Malibu School Newsletter - 2024 Term 2 Week 11

Principal's Pen

Dear families 

I hope you and your families are enjoying the start of a very relaxing and rewarding holiday. It has been a very full term and we were delighted to end it with a week of activities to celebrate the upcoming NAIDOC week. I thank the members of our Aboriginal Awareness team for their innovation and creativity in planning such engaging activities for all students. Thank you to our families who were able to attend our end of term assembly and join in with the smoking ceremony, kindly led by emerging Bindjareb elder Theo Kering. 

Hopefully you will have received your child's report for Semester 1. I very much enjoyed seeing the achievements made by each of our students and hope the report provides good information for you and your family. Our next IEP meetings will be held on Wednesday 17th June between 3pm and 8.30pm (first week back at school). Please register your preferred time using the link below. Should the time or day not be suitable, do contact your child's teacher to discuss other options. To maximise learning opportunities for your child, we need strong connection between school and home. We hope that all families can make some time to connect with your teacher and discuss goals for your child. 

With the close of Term 3, we were bade farewell to EA Mitch Dux (J2 and J7), EA Katy Edgecumbe (M6), Katrin McLoughlan (S4), Teacher Collette Pagan (J6) and Teacher Karen Gull (M5). We wish each a fabulous start in their respective new schools. Teacher Mary Shanahan resumes with full teacher qualifications in M5 and we are pleased that Teacher Kym Poidevin will be continuing in J6. We are also pleased to welcome back a number of familiar EA faces to our team and will be advertising for further EA positions during term 3. 

Wishing you and your families a very wonderful safe and warm break and I look forward to seeing you back on Tuesday 16th July. 

Kind regards
Merrilee Wright

News from the Board

Hi families

Thank you to those who have put in an Expression of Interest as a Parent Representative. If you are still to get around to it, we will be accepting Expressions of Interest until Friday 19th July (end of the first week back at school). Please consider nominating for this role. 

We meet twice each term for a maximum of 2 hours. During the meetings, we share information, discuss a range of topics and plan for school improvement. The meeting dates for the remainder of the year are;

There is one parent representative position vacant for a two-year tenure. Please consider joining the Board. Should more than one parent complete an EOI, an election process will be initiated to fill the vacancy.

Your expression of interest can be submitted through the link below. We hope to hear from you soon.

Jason Biffin
Malibu School Board Chair

School Board Award

A huge congratulations to our Term 2 School Board Award Winners!

• Leanne Stewart - for her long-term connection and ongoing service to the school through her years as a parent, School Board Parent Representative, School Board Chair and now a Community Member Representative.
• Sarah Phillips - for establishing Malibu School's first P&C and her role as our first P&C President with incredible achievements in the first year. Sarah continues with the P&C in the role of Vice-President. 
• Lisa Thomas - for her comprehensive and engaging Science lessons, founded in skills for life. Lisa's programs ensure that all students are engaged in learning that is enjoyable, meaningful and relevant.

Congratulations to you all! On behalf of the School Board, we thank you for the contributions you make. 

Meet the team! Tori Kingston, EA

Tori won a position as a permanent member of the Malibu team in 2024 after completing a TAFE  placement in 2023. She is known for her great organisational skills and for maintaining an effective timetable, likely a skill from her past role as a logistic scheduler for a concrete supply company! 
She is a self-described obsessed dog mum of two, doesn't get a moment of peace though would not swap this for the world! Her favourite thing about Malibu is the inclusive way students are involved in all activities. What makes her proud at school is watching her students grow new skills and gain confidence in themselves to complete new tasks independently. 

P&C News

Congratulations to Helen Conway, winner of our Winter Warmer Raffle, drawn at the end of term assembly! Thank you to all who entered this raffle. 

We've extended the deadline for the Malibu Cookbook - perhaps the holidays might be a great time to get cooking and send us your family recipes and photos! Scan the code or send through this link, or email the P&C at malibupandc@gmail.com.

We are very keen to increase the connections with all of our families. New members are most welcome to join our P&C or to let us know if you would like to help out during an event through the year. All parents and carers are also welcome to Join our Malibu Family Facebook page here.

Kellie Down
P&C President

2024 National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEiTA)

For 30 years, via the National Excellence in Teaching Awards, the NEiTA Foundation has been acknowledging exceptional educators in early learning centres, primary and secondary schools across Australia and New Zealand. In fact, these teachers and principals are not just exceptional professionals. They are also talented, committed, caring, innovative, passionate and dedicated to their students, schools and the community.

NEiTA objectives:

• Recognise teachers and leaders who represent excellence within their teaching profession through their contribution to the advancement of education at a local, regional or national levels.
• Raise community confidence in the teaching profession.
• Encourage and support increased professional development of teachers.
• Provide grants and award prizes to teachers and leaders who have demonstrated a particularly high level of dedication and professional expertise and excellence.
• Encourage the enjoyment of learning.

Please see below to Nominate an outstanding educator. It takes only 3 - 4 minutes. Entries close Friday 19th June 2024.

2024 National Excellence in Teaching Awards (awardsplatform.com)

Whole school NAIDOC event

What an exciting NAIDOC week for our students which began with Sharyn Egan, a Noongar artist, in on Monday teaching our students to weave totems using hay and thread. 

On Tuesday, our students participated in Walkabout activities which 6 sensory stations representing each Noongar season; Birak: boomerangs the students had made, Bunuru: fishing, Dieran: obstacle course, Makuru: sand digs to find lizards, Djilba: treasure hunts in our natureplay area to find hidden emus and Kambarang: a Dreamtime story.  

Thursday activities focused on art activities with rainstick making, sensory bottles with aboriginal colours, rock rolling and texture art, and creating a whole school artwork. 

Our final celebration day was a whole school assembly with a Welcome by emerging elder, Theo Kearing, and a wonderful dance performance and smoking ceremony presented by the Bindjareb Middar group. 

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Junior 3

Junior Three have been busy this term in HASS, decorating blue commemorative flowers for ‘Sorry Day’, reading stories and creating new artwork for our windows to welcome in our new Noongar season, Makuru. Makuru is the wettest season Noongar calendar and the weather is starting to get colder now.

Junior Three students have been discussing the months of the year and finding appropriate items of clothing to match the weather each morning during morning circle activities. We are looking forward to the NAIDOC Week celebrations where our learning of the Noongar seasons will be consolidated into walkthrough art activities that focus on the seasons. We have been showing respect consistently and have greatly enjoyed HASS this term. 

Zoe, Desiree, Kathlaine, Sally, Michelle, Fiona, Linda

Middle 5

What an amazing term it has been for our students! They've enjoyed a variety of engaging events and activities. Recently, our class journeyed by bus to Rockingham to catch 'Inside Out 2' at the cinema—an adventure that was a resounding success. Watching the big screen with friends was a memorable experience for all.

Our students also enjoyed heading to Warnbro for Try a Sports Day, showcasing their skills in football, cricket, and even yoga. The cricket session was particularly popular, with most students excited to have a go.

On sunnier days, we've been active in our school garden, planting seeds, tending to plants and soaking in the last rays of sunshine. Additionally, we've delved into history through hands-on archaeological digs, uncovering buried treasures in our sandbox excavation.

It's been a joy seeing our students thrive and learn in such diverse and enriching ways this term!

Mary, Jade, Gemma, Megan and Bettina

Art

This semester, the Juniors and Middle school have been participating in Performing Arts each week, and Seniors engage in different Visual Arts tasks. Juniors have been involved in various adventures such as “going to the beach”, “travelling to the moon”, and “going to an alien party”. This has seen the juniors build a massive rocket out of boxes, playing games on the beach, including beach gym exercises and pretending to be an alien at the “purple people eater party”. Exploring dramatic play and movement this semester has been so much fun.

Our middle school students have been honing their creative skills by creating a selection of short movies based on Positive Behaviours. This project has allowed them to use a microphone, explore script writing, improvisation, and character development, and excel in front of the camera. All middle school classes have been thrilled to see the fruits of their labour. With great enthusiasm, they have all participated in creating a short film that will be entered into the Focus on Ability short film competition.

The Seniors have been working hard to complete the tasks set for Preliminary Units One and Two. Their hard work has paid off, and they have been able to enter two art competitions this semester. One is the “Shaun Tan Award,” which is an art competition for young emerging artists across Western Australia. Fingers crossed, Malibu may get into the final round of judging and have the opportunity to have some works displayed!

Verity Besseling

Second hand uniforms!

New opening hours for Malibu School Uniform Shop

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Gilbert & Sons Leader Board

Don't forget - if shopping at Gilbert & Sons, any points you donate to Malibu School will be returned in cash to the school! Thank you for your ongoing support!

$9.5 million boost to help WA families with school uniform costs

The Cook Labor Government will provide an additional $185 for eligible secondary school students to assist with school uniform costs, increasing cost of living support for school students from low-income families to $535 a year.

• Secondary Assistance Scheme boosted to $535 a year for eligible students
• Extra support for families on low incomes increases School Clothing Allowance from $115 to $300, on top of the existing $235 Education Program Allowance
• Extra support to assist more than 25,000 eligible families with the cost of school uniforms in 2024 and 2025
• Cook Labor Government delivering continued cost of living support for WA families

Eligible families will receive a $300 clothing allowance in both 2024 and 2025 - on top of the $235 Education Program Allowance which provides additional funding to the child's school to support their education.

This boost to the School Clothing Allowance provides an additional $185 top-up payment in 2024 to Western Australian families who hold an eligible concession card and already received the $115 payment earlier in the year. A further $300 will be provided at the start of 2025 to Western Australian families who apply, to assist them with school uniform costs.

This follows the WA Student Assistance Payment, which has made available $250 for all Western Australian secondary students, and $150 for all primary and kindergarten students.

The $9.4 million boost is designed to help take pressure off Western Australian families with lower incomes, and make sure remaining funds from the WA Student Assistance Payment are used to deliver continued cost of living relief.

The enhanced Secondary Assistance Scheme provides extra funds to low-income families with secondary students at Western Australian public and non-government schools to support their education and help them cover uniform costs.

The increase in the Secondary School Clothing Allowance is on top of more than $762 million in cost of living measures to support Western Australian households and small businesses, including record support for families and more than $3.5 billion in cost of living assistance delivered since 2017.

The additional Clothing Allowance for 2024 will be paid to families of eligible secondary school students in Term 3. For more information on the Secondary School Allowance visit: https://www.education.wa.edu.au/secondary-assistance-scheme

Empower dance classes

Learn the art of Irish Dance through inclusive dance and fitness classes. For more information contact Elleanor Terry 0415 440 023.

SimSam

Join SimSam for a Christmas in July disco and karaoke night on Saturday 20th July. Entry $15, carers free.

Saver Plus

Saver Plus encourages parents to save $50 a month (for 10 months). Savings are then matched - a free $500 for education costs, making $1,000 potentially available for the school camp.

Families that start saving in July, will have their savings ready to pay their school camp fees in May 2025.

Saver Plus will chat with your families about eligibility:

• Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card
• Payment from Centrelink and
• Earning an income (employment, carer's payment, or child support)

If families would like to check their eligibility and receive a call back please include our enquiry link -  https://www.bsl.org.au/services/saving-and-managing-money/saver-plus/ or they’re welcome to call our national number 1300 610 355 and a local coordinator will contact them directly.

Capacare

Emmanuel has started an organisation - 'Capacare', which aims to support young men as they leave school and transition into adulthood.  Emmanuel aims to improve their wellbeing while engaging in fun adventure activities in the community and developing lifelong friendships

Email: hello@capacare.com.au    Phone: 0410337320 

Click me to Express your Interest

Emergency Relief & Food Access

Emergency  Relief and Food Access Service (supported by the Government of WA ) provide food relief and financial support for any one needing assistance (you don’t need to be on centre link payments)  they also provide  free financial counselling and coaching.  Please see links below.

Emergency Relief - Financial Wellbeing Collective (thefwc.org.au)

About Us - Financial Wellbeing Collective (thefwc.org.au)

ESSN NDIS and Employment Expo

The information session and expo aim to facilitate connections between participants and service providers, allowing families and carers to explore available services and supports in their community to best meet their child's goals.

National Disability Insurance Agency

1. The NDIA pays for Advocacy services to assist individuals in accessing and using the NDIS scheme. As such these services are government funded. No payment is required for this service.

The Local Advocacy Agency is Sussex St Legal - 9470 2831

Welcome | Sussex Street Community Law Service (sscls.asn.au)

A full list of the Advocacy services can be found here: List of Agencies funded under the National Disability Advocacy Program | Department of Social Services, Australian Government (dss.gov.au)

2. Individuals can make an initial access request verbally by making a phone call direct to the NDIA: 180  800 110.

Applying to access the NDIS | NDIS

Additionally the APM Communities NDIS Access team can assist with paperwork in accessing the NDIS.

3. If the Individual, or parent/Guardian provides consent I can send their details to our Access team by having the following filled in:

• Clients first and last name: 
• Email and/or phone number (or another way to be contacted): 
• Clients address or postal address if relevant: 
• Clients date of birth:
• Summary of clients situation, including housing situation and conditions relevant to NDIS: 
  

Wheelchair skills training

WheelchairSkills AU training improves confidence in wheelchair users, to challenge you and put you at ease. We see it as our task to share the knowledge that we have gained through our clients and industry professionals.  For more information:    Ph: 0412 456 882   Email: hello@wheelchairskills.au

City of Rockingham

School Holiday Program - Expressions of interest to the Youth Centre:

youthcentre@rockingham.wa.gov.au or phone 9591 0836

Headspace - National Youth Mental Health Foundation

headspace National are hosting a free mental health education webinar for adults who are parents and carers of
young people in the South Metro Perth WA region.

The session aims to:
                  *  Provide information regarding young people's mental health
                  *  Explore the conversational approach to talking to your young person about their own mental health
                  *  Build awareness of local, state and national support services available to young people and carers
                  *  Grow skills and strategies to encourage help-seeking and self care

Monday 01 July 2024, 5.00 - 6.00pm AWST  - Online via Zoom

Please see how to register below.

Uni Camp for Kids

Our 3rd Picnic of 2024 is scheduled for Sunday the 11th of August for children in year 1-6. Please find the 3rd Picnic Invitation attached below, which has all the details about the day. The picnics run ALL DAY and are provided FREE to the children attending.

To secure any child’s spot on picnic, please complete and return the Picnic Permission Form to secretary@unicampforkids.org.au. All forms are due Friday the 26th of July. Spaces are limited and allocated on a first in, first served basis. After all spots are filled children can be placed onto our reserves list, and we will contact families directly if space becomes available.