MEREDITH PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER ISSUE 8 2015 Friday 20th March 2015 Principal’s Report Calendar March Monday 23rd— Pupil Free/Curriculum Day Friday 27th March Last day of term 2.15pm finish Easter Raffle draw April Monday 13th April First day of Term 2 Garden Group 1.30—3.15pm __________________ Mr G’s Maker Group Please note that next week’s session has been changed from Tuesday to Wednesday. Times remain the same 3.00pm—4.00pm Easter Raffle Thank you for donations to date. The hampers are looking very healthy and we are hoping to have 3 prizes again. Tickets are due back on Wednesday 25th March and will be drawn on Friday 27th at assembly. Outstanding Accounts Thank you to all the families who have paid their $150 Student payment. Please note that the first $50 is due before the end of this term. Students have had their classroom supplies since the first day of term. Please note that EMA is no longer available to cover this charge. Hello everyone, Cross Country Thanks to everyone for coming out for our cross country day. We had a great time and it was terrific to engage in fun and healthy exercise and activity on the day. Well done kids, you all ran really well and it was great to see you all push yourselves and get the most out of the day. School Council Office Bearers I’d like to congratulate the following—President-Stefania Parkinson, Vice PresidentJames Knight, Treasurer-Linda Burnett and Secretary-Fairlie Pritchard Staff Leave Moya Elvey will be taking long service leave from the start of term 2 and will be absent until the 3rd of November. Kerrie Brown will replace Moya in her absence and fill the same role within the school team. Staff resignation I regret to inform you that Carol Cations has decided to retire from her position as Business manager at the end of this term. Carol has served the school with distinction over several years, and it is with a heavy heart we wish her well. To celebrate Mrs. Cations last day we are having a fancy dress-up day on Friday, March 27th We are inviting children to come dressed up as something beginning with ‘C’ to celebrate our wonderful ‘CC”, Mrs. Cations. Staff Employment I am very pleased to announce that Belinda Gear has been appointed to the position of business manager replacing Carol from the beginning of Term 2. Belinda comes to us from Lal Lal Primary School where she has worked for the previous 3 and a half years. Belinda will work every day except Wednesdays. Choir Expression of Interest I’m excited to announce that we are running an extra-curricular choir activity for the first six weeks of term 2. Beginning Wednesday, April 15th at 3.15—4.15pm. The teacher will be a local resident, Kim Ivory. We will be accepting Grade 2 children and up for this activity (as they need this level of reading skill), we only have 15 places. Should we receive more than 15 expressions of interest we will choose names out of a hat. There will be no charge for these sessions as we are getting funded by the shire. Please fill out an expression of interest form attached to the newsletter. If this proves a successful activity we may extend it after the trial in term 3 or 4. ICT (INTERNET) Use Policy Today all students have been given a copy of the Meredith Primary School policy relating to the use of internet at school. All parents and children are required to have an understanding of this policy and students are required to read, sign and return the attached Student Agreement before they will be permitted access to the school internet. Please spend the time with your child/children going through the agreement as it is mandatory and contributes to the safety and awareness of potential consequences and dangers of inappropriate usage. Ph: 5286 1313 FAX: 5286 1484 Email: [email protected] Website: www.meredithps.vic.edu.au Christian Brown Principal Meredith Primary School Early Finish Next Friday There will be an early finish to term next Friday. Students will be dismissed at 2.15pm and Outside School Hours Care will operate from that time. Cricket Result Congratulations to the Elaine U/13 boys cricket team who have made the BCA Grand final this weekend. The team is chock full of Meredith PS kids past and present. If you’re not doing anything turn up at Wendouree 2 on Saturday and Sunday to cheer the boys home—Go Elaine! Christian Student Achievement Awards P/1 TASTES OF MEREDITH FRIDAY 27th MARCH 6PM ~ 8 pm. MEREDITH INTERPRETIVE CENTRE MIDLAND HIGHWAY, MEREDITH Discover more about the produce our great Meredith Region has to offer. Tastings of our local cheese, wine, lamb, beef, pork, vegetarian and sweet delights. GOLD COIN DONATION at each TASTING POST. Organised by ADVANCE MEREDITH ASSOCIATION AND LOCAL BUSINESSES Musical entertainment and activities An exciting new venture in our town Macaulay Buchanan For his excellent attentive listening skills Grade 4/5/6 News of The Week Emma Downie For her happy smiles and enjoyment whenever we sing Pictures of the students doing their ANZAC Centenary ilearning projects, and enjoying a session with visiting local children’s author Matt Porter. 1/2 Dustin Perry For approaching all set tasks with a smile and positive attitude Natalie Cochrane For being a kind and caring friend to everyone 2/3 Isabelle Wood For her awesome work on her tourism advertisement Sebastion Raftery For his fantastic effort during the cross country 4/5 Kynan Munday For his excellent effort in the cross country Kirsty Roberts For showing leadership during iLearning 6 Angus Bigmore For being a caring and encouraging team leader on our cross country day Stone Tighe-Marshall For showing great determination in the cross country run Principal Award Seth Ludowyk For being a great helper with the younger students As part of our ANZAC Centenary unit, we are asking if any families have copies of old photos of relatives who fought during the war, to be part of our Meredith Primary School School Council Update—March 2015 The School Council Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Thursday 12th March at 7pm, followed by the first meeting of the new council on Monday 16th March. It has been a very busy couple of weeks for council and I would like to welcome new members, Jimmy Knight, Kerrie Flood and Virginia Cooper. I would also like to congratulate the Office Bearers (which Christian has already announced) on their positions. The AGM was a terrific night. We kept the formalities to a minimum and used the evening to highlight some of our collective achievements throughout the year. Helena Lindorff tabled the Environment Plan for 2014 which is available to view on the notice board in the school foyer. It is a very detailed list of what has been completed and what is still being worked on. This list however is always evolving and changing but gives us something to work towards, our vision and a wish list! We also took the opportunity to highlight and thank our outgoing members, Martin Peters, Matt Reichman and Andrew Cooke. They have all made a significant and valuable contribution to council and will all be sadly missed. We concluded the evening with supper and lots of chatting. On Monday evening, Mr G presented the results of the School Council Survey. Thank you to those who took the time to participate. A copy of the results is available from Mr G. or the office if you are interested however in a nut shell you seem to think that things are travelling along well. There were no areas of major concern or nothing that stood out dramatically. I was thrilled to discover that you all know about the ‘suggestion box’, so now I am hopeful it will be full of your ideas and comments each monthJ Our new councilors had some terrific ideas and thoughts at our first meeting and one thing was brought to my attention that perhaps some parents aren’t aware that the fee for Outside School Hours Care can be as little as $8 per child per session and for some families, even less! It is all to do with the CCR (Child Care Rebate) and CCB (Child Care Benefit). All you have to do is register for these benefits which is as simple as making one phone call. Chat to Carol in the office, Sharni, Janie or Christian, they will be very happy to help. We also had a discussion about extra curricula activities at the school. It certainly ignites passionate conversation for and against and is something I know parents feel strongly about. It was interesting to hear that extra curricula activities are not always delivered after school hours as I’m sure some of us may expect. For example, activities that the Year 6 students organize during lunch times, the swimming program, school camps etc. to give up their own time to deliver activities to our students outside school hours. It was also very interesting to hear that other schools in comparison do not offer any extra curricula activities at all. As a council we will continue to work with the staff to help provide our kids with the best opportunities possible to try new things and develop new skills through activities organized at the school. In the meantime, if you are looking for opportunities for your child to socialize, participate, learn new skills and generally have fun in a supportive and caring environment, why not look at the Outside School Hours Program. It is a very high quality program and great value for money and the kids that use it, love it! Fundraising was also a topic of discussion and some really good ideas were raised. Fundraising isn’t for everyone, but it does allow us to purchase new things and make improvements to the school that we could otherwise not afford. I am very certain that we have some very passionate council members this year who are driven and focused on making improvements to the school and they are fully prepared to do what it takes and bring back the fun in fundraising. The school receives a significant amount of money from the Music Festivals each year. I can’t even imagine where the school would be without this money. The time and effort the Tucker Tent Coordinator contributes each year is very significant and possibly not acknowledged as it should be. With this in mind school council has made the decision to appoint the schools Tucker Tent Coordinator a position on school council. A special motion was passed unopposed on Monday evening and therefore I am very pleased to welcome Andrew Cooke onto council. Andrew has coordinated the schools shift at the music festival for several years and we are pleased to welcome him back onto council in this capacity. As you may be aware, the school is undertaking its four year review and compiling a plan for the direction of the school over the coming four years. On Monday, I will participate in this process which I consider to be significant and important for our school and in particular our children and their education for the coming four years. I plan to bring to the table a parent’s perspective and hopefully from survey results and simply chatting to other parents, a sound idea and understanding of what direction you would like our school to take. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 15th April 2015 at 6.30pm. And as always if you have anything you would like to bring to my attention or chat about please let me know via Carol or Christian. Stefania Parkinson President Volunteers Needed Council have had a request from the organiser of the new Meredith Man Cave Madness Charity Fundraising Event for community volunteers to assist on the day. The Meredith Mancave Madness event is on Sunday 12th April at the Meredith Oval and volunteers are needed for roles that include traffic control, sausage sizzle, money collection and general cleaning duties. Volunteers are needed anytime on the day from 6.00am to 4.00pm and food, drink and all equipment will be provided. The organisers also extending an invite to car enthusiasts, local producers, local groups or vendors who may want to have a stall at the event. The cost of stall sites are: 7m x 6m swap meet sites $40 Car boot sale sites $10 100% of all proceeds from this event are going to charity. To volunteer, book a stall or for more information contact Karl Hardy on 0408788897 or [email protected] Chook House Next term we are going to build a chook house in our school yard. We are asking for donated materials ie chicken wire, star pickets, corrugated iron and timber etc. We are also looking for any parents or friends who may be able to donate some time and /or expertise during the construction. We are planning to use time on Mondays and Tuesdays during next term to get the project up and running. We are also running an outdoor learning activity next term and need square some of the small rectangular bales of hay. If you are able to donate some hay, please see Mrs Gargan. Garden Group Just a reminder that our garden group meets on the 3rd Monday of the month. The next session will be on the first day of Term 2, the 13th April. Meredith Primary School Choir Expression of Interest for students from Grade 2—6 I wish my child / children ______________________________________ to be involved with the Meredith School Choir during Term 2. I understand that the program will be run starting on Wednesday April 15th from 3.15pm –4.15pm for 6 weeks. Signed ________________________________ Date __________________
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