our first day back had a focus to ensuring all students felt happy to be back reconnecting with their teachers and peers. We are committed to ensuring all students feel happy, safe and ready to learn. If you have any questions regarding your child please do not hesitate to speak to your child’s teacher. Teachers are on the playground at the end of the day, you can catch them at 3:30 for a quick chat or make an appointment via the office. Hana (Assistant Principal) and I are always available to discuss any concerns you may have or any positive feedback you wish to share 😊.

Prep Enrolments 2023

It is that time of the year! It certainly has been exciting to see so many prospective parents and their children attend our school tours over the past few weeks. Our school tours are offered each Wednesday and Friday at 9.15am, please call the office to make an appointment and we are more than happy to arrange a tour of our fabulous school for you.

If you have a child (or know of a child) who is due to start school next year, please get your enrolment form into the office as soon as possible.

Prep teachers are planning some special transition times next term for pre-school kids –They will be advertised very soon.

We are already beginning to plan classes and teachers for the new year. The sooner we receive their enrolments, the sooner we can plan our Transition Program later in the year.

Curriculum Day:

On Thursday 21st July, staff were involved in professional learning around the following:

School Vision
School Strategic Plan- Sharing of targets and goals (were they met?)
School Review- Feedback from staff, students and the parent community
Differentiation- What does this mean? Sharing our school data. Are we differentiating and catering for the learning needs of our children?

Feedback from our school review, cemented our vision and observations around ensuring our teachers are teaching to children’s zone of proximal development and point of need. Our aim is to ensure all teachers at Moreland PS work very hard to identify, respond to and meet the learning needs of all children.

Teaching teams are working closely together in their Professional Learning communities, led by both Hana and Lauretta, monitoring student progress. Curriculum day was all about providing professional learning for our staff, to support them in differentiating the curriculum so that children are both challenged and supported in their learning, across all areas of the curriculum.

Teachers were shown how to respond to the learning needs of their students by differentiating what the students learn, how they might go about learning it, and what they produce as a result of their learning. As teachers make decisions around differentiation they will be supported to consider a student’s readiness, interests and capabilities. As a consequence students will often work in a variety of small groups with children of similar needs or interests.

Our timetables were reviewed prior to commencing this year, and each week, the year Foundation-6 teachers plan together to ensure high levels of consistency and continuity within and across all Levels of the school. Their planning is supported by both Hana (Maths) and Lauretta (English). Collaborative planning and the sharing of knowledge and expertise supports the ongoing professional learning of all our teachers.

Library Resource Centre/Community Hub:

We are in the process of receiving final quotes and hope to get the works underway this term. Our families have been very generous, donating endless amounts of books and also monetary voluntary contributions.

Holiday works:

Over the school holidays, the entire prep area and classrooms were painted. We have also arranged for new carpet to be installed in some of those rooms and also replacing the old and worn out carpet throughout the school; this will occur during Term 3. Blinds were also installed in some of the classes during the holidays. We also had arborists out to check our trees. Our front office waiting area has also had a bit if a ‘face lift’, with some new comfortable couches purchased.

Maria Giordano

Principal

Premier’s Reading Challenge Update!

Well done to Sienna (3/4D), Adil (3/4A), Penelope (3/4A), Khalil (2B), Charlie N (Prep A), Wolfgang (Prep B) and Zola (Prep C) who have now joined Guyegbat, Hume, and Genevieve in completing the Challenge!

Moreland Primary students have now read over 700 books! We still have 45 days to go, so keep reading!

Breakfast Club

A HUGE thank you to the parents who have been helping at Breakfast Club- it is much appreciated! Thanks also to the students who have been helping with the set up and clean up!

A reminder that food is served 8.30am – 8.40am. The Blair Street gate is open for students to enter. Please note- if your child does not wish to come to Breakfast Club, they cannot be playing on the school grounds until the Yard Duty teacher is present at 8.45am.

Our food options are as follows:

Tuesday – fruit cups, cereal, and toast

Wednesday – warm spaghetti, baked beans, and toast

Thursday – fruit cups, cereal, and toast

Thanks everyone for supporting this program. We hope to see you for breakfast soon!

Meditation club

The Students are enjoying our Friday lunchtime Meditation Club!

Our last Tuesday of Term 2 marked our first whole school wellbeing day. This was a day without formal lessons and in their place was an opportunity for our students to learn about their social, mental and physical wellbeing, and some of the ways we can look after these important parts of our life.

The students participated in a variety of activities, such as yoga and mindfulness, an outdoor senses walk, as well as stress ball making. They also enjoyed team building exercises and had discussions about the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. They wrote a letter to someone they are grateful for, utilising the practice they have had in their gratitude journaling.

The community picnic was a great opportunity for families to spend time with their children and for the students to share their letters. Thank you for all who were able to come along.

Students also practised mindfulness eating where they ate their snack slowly, thinking about where the food came from, its smell, texture and how it felt in their mouth, all before their first chew.

“The day was very fun. We did a lot of activities to do with mindfulness and understanding it’s meaning. The team building was really fun. - Fox (Grade 5)

“I enjoyed it. Mindful eating really enhanced the flavour of food. I got to build things that I wouldn't normally get to do. - Luca (Grade 5)

One of the main activities that all students participated in was our whole school wellbeing tree. All students talked about what character strengths are and had the opportunity to identify what character strength makes them awesome. They wrote this onto a leaf that is now hanging on our tree in the hall.

The feedback we have received from the students and the community has been very positive. As wellbeing remains an important focus for our school, it was so fantastic that we were able to do so altogether. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Merri-bek Mail

Issue 10 · 22 Jul 2022

In this issue