1. education
2. school

Thursday October 23rd 2014
Term 4 Week 3
SOVEREIGN HILL EXCURSION—a Model for Learning
What a pleasure it was to was to go with the Prep and Year One students to
Sovereign Hill last Friday. They were so excited and just bubbling over with
questions all the way in the bus. The group I was with (and the other teachers
said the same thing) were really interested in learning all about all the various
work that is done at Sovereign Hill. Sometimes you wonder just how many
questions they can ask before they feel satisfied with the answers?
This thirst for knowledge and a genuine curiosity about the world at large is so
obvious in these young children and we need to keep that passion and energy
forefront in their learning for the whole of their lives.
Merrivale PS is involved in a major project with DEECD and a large group of
schools ( over 1000) all around the world called the New Pedagogies for Deep
Learning. It’s a big title, but it is about creating a passion for learning, for
making sure that the learning is based in real life situations, for providing them
with both the skills to problem solve and the opportunities to develop problems.
At the moment the staff have planned units of work this term to trial for the
project and next week, three staff (Mrs Jones, Mrs Reinheimer and Ms
Carmichael) will be going to Melbourne on Tuesday to hear Michael Fullan the
mastermind of this project take us on the next step of our journey.
We are as excited as the students on the bus, with a hundred questions to ask.
Watch this space over future weeks as we share our learning with you.
Students for 2015:
If there are any of our families who are
aware of other families either wishing to enrol or leave our school, could
you please urge them to make contact with the office as soon as possible.
Planning is well under way for 2015, and this process is always easier for
us if we know our numbers in advance. The office can be contacted
between 8:30-4:30 Monday to Friday. Thankyou.
SCHOOL HATS
Unfortunately we still have a number of children looking for ‘spare’ hats
to wear at snack & lunchtime. We still have 8 weeks of school left, so
please pop into the office to purchase one for only $10.
As of next week we will be enforcing a ‘No Hat - No Play’ rule.
Good luck to 6 students who are heading to a Spelling Competition at
Warrnambool Primary School tonight: Joel R, Greta D, Lachlan J,
Carly B, Harry S and Lacey E. Thanks to Mrs Reinheimer for taking
the students to this event, we wish them all the very best, and look
forward to hearing the results tomorrow.
Students are
supervised from
8:45am until 3:45pm
Camp
Kangaroobie
27-29th October
Walk to School Day
Friday 31st October
Fair Raffle
Tickets due back at
school on the
10th November
Kanga 8’s Cricket
Nov 11th
SCHOOL FAIR
FRI 14th NOV
5-8pm
Prep-2 Swimming
Starting 13th Nov
Note going home to
parents shortly.
RED POPPY
APPEAL
for Remembrance Day
on 11/11/14
Badges and wristbands
for sale at the office
for $1-$5. Please help
us support the RSL,
the ex service
community and their
families.
TRIBES: Attentive Listening, Appreciations, Personal Best, Mutual Respect, Right to Pass
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ASSEMBLY
AWARDS
Congratulations to all the students who received
awards at last Friday’s Assembly,
Well done to you all, we are very proud of you!
Brauer College Primary Schools
Public Speaking Competition
A big Congratulations to Eva H from Rm 10 who won First Place in the
Brauer Public Speaking Comp last Thursday night. There were 12 speakers
from different Primary Schools who spoke in two sections, Prepared and
Impromptu. Evas prepared speech was on Dyslexia, and for her impromptu
she chose the topic “What I would do if I won one million dollars”. Eva
spoke about donating the money to the RDA (Riding Disabled Australia) so
they could compete in the Olympics. Well done Eva, we are very proud of
you, and thankyou for representing MPS!
Zahli & Tye K
competed in a Hip Hop
competition called
“Fired Up” in
Melbourne last weekend.
They threw their heart
and soul into their
routine, and were the
outstanding
WINNERS! They won
$300 for their dance
group called Klik Krew.
A super big
congratulations to you both!
Beyond the Bell:
On Monday Marcus McCormick visited students in Grade
5/6 to talk to us about Beyond the Bell. Beyond the Bell
is an initiative to explore the reasons why students in the
South West are not finishing Year 12. Marcus explained
they have surveyed many parents, teachers and students.
He described there are many different pathways to
pursue future careers including VCE, VCAL, TAFE or
through apprenticeships. We
were given a booklet titled “Why
Year 12?” that had 24 success
stories from local residents. In
my opinion completing year 12 is
a definite as I will have more
career opportunities. Maddy M-G
REGIONAL ATHLETICS: Last Friday we had 7 students represent MPS in the Regionals
held in Ballarat. We would like to congratulate the following students on their efforts:
Aaron V - shotput, Obi W - 100m & 200m, Jordan B - long jump,
Ruben S - 100m, Roxy M-G - 1500, Angus B - 200m and Lily J - 800m.
Thankyou also to the parents who assisted with driving and
supervising on the day!
CA Tritons Swim Meet
On Saturday the 18th of October I went to
Melbourne to compete in a swimming competition at MSAC. Warm up was at 7:30am and
went to 8:30am. I competed in six events. I also got PB’s in every event. My first event was
50 Backstroke, backstroke is my best stroke. I came first and my time was
37.93. My second event was 100 free, I came 12th and my time was 1.16.10.
My third event was 50 breastroke and my time was 52.86. My fourth event
was 50 free and my time was 34.04 and I was 0.04 off states. My fifth event
was 100 backstroke and my time was 1.29.37. My last event was 50 fly and I
came third and my time was 41.98. I got country times in everything except
50 breastroke. By Rachel V - Well done Rachel, from everyone at MPS!
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Sovereign Hill Excursion
On Friday all the grade 1’s and preps went to Sovereign Hill. My group teacher was
Miss Price. We went to the education centre and we learnt about how and when to take horse
shoes off and on and then we did bowling from the olden days. We went panning for gold. No
one found gold. We saw heaps of Churches and tents that people used to live in. We went to see
a performance in a building about gold. We saw soldiers and police. The Police man said “quick
get in a line you might be arrested” the police said “who wants to get arrested” Archer and
Stanley said Yes. The police gave everyone a big trick about getting in line. We told the police we
went panning for gold. The police asked us if we had a panning for gold licence we said yes. But
we didn’t have one. We asked Miss Price, why the police asked us for a licence and she said in the
olden days they wanted to go panning for gold they needed licences. I got liquorice from Miss
Farrell. I had a great time. My best part was holding the bar of gold which was worth $136000.
By Ella J
On Friday Rooms 1, 2, 6 & 7 went to Sovereign Hill. It took 2 hours to drive there. When we got
there we put our bags in a shady place, then we spilt up into groups. First we went walking
around the villages. Then we had recess then we went to pan for gold. While we were panning
for gold. My hat went into the river. We had lunch then we went to the lolly shop. On the way
back we had another stop we got a bag of chips, a mandarin, a biscuit and a freddo frog.
By Kelsey M
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eSmart
Cyberbullying, sexual predation, identity theft and accessing and
sending inappropriate images and content are some of the real
cybersafety risks facing young people today.
To reduce our students’ exposure to these risks, and to help the Merrivale community embrace the benefits
of technology, Merrivale Primary has become involved in eSmart. Funded in Victoria by the State Government, eSmart is an initiative of The Alannah and Madeline Foundation. It was
developed by the RMIT School of Education, with the input of many other cybersafety and
education experts. Merrivale has completed the first stage of accreditation and is now moving through the
implementation stage of the initiative. This involves the further development of existing policies,
establishing clear procedures to deal with incidents as they arise and delivering curriculum around the
smart, safe and responsible use of technology. Could any member of the school community who would like
to become involved in the eSmart committee please contact David Stevens or Leanne in the front office.
DONATIONS NEEDED:
If you have any medium or large glass jars
that you can send into school to be used in
the Fair Plant stall it would be very
much appreciated.
Plastic Bags required
We will need lots of plastic shopping
bags for the stalls on the night of the
fair - please drop them at the office.
Healthy Moves Walking Competition
We are pleased to have two students who have entered writing pieces into the Healthy Moves Walk to
School writing competition. Well done Jazmin & Angel McK, and good luck in the comp! You can check out
other entries on the Healthy Moves website at: www.healthymoves.net.au
On the way to school I see birds in the sky. I
hear my baby sister talking and she is very
funny. I can feel the wind and I see the green
grass, when I was walking. I can feel rain
drops and sometimes it is really
cold. I feel happy to see my friends and my
teacher Miss Kenna. I love walking to school
each day with my Mum, my twin
sister and my baby sister. I love
them. The End. By Angel
When I walk to school I feel raindrops if it is
raining. I hear my twin sister talking to me. I
see cars, flowers, other people walking to
school, houses, grass, birds sitting
on the wire and people riding bikes
and scooters.
When I walk to school I feel the
concrete under my feet.
I feel happy in the morning.
I love school!!
By Jazmin
Did you know that this week is Water Week? On Monday we unveiled our
massive mural that has taken us 8 weeks to design and paint. It was a lot of fun. You can
find it at the boat ramp near Lyndoch. Thank you to
Wannon Water for letting us do this. Afterwards, we
walked over to Lyndoch to see the residents and talk
about Water Week. Ben from Wannon Water taught us
about the water cycle and how they
breed gold fish to help to clean the
sludge out of our water ways. Did
you know that at Wannon Water
they breed 200,000 gold fish per
month? By Fletcher M
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DATE
WHO IS INVOLVED
WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN
Friday 24th Oct
Room 4 & Mrs Clark
9:00-12pm Farm visit at Panmure
Monday 27th Oct
Years 3 & 4
Room 7
Camp Kangaroobie
Visit to Lyndoch for games from 10-11.45am
Tuesday 28th Oct
Years 3 & 4
Camp Kangaroobie
Weds 29th Oct
Years 3 & 4
Pre-school children
Camp return from Kangaroobie
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Friday 31st Oct
Whole School
Weds 5th Nov
Pre-school children
Walk to School Day - teacher meeting points at the
corners of Gay St/McMeekin Rd & Duris St/Merrivale
Drive.
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Friday 7th Nov
Room 4 & Mrs Clark
Lyndoch for craft. 10-11:45am
Weds 12th Nov
Pre-school children
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Thursday 13th
Nov
Friday 14th Nov
P-2 & teachers
Swimming programme
P-2 & teachers
Whole School
Swimming Programme
MPS FAIR 5-8pm - ALL WELCOME!
Weds 19th Nov
Preps for 2015
Pre-school children
Prep Transition #1
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Thursday 20th
Nov
Friday 21st Nov
P-2 & teachers
Swimming Programme
P-2 & teachers
Swimming Programme
Weds 26th Nov
Pre-school children
Preps for 2015
Yrs 4, 5 & 6
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Prep Transition #2
Blue Light Bike Ride
Thursday 27th
Nov
Friday 28th Nov
P-2 & teachers
Swimming Programme
P-2 & teachers
Swimming Programme
Weds 3rd Dec
Pre-school children
(IF IT IS KNOWN AT THIS STAGE)
Weds 10th Dec
Preps for 2015
Whole School
Prep Parents 2015
Pre-school children
Thurs 11th Dec
Grade 6 students
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Prep Transition #3
Transition Day 9:15-1:15
Prep Information Night
Story Time in the school Library at 2:30pm. All
pre-school children and their parents are welcome!
Grade 6 Graduation
Mon 15th Dec
Whole School
MPS Family Night
Tues 16th Dec
Whole School
Day Out
Tuesday 9th Dec
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STORY TIME
Every Wednesday in the school library
at 2:30pm with Mrs Auld.
All pre-schoolers and their parents
welcome.
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