From the Principal’s Desk Dear Parents, Students and Friends I hope all families enjoyed the long weekend and took time to enjoy activities together as well as reflect and celebrate ANZAC Day. Even though it seemed strange coming at the end of a two week holiday and Easter, it was a good way to ease back into what promises to be a hectic term.

Parent Presentation -Hugh Van Cuylenburg

Just a reminder that Hugh Van Cuylenburg will be giving a parent presentation

next Wednesday evening - 7th May at 7pm. His presentation will be on developing resilience in children Hugh has been working in education for over 10 years. Starting out as a primary school teacher, he then moved into a position with Cricket Victoria as a development facilitator working with disengaged adolescents. Hugh went on to be appointed Head of Education at En Masse, a training and culture change organisation. The highlight of his teaching career, however, was the year he spent in the far north of India volunteering and living at an underprivileged school in the Himalayas. It was here that he discovered resilience in its purest form. Inspired by this experience (and subsequent trips to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) Hugh returned to Melbourne and commenced working on his own programs for schools. 'The Resilience Project' was born. Strongly influenced by the work of Professor Martin Seligman and Dr Karen Reivich, Hugh's presentations emphasise the value of gratitude, empathy, kindness, positivity, optimism and mindfulness. Of note, Hugh has developed and facilitated programs for troubled youth around regional Victoria and written and implemented programs for the Education Department. Hugh is also the CEO of Step Back Think. If you intend coming to this presentation on Wednesday can you please advise us in the office or let your child’s teacher know as we need to make sure we have adequate seating available.

TERM 2– Week 2 Thursday 1st May 2014

What’s Coming Up? May Thurs 1 District Football Trials Tues 6 Mother’s Day Stall

Wed 7 7pm Hugh Van Cuylenburg Parent Presentation on Resilience and Children.

Fri 9 Interschool Sport v Lower Plenty PS

Tues 13 NAPLAN commences Wed 14 NAPLAN Thurs 15 NAPLAN Thurs 22 District Cross Country

Eltham Lower Park Tues 27 School Council June Wed 4

Year 4 camp to Arrabri Lodge Warburton commences.

Thurs 12 MSPS Athletics Carnival Willinda Park

Sun 15 Bunnings BBQ Tues 24 School Council Fri 27 End of Term 2 School

dismissal 2.30pm July Tues 15 Year 2 Day Camp to

Sunnystones Wed 30 Three Way Conferences-

Variation to School Hours Nov Mon 3 Report Writing Curriculum

Day

Anzac Day at Montmorency RSL

A number of our students and families attended the ANZAC Day service at Montmorency RSL last Friday morning. The school was well represented by our school captains, Mackie Scales and Luke Nethercote who laid a wreath along with a number of representatives from other schools and community organisations At the service, many of our students attended either as part of their Scouts groups or with their families. It was wonderful to see so many of them and I would like to congratulate all students for their exemplary behaviour during the ceremony.

School Council School Council was held on Tuesday 29 April. At this meeting the following items were discussed: o Subcommittees and meeting dates o Designated School Area o Parents and Friends plans for the development of the playground between the Senior and the Foundation/Prep buildings. o Religious Education program o DEECD request for extension of the wearing of hats. Request accepted and hence sun smart hats will be worn at MSPS from the beginning of September to the end of April. No hats no play. o Pruning of trees on Bush Block and throughout school as per recent inspection. o Financial reports for the month of March were ratified and all accounts approved for payment.

Birthdays

May 1– May 8

1 Eve Hansen 2 Sam McMurtrie 3 Sophie Peters 5 Matilda Smith CJ Rowe 7 Bridie Watson 8 Jack Mercuri

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Best Birthday Wishes to all of the

above students

Uniform Shop

Winter is coming. We have many winter uniform items in stock. Please visit the uniform shop on a Thursday morning 8:45am to 9:15am if you are need of clothing for the colder months. Some winter items take up to 6 weeks to arrive at school when ordered, so early orders are very helpful. If you cannot stop by on a Thursday morning please leave your order form at the office and we will deliver your order to your child's classroom. Thank you.

School Council Subcommittees If you would like to be part of developing Montmorency South’s future direction please consider joining a School Council Subcommittee. The meetings are advertised in ‘What’s Coming Up’ and are generally held the week prior to School Council. The subcommittees and members from School Council and the Convenors of the committee are as follows:

1. Finance-Duncan McColl, Drew Salisbury, Leanne Sheean, Lois Fox,

Merriel Hayes This subcommittee is responsible for: • Developing the school’s annual budget and ensuring that the annual budget supports the school strategic plan • present the recommended budget to council for approval and adoption • regularly monitor and report to council on progress against the budget • make recommendations to council on fund-raising activities and liaise with the school groups concerned with these activities • where required, assist in the completion of school tenders e.g. cleaning contracts, waste removal contracts, school council building contracts • review the annual audited financial statement and the auditor’s report and assist with follow-up where appropriate

2. Education- Rachel Crick (Convenor) , Leanne Sheean, Merriel Hayes,

Violette Saro, Petra Hyam and Tracey Cole The purpose of this subcommittee is to develop the educational policy for school council including camps and excursions, student welfare, student leadership and professional development. It may also involve developing school wide policies such as occupational health and safety, anti-discrimination and integration policies; possibly monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan; reviewing school data such as NAPLAN assessment, school level data

• • Outside school hours care, if the school provides such a service – to ensure it is running effectively and meets standards and regulations

3. Environment and Facilities -Phillip Jones (Convenor) , Tracey Cole, Mel Mc Murtrie and Leanne Sheean

This subcommittee plans and develops the school's facilities such as its buildings and grounds; organising working bees and other actions to maintain or improve the appearance of the school; provide advice to school council on external groups who may be using the school’s facilities

4. Parents and Friends -Tania Weddle (President) , Stephen Longmuir, Mel Mc Murtrie, Leanne Rendell, Ange

Dewdney, Violette Saro and Leanne Sheean The Parents and Friends Association (P&F) has an important social and fundraising role in the school. Some of the events organised and run by parents include the Mother's and Father's Day Stalls, Movie Night, Chocolate Drive, Mini Fete’s and Pie Drive to name a few. The main aim is to hold events for building community, as well as being a major source of fundraising for our school.

If you are interested in any of the committees please contact the office. Attendance at every meeting is not required but we would love to have you at some. All meetings will be advertised in the newsletter.

Mothers’ Day Stall This will take place on Tuesday 6

th May. This year it will be run differently in that trolleys will be taken to separate areas within

the school to minimise queues. The items the children have to choose from are on display in the window of the Uniform Shop, in the main building.

Monty Southers on Vacation! I was delighted to receive news from the McColl family who are on a trip to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. This great photo was taken last week and shows Cadel and Hamish along with Ashley and Callum White. See the description below. Both families are generally at the Montmorency RSL service and it was great to hear that the boys organised their own service on ANZAC Day.

We have met up with the Whites at the Flinders Ranges and thought you might like to include this photo of the boys on Stokes Hill lookout with the eastern side of Wilpena Pound in the background, in the Hoot and to share with all the boys classes.

Current Families with 2015 Foundation/Prep siblings

It would be greatly appreciated if all CURRENT families who have a child due to commence Prep in 2015 could please collect an enrolment form from the office and complete this process as soon as possible; this allows us to commence managing student numbers for the 2015 school year in advance. We have reached our ceiling level and we now have the awful task of turning some families away. Hence, I would appreciate being able to notify people as soon as possible if they have been unsuccessful. As siblings have preference, we need to see how many places we actually have left to offer families not quite in the local school area.

Thank you

Many thanks to Tania and Jarrod Weddle and Ange Dewdney who recently found themselves with some spare time and so came up to the school on Tuesday and shovelled the tan bark out the front of the school to outside the Year 4 portable. The area looks so much better and the pile of tan bark out the front is lessening. To Tania, Jarrod and Ange –thank you as your work was greatly appreciated

To all our students and families have a lovely weekend.

Regards Leanne Sheean Principal

SCHOOL COUNCIL SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING DATES

School Council subcommittees assist the MSPS School Council in the work that needs to be done and report regularly at the meetings. They provide advice and make recommendations to School Council which has the final responsibility for making decisions.

School Council Finance Education Environment & Facilities

Parents and Friends

Tuesday May 27th Tuesday May 20 6.00pm

Tuesday May 20 7.00pm

Monday 19

May 7.00pm To Be Confirmed

Prep News A new term means new Prep Investigations areas for the Preps to explore, which are already

proving very popular. Our new areas include a costume hire shop, a sandwich making shop,

jewellery making and a nursery. While Peter the Prep Possum watches on, the students are

learning about animals and their habitats. In Prep Investigations, students are caring for animals

in the Vets and creating homes for animals in the construction area.

In the jewellery shop, Preps are practising using their knowledge of patterns to create

bracelets and necklace designs.

Looking forward to a fantastic term in Prep Investigations!

Chess As you can see we have a large number of students who participate in the chess classes which are offered on a Tuesday night.

Congratulations to all our chess competitors.

Lily and Mac accept the Sport shield for Tyto (Blue House)

Students of the Week

Jack Maguire Grade 3JT For working hard in class and trying his personal best. Terrific!

Kate Hamilton Grade 4R Always working hard to complete her homework on time.

Julian Chislett Grade 4D For always trying his personal best in PE.

Lucia Zhang Grade 2C For being an excellent role model.

Chloe Green Grade 2M For great reading work during the holidays.

Oscar Wiltshire Prep C For the fantastic effort he is putting into learning his codes.

Audrey Ulehla Prep C For always doing her personal best.

Our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden news

Kitchen and Garden

As there is no news from the garden this week I thought I would take the opportunity to add a little piece myself. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to walk around the school with a group of prospective parents for 2015. It was wonderful to see the children working in the garden and performing a range of different tasks. The level of engagement both in the garden and kitchen sessions were obvious to see and our visitors were very impressed. On Thursday several lucky students were given a taste of some pineapple that was grown in our own Monty South garden. The verdict was that it was DELICIOUS! Leanne Sheean

This week in the kitchen…..

This week we have harvested Kalamata olives from the garden. I have been very glad for the many enthusiastic hands who have helped remove the seeds. This is a labour intensive procedure. We will preserve them using a variety of methods and look forward to trying them in due course. Please find following in this issue of the Hoot, a recipe for warm lentils with chorizo. For some children this has been their first taste of lentils – some have been very surprised at how tasty they are. One grade 4 boy had three serves today – and was still looking for more! If you are considering becoming a volunteer, we really would love your help. This program relies on the support given by our fabulous volunteers. We would love to hear from you! Please contact me, Cathryn Hulme on 0419 322 782.

Keyboard Keyboard lessons are on Friday’s this term, same as for term 1.

Warm Lentils with chorizo Serves: 24 – 30 tastes Source: Women’s Weekly, New Salads

Ingredients 250g French green lentils 1 small brown onion, quartered 1 bay leaf 1 chorizo sausage, peeled and thinly sliced 3 spring onions 2 celery stalks (with leaves) thinly sliced ½ cup coarsely chopped parsley Dressing 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 1/3 cup olive oil Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment Measuring cups and spoons Wooden spoon Saucepan Frying pan Knives Chopping boards Whisk Mixing bowls

What to do:

Cook lentils, onion and bay leaf in a saucepan of boiling water, uncovered for about 15 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Drain and discard the onion and bay leaf.

Meanwhile, peel and slice the chorizo, cook it in a frying pan, stirring occasionally, until browned. There is no need to add any oil to the pan as the chorizo is quite fatty. Once it is cooked, drain off this fat. Cool for 10 minutes

Combine the dressing ingredients in a small bowl – whisk well

Prepare the celery, spring onions and parsley

Combine the lentils, chorizo, spring onions, celery and parsley in a bowl pour over the dressing and toss to combine.

Divide evenly into serving bowls and serve.

LIBRARY

It's come to that exciting time of the year again when we hold our Scholastic Book Fair. The theme for this year is "Reading Oasis: A Cool Place to Discover Hot Books". The Fair will take place on Thursday 22nd may until Tuesday 27th May. A letter will be sent home in the next week with all the details.

Last year was a huge success and we sold nearly $6,000 worth of books which provided the school with the opportunity to select an extensive range of new books for the library.

To ensure another fantastic Book Fair, I am looking for helpers to provide assistance and support during the following dates and times:

Thursday 22nd May 3.00pm (to set up) - 4.30pm

Friday 23rd May 8.30am (to set up) - 9.30am

3.00pm (to set up) - 4.30pm

Monday 26th May 8.45am (to set up) - 10.00am

3.00pm (to set up) - 4.30pm

Tuesday 27th May 3.00pm (to set up) - 4.30pm

If you are able to assist, could you please email me at iob.clare.e@edumail.vic.gov.au or come and see me with your availability.

Thank you in advance for your time.

This week we will also be sending home letters for the Premier's Reading Challenge which is now in its tenth year. We encourage all students to participate in this and discover the joys of reading. Due to new privacy laws, could you please carefully read over the consent form and return it promptly to your child's teacher. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to see Jill Morris or myself.

May is National Family Reading Month so this would be a great opportunity to sit and enjoy books together.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and happy reading.

Clare Bear

Tuesday 6th May 2014

The students need to bring their money on the day of the stall

They can choose from a range of gifts to purchase at that time There will be a variety

of gifts for the students

to purchase valued between

50 cents up to $5.00

BYO Shopping Bag Please!!

There are a few gifts on display

in the Uniform Shop window

for you to look at!

Community News