Welcome to 2023!

"I've always loved the first day of school better than the last day of school. Firsts are best because they are beginnings." Jenny Han

It is great to be back! I have always loved the beginning of a school year as it is filled with optimism, a sense of purpose and an enormous amount of excitement! Well done to the 424 students that ran, hopped, walked and/or skipped through our gates this week. And well done to our 42 staff members who also enthusiastically began the school year!

An extra warm welcome to our new students, families and our staff - we are so glad to have you part of our wonderful MPS community.

New Teaching Staff 2023:

Mrs Natalie Costa - PE
Mr Brendan Purcell 1B
Miss Joy Lai 2A
Mrs Victoria Hults 3/4B
Miss Jaclyn Radford 5/6C
Mr Paul Wickham (Acting Assistant Principal)

Leadership structure 2023

Building News

During the holidays, asbestos removal from the Castle and Kitchen took place and went to plan. We received word this week that the demolition of both buildings will start Monday and will take around 2 weeks to complete. Our school grounds will certainly be appealing to those students that love trucks, diggers and all things construction. And the rest of us will look forward to what we see in the visuals below....

Annual Objectives

Our teaching staff have commenced this year with a clear direction in terms of our objectives for 2023. These goals are extracted from our 4 year School Strategic Plan which are then placed into an Annual Implementation Plan.

2023 Annual Implementation Plan:

To improve student learning outcomes; with an increased focus on numeracy and to enhance student wellbeing and emotional awareness.

School Review

At the beginning of Term 2, we will undergo a whole school review. All schools participate in a school review every 4 years and this is our year! A school review provides assurance of ongoing compliance with the minimum requirements for school registration and informs the development of the school's 4 year School Strategic Plan. As you can appreciate, a review such as this, requires an enormous amount of work. I thank staff in advance for their willingness to contribute to this important work.

Respectful Relationships

The Victorian Curriculum F-10 includes learning about respectful relationships in both health and physical education, and the personal and social capabilities. In the health and physical education curriculum, students develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to strengthen their sense of self, and build and manage safe and respectful relationships. In the personal and social capability curriculum, students learn to recognise and regulate emotions, develop empathy for others and establish and build a framework for positive relationships.

The Respectful Relationships program is an initiative to support schools and early childhood education settings to promote and model respect and equality. It also supports educators to teach children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence. Taking a whole-school approach is about embedding a culture of respect and equality across our entire school community, including in our classrooms, schoolyard, staffroom and social events. This approach leads to positive impacts on students’ academic outcomes, mental health, classroom behaviour and relationships between teachers.

As a lead school in this initiative, MPS is working with the Department of Education to assist other schools in our network to further build the skills and capacity of the teaching and learning behind this initiative.

Maths

To support the achievement of our Numeracy Annual Improvement Plan goal, we have partnered with Pete Sanders from the Maths Association of Victoria to provide regular coaching to our teachers throughout the course of the 2023 year. Pete Sanders is an experienced primary maths educator with nearly twenty years experience teaching primary age children, most of these as a Mathematics curriculum coordinator in primary schools in the UK and in Melbourne. Recently Pete has lectured in primary mathematics at La Trobe University, developing the mathematics teaching capabilities of pre-service primary teachers. Peter’s work at MPS this year will involve working with our teachers in classrooms to model best practise and to also deliver professional development on current mathematical knowledge and theory.

Matt Lewis - Learning Specialist

School Camps - Term 4

Grade 3 - Day camp in Toolangi

Grade 4 - 2 night camp at Oasis Camp in Mt Evelyn

Grade 5 - Day camp in Upper Plenty

Grade 6 - 2 night camp in Angelsea

This camping model will give each student the opportunity to attend two, 2 night camps during their MPS senior years. This revised approach is a result of the following-

The new Industrial Agreement whereby staff that attend camp must now receive equivalent time in lieu. This has substantial financial ramifications for the school as the extra costs incurred are not covered by Department of Education funds.

The intent to reduce and spread the financial burden on families as a result of what will be an increase in camps costs (due to bus costs - petrol increase etc, staffing allowance etc). More information about each individual camps will come in due course.

Upcoming Events

Information Session - Our teachers are preparing essential information that will be sent to you at the end of next week in the form of a video. Please take time to watch and enjoy meeting the teachers and learning about the classroom programs in this way! Please take time to introduce yourself to your child's teacher. Our teachers are always willing to make a time to touch base about your child so please do not hesitate to reach out to them.

Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony - Next week (Thursday 9th) we will have a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony with Uncle Perry Wandin to mark the beginning of the school year, welcome our Foundation students and prepare for our new school build.

Colour Run - Thursday 23rd February @ 5pm - Our biggest event of the year is only a moment away! We are so excited to kick off the year with a fabulous event such as the Colour Run! The students will receive information in the coming days which will include a booklet for fundraising. This year, we have opted for the "Go Green" package which swaps the (cheap, plastic) incentive prizes to an environmentally friendly alternative which is the planting of trees in sensitive environments. This event will be the final fundraiser where all proceeds will go towards Lily's Library.

HELP NEEDED: Sports Shed Working Bee

Our large sport shed full of equipment could really do with some tender loving care since the move. We would really love any help we can get to move everything out and clean it up. If you can help in any way, we would be so appreciative.

WHEN: Monday the 6th and Tuesday the 7th of February

TIME: 9:00-11:30am

Thank you so much everyone!

Kind regards,

Mrs Costa

(PE Teacher)

Have a great weekend!

MPS Leadership Team

Visual Art

This week in Visual Art: