MVPS Update

Welcome back to school for Term 4! 

We cannot believe that it is the last term of the year, where did that year go?  Term 4 is always a very busy and exciting term, and with only 9 weeks in it, it can be hard to keep on top of everything going on - make sure you check out the Term 4 dates below, as well as keep connected to Skoolbag and your child's classroom Seesaw to ensure you are up to date with all information.

Term 4 sees many exciting events including Japanese Culture Day, Sports Day, Colour Run, End of Year Concert (and School Closure following), end of term class celebrations including excursions and parties, Year 6 graduation, 2023 Receptions visiting, end of year school reports, and visits to new classrooms for 2023.  

Class placement exercise 2023

In preparation for placing children into their new class for 2023, there are a range of processes that take place. 

• CONFIRMATION OF STUDENTS LEAVING (excluding year 6s)

Firstly, we need to ascertain student numbers for each year level for next year.  To assist with this, we recently asked families via Skoolbag to advise us if your child/children WILL NOT be attending MVPS next year.  To confirm students not returning to MVPS in 2023, please contact the office on 83238741.

• CLASS PLACEMENT INFORMATION FOR 2023

Families wanting to provide further information about your child’s social, health and academic needs, to be considered in the placement process, can do so on the Class Placement Information for 2023 form that is being sent home this week. Please complete and also return to your child’s class teacher by next Monday 24th October.  

• SOCIO-GRAMS - will be completed in classes this week

This week your child/ren will be asked to do a socio-gram in class where they nominate those peers/friends that they will work best with. They record the children’s name on a list which they will work on in class which they take home to discuss with their family. The joint discussion will overcome issues in the following year when parents request a class swap because their child isn’t with a friend. Children will be placed with at least one peer/friend from their list. (It might only be one, so make sure that you are happy with all children listed by your child.)

If you need any issues of clarification around the class placement process, you can catch up with your class teacher or email Leanne on leanne.lovett932@schools.sa.edu.au

Term 4 learning programs

Teachers will be working on targeted learning programs this term drawing on student data sets (NAPLAN, PAT-M, PAT-R, Tierney Kennedy numeary assessments, Year 1 phonics check, Brightpath writing assessments and much more) to improve learning outcomes for your child.  On the Student Free Day last term the teachers and SSOs worked together in their PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to work on strategies to get that STRETCH for EVERY child in EVERY lesson in their learning.  This is a mammoth task, but our wonderful educators are well and truly up for it and committed to action.

Our communication with families

We have listened to your feedback about our communication and this newsletter is one way we are trying to respond to it.  Let us know what you think.  We will aim to do this three times a term (beginning, middle and end of each term) and will minimise the amount of other Skoolbag posts as much as we can.

Uniform reminder:  

• All classroom teachers be on board with checking students have hats BEFORE they go outside during break times. Any students WITHOUT hats need to go under OSHC verandah (nowhere else).  There are no spare hats in office due to head lice.
• Hats must be in good order (not have rips or writing on them).
• Anyone out of school uniform will have an ‘out of uniform’ slip sent home or use the ‘swap a top’ system in the office. 
• Please remember that BLACK is not a school colour.

Playgrounds: 

A reminder that this term is the beginning of the new rules around users of each playground:

• JP playground - Reception and Year 1 students only

• Lower adventure playground - Years 2 and 3 students only

• Upper adventure playground - Years 4, 5 and 6 students only

Rec/1 teachers will find time for their classes to access the monkey bars on the adventure playground during class time every now and then.  We will explore adding monkey bars to the JP playground in the future.

Reminder that playgrounds are out of bounds before and after school due to supervision issues, and inappropriateness of families being in toilets during OSHC session times. 

Connecting parents and children together - class parent reps:

As part of the “Re-imagining MVPS” feedback from families, it was evident that many parents are really missing that social connection with other families so I am asking for expressions of interest from parents to be their 'class rep' for other parents to contact.  This person will be supported to start up a Whatsapp group with their class families who want to participate.  They will be responsible for trying to initiate get togethers outside of school hours / holidays for the children and families to connect.  They will be on a Whatsapp group with me and the 19 parent class reps so they can connect with each other and correspond directly with me if needed. At this stage we will keep it for a social contact for other families, but we could possibly use this rep next year to support any organisation for the class teacher - rallying volunteers, etc.  Please email Leanne.Lovett932@schools.sa.edu.au if you are interested in this role for the remainder of the 2022 year.

Looking forward to a wonderful term with you and your child (ren).  

Stay safe and take care, Leanne, Matt & Cate

Term 4 sees some changes to our staffing structure as follows:

• Nicky Clark our Wellbeing Leader is on leave for the remainder of 2022 so Simon Lovett will continue to backfill her to ensure consistency for students and families in need.
• We welcome Emily Hutchinson-Turner as our Term 4 PE teacher backfilling Simon.  Emily comes to us from Blackwood High & Eden Hills Primary and her skills, knowledge, experience and enthusiasm in physical education will be an asset to our school.
• We welcome Paul Rothwell our new Groundsperson who has won this role for the next 12 months and joined us last week.  Paul comes with extensive skills, knowledge and experience and we are excited about him giving our school all of the love that it deserves. 
• Dan Ruiz joins us for the first two weeks of this term in Room 17's Year 5/6 class while Dave Cleggett takes some leave to get married!  We wish Dave and Brianna all the best for their wedding day celebrations.

Hi my name is Emily Hutchinson-Turner and I am super excited to be able to share my passion for Physical Education with the students of McLaren Vale Primary School.  Sport has been a large part of my life right from when I was in primary school myself.  I have experience in a wide range of sports and represented South Australia in soccer.  A fun fact about me is that I love to surf and so weekends are usually spent along the Mid Coast.  My aim is to provide a Physical Education program that is engaging, valuable and fun for all students!  I am looking forward to meeting you all.

Term 4 is such an exciting and busy term in school and outside of school so make sure you pop all of these important dates in your personal calendar so you don't forget any, and keep an eye out on Skoolbag and your child's classroom Seesaw for any new or changed dates throughout the term.  A hard copy of our MVPS Term 4 calendar will come home this week with the eldest child in the family.

こんいちは　－konnichiwa - Hello everyone, we are very excitedly preparing for our annual Japanese Culture Day and the Japanese Culture Day Team of students and staff are sending this information home in preparation for our celebrations this Friday.

敬具 Keigu - Sincerely - Watt Sensei

Email your cutest pet pic to: 

Marie.Groen426@schools.sa.edu.au

Subject Line: CUTEST PET PIC.

Be sure to include your name, your pet's name & your classroom number.

Competition closes November 11th 2022.

Photos will be displayed in the Library and winners will be notified early November.

1st PRIZE:  Scholastic Book Club voucher up to $50 value

2nd PRIZE:  Scholastic Book Club voucher up to $20 value

3rd PRIZE:  Scholastic Book Club voucher up to $10 value

Our annual fundraiser Colour Run is coming up this term on Friday 18th November.  More information coming home soon, however if you are keen to be a volunteer on the day please email Matt.Millar500@schools.sa.edu.au

At MVPS we value and appreciate our volunteers and want to say a HUGE thank you to you all for taking the time to support our students and staff, you really do make a difference.  We also want to say thank you for your time in completing the very time-consuming paperwork to become a volunteer at our school, we know that it is a lot of work, but it is necessary as it ensures the safety of our students.  Come along for morning tea and a chat. RSVP dl.0251.admin@schools.sa.edu,au 

Please find attached the updated uniform price list which comes into effect as at 17 Oct 2022.

The uniform shop is open by appointment, please contact student services to book a time. 

Alternatively, uniform can be purchased via the QKR! app, in person at student services, or via the order form attached to this post. Uniform orders will be delivered to the student in class unless other arrangements have been made at the time of ordering.  

The Governing Council Committee now have an email address so you can contact us directly:  Governing.Council799@schools.sa.edu.au

We are always happy to hear from our families with any feedback or support needed.  Please see below photo to see who we are.

• Breakfast Club will continue in Term 4 running from 8:30am-8:45am Monday to Friday. We have made some slight adjustments so please refer to SkoolBag post on the 23rd of September for details about the purpose of this service.  Your child must have a new permission form for term 4 filled out (eForm) on SkoolBag. This only needs to be filled out once for the term. 
• I have been working in partnership with students, families and teachers to continuously improve attendance across the school.  
• I have been exploring our student wellbeing data from the survey that students Years 4-6 undertook in Term 2.  This data highlighted some areas that our students need support in. The staff are currently exploring some potential programs to address this need.

• This year we are keen to join in on the McLaren Vale Business Association Xmas Parade with a group of school children.  This event will be on Sunday 11th December 6-8.30pm on Main Road.  I am going to lead this from my wellbeing role and am asking for families to let me know via email and if they are happy for their child to participate (and can bring them on the night),   I will work with these children in some lunch breaks to get ready for the parade.  We will use this forum to spread the message of kindness to our community.  We will make banners/posters to hold up and the children can wear bright coloured clothing or decorate some white t-shirts with messages of kindness.  We will ask for donations of lollipops and will attach kindness messages to them and the children in the parade can give them out to the crowd as they walk down Main Road. Something simple, inclusive and meaningful. Please email me if you would like your child to be involved. (Simon.Lovett516@schools.sa.edu.au)

• The Kindness Cup is back this week. Feedback from families and students has been that the Kindness Cup needs to be brought back with a strong focus again, working towards being the ‘Kindness School in the world”.

• Morning fitness continues back on the oval this term, we are looking to include families in this one morning a week so please keep your eyes posted for this invitation.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any support.  Simon Lovett

Juno is now 18 weeks old and has been very busy training - using her manners, walking on a lead, being calm around people and in varying environments, and listening and responding to commands.  This term Juno will start spending some short amounts of time in classrooms under strict supervision and structure.  Please remember that if you see Juno around the school, we need you to ignore her.  If you would like to interact with her, you must look directly at the dog handler and ask "Can I please say hello to Juno?" When stroking her do so behind her collar.  We are all working very hard to help her to be successful in passing her test at 18 months old.

We have three events this term coming up for the Fathering Project.

• Dads only night Monday 24th October, 6pm in the school gym with Richie Welch from "The Next Step Australia"  sharing about Men's Mental Health - a must for all dads and father figures in our community. On this night we encourage you to bring any other dads, mates or rellies that you feel would benefit from this. Check out @the.next.step.australia on Instagram.
• Dads and Kids night Wednesday 16th November 6pm at School - more information to come.
• Dads catch up at the McLaren Vale Hotel Wednesday 30th November

Please contact Matt Millar with any questions.

Term 3 overview (we forgot to post it at the end of the term- sorry!): 

• Term 3 was very busy with sport across the school. We continue to have great participation and enthusiasm from all students across many different sports and look forward to providing further opportunities towards the end of the year. It was unfortunate that Sports Day had to be postponed but we look forward to our school oval being in great condition and families enjoying a great day. 

• Thanks to those families that visited the Gym on  Open Night and joined their kids in a warm-up. I have to congratulate every student in the school on their positive attitude and approach to PE in 2022. This is a very rewarding role and to see your children enter every lesson with a big smile and ready to learn makes me very happy. We have recently had netball clinics run by SEDA College, an introduction to Lacrosse run by Garret and Shane from Lacrosse SA and will soon have cricket, volleyball and football clinics. These clinics are designed to introduce kids to new sports or consolidate skills with experienced coaches. 

• Morning Fitness has continued in the gym over the Winter months. The kids have been doing dance, Zumba, Tabata and HIIT workouts between 8.50am and 9.00am every morning. A big thanks to staff for their positive approach and role modelling of all activities, the gym is buzzing for ten minutes and kids are having such a positive start to the day. Attendance and late arrivals have improved and kids are returning to class ready to learn.

• We have had some great results in School Sport SA competitions this term. Our boys' and girls' basketball teams represented MVPS earlier in the term and had a great day in the Southern Schools Competition. Our girls team finished the day winning 3 games while our boys team went undefeated to move through to the State Finals early in Term 4. We wish the boys the best of luck as they take on the SA's best.

• Our Athletics Team recently represented the school at the District Carnival at Tatachilla Lutheran College. We again showed why we are one of the strongest schools in the district with many students producing great results. We have several students selected to represent the District at the upcoming State Athletics Carnival in Salisbury in Week 9. 

• Finally, a great achievement by two of our students who recently represented South Australia at National Carnivals. Layla Frears went to Brisbane to compete at the National Swimming Championships and Eva Petrucci represented South Australia at the National Football Championships in Adelaide. This is a massive achievement by both girls and put them up against the best athletes in the country. The school are so proud of what you achieved and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for these two wonderful athletes.
• A huge thanks to Steve Earle and Kim Corbett who continued my programme and did a great job at promoting physical health and activity while I was in the wellbeing role.  Go Vale!

Term 4:

• What an exciting term of sport and physical education we have in Term 4.  This term will see our students engage in Sports Day, Colour Run, School Sport SA basketball, cricket and tennis.
• The Morphett Vale after school basketball competition will continue if your team has nominated to play in Term 4.  Teams will be re-registered this week with games set to start in Week 2.....
• Senior students will benefit for the Sporting Schools grant this term with touch football organised for their PE lessons over 4 weeks.  This means now that all students have accessed the grant with JP gymnastics in Term 2 and primary years lacrosse in Term 3.  We will continue to apply for these grants throughout each year to provide all students an opportunity to try new things.
• SEDA College AFL students will be providing clinics for senior students on Fridays over 4 weeks and will also be assisting us on Sports Day.

Kind regards, Simon and Emily

• Last term, two of our senior Aboriginal students attended the Aboriginal STEM Congress. They participated in lots of STEM learning and listened to many interesting young Aboriginal scientists give keynote addresses.  
• Three of our senior Aboriginal students attended the Southern Nunga Rugby Tag carnival in week 9, combining in a very successful team with students from Aldinga Beach B-7 School. 
• We had a very successful term with every class in the school coming to the ATSI room and doing a lesson about traditional burning. 
• In week 10 we attended the World Indigenous Peoples in Education Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre. This was an amazing educational experience for both of us and we hope to bring back our learning and share it throughout the school.

Burda Sanders (Aboriginal Education Teacher) & Rebecca Roberts (Aboriginal Community Education Officer)

Remember on Wednesdays to keep an eye out for our MVPS Market Cart with fresh produce from our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden.  Bring your loose change and see our garden specialist Lucy O-Connell and kitchen specialist Tamara Piec.

What a great year we have had with fundraising already this year.  We have already raised $10,739.60  for our school (and a whopping $36,648.00 for Hutt St from our market stalls, walk a mile morning event and our amazing long walker team!) and we still have some exciting fundraising events scheduled for Term 4.

This term fundraising events include:

• 28th October: Sports Day 
• 18th November: Colour Run
• 1st December:  End of year concert - bbq, drinks, auctioning signed 2022 Port Power guernsey)
• End of year raffle

Coming shortly we will list all of our AMAZING supporters who have donated prizes for our fundraising efforts this year.

Please help out wherever you can by volunteering on a stall or bbq, selling a raffle ticket or purchasing an item.  Any support you can give to us we are very grateful for.

The students have a very long list of all of the things that they would like to see in their play areas and facilities and all of the money we raise goes straight back to these initiatives.

KInd regards, Fundraising Team:  Leanne, Shylie, Anne-Maree, Brooke, Alyse, Angela, Maddy, Chantelle, Sarah and Susie 

You may have noticed lots of new and improved things popping up around our beautiful school.

• Minniss seating finally finished - we will need to plant out the garden in between benches, 

• Steve from SDS has excavated the spot near the green shed for the gaga ball pit.  Jeff is currently making the structure and hopes to have it in place before Sports Day.

• Steve also pulled up the wooden picnic bench near the green shed (it had termites in it). 

• Cabling to the gym was done in holidays, so hopefully no more need to hotspot internet from your phones anymore for the teachers!

• Betterland Landscaping is due to install swings near Groundsperson shed this term - we will let you know a date as soon as we know.

• We have priced up to get the area near the back of Library concreted to make space for more handball courts.

• We are still waiting on advice for Mrs Sternberg’s garden but hope to have this underway very soon.  Paver orders will go in during Week 1 - if you did forget and are keen to order one please see Belinda asap.

  The student Grounds Action team will take some photos this term to share with you all to give you an update of what we have achieved so far.

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Congratulations to the Crabbe family on their newest addition and a big welcome to Otis Kyle Crabbe.  Below is a photo of Otis with his two big brothers Jaxon and Oscar :) 

Marie Groen and her student helpers cannot believe the amount of items that have piled up in the lost property box!  Well done to everyone who has remembered to clearly label items with names as all of those were able to be returned to classes.  Unfortunately, there are a significant amount of items that do not have names so they are still sitting waiting for their owners to come and find them!  Please swing by the atrium and see if any of them belong to your child.