Mentone Park

Primary School Broome Avenue, Mentone 3194

Phone 9583 4935 mentone.park.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au

www.mentonepark.vic.edu.au

Teamwork Integrity Excellence Respect

Reaching Higher

MPPS Calendar of Events

AUGUST

August 21 – 23 Middle School Camp Angahook

August 26 Book Week Dress Up & Activities Day

August 26 – 29 Scholastic Book Fair

August 27 Fathers’ Day Stall

August 28 District Athletics

August 29 Fathers’ Day Breakfast

SEPTEMBER

September 3 Grade 3/4 Chinese Museum Excursion

September 6 Footy Day

September 10 Foundation – Grade 2 CERES Excursion

September 18 Multicultural Day – including Grandparents Afternoon

September 19 Grade 5/6 Healesville Excursion

TERM 4:

October 7 – 11 Senior School Camp

October 24 Art Show

November 17 Kingston Colour Run

November 22 Curriculum Day – Reporting and Assessment

Welcome to Cameron's Corner

STUDENT ATTITUDES TO SCHOOL SURVEY

One of the greatest parts of my job is working with staff and students to provide an engaging and rigorous learning environment where students are supported along their educational journey and this was a major factor in our decision to rearrange the classroom structures at the end of last year. Many of you have seen the transformation of our previous middle school into the new Foundation Learning Space and from all of the feedback I have received this has been a welcome addition to our school. In contrast the middle school moved to the other end of the building where physical classrooms feature with a distinct breakout room for collaborative learning opportunities. This environment, coupled with outstanding teachers and challenging yet supportive curriculum practices has also been a success based on recent data we received from the Student Attitudes to School Survey which was conducted in May this year with all students from Grades 4-6.

As part of my performance plan to the Department of Education I set a goal of 50% positive endorsement of Student Learning after we had 40% positive endorsement in 2018. Looking through the data I am very excited to announce that 74% of our students provided a positive response to the questions focusing on Student Learning. This figure was highlighted by 95% positive endorsement from our year 4 students.

Similarly I set the goal of 40% positive endorsement for School Connectedness after 33% in 2018. In an even better result we had 80% positive endorsement with 91% in year 4.

As you can see from these figures we have made significant improvement in 2 key areas of student engagement and we look forward to further analysis of student results, but with our students displaying such a positive attitude to learning and connectedness we are very confident that Mentone Park PS is heading in a very exciting direction of high student performance and engagement.

SCHOOL BUILDING AND FACILITIES UPDATE

Many of our families will remember that in the 2018 Victorian Budget we were provided with planning funds to engage with architects and look to establishing a building plan for our school. Part of this challenge has been to provide a challenging and engaging learning environment for all of our students today whilst planning for a facilities upgrade for both current and future students of Mentone Park Primary School. Couple this with respecting our past rich history (Welcome back Flynn, Hawker, Hinkler and Kingsford-Smith.) and you begin to see the complexities of such a large scale redevelopment.

With the support of our local member of parliament Mr Tim Richardson and the recent visit by Deputy Premier and Education Minister Mr James Merlino, we are now in a position to share with you some of our building plans that will provide the highest quality 21st century learning environments to complement our outstanding teaching and learning programs.

Later this term we will hold some community information sessions in conjunction with our school council meetings to inform parents and seek feedback on our future direction. We look forward to sharing with you what we have completed so far.

COMPASS

Thank you for the fantastic response with only a few families left still to sign up to their family Compass Portal. Some parents have discovered the communication feature – where you can send messages to your child’s teacher and other staff. This communication feature will completely replace the Flexibuzz 1:1 communication feature from Term 4.

All notifications and news will be sent through the Compass portal from now on, though Flexibuzz will continue to also operate until the end of term. Apologies if this means some families are receiving the same information twice!

ENROL NOW!!!!!!!

If you have a child starting school next year, or know someone who will be, please come to reception and get an enrolment form. Whilst demand is increasing we are unable to confirm our class structures until we can confidently say we have the enrolments.

Kind Regards,

Cameron Agars Principal

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

FEELING SAFE TOGETHER

All classes have now participated in the Feeling Safe Together Program. Mr Wilton and I were impressed with the high level of engagement and participation by the students, across all year levels. Each area of the school had a slightly different version of the program presented, catering to the developmental needs of their ages.

The children were encouraged to take their Feeling Safe Together booklets home and talk with their parents about the activities and discussions that they participated in. If they have not yet shared the information with you, please ask them about what they learnt and the important messages the program delivered.

CYBER SAFETY

We continue to remind students about the importance of being careful when using digital devices to communicate with, whether it be via text messaging, gaming or social media apps or websites. We also remind students that some apps advise a user age of 15+ and unless it is a family account they have parental permission to use, that they should not be on there.

Please be sure to discuss the potential dangers of the online world with your children and ensure you know which sites or apps they are accessing, or are able to access.

ROAD AND CROSSING SAFETY REMINDER

Unfortunately, one of our younger students was recently almost hit by a car when crossing Broome Avenue at the flagged school crossing. With cars parking close to the crossing on both sides and pulling in and out at different times, it can be tricky for students to know when to cross. Please remember to check and double check that it is safe before driving through the crossing and indeed be vigilant at all times when driving down Broome or Blackwood Ave while our students are coming and going from school.

The speed limit is 40km/hr so please adhere to this. Due to the location of our school not being on a main road, we do not qualify for a crossing supervisor, so it is the responsibility of all members of our community to ensure that we are adhering to road safety rules and recommendations.

STAFF CAR PARK SAFETY

We ask that parents do not utilise the staff car park to drop off or collect students from school. Doing this puts students at significant risk with cars coming and going. This does not apply to parents dropping students early to before school care or picking up late from after school care as these are outside of school hours.

RED NOSE DAY SUCCESS

Thank you for the support shown for our latest fundraising event – Red Nose Day. It was great to see the community show of support with students bringing gold coin donations, wearing Red Nose merchandise and having their noses and faces painted with red dots.

We raised almost $1200 for this important organisation so they can continue to research why some little lives are cut short due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and also enable grieving parents, access to counselling and support services.

If your own workplaces, sporting clubs or social groups would be interested in selling off our remaining merchandise and helping us reach our target of $1400, please see me or give me a call at the school office.

CAMP ANGAHOOK

I hope our year 3/4 campers are enjoying Angahook! Here they are around the campfire on their first night! Stay tuned on Facebook for updates and photos of the amazing activities they are experiencing.

Alison Lough Assistant Principal

Working With Children Check Reminder

All parents/guardians, visitors & volunteers to the school MUST sign in & out of the school and display their WWCC

in a lanyard, which is available at the school office.

The Department of Education requires any person involved in an activity where children may be present to have a

current WWCC or have supplied proof that they have applied for a WWCC with the Department of Justice. All

schools are required to comply with the Working with Children Act 2005.

Volunteers are expected to carry the WWCC card on their person at all times when working or volunteering at the

school or during school related activities.

There is no fee for this check. Apply now by visiting: www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au

COMMUNITY MESSAGES & ADVERTISEMENTS

The Department of Education & Early Childhood Development and Mentone Park Primary School do not endorse the products or

services of any private advertiser. They accept no responsibility for accuracy of information contained in advertisements or claims

made by them.

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