Dear Monty South Community,
And so we have finally reached the end of a term that has been so different from anything we have ever had before. Judging by the last week and increasing numbers of community transmissions, we may be in for more disruptions in Term 3. We certainly hope not and thankfully, the term break is coming at a good time. I will keep you updated of changes that may affect us.
We have been receiving phone calls asking about the end of term dismissal times. The Department has given permission for all to be dismissed at 2.30pm. Hence, we will again incorporate the staggered finishes from 2.10pm onwards.
Finally, I would like to again thank our entire MSPS community for your efforts this term. Students, parents and staff have been magnificent and it has been a career highlight for me to see our great community swing in to action to support one another.
Thank you.
Aladdin – senior concert
This was to be the year of the senior concert and after securing the rights to present Aladdin, Jude, Andy and Emily laid out wonderful plans and booked Eltham High as a venue. And like most things in 2020, after Covid-19 hit, it meant we had to rethink plans for the concert.
With only one term instead of the usual two terms to practise, the likelihood of us being able to hold a concert is very much in doubt. There is also the unknown of whether we will be permitted to have crowds the size of our school community at Eltham High. So after much deliberation, we have decided we will be still perform Aladdin but we are going to film it at school, with our students as the audience. Then we will make the DVD available for families.
So Jude, Emily and Andy have set aside a filming day, which will take place on Tuesday 15 September. This will be the last week of Term 3 and so if your child is a lead performer in Aladdin, we ask that you don’t take early holidays in that week.
Students will be engaged in final rehearsals two weeks prior to the 15 September but we will let you know of the exact rehearsal schedule next term.
Any queries, please contact Jude at Barry.Judith@education.vic.gov.au
Pupil free days
Now that we are back onsite and refocusing on our school’s Annual Implementation Plan, we have two pupil free days coming up in Term 3. School Council has approved both days, with the first being Wednesday 29 July. This purpose of this day is for Data reporting conferences, which will be held online via WebEx. Each family will be given a 20 minute time slot with their child’s teacher and the teacher will run through written reports. This will then be sent to the parents after the appointment. We are hoping to be able to cater for most parents on that day but there will be some that will require other time slots which the teacher will arrange with you to discuss your child’s progress and the next steps in their learning. Details regarding the conferences will come out early next term.
The next pupil free day is on Friday 21 August. On this day the focus of our work will be to hear from Maria Ruberto. Maria is the founder and director of Salutegenics Psychology, a strengths-based practise that moves people in personal and professional coaching toward mental fitness and life- health. Her work is heavily influenced by Positive Psychology theory and anchored by research in neuroscience and brain function. She will be incorporating that in her work with us on the Friday morning.
In the afternoon, we will reconnect with the annual implementation goals we have set and one of our key improvement strategies – to build teacher capacity to implement high-impact teaching strategies and focusing on teaching the writing process.
Car parking
Unfortunately, I had a parent report that her daughter was narrowly missed being run over in the Buena Vista Drive car park last week. As her daughter alighted from the rear door and went to cross to the path, a car came rushing by and she had to jump out of the way. As it was an older student, she realised the car wasn’t going to stop and so she jumped. With a younger student, this may not have been the case and the thought of what could have happened makes me shudder.
Please be extra cautious when using any of our car parks. Expect the unexpected as children do not have the peripheral vision you may think they do and often their thoughts are not on road safety but the fun ahead at school.
Let’s make sure they get to experience that fun, by being very careful when we enter those carparks.
Assembly
Not to be thwarted by not being able to have big crowds, we are now holding assembly in a new format – recorded as a TV show.
Last Wednesday, at our first assembly for Term 2, we were able to film all the usual aspects of assembly and put it together to be viewed at a more leisurely pace and time suited to individual classes. Student of the week certificates were presented and all the news around the school was filmed announced. However, we did miss one crucial aspect of assembly – Monty South Tattslotto. We will make sure to include it next time!
We plan to hold a weekly assembly while we can film it and hopefully, we can branch out and showcase many of our own students and their individual talents in the coming months.
Assembly will be uploaded to our website weekly for parents to watch.
Stephanie Alexander kitchen garden room
Last week we had sound batts installed on the ceiling of the SAKG kitchen. The room is a converted portable (originally the Out of Hours School Care room and art room) and so not really designed for kitchen classes and the raised voices during Catherine’s very engaging sessions. Sound reverberates off the floors, ceilings and walls. To help this problem we looked at cushioning the sound and came up with this idea. Hopefully once classes resume, we will see how successful it has been. We will look at other measures for this room if we need to.
School Camps 2020
According to DET advice last week, we are able to go ahead with booked school camps. However we have already postponed our Year 6 and Year 4 camp and they will now being held in Term 4. Our Year 5 camp to Anglesea is always held in Term 4 anyway, so we will have a busy November, as a few year levels will be on camp.
Year 4 camp – 25th to 27th November
Year 5 camp – 25th to 27th November
Year 6 camp – 18th to 20th November
Wishing you all a safe, happy and relaxing Term 2 break. We look forward to seeing you return on Monday 13 July. Please note staggered starts and finishes will still be in operation unless there are changes over the term break. If so, we will keep you informed.
Warmest regards,
Leanne