Term 4 has certainly started with a bang! A massive thank you to you, our wonderful families and community, for supporting our Student Council and Environmental Club Colour Fun Run. With over $11,000 raised on final count our students did a wonderful job in fundraising, reaping the rewards of fun on Friday afternoon. I know I had an absolute ball and like many of our students, left school on Friday looking like a rainbow. Friday also saw over 60 students attend the annual Artie Attendance Rewards day at Sugar World water park and our girls T20 Cricket Blast team put in huge effort to win every game including the finals at the T20 Cricket Blast finals day. These opportunities for our students are super important and I can't thank the staff enough for organising and attending these events.
This Term we have turned our whole school expectation focus to 'I Respect Safety' as we count the days until our annual Learn to Swim lessons begin. Learning to swim is such an important skill for our students and as such, part of our yearly HPE program. Swimming lessons will run on a Wednesday and Friday with payment and forms to be returned to the office ASAP. Just a reminder that students need to wear Sun Safe swimwear with our MSS P&C selling school swim shirts in the uniform shop daily. For swim lessons, students need to bring a towel and are encouraged to apply sunscreen at home in the morning although it will be available at the pool for students to use. Don't forget that our Respect & Collect Shop is still open this Term so please encourage your child to continue to earn PayWays. So far this year we have had some major prizes go out with Alexander Athornkit earning a scooter, Ayden Mann a remote-control car, Kahlia Sellers a drone and Braxton Marcel a robot dog just to name a few
Like I said in my welcome message on Facebook, this Term will fly by and is jammed packed with events and opportunities not only for our students here at school, but also for those transitioning into Prep in 2023 and off to Secondary School next year. Reminder to Year 6 families that if you haven't already done so, be sure to get your child enrolled for Secondary School next year so they can participate in their chosen schools' transition events.
Some of key term 4 events include:
- 2023 Prep interviews occurring Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in weeks 1-4
- Prep 4 Prep for our 2023 Prep families 9:00-10:00am each Thursday starting this week
- Swimming on a Wednesday & Friday starts this week (on Friday only)
- Whole School Transition day for students in Prep-Year 5 Wednesday 30th November
- Yrs 4-6 Swimming fun day Friday 2nd December
- Prep-Year 2 Award Ceremonies on: Prep – TBA, Year 1 – Thursday 1st Dec, Year 2 – Friday 2nd Dec
- Yrs 3-6 Awards Ceremony – 9-11am Thursday 8th December
- Yr 6 Graduation – 12-1:30pm Thursday 8th December
- Yr 6 Fun Day – Friday 9th December for all year 6 students
- Semester 2 Report Cards will go home Wednesday 7th December
This term we have seen some staffing changes at MSS with us welcoming Ms Tina Taylor our very first school Social Worker and Ms Sharon Sigley who is teaching 5N for the Term. We have also welcomed back Ms Vanessa Doyle & Ms Shakeah Leau'anuae who is teaching 5H for the remainder of the year – a special treat for some of their 2021 Year 4 students who were lucky enough to have them as a teacher last year. Along our new and returning staff, we also have changes in our Leadership team. For the remainder of Term 4 Mrs Nadine Apps will be the Deputy Principal 5-6 while Mr Michael Nielsen is Acting Principal of Malanda SS with Ms Teresita Nastasi replacing Nadine as Head of Department Curriculum Years 3-6. Ms Shannon Hurst will be our Head of Department Behaviour for the Term while Mrs Cherene Trimble is Acting Principal of Biboohra SS. As always, we will endeavour to ensure these changes don't interrupt student learning or our processes with your child's teacher still the first point of contact.
Finally, this week we recognise Queensland Mental Health week (8th – 16th October) which is an Annual Awareness Week that aims to shine a spotlight on Individual and Community Mental Health and Wellbeing. To recognise this important event our MSS staff are encouraged to wear Green this Friday. If you can, be sure to take some time this week to check in on your loved ones and take some time for yourself to relax and unwind.