Welcome to Mickleham Matters. In this instalment there is important safety information and exciting news about school events… please read on!
Drills: A critical part of our safety procedures is the conduct of a range of drills. We hold the following:
· Lock-down drills – where everyone is required to remain indoors due to a threat outside one or more of the buildings
· Evacuation drills where we all move to either the sports field or the basketball court in case the threat is within one or more of the buildings. We also may need to evacuate to an off-site location, depending on the circumstances
· Shelter-in-Place drills in case the threat is coming from outside the school grounds. As our school is in an area considered ‘at risk’ of grass fires we need to be well prepared.
When the children walk in class groups, they walk in roll order. This is done to build automaticity in their responses and help familiarise them with the process in a real emergency. Our staff have prepared the children very well for all drills as was evidenced last Wednesday during our evacuation drill. We will hold a Shelter-in-Place drill again in the next few weeks.
In the event of a real emergency, it is important that parents understand what is expected of the school and what we can and cannot do. We will notify you through Compass about the emergency and the plan to manage it. Please understand that though we know you will want to come to the school, you will not be permitted to do so by the Police and Fire Rescue Victoria. NO-ONE can enter or exit the school site when we are in either drill mode or in an actual emergency. We will communicate with you about when it is safe to come to the school.
On any day that is given a fire rating of CATASTROPHIC for the Central Zone, our school will be closed. NO staff or children may attend – this includes TheirCare. Again, we will notify you about this.
There are things you can do to support us and help your family, including:
· Make sure we have your current contact details – phone and email
· Ensure your Compass App is always working and check it regularly
· Download the VicEmergency App on your phone and track incidents in our local area
· Make your own emergency management plan for your home and discuss it with older children
· Look out for Weather Bureau forecasts on high-risk days.
Due to the high rainfall followed by lots of sunshine, we are expecting high rates of growth in the grassland areas. Please know we are well prepared, and our staff are trained to manage all types of incidents.
Swimming: Many of our Prep to Grade 2 children participated in our swimming/water safety program over the past two weeks. Many thanks to Ms Budin for all the hard work she puts in to ensure this program runs smoothly. Thanks to the staff who went along every day. Building skills in water safety is critical for all children.
Colour Run & prizes: At assembly last Friday, we presented the prizes to our biggest fundraisers. As our top fundraiser, Viktor received a medallion and a show bag of goodies. The three scooters that were chosen by this group caused a great deal of excitement. All children who were eligible also received their prizes after assembly. An enormous THANK YOU to Christine (Tilly) who sorted and bagged the prizes – we appreciate your help with this.
With the tremendous amount of money raised, we have been able to purchase a Nintendo Switch 2, two controllers and a couple of games for the Bottle brush children to use during inside break times. It has already been put to good use! We have also purchased soccer goals and a target improving goal. Daniel and a few children have been putting them together over the past few days.
Another fabulous purchase has been a set of speakers for use at outdoor events – such as the Colour Run and Cross Country etc.
Thank you to everyone who raised money, to the Community & Fundraising sub-committee, and our Office staff who support this event in the background. It was a truly fun day that the children thoroughly enjoyed and had enthusiastic support from our families on the day.
End of Year Celebration & Raffle: Please save the date – Wednesday 17th December for our End of Year Celebration.
Our little school has struggled over the past few years in being able to build strong connections within our school community. We have survived the lockdowns, our dreaded drive-through, construction of buildings and roads, an extended period of parents not being able to come on-site and many more complications. Our Community & Fundraising sub-committee members are trying to provide opportunities to build a strong and connected school community through family-oriented events. The End of Year Celebration will include the following:
· Novelty sports events
· Children’s karaoke style performances on stage
· Canteen sales of Zooper Doopers and slushies
· Holiday Hamper Raffle ticket draw
· Invitation for families to enjoy a picnic with their family
· Opportunity to meet other members of our school community
On November 28th the children can wear casual clothes in exchange for an item for our Holiday Hamper. Last year we were thrilled with the response from you all – we had 41 prizes in our raffle!!! Let’s see if we can equal or better that result. A note went home on Friday giving you some suggestions for what we can accept – please be sure food items are not perishable and well within use-by dates. Please call the Office if you have any questions. We will also happily accept donations if you know anyone who would like to donate any large or ‘special’ prizes. Ticket books (10 tickets per child) will come home on Monday December 1st. We can supply extra books if you can sell more.
We are a growing school community and really need every member to get behind these events and make them special, memorable occasions for our school.
Prep Transition: Our Prep Transition program will be held over three Fridays – 28th November and the 5th & 12th of December. Next year we will have three Prep classes. If you have a school age child at home (or know of one) who has not yet been enrolled, please do so this week so they can join our program.
Somers Camp: Eight of our Grade 5 children are off to the Education Department’s Somers Camp this Tuesday. This experience will provide them with numerous opportunities to grow and mature. They will be away from home for nine days, in cabins with children from other schools, engaging in activities designed to help them develop leadership skills and independence. Ms Budin will be attending the camp but will not necessarily work with our children. We send our best wishes for an exciting week.
Dental Van visits & donation: Over the past few weeks, more than 150 children have visited the dental van. This is a really excellent response – I think it is the first time I have ever heard children complaining because they hadn’t had their turn at the dentist yet! The operators of the van (Ashmith’s family) have made a generous donation to the school in appreciation of hosting them. Thank you for the donation and friendly service.
Report Writing Day: Next Friday (21st November) teachers will be working on the final versions of end of year reports for the children. It will be a Pupil Free Day. Reports will be available on Compass on December 18th.
OH&S audit: On November 26th we will have a day-long visit from a team conducting an Occupation Health & Safety (OH&S) audit of our school site. All schools are audited every five years or so. We are very confident that we have the documents and processes in place to ensure our school is safe for all children, staff, visitors and contractors. All parts of the school will be visited and checked.
Please put all of the important dates mentioned above into your calendars and plan to join our many fun activities over the next month or so.
Julie & Staff
