MEPS NEWSLETTER MOOROOLBARK EAST PRIMARY SCHOOL Taylor Road, Mooroolbark 3138 Phone: 9726 9422 FAX: 9726 9833 Website: www.meps.vic.edu.au Wednesday, 12th November, 2014 mooroolbark.east.ps@edumail.vic.gov.au MEPS CALENDAR TERM 4 November Thursday 13th Knife/Scissor Sharpening fund raiser Wednesday 19th Prep 2015 Orientation; 11.30am-1.15pm Friday 21st Amazing Race (Grade 6) Monday 24th - Wednesday 26th: Grade 4 Camp to Phillip Island Friday 28th Grade 5/6 Lacrosse Round Robin Saturday 29th State Election - BBQ fundraiser BANKING ROSTER Thursday, 13th November R Ralph, Highlights of the Week:  December Wednesday Monday Tuesday SICK BAY LINEN ROSTER Friday, 14th November Lou Staines 3rd 8th 9th CURRICULUM DAY Prep 2015 Parent Information Night, 7pm Whole school transition day, 9.30-1pm, Including 2015 Preps.    Principal’s Comment Hi All, We are now at the mid-way mark of Term 4. Only six weeks to go. It is amazing how quickly a year goes by. Our planning for 2015 is now well underway. As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter we still have several staffing vacancies to be filled. This process continues and staffing for 2015 will be finalised next week. We have also been looking at our grade structures for 2015. This will also be finalised by next week. This structure is determined by the number of students in each level. We have several new students who are joining us in 2015 for year levels aside from Prep. I also need to consider children who will be leaving us at the end of 2014 and will be attending other schools. If you know, or even think that it is a possibility, that your children will not be returning to MEPS in 2015 could you please let us know as soon as possible. Three families have notified us that they won’t be here in 2015 but I suspect there may be more. Please let us know as soon as possible if this is the case for your family so that we can refine our planning. Prep Orientation: Our first formal transition program was held last week on Friday from 11.30am to 1.15pm. 76 children attended. Within 10 minutes there were no tears and everyone was settled. By the end of the session there were several children not wanting to leave! The next Prep Orientation session will be held on November 19 th. We look forward to seeing you here with your 2015 Prep on that day. Hooptime: Last week we had a Grade 3 and 4 boys’ basketball team compete in the regional Hooptime finals. These boys did a brilliant job and won the grand final. This means that they now progress to the State level championships. This is a brilliant result and places them in the top 20 teams in the state. Aaron Palmer has provided a full report further in the newsletter. Well done boys. Asphalt Marking: As you enter the school via the main entrance, you will notice a significant change to the asphalt area. Today the downball courts, hopscotch and chess board markings have all been fully rejuvenated and coloured. In addition a number snake and an alphabet ladder have been painted on the ground. These will provide outdoor activities for students during break times but will also provide a great outdoor learning space for junior classes. It is terrific. The money for this has been raised by the Junior School Council. They have been very active over the last two years and have raised funds for the bike shed roof and the sandpit. They decided that the asphalt was a priority for them and have raised enough to do half of the basketball court. They are now aiming to raise another $2,000 to complete the process. This is a brilliant effort from our students. Well done, JSC and Mrs Michelle Hood who leads this group. The next event they are organising is a lunch time disco. Watch out for further news of this. Relay For Life: This Friday we are involved in the annual Relay For Life to raise money for cancer research. All students are invited to dress in free dress on Friday and bring a gold coin. All grades will be walking around the basketball court for half an hour each. At break times, staff and any volunteer students will continue to walk. Anyone is more than welcome to join the walkers over the course of the day. Any donations for this great cause would also be appreciated. On the day face painting and colour hair spraying will also be available. Any money raised from these activities will also go to Relay For Life. A sausage sizzle is happening and notices have already gone home regarding this. The sausages need to be pre-ordered. We will have an opening ceremony at 9.10am on Friday and all are invited. We would like to particularly invite any survivors of cancer or carers of people with cancer. There will be a closing ceremony at 3.10pm. Bubbles will be issued to students who have donated a gold coin and these will all be used at the closing ceremony. This is a small part of an Australian wide event and is a great cause. I know that money can be an issue but one gold coin would make a great difference. I am looking forward to a great day on Friday. Choir: ‘We went to Chirnside Park shopping centre in front of Kmart. The junior and senior choir both went. We went on a bus. We had to wait in line and then we put our Santa Claus hats on and we sang two songs. One was called ‘One Little Candle’ and the other one is called ‘Felice Navidad’. It sounded really, really good. We got a lolly stocking each from Santa and a juice box. We could only open our juice box and we can open the lollies when we get home. There was another school there and a kindergarten too. The kindergarten was very cute. There were quite a few people watching. Most parents went. Charlotte’s Mum thought it was awesome and the parents were taking lots of photos. We want to keep going with the choir next year because it is so much fun, you get to learn different things and you get to go different places.’ By Daisy Grant and Charlotte Sullivan. Grade 2W. Curriculum Day: Our last curriculum day for 2015 will be held on Wednesday December 3 rd. Students are not expected at school on this day. Staff will all be here and this will be our handover day. Teachers will meet together and pass up notes and details on each student in our school. SSG meetings will be conducted on that day for all of our students with additional funding and any other children who requiring intense individual monitoring. Hopefully, all our new staff for 2015 will be in attendance so that they are fully briefed on the children with whom they will be working in 2015. During the course of the day staff will do their initial team planning for 2015. Canteen: Just a reminder that the canteen is now closed on a Tuesday. It is open as per normal on Wednesday to Friday. Zoo Excursion: All the best to our Prep students and staff as they head off to the Zoo tomorrow. They are certainly keen to get on that bus. I will have a full report for you in next week’s newsletter. Enjoy your week. Debbie Nelsson PRINCIPAL Friday 14th November, 2014 Recess & Lunchtimes Junior School Council will be offering * Hair spraying: $1.00 per design/shape * Face painting: $1.00 per design/shape * Lolly bags $2.00 ELECTION BBQ We are after 4 helpers each hour from 7am - 6pm on 29th November. This is a big money maker for the school, but is only possible with parent support on the BBQ. BBQ will be near the canteen. Login to www.schoolinterviews.com.au and enter the code 3J2DM to book your time. You can also make you booking in the 'whole school' section of Tiqbiz and click on 'interviews'. Thanks in advance for your support. Coach Approach Incursion: Last Wednesday our Prep – Grade 2 students were spoilt with a very special sports incursion. ‘Coach Approach’ visited our school with 6 elite athletes to run some football, soccer and netball clinics. At the conclusion of the clinics the students were given the chance to win prizes by answering questions about what they had learnt throughout the expo. Each student was then given the opportunity to get some signatures from the athletes. These are the athletes who attended on the day: AFL – NETBALL – SOCCER - David Fanning (Former AFL player for Collingwood & also played basketball for the Cairns Taipans) Josh Purcell (VFL player with Port Melbourne) Carly Griffith (Former Victorian player) Lara (Victorian State League player) Nader (National player for Jordan, played in Qatar, Egyptian & Spanish leagues) Stacia (Victorian player) The whole expo was organized by the Grade 5/6 students that are involved in the ‘Above & Beyond’ Sports Leadership program each Thursday afternoon at school. They did an excellent job in preparing for the event and were also very helpful on the day! Well done guys! Hoop Time Success: Last Friday our Grade 3/4 All Star Boys Hoop Time team competed in the Regional Finals at Nunawading Basketball Stadium. Our first game was against Templestowe Valley P.S. It was a very close game and we eventually ended up winning by just 2 points. Our second game was against Milgate P.S. In this game our boys were comfortable winners 19-4. In our last pool game for the day we narrowly lost by 1 point to Glen Iris Primary School. This meant that we finished 2nd in our pool and needed to play against St Anne’s Primary School in a qualifying final – who finished 1st in their pool. In the final the boys played their best game of the day and got out to an 8 point lead with 2 minutes remaining in the game. St Anne’s made a late charge at the end, but our boys held on to win the game by 3 points in another nail biter. This means that they have now qualified as one of the top 20 teams in Victoria and will therefore compete in the State Hoop Time Finals at Dandenong Basketball Stadium on Monday the 24th of November. Congratulations Lachlan B, Toby L, Wyatt S, Jacob N, Cameron S, Shane K, Jared M and Jackson A. We now have two Hoop Time teams competing in State Finals with our Grade 3/4 Future Stars team already being qualified for their State Final on Thursday the 27th of November. STUDENT OF THE WEEK GRADE NAME REASON Prep D Costas Papapetrou Great with his 3D shapes 2M Tyler Stowermann For writing a fantastic story about his holiday 2W Sarah Tutty For being a very brave girl 3H Soa Ula For fantastic planning and design on making the room into a pond 3T Alyssa Cubitt For amazing finished Pelican 3KB Anthony Stowermann For a good improvement in his spelling 4E Matthew Henson Excellent science report 5B Mya Bockisch Great determination in Maths 5H Bailey Hone For a great natural disasters poster 5/6P Aly Hogeboom For being a hard-working, caring and friendly member of the class Art Tegan Garratt [2M] Wonderful worker - beautiful work PE Emily Reynolds [6K] For her amazing lacrosse skills Global Ed Ayden Caldwell [2J] For being a hard working and helpful kid Jody Aimee Freene [4E] For being so caring and having amazing manners AP (SM) Gemma Peterson [1T] For supporting a younger student AP (BK) Tahlia Ling [4J] For volunteering to clean the yard before school. Pattie Lucas Mancs [1L] For being such a caring friend UNIFORM SHOP Mondays & Fridays 8:45 - 9:45am NO PUT-DOWNS     ‘No put-downs’ means that you don’t say anything to other people that makes them feel down or sad. For example, “You’re fat’ or “I don’t like your dress”. Before you speak think about what you are going to say. Think to yourself: “Would I like it if someone said that to me or about me?” Don’t say bad things about or to others. A SPECIAL THANK YOU to Lyndal Gow, Rochelle Bateman, Liz Martin, Marieke McCabe and Leanne Hazeldene for their help on Prep Orientation Day. Your help and support is greatly appreciated. NEW ITEMS FOR SALE: Socks (white/green trim): $4 pair, sizes 9-12; 13-3 Rain Jacket (black and no logo so can be used out of school also): $17. Sizes 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 Preps 2015 Avoid the rush!! Come and shop now as all items are available. CANTEEN NEWS Roster: Term 4 November Thursday 13th Friday 14th Wednesday 19th Thursday 20th Friday 21st K Langdon K Rhodes D Henry L Marceddo, R Ralph S Tyzack DON’T FORGET: CANTEEN IS NO LONGER OPEN ON TUESDAYS Anne McKnight Canteen Manageress Penny Spencer Uniform Co-ordinator WE HAVE SOME LEFTOVER SHOW BAGS FOR SALE AT THE OFFICE. CHUPA CHUP, OVALTEENIES, JJ SNACKS, CADBURY AND FREDDO SHOWBAGS ARE $4 AND GLOW LIGHT UPS ARE $5. COMMUNITY NOTICES AND ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE NOTE: SUCH PUBLICATIONS DO NOT IMPLY SCHOOL ENDORSEMENT OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE MOOROOLBARK WOOL CAR PARK CLEARANCE SALE SATURDAY 15th NOVEMBER: 8am 3pm AT REAR OF SHOP MEGA BARGAINS ON GIFTWARE EVERYTHING MUST GO Gray Court Preschool has an exciting opportunity for a motivated Co-Educational Leader with minimum Certificate III qualifications in Children’s Services to join their motivated team in January 2015. We are looking for a passionate educator to work in the kinder room, providing the highest possible education and care for all children in this program. Please see our website for detailed description. www.graycourtpreschool.com.au Email us on – gray.court.kin@kindergarten.vic.gov.au Or contact Karen Hanmer (president) – 0418552684 karen@hanmer.com.au FETE SPONSORS MCLEAN FAMILY LAW FAMILY PLOEGMAKERS FAMILY MONTROSE CRICKET CLUB CLUB KILSYTH KILSYTH FRUIT SUPPLY NPR BUILDING CONCEPTS