Principal: Mr Graeme Cupper Address: Commercial Street, Merbein, 3505 Phone: 03 50252501 Email: merbein.P10@edumail.vic.gov.au Website: www.merbeinp10.vic.edu.au

ACTING PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Mrs Sandra Luitjes

Students are currently working towards completing tasks as we near the end of the year and our Year 10 students are gearing up for their exams. Some of our Year 7 students are on the Halls Gap Adventure Camp. The weather has been very kind to them and they have enjoyed all the activities on offer. We are looking forward to hearing their stories when they return tomorrow. Just a reminder that we have a number of important dates in December, including our Merbein P-10 Awards night at Club Da Vinci on Thursday 13th December.

NEWSLETTER 2018 Thursday, 29 November

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Successful Students – Strong Communities

DATES TO REMEMBER DECEMBER 3rd Monday Year 4-6 Excursion ‘Healthy and Happy’

4th Tuesday Prep Practice 9am-1.30pm

7th Friday -Merbein Carols 6.30pm -Yr 10 Graduation Club Da Vinci -Whole School Assembly 9.15am

10th Monday Pupil Free Day

11th Tuesday -Whole School Orientation Day -Prep Practice 9am-3.12pm

12th Wednesday Sec Orientation Day

13th Thursday -Student Reports Distributed -P-1 Excursion -Yr 4-6 Art Exhibition -Yr 2-3 Excursion

-Presentation Night Club Da Vinci

14th Friday Yr 6 Graduation and morning tea

19th Wednesday -Student Reports Distributed -Class Parties after recess

20th Thursday -Pri Pool Day after recess -Sec ‘Lake Day’ at Cullulleraine

21st Friday -Last Day of Term -Early dismissal time of 2.30pm.

-NO OSHC on the last day of term

22nd Saturday Yr 10 Online Rugby Jumper Orders close

2019 TERM DATES Term 1: 29/01/19 Staff return Students return 30/01/19 - 05/04/19 Term 2: 23/04/19 - 28/06/19 Term 3: 15/07/19 - 20/09/19 Term 4: 07/10/19 – 20/12/19

AWARDS PRESENTATION EVENING 2018 – G. Rhodes This year our Annual Awards Presentation Evening will be held at Club Da Vinci on Thursday 13th December commencing at 6.30pm. Students receiving awards will be notified prior to the evening. Students receiving awards on the night are required to attend in school uniform. Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. Our awards evening acknowledges the contribution to our school and academic excellence of around ninety Primary and Secondary students each year. Through the generous support of community based organisations and businesses, we distribute over $4000 in cash and prizes to our award winners each year.

BREAKFAST PROGRAM The Merbein & District Community Bank & Merbein Development Association are financially supporting the Breakfast Program. Foodbank Victoria also supports the breakfast program with donations of food. The following organisations provide volunteers to assist with the program; Merbein P10 College parents, the Board & Staff of the Merbein & District Community Bank, Merbein Development Association, Merbein Lions Club, and Merbein Uniting Church. The Breakfast Program is held in the school cafeteria. All students are welcome to come along between 8.00am and 8.45am each morning if they would like a FREE tasty breakfast to kick-start their days learning.

If you have time to volunteer for this

community service from 8-8.45am on school

days, please contact the school, we would

love to hear from you. Please note that volunteers will need a Working with Children’s Check.

PLAY GROUP - TOTAL LEARNING CENTRE (TLC) A free Playgroup for children ages 0-5 and their parent/carer is held at Merbein P-10 College every Thursday from 1.30-3.00pm during the school terms. Children and their carers share books, make fun stuff, play, dance and sing. Parents can receive information and support, share a cuppa, and get to know other families. All families welcome. For more information phone April 0437 077 689. Transport is available.

SCHOOL BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS BSB - 063 714 Bank Acc Number – 10060535 Account Name - Merbein P-10 College Official Account.

UNIFORM SHOP School uniforms can be purchased from the school’s main office between the hours of 8.45am and 4pm during the school week. If these hours are inconvenient for you, please ring the school to make an alternate arrangement.

MERBEIN P-10 FACEBOOK PAGE Check the Facebook Page for updates about the school and upcoming events. www.facebook.com/merbeinp10college

PRIMARY NEWS

SCHOOL TAKE-HOME BOOKS AND LIBRARY BOOKS The last day for Primary students to borrow library

books is Friday, 7th December. All library books

need to be returned by Friday 14th

December. We ask families to please take the time to have a good check for books at home, both School Take-Home Books and Library Books as they are a very valuable resource for our students’ learning and expensive to replace.

MONEY MATHS YEARS 4-6 – D. Lord The Money Maths Program allows students to operate their own fictitious business, earn a wage and pay bills simulating life as we know it. They have selected a business based on criteria, they will sell items based on that business (pictures) and pay all the bills, just as adults do in real life. Our first Market Day will be held tomorrow, Friday 30th November.

PREP PRACTICE REPORT - M Brown and T Rivett The children participated in a fun day of Prep Practice on Tuesday. They enjoyed hearing a story from a Big Book titled ‘Walk in the Jungle’ and learnt about the letter ‘Jj’ from a handwriting sheet. Mr Pay wowed them with some music and we had fun counting. We are looking forward to our next Prep Practice Day on Tuesday, 4th December.

YEAR 2-3 EXCURSION – W. Finn The Year 2-3 Unit are travelling to Nowingi Place in Mildura to experience a variety of educational activities in nature on Thursday 13th December. It will consist of the following four rotating activities. Music (Music Together - Sunraysia Arts and Learning), Physical Education (Wildside Outdoor Experiences), Art and Science. We hope parents are able to join us for a BYO picnic lunch at 12.30pm. A permission note will go home with students today.

YEAR 2-3 INQUIRY – W. Finn Parents and Special Friends are invited to our ‘Toy Design Extravaganza’ to see what amazing toys our Year 2-3 students have designed, made and advertised for Santa’s Chief Elf Bernard. Families are welcome to drop into the ‘Farm’ end of the Green Building anytime between 8.40 – 11.00am next Wednesday, 5th December.

MERBEIN CAROLS – W. Finn Our primary students from Prep to Year 6 have been invited to participate in this wonderful local annual event, which will be held on Friday 7th December at Kenny Park Merbein. The event begins at 6.30pm. Families are welcome to take a picnic tea to have on the lawns. Students are asked to meet with the teachers at 7.15pm in the bandstand area at Kenny Park for their performance. Families will need to take their children to the event and supervise them during the event. Students are asked to wear Christmas clothes or Christmas colours for their performance.

There is a notice attached to this

newsletter. Please complete the note and

return it to school as soon as possible to

assist the teachers with numbers. Please note that students can still participate in the event performance if the note is not returned but it will help the teachers to know numbers.

OPTIONAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT LESSONS AVAILABLE FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS – J. Hudson

Guitar lessons, both Group and Individual. For more information and cost, please email iwansoebardi@gmail.com or call Iwan Soebardi on 0418919220.

Drum lessons. Contact Luke McCarthy for more information and costs on 0417 897 906 or email lukemccarthy@lukemccarthy.id.au.

Piano or keyboard lessons, the cost is $27 per 30 minute lesson plus books as required. For further information, please contact Louise Judd by email at louisejudd53@gmail.com or phone 0408596944.

CHRISTMAS TREE Make sure you pop into the Alfred Deakin Centre over the next few weeks and check out the Christmas tree made by our Prep/One students.

LOST PROPERTY Please check the Lost Property Box in the Green Building for your child’s missing clothing and other personal items.

STUDENT BANKING PROGRAM If you wish your child to participate in this program, please send your child’s bankbook along to the Green Building Office every Thursday morning. The Bank will collect and process the banking and then drop the bankbook back to school before the end of the school day.

AFTER SCHOOL CARE PROGRAM (OSHC) Children must be booked into OSHC to attend. If bookings need to be cancelled, please notify Cheryll. Cheryll Hodge is our school’s OSHC coordinator and can be contacted on 0428 258035 if you have any

queries. Please note that there will be NO

OSHC on Friday 21st December.

GREEN BUILDING WEEKLY AWARDS Congratulations to the Grade P-3 students who received awards at our weekly Friday Assembly.

SECONDARY NEWS

YEAR 7 CAMP PHOTOS

LIBRARY NEWS The last day for Secondary students’ library borrowing will be tomorrow 30th November. All items will be due back on the 14th December 2018. Thank you for your patronage and we look forward to seeing you next year.

SECONDARY RSL BURSARIES 2018 - NOMINATIONS To commemorate Armistice Day 11/11/1918 – 11/11-2018, The Merbein R.S.L. has generously donated $500.00 to be used for bursaries for our secondary students. This a once off donation and we invite eligible students to nominate to be considered for a bursary. It is anticipated there will be two bursaries allocated. Please complete the details below and return to the school office by Wednesday 5th December. Student Name:……………………………………………………………………… Address:………………………………………………………………….. Parents Name/s:………………………………………………………………..… Phone No:………………………………………………………………………….. Name of Related Service Personnel………………………..……………………………………… Service Number……………………………………………………..…….………

ORIENTATION DAYS – G. Rhodes On Tuesday 11th December and Wednesday 12th December our Year 10 students will be attending the Senior College for their orientation days. Here at Merbein P-10 our 27 Year 6 students will ‘step-up’ to Year 7 along with 130 visiting Year 6 students from other local primary schools. A special program will be organised for these two days that will help the students to transition from their current Primary School to our P-10 College in 2019.

Arena Jacket

END OF YEAR ARRANGEMENTS – G. Rhodes The following arrangements are in place for the completion of the school year. Year 10 students will be involved in their Orientation Week at the Senior College from Tuesday 11th to Friday 14th December. They will then be cleared for part time work obligations. Year 7-9 students will have regular classes up until and including Tuesday 18th December. The students will participate in the following Activity Program in the last three days of school. On Wednesday 19th December, students will participate in activities based around team work, and will have the opportunity to visit an out of school recreational venue. On Thursday 20th December, we will hold our Annual ‘Lake Day’ Excursion, where students can participate in outdoor activities with the theme of ‘fun in the outdoors in a safe and Sun Smart environment’. On Friday 21st December, students that attend will be involved in activities to help prepare the school for 2019 including checking and cleaning books and equipment. A permission note will be distributed to students early next week, explaining the End of Year Activity Program.

2019 YEAR 10 RUGBY JUMPERS Orders are now open for the 2019 Year 10 Rugby Jumper. Our Rugby Jumpers are made in Adelaide by Silver Fleece, an Australian owned company.

Families need to order and pay for the

Rugby Jumpers directly with Silver Fleece

online at https://silverfleece.com.au/product/merbein-2018-leavers-rugby. The design of the 2019 Year 10 Rugby Jumper will be the same as this year’s with students having the option to personalise their top with a name or nickname. These will then be sent to the school for approval before printing. Payment is via Credit Card or PayPal only and you must choose the “Local Pickup” shipping option during checkout – otherwise you will be charged a delivery fee.

Cost is $84.50 each. Orders close 22nd

December 2018. Students will be fitted for their Rugby Jumpers at school. Available sizes showing online are from 10 – 28 but larger sizes can be ordered if needed. Once you get to checkout, you can write the size required in the Order Notes (optional) box. LOST PROPERTY Please ensure your child’s clothing is clearly named. If your child is missing articles, please have them check the lost property box located in the main entrance to the school.

2019 CHINA EXCHANGE – C. Blackie Next year will be the 10th Anniversary of our China Exchange for Year 10 students. If your child is interested in taking part, they will need to see Mr. Blackie tomorrow. For those students who don't think they can travel to China but would still like to be involved, we're always looking for host families. The China Exchange is an incredible experience that is totally unlike a normal holiday and it would be great to have as many people as possible involved in the program's tenth year.

BOOKLISTS 2019 – G. Rhodes An Individual Booklist for all students in Year 8 and 9

were distributed today. These booklists need to

be completed and returned to the school by

next Friday 7th December. Year 7 students will receive their booklists next Monday.

DOCTORS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS Remember our doctor’s room is open every Tuesday from 10am–3pm for secondary students. Student appointments can be made through staff at the school or by calling the Merbein Family Practice on 03 5025 2511 or students can simply drop into the rooms at recess or lunch on Tuesdays. This is a great service, not just when students are sick but for things like prescriptions, asthma and anaphylaxis plans, catch-up immunisations, mental health and any other issues

facing secondary students. Students will need to

give their Medicare Card details to the GP

clinic. An easy way to do this is for the

student to take a photo of the card on their

phone. Parents do not need to attend appointments with students but are very welcome to come along if the students wish.

CHANGES TO SECONDARY UNIFORMS We are phasing out our summer skirt, white girls blouse and Microfiber Sports Jacket to cut down on the number of uniform elements available to students. These items can still be worn as the school uniform but we will not be reordering them once supplies have been depleted. Therefore the items below have been reduced in price as follows. Please note there may be limited sizes available in these items. Summer Skirt - $30.00 White Blouse – $30.00 Microfiber Jacket - $50.00 The Microfiber Sports Jacket is being replaced with a new Arena Jacket shown in the picture. It is a much warmer option and is priced at $80.00.

COMMUNITY NEWS

DEADLY CHOICES MALLEE DISTRICT ABORIGINAL SERVICES (MDAS) Mallee District Aboriginal Services (MDAS), are hosting ‘The Deadly Choices Roadshow’ on 14th December from 10-3pm at Nowingi Place, Mildura. The day is all about connecting with the community and we invite everyone to come join in on some deadly activities. Deadly Choices is an indigenous term used to describe and promote living a healthy lifestyle. ‘A Deadly Choice is a Healthy Choice’. This event is sugar, drug and alcohol free. Encouraging everyone to utilize our local services and feel connected within the community through cultural activities, Elder storytelling, mini touch rugby competition, yoga/ pilates/ line dancing sessions, jumping castle, artist workshops and local artists performing on the day. For further enquires phone 03 5018 4100 Ext: 139 or email: egeyer@mdas.org.au.

MERBEIN ROTARY COMMUNITY CAROLS Held at Kenny Park Merbein on Friday 7th December. Food & drink stalls and brass band entertainment from 6.30pm. Main program starts 7.30pm. Carols singing with Local Schools and Community Choirs. Free Glow Candles. Santa (approx. 9pm) This is an ‘Alcohol Free Event’. BYO chairs/picnic rugs. For more information, contact Kay Wagner 5025 2585.

2019 RELAY FOR LIFE The 2019 Relay for Life will be held on 23rd March at 2pm and 24th March at 8am at the Soccer Park, Old Aerodrome Ovals, 11th Street, Mildura. Start thinking about registering a team and get your fundraising underway. For more information contact Rosemary Smallman, Team Liaison, Mildura Relay for Life, on email teamsmildurarfl@gmail.com.

STATE OF ORIGIN SA v VIC Witness a Great night of Harness Racing as the Leading SA and VIC Harness Drivers and their Guest AFL coaches battle it out in the Inaugural State of Origin Race Series. Held at the Mildura Harness Racing Club Recreation Reserve Mildura Gates open at 4pm. Entertainment for the whole family. For bookings and more information, contact The Mildura Harness Racing Club office on 50232454 or Michelle on mobile 0447380214.

SUNRAYSIA RENEGADES CRICKET LEAGUE Held Mondays from 5:30-7:30pm at the Old Aero Ovals, 11th St Mildura. All equipment provided. No experience required, perfect for any girls aged 9-15. Get your friends together to form a team or we'll find one for you! For more information contact Tom email thuf@cricketvictoria.com.au or phone 0408321877.

RESPONSIBLE SERVICE OF ALCOHOL COURSE Mallee Sports Assembly will be conducting a Responsible Service of Alcohol Course on Tuesday 4th December, 2018 in Mildura. Time is 5.45pm for 6pm. For more information and to register for this course please contact Jeanette on 5021 3464 or email jeanette@malleesportsassembly.org.au.

MERBEIN P-10 COLLEGE

PREP – YEAR 6

MERBEIN CAROLS RETURN NOTICE Child’s Name and Year Level ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. My children will be able to participate in the Merbein Carols Event, which will be held on Friday 7th December at Kenny Park, Merbein. Meeting there with the teachers at 7.15pm in the Bandstand area at Kenny Park for the performance. Signed Parent/Carer ……………………………………………………………………..