Stronger Together:
All government schools are provided with the funds each year to pay staff salaries and cover most of the costs of running each school – paying the electricity and water bills! We do not, however, receive the funds required to pay for the books and materials used by children each day or the extra resources needed during playtimes and in Specialist classes.
This is why we need our families to pay their fees and help us out with the small number of fundraising events we hold each year.
We hold Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls each year – these are not intended to be fundraising events. We keep the costs down so that children can buy small gifts for their parents and/or grandparents.
Our main two fundraising events are the Colour Run and our Holiday Raffle. MPS families support the raffle with prizes and ticket purchases, helping us raise between two and three thousand dollars.
We need your help to make our Colour Run an enormous success. Parents need to create a profile for each child so they can participate. At this point in time, we have 123 profiles created for over 340 children who attend our school and of the 123, only 53 children have raised money. Please encourage children to get sponsors from outside of their immediate family – grandparents, uncles/aunts, neighbours and work colleagues. Last year a small number of children raised over $20,000. This year, we need all children to help us to raise an even bigger total. The children who raise the most money will be eligible to slime a teacher. Once again, the Preps are leading the way – see list below. Our lowest fundraisers last year were our senior children – who are the most able to seek sponsors themselves. Come on Grade 5/6 – let’s see who can raise the most money in your cohort!
Children without a profile and a minimum of $20.00 raised will not be able to participate in the run event. Please encourage your child to look at the prize catalogue and set a goal for their fundraising. So that the children can see family members over the school holidays, fundraising will stay open until early next term.
The first class to have every person with a profile will receive a Zooper Dooper – our leading class has only half of the children registered.
Our current Leader Board:
Class with the most profiles: 3/4D
Children with the most money raised: Addison, PA – $1,000.00
Cooper, PB – $490.00
Peyton, PB – $450.00
Ethan, 3/4A – $425.00
Ezra, PC – $335.00
Today’s total money raised: $6,210.00
Stronger Together – Anti-Bullying Month:
August was a busy month at MPS with teachers and children talking about ways to be thoughtful and kind to each other and what it means to experience bullying or be a bully. The theme this year was: “Small Acts. Big Impact.” And culminated for us with the opening of our Friendship Seat and tree. I have seen many children sitting around this space since it opened, having fun with their friends.
We have discussed the management of behaviour that goes against our values and our School Wide Positive Behaviour System (SWPBS) matrix. Both our teachers and School Council parents believe that it is important that children learn about the impact of their actions on other people.
At MPS our focus is on encouraging children to make smart choices and be an upstander when they see something that looks, sounds or feels wrong. They need to seek adult help to manage these situations. Our Peer Mediators help children manage small disputes and our brand-new Friendship Seat is a meeting place for people looking for a friend or a Peer Mediator.
School is not just a place where children learn in classrooms, they learn about how to demonstrate our values and behave in socially appropriate ways. Every child will make small mistakes as they learn how to interact and share. Making mistakes and learning how to do things differently is how humans learn and grow. Typically, at school, in those instances your child may have a ‘Walk & Talk’ with a teacher so they can talk about what they might do differently next time they are in the same situation. They may also bring home a Reflection Sheet – with space for them to write or draw about how their actions impacted others and how they can show our school values. Please take the opportunity to speak with them about the impact of their actions. In more serious instances, children may lose a play break and spend time discussing their actions with teachers or members of the Leadership Team. We work with each child to understand how we can help them make better choices in the future.
Dr. Billy Garvey, Developmental Paediatrician and 2025 Victorian Father of the Year, has a very realistic and down-to-earth approach to developmental psychology. He spends his working life finding ways to support families to help children be the best person they can be.
“We want to bring the science of child development and mental health to the real world, so that all children have the best opportunity to reach their potential and succeed in living rich and meaningful lives.”
Dr. Billy speaks extensively on setting realistic expectations for our children, setting clear and achievable boundaries and ensuring that your child knows that no matter what, you will be by their side – supporting them as they learn. He also says that there needs to be consequences, but they should take the child’s self-esteem and growth journey into account. I have provided a link to a short interview with Dr. Billy on Perth radio so you can hear this from him. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/perth-drive/dr-billy-garvey-on-perth-drive/104077770
Dr. Billy also has a podcast – Pop Culture Parenting – using famous movies as a theme for discussing parenting challenges. This is the link to these: https://www.guidinggrowingminds.com/pcpcatalogue
I have reached out to Guiding Growing Minds, his organization, to find out about session costs and availability. In the meantime, please listen to his podcasts and let me know if they are helpful.
Student Led Conferences:
Thank you to the children and teachers for the work they did preparing for this year’s conferences. Parent attendance was very high – despite the awful weather across the day. We also want to thank the parents who completed our brief survey.
Athletics Performances:
Following our MPS athletics event, a bus load of children competed in the District event last Friday. Our school finished 4th out of the nine schools participating – a wonderful effort for the smallest school! Well done to all children who competed and Ms. Budin for all the training and organisation required to attend these events.
A super big CONGRATULATIONS to the children who qualified to proceed to the Woodlands Division event on Thursday, September 3rd. It is an incredible achievement and an overwhelming experience to compete against so many children from other schools.
UPDATE – WOW!!! – we have four children who came first or second in their events and will now proceed to the next level in October. CONGRATULATIONS to these children: Jeromino – 1st in 100 and 200 metre sprints, Hunter – 2nd in 800 metre and Daniel, Adam, Hunter and Jeromino – 2nd in the 4 x 100m relay. WELL DONE to Olivia, Amber, Arrow, Ishmeet, Marcelino, Harper, Aaron, Nehemiah and Lylah for taking on the competition and the elements.
Basketball Court:
The builders have been working in the background, evaluating the effectiveness of the existing drainage and planning the works that will commence as soon as they have finalised these plans. I expect the court area to be fenced off this week for approximately two weeks.
Thanks to the before and after school care families for using the gate on Dryland boulevard to access the service. This gate is only open for these families and for safety reasons will be closed during normal drop-off & pick-up hours.
Smart devices:
Parents are reminded that any device that can be used to communicate and/or take photos must be handed in to the Office on arrival at school and then picked up at the end of the day. This is to ensure compliance with Department of Education policy. Recently, several children have been wearing smart watches which have advanced features. Apart from the risk of damage or loss, they do not comply with the policy and must be handed in at the Office during the school day.
Traffic:
I am totally certain that not one of our parents wants to harm a child or other parent during drop-off and pick-up. You would think I was crazy and be angry that I would suggest that you do. However, EVERY DAY many parents are making choices that risk the lives of members of our community. Each of you is focused on attending to your own child but you need to see the bigger picture and think about how your actions impact everyone at our school.
Many of your actions are in fact against the law and several people have received fines. Many more could be fined every day.
· Do NOT wait for the first parking space – move along the road for empty spaces
· Do NOT turn around in front of the school – don’t u-turn near the crossing
· Do NOT drive too fast – think about how quickly a child can step onto the road to chase a ball etc.
· Do NOT pick children up in the middle of the road, it is dangerous and selfish
· Do NOT cross the road anywhere except the crossings
· Do NOT let your child bounce balls outside the school grounds. When they lose control of the ball, they don’t think – they just chase the ball to get it back – even straight onto the road. I saw this happen just last week – it is incredibly dangerous.
