Malibu School Newsletter - 2023 Term 1 Week 10

Principal's Pen

Dear families 

I do hope you are enjoying a wonderful family long weekend with plenty of rest and perhaps a few treats! Your children very much enjoyed some of our Easter cooking and crafts in the lead up to the break with plenty of pictures to see on our Facebook page.

It's been a big term with some great achievements. Junior cluster finished two weeks of swimming lessons at Aqua Jetty, Middle Cluster had a brilliant whole-cluster excursion to Sculptures by the Sea and Seniors are well and truly settled in to their community access, work placements and community engagement programs. In the middle of this, we saw a wonderful return of our Malibu Multicultural Day with a record number of our families. 

At the end of this term, we have farewelled our STEM teacher Tetiana and class teacher Simone who are headed to roles in other schools. We wish J3 teacher Mary all the best for her final teaching prac at another school in term 2, before she returns to Malibu. We also sadly farewell Science Teach Rob as he starts a new journey into retirement and wish him and his family well, acknowledging his lengthy service to education.

In the meantime, you may have heard in the news about teacher shortages across Australia. Sadly, Malibu School is also experiencing difficulties in staffing some of our classes. I thank our Junior families  who had a range of teachers in term 1 for their patience and would like to acknowledge our regular relief teachers, Junior Cluster Deputy Stacey, the Malibu Junior teachers and the EAs for ensuring we had a term of quality learning and care. Over the break, I will continue to seek teachers and have enlisted support from our Department as I would like to start with a teacher in every classroom. I again thank everyone for your understanding and patience as we do what we can to provide the best education for your child. While I remain optomistic and continue to work towards a full complement of staff over the break, families of any class impacted will be contacted at the start of term.

I'm so pleased to announce that Malibu School now has a P&C. We are so grateful for our 8 family members who have allowed us to create a P&C Executive Team, something we have been working towards for a long time. Please read a little more about our new P&C below!

As you know, the last few weeks have been challenging for our staff with the very sad passing of our wonderful EA Sam. Sam was well known and a prominent staff member during our school events and his presence was very visible for the arrival of students each morning. We have been inundated with support from our families and community. I am keenly aware that many of our families also feel this loss though I ask that families please refrain from contacting Malibu staff personally / directly online to seek more information or to engage in discussions about Sam. While well intentioned, some of these enquiries and contacts have caused some distress during such a difficult time and I ask that families make contact with me should more information be required.

Sam's family have arranged a private service and made available an online link so that anyone can feel part of his service, held 6pm on Tuesday 11th, should they choose. https://livestream.com/accounts/27566542/events/10818978

We know that everyone experiences grief differently and I encourage anyone who is wantin to reach out during this difficult time, to make contact with any of the following agencies. 

• Kidshelpline: 1800 55 1800
• Eheadspace: 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au/online-and-phone-support/
• Your family general practitioner (GP) or support services that your child may already be accessing
• Beyond Blue (03) 9810 6100 Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm (AEST)

If you have concerns regarding your child or require further support, please contact me on 9553 8450.

I was asked the other day to name something for which I am grateful. My quick response was for the generosity, collegiality, connection and care shown by this Malibu family, never so apparent as when times get a little tough. This includes staff and families, who have a single minded focus to support each other, no matter what, so that we can achieve the goals we share - which is to provide the best learning for our students / your children each day.

To all, have a very safe and wonderful holiday break and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 26th April. 

Kind regards
Merrilee Wright

News from the Board

Hi families

The end of term 1 is the time the school reviews achievement from the previous year in preparation for the 2022 Annual Report. For your information, a copy of the School Board Chair report is below;

Last year started with the resignation of Yvonne Peters, School Board Chair, following many years of service as a Community Representative. Yvonne brought great knowledge, experience and laughter to the team.

We welcomed the completion of our new Middle Block and removal of the tired blue demountables. Work continued in the space left with a new junior playground in development.

Malibu School continues in a strong financial position with the support of Dee and her administration team which ensures a focus on the grounds will continue in addition to the programs and resources needed to support quality learning.

We had many events happening this year and some donations from the community in support of our School. Our combined efforts from families and friends raised over $5,000 during the Annual Navy Day Colour Fun Run which contributed to equipment in the Junior playground.

In recognition of the focus on student outcomes, I pass on my congratulations to the staff for the success in their Public School Review, particularly for the strong evidence gathered in the Student Achievement and Progress Domain. You all have done a fantastic performance, much of it captured in this Annual Report.

I would like to say a big thank you to our wonderful Malibu Staff who continued to improve the educational programs and outcomes for our students in their educational journey in a challenging year. With COVID-19 still hanging around and rolling student and staff absences, Merrilee and staff kept the school operating like clockwork, keeping our classrooms safe and running smoothly for our students and families. Thank you!

Lastly, I thank each of the School Board Members for their support and commitment and look forward to working with them through a great 2023. 

2023 has seen Malibu continue a strong focus on student success with a few challenges and on behalf of the Malibu School Board we send our condolences to all staff for the loss of Sam. Sam was a beautiful person that made everyone smile with his morning greetings to his bubbly personality and his humour. He will be solely missed at Malibu and the surrounding communities.

Malibu School Board Chair
Leanne Stewart

Meet Malibu's first P&C!

Hello Malibu School Family.

I’m so honoured and excited to take on the position of President for our P&C. It’s so amazing I get to be a part of something from the very beginning. I’m looking forward to being able to serve you all to the best of my ability alongside some fabulous people who really showed how much they care in our first P&C meeting. I love the enthusiasm of everyone that attended. Thankyou Merrilee for you support in getting this up and running and to everyone that took time out to attend.

We are looking forward to putting a Mother’s Day Stall together for next term which will run from 9am - 10:30am on Wednesday 10/5/23. We ask that if anyone has any new unwanted gift items that they would like to donate for this to please drop them off to our front office.  More details to come for this in the new term.

Our next P&C meeting will be held on Wednesday 3/5/23 and we would love it if you could make it. Hope to see you there. 

Sarah Phillips

President
Malibu School P&C Association Incorporated

Malibu School P&C Executive Committee
President - Sarah Phillips
Vice-President - Kellie Down
Honarary Secretary - Jon Phillips
Honarary Treasurer - Jon Phillips
Executive Member - Karen Griffin
Executive Member - Jason Biffin
Ex-Officiado Principal - Merrilee Wright

P&C Members
Gemma Biffin
Tori Murphy-Tindale
Cassie Girvan

Some of our P&C Exec and Members (L-R) Jon Phillips, Jason and Gemma Biffin, Tori Tindale, Cassie Girvan.

Membership welcomed from all of our families for $1 per annum. Please join us at our next meeting! 

CLASS NEWS

Junior 2

The first term of Pre-Primary is such a huge transition for our students as they move from being part time Kindy students to full time school students. This year we have welcomed Cain, Freyja, Mahira, Kohen, Hunter and Tristan into Pre-Primary and I am delighted to say that everyone has settled in so well. Over the term staff and students have spent time getting to know one another and establishing daily routines.

Term one is also all about introducing the students to many specialized programs offered so in addition to getting to know their new classroom, the students begin to attend sport, science, STEM, The Arts, music, cooking, gardening and swimming. Therapy programs are now beginning to commence and therapy equipment is arriving ready for Term 2.

So as you can see, Term One is busy and we haven’t even discussed the learning that takes place yet! Our theme for this term has been “Farm Animals”. Every child loves animals so what better way to start the year. We have read stories, sang songs and created colourful pieces of art based on a variety of animals including roosters, horses, ducks, cows and dogs.

Early Childhood is all about having fun and learning through play. So each day the students are provided with opportunities to move and dance, explore bubbles, scarves, ribbons, streamers and musical instruments. Farm animal toys are used to help bring stories to life and the room is filled with colourful lights each afternoon as we wind down before home time.

Outside play is always a favourite with the students. Any opportunity to be outdoors in the sunshine is loved by all. Jumping on the trampoline, digging in the sandpit, listening to music, catching bubbles or practicing their walking – there is always something happening.

It is now that time of the year where we focus on Easter and the students are enjoying participating in a variety of Easter crafts, stories and songs as we prepare for the school holidays. We will be farewelling Kendall as she prepares for the arrival of her baby girl. We wish Kendall and her family so much happiness and thank her for being such a wonderful member of the J2 team this term.

Have a lovely Easter break
Shelly, Fiona, Desiree and Kendall

Junior 3

With the end of term one rapidly approaching and everyone looking forward to the Easter break, the students of Junior 3 have been enjoying lots of fun activities with their classmates and peers. On Multicultural Day, the students had the opportunity to experience a variety of foods and games from many different cultures. Our class had been looking into Mexico and had prepared vegetarian nachos for students, staff, and visitors to sample on the day. We also had fun making Mexican maracas at our craft table.

Interm swimming was also a great success, with students enjoying learning and developing vital swimming and water safety skills. The students of Junior 3 particularly enjoyed getting out of the classroom, participating in water play at the end of the lesson and getting to return to school in their dressing gowns!

This term, Junior 3 has been investigating books by Julia Donaldson. We have already enjoyed listening to The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Monkey Puzzle, and Room on the Broom. We have been using our knowledge of these stories to look at recognising our favourite characters and practicing sequencing these stories. The students also took great delight in creating their own colourful Gruffalo masks!

We have also been concentrating on developing our social skills and practicing making positive choices in the classroom and playground.

Junior 3 looks forward to enjoying some well-earnt rest in the holidays, ready to return for a fantastic second term.

Mary, Michelle, Gelinda and Najwa

Middle 2

M2 has been off to a great start so far this year after enjoying the summer holidays.  We’ve settled back into our old routines and are now building upon those to create new ones for this year, with a strong focus on personal care and self-regulation strategies. We jumped right back into our community access visiting Rockingham City for the first few weeks of term, then Rockingham Beach, where we are learning about the features of a coastal landscape.

We went to Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach for a cluster excursion where we participated in a guided sensory tour of the different art sculptures and enjoyed a lovely day out at the beach. We welcome our new team members, Elle and Daniella, who have slotted in perfectly to our classroom and bought fresh ideas to help us grow. We cannot wait for the year ahead!

Katie, Charmayne, Ellie and Daniella

Senior 1

Students and Staff in Senior One have had a great start to 2023.  Our class cohort is based on strong friendships built over the years with the wonderful addition of three new students. 

As Senior students, being out in the community and learning how to access community areas safely and successfully plays a huge part of the programs we implement for transitions and pathways beyond school.  

Throughout Term One students have been preparing for our Community Access excursions. They have been learning about Road Safety, practising their Road Safety Skills using crosswalks, carparks and crossing roads safely.  We have ventured out on excursion twice with amazing success.  Both excursions were to the Octopus Playground in Secret Harbour, students displayed maturity and respect for themselves and the public who were sharing the playground. Our Literacy focus is ‘My Voice’ Preliminary English Unit 1 and students have been bringing in News items and sharing information with the class. Students have been rehearsing their presentation and reflecting on how well they did.  Students as audience members have been learning active listening skills too. 

We wish everyone a safe and wonderful Easter holiday.  Enjoy the break as Term Two will fast paced and lots of fun.

Tiffany, Angela, Halima, Sally and Anna

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Senior 3

What a busy term.  Students have begun their Asdan courses, Everyday Living, World Around Us, Music and Permaculture.  We are having excursions each week, including Octopus Park, Rockingham Foreshore and more are being planned for this Semester.

Communication continues to be a focus in our room this year.  The students are doing brilliantly with their skills so far. This enhances their abilities for external activities with other people in the community.

Robyn, Karen, Marc and Brittany

Swimming

What an amazing start we have had to the year in swimming. We have three staff working in the Hydrotherapy pool this year Jo, Jac and Lucy, this has abled us to reopen the pool five days a week which has resulted in many students getting to benefit from our program.

We have had many Therapists in to update and create new Hydrotherapy Plans so we can provide the best outcome for our students.

A new timetable will be starting in term two and we are looking forward to some new swimmers joining us. As well as our focus on the student’s hydrotherapy plans, we like to introduce water safety and above all make sure all our students are comfortable and having fun.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Holiday and look forward to an amazing term two.

Jo, Jac and Lucy

STEM

It is all hands on and about sustainability in STEM classroom this term. We have started the year off by exploring what sustainability is and why Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is something what schools and their staff and students could do to help care for the environment. On top of that, students have been busy learning how to use SeeSaw to keep their families and carers in the loop of all the exciting projects and activities we are busy with.

Junior School students have been exploring ways to reuse recyclables and other materials while creating wonderful projects. The youngest were busy making sensory cubes out of milk cartons (J2). J3 made planes reusing pop sticks and pegs. J4 created awesome binoculus out of cardboard tubes. J5 loved making sensory bottles with plastic bottles, plastic straws, match sticks and rice. J6 and M5’s project was to reuse magazine’s pages to make bracelets. Also, J6 and M5 have started creating signs for recycling and waste bins to help everybody learn how to recycle! Besides being creative and busy with their projects, junior students have been learning about land and water pollution while looking at and sorting what belongs and does not belong to our beautiful beaches and the ocean.

Middle School students have started with looking for reasons why we should reduce our waste, and reuse and recycle the materials that we already have. While doing this, we continued developing ICT skills needed for a safe internet search, using Book Creator to record findings and design students’ projects, and using SeeSaw to share students’ work with family and carers. Also, students have designed and completed their first projects made from recycled materials.

Senior School students have started Preliminary Unit 1 in Materials Design and Technology. This term, students have been learning how to prepare for a simple design and choose what products they would like to make. Students used an internet browser to search for examples of simple wooden toys and have completed their first booklet using Book Creator where they included selected examples and identified materials they are made from. Also, students worked in groups to create posters about the product they want to make. I am very proud of my students from Senior Block for completed the Task 1 of the course.

I wish everyone well and will miss the Malibu family as I take on a new role in Term 2. All the best!

Tetiana, STEM Teacher

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Second hand uniforms!

COMMUNITY INFORMATION

Sim Sam for All Abilities

Just a reminder our monthly SimSam Fun For All Abilities Disco is being held  Saturday 15 April from 6pm-9pm at Indigo Bar at The Swinging Pig Rockingham.

Food and drinks menu are available for purchase and entry is $15 and carers are free.

Our disco and karaoke nights are a chance to meet up with friends or even develop new friendships in a safe and secure environment. 

Our event is private and only paying patrons are allowed to enter.

SimSam have also recently started a Silent Disco and Karaoke at Bar Indigo at The Swinging Pig Rockingham.

This runs Thursdays fortnightly, and runs from 5pm-7pm. Entry is $10 and food and drink menu is available for purchase. This is also a private event and is held in a safe and secure environment. Our next Silent Disco is being held Thursday 6^th April. 

Beach Walkers

A walk along the beach can be difficult for many.  Beach walkers make it easier for people to access and enjoy the sand. Available for hire at no cost.  To find out more visit the City's website click here or contact the City customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au or call 9528 0333.

Beach Wheelchairs

Beach Wheelchairs make a day at the beach more accessible (and much more fun) for people with disabilities and their family and friends. Available to loan free of charge.  You can find out more details by visiting the City's website click here or contact the City customer@rockingham.wa.gov.au or contact 9528 033.  

Beach Access Matting Locations

Get closer to the water with Beach Access Matting Locations.  Making it easier to get from the main footpath onto the sand and close to the water.  Matting is installed on a seasonal basis from approximately Otober to April subject to weather conditions. See map below for all locations.

National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)

Do you want to know more about how to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).  The City of Rockingham would like to invite you to attend a workshop on Saturday 15th April 2023 9.30am - 10.30am at Rockingham Central Library.

Understanding Early Intervention

The City of Rockingham, In Partnership with Wanslea, invites you to attend an information session on Monday 15th May 2023, 6.30pm - 7.30pm at Star of the Sea Primary School.  All are welcome to attend.

Rockingham Youth Centre April Holidays

Rockingham Youth Centre has a wonderful Youth Program click here to see whats happening in the April School Holidays.

Saver Plus

Saver Plus is a free financial education program that matches your savings, dollar for dollar up to $500. 

Your feedback wanted - respite housing in Rockingham

Hi parents/care givers of Malibu School

We are currently doing a survey and looking for Expressions of interest in regards to respite housing in the Rockingham area.

Is there a need? what services/facilities would you require? We are keen to know what is needed and fill in any gaps of service,  please reply to admin@aaquilacare.com.au for more information, also please checkout our website www.aaquilacare.com.au.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Leanne Stevenson
Housing and Program Co-ordinator, Aaquila Care