WELCOME BACK TO TERM TWO
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SCHOOL COUNCIL – Monday 15th May at 6:00 pm at school in the staffroom
On Monday 15th May at 6:00 pm, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting of School Council where we will speak about and share the school’s Annual Report for 2022. You are all welcome to join. Annual Report 2022
EDUCATION WEEK: STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES Tuesday 16th May from 3:45-5:45 pm
On Tuesday the 16th of May we invite you into the school for Education Week. This year’s theme is ‘Active Learners: Move, Make and Motivate’. Classrooms and specialist areas will be open as part of the afternoon for Student Led Conferences (SLC). SLCs are an important and valued opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways and discuss their learning goals and next steps in their learning. This continues the school’s priority of enhancing student ownership and agency.
Please book in your time using the following link https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/.
Parent Information Night: Respectful Relationships with Special Guest Speaker Paul Zappa – Tuesday 23rd May 6:30 pm
Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships is a mandated program run at all government schools across Victoria. The Respectful Relationships program has been developed by Deakin University and the University of Melbourne. These programs consist of age-appropriate resources to support curriculum delivery and include lesson plans and activities that help students learn and practise social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life and relationships.
While we have been running this at our school for a number of years we have identified this as a priority to further support our students in 2023 and to do this well we need to involve the whole community. So please join us for this parent information night. Paul Zappa is an incredibly passionate speaker and all our staff and families from other communities that have attended his sessions over the past couple of years have spoken very highly of his ability to inform and educate in such an important space for our children.
PARENT READING HELPER COURSE Foundation-Year Two
On Monday 1st May and Wednesday 3rd May, we held the parent reading helpercCourse. This was well attended as parents came along to learn more about and develop the skills to be a parent reading helper. These skills are essential to volunteer in your child’s classroom for reading support, but the great thing is they are also very transferable skills for when you read with your children at home. Parents who attended these sessions are now encouraged to volunteer to support their child’s class or year level.
A huge thank you to Molly Sweeney and Peta MacGregor for running these sessions for our Foundation-Year 2 parents. We look forward to seeing many parents at school reading with our children!
CROSS COUNTRY
On Thursday 27th April students from Years Three-Six participated in the McKinnon PS Cross-Country at McKinnon Reserve. There was much excitement surrounding the day and also yesterday as winning classes and winning house teams were announced at assembly with some incredible prizes being given out. A big thank you to all staff and students who contributed to the success of this fantastic physical event.
MOTHERS’ DAY STALL – Friday 12th May – Come and Volunteer
On Friday 12th May Parents’ Club will be running the annual Mothers’ Day Stall. This year they have sourced many exciting new items in order to make this a special event for everyone.
Parents’ Club have sourced a wonderful range of gifts for our special mums and carers, ranging from $5–$20. Events like this take a huge amount of work both in the lead-up and on the day itself.
Help run the stall: This stall is always incredibly fun and exciting for both kids and parent helpers.
It will run continuously throughout the day and we’ll need parent helpers throughout as well.
If you can pop by for an hour or so, we’d love for you to join in this special occasion with us.
Learn more and sign up to help at the stall: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c094ca8af2aa7f5c25-mothers?fbclid=IwAR1PBTGZfvrhqlV7EGPeupPj4fbg0QWo_78DHL9rYLMMfcWg93duO4MTFzg#/
If you have any questions about the stall, please contact Minh on 0414 290 592 or hologramdesign@gmail.com.
IMPORTANT NEW ENROLMENT PROCESS AT ALL VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
New state-wide processes mean that a shorter application form with proof for evidence of address must be given to the school prior to being offered an enrolment form to complete. Families can only be given enrolment forms once sufficient evidence proves their address.
For families living within the McKinnon Primary School Zone, there is no change to the boundary for 2023/2024. Please see the school boundary on findmyschool.vic.gov.au
However, all Foundation 2024 application forms must be submitted to the school by Friday 28th July 2023. Please see our school website for further details. Enrolments | McKinnon Primary School (mckinnon-primary.vic.edu.au)
SAFETY AROUND OUR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
We have had a few different neighbours of the school experience the very frustrating situation of having cars parked and left unattended during pick-up and drop-off time across their driveways – leaving them unable to enter or leave their property. Aside from this inconvenience, this extra congestion adds to safety concerns. This also places unfair stress on staff who are trying to look out for the safety of students entering and exiting the school. Staff also feel a need to support our neighbours and the wider community.
We remind you to please respect our neighbours, staff and of course students and stay with your car in the allocated kiss and go areas or park a couple of streets away from the school and walk a few minutes.
EVERY DAY COUNTS – SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
We all want our students to get a great education and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. Missing school can have a major impact on a child’s future – a student missing one day a fortnight will miss four full weeks by the end of the year. By Year 10 they’ll have missed more than a year of school. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes.
Coming to school every day on-time is vital, but if for any reason your child must miss school, there are things we can do together to help. If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let your classroom teacher know so we can work together to get your child to school and on-time every day.
VOLUNTEERING AT SCHOOL
We have recently seen great support from the school community for Parents’ Club events. Volunteering supports the school, and helps you connect with the community. If you would like to volunteer for any events – run by the school or Parents’ Club we need to have a copy of your Working With Children Check card on file at the office. The volunteer card is free, and applications are made online https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/
LOST PROPERTY
We have been getting lots of unnamed lost property recently which makes it very difficult to return to our students. We kindly remind you to ensure all uniform clothing and hats are clearly named to support this process.
SCHOOL HOURS – School Grounds not supervised before 8:45 am
Parents need to be aware that the school grounds are unsupervised prior to 8:45 am. Parents are asked not to leave their children unattended prior to this time. Students who arrive at school prior to 8:45 am will be directed to before-school care.
Thank you so much and we wish you all a wonderful weekend and hope you stay warm as the cooler weather sets in!
Suz, David and Andrew