WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY – THANK YOU LUNCH – TUESDAY 31ST OCTOBER
Teachers, we really appreciate all the support you give our school. You make a significant difference in the lives of our students. You work tirelessly to ensure our students have a safe, happy, successful, socially connected, memorable primary school experience. Today is an opportunity to thank you and recognise you for your work.
Parents Club will be celebrating this day on Tuesday 31st October. Please see their post on Compass for all the information about how you can be involved:
Dear Parents and Carers,
To help us celebrate our amazing teachers at McKinnon, we ask that you assist your child to bring in a small dish/plate for the teachers to enjoy for lunch on Tuesday 31st October.
Please see attached flyer for further information.
Many thanks,
Parents Club
WORKING BEE – SATURDAY 28TH OCTOBER
This Saturday we are holding a community working bee at school. We are looking forward to getting some much-needed jobs completed around the school. If you are available to help out with this, we welcome everyone to come along. This is a fantastic opportunity to support our school community and is always lots of fun. Please come along to school between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday and lend a hand if you are able to.
Jobs we will be tackling include:
- painting the outside of the Year Five classrooms
- preparing the veggie garden for students to plant in the coming weeks
- spreading mulch in the blue playground
- painting our playground benches in bright house colours
Each signup slot is two hours long, but you can sign up to multiple slots to be there for a longer period or all day. If you cannot commit to the full two hours, just make a note of your availability when you sign up. If you wish to sign up all day, please select the 9-11 am, 11 am-1 pm and 12 noon-2 pm time slots. This is the signup link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084DACA629A2F9C70-45165158-working
RAFFLE – YEAR SIX GRADUATION FUNDRAISER
There has been a fantastic buzz around the school over the last few weeks with lots of kids excited by the prospect of winning it big in the Year Six graduation raffle. This money goes to support the gifts and decorations for the Year Six graduation and will ensure our fabulous Year Six students get the send off they deserve!
SRC students did a wonderful job of sorting the many generous donations into groups to make up the hampers. The raffle was drawn during our whole school assembly on Wednesday. Congratulations to all our winners and thank you on behalf of our graduating students for all of the wonderful people that supported this fundraiser through donations to be in the hampers and also by purchasing ticket
PARENTS CLUB – TRIVIA NIGHT
Last week we had the 80s-themed Parents Club trivia night at the McKinnon Bowls Club. It was fantastic to see so many members of our community in attendance and dressed in their best 80s outfits. This was a fantastic night and we look forward to many more opportunities for families to come together in the future. The parents and staff who attended all had a wonderful time. Thank you to the Parents Club and organising committee for all their hard work and for making this event such a success.
2023 ENROLMENTS AND DEPARTURES
Have you got a foundation child you still need to enrol? Great news we are ready to accept that enrolment now, please send it to the office as soon as possible. Our Foundation transition program starts next week so it is important to enrol so that you and your child can attend these valuable sessions.
If are planning on leaving Mckinnon Primary in 2023, it would be greatly appreciated if you could notify the school as soon as possible.
FOUNDATION TRANSITION STARTS NEXT WEEK
We are getting very excited to meet our soon to be, newest and youngest McKinnon members.
Foundation transition starts next Thursday 2nd November. Our 2024 Foundation students will participate in several sessions to get to know McKinnon and their new peers over the next month. While our new faces will be getting to know what going to school is all about, we will be holding information sessions for the 2024 Foundation parents covering a wide range of curriculum areas and other important aspects of school life.
We look forward to seeing our 2024 Foundation parents there!
SUN SMART KIDS
We need to be especially careful during high UV times as it does not take long in the sun for burning and skin damage to take place. Much better to take protective measures such as covering up, wearing sunscreen and wearing hats so that our students can enjoy the outdoors. A reminder to our community that students without hats in the yard will be sent to a designated sun-protected area. Another important reminder is for students to ensure they neatly store their hats in a secure area such as their bag or in their lockers during class time and make sure it is clearly labelled with their name, so that it is returned to them if misplaced. Our SunSmart policy clearly states from 1st September to 1st May our hats are on!
ACTIVE SCHOOLS – ‘CAR FREE DAY’ WEDNESDAY 1ST NOVEMBER
Next Wednesday 1st November we are encouraging everyone to participate in a ‘car free day’. Students can still walk directly to school from home, however, if you usually drive, we encourage students, parents and carers to meet and walk from one of three nearby locations: McKinnon Reserve car park, Packer Park or Joyce Park. All three locations are about 1km from school and are great places to meet friends and family and walk to school together.
YEAR THREE CAMP JUNGAI
Last week the Year Three students travelled to Camp Jungai for their very first sleepaway camp. From all reports, the students had an excellent time and made the most of all the things on offer. Some highlights involved canoeing, pizza making and the possum pull. The students came together and showed their support for each other during the talent show on the second night. We would like to thank all of the staff who made this camp possible by electing to spend time away from their families.
BE SAFE – RIDING TO SCHOOL
As the weather warms up we are noticing an increase in students riding their bikes to school. Please keep in mind being safe on the way to school with everyone expected to be wearing helmets and travelling safely. When you get close to the school gates it is an expectation that people will hop off their bikes and walk to minimise the risk of accidents. All students are expected to walk their bikes on the school grounds. Please also remind your child to ensure that their bike is placed within a bike rack and that they show patience at the end of the day when exiting the bike enclosure.
2024 PLANNING
We are well underway for the planning for 2024. This includes our staffing, programming and home group allocations. The composition of our year level structure is also being developed. Preparing home groups is an exhaustive process that our whole staff commit many hours to getting right. There are many considerations in developing classes including the social, emotional, behavioural and academic needs of each class. Additionally, we always consult with our students on who they would like to be with in their class next year. Students provide a list of requested peers, we ensure that at least one of these peers is included. We try to manage the influx of new enrolments to sustain positive class sizes and forward planning is most helpful for this. Thank you for your support and timely communication on this matter.
POPPY APPEAL AND REMEMBRANCE DAY
On behalf of the Retired Service League (RSL), the SRC will be visiting classrooms to sell ‘poppies’, pins, pens and wristbands. Money raised supports our local Bentleigh RSL and also helps commemorate Remembrance Day on Saturday 11th November. McKinnon Primary School will hold a short commemorative service on Friday 10th November. Thank you for your support.
CUP DAY- PUBLIC HOLIDAY TUESDAY 7TH NOVEMBER
This is a reminder that Tuesday 7th November is a public holiday and school will be closed. We hope you enjoy whatever you get up to on this day.
Hope you all have a great weekend,
Suzanne, David and Andrew