Mickleham Matters! Term 1 Issue 2

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people, the traditional owners of the land Mickleham Primary School is on, and pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging and to any Koorie people joining us today.

We would like to acknowledge the children of the past, present and future who have grown up, learnt and played with friends on this land.

We would like to acknowledge our country and nature, including: trees, grasses, flowers, birds and insects. Our Bluestone building represents our community’s past and we are the future.

Acknowledgement of Diversity

We acknowledge and respect the differences between us. We understand we all come from different cultures, and we have different opinions and needs. We are all equals and cooperate as we play a role in our school community.

The above statements were written by our children and staff through our Koorie Action Group and Diversity Leaders.

This term seems to have gone past so quickly! Our new Prep children have settled into their school lives very smoothly – which their parents saw today during their Celebration of Learning. Over this term we have also welcomed many new children and their families to our school community. We want to remind you that Terms 1 – 3 end at 1:30pm on the last day of term (today) and Term 4 at 12:30pm.

The calendar for Term 2 has been updated and is available on our website. (Link on the front page)

More Student Leadership roles:

We again want to share the results of our student voting processes and congratulate the children who were successful. Several children presented speeches to their House members and then they voted for who they want to lead their House this year. We are incredibly proud of the serious way all children approached this process – both the speakers and the voters. It is a true-life lesson – you need to put yourself out there in life, to give yourself a chance to achieve your goals. Equally, you need to be aware and experience that you do not always get what you want and learn to manage disappointments too. We adults tend to want to protect our children from being upset and sad at losing, when in fact we are setting them up with amazing skills if they experience both success and failure.

Harmony Week/Day:

Over the past couple of weeks our children have been completing activities related to Harmony Day/Week. The culmination of this work is the parade we held this morning – children wore traditional clothing or orange to celebrate and honour their heritage.

Our student leaders organised a Crazy Hat or Easter Bonnet parade for the same morning. Children participated in one parade or both parades! The gold coins contributed to our school donation to the Good Friday – Children’s Hospital Appeal. Many of our children visit the hospital every year, making it a very meaningful fundraising event. We raised $346.60  Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the appeal.

Social Media:

Several news stories this week have explained that the Australian Government is going to impose fines on the big social media giants exploiting our children. Last December, your children should have deleted a wide range of platforms, including: Tik Tok, Instagram, You Tube…  They can remain on Messenger Kids and You Tube Kids. We have had a few children explain to us how they use their parents’ email address and a false date of birth to enter the platforms. They have admitted that they know it is illegal and they should not do it. Some children are engaging with people they know, whilst others do not know all the people in the groups they are in. Inappropriate language and pictures are part of their conversations. The only way they can be really safe is if you monitor their use of technology EVERY DAY. Children seem to know how to find ways to get around controls – only you can monitor what they are seeing and saying. With the holidays upon us, it is important that you know what they are doing on their devices.

School Council:

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following parents and staff for their participation on our School Council for the 2026 school year.

Kim (Lylah & Oakley)

Christine (Tilly & Ari)

Kasey (Zach)

Amanda (Hunter & Braxton)

Irene (Aria B)

Kerry (Ryder, Zaria, Arrow, Elijah & Cruz)

Navpreet (Nivaaz & Kayaan)

Jona (Arthur & Ezra)

Khagesh (Naisha)

Dani (Staff)

Kylie (Staff)

Tracy (Staff)

We all attended a training session recently, during which we learned about the roles and responsibilities of the School Council and members. You will receive updates over the next few terms to keep you informed about plans School Council is implementing.

Working Bee Weekend

For the first time in many years we need help from parents to maintain our garden beds. Our school grounds are beautiful but large! Daniel is able to keep up with cutting the grass and most of the weeding, however, the mulch in the garden beds has subsided and needs to be replaced to make the beds level with the paths. We would love it if you would sign up to help on either Saturday 2^nd or Sunday 3^rd of May to help distribute mulch – about 40 – 50 cubic metres or 4 -5 truckloads… We ask that you bring a wheelbarrow, shovels, rakes, gloves and lots of energy. All volunteers need to wear strong shoes (no sandals or Crocs etc.) and provide a Working With Children Check. It is free for volunteers and available online from: Working with Children Check | vic.gov.au

Camp:

Our Grade 3/4 children had a very busy and fun time at camp recently.

We would like to thank the staff members who attended for generously giving their time to ensure the children got the most out of the activities. On their way to camp the children visited Healesville Sanctuary.

These are some of the children’s recollections…

We played Table tennis like crazy!! The hard part of camp for me was going to the other side of a mountain with a heavy bag!! The Super Swooper was the best!!  Zimal

We played in the GaGa Pit. Sadly, I did not become a champion. The hardest part for me was sleeping because someone was snoring so loud! Orienteering was the most enjoyable because we got to go all around Candlebark Farm.  Ben

We went to Healesville Sanctuary, we saw lots of animals. We even went to a bird show! In the dining room we had lots of food like pasta, lasagna, and even ice cream. We did lots of activities. We had a number scavenger hunt, we went rock climbing and we went on the Super Swooper! The 3/4s had a wonderful time. Izabel

It would have been more fun if camp went for more days. The best activities were rock climbing, basketball and the zip line – Super Swooper. I learned to make new friends and make good relationships with the people in my cabin. Ishmeet

I liked the activities and Healesville Sanctuary. The challenging part was that I had to walk so long. Grace

Behaviour expectations:

During Term 1 we spent a great deal of time reviewing our values matrix and discussing what it means to show our RICH values (Respect, Independence, Cooperation, Honesty). Teachers have shared our school’s expectations around behaviour. From the beginning of next term, we will increase the number of tokens the children earn for demonstrating our school values; we will also increase the number of reflection sheets coming home when children make poor choices about their use of our values. We are concerned about the inappropriate language (swearing) being used, children not keeping their hands and feet to themselves and the number of children who are not following teacher directions. If your child brings a reflection sheet home, we would appreciate it if you would take the opportunity to discuss with them the choices they made and what they could do differently next time. We would like this to be a learning experience for them. We need all children to try the strategies their teachers have taught them – tell the other person to stop, walk away and get help. If the problem is small, they can speak with Peer Mediators. These Grade 5/6 children have been trained to help children solve minor problems. The insight of a child helping a child is really powerful. However, if the problem is bigger, they need to seek help from an adult. It is never acceptable to retaliate. Please support us with reinforcing this message in your daily conversations with your children and if they bring home a reflection sheet.

One of the strategies our teachers have been using is to have a small group of children learn to solve their problems as a group. We ask them to each tell the group what happened, then each member tells the group how ‘it’ made them feel, finally each group member commits to a positive action – how they can help avoid future problems. This has been highly successful with children in Grade 3 – 6 and we will modify it for younger groups.

One of our roles at school is to help children develop social skills, to enable them to be positive members of our community as they get older. As adults, we are involved in many interactions every day where bad language, physical retaliation and not following directions would get us into trouble (and lots of fines!). We seek your support to help us instil our RICH values in all our children.

Stronger Together:

This month our theme has been promoted by our Peer Mediators working as a team, taking their turn on the roster to help other students solve problems. It is very impressive how many children give up their recess breaks every now and again to contribute to the Mickleham Primary School community. They proudly wear their purple vests and badges so children know who to look for to get help. Children understand problems the way other children do and they help them solve them through a child’s lens. We thank all of these student leaders for making our children stronger together!

We hope you have plans for a restful break and look forward to seeing you all back at school on Monday 20^th April.