Thursday 1st December

Dear Families,

Welcome to summer!

This newsletter report is coming from Gundiwindi Lodge where the Year 3/4 students are having a wonderful time and have much to be proud of as they are embracing every challenge and opportunity to the best of their ability. This is always a huge logistical effort to coordinate and I wanted to acknowledge the efforts of Scott, Kieran and Lilly getting this organised. I’d also like to thank Sharyn, Sue, Dee and Hollie for their amazing support of our students.

Our Camp program was started last week with our Year 1/2 students having a great day at Funfields before heading back to school for dinner and then the Year 2 students stayed for a sleepover. Thanks to Daniel, Courtney, Anne and Shelley as well as parents Sarah, Rose, Anna and Jessie for their support on the day too.

Next week our Year 5/6 students are heading off on their camp and we wish them a great experience too.

2023 staffing update

As is common most years we will have some staff leaving and some staff changing roles next year. With only a few weeks left of the school year we need to acknowledge some staff who won’t be with us to give you the chance to send your well wishes.

Justin Benne will be commencing a fixed term 12-month teaching position at Kallista PS next year. Justin has been a fixture of MCPS for many years and has been an incredible teacher, colleague and support for our community. I’d personally like to acknowledge his support and assistance as I have joined MCPS and thank him for what he has done for our school.

Lilly Markovic will be commencing a fixed term 12-month teaching position at Brandon Park PS next year. Lilly has only ever taught at MCPS and is embarking on a new challenge. Lilly’s drive, passion and commitment to our students will be greatly missed. We wish her well.

Kieran Cantwell will be commencing a new role teaching at Caulfield Grammar’s Wheelers Hill campus. Like Lilly, Kieran has only taught at MCPS and this will be a wonderful opportunity for him to further his career. Kieran has forged great connections with our students and will also be greatly missed.

Lara Coysh one of our Preschool teachers has accepted a role at the Gembrook Preschool commencing at the beginning of next year. Thank you, Lara, for your commitment and dedication to making our Preschool run so smoothly and all the best for next year and beyond.

Anne Matheson will be taking some well-deserved long service leave for the first two terms next year. This will be a wonderful opportunity for Anne and we hope she enjoys life without being governed by bells for a little while!

We will be in a position to announce new staff members who will join our team in the news feed next week.

Thank you

Last Saturday our school was a polling centre for the Victorian State Election. We again had some great contributions from members of our community for cakes, slices, cupcakes, cookies and breads for us to sell. We also had a BBQ too. A huge thanks to School Councillors Rowan Coxhead, Sarah Wicking and Jessie Evans for giving up their time, this was greatly appreciated.

Keep free Friday 16 December

We will be celebrating MCPS being 140 this year with some Christmas Carols, professional Santa photos (book yours now on Qkr) and fun activities for everyone as we close the school year for 2022. Thanks to our parents, led by Tash Soldatow, who are busy organising these activities. Past students, staff and families all invited so spread the word and save the date.

Transition to 2023

The state-wide transition day will be on Tuesday 13th December where our Year 6 students attending government secondary schools next year will have a day at their new school setting and we will have our 2023 Foundation students with us for the day too. We will have a ‘Meet the Teacher’ for 2023 on this day too for all our students.

Assembly

Assembly will take place tomorrow in the hall from 2:45pm with our Year 5 and 6 students presenting.

Take care everyone,

Dale McInerney

Scholastic