From the Principal

Snap Lockdown

By the time you receive this email you will be aware of the snap lockdown announced today.  Tomorrow, Friday 28 May, has been declared a Pupil Free day and remote learning will commence on Monday 31 May until Thursday 3 June.  School should resume on Friday 4 June.  We are sending home devices (iPads) this afternoon for students who needed them last time in lockdown. If you require an iPad and did not receive one this afternoon please call the school and we will organise for you to collect one.  Lessons and activities in reading, writing and mathematics will be provided in the Google Classroom and passwords and log on details to access Google Classroom will be sent home today, along with any other resources and books they will need.   

Pupil Free Day

Tomorrow has been declared a Pupil Free day, therefore, no students at school.  Due to the short notice, and if you have no care options for your child, they may attend school for supervision.  There is no learning program planned for the day.  Please email me directly to register for this supervision marie.beale@education.vic.gov.au.

Essential Service Workers

Essential workers children can access onsite supervision for lessons next week, please email me directly on marie.beale@education.vic.gov.au to let me know your requirements.

Before and After School Care during lockdown

There will be no program tomorrow for before or afterschool care.  There service will resume on Monday next week for students of essential services families.  

Working Bee Success

A huge thank you to the following people for joining us at the Working Bee last Saturday: Carol, Karen, Paw, Mirella, Jai, Eh Tah Yu, Mark, Shane, Elizabeth, Ayden, Nathan, Steven, Lizzie, Sarah, Gigi, Michael, Lily, San, Hon, Mawi, Sian Sung, Thawn, Chatree, Katherin, Jack, Beck, Lucy, Chris, Pete, Hayleigh, Toby, Abbey, Freyja, Peter, Sophie, Tom, Frank, Zoe, Thawn K, Fiona, Jenny, Bek, Philip and Samantha.  A lot of work around the place was completed, including weeding, mulching, pruning, sweeping and raking was undertaken and the school is looking in top shape.  

Biggest Morning Tea

Due to renewed COVID restrictions on the number of people attending events we have postponed our Open Classroom and Biggest Morning Tea.   We want to thank all families for their generous donation of scones, jam, cream and for donating to the Cancer Council.  We hope that when restrictions are lifted we are able to run this event.

District Cross Country

Last Tuesday 50 students from Grade 3-6 participated in the District Cross Country event at Quambee Reserve.  Congratulations to everyone who participated and helped to place Mullum Primary School third out of eight schools.  Fiona Pumpa has provided detailed information of the event, including some photos in her report for the newsletter.  Ten of our students will now move through to the next level of competition, Division, which was due to run next week, however, has been postponed at this stage.

Downball Event 

Downball Australia would love to invite each and every student at Mullum Primary School to attend our first official Downball Tournament on the 27 June at the Maroondah Nets. We were blown away by the talent and quick learnings of all the students involved during our incursion and look to see you on the court in the future! Students who won free tournament entry will receive their prizes via email as soon as possible.

The Downball Tournament day will run as follows: (subject to change depending on numbers of participants)

9:00 - Arrive for registration

9:30-11:30 - Round robin of games

11:30-12:00 - Morning tea break

12:00-1:30 - Knockout rounds

1:30-2:00 - Grand Finals

2:00 - Presentations

2:30 - Finish

If you have any queries, contact nathan@downballaustralia.com.au and check us out on Facebook (Downball Australia) and Instagram (@downballaustralia). To see more information on the day and to purchase a ticket, go to downballaustralia.com.au/shop/p/inaugural-tournament-june-27th-2021

We’ll see you there! Nathan. 

Foundation Science

The enthusiastic Foundation students have been participating in science experiments within our Fairy Tale unit.  As we focused on The Three Little Pigs, the students were given instructions to create either a stick or a straw house, as the students already knew the brick house withstood the test of the Big Bad Wolf. Students participated in a long discussion about how we join objects and how their house could be made stronger. 

Using a range of materials, the little builders got to work creating a plan, organising their resources and discussing how they will create their house. The students faced many challenges; battling tape constantly stuck on the roll, difficultly joining two straws together, even taping hands to the straws/sticks. 

Once complete, the houses were tested against the ‘Big Bag Hairdryer’. Most, like the story, were blown straight to the ground. Luckily, we had three houses which endured the almighty hairdryer’s breath. All students enjoyed creating their house, not so much watching it blow down!

5/6 INTERSCHOOL SPORT

The Interschool Sport program has provided our students with a fantastic opportunity to practice many desirable skills including leadership, resilience, perseverance and respect. Students have been working diligently to coordinate their own training sessions and upskill their performance by sharing knowledge and ideas with one another. Students have then been breaking down all the quality aspects of competitive sport and using this to formulate some persuasive texts in the classroom. 

Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and Mullum Primary School is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

• access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
• a modern user-friendly interface
• rewarding  students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
• the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 17 September 2021.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers.  Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: www.education.vic.gov.au/prc