29 March 2019

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Message

It’s certainly been a harmonious fortnight at Mullaloo Heights; of course, this may have had something to do with our Harmony Week celebrations. Cooperation, inclusion and empathy were the core values reflected in all activities throughout the week. The week began with a visit from TAIKO, who shared aspects of Japanese language and culture, with a particular focus on music. The performance was characterised by high energy and much audience participation so it’s unsurprising that our students were totally enthralled. As the week progressed, our students worked with their buddies to create and fly kites. It was lovely to see the patience and care our older students employed when working with the younger children. Room 12’s assembly continued the theme with a wonderful presentation explaining the importance of this week and, in particular, the value in accepting differences and including others. The week ended in a blast of colour with our very first Colour Explosion. This was a fitting end to a wonderful week, with children, teachers and parents working together to have great fun. They left school on Friday in a tired, but very colourful state.

Another positive success displayed recently is our students’ commitment to Mathletics. This homework task is always well supported, but even so, I was overwhelmed by the number who achieved their first silver certificate a week or so ago. Over half of the school stood on the stage at Monday Line Up as a result of consistent work on Mathletics. They have all achieved 1000 points every week since the start of term. This is a wonderful reflection of our students’ hard work and their ability to rise to any challenge we set. We can’t wait to see how many achieve a gold badge mid-way through the year. From the great start already made, we are expecting quite a few.

Receiving our first silver certificate in Mathletics

Finally, it was great to see so many of you supporting Parents Evening over the past couple of evenings. I am sure you found the meetings valuable and gained a good idea of how your child has settled into their new class and the ways in which you can support their learning. Remember that you can talk to your child’s teacher throughout the year should you need an update on their progress.

Best Wishes,

Caroline Booth
Principal

Dates to remember

Merit Certificates

Reading Club

Room 12 Assembly

The students in Room 12 gave us a comprehensive explanation of why Harmony Week is so important in their recent assembly. Dressed in orange, the colour of harmony, the students read poems, sang songs and shared snippets of their online communication with a school on the other side of the world. It was the perfect addition to a week of reflection and inclusion.

Harmony Week Assembly

Enjoy the attached poem to gain a taste of their thoughts about Harmony Week.

Aussie of the Month

For consistently interacting with her peers in a mature and respectful manner. Her gentle nature makes her an outstanding role-model and valued member of our school. Keep up the great work.

Congratulations, Bell.

Aussie of the Month FOR March is Bell P.

Harmony Week

Harmony Week enabled us to consider the ways in which we include others, regardless of our differences. Lots of activities were organised so that we could explore this and put it into practice. Here are some photos of us enjoying the week.

Working together during Harmony Week

Pre-primary Store Cupboard

We would like to thank Eloise Allbury, Heidi Fitzsimmons, Alice Vickers and Sally Winnett for donating many hours to reorganise our pre-primary store cupboard. The P&C provided new storage boxes which allowed our team of organisers to work their magic on our messy cupboard. Have a look at the before and after photos to see the transformation they’ve brought about. Thank you - we love our new storage system.

Colour Explosion

Our very first colour explosion was held on Friday 22nd March and what a fantastic time everyone had! There was a rainbow of colour across our oval as students enjoyed running laps to music, navigating an obstacle course, getting wet in the sprinklers and, of course, the most exciting part, being sprayed with coloured powder by the teachers!

There was a great community atmosphere with many parents and siblings attending and the P&C supporting the event with a tasty sausage sizzle!

Thank you to all families who raised money for this event; your donations will go towards resources for the students at our school.

An explosion of colour at Mullaloo Heights

Boardies Day – Thank you

Students and staff wore their favourite boardies earlier this month to raise funds for Surf Life Saving WA and the Mullaloo Surf Life Saving Club. Our gold coin donation event raised $254.15 for this important cause. A big thank you to everyone for your generosity in supporting this event.

Thanks for a colourful Boardies Day

Girl’s AFL Clinic

On Wednesday 13th March, Shane Porter from Oceanridge Football Club ran a football clinic for girls in Yr3-6 during lunchtime. The girls learnt AFL skills and applied these to some modified games. Shane was impressed by the girls' skills and encourages them to give AFL a go!

Parent Information

Enrolments for 2020

We are now accepting Enrolments for the 2020 school year.

Who needs to enrol?

You need to apply to enrol your children in public school for 2020 if they are:

• starting Kindergarten – 4 years old by 30 June 2020
• starting Pre-primary, the first year of compulsory school – 5 years old by 30 June 2020
• changing schools.

Applications for enrolment in a public school for 2020 close on Friday, 26 July 2019.

Enrolment documents for Mullaloo Heights PS are available to download from the school website at the link below or alternatively they can be collected from the school office.

Triple P Seminar Series - Kindy to Year 5

Positive Parenting - By Professor Matt Sanders

As a parent, you want to do the best for your child, but how do you know what’s right? What do you do when your child answers back? Or is being bullied at school? Or starts telling obvious lies?

Over the next two terms in the Mullaloo Heights PS newsletter, I will share some of Triple P’s proven tips for the best ways to handle common behavioural and developmental problems in children. From battling disobedience to encouraging homework routines, I’ll cover those everyday issues to help you work out some strategies to suit your family.

I’ll highlight common “parent traps” and hopefully make the very important job of raising kids as enjoyable and rewarding as possible.

But remember, parenting is sometimes hard work and it may take time to tackle more difficult problems. The good news is that help is always at hand.

Mullaloo Heights PS are offering parenting support with Triple P, one of the world’s most highly-regarding parenting programs.

Please express your interest in attending a whole day Seminar Series in Term 3 Week 2- Thursday 1st August 2019 9am-2:30pm, in the Science/Art room – Morning tea and lunch provided. Contact Mullaloo Heights PS on (08)6206 2100

Professor Matt Sanders is founder of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program®. For more information, go to the link below

Parent Reminders

Dogs on School Grounds

We would like to remind you that dogs are not to be brought onto school grounds. A couple of years ago, we had an incident where a dog tied up near the Early Childhood Block nipped a small child. While this is very unfortunate, it could easily have been avoided. Dogs will often react differently around large groups of people and, regardless of size or temperament, can cause both physical and emotional harm. It is worth remembering that there are children who are frightened of dogs, no matter how friendly their owner perceives them to be. These children have the right to feel safe while at school. Because of this, please ensure that dogs are not brought along to school, even if they are on a lead. Thank you for your support and understanding with regard to this.

Use of Staff Car Park

In the interest of safety, parents and students are NOT permitted to access the school through the staff car park on Charonia Road before or after school. Our staff car park is out of bounds to all pedestrian and motor traffic other than staff themselves. The staff car park is not to be used for dropping off or picking up your children.

There are two pedestrian paths/access points either side of the staff car park on Charonia Road to facilitate SAFE entry to our school. The staff car park in Charonia Road is our Emergency Access point also. This must be free to allow ambulance, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles entry at all times. Please do not block access to the bitumen area.

Voluntary Contributions

Thank you to all who have paid their child’s contribution for 2019. Monies collected through this scheme enhance the learning program at MHPS. If you have overlooked payment, please come in and see us at the front office or alternatively, payment can be made via direct deposit into the school bank account.

Bank Account details for MHPS.

For your convenience to make direct deposits:

Mullaloo Heights PS (MHPS)
BSB: 066 040
A/C No.: 19903178

Please include your child’s name as reference.

Eftpos facilities at MHPS.

We have Eftpos facilities available, accepting Visa and Master Card. Please see the front office to make payments.

Serve our ANZACS Project – Kings Park

A "Serve our ANZACS' project will take place on April 23 from 9.00am till noon. This all ages community project is undertaken by volunteers who clean the plaques which make up the Honour Avenues in Kings Park in preparation for the Dawn Service. A short service is held followed by the cleaning and a sausage sizzle and family games for all those who take part. We have some families that are involved in this project and speak very highly of this well organised and fulfilling event. If you would like more information or would like to be involved in this project – see the flyer for more details. Thank you

French News

Chaplain’s Corner

Dear Parents,

In the next few weeks I will be teaching the BUZ strategies for resolving conflicts and bully-proofing in a number of classrooms. This will form part of the whole school approach to bullying. These strategies are easy and fun for the kids to remember and to outwork practically.

The conflict resolution strategy is called ‘the Hopscotch method’ and focuses on talking through the conflict with one another and figuring out what the problem is so that it can be resolved and ideas suggested to fix it. The bully-proofing strategies focus on five strategies- walk (walk away normally, walk away the ‘cool’ way) talk (ask them to stop), get help (from a trusted adult) bounce (bounce back a retort, surprise them with a compliment, or say something funny back) and bully shields (build up confidence and turn negatives to positives).

In line with this I will also be running a program for the Year 6 leaders where they will be trained in how to use these strategies to support students at recess and lunchtime, acting as peer mediators.

Please see the article below about “taking care of yourself and staying well’ from Beyond Blue.

The article I submitted last time focused on how to take care of yourself through lifestyle, and this week’s article focuses on taking care of yourself through your thought- life.

Ways to improve stress management

A useful way to learn the connection between our thoughts and the way we feel is to take notes after stressful situations occur. If we can alter our thinking and look rationally at difficulties that arise, we can shift from negative or unhelpful thoughts and reactions to more positive and problem-solving approaches.