Principal's Message

Assistant Principal Appointment

Congratulations to Amanda Curtain who has been selected as an Assistant Principal at Mount View Primary School. Many of you will be familiar with Amanda who has been a classroom teacher, STEAM and Information Technologies Co-ordinator and Leading Teacher over a number of years at our school. Her strong curriculum knowledge, expertise in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, coupled with her warmth and communications skills provide a wonderful addition to the School Executive Leadership Team

Year 5 Camp Success

Last week we were able to send all the Year 5 students to camp at the same time. The Coonawarra Camp in Gippsland has facilities for two camp groups simultaneously and we were able to have half of the Year 5 students at each of the camps. This provided an opportunity for all students to mix outside of the scheduled camp activities. Thankyou to all staff and the parents who attended for ensuring that the students all had a wonderful time.

School Council Elections

I am pleased to announce that the two Employee Members who nominated for School Council have been duly elected for two-year periods. Congratulations and thankyou to Kim Davidson and Farah Irani.

Eleven parents have nominated for the vacancies in the Parent Category. An election will be held next week to determine the membership of the School Council for 2023. Ballot papers and candidate statements will be sent out via Compass on Tuesday 14th and the election will close at 4 pm on Thursday, 16 March.

The first meeting of the new School Council will be at the Annual General Meeting on Monday, 20 March at 7pm in the Staffroom.

Safety Initiatives

Two major safety initiatives are planned for the next couple of months. Firstly, we will be replacing the timber railing outside the Year 3 classrooms with a slimline, metal safety fence similar to a pool fence to ensure that students do not fall off the walkway. This is in response to a recent incident where a Year 3 student fell while sitting on the top rail. He has recovered from the ordeal and is contributing confidently and energetically to all class activities.

Secondly, we are seeking quotes from landscaping firms to replace the rotting timber retaining wall at the northern end of the oval. The redevelopment will see terracing of the area to provide stepped seating and passive play areas for students. This will be an expensive undertaking, but it will provide enduring benefit to the school and the community.

Litter Management

I encourage the community to work with the school to ensure that the school grounds remain tidy throughout the week and on the weekends. The school has been working with the cleaning company – Spotless to better manage the outdoor bins in public spaces. Our gardener, Nigel De Kauwe works continuously to keep our school gardens in good order and to make sure that the litter is tidied away on the boundaries and along the walkways in the school so that they are maintained to a high level. I encourage all students to work with Nigel to keep our school looking great.

Labour Day Holiday

Monday, 13 March is a holiday across Victoria. No school on that day.

Second Hand Uniform Sale

The first Second Hand Uniform sale for 2023 will be held on Friday, 10 March from 3:30 pm. The location is the undercover area between Buildings A and B. All items are for sale for a gold coin ($1 or $2)

NAPLAN

The Year 3 and Year 5 students will all participate in the NAPLAN Tests next week. It is important that all students feel relaxed in preparation for the tests and enjoy the challenge. I call on parents to chat with their children before and after remembering that years of learning has preceded the tests. We often find that students really rise to the occasion and perform at their highest level in this format.

Year 1 Swimming

Each day I see the Year 1 students heading off to swimming. It is amazing the lift in confidence that they display. Only a few months ago, as Preps, many students were having their first experience of swimming and now, after summer, they continue to make great gains in their swimming abilities. The program continues next week.

Glenn Butler

Principal