Principal's Message

Working Bee

How good are our families? That's rhetorical because they are amazing! If anyone wanted evidence, they just had to see  all the parents and children working hard on moving mulch into our orchard, weeding our  court yard garden beds, pruning trees and getting rid of cobwebs. Thank you to Mr Dix for all of his help and Russell for coordinating all of the following volunteer families, Philippe, Mace, Liew, Choong, Millar, Teoh, Herath, Qian, Iredale,

Ma, Bane, Seymour, McDonald, Barker & Starkey. Thank you once again for all your hard work.

We had two Saturdays in a row for our families.

Election Day was another wonderful day with money raised on the Cake Stall $1043.65 and the Sausage Sizzle $1439.00 a total of $2482.65. What a great effort.  We will be in discussion with the P & F Committee and School Council on what these funds go towards to benefit our students.

Welcome Tanya Burton

My name is Tanya Burton and I have been in education for 15 years. I am currently Assistant Principal at Birralee Primary School in Doncaster and in the final stages of doing the Department’s Unlocking Potential course for aspiring Principals. As part of this I have been given the opportunity to shadow Kim over the next four weeks. During this time, I will be learning how the school uses data across each year level to inform teaching and learning, as well as how wider strategies, such as the Strategic Plan, Annual Implementation Plan and the High Impact Teaching Strategies are used. I am looking forward to being a part of the community and working with the staff and students at the school. 

Open Day and School Tours

Huge thanks to Amanda Nelson, Erin Bennetts, Sue Moore for all there help on a Saturday in leading and coordinating School Tours. We also had a steady stream of families interested in our Kinder come through and with thanks to Al, Theresa and Yushan we had a very successful Open Day showcasing everything Mount Pleasant Road!

Have your say...School Master Plan 

Feedback from students and parents is coming in through surveys and class discussions.

We are very excited to be allocated the funding to upgrade the Old Building. This currently has Foundation and 1/2 classes, Library, Performing Arts, Indonesian and MiniLit. We are seeking input from families via a survey which originally went out via email last week. 

Wide spread consultation occurred in the development of the original Master Plan and so the results of this survey will help shape any modifications to the Master Plan going forward.

Survey link - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8KDH92S

We are also looking for any parents that would like to join a working party to oversee the building works and give input from a parent perspective. Please email the school if you are interested.

School Council

School Council met last Thursday over zoom.

Each sub committee presented their reports with Education confirming the new staff are settling into the Kinder and the School Vision has been finalised as 'To provide a safe, innovative and engaging setting which inspires students to achieve personal growth and feel empowered to make a positive impact in the world around them.' With additional work being to unpack this.  The Parent Phonogram course which was supported by staff received positive feedback from families that attended.

Facilities planned for the new date for the Working Bee. Finance approved repo0rts and the Fundraising Policy - available on our website. With Community, Services and Personnel acknowledging Flip for outstanding commitment to organising our recent parent events from the Election Stall, Mothers' Day Stall and cookie drive. There is an aim to support Parent Reps to connect with all parents. There was presentation around the stages of the building and how the Master Plan informs the building process and councillors were informed of the positive and numerous responses to the parent survey.

Rebecca Smith 

School Council President

Reconciliation Week - 'Be Brave. Make Change'

National Reconciliation Week—27 May to 3 June—is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Enrichment Program Update

Writing Workshop

On Monday 23rd May, 10 students from 3/4 were invited to take part in a writing workshop with author Nathan Luff via Zoom. The session had a focus on character development including: how to breathe life into characters; how to create characters that inspire drama; how to create characters the reader will relate to; and how to differentiate characters from each other while also exploring creative ways of revealing characters through dialogue and action.

“I enjoyed learning to develop my characters more specifically in my stories than I normally would” - Wendy

“I learnt how to use character cruelty to make my story more interesting” - Christian

“We learnt how to make conflict between characters which I enjoyed” - Claire

Australian Maths Challenge

Last week, 58 selected students from years 3-6 began the Maths Challenge organised by the Australian Mathematics Trust. The challenge involves students working independently or in small groups on 4 problem-solving challenges over 4 weeks with the aim of extending their mathematical and abstract thinking. We can’t wait to see the solutions! 

Dorothea Mackeller Poetry Awards

The Dorothea Mackeller poetry awards is a national poetry competition open to students in Foundation - Year 12. This year there is an optional theme which poems may be based on; ‘In My Opinion’.

Entries can be any type of poem; haiku, limerick, acrostic, cinquain, stanza, ballard etc. 

We encourage all students to attempt writing a poem at home and submit to Mrs Rock by the end of Term 2 either on paper or through a Sentral message. 

Tutor Learning Initiative

In Term 2 we have 39 students participating in the Tutor Learning Initiative where students receive targeted extension or support in a small-group setting. Whilst supporting students is a part of this program, extending high-ability students plays an equally important role. Unfortunately the tutor program has been disrupted due to staff shortages however we are continuing to run when possible and have enjoyed getting to know the students, setting goals and providing targeted instruction through a variety of hands-on activities and games to assist students in achieving their goals.

Mrs Simone Rock

High Ability Practice Leader

Year 6 to 7 Placement 2023

All application forms for Year 7 Placement 2023 have been sent to the various government high schools based on the first preference indicated on the forms. As per the Year 6 to 7 Placement Timeline, parents/carers will be notified of the outcome of their request from Wednesday 20th July. Where initial placement requests were unsuccessful we will then submit your application to your subsequent preference requests. 

If you have any questions about this process please contact Amanda Nelson.