2 December 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

The end of term is approaching fast and our annual end of term celebrations have begun. Our Book Award assembly, which took place on Thursday, was a wonderful celebration of the achievements of our students over the past year. To be presented with an award at this assembly is a real accolade, as there are many deserving students at Mullaloo Heights. As you can imagine, it is a great challenge for our teachers to select just one or two. Consequently, students who didn’t receive an award should not be disappointed. I believe it has been a successful year for everyone this year, with many individuals excelling in the various aspects of school life. This was particularly evident by the number of students who were rewarded for gaining a double gold in Mathletics yesterday - a fantastic achievement when you consider, that in order to do so, each student has achieved 1000 points on this program very week since the beginning of the year. This shows true commitment and serves as a great inspiration to other students. We are sure the numbers of students achieving double gold next year will increase as a result.

I have to say, my favourite task at the Book Award Assembly is announcing head boy and girl for the coming year. It is a true pleasure to observe the shock, followed by excitement at being selected for this prestigious role. Our head boy and girl for 2017, Konrad and Katie, have certainly earned this honour as a result of their consistent display of school values throughout their time at Mullaloo Heights. It goes without saying that they will do a great job next year. Of course, they have had some pretty good role models to watch over the past year. Jess and Toby have been amazing. Both have been proactive in their role, initiating new school events and carrying out their duties in a diligent and organised manner. They will spend their last few weeks at Mullaloo mentoring Katie and Konrad whose first task will be to compere the Graduation Ceremony. Remember this event will start at 8:45am on Thursday 8th December.

The results of the school survey are in and are summarised below. Thank you for taking the time to complete this. Your feedback is important and helps us plan for future school improvements. There are many positives identified by you and some areas that we need to work on. These will be added to our school strategic plan.

Don’t forget our Family Fun Day is on Tuesday 13th December at 9:00am for K-Y2 and 11:10am for Year 3 - 6. This will be followed by a shared lunch in the Undercover Area. We hope to see you all there.

Caroline Booth
Principal

Dates to remember

Tuesday, 6 December: Ocean Reef SHS Transition day (2 of 2)
Thursday, 8 December: Year 6 Graduation Day – 8:45am
Tuesday, 13 December: Family Fun Day 9:00am – 1:30pm
Thursday, 15 December: Students Last Day for 2016 School Year

Are you leaving at the end of the Year?

If your children are leaving at the end of the year, please let us know in the office as soon as possible. This information will help us when planning for next Year. Thank you!

Parent Opinion Survey Results

The results of the survey were very positive with 70% or more of parents agreeing or strongly agreeing with each statement. Average ratings on each response ranged between 3.6 and 4.4., with 1 being the lowest rating available and 5 being highest. Please click on the following link to access the full report.

Rating of School Performance Against Statements

Our strongest ratings were for the following

• My child feels safe at this school (4.4)
• My child likes being at this school (4.4)

Our weakest ratings were for the following

• The school takes parents opinions seriously (3.4)
• Teachers at this school provide my child with useful feedback (3.7)
• Works with me to support my child’s learning (3.7)

Additional Questions and Comments

Additional comments have been collated and categorised to indicate general areas of strength and areas requiring improvement.

What are the most important aspects of school for parents?

Most Important:

• High quality teaching and learning
• High standards of student behaviour
• A strong values education

Thank you everyone who completed the survey. Feedback as to what we do to address weaknesses will be published in future newsletters.

Fun Fair

Students had a great time sampling the activities organised by students from Room 12 at our fun fair last Friday. There was lots to do - face painting, throwing wet sponges, gorging donuts and kicking soccer targets, just to list a few. Great fun was had by all and $485.75 was raised. This will be used to buy a parting gift for the school from our graduating students. Watch this space to find out what it is, but in the meantime enjoy the photos.

Salvation Army Appeal

Our Salvation Army fundraiser was really well supported by Mullaloo Heights families. By the end of Friday, each class basket was bulging with food. Our donations will be used to compile food hampers for families who are less fortunate than us and will definitely be appreciated. Thank you for helping us to improve Christmas for many people.

Trying Out Ocean Reef High School

Room 12 got to try high school for size on Tuesday after being invited for the day by teachers at Ocean Reef High. They got to use the facilities, experience lessons taught by specialist teachers and mingle with older students. Our students seemed to take to high school like a duck to water and had a great day. In fact they enjoyed it so much, they will be going back next week for another try.

Book Awards 2016

Family Fun Day

Please bring a plate of food for our shared lunch on Tuesday 13th December. If each family could contribute one plate - savoury for girls and sweet for boys, that would be great. Lunch will take place in the Undercover Area at approximately 12:30pm, after the Family Fun Day Events. All parents are welcome.

Champion Students - Meet Ella Rooney and Drew McShane

Congratulations to Ella Rooney and Drew McShane who are achieving a very high level in their chosen sports that they undertake in their own time.

Ella is a member of the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) Gymnastic Program and trains there a number of times during the week. She recently competed in the Australian Gymnastic Championships held in Melbourne and achieved some outstanding results. Ella results included 2nd place in the beam and 4th place overall. An amazing effort Ella! Following the championships, Ella was chosen to attend an elite training camp held in Canberra which she felt was really beneficial for her skills.

Drew competes in the very fast paced world of motocross and although Drew has spent a lot of time on bikes since he first rode a bike at only 2 years of age, 2016 was his first season racing in competition. He has enjoyed racing at his home track in Wanneroo and has also ridden at other tracks around the Perth area. At his recent Wanneroo Junior Motocross Prize Giving, he placed 1st in his class of 65cc bikes and Drew was also selected as the Most Promising Beginner from the entire club. A great start to your new sport Drew.

Both Ella and Drew should be very proud of their achievements, as we are of them at Mullaloo Heights Primary School. These are two names we may hear a lot more of in the future! Great work, Ella and Drew.

Chaplain’s Corner

Dear parents,

This term has been an exciting and full term! I have enjoyed doing small group activities with some year 3 students who are a part of a gardening group on Friday afternoons, especially watching our tomatoes grow! I have loved doing large group activities with the year 5 and 6 girls who kicked off the Girl’s Group at lunchtimes. We played some ‘get to know games’ where the girls answered fun questions about themselves, like ‘if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?’, followed by a bingo game where the girls had to go around the room and find girls who matched the different categories. The following weeks were filled with crafts, including making their own journals, creating a ‘dream collage’ with pictures and words that represent who they are and their dreams, and we finished off on a nice note as the girls wrote encouraging notes to one another.

Here is a photo of some of the beautiful journals and ‘dream collages’ the year 5 and 6 girls made:

The boys group has also kicked off now, with the year 6 boys enjoying having the games room all to themselves at lunchtime. I have also begun the BUZ (Build Up Zone) Friends Program in Mrs Nancarrow’s year 3 class. This program covers self-confidence, resilience, feelings management and relationship skills. They have loved doing the fun games and activities in the program, as you can see in the photo below!

If you have any craft materials at home that you are no longer using, I would love to use them for activities in the Girl’s Group. It would be greatly appreciated if they could be dropped off in my office, located in Tern block.

Kind regards,
Jess

Parent Information/Reminders

Student Booklists for 2017

On Tuesday, 15 November, classes were issued with next years student booklists. Parents should have received their hard copies by now. If you have not been given this by your child/ren, please check their bags. Digital copies are also available from the Mullaloo Heights PS website below:

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