From the Principal
I have to admit, I was completely overwhelmed by the success of the school fair. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised knowing the talented volunteers that worked tirelessly to make the event such a hit. I have been tremendously impressed with the co-operative spirit demonstrated by our school community. It was never so evident than at the fair when I saw 1 hour shifts turn into 4, 2 pairs of hands become overwhelmed and soon be joined by 2 more, and a host of people working together to solve the inevitable last minute back stage glitches that occur at such an event.
Perhaps what some people didn’t see was all the hard work and dedication that went into planning the event – after all the first “Fair Meeting” took place in February! But all the time and effort was well worth it, our school showed its heart, the children had a blast and the school raised some valuable money which we have already seen the benefit of in terms of our computer resources, musical instruments, sound equipment and the shady areas and landscaping around Parent Toddler. Thank you to everyone for supporting the event and making the day so successful. As everything was all organized, I was only responsible for the weather and with the help of a few prayers it all worked out.
Well it’s a race to the finish at CMS, with the fair and Narooma behind us it is on to Graduations, Discos and plenty of work still ahead in the classrooms. Last week the Cycle 3 children paused around the peace pole to honour Remembrance Day – I was thankful to be included in the assembly and share the poem “In Flanders Field” (a Canadian tradition) with the group. The Children sang a beautiful song by Peter Barnes—”Can You Hear Australia’s Heroes Marching?” and shared stories of Australian soldiers that they had researched at a recent outing to the War Memorial. I was very moved by the occasion.
Enjoy the remaining days of Term 4!
Peace,
Jack Rice
Principal, CMS
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School Policy Review
Recently at our Class Parent meeting we discussed the school’s policy review procedures. I informed the class parents that the school has reviewed the following policies in the past 6 months :
Attendance
Bush Fire (new)
Child Protection
Head Lice (new)
Health and Safety
Members Grievance
Sun Smart
Transitioning Children
Professional Learning
All of our school’s policies are available at the Main Office of the school and are available to all parents upon request. A small folder containing only those policies currently under review is also available if parents are interested in providing feedback.
Seeking New Musketeers!
Lori, Liz and Sarah are hanging up their musketeer outfits and are looking for some enthusiastic replacements to organise next years Trivia Night. This is our second biggest fundraiser of the year and is a great social event as well. Chantal & John (our MC's and general on-night organisers) are on board for next year and we are more than happy to hand over all information necessary to go ahead. Please have a think and let one of us know if you think this could be the job for you (or ideally a group of you) Your community hours are covered for the year as you are members of the F and S Committee.
All for one and one for all!!
Staffing
I wanted to inform the community of additional staff movement that will be taking place in 2011.
In Melaleuca, I have hired a co-teacher to work together with Carolyn Hunter next year. Her name is Anca Ardeleanu. Anca comes to us from Canada; I have been working to bring her to the school for several months. She is a fully trained Montessori teacher and has been a Cycle 2 co-teacher in two excellent Montessori schools in the Toronto area. I believe she will be a tremendous asset to our school and together with Carolyn will provide a great deal of leadership to the classroom. One of my goals in staffing for next year was to provide each Cycle 2 and 3 classroom with a full time co-teacher or assistant, rather than multiple assistants working part time in one classroom. To this end, I have assigned Sacha Morton Peltola to a full time assistant position in Grevillea. Sacha has been splitting time between Gum Nut and Grevillea in 2010 and although we will miss her in Gum Nut I believe the opportunity to have her work full time with Kerrie in Grevillea will lead to excellent results.
MiKyung Kim will move to Casuarina as a Cycle 1 assistant in the morning and of course continue as our Korean teacher in the afternoon. Tonia Lewis will move from Casuarina to Dryandra next year providing a stable and experienced 2nd assistant to that room.
Finally, I continue to interview candidates for the role of Curriculum Director at our school. I feel our school would benefit from an experienced Montessorian on our administration team, to assist me to continue to develop consistency amongst the classrooms and to help the teachers to implement best practices in their rooms. As it is an important role at our school, I continue to interview candidates and will add the person to our team only when I have found the right fit for the job. - Jack
Lucy’s Farewell
You are invited to join Melaleuca families past and present in saying farewell to Lucy as well as the children moving on from Cycle 2.
Tuesday 14th December at 3pm in the Melaleuca classroom
Please bring a plate to share.
Any queries contact Vanessa Bakker on 0432 851559
The Casuarina Grove needs your help
Families may have noticed the trunks of many of our casuarinas have turned partly white. If you look closely you will see the white is actually formed by the eggs of some native insect that thinks this makes a good home. After consultation with horticulturalists, it was decided that the best approach to tackling the problem is good old-fashioned elbow grease as opposed to spraying with toxic chemicals.
What we need is for some families, perhaps those who enjoy spending time in the casuarina grove and any one else who would like to help, to tackle manually removing the eggs with scrubbing brushes –they come off quite easily. The trunks then need to be painted with methylated spirits. Please see Sarah in Acacia class for both. We will then give the trees a good feed with a native friendly fertilizer to boost their resilience and hopefully the grove will thrive for many years to come.
AEDI
There is always so much chatter about the NAPLAN testing but did you know that CMS students participated in another “standardized test” back in 2009. It was the Australian Early Development Index and was an assessment carried out by Extended Day (or Kindergarten) teachers all across Australia. The results have recently been released and demonstrate how the children in our extended day classes were measured on 5 Domains: Physical Health and Well Being, Social Competence, Emotional Maturity, Language and cognitive skills and Communication. CMS results were exceptionally strong in each of the domains when compared against Australian norms and local community averages. I am hopeful the Index can inform schools of trends in early childhood education and areas of potential risk. I am also very interested in how Montessori students across Australia fared in these measures of school readiness as they are the kinds of indicators that Montessori schools find important. You can learn more about the AEDI at: http://www.rch.org.au/aedi/index.cfm?doc_id=13051. I am planning to attend a Policy Forum on AEDI in the near future. Simply put, the Australian government has invested $21.9M in this census and I believe the data which has been generated will inform government policy on early childhood education in Australia for years to come. - Jack
Christmas Charity
We have chosen to support the Salvation Army this Christmas. They anticipate distributing around 450,000 toys and 150,000 food vouchers or hampers to those less fortunate than ourselves. We can help by donating non-perishable food items and gifts which we will be collecting in the office from the beginning of next week. Simply place your food item or a wrapped or unwrapped gift under the Tree in the office. If it is a gift make sure to specify the age and gender of a suitable recipient and attach it to your gift.
Examples of non-perishable food items:
Tin of ham
Tin of salmon/fish/tuna
Cans of vegetables
Plum pudding
Christmas cake
Tin of fruit
Packet of jelly
Custard
Bottles of soft drink
Tin/packet biscuits
Christmas goodies (nuts, lollies, pretzels, chocolates, etc.)
Tea/coffee
Gift suggestions:
New toys
Clothing
CDs
Books
Toiletry items
Children in need are the same as all other children and like to have the latest popular toys, gifts and clothing. Please remember children of all ages, including teenagers. The Salvation Army often experiences a shortage of gifts for older children/teenagers, particularly adolescent boys aged 10-16 years.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING WHOOPING COUGH from ACT Health
Staff and parents are requested to be alert for signs of whooping cough (pertussis). An outbreak of pertussis (whooping cough) is currently occurring in both the ACT and surrounding areas of NSW. Pertussis is highly contagious in schools and it is important that people do not attend school while infectious.
Pertussis is a bacterial respiratory illness which causes persistent bouts of coughing. Although it is usually not medically serious in school age children or adults, symptoms can last for several weeks. Infants less than 12 months of age are particularly susceptible to pertussis and can become very unwell if exposed to this infection. People with pertussis are infectious to others for three weeks after they develop a cough, or until they receive one week of appropriate antibiotics.
The following steps are recommended to stop transmission of the disease:
• Children who have a cough or any other respiratory symptoms should see their General Practitioner (GP) for medical assessment.
• Any person who is confirmed as having pertussis should be excluded from school until they are no longer infectious (i.e. have been coughing for more than 3 weeks or have completed five days of an appropriate antibiotic).
• Immunisation remains the most effective way to avoid pertussis infection. It is important to double check that your child is fully up to date with their immunisations. A pertussis vaccine is also available for adults via private prescription.
• New parents and grandparents of children aged less than 12 months can access free pertussis vaccine as part of the ACT Targeted Adult Pertussis Program. The program has been extended until 31 December 2010. Please see your GP.
Immunity to pertussis from immunisation or natural infection is not life lasting. It is therefore important to seek medical attention if your child develops a cough even if fully immunised.