9 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

Welcome to another year at Mullaloo Heights. The start of the school year is always an exciting time with much to look forward to and many new things to experience. There are new teachers, new classrooms and new friends, as well as old. Our students have already made a great start. They have moved seamlessly into their new classes and are already working hard, showing enthusiasm for the tasks set. Their teachers are working hard too, setting up classroom routines and establishing expectations for the coming year. These will be outlined in a letter from each class teacher which will ensure you are informed of what is happening in your child’s classroom. This written communication will be followed up with individual parent interviews later in the term. During these appointments you will be able to discuss things that relate to your child as an individual and I am sure you will find them extremely beneficial in gaining an understanding of your child’s achievement and needs. More information will follow regarding the organisation of these meetings.

Talking of new, our school captains, Scarlett and Archer, have made an excellent start to their new role. Their first 2 weeks have been spent organising announcements over the PA and helping their Year 6 peers organise sports equipment at lunchtime. They will soon be joined in their work by a team of student councillors. Elections have taken place with potential candidates presenting speeches to students in year 3-6. All voters have cast their votes and 4 new councillors for semester 1 will be announced in Line Up on Monday morning. Although we can only appoint 4, all would-be councillors should be incredibly proud of themselves. Each individual prepared a well thought out and persuasive speech which they delivered calmly and confidently – a daunting task in front of such a big audience. Those who haven’t been successful will have the opportunity to try again when we appoint councillors for semester 2. In addition, other leadership roles, such as Faction Captains, Library and Environment Garden Monitors, will be available later in the term. In the meantime, we will wait with bated breath to hear who our new student leaders are on Monday.

You will have noticed a couple of new names added to our staff profile this year. I would like to welcome Miss Nicole Moore, who is teaching Y3/4 in Room 5 and Miss Stephanie Cole, who is teaching Y5/6 in Room 11. Our students and parents have already given them both a warm welcome. In addition, you will have noticed a few changes in terms of existing teachers. Mrs Sandy Magyar has joined the Y5/6 teaching team and Miss Jodie Embling, Year 2. Meanwhile, Mrs Claire Nancarrow is very excited to be teaching science to our junior and middle primary students. She already has some interesting experiments planned for the children. Finally, we have a couple of name changes. Miss Marcelle Beeftink is now Mrs Langley and Miss Kim Carlson is now Mrs Chrimes, as both got married over the summer break. I’m sure they will forgive us any initial confusion as we get used to their new names. All staff, new and existing, are looking forward to working with you this year to create the best school for our students. Remember that if you ever have a concern or worry, pop into the office and have a chat or visit your child’s teacher. You are always welcome.

In the meantime, have a great weekend.

Caroline Booth
Principal

Dates to remember

Term Dates for 2018

Our First Week at Mullaloo Heights

Our new Kindy and Pre-Primary students settled into life at school with ease last week. Tears were few due to the wide range of interesting and challenging activities organised by our Early Childhood team. Every time we visited, children were engrossed in their work. Here’s a taste for what they got up to.

Values Passports

Last year, an outstanding number of students achieved their 100 Club Badge for reading and Gold badge for Mathletics. These homework programs will continue this year and it is great to see how motivated our students already are: many have set themselves targets to do even better this year. Please support them in this endeavour by encouraging then to complete their home reading or Literacy Pro tasks and Mathletics. Talk to your child’s teacher to find out how best to do this.

Back to School

There were no complaints from our older students on their return to school last week. They have embraced the changes set by their new teachers and knuckled down to hard work with a smile on their faces, as you can see from the photos.

Parent Information

Rangers Parking and Community Safety – Safety around Schools

Vehicles which park contrary to parking signage around schools are a major hazard and impact on the safety of children, pedestrians and other road users in these areas. It is imperative that drivers are aware of, and park in accordance with, the parking conditions which apply near schools.

As part of the City’s continuing effort to provide a safer environment for everyone City of Joondalup Officers conduct patrols of school parking in the mornings and afternoons throughout the school term.

As part of this initiative Officers use patrol vehicles, which have been fitted with Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras, to capture digital images of vehicles which are parked contrary to parking requirements near schools. Any infringement notices, issued as part of these patrols, will be sent via mail to the registered owner of the vehicle.

Please see the link below for a copy of the City’s School Parking brochure which provides additional information in relation to parking near schools. This is a reminder for parents and caregivers of their responsibility in ensuring that they park correctly near schools.

Mobile phones

A reminder that mobile phones and ipods etc, need to be signed into the front office at the commencement of each school day. These are stored away for the day and students come back at the end of the day to collect them.

Communication to or from parents or carers, during school time, regarding any issues relating to students is the responsibility of the school and will be managed by the school. Parents who need to contact their children during the school day can contact our school on 6206 2100.

Mobile phones can be an effective means of communication between parents and their children before and after school hours. However, during school time, they are a distraction to students and have the capacity to negatively impact on the learning environment and the safety and well-being of students.

Crunch & Sip

Our school is a Crunch and Sip School. All students are encouraged to have a water bottle in their classroom, every day: not juice or cordial, only water. Students are also encouraged to bring in a small container of chopped fresh fruit and/or vegetables. Students will have a break at about 9.30am in class. Popcorn, dried fruit, oranges and fruit tubs are not approved. Your child is encouraged to participate in Crunch and Sip, but this is not compulsory and your child may choose to only eat at recess and lunch time. If you have any concerns, please speak with your child’s teacher.

Sun Smart

Our school is a Sun Smart School. We encourage all students to wear our school bucket hat. Should a student forget their hat or choose not to wear it, they will be required to play in the covered assembly area. Students are encouraged to put on 30+ broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen before leaving for school or they can apply the sunscreen at school. Sun screen is available in every classroom.

Student Health Form 2018 (Excursions)

A hard copy of the 2018 Health Form for Excursions has been sent home with students. Could parents/ guardians please complete these forms and return them to their Class teacher by Friday, 2 March 2018.

Parent/ Guardian Contact details

If you have changed any of the following details, could you please notify the school, as soon as possible;

• Residential address
• Contact numbers – home, mobile
• Emergency contacts
• Email address

Medical updates

If there has been any change in your child’s health, that you may feel the school needs to know, for the safety of your child, for example; If your child has an anaphylactic reaction to anything, an allergic reaction or asthma, please notify our school in writing so that we can update our medical records.

P&C News

P&C GENERAL MEETING

When and where: Wednesday 21st February, starting at 6:30pm in the school staff room.

The outgoing P&C Committee of 2017 would like to invite existing and new parents of Mullaloo Heights Primary School to come along to our first P&C meeting of 2018.

Being a member of your schools P&C is a challenging and rewarding part of the year.

In recent years, we have had great participation from parents; however, as our children grow we have natural attrition and we require new people to step into the P&C roles.

This upcoming meeting is to finalise last year’s minutes and to introduce new volunteers and interested parents to the P&C.

Further to this; if you have experience with basic bookkeeping and minute taking we could certainly do with your help, so please make yourself known to us.

All P&C Committee positions become vacant at the AGM to be held on Wednesday 14th of March, at 6.30pm in the staffroom. We welcome everyone to attend and participate in this great group in 2018.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting me:

Shane Porter
0409884365
shane.porter14@bigpond.com