Dear Students, Parents, Carers and Families,

Our First Week Back at School

It has been a fantastic return to school this week! There has been a great enthusiasm and energy in every classroom and in the playground in reconnecting with their friends and start learning again – the old fashioned way! This joy has been shared by all of the staff and in my many conversations with parents, them too.

Thank you to all of our families for making sure our drop-off and pick-up times have run as safely and smoothly as possible. You have all been awesome!

We are all looking forward to the rest of this term together and I am sure it will be an amazing one!

Footy Colours Day

Like almost everything else this year, the footy season has been very different. As the new date for our AFL Grand Final public holiday on Friday 23rd October approaches, next Thursday 22nd October will be our annual Footy Colours Day. While it may look a little different to previous years, it will still be great to see everyone wearing the colours of their favourite football team. Usually there is a good representation of all codes from AFL, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Soccer League.

BOOK WEEK IS COMING!!

Reading is a great way to allow your imagination run wild and for a short time escape in the words and imagery they create in our minds. Nothing is better than a book you simply can’t put down!

During the week starting Monday 26th October we will be celebrating Book Week. This year the theme is Curious Creatures, Wild Minds.

So on Thursday 29th October, we will celebrate at Maramba with fun classroom activities and a Foundation- Year 2 and Year 3-6 costume parade! So put your thinking hats on and start creating those amazing costumes and who your will come dressed as this book week!

Every year, book week is a huge success. It will be interesting to see the range of costumes this year. What a great way to emphasise the importance of reading in our students’ overall development but even more importantly this gives all of our students and staff a great opportunity to dress up a time to have a lot of fun!

Department of Education Parent and Carer Feedback Survey

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents think of our school. The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is conducted amongst all parents. It is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of parents’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, student engagement and experiences of remote and flexible learning.

Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies.

This year, all parents will be invited to participate in this year’s survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year, the Parent Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 19th October to Friday 13th November.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time within the fieldwork period on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in a range of languages other than English. These include: Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Japanese, Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Greek.

Feedback is exceptionally important to us and our continual growth at Maramba. It is an integral part of our teaching and learning DNA between teachers to students, students to teachers and students to students. It enables everyone who is a part of the process to develop a clear picture about what they have achieved well and what they need to do next to continue to grow.

We hope you are able to take some time to complete the survey to support us in continuing to grow and be the best we can be for our students and community.

I thank you in advance for your time and continued support!

Online WebEx School Assembly Arrangements

To ensure we are able to continue to meet as a whole school to celebrate student achievements and keep connected as a community, while adhering to social distancing measures our School assemblies will be held via WebEx from classrooms. This will remain in place until we have further guidance from the DET.

Our first WebEx assembly will be tomorrow Friday 16th October. Only parents of students receiving awards will be invited to attend the assembly via WebEx. This will enable us to ensure that all safety measures are in place to protect our students.

Enrol NOW for 2021!

We are now in the final stages of planning for 2021 and would appreciate anyone who knows they are enrolling a child in 2021 to let us know as soon as possible.

Our school website has important information for families about our Foundation program including a Virtual Tour of our amazing school.

https://www.maramba-ps.vic.edu.au/foundation-2021/

You can find the necessary enrolment information and forms on our website too:

https://www.maramba-ps.vic.edu.au/enrolment-information/

If you have any further questions or would like to know more about our school then please call us on 9796 7150 or email our schoolMaramba.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

We are here to help!

Take care and stay safe!

Kind regards,

Darren Wallace

Principal