MEPS NEWSLETTER MOOROOLBARK EAST PRIMARY SCHOOL Taylor Road, Mooroolbark 3138 Phone: 9726 9422 FAX: 9726 9833 Website: www.meps.vic.edu.au Wednesday, 25th February, 2015 [email protected] MEPS CALENDAR TERM 1 March Monday 9th Labour Day Public Holiday Wednesday 11th Parent-Teacher Interviews Thursday 12th Grade 3/4 Athletics Gr 6 Leadership Conference Saturday 14th Family Portrait Sittings Sunday 15th Family Portrait Sittings Monday 16th Twilight Sports Thursday 19th Grade 5/6 Athletics Monday 23rd Gr 4 Excursion: Old Melbourne Gaol & MCG Friday 27th Last day of Term 1 / Celebration Day FUND RAISING DATES FOR 2015 Term 1 Sat & Sun, March14th/15th: Family Portrait Sittings Friday 27th March: Easter Raffle Sunday 5th April: Bunnings BBQ Term 2 Wednesday, 6th May: Mothers Day Stall ?Friday, 29th May: Disco Term 3 August Chocolate Drive Wednesday, 2nd Sep: Fathers Day Stall Monday, 14th Sep: Walk-a-thon/Free dress Term 4 PRODUCTION Principal’s Comment Hi Everyone, It is hard to believe that we are half way through first term. It is a very short term but it is still flying by. Summer is almost over…….not much of a summer though. Children are still expected to wear their hats when outside until the end of the term, regardless of the weather. We are a Sunsmart school and we support this policy. Prep Picnic Tea: Thank you to all our Prep families and staff who attended the Picnic Tea at Lilydale Lake last Friday. The weather was great and the attendance rate was sensational. It is a lovely way to start the year. Thank you. Canteen: Our new system in the canteen ran well last week. Of course there were some teething problems as would be expected. Attached to this newsletter is another copy of the order form. We will send out two smaller ones with next week’s newsletter. These forms are also available on our website. You can just write the order on a paper bag if that is easier. We will streamline this process as we become more accustomed to it. Thanks for your patience with this. Thank you very much to Sandy Hill, Mum of Spencer in Grade 4F, who has donated a huge parcel of trays and containers to the canteen. This was very much needed and appreciated. Thank you Sandy. As you are aware we are making lots of our own lunches from scratch now. Our canteen kitchen is needing quite a few things to make this happen. If you have any extra kitchen bits and bobs in your cupboard and they are no longer required at home, could you please think about donating them to school. We are particularly in need of storage containers and electric beaters. Thanks in advance for your support with this. Facebook: I hear that Facebook comments about our staff Facebook protocols have been running rampant lately. On the first day of the school year, when children had not yet started, we had a full day based around staff expectations, protocols and processes. As a part of this, staff worked individually, in pairs and then in small groups to look at where we could improve as a staff. We identified 14 areas that staff believed needed some protocols developed around. One of these was use of social media. Over the past few years there have been several incidents involving Facebook. This has proven to be difficult for some staff who are friends with parents as well as employees. Some conflict has arisen and needed to be sorted out. The other issue that has arisen is many staff opting not to have Facebook or the equivalent because they don’t want their private lives on line. They then find that they are tagged in photos on other people’s Facebook accounts. A small group of staff looked at this issue and developed a set of protocols. One line was that staff not befriend parents as it is sometimes difficult to separate work conversations and friend conversations on line with a large group of people following it. This was discussed at a staff meeting to determine whether or not this protocol was implemented. The group consensus is that staff should be able to befriend parents on Facebook but not students. School is not to be mentioned on Facebook. This was a group consensus after long discussion and not a straight directive with no input. DEECD has no definite guidelines on the use of social media but recommends that teachers use extreme caution with it. Many schools have advised their staff not to be on Facebook at all. Badges Presentation: Next Monday morning there will be the badge’s presentation for all our Grade 6 School Captains, Vice School Captains, House Captains and Vice House Captains. If your child is involved I am sure that they would love to see you there. School Council Elections: Just reminding you that there are upcoming School Council elections. Nominations are now being called for. Half of the School Council retires each year to make way for new members. The other half continue on to provide continuity of knowledge and experience. This year we have four parents whose two year term has expired. These parents are encouraged to renominate, however, we also love to have new School Council members with fresh ideas and thoughts. The School Council is the governing body of our school and oversees all school operations. Being a member of the council provides great insight into the day to day workings of a school and the behind the scenes tasks. If you would like to know more about School Council please make contact with me, or the office, or one of our current School Council members or look for details on the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s website which is www.education.vic.gov.au. There are five parent vacancies on the Council for this year. I wish to thank Geoff Lovell, Lyn McGrath, Tash Tocknell and Fiona Atkinson for all their work on School Council over the last two years. They have made an outstanding contribution as members of the general School Council and in each of the sub-committees in which they are involved. I would encourage each of them to renominate. I also wish to thank Renee Ralph whose term has now finished on School Council. Renee has been on the council for several years but her youngest child was in Grade 6 last year and so Renee is no longer eligible to be a member. Thanks for your great contribution to our school Renee. You have always been enthusiastic and have made a great difference around our school. Thank you. Nomination forms are now available from the office if you wish to nominate for SC. Please consider doing this. It is a great opportunity and you have a significant impact and input into our school. Nominations close next week. You can self nominate. Please think about doing this. Grade 6 Camp: Last week the Grade 6 students went off to camp at Camp Coonawarra. They had a ball! Here is a report. ‘It was exciting. The giant swing was scary but really exciting because when you went up it looked high and when you let go of the string your whole life flashes! It feels like you left your stomach up in the sky and then you go down. The camp staff were really good. On the giant swing and the flying fox they let you take the electronic devices up so you could video yourself going down. The flying fox was over the lake and it was long – we were on the biggest one! Canoeing was really fun. Alana and Jorja fell in as we were playing a game where you had a tennis ball and you had to throw it to each member of the team. When each member of the team had touched it you had to throw it into the instructor’s canoe and when we were trying to get the ball we half tipped in and then it went over. It was funny. You should see the photos that Mr. Kennedy took! Wade, one of the staff, told our group that there were little crocodiles in the water and that the canoes had crocodile repellent and in raft making there is an advantage in having loose ropes. Charlotte’s team had loose ropes so that when it finished it was easy to undo them. Some teams had it really hard to get it undone. Charlotte learnt that she is afraid of heights on the high ropes course – really afraid! Everyone had a harness on so it was okay. Wade had to go up and get Charlotte. The food was nice except for the mashed potato that tasted a bit raw. Nearly every night for supper we had cake. There were birthdays on all but one of the nights. There was a magic stick at the camp fire. Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Mulcahy’s teacher, from when they were in Grade 6 had a magic stick that had a face on the end of it. At camp Mr. Mulcahy would go up to the giant swing shed while Mr. Kennedy took the stick and held it in front of someone’s face for three seconds. Mr. Mulcahy would come back and Mr. Mulcahy and Mr. Kennedy would hug and then Mr. Mulcahy would get the stick and go around the circle holding it in front of each person’s face. He would sense a powerful magic around the person who had originally had the stick in front of their face. Each time he would get it right! At the end Mr. Mulcahy dropped it in the fire. The talent show was funny too. There were a few funny acts like Francis telling jokes, a cooking demonstration that was a joke, dancing and the judges were strict and cruel! Shay and Francis won! All in all the week was amazing and very interesting. We would recommend it for next year’s Grade 6s.’ By Charlotte Johanson and Jorja Pauer Grade 6G. Parent/Teacher Interviews: These will be held on March 11th. Bookings are made online. A separate notice will go home tomorrow explaining this process. The interviews are not for Prep students as they are all having their individual interviews. Please read the notice and go online to book in your 10 minute timeslot. I look forward to seeing you all here. Welcome: Tahlia Ling became a big sister last week with the birth of Rylee Ava. Tahlia is excited and I am sure Rylee’s parents are too. Congratulations! Farewell: Last week we farewelled Mikayla and Lilly Arnold who have moved into a new home in Rosebud. We wish them and their family all the best in their new home and school. You will be missed. Enjoy your week! Debbie Nelsson PRINCIPAL FUND RAISING NEWS FAMILY PORTRAITS Notices were sent home recently advertising our Family Portrait fundraiser which is taking place in March. You can have your family photo taken at school on the weekend of 14th/15th March or arrange a time to have an outdoor session at the photographer’s property in Yellingbo. The cost is $15 (which is non-refundable) for the sitting and you receive a framed 8 x 10 print. Obviously other prints can be ordered from the photographer as well. Places are filling up quickly for the school sittings, so please send your order in (with the $15 booking fee) asap to avoid disappointment. Order form is included at the back of the newsletter or forms are available from the office. Also, we are looking for some helpful people to be at the school on the 14th/15th March to help check in families. If you are able to help, please mark that on the order form and return to school. BUNNINGS BBQ: Easter Sunday, 5th April This should be a great fund raiser for the school, but is in the middle of the school holidays. If you are not going away, we would love to have your help to sell sausages!! Please mark this date in your diary. This week we will be setting up a site for you to log on and select the time you want to come. More info will be coming home shortly. TWILIGHT SPORTS : March 16th This year we are not running a barbecue at the sports but have arranged to have a coffee cart which will be selling slushies, coffee and milkshakes. We are also hoping to get some hot food carts to come as well and will let you know what will be available on the night. DISCO Our Fund Raising Committee is having trouble booking a DJ for a School Disco. Does anyone have a contact for someone who can help us out with this? If you do, could you please leave details at the office. Thank you. UNIFORM SHOP Mondays & Fridays 8:45 - 9:45am Need uniform but can’t get to the shop at the above times? 1. Fill in an order form (available at office) 2. Pay at the office 3. Uniform will be given to your child to bring home. Hope this helps! Penny Spencer Uniform Co-ordinator MEPS Sport Report: Thank you to all of those Grade 4 & 5 students who have returned their ‘expression of interest’ form for the Woorabinda Camp that will be running for the first week of term 2. I have had a lot of questions from students eagerly wanting to know if they will be selected to go. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to organise this until Woorabinda Camp provide us with the number of students that we will be able to send. As soon as we receive this number we will conduct our random draw to see which students will be invited to attend. All families will be notified either way. To provide a bit of an idea to families – we have received approximately 70 ‘expressions of interest’ and we are generally able to send approximately 20 students. Well done to all of the families that are now into their second week of being involved in the after school basketball competition at Lilydale and Kilsyth. I would like to send out a big thank you to all of those parents who have taken on the roles of coaches and team managers. Without people taking on these roles, the program simply couldn’t run. One thing that some teams may still need to do (if you haven’t already done so) is get each child to fill in a Kilsyth Basketball membership application form. These are purple forms that can be found at the front desk of the stadium; or you can get one from the school office, as I collected some from the stadium this week. Also, don’t forget that Gayle Turner (a very helpful parent) is running free training sessions for any after school basketballers who are interested each Sunday afternoon from 4.00 – 5.00pm here at school. The group meets on the bottom basketball court (near the canteen). In the next few weeks we have a couple of exciting sporting events coming up. On Thursday the 12 th of March, all of our Grade 3 & 4 students will be participating in the 3/4 District Athletics Carnival at Croydon Athletics Track. On the 19th of March our Grade 5/6’s will then compete in their District Athletics Carnival at Croydon Athletics Track. The permission slips for these events were due back today. If you haven’t returned them already please return them ASAP. Also, if you are able to help out and be a parent helper on the day it would be greatly appreciated as we are currently low on numbers. If you’re able to help out on either of these days and you haven’t already sent the ‘parent helpers form’ back feel free to email me at : [email protected] and let me know. Also, just a reminder that we have our whole school Twilight Sports evening here at school on Monday the 16th of March. This is an evening that we invite all families to enjoy a picnic dinner here at school before a variety of sporting events and activities will run for all students from 6.00pm – 7.30pm. More details to following in the coming weeks. Finally, big congratulations must go out to the following students for qualifying to represent our district at the Yarra Division Swimming Carnival next Thursday the 5th of March at Nunawading: Alyssa Leaver, Grace McGrath, Taleisha Walker, Zac Ellis and Brandon Briant. We will be sure to keep you posted with how they go next week. Aaron Palmer PE Teacher Donations required for a great cause!! THE OXFAM TRAILWALK is one of the most inspiring Team Challenges in the world! The challenge is to tackle 100KMs of bush trails within 48 hours, as a team of four. (We start together, stick together and finish together.) Oxfam Trailwalk is also a life changing fundraising challenge. Every step we take helps raise vital funds to support people living in poverty. Gilbert Harries’ Mum and Dad, Julian and Caroline, plus two friends, Darryl and Shane are team ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. We need your help to raise $1400 towards this great cause. Every dollar will help and be very much appreciated by the Oxfam community. We are approx $500 at the moment and getting there gradually. We’ll finish and we’ll smash the challenge, with your help. ... Can we ask if any would be kind enough to donate your loose change? You can leave it at the school office. Thank you! The Harries Family STUDENT OF THE WEEK GRADE NAME REASON Prep C Tess Klinger For always trying her best! Great start. Prep D Ryan Rodolico For always listening beautifully and giving Miss Driscoll a big smile! Prep O Katey Lorimer Fantastic effort for the start of Prep Prep T Emma Rowley For always listening beautifully and making a great start to Prep Prep CS Kayla Masefield For always trying hard : a fantastic start to Prep! 1D Lily Cubitt Outstanding classroom behaviour. 1KB Jordan Roache For being an enthusiastic and delightful class member. 1/2H Marley Rutherford Settling into MEPS beautifully - you are a great worker and friend. 2C Mikki-Rose Delahunty For a great start to the year. You are a super star in Grade 2. Well done for all your hard work and persistence! 2S Molly Fiedler Fantastic recount writing 2/3B Akuot Amot For a brilliant start to the year 3H James McDonald For always coming in with a beautiful smile and having a go at everything 3T Reyce Gay For such bravery and also being an amazingly caring student 3W Michael Flintrop Always showing manners and respect to others 4F Ashley Chuah For beautiful presentation of work 4S Angus Beattie Fantastic start to the school year 5H Zac Ellis For an excellent start to Grade 5! 5J Will Ellis For an exceptional amount of time reading! 5L Toby Law For excellence in maths 6MP Molly Keyhoe Wonderful work ethic Art Sarah Waldron [3W] Always beautiful work; fantastic helper PE Alyssa Cubitt [4F] For her amazing running and high jumping talents Global Ed Sophie Tyzack [1D] For her wonderful contributions to discussions Music RJ Corrigan [4F] Helping pack away without being asked Cath Alier Tong [1/2H] Very good effort and fluency Principal Reyce Gay Being very brave with a broken arm. AP (Brant) Josh Lovell [6K] For doing his best on camp COMMUNITY NOTICES AND ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE NOTE: SUCH PUBLICATIONS DO NOT IMPLY SCHOOL ENDORSEMENT OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE SINGING LESSONS Affordable singing tuition for school students Develop solid singing technique. Focus on learning appropriate repertoire. Explore numerous styles of music, vocal technique, stage craft and discover your own true voice. Increase your self-confidence and vocal range. Strengthen your voice. Improve your pitch and tone. Ms Carli Leishman Certificate III in Music Skills Currently studying Bachelor of Music - Monash University Valid ‘Working with Children's Check’ Mobile: 0467 555 195 Email: [email protected]
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