Important Information … MPS website: www.moree-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/

• MPS Athletics carnival – Friday, 6th July – P&C morning tea stall and BBQ seeking helpers and donations of cakes / slices Barwon is RED (surnames A-G); Gwydir is BLUE (surnames H-N); & Mehi is YELLOW (surnames O-Z)

1. REFLECTING …

The end of term is here already, along with our thanks to everyone who has contributed to our students and the school. With your support, our school continues to provide a dynamic learning environment for students – an achievement which is recognised by the senior officers of the department who have recently visited. I hope everyone enjoys a happy and safe holiday and we do look forward to seeing everyone after the break. School resumes for all students on Tuesday 24th July 2018. However, staff resume the previous day, with parent/teacher interviews scheduled for the afternoon and early evening. Digital Technologies in Focus (DTIF) is an initiative that involves students learning to make the most of the digital technologies available to them, adapting to new ways of working as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment. As part of this program students in six of the primary classes have been creating their own websites. Students took the opportunity to invite their parents to see what they had produced and it was pleasing to see so many parents take up the invitation.

The computer room was filled to capacity last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as parents and family members were taken through the website created by their child. The students shared new learning and I am delighted to say, parents were highly

impressed with both the website and the skills that were required to bring it to fruition. We are excited to be adding another group of classes and teachers to participate in DTIF next semester. My thanks go to Miss Carlin, Mr McDonald, Miss McPherson, Miss Everingham, Mrs Ross, Miss Jones and Miss Larken for facilitating this program. Congratulations to Sophie Rogers and Andrew Baxter-Tomkins who were recently awarded prizes for their entries in the Short Film competition that was run by Moree Youth Council. The challenge was to create and produce a short film that included a cup of tea, the word youth, and a piece of cake. The films are most creative and reflect a great level of skill using technology and artistic talent by Sophie and Andrew. Well done!

Film producers of the future – Sophie and Andrew

Public speaking is one of the many skills that will definitely stand you in good stead in most careers and I am pleased to note that MPS is gaining a reputation for developing our students in this domain. In debating and in the Multicultural Perspective Public Speaking competition our students perform very well. This was again the case for the students who represented the school at the public speaking regional finals held in Inverell recently. This event is always very hotly contested and our students performed extremely well by delivering informative and entertaining speeches. Particular congratulations to Chloe Elbourne who won the Years 5/6 category and will now go on to represent the regional at the next level later in the year. A fantastic effort! Well done also to Harriet Beattie, Isabelle Kelly and Edward Beattie who also received positive feedback for both their prepared and impromptu speeches.

Tuesday, 3rd July 2018

Kitchen Garden cooking program can only be described as a yummy success! Mrs Fitzgerald and Miss Kleinig taught two after school cooking classes that used the fresh produce from the garden. Led by Mrs Fitzgerald, the students and the Kitchen Garden team, Mr Pirie, Miss Kleinig, Mrs Brown and Mrs Hallam made spinach slice and coleslaw, spinach cob loaf and kale smoothies to serve a wonderful afternoon treat.

Enjoying the fruits of their labour …

In addition, the kitchen garden club members of the past three years attended a cooking class with celebrity chef, Mr Clayton Donavan. The outdoor kitchen was kindly sponsored by Landcare and gave students another opportunity to learn how to cook (and eat) a very healthy option - Sang Chou Now with kangaroo meat. Mrs Fitzgerald and Miss Kleinig were most impressed with the enthusiasm and participation of the students.

Alfresco dining at its finest …

The annual athletics carnival will be held on Friday of this week. While it is not compulsory, students are invited to come dressed in their house colours: Barwon (red), Gwydir (blue) and Mehi (yellow). The carnival starts at 9:00 am with a march past. K, Year 1 and Year 2 will commence on the infants assembly area and Years 3-6 on the main oval. Parents are encouraged to come along and support their children.

The weather forecast for Friday is looking good so far. Should wet weather prevail and we need to postpone the carnival we will notify parents via School News (2VM at 7:10 am) and the electronic sign. Semester 1 student reports should have arrived home yesterday. Over the last week I have enjoyed reading each child’s report and have been impressed by the effort the vast majority of students are applying to their learning. Please take the time to read this report and discuss it with your child and perhaps set some personal goals for the second semester. Parent teacher interview invitations were included in the report envelopes for those classes (that have not had the website evening launch) and I strongly encourage parents to take up the offer of a parent/teacher interview on Monday 23rd July to discuss your child’s progress. NAIDOC Day is a most significant occasion and we hope you enjoy the photos from our NAIDOC Day celebrations. Those who attended were highly impressed. Our student leaders did a fantastic job leading the whole school assembly and the choir excelled with a lovely selection of songs. The didge boys accompanied the flag raising and also gave a little performance at the assembly – well done! We thank local Gomeroi Elder, Mr Malcom Peckham for joining the celebration and participating in our flag raising ceremony. Our special guests for the day were traditional Aboriginal dancers, Albert, Steadman, Dave and Murriwa led by the very talented, Roy Newman. I thank Ms Roberts and Mr French for their work in coordinating the activities. Each year, Ms Roberts teaches Year 2 how to cook Jonny cakes while Year 1 and kinder create some beautiful art and craft. The primary students also enjoyed a unique opportunity to develop their skills with an afternoon workshop of Move it Mob Style dancing technique.

Welcome to Elder, Mr Peckham

Jonny cakes and golden syrup …. YUM!

Attendance is one of the most important keys to success at school. Mrs Kaukiainen and I have been looking very closely at student attendance. The relationship between school attendance and achievement levels is well established - children who come to school every day are more likely they are to experience school success. By sending your child to school every day you are giving them every opportunity to achieve their potential. While we have a responsibility to focus support for the children not meeting satisfactory attendance, we also applaud those who attend regularly. We were delighted to see that a large number of students have not missed a day of school in Term 2 and as such deserve commendation with a special certificate being presented at their next assembly in Term 3.

Mr Adrian King 2. P&C ASSOCIATION • MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Monday, 20th August – all parents and friends are most welcome to attend at 6.00pm. • UNIFORM SHOP: The uniform shop is kindly opened by volunteer co-ordinator, Ms Erin Livet each Wednesday and Friday morning between 8.30 and 9.30am. • ATHLETICS CARNIVAL: The canteen will not be taking the usual orders on Friday but will be running a BBQ and morning tea stall for purchase of food on the day. Donations of cakes and slices will be very much appreciated and can be left at the canteen prior to the day or delivered to the stall on the morning of the carnival. Please see canteen manager, Mrs Lobsey for further details about the cooking and serving roster – YOUR HELP for just a short period during the busy times will be FANTASTIC.

3.

COOL AT SCHOOL

Social Skills focus for this week continues to be:

Kids Quotes: • Everyday is a good day to learn • We should come to school with a positive attitude towards learning • Everyday has a new challenge

TODAY is a great day to LEARN something NEW!

4. SPORTING ROUNDUP Gala Netball Carnival was recently enjoyed by 30 Year 4 students and the MPS netball team - a great day at Ron Harborne Oval! The excited teams played a number of games and appreciated the opportunity presented by Netball NSW. Students had a lot of fun and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship. Special thanks go to our amazing umpires; Lauraine Fechner, Tina Macey, Khyisha Munro-Mills and Maggie Craigie-Connors.

MPS Stars

MPS Wonders

MPS Legends

MPS Gems

Dates to remember!

• P&C meeting - Monday, 20th August commencing 6.00pm in school library • Monday, 23rd July – Parent teacher interviews • Tuesday 24th July K-6 students resume Term 3

MPS Athletics Carnival will be held on Friday,6th July. Primary students have been participating in the field event trials during lunch times (as per the timetable attached to the last newsletter). The carnival will commence at 9.00am with a K-2 march past at the infants circles and the Years 3-6 will open with a march past on the main oval. Teams are: Barwon is RED (surnames A-G); Gwydir is BLUE (surnames H-N); & Mehi is YELLOW (surnames O-Z).

NW Rugby League Carnival at Kinglscliff: On Sunday, 17th June we were on the road to participate in the NSW PSSA in Kingscliff as a member of the north west Under 11 rugby league team. On Monday, I had a training session with the whole team for the first time. It was great to catch up with some old friends. On Tuesday, I played in my first game against McKillop. The first half was really tough because we were down 12-0. Second half we turned it around with no points scored. In our second game, we versed Riverina and we won 6-4. Our coach was pretty happy with that. On Wednesday, we played Hunter and we won 8-4. Hunter was a similar team to us and were very difficult to beat. Our next game we played Sydney South West. Most of their players were nearly as big as Mr Brown. We tackled hard and kept the score low, losing 10-0. Sydney South West were the next giants that we played. We lost to them 18-6. On Thursday, we played Western to finish either 7th or 8th in the competition. We ended up finishing 8th overall. That is the best North West has done in some time. Within this game I received man of the match. Over the three days I played the positions of hooker, centre, lock and wing. It was a really good experience and I had a lot of fun playing.

Report by Darcy Brazel

5. COMING EVENTS – Term 2 Please check each week for possible variations on Skoolbag App or listen to local radio 2VM for the daily School News segment a little after 7.00am. Term 2 10 Mon 2 July World of Maths for Stage 2;

Semester 1 reports & invitation to interview home to parents

Tues 3 NAIDOC Assembly and activities Wed 4 Interview RSVP due to class teacher Thurs 5 Interview time confirmation slip home Fri 6 MPS athletics carnival K-6

Last day of Term 2 Term 3 1 Mon 23 July Tues 24 Wed 25 Life Ed van; Debate MPS v Ross Hill Thurs 26 Life Ed van; G & B soccer MPS v Walgett at Moree Fri 27 State cross country – Eastern Creek 2 Mon 30 Tues 31 Life Ed van Wed 1 August Life Ed van Thurs 2 Life Ed van Fri 3 Heferen Shield district athletics carnival Assemblies: 10.30 1W-5; 11.30 3M-23 3 Mon 6 Education Week: Today’s schools –

Creating tomorrow’s world Tues 7 Life Ed van Wed 8 Life Ed van Yr 4 Excursion to Coffs Harbour – 3 days Thurs 9 Life Ed van Fr 10 Assemblies: 10.30 KM-8; 11.30 5R-17 4 Mon 13 Yr 6 Excursion to Canberra – 5 days Tues 14 Life Ed van; ICAS mathematics Wed 15 Life Ed van Thurs 16 Life Ed van;

NE Dance Festival (Jun & Sen groups) - Tamworth Fri 17 Assemblies: 10.30 1G-6; 11.30 4J-13 5 Mon 20 Tues 21 Wed 22 Jump Rope – 3/4 individual & 5/6 partner skipping Thurs 23 Jump Rope – 3/4 partner & 5/6 individual skipping Fri 24 Assemblies: 10.30 KF-10; 11.30 6B-16 K-6 Jump Rope for Heart – Jump off day 6 Mon 27 Tues 28 Wed 29 Thurs 30 Fri 31 Assemblies: 10.30 2J-1; 11.30 3P-22 7 Mon 3 September Tues 4 Wed 5 Thurs 6 Fri 7 Assemblies: 10.30 KK-11; 11.30 5/6B-19 8 Mon 10 Neutral Bay Public School students visit Tues 11 Year 5 excursion to Sydney (4 dys) Wed 12 Thurs 13 Fri 14 Assemblies: 10.30 2R-29; 11.30 3B-21 & 3/6C-34 9 Mon 17 Year 3 excursion to Lake Keepit Tues 18 Wed 19 Thurs 20 Fri 21 Assemblies: 10.30 KH-9; 11.30 6W-18 & 3/6 C-34 Regional Athletics carnival 10 Mon 24 Tues 25 Wed 26 Gwydir (Warialda) & Chatswood Concert band Thurs 27 Fri 28 Assemblies: 10.30 2B-30; 11.30 4L-39 Last day of Term 3 Term 4 1 Mon 15 Staff and students resume Tues 16 Wed 17 Thurs 18 Fri 19

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