Murrumbeena P.S. Newsletter

From the Principal

OUR CARNIVAL

Only 10 more days until the most exciting event in all of Melbourne; the Murrumbeena Primary School Carnival. 

The carnival committee, along with the parent reps, have done an outstanding job of enlisting lots of volunteer support in an array of activities, from donating goods and services, to filling the roster to supervise the stalls, and so much more. There will be stalls, entertainment, rides, games, food and beverages and plenty more for the whole family to enjoy. 

To our wonderful parent community, THANKYOU. Together we will make the day a huge success resulting in families making lifetime, happy school memories in addition to raising money. 

I have already commenced the process of obtaining quotes so that as soon as the profit from the carnival is known we can commence the installation of air conditioners in our upstairs classrooms in time for summer.

Now we’ll keep our fingers crossed for some glorious sunny weather for Carnival Day on Saturday 20 August. 

OUR SCHOOL PRODUCTION

The excitement is building as classes are practising for the upcoming production of Aladdin Junior. 

Tickets went on sale this week and sales have been outstanding. At this stage, we can only allow three tickets per family in order to provide everyone with the opportunity to attend. 

I have no doubt this show will be remembered by our students for many years to come. 

WE WANT OUR PARENTS, CAREGIVERS & GUARDIANS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK! 

Our school is conducting a survey to find out what parents/caregivers/guardians think of our school. 

The Parent Opinion Survey is an annual survey offered by the Department of Education and Training that is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. 

We encourage all families to participate in this survey (which will take around 20 minutes). Our school will use the survey results to help inform and direct future school planning and improvement strategies. The Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 15 August to Friday 16 September.

Later this week, a newsfeed will be posted to provide families with a one time use PIN and the website to access the survey. Even though life is busy, we value your time in providing your feedback to our school.

NEW VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS AGREEMENT 

A new industrial agreement is now in place for all staff of Victorian Government Schools. There are two main differences between our past agreement and the current one:

  1. Professional Practice Days – during 2022, there will now be a total of  3 ‘pupil free’ days for teachers to undertake professional learning/training to improve their practice. In 2023, there will be two professional practice days (one day in each semester) and one day for 2024 and 2025. These professional practice days are in addition to the four curriculum days per year. 

The work undertaken by teachers on professional practice days must be consistent with Departmental and school priorities and selected from the following areas:

  • planning
  • preparation
  • assessment of student learning
  • collaboration
  • curriculum development
  • relevant professional development
  • peer observation including feedback and reflection

The difference between a ‘professional practice day’ (PPD)  and a ‘curriculum day (both being pupil free) is that the PPD agenda is driven by the teachers as they identify specific areas to refine their practice, whereas the Curriculum Day agenda is derived from the school’s Annual Implementation Plan to address areas as identified from student achievement data. 

 

School Council has approved the following pupil free days for the remainder of 2022:

  • Monday 22 August – professional practice day
  • Monday 31 October (day before Melbourne Cup) – whole school curriculum day
  • Friday 11 November – professional practice day. 

2. Time in Lieu- We all know that teachers work many hours over and above their scheduled working week, but, over time, we have held an increasing number of school events after hours for the convenience of our working parents. For example, parent information nights, parent-teacher interviews, school productions, student- led conferences etc. With the new Agreement, schools now have two options when planning extra-curricular events: they either re-arrange the events to occur within the teachers’ working hours (between 8:45 and 4:45pm) or the teacher must be given ‘time in lieu’. 

Our MPS teachers have said they don’t want to take time away from their class (time in lieu means a casual relief teacher would be taking the class instead) so we have established a team who will look at how we might reorganize school events to minimize the requirement for time in lieu. For example, our staff will all be attending the school production; however, our consultative committee will be reviewing how time is compensated in ways that minimize any impacts to our students. 

 

We are all endeavoring to maintain a better work-life balance, so for our teachers, this agreement is timely. 

COVID SAFETY 

When it comes to coronavirus health and safety, advice is often changing. You can find up to date information on our school website. The most pertinent thing to remember at this stage is to:

  • Contact the school if your child is a close contact (and follow the mask wearing and RA testing requirements) and also contact the school if your child tests positive. 
  • Please encourage your children to wear a mask when indoors. All students will be provided masks when attending the whole school assembly on Friday. 

Chellee Plumb