Principal's Report

Once again it's been a busy two weeks since our last inewsletter.  

Swimming Program :  It was wonderful to see our students at Aquanation participating in the whole-school swimming program.  A big thank you to Miss Cronin and Mr. Moore for organising such a great educational opportunity and co-ordinating the buses to shuttle back and forth.  Thank you also to our amazing parent volunteers whose help is greatly appreciated. 

State Member for Ringwood : We were fortunate to secure a meeting with Mr. Will Fowles who listened intently as Clare and I outlined the needs of the school.  We spoke

 about the water damage to the ceilings, having partitions in some of the classrooms to reduce the noise, heating/cooling and a multi-purpose hall.  Mr. Fowles stayed on to present the Student of the Week awards.

Mother's Day Stall : A big thank you to our dedicated parents who ordered and wrapped gifts and potted plants and organised the stall in the lead up to the Mother's Day.  The children were so excited to buy a gift for their Mother/special person.  We even had a kind donation from one of our parents so that no child missed out because they didn't have money or forgot their money.....such a great community!

School Photos : School Photo day was on Monday 15th May and ran very smoothly.  The backdrop was against the 'Big A' playground equipment and fortunately the weather was good.  We can expect delivery of the photos in Term 3.  Thanks to our School Captains who escorted the grades and kept everyone on schedule.

Staffing : Welcome back to Mrs. Edwards in Foundation.  The students were all-smiles to see their teacher return to them after 5 weeks.  Mr. Kent 5/6A will be away until the end of Term 2 as he is Acting Principal at another school.  We were fortunate to secure an experienced teacher, Miss Krystal Hangs to replace him for the first 3 weeks.  Mrs. Lindsay and Mrs. Arundel are both teaching 1/2B at present.  A 2-day teaching position has been advertised and will close shortly.

Indonesian Cultural Day : The Year 5 students participated in a wonderful event hosted by Heathmont College that included four sessions of activities e.g. traditional dance, mask making, ball game, martial arts followed by a traditional lunch.  Thank you to Mrs. Dowling for arranging this special day.

Teaching & Learning: a focus for Professional Learning has been creating a calm and orderly environment.  The teachers have been sharing strategies to explicitly teach the students about transitions:

• entering the classroom;
• coming to the floor for instruction;
• getting recess/lunch food from their school bags;
• leaving the classroom at recess/lunch times
• arriving/departing Specialist classes
• going to and from assembly
• going to the toilet during class time
• walking around the school
• moving around the classroom

Year 3/4 Camp : Next week Monday 22nd May to Wednesday 24th May the Year 3/4 students are attending Camp Manyung in Mt. Eliza.  The students will be participating in a range of rotation activities e.g. flying fox, tree rolling, giant swing, bush cooking and UHF radios.

ICAS : This year I would like the school to participate in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) Competitions.  ICAS is an online academic competition designed to assess students' higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies for Years 2-6.

Open Night : What a wonderful event this turned out to be.  Thank you to the teachers for organising engaging activities, the PA for the sausage sizzle and to all the families that came along.  The big hit of the night were our students who performed in the choir or who played their musical instrument.

So many great things are happening at our school.  Marlborough Primary School is certainly the "place to be".

Kind regards

Sharon Jacobs, your Acting Principal.