The final two weeks of this term have been jam-packed with activities for both staff and students. Since my last newsletter we have hosted our 2023 cross country, participated in Harmony Day, hosted our parent-teacher-student interviews, celebrated our Artie attendance awards, celebrated our Deadly Choices program with great prizes, formed our 2023 P&C Executive committee, finished our Term 2 planning days and moderation as well as hosted our inaugural Spelling Bee competition. Yep, we are certainly due for a holiday!
Well done to our students who participated in our recent cross country. Special mention to Mr Daniel Samanes and Mr Remy Fry for their commitment to our school sport opportunities and their organisation resulting in a superb 2023 cross country. Congratulations to Mitchell on their successful win and to each of our age champion winners!
Super effort to all of our year 3 & 5 students who participated in NAPLAN on-line during weeks 8 & 9 of this Term. Students were well prepared for these tests and approached them with confidence and a willingness to “do their best". The tests provide students, parents, teachers and the school with important insights into each student's literacy and numeracy development. While only a snapshot and just one part of a student's overall school performance, it has been great to see students approach the tests with diligence, resilience and determination. Thank you to the amazing staff who have worked tirelessly and skilfully to prepare and support our students to achieve success.
Thank you to all of our families who came along to our parent-teacher-student interviews on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Our school working hand-in-hand with you, our parents and carers, ensures this strong connection will make a significant difference to the outcomes of our students. Your involvement and interest in your child's education means a great deal to them, but also to our teachers and school staff who appreciate the opportunity to discuss your child's learning progress with you. Thank you also to those families who attended the P&C AGM. Special thanks to those who accepted positions on the P&C Executive Committee. We know that the more closely our school can work together with our parent group and the community, the better the outcomes will be for all our children.
Our P&C Executive works closely with MSS to fundraise for our school, providing financial support to improve our school facilities and replace necessary resources including our sound-fields to assist our hard of hearing students in every classroom, classroom fridges as well as bus costs for student excursions. In 2023, our P&C is left in the capable hands of our executive committee:
President – Jess Gallaher
Vice-President – Jacinta Rae
Secretary – Tracy Read
Treasurer – Olivia Battistin
Tuckshop coordinator – Lana Perkes
Uniform shop coordinator – Kate Bresa
Families are welcome to attend our next P&C meeting scheduled for Wednesday 19th April, 5pm in the staffroom.
As we start Term 2, we will see a staff change in our Year 4 & 6 cohorts. We say farewell to Ms Karlie Wallace who has made the decision to return to Cairns for personal reasons. We wish her all the very best and hope to see her return to MSS one day. Replacing Ms Wallace in 6W will be Ms Zena Coyle, a very experienced teacher with years of experience in Year 6. Continuing in Year 4C will be Mr Joe Simmons. He has been teaching the class this term with the students thoroughly enjoying having him as their teacher.
Our Term 2 date claimer is full of important dates starting with our whole School Anzac parade on Monday 24th April at 9am with all families welcome to attend, and we will finish the term with our school athletics carnival and many more in between. Starting in Term 2 will also be our Brady Park upgrade. We are no strangers to construction at MSS, working through our toilet block and office upgrades in the past 9 months and the Brady Park upgrade will be no different. Some of the changes will include:
- Reduced school oval space (as there is below ground works that will need to occur)
- Removal of part of the oval fence (which will be re-assembled)
- Changes to traffic conditions on Constance Street near the oval – keep an eye out on our Facebook page and via email
- Some tree removal (this will be kept to a minimal where possible)
Throughout the course of the project, we will keep families and our community regularly updated and I want to thank you in advance for your patience – just in case things don't go to plan along the way!
Finally, for those celebrating Easter traditions this year, have special weekend. Once again thank you to our Mareeba SS community for a great term. Have a safe and happy break, Term 2 will no doubt be as busy as Term 1! We look forward to seeing you back when school recommences on Tuesday 17th April.