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.

Stronger Together – Twilight School:

Our Education Week celebration, Twilight School, was very well attended. Thank you to the parents who responded to our survey. We will use the feedback to continue to improve the experience for future years. Over the next couple of weeks, Daniel will start laying the rocks in various places around the garden. It is sure to add a colourful touch to a few tricky spaces. It was fantastic to see so many families working together to create their family rock.

Fees:

Each year we set our fees at a very modest amount. We consider the resources we will need to purchase for every child and know that our decision to provide them is the best for their education. At this point in time, we have only collected fee payments from approximately 32% of our school population. We would greatly appreciate it if parents would reach out and make payment plans. For any new families, we calculate a pro-rata payment for the part of the year the children will be at our school.

Our fees cover the cost of books, writing materials, art and other specialist supplies, digital programs and all other resources used by children in their various classrooms.

Please know that all children are provided with one set of headphones. If these are damaged or broken, we will send a note home asking parents to cover the cost of a replacement set.

Curriculum Day:

Tuesday, June 9^th – the staff will be working all day but it is a PUPIL FREE DAY. Staff will be writing rich Maths assessment tasks and learning about conducting behaviour observations.

Speaking to other people’s children:

Recently, I reminded parents that it is never acceptable to speak with another person’s child or to approach a parent about a matter that has occurred at school. We have again had a parent approach a child – not their own. Please consider how you would feel if someone did that to your child. We fully expect that there will be disagreements between children. Part of the role of school is to help children learn how to appropriately navigate these interactions and resolve them in acceptable ways. Where their approach is inappropriate – ONLY STAFF can deal with them. If you have concerns about the way a child behaves towards your child, please email us.

I must also request that any communication with the school be respectful and calm.

Basketball Court:

We have just been notified that the basketball court will be resurfaced and additional drainage installed to reduce the impact of water on the new court surface. New line markings will also be added. We purchased new backboards and rings – waiting for the new surface! I will let you know when we have details about the timing of the work.

Traffic:

This is a recurring problem around our school. Please read the following list and follow these instructions – you run the risk of a significant fine and having to live the rest of your life knowing you injured or killed someone around the school.

• Drive slowly and stop at the crossing. Just this week a family of the school drove through a crossing with children on it and a grandmother was almost hit crossing the road – on the crossing
• DO NOT CROSS ANYWHERE ELSE – we monitor the Lagoon Avenue crossing. If you cross the road anywhere but the crossing, you have a much greater risk of being hit. You are also teaching your children dangerous behaviours
• DO NOT WAIT FOR THE FIRST SPOT!!! Please move along the road – your children can walk to get to your car
• DO NOT drop off or pick up in the middle of the road. It is both dangerous and selfish. You are holding up all of the cars behind you
• DO NOT do a u-turn at the drop off area – you are illegally close to the crossing and may be fined

Canteen Help needed:

Ange is unable to be at school on Wednesday June 10^th. We are seeking a couple of volunteers who might be able to help out for the day. If you can, please call the Office and arrange to come in one day next week to spend time with Ange during a normal day in the Canteen and feel confident to run things without her.

Social Media:

Please be sure that you check all devices your children use, every day. We have learned about Grade 3/4 children sending messages that include photos. Whilst they may be innocent, you need to know about them all. Without parental oversight, one photo leads to many and children’s brains are simply not developed enough to make decisions that keep them safe. It is not their fault, they have just not developed to that point yet. I wish they were not in such a hurry to grow up – I wish they would enjoy being kids!

Attendance:

Mr. Petersen has been conducting meetings with parents of children whose attendance is below Department expectations. We are notified about children we are required to follow up as the Department of Education monitors student attendance very closely.

Recently, we have had an excessive number of children arriving late to school. This is not only disruptive for their learning but also for the teacher and children in their class. Our parents requested that we open the gates from 8:30am every day, which we do. Half an hour is a big enough window for parents to have children at school on time. Please set your alarms a few minutes earlier, turn off the TV or remove devices from children a little earlier so they can be at school on time to begin their learning. FREE Breakfast Club operates every day from 8:30 – 8:55am.

Lastly we would like to extend a big THANK YOU to a Mickleham Primary School family who wishes to remain anonymous for their generous donation of two gazebos for us to use at sporting events. 

This term in Inquiry, the students have been focusing on What is Our Australian Story? So far we have learnt about colonisation and the immigration of people to Australia during the 1800s. Next the students will learn about Federation and how it impacted Indigenous people, women and children’s rights, immigration in the 1900s and finally the Game Changers in Australian history. 

The photos are of the students playing the Comprehension Game. During this game the students worked in pairs to find questions, relay them back to their partner and then research the answers. Their teachers had fun hiding the questions under tables, on top of shelves and around corners!

Term Two in the 3/4 unit started off with a bang, getting straight into our Inquiry unit on Weather and The Water Cycle. Students enjoyed the experience of ‘The Cosmodome’, learning about different weather, climate and the effects humans have on the environment. They have engaged in experiments to demonstrate how the water cycle works and created visual wheels to show this.

As a whole 3/4 cohort we have been setting goals during our Ready to Learn time to help develop our organisation, engagement and enthusiasm towards learning. The first five weeks the 3/4 cohort goals have been to build their resilience, active listening skills, respect, cooperation and kindness.

House points update

Remember to check your child’s profile on Compass if you are unsure what house they are in.

Attendance award

Attendance winners:

Week 1 and 2 – Well done to Prep B (Mrs Amato’s class). 

Week 3 – Well done to Grade 3/4 A (Ms Sibbison)

Week 4 and 5- Well done to Grade 1/2C (Miss Hennessy)

RICH awards 

Congratulations to all our RICH awards certificate recipients. Well done everyone.

Week 1

Prep: Thalitha, Zachariah and Balnoor

1/2: Cruz, Peyton, Abdul, Mirella and Mahreen

3/4: Lincoln, Chanel, Myra and Cruz

5/6: Manroop, Amber and Laura

Specialists: Lylah, Logan, Ivan (3/4A) and Pradyot (3/4A)

Week 2:

Prep: Junaid, Sophie and Ezra

1/2: Dekoda, Dasamdeep, Zion, Gurbaaz and Rasampreet

3/4: Zaria, Lylah, Mohammed and Hira

5/6: Arrow, Zachery and Suyansh

Specialists: Joudi (3/4B), Lincoln(3/4A), Zaccy(5/6B), Oliver and Jason  (3/4B)

Week 3:

Prep: Daud, Alyanah and Hazel

1/2: Leah, Stivanos, Noah, Dhitya, Harrison

3/4: Presley, Bilal, Prithvir and Kelly

5/6: Binyamin, Anhad and Ryder

Specialists: Oliver (3/4B), Hazel (Prep C) and Uday (5/6C)

Week 4:

Prep: Sia, Griselda and Malik

1/2: Samarvir, Ragnar, Mia and Lucas A

3/4: Onash, Paris, Zara and Oakley

5/6: Petros, Aria

Specialists: Pragan (3/4C) and Haadi (3/4C)

Week 5:

Prep: Ari, Carlos and Amaira

1/2: Brooklyn, Stivanos, David A, Ellajayne and Japveer

3/4: Gulpreet, Zimal, Jessica and Milan

5/6: Chelsea and Jeromino

Specialists: Hannah (1/2E) and Jett (1/2D)

Rain, Hail, Shine?

Well it did rain. And then the sunshine crept through occasionally. No hail, thank goodness, but the MPS Cross Country Team can hail the day at Merrifield Reserve as one of teamwork, perseverance and fun.

Well done to you all – pushing yourselves to go the distance – which happened to be very far. 10 year olds ran 2000m and the older students, 3000m. Remarkable!

Let’s hear from some of our stars:

Harper: I really liked it. It was a bit rainy and stuff. 

Aubree: It was very tiring. After I ran the course I was a little bit sore. It was so far. 

Cam: It was really good being picked. I’d like to do it again. At the beginning it was very crowded and everyone was pushing to get through. I tried my best, and laid down at the end. My favourite was eating lollies. 

Tom: We warmed up in the cool playground and had an enjoyable time. The weather was pretty bad – stop and start rain, but we still had a good time. The hardest part about my run was the wind gushing against my face. 

Daniel: It was hard, I had to run 3km, but we all had fun in the end. We were playing with kids from other schools too – there was someone from my athletics training there. 

Ms Ori: The students were supporting each other and cheering as they all tried their best. I was proud of our team.

WE HAVE 3 STUDENTS NOW REPRESENTING the CRAIGIEBURN NORTH DISTRICT TEAM!!! They are off to Kilmore to compete on the 14th June. We wish you the best of luck Daniel M, Tom S and Hunter C.

Thanks to all the teachers that supported us to get to the event, especially Ms Ori and Ms Angela, Mr Petersen, Mr Davis and Wes from SEDA. And a big thank you to all the parents for encouraging your children to try quiet a challenging event, and for those that came to support us too.

Lunch time clubs