From the Acting Principal

MOTHER'S DAY STALL

Last week, our students spent time shopping for gifts at our very own Mother's Day stall. It was priceless seeing the little ones eyes light up at the range of products, and chattering about what their mums would love. Of course, the stall wouldn’t have been possible without the organisation and commitment of our Social and Fundraising committee led by Kimberley Payne, Jonathan Doncovio and their band of dedicated volunteers.

The Mother's Day stall raised a profit of $1588. Thank you again to our parents who made the stall such a success.

PREP ENROLMENTS FOR 2022

It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of the year, to confirm PREP enrolments for 2022. We have been conducting school tours on a fortnightly basis and we’re proud to say that those who visit the school want to enrol their child here. I’m not sure whether it’s the confidence of the school captains who answer parent questions so eloquently, or the amazing smells and culinary delights stemming from the kitchen garden, or the fact the students in every classroom are so engaged in their learning, that is so appealing to our visitors. Before we can consider accepting enrolments for students outside the Murrumbeena Primary School zone, we must first consider those students who reside within the zone.

If you have a child who is commencing prep in 2022 and you haven’t yet enrolled, can you please do so as soon as possible, even as early as next week. We would like to be able to start offering places to prospective families from the commencement of Term 3.

BUILDING UPDATE

It seems as though the building works have stalled, however there has been a great deal of work occurring behind the scenes. At our recent meeting with the VSBA (Victorian Schools Building Authority), we were assured that the completion date of 9 July is still on track.

The year 6 students have moved back into their classroom and the prep rooms will be completed over the next few weeks. The underpinning works to the north and south towers are now complete and the underpinning on the western side of the school will go ahead over the next month.

I’d like to thank the office staff and the teachers and their classes for their positivity and continued patience as the refurbishments have continued. We keep our fingers crossed that we will be moving back into the office area during the school holidays.

WHERE IS THE OFFICE?

While refurbishments continue, the office is located in the library. Parents can access the office from the Hobart Road side and enter via the library double glass doors.

SCHOOL OPEN DAY- Saturday 14 August

Save the date! We will be holding an Open Day on Saturday 14 August (11:00am to 1:00pm) to enable families to come and see the beautifully refurbished building and grounds. The Open Day will also be a fabulous opportunity to promote our wonderful school to the local community.

WORKING BEE

We usually hold 2- 3 working bees over the year and hope that families can come to at least one of them to help out.

Our next working bee will be held on Saturday 19 June (9:30 – 1:00pm).

There are usually a range of general garden clean up and maintenance jobs, such as, raking leaves, weeding, trimming overgrown plants, painting benches etc.

We didn’t have a working bee last year, so we are really hoping parents are able to come along for an hour or two to lend a hand.

OUTDOOR KITCHEN

Angel and Anna continue to surprise us with their ideas for continuing to improve the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden program and have secured the donation of an outdoor pizza oven from Bunnings.

We are now planning an outdoor kitchen, equipped with barbecue and pizza oven. This will be located beside the merbau decking near the learning centre.

Now we need the help of parents and volunteers

Do you have a flair for design? How might we turn this dirt area into a dynamic outdoor kitchen? We’re looking for a team of parents to help create this space.

If you are interested, please contact me. We’re hoping to have our new outdoor kitchen completed and ready for action for our Open Day.

FORMAL ASSESSMENTS

Our school has an assessment schedule that identifies the type and timing of formalised assessments to be delivered across the school. The school uses the data obtained from these assessments for the following purposes:

To identify the degree of student academic growth over each 12 month period.
To moderate teacher judgements for reporting purposes. (A student’s academic achievement is compared to age related norms and helps identify the degree to which they are achieving below, at or above the Victorian Curriculum standard).
To pinpoint areas where our school is excelling and areas where we can fine tune our focus for continuous improvement.

ICAS

In addition to our formal assessments, we are offering parents the opportunity to choose to have their child participate in ICAS and receive a personalised report about their child’s achievement on the day of the testing.

ICAS is designed to target students’ higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science and Writing.

ICAS is a ‘user pay’ option. You can learn more about ICAS here: https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas

This week, we will be posting a newsfeed with further information about ICAS for those who may be interested.

There is absolutely no expectation for students to participate. School programs will run as usual, however, should a parent choose to have their child participate in ICAS assessments, they will undertake the test on the allocated day under supervision in the library.

LOST PROPERTY

The 'murrumbeanies' are brilliant but just like school uniforms, they all look the same. PLEASE make sure that school clothing items are clearly labelled. There are always many pieces of lost property found around the school. We look at this problem from several angles.

Firstly, we believe it is the responsibility of the student to look after his/her belongings and to ensure nothing is left unattended or not collected. It is an important skill of independence that students care for their belongings and take responsibility for their whereabouts.

Secondly, we wish to promote the important practice of naming all articles of clothing that may be removed during a school day. Students should know where their name tag is located on items, and should check that they pick up the correct items at the end of playtimes etc.

If the above processes are not successful, then the item of clothing may end up in the lost property containers. Students or parents can then retrieve their labelled items.

There have been instances where labelled clothing is unable to be located and this could be because students have picked up the wrong items.

Could families please check that all of their belongings are labelled, and if they find items belonging to other students that have come home in error, please return them to school.

Chellee Plumb