Education News 

Join thousands of Victorian families for Walk to School 2017!

Get ready, get set for Walk to School 2017!

On Monday Moonee Ponds West launched Vic Health Walk to School October.  In conjunction with Vic Health and the AFL Players association, Danny Pearson (Local Member), Neville Jetta (Melbourne FC) and Bree White (our fabulous PE teacher) helped kick start the campaign.

MPW has joined the hundreds of primary schools across Victoria for a fun month of walking, riding and scooting to and from school. By participating, we have a chance to win some great prizes! So every time our local families walks, rides or scoots to and from school during October, you increase our school’s chance of winning!

Student challenge cards:

Don’t forget to complete your challenge card each day you walk and also mark yourself off your classroom calendar, once your challenge card is complete hand it into the office. We will then get them to Council so they will go into the draw to win some great prizes.

Prizes include:

3 x $150 sport voucher

5 x  Bounce Essendon pass

5 x $50  Westfield voucher

Look out for Council or Police Officers either at the school crossing or in front of the school gate between 8.15am - 9am on this day Friday 20th October.  They will be handing out the gold star to those who have walked, cycled or scootered to school to add to the challenge card.

Student poster challenge:

Council will be holding a Poster challenge for all participating students. The winning artist will receive a sports store voucher valued at $150.

The poster should show:

• students and their friends walking to school
• something funny, pretty or interesting that students have seen while walking to or from school
• a slogan about why kids should walk to school
• if students are too far to walk all the way, their poster could highlight park and walk locations

To enter, students should complete their poster and put it up in a visible position at school, then email transport@mvcc.vic.gov.au with their name, phone number, school, a photo of their poster (a photo taken on a phone is fine) and its location. The three most creative designs will be framed, displayed at a Council venue and on Facebook, and three Council staff will choose a winner.

The winning artist will receive a sports store voucher valued at $150.

Decorate your shoes, bikes or scooter

If your school participates in the decorate your shoes, bikes and scooter activity – add this also

In 2017, we’re encouraging our kids to put their best foot forward by decorating their shoes, bikes or scooters to make Walk to School even more fun. Get involved with us for Walk to School and help your family build healthy habits for life: walktoschool.vic.gov.au. This activity will be run by VicHealth.

About Walk to School:

Every October, VicHealth’s Walk to School encourages Victorian primary school kids and their families to walk, ride or scoot to and from school every day. It’s a great way for the whole family to increase their physical activity levels. Plus, it is a chance to enjoy more time with your kids and meet other local families along the way.

Along with the health benefits, it also reduces traffic congestion, saves on parking, helps us connect with family and friends and saves the environment!

Part way is okay! If you can’t walk the whole way, why not try parking the car a few blocks from your school and walk, ride or scoot the rest.

Last year, more than 144,000 kids and their families took part in the program walking the equivalent of two return trips to the moon and with your families help, we can make 2017 our biggest year yet!

There are so many great reasons to participate in Walk to School this October and we’re excited to be part of the fun because getting active is even more fun when we do it together!

Planning Week

Next week is planning week at school for all classroom and specialists teachers. Planning week occurs once a term and involves all year level teachers meeting together to focus on curriculum planning, professional development with both English and Mathematics coaches and event planning for the term.  The classroom teachers plan from 8.45am – 1.30pm and during this time students are taught by specialist teachers or a CRT (Casual Relief Teacher). 

Students look forward to planning week and enjoy the variety of activities on offer.  Teachers continue their planning at assigned meetings conducted after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Planning days for Week 2 are:

• Monday -1/2 and 2/3
• Tuesday- Specialists
• Wednesday- 3/4
• Thursday- 5/6
• Friday – Prep /1