Mentone Park Primary School acknowledges the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we learn and play.

We value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and cultures’ and recognise their connection to lands, waters and communities.

We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

We've had a fantastic start to the year at MPPS as we welcome both our new families and the 2025 Foundation families to our school community. Our students and staff have smoothly transitioned back into their learning routines and have enjoyed getting to know each other in their classes.

In the coming weeks, we’re excited for our Teacher Meet and Greet conferences, scheduled for Wednesday, February 26th. We’re also looking forward to our newly appointed School Captains, House Leaders, and Green Team members receiving their leadership badges at assembly soon.

You may have noticed our students wearing their Grade 6 t-shirts and jumpers, which were designed by our MPPS students. Students had the opportunity to create their own designs, which beautifully blend our school values, indigenous themes, and their personal school journey. We were impressed by how the students embraced this chance to express their ideas. At MPPS, we highly value student voice, empowering our students to play an active role in shaping both their learning experiences and our school culture.

Every two years, government schools have the chance to select a small group of Grade 5/6 students to attend Somers Camp for nine days. This year, we were fortunate enough to send eight of our students, who had an incredible time making new friends and challenging themselves through various activities. I had the privilege of visiting them for the day and loved seeing them proudly show me every part of the camp.  I hope you enjoy reading some of our students camp reflections;

Students Reflections- Somers Camp

"I was lucky enough to attend Somers School camp over the past 9 days. At Somers Camp we had some amazing experiences. Such as challenge swing, also known as giant swing, where we were hoisted up to a whopping 18.5 meters high and would then drop and slowly swing down to a stop.

 One of my personal favourites was boating where my friend and I sat next to each other and rowed in a synchronised pattern otherwise we would have run into the riverbed and got bogged! My friend and I were in “Illk” (the boats name) for both sessions and we both had so much fun boating.

 Some of the other activities we did was a concert that was a whole lot of fun as I had one of the main roles as Crocodile Dundee in my play.

 We also did abseiling.  I was scared at first but then I loved it and I felt like I was flying. Rock climbing was also great fun, we challenged ourselves and made it to the top on some of the harder climbs.

 ES (Environmental Studies) was my favourite by far. We learnt about all these different things we could eat in the bush for bush tucker. We learnt about mistletoe berries, drooping sheoak, cacalaberries and many other edible plants that the indigenous people once ate.

 Somers Camp has been one of the best experiences of my life and it is something that I will always remember. I met so many new friends and had so many amazing experiences. I love Somers School Camp!"

- Ben

"I could never imagine how amazing this camp would be. The campus was massive. We were astonished by the size of the grounds. We were surrounded by beautiful trees and nature backed onto a beach. The activities were challenging, fun and exciting. Our day was action packed with activities and routines that helped us be more independent. My favourite activities were surfing, boating and the high ropes course. I have never tried surfing or boating before, so it was great to try something new and a bit scary. I also made some brand new amazing friends that I will stay in contact with.  I would definitely recommend this experience to all our young Mentone Park kids coming through to the senior school in the future."

- Luna

We are looking forward to a wonderful year with our students and MPPS school community.

Leisa Higgins
Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians & Caregivers,

I hope that you and your children are all enjoying a positive start to Term 1!

As I mentioned at our first assembly, one of our main areas of focus for Term 1 is consistent classroom expectations, procedures and routines. We are building upon the considerable work that students and staff put into this space in the second half of 2024. What we are striving for is a high-level of consistency across the school to ensure that students are safe, happy and maximising their learning.

So far this term, classroom and specialist teachers have developed clear, concise and positive classroom expectations in consultation with their classes. These were heavily influenced by our TIER (Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence & Respect) values and are now prominently displayed in classrooms as an easy reference for students and staff.

During the two student-free staff professional learning days in Week 1, our new Sub-School Leaders (F-2 – Kate Drummond (Mon-Wed) & Janique Hankins (Wed-Fri) / 3-6 – Nick Griffin (Mon-Fri)) worked with teachers on a set of non-negotiable classroom procedures and routines to be implemented from the beginning of Term 1.

These include:

· Safety lines – students line up in a single file in roll order to ensure safe and orderly transitioning when entering and exiting classrooms and moving to and from specialist sessions.

· Greetings – staff strive to welcome each student individually early each day to continue to strengthen positive working relationships between teacher and students.

· Consistent language – teachers use “chin it”, “wipe it” and “park it” with student whiteboards, “flip it” with iPads and “half-mast and backwards” with laptops to ensure efficient use of these important learning and teaching resources.

· Attention signals – each teacher has developed their own effective signalling methods within their own classroom to assist with clear communication and efficient transitioning between learning activities.

· Cold call – teachers utilise this random, equitable questioning technique ensuring that every student is afforded the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learnt during class discussions.

· Turn and talk – teachers utilise this effective, scaffolded method of collaboration to provide regular opportunities for students to share ideas and learn from one another across all areas of the curriculum.

Throughout Term 1, staff will be completing further professional learning regarding these Positive Classroom Management Strategies to build upon the above list of non-negotiable classroom procedures and routines. Members of the MPPS School Improvement Team (SIT) will be conducting learning walks to measure and support this initiative. We look forward to sharing regular updates with the MPPS community regarding our progress!

Yours sincerely,

Nathan Hutchins

Assistant Principal

Important Dates

In the Spotlight / Overview:

We are so proud of our Foundation students, it is wonderful to see their independence and confidence grow by the day! The last 3 weeks have been spent learning and practising school and classroom routines, establishing classroom expectations and of course getting to know each other and making new friends!

Heads Up!


Library 

Library day is Friday – library bags are needed for borrowing.

Compass 

Please continue to check Compass, and turn on notifications.

Volunteers Needed!

Please let us know if you are available to help contact our brand new decodable readers and we will set you up with everything you need! 

School Pickup

Kindly let us know if someone different will be collecting your child from school on any day.

Literacy: Identify the features of a sentence, such as capital letters and full stops and spaces between words.

Reading: Identify words that rhyme (words that rhyme sound the same at the end!) and to hear and blend syllables to make words.

Numeracy: Copy, continue and create different to types of two and three part patterns. We have spent lots of time dancing to copy movement patterns, and used stickers and stamps to create some colourful object patterns. 

Inquiry: Recognise the behaviours associated with our very important school values. So far we have explored teamwork and showing integrity! We can’t wait to start being handy helpers next week!

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (Wellbeing): We have been learning all about The Zones of Regulation and recognising and acknowledging our feelings. We are learning important strategies to help us safely move from one zone to another, such as counting to ten or taking a brain break.

Out of Bounds Area

Parents/carers, please take a moment to speak with your children about the school's out of bounds areas to ensure they understand where they are and aren’t allowed to go. These boundaries are in place for their safety and wellbeing, and we appreciate your support in reinforcing this at home.

Recognising TIER Role Models

Oli R for always looking out for his classmates by sharing classroom resources and offering assistance.

Important Dates

In the Spotlight / Overview:

Welcome to the first edition of the Junior School newsletter. It’s going to be another exciting school year at Mentone Park! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break. We are thrilled to see our students back, ready to learn and grow. The Year 1/2 teaching team could not be prouder of how the students returned after the summer holidays and settled into school routines.

Heads Up!


New Bell Times

Music now starts at 8:45 am, this is the children’s cue to make their way to their safety line and say goodbye to their parents/grandparents/guardians. Teachers will come out at 8:50 to say good morning and take the children inside to begin the school day.

Initalit

We have started our new literacy program InitiaLit. InitiaLit is an evidence-based Systematic Synthetic Phonics program. It is an explicit and effective model for teaching reading, writing, and spelling. 

Library

Please make sure your child has a named Library Bag. Library is on a Tuesday for 1/2DS and 1/2FD and Friday for 1/2W. Unfortunately, there are several overdue books from last year! Please check your home and return them ASAP. Students will not be able to borrow if they have overdue books.

Volunteers Needed

Please see any Year 1/2 teacher if you are able to help with contacting our new decodables. The sooner they are contacted, the sooner we will be able to begin our Take Home Reading Program. Thank you so much to the wonderful parents who have already offered to help us! You are amazing!

Naming Property

Please make sure all items are clearly named e.g. hat, drink bottle and plastic containers.

Out of Bounds Area

Parents/carers, please take a moment to speak with your children about the school's out of bounds areas to ensure they understand where they are and aren’t allowed to go. These boundaries are in place for their safety and wellbeing, and we appreciate your support in reinforcing this at home.

Literacy: This week, Year 1 students are revising previously taught sounds and letters, vowels, and syllables. Year 2 students revised the digraph ai/ay as in rain/stay and explored imaginative texts.

Numeracy: to explore the concept of Data by collecting data from their class using tallies, drawing a table, and creating a picture graph of their own. 

Inquiry: At Mentone Park, our school values are Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence, and Respect. Each week we are doing a deep dive into one value. Students have been engaged in hands-on activities that encourage students to think and understand the importance of each value. This year, our assembly weekly awards will connect to our school values.

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (Wellbeing): We are all learning about the Zones of Regulation. The zones of regulation organises our feelings, states of alertness, and energy levels into four coloured zones - Blue, Green, Yellow and Red.

Recognising TIER Role Models

Sofia K for having a fantastic return to school and consistently displaying our school values: Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence, and Respect. 

Important Dates

In the Spotlight / Overview:

Our 3/4 students have had a fantastic first two weeks back at school! They were eager to explore their learning space, and we were so impressed with how smoothly they settled into routine.

In the first few days, we discussed school expectations, shared fun facts about ourselves, organized materials, and played games to get to know each other. We’ve now started our SpellEx program and are enjoying our Novel Study of Matilda by Roald Dahl. In Maths, we’ve been revising counting and place value up to six digits.

The MPPS Year 3–6 House Swimming Carnival was a great success! Students (and staff!) loved competing and had a fantastic time. A big thank you to everyone who helped make the day possible.

We’re excited for a busy and productive year ahead!

Heads Up!

We Need Your Help!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We need your help to cover our brand new decodable take-home reading books in Contact to protect them before the Year 1/2s start the program for the year. If you can spare any time helping us to achieve this, we would greatly appreciate it. 

You are welcome to do this at home or at school in the Junior Hub (please provide a WWCC to the office staff if you do this). Please see Mrs Drummond or any Year 1/2 teacher, who can assist you with all the materials needed.

Out of Bounds Area

Parents/carers, please take a moment to speak with your children about the school's out of bounds areas to ensure they understand where they are and aren’t allowed to go. These boundaries are in place for their safety and wellbeing, and we appreciate your support in reinforcing this at home.

Literacy: Identify phonemes and graphemes within a word, and segment words into the base, prefix, and suffix. And plan and begin drafting a narrative text using our class novel Matilda.

Numeracy: Apply our knowledge of counting and place value of numbers up to six-digits.

Inquiry: Explain and apply our understanding of the TIER school values.

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (Wellbeing): Understand and identify the Zones of Regulation.

Recognising TIER Role Models

Charlie M. for always being respectful towards his teacher and peers.

Important Dates

In the Spotlight / Overview:

What a sensational, yet busy start to 2025 the Senior School has had! While some have been away adventuring at Somers Camp, back at Mentone Park we’ve been representing our Houses at the Swim Carnival and participating in the Water Safety Program. Together we’ve established the Senior School Code of Cooperation and have spent the first few weeks focussing on 2 of the TIER values, Teamwork and Integrity.

Teamwork by accepting people for who they are and being upstanders rather than bystanders. We encourage and support one another.

Integrity by being a positive role model (with or without a badge) and doing the right thing even when no one is watching. We are all leaders in Senior School.

Heads Up!

• Interschool Sport begins at the end of week 4. Please ensure you provide consent and payment on Compass in order to attend away matches. Each Friday your child will need to bring a drink bottle and wear runners, their MPPS sport top, MPPS hat and sunscreen. 
• Opportunities for Meet the Teacher Conferences will be available shortly. These are a great chance for you to share with us all the things that help your child learn and be their very best!
• Year 1/2s need assistance with contact covering their new decodable books! If you are free to provide any assistance please contact the Year 1/2 teachers or the office for more details.

Literacy: Read and respond to queries from our class novel, Can You See Me? by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott.

Numeracy: Interpret and create dot plots from given sets of data.

Inquiry: Demonstrate our understanding of Teamwork & Integrity..

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships (Wellbeing): Identify the 4 Zones of Regulation and what emotions and coping strategies are associated with each.

Out of Bounds Area

Parents/carers, please take a moment to speak with your children about the school's out of bounds areas to ensure they understand where they are and aren’t allowed to go. These boundaries are in place for their safety and wellbeing, and we appreciate your support in reinforcing this at home.

Recognising TIER Role Models

James Bennett - for demonstrating INTEGRITY at the Yr 3-6 Swimming Carnival by being a positive role model and giving it his best!

In Auslan, students in Foundation have been learning to sign the alphabet, my name is and fingerspell their name as well as respond to basic greetings including “how are you?”

In grade 1 & 2, students have begun to understand the basic history of Auslan and continue to work on signing the alphabet, finger spelling their name and responding to more complex greetings.

In grade 3 to 6, we have been focusing on understanding the history of Auslan and how Auslan come to be, responding to more complex greetings and signing some basic conversations about when is your birthday and where do you live?

Here are some signs you can practice at home:

In the Spotlight / Overview:

Welcome back, Mentone Park! We hope you all had a creative and inspiring holiday and had plenty of opportunities to let your imaginations run wild.

Over the past couple of weeks, our theme in art class has been drawing. The students began the term by creating their very own class mobiles, where they designed and decorated ornaments featuring their names to hang from the mobiles.

This week, we’ve been exploring the activity called "Take a Line for a Walk". This engaging exercise encourages students to experiment with lines and shapes, promoting freehand drawing and creative thinking.

We also celebrated a special moment last week – Aspen's 2nd birthday! She was absolutely spoiled with cards, hugs, and beautiful singing from the students. A big thank you to all the kids who made Aspen's day so memorable!

We look forward to another exciting term filled with creative projects and artistic adventures. Stay tuned for more updates and happy creating!

Artistic Achiever

Castiel S.

This week in PE, students focused on positive play, teamwork, and good sportsmanship while having fun with games like PE Tic Tac Toe and Jedi Kickball!

Our Year 3–6 students gave it their all at last Friday’s swimming carnival! Competitors put in 100% effort, while spectators cheered enthusiastically, showing incredible team spirit. The pool staff were impressed by their camaraderie and encouragement, highlighting what a wonderful community we have at Mentone Park. Well done, everyone! 

Year 3–6 Swimming Results
1st – Kings
2nd – Flynn
3rd – Hinkler
4th – Hawker

It’s amazing to be back in the STEAM room for 2025! The students have been settling into new routines and are ready to start new discoveries.

This term in STEAM we will be learning about food and fibres. We will look at the journey our food and fibres (materials) have been on and consider the impact this has on sustainability. We are going to look at ways to keep our food safe and fresh in order to minimise waste. We will also look at the differences between liquids, solids and gases and complete some experiments along the way.

Dear Mentone Park Families,

We are excited to introduce the Zones of Regulation as part of our whole-school approach to Wellbeing. This internationally recognized program helps children develop self-regulation—the ability to manage emotions like worry, anger, or restlessness so they can stay focused and ready to learn.

Through the program, students will:
✔ Recognize their emotional state and learn strategies to manage it.
✔ Expand their emotional vocabulary.
✔ Build empathy by identifying emotions in others.
✔ Understand how factors like sleep, hunger, and environment affect their emotions.
✔ Develop resilience and problem-solving skills.
✔ Create a personal ‘toolkit’ of calming and alerting strategies.

By equipping children with these skills, we aim to help them navigate challenges with confidence, both in and out of the classroom.

• What are the different Zones?
• How can you help your child use the Zones of Regulation at home?
• Tips for practicing the Zones of Regulation
• Quick Tips for Families

Please see the Zones of Regulation PDF.