Dear Parent/Carers,

100 Days of Prep Celebration

It is a busy and exciting time at MPPS! Congratulations to our gorgeous prep students who celebrated 100 days at school last Friday. It was great to see our students having fun dressing up and engaging in lots of 100 themed activities!

Junior and Middle School Swimming Program

Our Prep to Year 4 Swimming program is in full swing and finishes this Friday. We thank and acknowledge our Prep to Year 4 parents and carers for managing the daily washing of bathers and towels! The Swimming program not only teachers our students about water safety but also to develop their independence with getting dressed and their organisational skills. Thank you to our parent helpers and our wonderful staff who have supported our children each day to ensure the program has run smoothly.

Book Week

Book Week is coming up from the 17th -23rd of August. Book Week activities, including the annual dress up day and parade, will be held during this week. Keep an eye out for more details on Compass.

Trivia Night

Last Saturday our PFA ran our Trivia night at MPPS, and what a night it was! It was great to see the competitive spirit amongst the parent teams, and the effort of our parents/carers to dress up in the disco theme.  In my short time here at MPPS I have been blown away by the incredible commitment and efforts of our PFA who work hard behind the scenes to ensure these events run smoothly.  I would like to acknowledge some of our key parents who made our Trivia night so successful; Jemma Marr (parent of Scarlett Marr (1/2C), Stacey Kyriakou (parent of Nia Kyriakou (1/2C), Shea Wilson (parent of Henry Wison (1/2C) and Jaci Lundy (parent of Sid Yates (3/4B). Thank you to all of our families for their generous donations which resulted in an incredible amount of $4500 being raised.
Additionally, several auction items from the night are still up for grabs! For more information please see the Community News page of this newsletter.


Parent/Carer Survey

A reminder that the Parent/Carer Survey is open until Friday 30^th August and your feedback helps our school gain an understanding of how our families view our school climate, student engagement, and relationships. We will use the results to inform school planning and improvement strategies. All Parents/carers should have received an email with details about the survey. The survey takes 15 minutes to complete. All responses to the survey are anonymous. We appreciate your time and effort in completing the survey.

Staff Carpark

To continue to manage the safety of our children we will be locking the staff carpark gates from 9:30am until the end of the school day. Can I please ask for your support to ensure that our children do not enter the staff car park as they are not allowed in the staff car park for safety reasons, nor should parents/carers walk through this area. The area is for staff use and deliveries only.

Superstar Students

Each day I have students visit me in my office, and this is always the highlight of my day. Our students at MPPS are truly wonderful and it is such a joy to be the principal at MPPS, where every day I spend time with fun, kind and curious little people! Thank you to the parents/carers for raising such amazing children.

In the Spotlight 

Hello Foundation families! 

What a busy and fun fortnight! It has been beautiful to witness the Foundation students develop their independence and resilience through our Swimming Program. Not only has it fostered this personal growth but also taught them an important life skill, in being able to swim. Furthermore, it was such an amazing celebration for our 100 days of Prep on Friday, thank you all for your support and sending the children in such great costumes. The food and activities were amazing, we hope the children had a memorable experience. We are very proud of this monumental achievement! 

Reminders: 

Curriculum Day: 

Another reminder that next Monday the 12th of August, is a scheduled curriculum day and therefore no students are required to attend school. We will be engaged in whole school improvement initiatives, supported by the Educational Improvement Leader from the Bayside Network, Steph Murphy.

Reading Parent Helpers: 

This Term we will be making a slight change to reading with parent helpers, due to a timetable change. We now warmly welcome grandparents/parents to come in from 8:50 - 9:05am each day to read with individual students from your child’s class. The importance of reading for children cannot be underestimated. Reading can benefit a child’s education, social and cognitive development, their wellbeing, and their mental health. Some children take to reading and some struggle, for lots of different reasons. A little extra help can make all the difference to a child by helping them to learn to love reading and reach their potential. Please ensure you are signing in at the office and have an up-to-date WWCC that is provided to Jen in the office. 

Ripponlea Excursion: 

Next Wednesday the Foundation students will be attending Ripponlea Estate as part of our Inquiry Unit focusing on the Past and Present: History. The students will participate in four one-hour sessions covering all the exciting parts the Ripponlea Estate has to offer. Students are broken up into four groups to rotate through these activities, led by experienced education facilitators. As stated in the Compass event, we ask all students to be at school by 8:45am and they will be required to bring a small/compact backpack(that isn’t their school bag). This bag will hold their snack, fruit breaks and lunch along with a drink bottle. We aim to return back to school by 3:30pm that day. We want to say a big thankyou to everyone who volunteered to help supervise our excursion, we were overwhelmed with support! 

STOMP: 

Stomp begins next week and is an externally run program where students will learn a dance routine which will be presented on the last day of Term at a whole school performance. This is an exciting opportunity and will be so much fun!

Illness:

We are understandably noticing a rise in a range of illnesses. In the Foundation area we have noticed a particular increase currently with students presenting as being very unwell at school. Ensuring our students are happy and healthy is our number one priority. We do have a number of students in our Mentone Park Community that have immune systems that are compromised, making them highly susceptible to infection and illness
Therefore, we please ask that if your child is unwell that you, please keep your child at home until they have fully recovered. Just a reminder if your child is experiencing fever, diarrhoea and/or vomiting, as per guidelines they should not attend school until 48 hours after they no longer have symptoms.

We have been discussing the importance of personal hygiene and hand washing but we please ask if you could also further discuss this at home, we would greatly appreciate it. 

Book Week:  

Just a reminder that Book Week will run from Monday 19th of August until Friday 23rd of August. Each year since 1945 the CBCA has brought children and books together across Australia through CBCA Book Week. During this time schools and public libraries spend one glorious week celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators. To celebrate this week there will be lots of fun literacy activities leading up to the dress up day to foster their love for reading, including daily whole school storytime, lead by Mentone Park teaching staff who will be sharing their favourite books. How exciting! 

This year's theme is ‘Reading is Magic’ and students have the opportunity to enter our Book Week school competition. This competition involves students decorating or designing their own poster relating to this year’s theme. Templates were sent out earlier this week for students who wish to participate and be in the running to win a $20 voucher to spend at the Book Fair. All entries need to be submitted to your child’s classroom teacher by Tuesday 13th of August. Our 2024 Scholastic Book Fair will run from Monday 19th of August until Thursday 22nd of August and it will be open before school between 8:30am - 8:50am and after school between 3:30pm - 3:50pm. It will be held in the Year 1/2 Building, in the spare classroom. The Scholastic Book Fair is a great fundraiser for our school. 

We still need parent helpers to help run the Book Fair on Tuesday morning 20th August, 8:30-8:50 am. Please email Emma Free at emma.free@education.vic.gov.au if you are available to help. A big thank you to the parents who have already volunteered. 

Dress Up Day - Open a book and you can be anything you dream or see! Open a book and you can share the wondrous words you find in there! To help us celebrate Book Week we encourage students to come to school dressed as their favourite character or book on Thursday 22nd of August. We invite all parents to our yearly Book Parade, which will take place on the basketball courts at 9:10am.

Below are our current focus letters/sounds and words. Your child would greatly benefit from practising these at home!

Letters/Sounds: K,U,B, J

Writing: This fortnight we have been focusing on Narrative writing as well as introducing Information Reports.

Maths: We have been looking at sharing and finding out about fair and equal shares. 

Thank you for reading our Foundation Newsletter! 

Term 3 is well underway as we come to the end of our P-4 swimming program, with our fun day this Friday the 9th of August. The children have enjoyed the program and shown independence and organisational skills which have been wonderful to see. Most importantly the children have further developed their swimming skills, such an essential life skill. 

We have our performing arts program STOMP beginning next week until the end of term, with a performance to be held in the last week of Term 3. 

Our upcoming excursion to Rippon Lea Estate is on Monday the 19th of August and we want to thank all parents who have put their hand up to volunteer their time to come along.  

General Reminders: 

• Students are to bring their black reading pockets and reading diaries to school with them every day, signed by a family member. We’ve noticed a decline in diaries being brought to school and we strongly encourage nightly home reading as this is an essential part of their reading development.
• 1/2A and 1/2C attend the library on a Tuesday and 1/2B on Fridays

Book Week: Book Week will run from Monday 19th August - Friday 23rd August and this year the theme is ‘Reading is Magic!’ All students across the school will engage in a range of engaging literacy activities that promote a love of reading and a love books! 

Dress up day: We encourage all students to dress up as their favourite character or relating to the theme ‘Reading is Magic’ on Thursdy 22nd August. Parents are welcome to come along to the parade which will take place at 9:10am. 

Book Fair: The 2024 Scholastic Book Fair will run Monday 19th August - Thursday 22nd August. All students have the chance to win $20 to spend at the Book Fair by entering the whole school competition. Students need to decorate or design their own poster relating to this year’s theme “Reading is Magic!” Templates went out this week and are due back (to your child’s teacher) by Tuesday 13th August. This is an optional home task. 

We still need parent helpers to help run the Book Fair on Tuesday morning 20th August, 8:30-8:50 am. Please email Emma Free at emma.free@education.vic.gov.au if you are available to help. A big thank you to the parents who have already volunteered. 

Literacy: Well done to all the students for coming into the classroom each morning quietly and engaging in independent silent reading at their tables. This is such a calm and productive way to start the day. 

InitiaLit Year 1:

Tricky Words (sight words): work, baby, children, fast, last, I’m

Split Digraphs: ow (cow/ snow), ou (found)

Terminology: suffixes -ed (past tense)

InitiaLit Year 2: 

Trick Words (sight words): minute, great, these

Digraphs/Trigraphs: Compound Words, prefix ‘re’ (replay), ‘c’ saying /s/ (ce, ci, cy) and ‘g’ saying /j/ (ge, gi, gy)

Grammar: Adverbs and Prepositions

Writing: 

WALT: Engage in a current event – the Olympics!

Students have enjoyed talking about the Olympic games and using imaginative writing prompts to guide their writing. Students have put themselves in the shoes of an Olympian athlete to write creative and interesting pieces of work that they have enjoyed publishing.

Numeracy:

WALT: Identify fractions, what is a half, a quarter, and an eighth.

The students have been using hands-on materials to investigate halves, quarters and eighths of a whole. We are also learning to find a half and a quarter of a group. The students have worked with a partner to create a story to match their fraction of a group. E.g. There were 8 birds and ½  of them were crows. 

Inquiry: Our Term 3 Inquiry topic is ‘Past and Present Connections.’ We have been focusing on our local history and we have investigated the story of Mentone Racecourse. We discovered that the school and many of the student’s houses would be on the original land (156 acres) owned by the racecourse. Mentone Racecourse began in 1888 and ceased in 1948. We are also investigating the history of the Moorabbin Airport and Thrift Park. 

Thank you for reading our newsletter and keeping up to date with what’s happening in Year  1/2. 

Hello Middle School families,

The 3/4s have been busy over the last two weeks, and are getting ready for a number of exciting events coming up over the remainder of Term 3!

Swimming Program
Our students will be completing their swimming program at Waves on Friday, and it has been loads of fun for students to learn and consolidate their skills, including experiencing swimming in clothes! The focus has been on both swimming and water safety skills, ensuring students have the confidence and the ability to enjoy aquatic environments.

Indigenous Incursion
We are excited to welcome “Living Culture” to MPPS for the morning of Tuesday 27th August. They will be presenting educational sessions about “Traditional Bush Tucker & Medicines” and making a “Presentation of Artefacts” to students. This links into our Inquiry unit this term, “We Are One, We are Many” where we have been investigating what life was like for First Nations peoples before and after the arrival of European settlers.

Stomp
Stomp returns to Mentone Park this term from the 16th of August. Stomp Dance Company delivers innovative, fun and energetic dance and performing arts programs into schools.Students will attend one lesson a week for 5 weeks, followed by a whole school performance on the last day of Term 3. More information will be sent out as the event moves closer.

Camp
The countdown to our camp at Sovereign Hill has begun, and students are getting very excited!  If your child is worried or feeling unsure about anything at camp, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us. Soon we'll be collecting preferences for cabins and for bus buddies, and we will have a question box that students can contribute any questions to so we can answer them in class.

You should have received the permission and medical Information forms to complete for your child. These are due back by Friday 9th August. Please ensure you fill out all the questions on the Medical Form including ambulance cover and tetanus vaccination information. If you have indicated that your child will be taking medication on camp, a separate medication authority form will be sent home, which needs to be completed and returned together with the medication on the day we leave for camp (9th September).

Book Week

Book Week is also approaching, and runs from Monday 19th to Friday 23rd of August! There will be lots going on during this week, including:

• Book Fair (Mon 19^th – Thurs 22^nd )
• Book fair poster competition (due Tuesday 13^th August)
• Book Week dress up day (Thursday 22^nd August) with a parade in the morning at 9:10am
• Whole school literacy activities

Reading - To read and respond to our class novel ‘Storm Boy’

Writing - To complete the draft of my information report relating to the setting of Storm Boy

Maths - To understand fractions that make up a whole. To make connections between fractions and decimals.

Inquiry - To investigate why the Europeans wanted to settle in Australia.

The Senior School has been a hive of excitement the last fortnight as we celebrate the Olympics and get geared up for camp! There are lots of wonderful things happening soon, so please take the time to go through them and discuss them with your child.  

Recent/Upcoming Events:

• Netball Victoria School Championships - Our squad competed on Wednesday 7th at Knox Regional Netball Centre against 7 other teams from across the state. Tremendous teamwork and resilience from our squad to achieve 4th overall on the ladder! Their efforts and persistence to push through exhaustion was amazing. They represented MPPS proudly! A massive thank you to our parent coaching team of Bree O, Julia K & Jenny O and all parents who cheered on from the sidelines. 
• Book Fair/Parade - The theme this year is ‘Reading is Magic!’ with some of our students taking the opportunity to collaborate as a group and come together to represent a variety of characters from popular texts. The enthusiasm during brainstorming was electric and we are anticipating some epic group costumes! The parade will take place on the morning of Thursday 22nd of August, at 9:10am. Throughout Book Week our Senior students will be creating their own non fiction books related to the Olympics to share with Foundation students. We are excited to hear them share their own wonderfully magical fiction stories with us! The Book Fair will be open before and after school, Monday 19th - Thursday 22nd August, and all Senior students are encouraged to enter the poster competition for their chance to win a $20 voucher to spend at the Fair!
• Camp - Camp countdown is on! We have begun meeting and answering excited student queries to help them feel more at ease as they prepare for camp. Please click here to view the packing list for camp and begin sourcing essential items.  For all students: it is camp policy that all students bring their own single fitted sheet and pillow to maintain the highest standard of hygiene. Reminder: If you have been given a Medication Authority Form or Special Dietary Needs Form, please return to the Senior School as soon as possible.

Reminders:

• Label Personal Items - There have been a lot of unlabelled containers, drink bottles and jumpers floating around the Senior School recently. Please ensure personal items are labelled so that they can be clearly identified and returned. This is a great reminder also in the lead up to camp!
• STOMP -  As part of our Performing Arts curriculum, we have partnered with STOMP to present a whole school dance spectacular on the final Friday of Term 3 (20th of September). From Week 5 onwards, all students will participate in weekly sessions with enthusiastic and qualified dance instructors. Please provide consent on Compass and payment of $37 on Qkr by Monday 12th of August.
• Living Culture - Year 3-6 will be having a visit from Living Culture on Tuesday 27th of August, an Indigenous led organisation based on the Mornington Peninsula, that specialises in educational visits, cultural talks and workshops for schools. They will be sharing insight and understanding about Indigenous culture which links into our Inquiry units. Students will be encouraged to delve into the teachings of this ancient culture and consider the cultural environment of the present day. Living Culture will be educating us about Traditional Bush Tucker & Medicines, then presenting some Indigenous artefacts. Please provide consent on Compass and payment of $8 on Qkr by 23rd of August.
• Yr 7 Placement Forms - Congratulations to all of our Yr 6 students on receiving their first preferences for secondary school placement. If attending a public school, please return the ‘Year 7 Acceptance Slip’ as soon as possible so we can lodge it with your respective schools.
• Health – Ensuring our students are happy and healthy is our number one priority. As you may be aware, we currently have a student and 2 parents in the Senior School who have either recently completed or are still undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Due to treatment, their immune systems are compromised, making them highly susceptible to infection and illness. In the event your child or a close contact of theirs is ill, we encourage you to please consider the following:

• Keep your child at home until recovered or advised by a health professional
• Inform the school of any contagious illnesses such as Covid or chickenpox
• Discuss the importance of personal hygiene and hand washing

Further information regarding infectious diseases and the recommended exclusion times can be found here at: https://www.health.vic.gov.au/infectious-diseases/school-exclusion-table#exclusion-periods-table

We appreciate all efforts to help keep everyone here at Mentone Park safe!

Reading: Reflecting on the social, cultural and historical context of our novel, ‘Boy Overboard’.

Writing: Planning and researching informative texts about the history of the Ancient Olympics, Modern Olympics & Paralympics.

PhOrMeS: Read, spell and define words with the Greek morpheme ‘bi’, meaning life.

Maths: Understand how place value determines the size of a decimal

Inquiry: Identify issues that caused problems for people living in 20th-century Australia.

Banqer: Explore how students can earn an income within the classroom and relate this to the real world.

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (Wellbeing): acknowledge the contribution that friends can make to each other through use of positive coping strategies.

Tree Planting day
On Friday the 26^th of July, the Green Gang, Mrs Zienow-Sy and representatives from each grade helped plant 30 native shrubs, grasses and trees around our school. Here are some photos of their hard work.

In Class
Scientists in the Junior school have been working hard to apply their understanding of energy and movement. Our Foundation students have been designing and building objects that can move. The objects are currently on display in the corridor by the STEAM lab. The 1/2 scientists are working in teams to create Rube Goldberg machines which include levers, ramps and pulleys. These elaborate machines are also known as marble runs or chain reactions and are powered by kinetic and gravitational energy. Our scientists in 3-6 are continuing their Research Investigation Projects which will be presented and on display in Term 4. National Science week is coming up with this year’s them “Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability”, stay tuned for more information about how we will be celebrating the event this year.

Koorie Mob Event

On Thursday the 24th of July, River Brickle of 5/6 and I attended the Kingston Koorie Mob event held at the St Kilda Football Club. Facilitated by Aunty Katrina Amon, I was honoured to be alongside River and his three elder brothers (all of whom have attended Mentone Park PS), at the inaugural event that included secondary and primary school students from our local area. River and his family are proud Palawa people, from Tommeginne Country (the North West Region of Tasmania) and it was inspiring to hear the boys talk about their immense pride in their history and strong sense of identity.

We spent the morning immersed in a cultural awareness session and partook in art activities in the afternoon. Further events will be held later in the year.

Mentone Park Primary School is committed to fostering an inclusive environment that celebrates and respects the rich cultural heritage of our First Nations peoples. We are dedicated to promoting cultural awareness and understanding within our school community, and we look forward to participating in more events like this that enhance our collective knowledge and appreciation of First Nations cultures.

- Mrs Kennedy

A Day in May   

As part of our efforts last term to fundraise for Challenge and their music therapy program for kids with cancer, Mentone Park has been lucky enough to win a new wireless PA system for use at school events, such as our weekly assemblies and whole school performances. We are proud to have been involved in such an initiative and were thrilled to hear that our efforts were recognised with this generous reward.

A special mention must go to the Cullen family (Ebony in 5/6), who approached the school and suggested we support this worthy fundraising event having had experience in the benefits of children having access to music therapy programs.

Thank you to everyone who contributed and supported this cause. Your generosity and community spirit are truly appreciated.

• Kando Martial Arts- Two free months of training, one martial arts uniform, no joining fee if continue with program. Value $300. Offer expires 1/1/26. Multiple locations including Highett. Bidding begins at $40.
• ChiroWorks Bayside Voucher- Chiropractic Spine and Nerve System Assessment. Value $270, located in Beaumaris. Bidding begins at $25. 
• Embody Wholeness Parkdale- Kineosology Consult & Pilates Initial Consult. Value $260, expires 31 Oct 24. Located in Parkdale. Bidding begins at $30.
• Melbourne Taekwando Bayside Party Voucher, value $320. Located in Bayside but also various locations. Expires Oct 25. Bidding begins at $75.