Meet the MVPS team- Principal’s message, staff and 2023 dates
Principal’s Message
Welcome to Malvern Valley Primary School!
As the Principal it is my pleasure to share with you our school’s vision and beliefs and, to provide you with insights as to why Malvern Valley is such a special place in the Malvern East community.
Our vision is to create confident children with choices for their future.
The Malvern Valley Way core values of Cooperation, Respect, Confidence and Resilience underpin our actions and interactions. These are key to ensuring that our students develop as confident, curious and empathetic global citizens who can make an impact on the world around them. We support our students to achieve their very best by ensuring that our approach to wellbeing is evidence based and inclusive through the lens of Positive Education, Respectful Relationships.
We believe that every child deserves a great education with the opportunity to explore and develop their talents and passions. We do this through authentic learning experiences and participation in a vast range of extra-curricular experiences. We provide specialist learning in The Arts (Visual Arts, Music and Performing Arts), Languages (Greek), and Physical Education. We also offer a whole school Academy Program to enable our students to further pursue their passions and talents via Design Thinking.
Creative and critical thinking underpins our approach to Inquiry. Our school incorporates the design thinking process to support our students to take ownership of their learning.
Design Thinking is a process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems.
Students are encouraged to have an active voice in their education. A range of leadership roles provide the opportunity for students to be part of school wide decision making and provide feedback regarding our programs and educational journey as a community. Our students are supported to confidently lead others in learning and this skillset is fostered through our Academy program.
Our staff are dedicated, caring and relentless in the pursuit of excellence for every child. We take pride in our growth mindset and ability to refine our approach to learning and wellbeing through evidence, research and collaboration. The provision of a welcoming, safe and supportive environment for all students and their families is a priority for our staff.
We have a wonderfully supportive parent community who work in partnership with the school. Our community together, creates a sense of belonging and support for each other. There are many opportunities for parental involvement at Malvern Valley. We encourage all families to embrace the community and get involved by attending school events and volunteering where possible. The contribution and input of our families is key to a successful and positive experience for every child.
I hope this information offers you a strong sense of what makes Malvern Valley Primary School special and unique. Please take the time to explore our website further. We welcome our prospective parents to come on a school tour so please make a booking and if you need further information, please contact the school.
Together we strive to inspire and empower our students, enabling them to flourish as students and as empathetic members of our global community
Tracy Skiba I Principal
Virtual Tour
Staff at MVPS
School Leadership:
Principal: Ms Amy Tinetti
Assistant Principal: Ms Casey Gould
Teaching and Learning Coach (Learning Specialist): Ms Stephanie Pollard
Office Staff:
Office Administrator: Mrs Irene Papanikolaou and Mrs Shino Shibata
Business Manager: Mrs Merryn Gould
Class Teachers:
Prep: Mrs Christie Smith (team leader) and Miss Cara Di Roberto
Grade 1/2: Miss Laura Crothers, Ms Zoe Tuttleby and Mr Brandon Roode
Grade 3/4:Ms Jennifer Pritchard, Mrs Sarette Starfield and Mr Andrew Patterson
Grade 5/6: Mrs Melissa Pereira, Ms Natalie Selisher and Mr Daniel McCann
Tutors: Ms Jo Alfano
Specialist Subject Teachers:
Visual Arts: Ms Marisa Mowszowski
Performing Arts and Music: Mrs Mariana Surenian (team leader)
Physical Education: Mr Andrew Brown
Greek (LOTE): Mrs Mariana Surenian (team leader)
Support Staff:
Inclusion Team Mrs Stephanie Gatehouse (team leader), Mrs Candace Davenport, Mrs Emma Boyce, Ms Larissa Smyth, Ms Kiani Devis, Mrs Michelle Ord and Ms Kerry Prendergast
Library and Literacy Support: Mrs Jo Alfano
ICT Technician: Ms Nathaly Conlan
School Profile
Malvern Valley Primary School has a school population of approximately 270 students with an average class size of less than 23 students.
The school grounds include extensive gardens, basketball courts, an AstroTurf Futsal Court, a full-sized Soccer Pitch and Junior and Senior adventure play equipment.
A technology-rich environment assists students to be engaged in their learning and allows them to apply their literacy and numeracy skills in innovative ways. The extensive learning infrastructure at the school includes subject-specific spaces including a STEM Robotics Studio, Inclusion Hub, Art & Science Room and Performing Arts space, whilst iPads, laptops and TV panels in every learning space ensure students learn in a contemporary environment.
The most recent Annual Report and Strategic Plan for Malvern Valley are accessible via the provided links.
Term Dates & Hours
2024
Term 1: 30th January – 28th March
Term 2: 15th April – 28th June
Term 3: 15th July – 20th September
Term 4: 7th October –20th December
Refer to Victoria Online for further details.
Classes run from 8:55am to 3.30pm.
The playground is supervised:
-
- Before school 8:45am – 8:55am
Students expected in class at 8:55am
- Big Lunch Eating time – 11am to 11.15am (class teacher)
- Big Lunch break – 11.15am to 12pm
- Little Lunch break – 2pm – 2.30pm
- After school 3:30pm – 3:45pm
Please note that children who are unattended at 3.45pm will be placed into After School Care and charges will apply for this service.
On the last day of each term, school finishes at 2.30pm after a whole-school assembly (1:30pm at end of year).
On wet days and extremely hot days all students remain indoors under teacher supervision.
2023 Curriculum / Student-Free Days
- Friday 27th January (student free Curriculum Day)
- Friday 16th June (student free Curriculum Day)
- Monday 19th June (Reporting to Parents Day- Student Free Professional Practice Day)
- Monday 10th July (student free Curriculum Day)
- Monday 6th November (student free Curriculum Day)
Facilities
We are very proud of our expansive grounds and diverse facilities within our school. At break times, our students enjoy access to multiple play grounds, basketball courts, an AstroTurf court, a full-size soccer pitch. Our STEM Studio, Sherwood Centre, Inclusion Hub and modern classrooms provide a learning environment that supports the rich and diverse curriculum offering that we are so very proud of.
Working Bees
Each year we run 4 working bees, one per term and we ask parents to attend 2 working bees each year. During the working bees we complete projects which will enhance the school environment for our children.
Working bees currently run on Friday afternoons after assembly.
The exact dates are published in the Newsletter and aim to occur in the 2nd or 3rd week of each term.
FAQ
When should I enrol?
Foundation students need to be 5 by the 30th of April on their year of commencement.
Is my child ready to start school?
All children develop at varying rates and therefore there is no one measure or age whereby all students are deemed ‘ready’. Our school conducts a School Readiness Presentation for our local Kindergartens and Day Care Centres which can help parents understand the key determinants in whether your child is ready for school. Speaking with your Kindergarten / Early Learning Centre Teacher will also provide you with great insight into your child’s readiness toward school.
What is the Malvern Valley Academy?
The Academy provides an opportunity for our Grade 3-6 students to develop their talents in a range of subjects, with a particular focus on STEM. The Academy is conducted weekly for all students and enables them the chance to engage in real-world learning with like-minded students and industry professionals using specialised equipment.
Our Academy Programs are: Coding, Robotics, Engineering and Entrepreneur.
How do you teach English and Mathematics?
We have a strong focus on English and Mathematics in all year levels, committing over 15 hours of learning time a week to these learning areas.
Both subjects are taught with a focus on ensuring all students acquire fundamental skills, through tasks personalised to individual students’ needs. All students are challenged to apply their learning in other contexts, such as other subjects areas or in solving real-world problems.
Our English Instruction is underpinned by the Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop approach, Letters and Sounds Phonics and Words Their Way Spelling.
Our Mathematics approach is underpinned by the notion that students need to engage in rich problems to develop their understanding, reasoning and problem solving skills. We use the Launch, Explore and Summarise model, supported by the work of Monash and Melbourne University, to develop creative and deep thinking Mathematicians. Students engage with a challenging task, develop and apply strategies to solve the task, then share and learn from the strategies from their peers. We also support students to build the fundamental skills and knowledge of a growth mindset as well as the understanding that there can be more than one way or strategy to solve a problem.