Just a reminder that school will finish on Tuesday 20 December at 1:30pm. We will have our final assembly at 1:15 and farewell our Grade 6 students.

Wow! The year is disappearing fast. With only weeks to go I am excited to let the community know the structure and staffing for 2023. Each year we sadly have to say goodbye to students, families and staff, this year is no exception.

We are sadly saying farewell to a number of staff - Margaret Taylor, Laura Harris, Kristy Dixon, Karen Hunsdale and Marg Patching.

Margaret Taylor has been a passionate and committed classroom teacher for more than 25 years at Mullum Primary School. Margaret has taught hundreds of students (at least 625 individuals), and she has even taught children of her past students! Each student in her care has benefited from her vast expertise in teaching and learning, enabling each student to achieve their very best. Margaret's love of science and technology and her work with the high abilities students, will be sorely missed across the school. We wish her all the very best for her new life as a retiree.
Laura Harris has been with us for three years as Education Support and is moving on to teach instrumental music in schools.
Karen and Kristy are heading off on maternity leave and we do expect to see them back at some stage. You may catch a glimpse of them at the beginning of 2023, but not for long! We wish them both all the best as they embark on their new roles as parents.
Marg Patching, our School Chaplain, is retiring at the end of this year. We thank her for the support of students and families across the school over the last two years, and wish her well as she embarks on the next adventure.

Along with saying goodbye, we do also get the chance to welcome new staff to our community. Below are staff we know are joining us in 2023, more about them in the new year:

Emma McCann - from Rolling Hills Primary School, teaching in Grade 1
Lauren Lee - from Glen Waverley Primary School, coming in to Foundation
Samuel Martin - from Kalinda Primary School, teaching in Grade 5/6

We have even had some new students join us in the last few weeks; we welcome Elyse (5/6O) and Evan (3/4B) from South Australia; and Anthony (5/6KY) from South Africa. We hope that you are all settling in well to your new school.

Structure of the school for 2023:

Classroom teachers

Foundation - Narelle Sencek, Lauren Lee

Grade 1 - Monique Gleeson, Emma McCann

Grade 2 - Matthew Knight, Marnie Ross

Grade 3/4 - Helen Boustead, Elizabeth Iacona, Nicole Younes

Grade 5/6 - Phoebe O'Shaughnessy, Sam Martin, Sam Younes

Specialist teachers

Physical Education - Fiona Pumpa

Visual Arts - Deanne Lawn

Italian - Angela Zerella

Performing Arts - Mark Nunis

Tutors - Sharon Moloney (Grade 3 & 4), Kate Hickingbotham (Grade 5 & 6)

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden - Ros Hill

Literacy Intervention - Karen Wilson (Grade 1 & 2)

English as an Additional Language support & First Aid - Lou Brooks

Library Technician - Helen Reed

Education Support - Helen Reed, Lou Brooks, Karen Wilson, Angela Graffen, Elise Heeger, Anthony Nero, Bek Mitchell, and three new staff, still to be appointed.

Chaplain - to be appointed

Office - Kate Raaymakers and Kelli Heriot

Leadership - Jenny Verheijden (Assistant Principal) and Marie Beale (Principal)

Lamont Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who has come along to the Book Fair and purchased books for their child or to store away for gifts. Tomorrow is the last day for any purchases. We will have the Fair open straight after assembly and then again from 3-4PM in the afternoon. The Fair is a fundraising opportunity for the school as we raise important funds for our new playground. Pop along and visit the Fair before it is all gone.

Christmas Celebration - Next week

We hope you have already set aside next Tuesday, 6 December, as a night to celebrate all things Christmas, here with us at school. The picnic commences at 6:00 with BYO Christmas adornments, food to eat, rugs and chairs to sit on and any other item you may need. We will be selling ice-creams, icypoles and drinks (we will be using our new portable EFTPOS machine as well as taking cash). Also available to purchase are the Art Cards that have been created using our Students fabulous art work. They are $3 each or 5 for $10 (proceeds will go towards our Playground Fund).

We will be giving each family a raffle ticket for the lucky draw of 10x Melbourne Museum passes. If you have a bent for music and would love to participate as an instrumentalist or vocalist at the event, Mark Nunis is running a rehearsal at 5:00pm. Bring along your singing voices and instruments and join in the fun.

Book Packs

On Monday 12 December students will be bringing home their book packs for 2023. These packs contain the stationery items they need for their lessons next year. Please name these items and have your child bring them back in on the first few days of 2023.

Details of Parent Payment Arrangements are available on COMPASS and a hard copy will be included in the book pack.

Final transition sessions

Over the last month all students have been experiencing transition activities as we prepare everyone to move on to the next year level. We have two more sessions to go, tomorrow and Tuesday 13 December. On Tuesday 13 December, your child will meet their new classroom teacher and classmates. During their time together on this day we will photograph the group and print a copy to send home with them so they can stick it on the fridge and refer to it during the holidays.

Commencement of school 2023 - Grade 1-6

All Grade 1-6 students are due to return to school on Monday 30 January at 8:45am. We look forward to welcoming everyone back, safe and well rested.

Commencement of school 2023 - Foundation

Our Foundation students will commence their schooling on Thursday 2 February having come in to for a session with their classroom teacher on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday that week. All Foundation students will then have Wednesday 8 & 15 February as days at home, to adjust to starting school. Their first full week will be starting Monday 20 February. This is a change to our previous practices of bringing in Foundation students and we believe that it will provide the Foundation teachers with very important beginning school assessment for literacy and numeracy. A schedule of times for these assessments will be provided to families tomorrow at the transition session.

Shopping for uniform items during the holidays?

As it gets closer to the start of the new school year and you are out shopping for uniform items like shoes, hats, shorts and tracksuit pants, I would like to remind you of the following:

Shoes are to be plain black or white runners, or black school shoes. Multi-coloured shoes and laces are not part of the uniform, no matter what your child will tell you.
Shorts and tracksuit pants are plain black with no sport's logo visible. Shorts are expected to be of a reasonable length, with decency and sun protection the aim.
Hats are a standard bucket/surf hat with the school logo, these are available from the uniform shop or from the school office.

We thank you in advance for supporting the uniform policy, if you have any questions please pop in to the office to have a chat. Reminder that RHSports, our uniform shop, will be open during the holiday period for your convenience.

Camp Australia

Term 4