Mill Park Primary School · World Teacher’s Day is tomorrow Friday 25 th October Tuesday 29 th...

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Mill Park Primary School

Issue 33

24th Oct 2019

Newsletter

2 – 10 Blamey Avenue (PO BOX 163)

Mill Park 3082

Telephone: (03) 9404 3337

Web: www.millparkps.vic.edu.au

Email: [email protected]

Our vision is to be a dynamic school, promoting lifelong learning and our school values of

respect, integrity, compassion and excellence.

TERM 4

Week 3: Friday 25th Oct: Year 6 Graduation Practice

Week 4: Tuesday 29th Oct: Year 3 Cave Hill Camp Information Night

Wednesday 30th Oct: Year 1 Redleap Recreation Reserve

Wednesday 30th Oct: Air Guitar Challenge 3 Auditions

Wednesday 30th Oct: Chess Club 3.30pm – 4.30pm

Thursday 31st Oct: Air Guitar Challenge 3 Auditions

REMINDERS

World Teacher’s Day is tomorrow

Friday 25th October

Tuesday 29th October –

Year 3 Cave Hill Information Night

CHILDREN’S WEEK

Wow! What an amazing week we have had so far celebrating our wonderful students at Mill Park Primary School.

The Community Links Team launched ‘Children’s Week’ at our assembly and every class received a book to read

together. Our fabulous ‘Mill Park Singers’ and Mr Castle sang a beautiful song. Well done!

At lunchtime there were some outstanding chalk drawings on the bat tennis courts. The whole area looked so

bright and colourful and it was great to see so many students involved.

FROM THE ACTING PRINCIPAL

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TUESDAY –

Lunchtime

games

WEDNESDAY

Movie and popcorn day, the children had a blast!

Today our Year 5 students are fortunate enough to be at Sovereign Hill where they will get to participate in so

many fantastic activities, whilst the rest of the school can dance away at the lunchtime DISCO! Tomorrow, I look

forward to the ‘Longest Healthy Lunch’.

STAFF CAR PARK

The staff car park now has operational automatic gates, therefore there will be no public access to the car park

area. Please use the side gate on Blamey Avenue to get access to the footpath.

DRIVEWAY ON HIGGS AVENUE

We have a driveway on Higgs Avenue (where the double gates are) that allows entrance onto the school grounds

for emergency vehicles if required. It has been reported on several occasions, that cars have used this driveway

to wait for their child/children at the end of the day. Please do not use this driveway as a parking zone.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP

It’s that time of the year when our school is conducting interviews and elections for student leadership positions

for 2020. Often a great deal of emotion and consideration is given to the interview/election process itself. Our

school is constantly reviewing and improving the student leadership positions and processes to get them just

right.

However, one aspect that is easy to neglect is the preparation

and education of prospective leaders for the interview/election

process, but more importantly, for their future roles.

In order to be effective School Captains or House Captains our future student leaders need to:

• Understand the requirements of the leadership positions they are considering

• Feel that they are ready to fill the position

• Are able to undertake the interview or election process with confidence

• Be willing to continue learning and developing their leadership skills.

Teachers are supporting and encouraging students in Year 5 to think about taking up leadership positions within

the school. Applications for the position of School Captain will close on Friday, 8th November 2019.

A selection panel, comprised of the Acting Principal, Assistant Principal and the current School Captains, will

conduct interviews beginning Monday, 18th November.

Once School Captains for 2020 have been chosen, the process for electing House Captains will begin.

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WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY – Friday, 25th October 2019

Tomorrow, Friday 25th October is World Teachers’ Day. UNESCO’s World

Teachers’ Day was established to draw community attention to the

important contribution teachers make in building a better future for the

world’s children.

Teachers matter every day – in the curriculum they teach and how they

teach it, through the connections they make with and for their students,

and by the way they encourage a love of learning. Most of us remember

fondly a teacher who made a positive difference in our lives, one who

believed in us and our potential, and encouraged us to always give our

best efforts to all tasks.

I commend the excellent work done by our teachers:

♥ PREP

♥ Kaylee Andrew

♥ Krystal Hide

♥ Tracey Cooke

♥ Adam Tavella

♥ Stephanie Lackovic

♥ YEAR 1

♥ Stephanie Dehghani

♥ Luke Baldassini

♥ Emma Carlon

♥ YEAR 2

♥ John Piraina

♥ Adele Steriadis

♥ Eman Nayef

♥ YEAR 3

♥ Bill Boicovitis

♥ Sarah Tsaboukas

♥ Kathy Acciarito

♥ Sonia Tancevska

♥ YEAR 4

♥ Steven Edwards

♥ Dean Castle

♥ Evie Cacoyiannis

♥ YEAR 5

♥ Cihan Ozbilgin

♥ Maria Valente

♥ Susan Wilson

♥ YEAR 6

♥ Daniel Leahy

♥ Renee Kelly-Talintyre

♥ Joanne Wharton

♥ Jacqui Gosling – CRT

♥ Specialist

♥ Jessica Piraina

♥ Simon Ferwerda

♥ Jason Gray

♥ Adam Horne

♥ LEARNING SUPPORT

♥ Vicki Griffiths

♥ Claire Woods

I trust our students will

acknowledge the support and

encouragement their teachers

give them during tomorrow’s

World Teachers’ Day.

♥ LEADERSHIP TEAM

♥ Lu Alessi

♥ Carol Vidmar

♥ Kelly Spurr

PARENT OPINION SURVEY RESULTS

The 2019 Parent Opinion Survey was completed by selected families in Term 3. The survey results have been

released by the Department of Education and Training and are listed below for your information:

Survey Factor % Positive Survey Factor % Positive

Positive transitions

Student connectedness

Parent participation/involvement

School communication

Teacher communication

Managing bullying

Not-experiencing bullying

84%

90%

90%

87%

79%

89%

60%

General school improvement

General school satisfaction

Physical environment

School pride and confidence

Effective teaching

High expectations for success

Stimulating learning environment

81%

92%

94%

88%

84%

89%

81%

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Promoting positive behaviour

Respect for diversity

Student agency and voice

98%

92%

83%

Student motivation and support

Confidence and resiliency skills

81%

88%

Our school has a commitment to continuous improvement and will continue to uphold high expectations of

students and staff.

Thank you to the families who completed this year’s online survey. Your time, efforts and honesty are valued and

appreciated.

CLASS PLACEMENT OF STUDENTS FOR 2020

To help prepare your child for the 2020 school year the

school has organised numerous transition activities

during this term to assist them with the progression

into a higher year level next year. The transition

program will begin in November with our goal being to

ensure all children advance to their

next year at school as smoothly as possible.

To ensure children’s learning, emotional and social needs are catered for, we plan for:

• equal numbers of children in each class

• an even spread of boys and girls in each class

• equal spread of student abilities and skills in each class

• a balance of students who may require support with behaviour in each class.

All students have the opportunity of naming people with whom they learn well and would like to be placed with

the following year. They are encouraged to think about choosing people who will support them with their learning

and in making good choices.

The Leadership Team takes into account special needs of students, such as placement of students on the

disabilities program, placement of gifted students, placement of siblings and relatives, as well as

recommendations made by teachers.

Parents who have reasonable requests for class placement for their child are asked to write to me outlining the

reason they believe there is a special need. Please note that this does not mean asking for a specific teacher for

their child. Each year there are staffing changes as teachers are placed into different year levels for their own

professional development. These changes are not known at this point in time.

Letters of request should be addressed to me and left at the office, or emailed to [email protected]

The closing date for requests is Friday, 1st November 2019.

PREMIERS’ READING CHALLENGE CERTIFICATES

This week all the students at MPPS received their

Premiers’ Reading Challenge certificate. Well done to all

the students and teachers for demonstrating your passion

and commitment to complete the challenge! Keep up the

love of reading!

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PFA Mango Drive

A final reminder that the PFA Mango Drive orders are due next

Monday, 28th October.

INFINITY CHURCH COMMUNITY MEALS KITCHEN – CHRISTMAS DRIVE

The Infinity Church in South Morang is asking for donations for their Christmas Drive this year. The church holds

the Whittlesea Principal Network meetings and caters for these events at least twice a term.

A week before Christmas, the church opens every day and gives out food parcels, toiletries and toys to families in

need. If you would like to assist in the Christmas Drive, please send in any of the following items before Thursday

12th December to the school office. There will be box labelled ‘Infinity Church’ to place the item/s in.

• Non-perishable food items (eg – UHT milk 1 litre, 1kg rice, 1kg sugar, cereals, tins of tuna, biscuits, pasta,

pasta sauce to make up the food parcels.

• Any new toys

• Any new toiletries

ATTENDANCE AWARDS

All Here All Week Award

Unfortunately we did not have any ‘All Here All Week’ awards for Week 2, however so many classes were very

close with only one absence.

Kelly Spurr

Assistant Principal

ALL EXCURSION PAYMENTS – PLEASE NOTE: NO PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE DUE DATE

Year 6 Graduation & Family Due TOMORROW 25th October $35.00 & various

Years 3 & 4 Basketball Tournament (Selected Students) Due 28th October $11.00

Year 4 ADNAC Camp Balance Due 31st October $230.00

We would like to advise that due to OHS reasons and for the safety of our students, an automatic gate system

will be operational to the staff car park gates this week. The staff carpark will only be accessible to staff.

FROM THE SCHOOL OFFICE

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Essential Resources 2020

**As an added incentive in 2020, parents who pay the total amount of $380.00 per child by 5th December 2019

will be eligible to enter a lucky draw. A family name will be drawn and will receive 2 Gold Class movie vouchers.

Please find attached the payment plan options available to parents. Please complete the form and send back to

school with payment by Thursday 5th December 2019.

Payments may be made by:

Cash - at the school office

Cheque - payable to Mill Park Primary School

Credit Card - payable at the school office

EFT - please refer to the details below

QKR or BPay

Please notify the office if you have any queries. If you are experiencing difficulty with any of these payments,

please arrange a meeting with the Business Manager, which will be held in confidence.

We thank you for your co-operation in relation to this matter.

BOOK PACKS WILL BE DELIVERED TO YOUR CHILDS CLASSROOMS AND WILL BE SENT HOME WITH

YOUR CHILD ON WEDNESDAY 11TH DECEMBER 2019

POPPY APPEAL

Remembrance Day is on 11th November 2019 and it is just around the corner!!!!

I have badges for sale at the office and the price range from $1 - $10.

Angela Falso, Vivian Gulia and Alison Wylie

Administration Team

SPORTS CORNER

Northern Regional Athletics

Last Wednesday we had some amazing athletes represent our school and sport district as

they competed in the Northern Regional Athletic Championships at Meadowglen Stadium.

The level of skill is truly unbelievable when I look at the talent below that were finalist in

their events. Congratulations,

Deena, Jacob, Pamela, Genevieve, Aran, Ajden, Tyson and Broadi.

These students are incredibly quick and agile and are all superstars!

Sincerely,

Jason Gray

PE Teacher/Sports Coordinator

CLASSROOM / CURRICULUM NEWS

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GARDENING CLUB

Throughout Term 3 and 4, a small group of Year 4 students have worked with our school gardener Janine, to grow

a variety of vegetables in our school veggie patch.

We have planted lettuce, rocket, snow peas, onions, cucumber, tomato and mint.

On Tuesday 22nd October, the Year 4 students from gardening club, were able to pick some of the vegetables from

the garden to make a delicious salad. We got to eat the salad at lunchtime and it was very yum!

From Nour and Mia H6

Veronica H6: “Gardening is the best because it makes me feel relaxed and calm.”

Caitlyn H5: “I like that we get to have the responsibility to take care of the plants and vegetables in the school

garden.”

Sandy H4: “I like that when we plant vegetables we can take them home and eat them.”

Brooklyn H4: “I like that we get to plant the vegetables, water them and then slowly watch them grow.”

Lucas H4: “I like that whenever we plant stuff everyone gets involved and is responsible for looking after the

plants.”

Hudson and Lucas H6: “I enjoy watering and weeding the veggie patch.”

Brendan H6: “I really liked how we could pick lettuce and rocket from the veggie patch to eat.”

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COMMUNITY LINKS

Strengthening kids’ selfStrengthening kids’ selfStrengthening kids’ selfStrengthening kids’ self----esteem in a digital worldesteem in a digital worldesteem in a digital worldesteem in a digital world by Martine Oglethorpe

How do we develop and nurture our child’s self-esteem in a world where the likes, comments and followers are

often seen as the social currency for popularity, confidence and self-worth?

While young people live out much of their social lives online, there are certain elements of this world that can

have a negative impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of young people, particularly if that person’s self-

esteem is already fragile.

The very connected, very visible and public nature of social media ensures that many of the challenges faced by

young people previously are now magnified and felt more deeply when played out online. We need to give young

people the confidence, skills and perspective to ensure that they can reduce the negative impacts, and instead

learn to thrive both online and in real life.

What are some of the things we can do to help nurture that self-esteem and prepare them for the challenges of

a very public social media?

Build their independence and resilience early

Make sure they are confident in their own abilities to problem solve themselves. Let them to do things that may

result in failure but allows them to pick themselves up. Let them know that mistakes are OK, as long as we learn

something from them.

Encourage activities and pursuits

Feeling part of a community can be an invaluable element to fostering self-worth. Encourage kids to have interests

away from the screens, such as belonging to teams, clubs and groups where their achievements and efforts can

be recognised and celebrated.

Helping others and volunteering

Giving kids the opportunity to help others, such as coaching a junior team, helping out with training or helping

people less fortunate are great ways to build self-worth. Developing empathy for others helps kids to realise that

the world is a much larger place than their social media feeds.

Spend time with them

It is easy to spend time with our kids when they are young. We can take them to the park, play games, read them

books. As they get older and we are not so cool to hang out with, it becomes trickier. But we need to look for

times to spend just being together, whether that’s watching a movie they like, playing a game, or grabbing a

milkshake on the way home from sports training. Find things they like to do. Even just sitting on their bed at night

and letting them know you are there can be beneficial.

Family meals and rituals

Having regular moments of connection that are part of their everyday can be critical in providing stability and

security. Connecting as a family with a nightly meal has been proven to be an effective way to give kids the comfort

of knowing they have a place that is familiar and safe and unconditional. Or look for other rituals to provide this

security.

Communicate often about what is happening online

Talk to them about the things you see online, let them know you have an understanding, learn about it and be

sure to look at things from their perspective. Use teachable moments to highlight when things go wrong and be

sure that you remain relevant to their world so that they know you are there should something go wrong.

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While we cannot always be there to follow everywhere they go online and be up to date on every single site or

app they visit, we can do a lot in terms of instilling good values, building that self-esteem and ensuring that they

have a positive sense of self that transfers from the real world to wherever they find themselves online.

Susan Wilson and Bill Boicovitis

Community Links Coordinators

ICAS TESTING

Dear Parents/Guardians of students involved with ICAS Testing. Results and certificates are in the mail. An online

link for you to see your child’s results will be provided in next week’s newsletter.

Thank you,

Simon Ferwerda and Vicki Griffiths

ICAS Testing Coordinators

Firstly, PFA would like to wish all our Amazing Teachers a very Happy World Teachers Day! Thank you for helping

our students to reach their potentials and making them think beyond practical boundaries and helping them to

do phenomenal things.

Thank You to all our Teachers at MPPS, enjoy the day!

Mango Fundraiser!

Thank you everyone who has already placed their order for Mangoes.

Due Date for orders is 28/10/2019, please continue to send your payments and orders in. A tray of Mangoes are

$25 and orders will arrive in early December!

Order forms are available via the office.

Christmas Raffle!!

PFA is still on the hunt for donations, thank you to families and businesses who have already donated to our

Christmas Raffle.

If anyone in the school community has any new unused items and or they have a business or workplace that is

in a position to be able to donate items or services to be used in the raffle, please contact the office or send a

message to the PFA team on the email listed below.

2nd Hand Uniform Stall!

If you have any good quality school logo uniform you wish to donate please hand it into the office or a PFA

member. A 2nd hand uniform stall will be held in the beginning of December, date TBA in coming weeks.

PFA Meetings - Become a T.E.A.M member!!

Our next PFA meeting will be held on Wednesday 13th November 2019 at 9am.

PFA NEWS

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Our PFA meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday each month during the school term in the Community Room

at school at 9am for around 1hr.

We welcome and hope to see some new faces volunteer and join the PFA team. It’s a great way to meet new

parents, get involved with the school and doesn’t require a lot of your time.

Together Everyone Achieves More!!

If you would like more information or to speak with a PFA member please feel free to contact us via

mail [email protected] or speak with one of us within the school.

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Prep:

W1: Arleen

For always trying her best!

W2: Maddison

For her super subtraction.

W3: Raha

For excellent reading.

W4: Krishna

For trying his best in reading.

W5: Benji

For trying his best with his learning.

YEAR 1

W6: Michael

For finding nouns and verbs in books.

W7: Ali

For his excellent reading.

W8: Everyone in W8

For their great learning during Children’s Week.

YEAR 2

W9: Theo

For choosing awesome Good Fit Books.

W10: Adam

For trying his best when writing a persuasive text.

E1: Jonathan

For trying his best in all learning areas.

YEAR 3

H1: Deakin

For his excellent work creating irregular shapes with an area of 16cm

squared.

H2: Angelina

For her creativity in her Big write story “The Shoe”.

H3: Gracie

For her excellent efforts in reading.

YEAR 4

H4: Pelaiah

For contributing to class discussion.

H5: Kyle

For settling well into life at MPPS.

H6: Veronica

For her excellent work in the maths.

YEAR 5

E2: Thomas

For his excellent work during History.

E3: Anna-Maria

For using a growth mindset and challenging herself in her learning.

E4: Myah

For fantastic critical thinking during class discussions.

YEAR 6

E5: Maddison

For her great work during volume and capacity.

E6: Fouad

For always attempting new work with a positive attitude.

E7: Isabella

For great work in calculating volume.

Prep:

W1: Arya

For demonstrating the value of Respect.

W2: Sofia

For demonstrating the value of Excellence.

W3: Rhys


W4: Vincent


W5: Akshay


YEAR 1

W6: Xavier


W7: Arvin


W8: Alyssa


YEAR 2

W9: Hashem

For demonstrating the value of Compassion.

W10: Adele


E1: Amaya


YEAR 3

H1: Alexis


H2: Affi

For demonstrating the value of Integirty.

H3: Brennan


YEAR 4

H4: Anita


H5: Noah


H6: Brendan

For demonstrating the value of Integrity.

YEAR 5

E2: Eden

For demonstrating the value of Integrity.

E3: Alonso


E4: Chloe


YEAR 6

E5: Patrick


E6: Tianyi


E7: Densi


VALUES AWARDS

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