Ph. (08) 8209 1600 www.moc.sa.edu.au | info@moc.sa.edu.au

99 Douglas Drive, Munno Para SA 5115

“The future is now...”Mark Oliphant College B-12 MOC

NEWSLETTERTERM 1, WEEK 2

9 FEBRUARY 2018

PRINCIPAL’S REPORTDear Parents and Care-providers, Welcome all to the start of the 2018 school year at Mark Oliphant College. A special welcome to new students and their families to our School. I am looking forward to getting to know you and your children and together with our staff help make a difference with their learning, care and development. It has been great already meeting so many children, students and parents, and feeling very welcomed by all. I have been impressed by the positive attitude of our students, teachers and the community, and feel privileged to be the Principal of the College. I come to the College with 30 years as an educator, 16 years as Principal in a variety of rural and remote schools both large and small. For the past 10 years I have been the Principal of Naracoorte High School, a medium sized High School in the State’s South East. This will be my first time as a leader in Metropolitan Adelaide which I am sure will provide a new set of challenges and experiences for me. However in saying this, one does need to at times challenge themselves, experience new and different things in order to grow and as such the decision to come to Mark Oliphant was a relatively easy one. Such sentiments, I am pleased to say are expressed in the College’s Values and Mission Statement. In my short time here I have been impressed with the dedication and enthusiasm of all staff B-12, the facilities, and the commitment shown for our students by all Teaching and Support Staff.

A MESSAGE FROM FIRST AIDHere at MOC we are proud to offer professional assistance to all students and staff. Our Registered Nurse is Michelle Boswell and our First Aid Officer is Sue Grosser. Some of the areas covered in First Aid are: Asthma / Diabetes / Medication management / Mental Health / Accidents / IllnessesTo enable us to give complete quality care to the students we would like the assistance of

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare

for it today.” - Malcolm X

DIARY DATES:

Friday 9 March Pupil Free Day

Monday 12 March Adelaide Cup Public Holiday

Friday 30 March Good Friday Public Holiday

Monday 2 April Easter Monday Public Holiday

Friday 13 April Last day of Term 1

2018 is an important year as we look to consolidate and build on the excellent work of the College in supporting students, staff and parents/care providers. In any organisation that is actively seeking to further improve there are always things to build upon, opportunities to explore new ways of doing things based on current research and community feedback. My initial few weeks at the College will be spent talking to staff, parents and particularly students to ascertain what it is like to be a learner at the school. This information will be used to determine our site direction for the year and where we hope to be within 5 years. The task then will be to create the conditions for optimising the level of challenge and support that will enable those goals to be realised. I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by Angie Michael in her role as Principal last year. Much work has already been achieved which has made my transition into the role a very smooth one.Welcome to all new staff who are attending Mark Oliphant College for the first time in 2018:Donald Grinsted – Secondary Technology Emma Dawson – Primary Years Renee Tonani – Children’s Centre Nathan Russell – Secondary Maths Science Johnny Cousins – Secondary Maths Science

Regards,Kym Grant, Principal

parents in making sure the school has updated care plans and any medication clearly marked with the student names. These can be handed in to our First Aid Office for either Michelle or Sue to process. Our contact number is 8209 1600.Thank you.

Please be aware for safety reasons, no dogs are allowed on site without permission from the Principal.

Term 1, Week 2 2018 Page 2Mark Oliphant College B-12

CHILDREN’S CENTREThank you to all the families who were able to attend our first Family Day for the year! It was a great opportunity for staff to get to know you all, as well as a lovely time for your child to share their learning space with families.

It was wonderful to be able to share our focus book for the term with our families ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. Children made pictures, retold the story, listened to the story, sang the song and challenged their physical skills on the obstacle course! We also gathered information on what is your child’s favourite book to read at home! We hope to include as many of these as possible into our program.

Familiar books play an important role in reading development. When we observe children engage with well-known texts we are able to see what they understand about reading and what we can support them with further. This quote from a very well-known reading expert, Marie Clay, sums it up, ‘Roaming around in the known gives great benefit to learners, including confidence, ease, flexibility, and with luck, discovery’. So, as frustrating it can be reading that same book over and over, it is greatly beneficial for our eager, young learners!

We were delighted to be able to give each family their own copy of ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, with much thanks to the organisation, ‘Raising Literacy’. Raising Literacy has provided us with many more books, which we have used to develop our own library. Families in our Centre will soon be able to borrow from our little library, which will be utilised as part of a new initiative you will hear about soon ‘Daily Book Hug’.

Linda Rich, Head of Children’s Centre

EARLY YEARSMrs Biro’s Year 1 students settled in well to their new room and new routines.They spent the first week of the term revisiting the 3 “BEES” which are our school rules; Be Safe, Be Respectful and Be Responsible.They introduced themselves by painting a self-portrait during the week. They also had many oral language activities to give recounts of the Summer Holidays. Now they are ready for a busy and rewarding year ahead.

FINANCE NEWSPlease note that 2018 Fees are NOW DUE. Staff are available at Reception to assist with your School Card application for the payment of School fees.

School Card Eligibility1 child $57,8702 children $58,9033 children $59,9364 children $60,9695 children $62,002

PRIMARY YEARS

On behalf of the Primary Years Staff, we are thrilled to welcome you to the new school year and look forward to a productive partnership with you. As partners, we share the responsibility for our children’s success and want you to know that we will do our very best to carry out our responsibilities.

We ask that you guide and support your child’s learning by ensuring that he/she:

1) Attends school daily and arrives on time, ready for the day’s learning 2) Eats a nutritional breakfast and brings healthy food to school for recess and lunch 3) Reads daily to develop a love for reading and to improve literacy skills 4) Shares school experiences with you so that you are aware of his/her school life 5) Informs you if he/she needs additional support in any area or subject 6) Knows that you expect him/her to succeed in school.

Students have returned in a wonderful manner and have settled in beautifully to our expectations and routines. We’ve welcomed 79 children into Year 3 from the Early Years as well as having 18 children joining us from local and interstate schools. We now have a total of 320 students with thirty-nine weeks of exciting learning ahead!

A special welcome also goes to our two new staff members; Emma Dawson who is taking a Year 6 class and Alison Denee who is taking a Year 3/4 class.

During the first two weeks (apart from learning across the areas of the Australian Curriculum) all classes have participated in our own self-developed program called “Reach for the Stars”. It involves class teachers teaching one lesson per day based on building positive relationships, coping with change, developing resilience and giving their best efforts at learning.

Friday will be my last day for some time as I take Maternity Leave. I look forward to returning to school during Term 3 and hearing about all of the productive learning that has occurred in my absence.

We feel privileged to be a part of this school family and look forward to working in partnership with you this year!

Ella Ailmore and Barry Solomon, Primary Years Leadership

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MIDDLE YEARSWelcome back to our Middle Years’ Families I would like to welcome all of our Middle Years’ families back to the College for 2018. The students have settled in well for a successful year of learning and we are looking forward to working with parents and caregivers to ensure they maximise their opportunities for learning. With this in mind, I would like to ask for your assistance with our 2018 challenge to improve student attendance across the Middle Years. Every time a student misses a lesson they miss critical skills they need to be successful in their future lessons. Whilst 1 day a week seems small it adds up to 40 days in the school year, which is 12,000 minutes. As motivation to help students we will have a number of incentives throughout the year for high attenders. If you are having difficulties getting your child to attend to school consistently, please give us a call and we will work with you and the student to develop a plan. Thanks,Nathan Elliott, Senior Leader

Emma Dawson

Alison Denee

BREAKFAST CLUBAs the Breakfast Club was very successful last year, it has been approved to run it again this year, starting this week (Week 2), and continuing throughout the year.Middle and Senior students can experience the friendly, fun and safe environment where they can sit down and eat breakfast, or have the option to take something with them - ham and cheese toasties seemed to be a hit last year.Kickstart for Kids will be our main suppliers again this year, which will allow us to order most breakfast supplies. Breakfast Club will be running from the common area in front of the Home Economics’ kitchen - Building 19, from 8:30am on Thursday and Friday mornings, and depending on the turn out, we are hoping to run it on a Monday also.Thanks, and hope to see you there!

Kate Evans, Middle and Senior Years Teacher

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SENIOR YEARSSenior Years We have had a very positive start to the year with a number of students expressing they would like to achieve higher results this year. We will be starting the study hub in Week 4 which will allow any senior student from Years 10-12 to come to Building 11 on a Monday and Thursday after school from 3-4pm to receive extra support with their school work.

VET Vocational Education and training allows our students to receive theory and on the job training in their chosen career pathway while they are at school. 59 students are enrolled into NASSSA VET courses this year and completed a MOC induction session last Thursday. Most students will complete their NASSSA induction sessions by the end of this week with most commencing in Week 3. We are also hosting a number of courses this year. Our year 10 students who have chosen music will complete a Certificate II by the end of the year. Other offerings include; Certificate II in Food Processing, Certificate III in Community Services, Certificate III in Disability, Aging and a Dual qualification (Disability and Aging).

Year 12 O Day Year 12 students attended an orientation day as part of our objective in preparing students to plan, focus and achieve for a successful year ahead, this was held at the University of South Australia, City West Campus on Monday, the 5th February 2018.

The program included guest speakers, representatives from UniSA and some study, planning and organisation tips. Feedback from our students was very positive and engagement and behaviour was exceptional. The university was very impressed with the way our students conducted themselves throughout the day.

UNIFORM REMINDERWearing of the Mark Oliphant College uniform is compulsory for all students in Reception through to Year 12.

School uniform is important because: –

• we know immediately if there are strangers on campus

• the colour coding ensures that we know to which sub school a student belongs

• it encourages student pride in themselves and their school.

The Governing Council has endorsed our Uniform Policy.

By attending this school, students are agreeing to wear school uniform, and parents are agreeing to ensure that their students have access to the school uniform.

The Mark Oliphant Uniform Shop is located in Building 17 and is signposted.

Our Uniform Shop is an outlet of Perm-A-Pleat Schoolwear.

A uniform price list can be obtained via the website or front office. All major Credit Cards, EFTPOS and cash are accepted. Online Ordering is also possible via the link on the website.

2018 SACE ART SHOW2017 Year 12 student Aisha Rowse has had her work selected for the 2018 SACE Art Show. This is a first for Mark Oliphant College. Her series of Lino cut prints reflected her Japanese heritage and the huge transition she was experiencing in life.

Out of nearly 800 schools in South Australia, only 100 art and design pieces including paintings and drawings, sculptures, jewellery, costumes and multimedia works

are chosen to be on display.

The exhibition will run from Monday 19 March to Tuesday 24 April at Light Square Gallery, from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm weekdays, and 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturdays. So head there and go see these amazing works by students.

Congratulations for Aisha on this wonderful achievement!