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

• Books in Homes - Kindergarten orders due back Wednesday 9th May • P&C Mothers Day stall – Wed 9th & Thurs 10th May

1. TERM 2 – HERE WE COME….

Welcome back! The first week at school certainly went by very quickly with several major events. We look forward to a rewarding Term 2 with numerous activities organised to spark the interest, enjoyment and excitement of the children. I am delighted to report that over the break replacement of the library roof was completed and this has allowed resumption of regular school routines with the library and QuickSmart tutoring rooms fully operational again. A special word of appreciation goes to our staff for accommodating the construction site through variations to their programs, duties and movement around the school. Most importantly, a ‘pop-up’ library was created in the hall at the administration block, to ensure reading resources could be accessed by teachers and students could continue to borrow and participate in the Premier’s reading challenge. Several days of holiday work also ensured the resources were back in place for the first day of term. Thank you also to our students for their sensible adjustment to the confined playground areas – safety requirements for such a job. I had the pleasure of showing Mr David Crowe, Director Educational Leadership around our school last Thursday. This was his first visit since taking up the position this term and he certainly articulated admiration of our school presentation, our students and the teaching and learning that he witnessed in classrooms. Tell Them From Me survey was completed by half of the students in Years 4-6 late last term and we have now received the report. Overall the survey results are extremely positive with our school rating at or above the state norms in most areas. This result is pleasing as it reflects the strong focus our teaching staff place on teaching, learning and ensuring that high expectations prevail. Survey results indicate that our students have a positive sense of belonging and they feel accepted and valued by their peers and by others at their school. They find the classroom instruction is well-organised; has a clear purpose; and with immediate and appropriate feedback that helps them learn.

Students feel there are clear rules and expectations for classroom behaviour and teachers maintain high expectations that they be followed. Students have rated the level of bullying at our school at a lower level than the state-wide norm. An area we did not rate well in was homework completion. Homework is an important part of any child’s learning, particularly in reading. Whether it is a book from school, a novel from the library or even the newspaper, children need to read each day to develop accuracy and fluency. I encourage all parents to support their child with completing homework and listen to their child read each day, in addition to the reading that is taught at school. Anzac Day fell through the holidays and I thank the MPS families for supporting our participation in the community march and service.

Student leaders proudly leading MPS to the 2018 Anzac Service

In addition, the 2018 student leaders hosted a school service last Tuesday, welcoming Mr Roger Butler OAM as guest speaker, Mr Barry Brooks reciting the Ode, Mr Des Hurst OAM and Mr Lorne McFarlane who cut sprigs of Rosemary from our hedge of remembrance, planted by students at the 2016 ANZAC service. Mr Butler spoke about strength in unity - demonstrating how by working together the allied forces were able to defeat their enemies during the war. On behalf of Commodore Colin Dagg, Moree’s

Tuesday, 8th May 2018

ANZAC Day ceremony guest, Mr Butler presented the school with little packages of Lego. With the lego came a challenge to design ships for the future. Some of our classes will take on this challenge and we will publish photographs of the models.

Mr Butler OAM addresses the MPS Anzac Service

The school choir (Miss March) and band (Mr Roberts) are congratulated for treating us to wonderful performance of the hymn, Abide with me and the Queensland version of Waltzing Matilda. Congratulations also go to Olivia Turner who drummed the official party to their seats and Ryan Macey for opening the assembly with Amazing Grace on his bagpipes. Ms Jacqui Drenkahn again played the bugle for The Last Post and Reveille.

Olivia, Ellah, Preston, Marnie and Wallace – official duties

performed with distinction

Our school leaders – Marni, Wallace, Ellah, Preston, Dusty, Ryan, Eliza and Christian are commended for their great work in leading the ceremony. For their first formal ceremony the students spoke confidently in front of the large audience. Excursions are coming up quickly - Year 6 to Canberra; Year 5 to Sydney; Year 4 to Coffs Harbour and Year 3 to Lake Keepit. Please be mindful of these events and try to put some money aside for when the payments are requested. Fun Run/Cross Country is an annual event and a large group of parents were treated to some excellent performances on the track last Friday. Students displayed enthusiasm and commitment as they tackled the course in ideal running weather – slight breeze and some cloud cover! Congratulations to the runners who have earned a place in our team to go to the zone cross country at North Star on 28 May.

A refreshing break …

The infants fun run was very entertaining - always great to see the children having fun and keeping fit. The stamina of the students, and that of some of the staff, particularly impressed me! Moree Show is a wonderful community event! Congratulations to 5/6M-14 on winning the Champion exhibit with their fantastic mural and also to prize winners, Early Intervention class, 1W-5, 3M-23, 4R-24, 5R-17; Jonathon Dawson, Chloe Pollard, Elly Hoffman, Kayla Olsen, Emma Tydd, Miley Kennedy and Nicholas Beddoes. A brilliant range of entries from students contributed to a fabulous MPS display at the Junior Art pavilion. The display highlighted the artistic talent of so many of our students. In addition, many of our horse enthusiasts competed with success in the ring events, with Dusty Smith and Lucy Monie excelling in the Dancing with the Stars impromptu event of the evening rodeo! Congratulations to all the MPS students and classes for entering show entries and well done to students who received certificates. My thanks go to all the teachers who took the time to create a display. This certainly added to the show.

A small sample of the school art work recently entered in

the Moree Show Cool at School Open Day is eagerly anticipated on Friday. Children K-6 participate in a range of fun team building and fitness activities and games for the morning session. The day is an out of uniform day and children are encouraged to wear the Cool at School colours of blue, green and purple. Please ensure the clothing is suitable for outdoor activities.

Mothers Day stall will be held on Wednesday and Thursday – presented by our fantastic P&C. Students will be able to purchase gifts for $2, $5 or $10.

NAPLAN will be held for students in Years 3 and 5 next week from Tuesday to Thursday. It is important that students arrive to school on time. Parents or carers of students who sit for the NAPLAN tests will receive a written report of their child's achievement later in the year.

Annual School Report & 2018-2020 School Plan have been completed and available on the school website. The web address is http://www.moree-p.schools.nsw.edu.au. This report highlights some of our achievements.

The PSSA sport season is now in full swing with a recent tennis match against Warialda PS and zone trials for rugby league, touch football and netball. There is much more to come – please be mindful that some fixtures (knockout competition) may have very short organisation time but as always, we will do our best to co-ordinate the game and bus transport as promptly as possible.

Mr Adrian King

2. P&C ASSOCIATION• MEETING: The next meeting will be held on Monday, 21st May – allparents and friends are most welcome to attend at 6.00pm.• UNIFORM SHOP: The uniform shop is kindly opened by volunteerco-ordinator, Mrs Deb Hardman and Ms Erin Livet each Wednesday and Friday morning between 8.30 and 9.30am. • FUNDRAISING PROJECT: Two big events are coming up – theMothers Day stall on Wednesday and Friday and MOVIES UNDERS THE STARS on Friday, 1st June (flyer went out last week). The movie is WONDER – a beautiful story that is suitable for the whole family.

3.

4. SPORTING ROUNDUPRugby League – northern trials: Last Friday, four students Darcy Brazel, Ben DiDonna, Jamie Knox-Greenaway and Steven McCall, accompanied by Mr Crowder attended the trials. The boys enjoyed the opportunity and represented MPS with pride. Darcy gained selection in the north west team – well done! Mr Crowder

Tennis – The MPS team, Lauren Appleby, Georgia Quinlan, Sophie Rogers, Wallace Foreman, Aydan McGuire and Jeremy Blatchford recently played their first round of the PSS knockout, with a win against Warialda PS. Well done, team! Mrs Kaukiainen

Cross Country – Fun Run: Moree Public School students, staff and parents enjoyed a lovely cool morning last Friday, while taking part in the school's annual Fun Run. It was great to see students cheering on their houses, having a go and working hard as they ran a course that took them around the school oval and external perimeter. The purpose of the event was to determine this year's school cross country team, promote fitness and school pride. Congratulations to the age champions and runner-up:

8/9 Years Boys 1st Edward Beattie (3M-23) 2nd Jonah James (2R-29) 8/9 Years Girls 1st Sarsha Maas (2J-1) 2nd Beatrix Warburton (3/4B-35) 10 Years Boys 1st Mitchell Beddoes (4L-39) 2nd David Edwards (5R-17) 10 Years Girls 1st Amelia Maas (4J-13) 2nd Rylee O’Dempsey (4R-24) 11 Years Boys 1st Sam Custance (5R-17) 2nd Mitch Custance (5M-15) 11 Years Girls 1st Chloe Elbourne (5/6M-14) 2nd Ruby Humphries (5R-17) 12/13 Years Boys 1st Wally Foreman (5/6M-14) 2nd Preston Tighe (6E-16) 12/13 Years Girls 1st Eliza Warby (6W-18) 2nd Claudia Newman (6W-18)

The top six students in each age category are eligible to participate in the next round of the PSSA cross country competition and Moree Public will again be fielding a large team for 2018. Details of the zone cross-country carnival at North Star (happening on Monday, 28th May) will be provided to the selected students shortly. A fee will be charged for bus travel to the event. Mr McDonald

Dates to remember!

• P&C meeting - Monday, 21st May commencing 6.00pm in school library • Tuesday, 15th May – Parents / Year 3 Meet your teacher afternoon commencing 5.00pm in auditorium

5. GRIP Leadership workshop Congratulations to the enthusiastic senior students who attended the conference yesterday – your excellent participation was noted.

6. 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 2 Mon 7 Gala trials: netball, touch football (G&B) Grip Leadership conference – Moree Tues 8 ICAS – Digital technology PSSA state tennis at Albury Wed 9 Kinder BOOKS IN HOMES order due back

Thurs 10 Fri 11 Cool at School open day K-6

3 Mon 14 Tues 15 5.00pm Year 3 – Parents meet the teacher Wed 16 Thurs 17 Fri 18 Assemblies: 10.30 KM-8; 11.30 3B-21 & 3/6C-34 4 Mon 21 6.00pm P&C meeting Tues 22 We 23 National Simultaneous Story Time Thurs 24 Fri 25 Assemblies: 10.30 2M-7 & 11.30 5/6B-19 5 Mon 28 Zone cross country – North Star Tues 29 ICAS – science Wed 30 Thurs 31 Fri 1 June Assemblies: 10.30 KF-10 & 11.30 3/4B-35 6 Mon 4 Tues 5 Wed 6 Thurs 7 Fri 8 Assemblies: 10.301H-3; 11.30 5/6M-14 7 Mon 11 Queens Birthday – Public holiday Tues 12 Wed 13 ICAS - Spelling Thurs 14 ICAS – Writing; PSSA rugby league at Warialda Fri 15 Assemblies: 10.30 KK-11; 11.30 4L-39 8 Mon 18 Tues 19 12.30 MSC Musical Wed 20 Thurs 21 Fri 22 Assemblies: 10.30 1M-4; 11.30 5M-15 9 Mon 25 Drama w/shop – Homunculus Theatre Company Tues 26 Wed 27 Thurs 28 Fri 29 Assemblies: 10.30 KH-9; 11.30 4R-24 Final regional netball trials 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

7. COMMUNITY EVENTS

BRASS GROUP Would you like your child to learn trumpet or trombone? Mr Roberts is looking at starting another beginner brass group in Term 2. There are several rental trumpets and trombones available, so you won’t have to buy an instrument to get started. Most of the students who started last year have stuck with it and have attained quite a good skill level one year on. It’d be wonderful to keep building up these player numbers within the school. Please know these instruments are a bit tricky to start on so they need a decent level of commitment from the start. Brass instruments are not for the lazy nor the faint-hearted! For further information, please contact Marty on martyroberts4@bigpond.com or 0401 342 414 Glen Innes Celtic Festival – beautiful weather, beautiful performances by MPS students, staff and Moree Caledonian Society Pipes & Drums

Ryan playing in the massed band – Olivia preparing for the Moree display

Harriet and Meg performed with the Glenmore Highland Dancers –

a Scottish bracket and an Irish bracket of traditional dances

Would you like to learn to play the bagpipes or drums or dance? Contact Pipe Major Tim Tesoriero – lessons only cost you a little time and

commitment but guarantees much fun and satisfaction. Don’t delay call 0437329797 now!

On Friday 11th May we will be holding an Open Day to promote our social skills program in a fun and exciting way. The day will be run with tabloid sports in the morning and stalls & activities between recess and lunch (recess, lunch times & canteen facilities will operate as usual). The prices for activities and stalls have been listed below for your information. If parents would like to come and help on a stall (between 11:20 & 12:50), please contact Miss Larken via a note or through the front office. In addition, the mediators are holding a lolly guessing competition in the infants and primary playgrounds and results will be announced during the Open Day. A colouring-in competition has also begun and prizes will be awarded on the day ($1.50 due by Thursday 10th May).

Stall Details: Cans of Drink - $2.00 Jelly Cups - $1.50 Toffees - $1.00 Ice Blocks - 50c Chocolate Crackles - $1.00 Cup Cakes - 50c Chips - $1.00 Bean Bag Toss-50c for 2 throws Balloons - $2.50 Face Painting - $1.50 Magnets - $3.00 Lucky Dips - $1.50 & $3.00 Key Chains - $3.00 Badges - $2.00 Netball Toss - 50c for 2 throws Knock ‘em Down - 50c for 2 balls Relays - Free Tug-o-War - 50c per person, 4 in a team

COOL AT SCHOOLOPEN DAY

Friday 11th May (Term 2, Week 2)