Mansfield Primary School Newsletter

Dear Families,

I’m sure many of you are looking forward to a long, long weekend.  Our Curriculum Day for staff on Monday will have a focus on assessment and reporting.  Wednesday’s Curriculum Day focus will be on literacy, specifically spelling, and some training for staff around student disclosures.  I look forward to seeing the students back here on Thursday next week.

School Uniform

I had a conversation with staff at our staff meeting this week.  From next week, we will be reminding students that school jumpers and jackets are school uniform but other jumpers are not.  There are many jumpers that are related to school – state swimming, regional athletics, interschool skiing jumpers – but these are not school uniform.  Wearing a consistent school uniform helps build pride in our school and allows everyone to feel like part of the same team.  Please support us with this as we remind students and rebuild some whole school consistency.

Grade 6 Musical

Well done Grade 6s.  I’ve seen many Grade 6 musicals over the years and I think that this one might be the best ever!  Thank you Monica Sketcher for all of your work.  It takes so much extra work, expertise and passion to make these performances work

State Athletics

Congratulations to our students who competed in State Athletics on Wednesday.  Three girls competed in High Jump; Olga, Georgia and Franzi.  Cooper competed in the 200m and Zali in the hurdles.  What a great effort and achievement.  Thank you to Ms Driessen, who has supported them all the way from our school carnival in Term 3.

World Teachers’ Day

Last Friday was World Teachers' Day.  I would like to thank our wonderful teachers for all their passion, creativity, care and professionalism.  The last four years have turned teaching upside down (as with many professions) but our students have been cared for and have continued their learning.  The students and staff are what make Mansfield Primary School such a great place to work. Thank you!

Classes 2024

There is an incredible amount of work that goes into planning classes each year.  We need to determine the number of classes at each level, which staff will teach in each area and the best place for each and every student.  At this stage we are planning on 22 or 23 classes across the school.  This depends on enrolment numbers over the next few weeks.  We are also finalising staffing for 2024 over the next couple of weeks.  Next week students will be asked to identify 5 peers who they learn well with.  This helps us to create classes for next year.  The biggest piece of work is our teachers using their experience, knowledge of students and professional judgement to place all 470(ish) students into classes.  As part of our transition program, students will spend a morning in their new class with their new teacher on December 14th.

Like always, please get in touch with us with any questions or concerns.  Call or email your classroom teacher, call the front office or email me tom.macmunn@education.vic.gov.au.

Have a great weekend.

Take Care,

Tom  

November 3rd - Grade 2 Hike 

November 6th - Curriculum Day - No students

November 7th - Public Holiday - Melbourne Cup - No students

November 8th - Curriculum Day - No Students

November 16th & 17th - Grade 3 Camp

November 21st - 24th - Grade 6 S2S Camp

November 28th Prep Musical (TBC)

November 29th - December 1st - Grade 4 Camp

December 19th - Garde 6 Graduation 

December 20th - Last Day of Term 4 - 1.30pm Finish

Curriculum Days Term 4:

Monday 6th November

Wednesday 8th November

Please take note of the school camps that will be taking place in Term 4. 

November 16th - 17th - Grade 3 Camp - Sheepyard Camping Ground

November 21st - 24th - Grade 6 S2S Camp

November 29th - December 1st - Grade 4 Camp - Mt Stirling

Family Details

If your family contact details have recently changed - residential address, contact numbers & or emergency contacts please update via Audiri by selecting resources, forms & then change of details. 

MEDICATION

All medication required during the day at school must be handed to the front office. 

REMINDER

A reminder to families that the school day finishes at 3.30pm. Please ensure your child/children are collected from school in a timely manner. If you are running late please notify the front office. 

AFTER SCHOOL ARRANGEMENTS 

Please ensure your child is aware of what is happening after school, where they are going, who is picking them up and they know plan B if a after school activity is cancelled. 

BUS TRAVEL 

Any changes to your afternoon bus travel arrangements are to be made by 2.30pm for the day of travel. This can be made via the Audiri App by selecting Resources, Forms, then Bus Travel.

If your child has started a new after school activity or football/netball/cricket training please update their bus travel arrangements. 

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Uniform to be ordered through Spartan School Supplies.      

We have a full range of uniform on display at the front office for you to view before making your purchases online. 

LOST PROPERTY

Please note we cannot return items that have no name. Please ensure uniform & drink bottles are clearly labelled with your child's name. 

SPARE CLOTHES

If your child has come home in spare clothes from school we ask that you please wash & return these items. Thank you. 

Audiri

A reminder to families (if you have not already updated)  to update their child/s year level on Audiri. This is done by opening Audiri selecting resources, groups, & then selecting your child/s grade including whole school. 

Head Lice

A reminder to families to be checking for head lice & taking the appropriate steps to treat hair if lice are found. 

Mack Hunt “The hike was fun. It was pretty cool because we got to walk on a big log above the river. We could see rocks, rapids and I even saw a fish”. 

Nellie Corden “My favourite thing about the hike was seeing the river flowing across”. 

Jessica Philbrick “I liked the hike because I liked looking at the nature. My group was the first group back at the playground and I loved playing on the spinning thing” 

Florence Wareham “There were two trees that looked like a cubby. It had two windows and was really tall. We got to go in it. There was a really shady spot on the way that we stopped to have lunch at. It was on the trail that looked like a big bridge. We saw leaves that were purple on one side and green on the other side. I liked the hike”.  

Harper Hawkins “We went on a big walk to see plants, trees and the river. It was fun”.

The Amazing Year 1 Hike.

On Friday 27th October, two buses full of Year 1s, teachers and parent helpers headed off from MPS to Carter’s Road. We were participating in the School 2 Summit (S2S) hike.

Once we arrived, we had a snack and got into our five groups. The first hike was the Carter’s Road Loop Track. Towards the end of this trail, we had to creep past a sun baking red belly black snake that was off the track in the grass. We heard birds chirping, saw huge leaves, bull ants and looked for fish in the creek.

After lunch it was time to walk the River Trail. We set off to the Mirimbah picnic area and playground. Ms Driessen spotted another snake and made sure we safely got past. We saw trees that had fungi growing out of them, deer footprints, leeches, jumping Jacks, the Delatite River and big rocks.

At times the tracks were hilly and slippery. By the end we were a bit tired but we all had a really good time. At Mirimbah we ate more food and had a play.

A big thank you to Ms Driessen for organising the whole day! Thank you to the parent helpers and Year 1 teachers that came with us.

By 1A 2023

Recently, Year 5 from MPS took part in 2 days of Bike Ed. They spent the first day at school learning heaps of bike skills and road safety rules that will come into practice when they tale part in School to Summit in Year 6. All the students put their skills to the test on the second day when they rode through the main roundabout in town to get to the Rail Trail. They pushed through their exhaustion on a ride down the trail completing about 20 kilometres of riding! To finish off this great experience, what could be better than a play and a refreshing icy pole at the Botanic Gardens?!

Big thank you to Ms Driessen, the Year 5 teachers, Bec, Courtney, Chloe and Maggie for organising this and helping us complete our Bike Ed.

By Lara Seaton and Sophie Snell