Attendance
The Department of Education requires children to attend school every day. Parents are asked to follow the guidelines below:
- Students must stay home IF they are unwell
- Parents need to record their child’s absence on Compass before 9:00am
- Appointments need to be scheduled outside of school hours if at all possible
- Parents are encouraged to take family holidays during term breaks to avoid children missing instruction
- It is critical that students arrive at school on time in the morning and remain at school all day. Significant gaps in learning occur when students are absent
- The Department of Education makes an allowance of five days of absence per child per year. Parents are encouraged to ensure their child is at school every day. If a child has 20 days of absence per year, over their whole schooling, they lose one whole year of learning – this has a substantial impact on their learning and progress.
To motivate students we offer several incentives, including:
- Whole class attendance awards: classes with high attendance can earn awards and prizes for their class. These are decided by the students
- Attendance trophy for the class with the highest attendance. This coveted prize is announced at assembly each fortnight
- End of term hot lunch for the class with the best attendance for that term
- End of year special award for all students with 95% or more attendance in the whole year
- Small prize and certificate for students with 100% attendance in each term. These are awarded at the end of term assembly.
Student Leadership
At Mickleham Primary School, students are supported and encouraged to develop leadership skills through involvement in our student leadership program. Leadership roles include:
- Two School Captains
- Two School Vice-Captains
- Two Diversity Leaders
- Two School Environment Leaders
- One Captain per House
- One Vice-Captain per House
- One Class Representative per classroom
School Captains make daily announcements, conduct assemblies, greet guests to the school and assist, where required.
Agency, Voice & Choice
Student Voice at MPS provides students with opportunities to communicate ideas and opinions and has the power to influence change. Students are involved in planning and running key programs within the school community, such as lunchtime clubs.
Student Agency at MPS ensures that students have a level of autonomy in their learning environment. Agency gives our students the opportunity to direct and take responsibility for their learning, creating independent and self-regulating learners. This may also involve students choosing topics related to their interests and reflecting on their learning.
Students at Mickleham Primary have numerous opportunities to contribute and impact how things are done. These opportunities include:
- Completing Student Attitude to Learning survey, Grade 4 – 6
- Completing PIVOT surveys across the year. Teachers use the feedback and data to set their goals and modify practices
- Student Leaders and Classroom Representatives – meeting and providing feedback
- Engaging with options offered in the classroom – Choice Boards
House Program
We have four Houses:
- Risborough (Yellow) named for Risborough Park Farm, owned by the Saunders family who donated the land on which the school is located
- Saunders (Blue) named for the family who farmed Risborough Park Farm
- Tulloch (Green) named for the dairy farm that was diagonally opposite the school on Mickleham Road
- Ridley (Red) named for the local land feature, Mt. Ridley and a property in the area
Our House program promotes teamwork and togetherness through activities such as Clean Up Crew, earning Tokens, sporting events (Athletics Day) and other whole school events. Our House groups meet twice a term to build connections across year levels to foster team spirit.
Lunch Clubs
At Mickleham Primary School we offer clubs at almost every break. The options may include:
- Cricket Club
- Soccer Club
- AFL Club
- Quiet Club
- Library Club
- Art / Craft Club
- Switch Club
- Lego
Buddy Program
At Mickleham Primary School every student has a buddy. Prep students are partnered with Grade 3/4s and Grade 1/2 students are partnered with Grade 5/6 students. This gives students the opportunity to build and grow their relationships with their buddies over their schooling years.
Students have the opportunity to regularly meet with their buddies for activities such as crafts, problem solving tasks, sharing of work, team building and participating in whole school events.
Peer Mediation
Students in Grade 5/6 have the opportunity to join the Peer Mediation program. This process is overseen by a teacher from the Student Engagement Team (SET). In this program students learn to develop the skills and confidence to assist in small playground disagreements between students. Younger students are taught to approach Peer Mediators who wear a purple vest. The Peer Mediator then supports the students by helping them find a solution to their problem. To assist with this, mediators are given scripts to follow and if they are unable to help the students come to an agreement, they are encouraged to seek the nearest yard duty teacher and relay the issue.
Peer Mediators also receive regular opportunities to debrief and are provided with ongoing support on how to help younger students and the common disagreements that they may face.
