Mount Macedon Primary Newsletter

Care - Create - Collaborate

Mount Macedon Primary School aims to develop positive, independent, resilient and inquiring students who are ready for the future.


Principal's Report

Tuesday 13th December 2022

Hello Everyone,

It’s hard to believe that this is the last newsletter for the year. We have achieved some wonderful results and have had an opportunity, particularly in the second half of the year, to deliver a consistent, uninterrupted program for the first time in quite a while.

Our fete was the best, and our community is reconnecting, stronger than ever.

Our new wellbeing initiatives have helped provide the children with the extra support they have needed as they resumed a full year of schooling.

What a year!!

As the year draws to a close, we still have quite a few events to go.

Yesterday we held our annual Mount Macedon’s Got Talent. We had over 30 students perform for the school. Congratulations to our winners, Eliza and Oscar. This day is a lovely example of celebrating the wide variety of talents that our students have.

Today the children transitioned to their new class. We have spent hours working on the class lists and making sure that every child is with friends. I am doing job interviews this week to fill the roles of grade 3/4 class teacher. I will let you know as soon as this role is filled.

Our Picnic at Hanging Rock has been postponed tomorrow and will be held on Monday, when there will hopefully be warm weather and not predicted snow.

This Thursday our Grade 6 students will be attending Graduation Night at the Trading Post. It will be a night filled with tears, laughter, and memories. When you have taught children for many years it’s hard to say goodbye. I would like to remind our graduating students that they will always be Mount Macedon Primary School alumni and they will always be welcome to come back and share their lives with us. We are so proud of the young adults that they have become, and we look forward to hearing about their future successes.

This week we will farewell several families from our school as well. Once again, all of these families have been with us for many years, and we have built strong connections with each other and with the school. We say a sad goodbye to the following parents whose last child is graduating, or moving on: -

Caryn Anderson and Jamie Treacy

Lisa and Damien Blanch

Sarah and Michael Dam

Jenni and Alex Gadd

Clare and Jake Pickard

Angela and Jay Town

Faye Cormick and Peter Turner

We will miss each of you, and thank you for your commitment to our school, but wish you every happiness for the future.

We are also farewelling four staff members.

 Simon Dohler, who will be living and working in the NT for the next two years,

Meghan Anders who is reducing her teaching time fraction,

Sharny Smith who has a graduate position at Newham Primary School and

Sarah McPherson who is leaving us to have a baby.

It is hard to say goodbye to colleagues who are also our friends. As a team, we have spent a lot of time together and have built very strong relationships. They have all been such great staff members and we will miss them.

Don’t forget our final assembly to be held at the school, in the hall, this Friday afternoon at 2pm, where will celebrate Christmas, the year, and farewell those who are leaving us. This assembly will be followed by an afternoon tea in the hall.

School finishes this year at 1.30pm on Tuesday 20th December. At this time, all of our graduating students will ring the school bell to signify that they are moving on to secondary school.

I’d like to finish this year by saying a BIG THANK YOU to every member of our school community- students, parents, helpers, Alan our school crossing supervisor, for keeping us safe, and also the fabulous staff. We have worked together as a true team to achieve the best we could for the students in a difficult year. The commitment and focus that I have seen this year has reminded me that if we keep the students at the centre of everything that we do, then our children will still be winners – no matter what is thrown at us.

I am truly grateful to be a part of this kind, supportive community.

Have a rest, enjoy Christmas, then take a deep breath and let’s head into 2023 with a sense of optimism and positivity.

Kind Regards,

Trish

Parent Payments for 2023

Details of parent payments for 2023 will be sent home on Friday with reports.

There are three payment categories:

Curriculum Contributions

Other Contributions

Extra-Curricular

Payments can be made through QKR or Direct Debit. Payments made through QKR will be listed under the headings above. Please note there are different amounts for each year level in the Curriculum Contributions category due to specific year level items in the student book packs.

Student book packs will be ready for collection from the school on Friday 20th January between the hours of 8.30 – 4.30pm. If you can’t make this date, we will also be open on Friday 27th January.

Mount Macedon Primary School continues to welcome your voluntary contributions to our Building and Maintenance Fund.  Donations made contribute towards the annual expenditure associated with building projects and the insurance, maintenance and cleaning of our school hall. This is an endorsed Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) fund and is tax deductible. Building and Maintenance Fund payments can be made separately from the other 3 payment categories through Qkr or direct deposit. This donation is tax deductible and a receipt will be issued for taxation purposes.

Updated MMPS Wellbeing and Inclusion Newsletter

Please see attached our latest Wellbeing and Inclusion Newsletter for December. Included is information about how we have been supporting our students at school this term, some valuable resources for parents and carers at home, along with some great community connections and activities for children this month.
Download

Wellbeing News

As the excitement of finishing primary school and transitioning to secondary school draws nearer for our senior students, we understand that this can also be an overwhelming and challenging time for them. With this in mind, we have been working with our students in class to prepare and support them through this period of change. Below are some great resources on how you can help students cope with big life changes in order to support their mental and emotional well being.

Student Kimochis Kotowaza

Mount Macedon Primary School

Student created Kimochis Kotowaza’s - Feelings

The feeling for this week is - Excited

"You can be excited about change, but remember to feel it for others too." - Harriet Grade 5

Kimochis® Kotowaza — or Japanese proverb—that accompanies feelings. Kotowaza’s inspires people to say and do meaningful actions for the feeling.

Hello Bookworms

2022 is coming to an end very soon and all library books need to be returned to school asap.

Notices will go home to everyone to remind you all to look for and return your books.

If you think you have already returned a book that is still marked as borrowed, please let Vicki know so it can be found.

MMPS Update by School Reporter Eliza

Wow, the year is finally coming to an end. It has been such a great year and so many fun things have filled it. And everyone has grown so much. 

Soon the Grade Sixes will be graduating so this will be my last ever newsletter. It's been so fun writing the newsletter and I have loved sharing the events happening at school. Every week I put out the newsletter and once a month the Gisborne Gazette. I have loved doing this role, and I am sad that this will be the last one I write. 

It's been a long and educational journey writing the newsletter this year. I've learned so much about writing techniques and how to write more descriptively and informatively. There have also been times where I couldn't write because of the Tuesday deadline and a clash with other events in the school. The role has been tough at times but it was all well worth it because I love writing and I love the idea of sharing all of the things happening at the school with my community. 

I also want to say thank you to everyone that has read my newsletter articles over the course of the year. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Eliza 

Farewell from Mrs Smith

Dear Families,

I’d like to thank you all for your kindness and support during my time at MMPS. It has been the most wonderful year of my entire career and I feel so blessed to have been part of such an amazing community.

Mount Macedon really is a school like no other. The commitment that families have to the school really makes it a special place. The exciting events like sports days, production and fete wouldn’t be as spectacular without your efforts. The students have been a delight to teach and we have had many laughs and happy moments that I will not forget. I am grateful to have been surrounded by passionate teachers who have not only taught me so much, but inspired me to be the best I can be.

I have acquired a position at another school where I will be teaching Foundation/1, which is a very exciting new path for me, but MMPS will always hold a special place in my heart.

Thank you for everything.

Sharny Smith. 

Grade 4/5 Update

This week the Grade 4/5 students have been practising their persuasive writing skills. Pasco and Wil have written a persuasive piece on why it will be great for the school to get solar panels. Have a read below, we think they both make some really well researched and great points of view.


Solar Panels

We need to get solar panels because you will save 53.56% off your electricity bill. Plus in 4 to 5 years they will pay for themselves in savings. Solar energy is clean energy unlike fossil fuels, which we lose 70% into the atmosphere and 10% in power lines so we lose 80% overall. It also requires power lines which are made of trees and  mined metal . It's crazy that we lose so much energy into the atmosphere that causes pollution but with solar we can use 100% of the power from solar and it's clean energy. If we get rid of big power plants that burn fossil fuels we have more space for tree plantations. And lastly the sun is free we can use it forever. That's why the school should use solar panels.

By Pasco

 

We need solar panels

Solar panels are way more efficient than coal. When you burn fossil fuels you release bad gases into the atmosphere. The gases are carbon dioxide. It is bad because it causes pollution. Solar panels make energy and electricity free. It is a natural resource. It's so easy to use. I know it might seem expensive to set up but after that, the school will save money and be a great role model for other schools!

And that's why we need solar panels in our schools!

By Wil

Kidz Rule the School

Last Friday was Kidz Rule the School day and what a fun day it was!! Our Grade 6 students all got to trade places with our teachers, principal and educational support staff and experience some hard work and  responsibility for the day! Some of the students misbehaved for the teachers, running amuck and doing naughty things like messing up desks, putting feet on chairs, and not listening to their teachers. However the "teachers" did very well to keep the school calm and under control. They spent the morning giving lessons to the students, doing some reading and maths work. The office staff did very well, answering phone calls and being very responsible in organising everything for the fire drill. One fun job they got to do was help bag up all of the lollies for the Hanging Rock Picnic, which was "the best job ever"! Principal James did an excellent job of ensuring the school day ran very smoothly, without too many hiccups. At the end of the day, they were all exhausted and said it was very hard work, but that the day was fun.  Below are some great photos of the day. 

Digital Technology at MMPS

So, do you have the same password you use for everything?, logging into your internet banking, checking email, accessing your super important work documents - I'm sure a lot of us do (I'm as guilty of doing that as everyone, yep, mine is my McDonald's Geelong employee number from 1997).

So, as part of my usual "Do what I say, not what I do" routine, Grade 2 students learnt all about the importance of usernames and passwords, why we have them, how they work and why we need to keep them secret - and they did that by getting their own Microsoft 365 account details.

(side note: students will be able to use this login to use Office 365, Minecraft Education and other apps freely from home - just send me an email if you want any more info on that side of things)

The first thing we did was to write stories online in Word and share those stories with other students in the class (using their fancy, new usernames) to work collaboratively. 

So, I guess that's one password to remember for now, with only another 400 or so to come down the line...

Mr. Garcia

Hats in Term 4

Just a reminder to ensure that students have their hats to wear at school during recess and lunchtimes, as well as any other outdoor activities they may be participating in. It is important that we are all being sun smart and ensuring our children are protected from the harmful UV light that is at it's highest peak during the months of August to April, where UV index levels regularly reach 3 or above. Please also remember to name your children's hats as they quite often are lost, misplaced or left in the playground and it is handy to know who the hat belongs to! Spotted on the grounds were some of our students wearing their hats today.

Lost Property

We currently have quite a collection of Lost Property at the school, and unfortunately most of it is un named. If you are missing some items or school uniform, we would appreciate if you have a spare moment during school drop off or pick up  to come in and have a look through the lost property before Term 4 ends. Thank you.

School's Out

Don't Forget! Last day of Term 4 is Tuesday 20th December. School finishes at 1.30pm. First day back for Term 1 is Tuesday 31st January 2023. Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holidays! 

Infinite Sound

Ranges Music Network

COMMUNITY NEWS

School's Out for Summer Picnic Bash - Ranges Music Network

We have a huge event with 6 hours of young bands on the last day of (public) school at the Macedon & Mount Macedon Community House (Victoria St, Macedon).  The School's Out For Summer Picnic Bash will kick off from 1:30pm and run until 8:30pm on Tues Dec 20th. 

The Community House has a sausage sizzle, food and drink and everyone is encouraged to bring their picnic rugs and enjoy the entertainment.

We're very excited that the huge lineup represents musicians from almost EVERY school in the area -- and hopefully will serve to encourage more young people to get involved in our monthly MR YIM (Macedon Ranges Youth In Music) stage.  See below for more information.

Christmas Twilight Market

Gisborne Library

Gisborne library is hosting the BIG SUMMER READ again. Read 10 books or more and join in the fun Reading over Summer. Come into the library to collect a Reading Log.  Return the log by 31st Jan to enter prize draws. There are BSR craft activities in the library during the holidays.

If you are passionate about writing, The Gisborne Writing and Illustration Challenge is in partnership with the Gisborne Gazette to provide some creative fun over summer. Come into the library for further information on the different age categories and themes

Other exciting things for kids during the holidays: Tuesdays in January Kids Movie Days. Manga Workshops and an interactive and funny performance by Damo: Music for kids. Book online ncgrl.vic.gov.au  or come into the library and see staff.

Beleza School Uniforms

Pet Sitting

MRSC Recycling

Woodend Netball

CYC City Summer Stays

Young Warblers

Gisborne Soccer Club

Ash Wednesday Memories

PGL Summer Camp

Macedon Ranges Gift Shop

Macedon Junior Cricket

Macedon Cricket Club is running Woolworths Cricket Blast again this season. It’s a fun and fast programme for kids of all abilities to learn the skills and play Australia's favourite sport.

5 - 10 year olds. All welcome. 

It doesn't matter if you've never picked up a bat or ball. (We use rubber balls - not hard cricket balls).

Learn some skills, meet some other locals and most importantly - get out there and HAVE FUN.

Come and join the fun at Macedon Cricket Club (Tony Clark Reserve), Sunday mornings from 9:00 - 10:00, starting November 6th.  

Registration will be online via the Playcricket website.

You can find general details at playcricket.com.au. Any queries please contact Andrew (andrew.jeanes@robertbird.com.au

For any budding cricketers 10-12 years of age Macedon Cricket Club would welcome enquires to come and join our U11 or U13 sides.  Please contact Todd (todd.c@qubedadvisory.com.au) or Clint (clint.grobler@gmail.com).

 

Important Dates

Thursday 15th December - Grade 6 Graduation 

Friday 16th December - Christmas Celebration and Final Assembly 2pm. Parents welcome.

Monday 19th December - Picnic at Hanging Rock 

Tuesday 20th December - Last Day of School 1.30 pm Finish

2022 Term Dates

Term 1 - Monday 31st January to Friday 8th April

Term 2 - Tuesday 26th April to Friday 24th June

Term 3 - Monday 11th July to Friday 16th September

Term 4 - Monday 3rd October to Tuesday 20th December


2023

Term 1 starts Tuesday 31st January.