Malibu School Newsletter - 2024, Term 4, Week 10

Principal's Pen

Dear families 

With Merrilee on well-deserved long service leave, I have the wonderful opportunity to write the last Principal’s Pen for the year.

It is hard to believe that the 2024 school year is over and as always, school years finish with mixed feelings. There are celebrations, transitions and farewells for staff and students.

To our graduating and leaving students - we thank you for your time with us and wish you every success, hoping that your adventures ahead are full of joy and reward - reflecting a Future Without Limits. 

Transitions of course, happen across the school with students moving up to the next grade and a new 2025 class but for our Year 6 students, this is a huge move to the Middle Cluster. They have been supported through visits to their new learning area with their final transition day an onsite fun Camp Day. All students have received social stories about their new class and staff which has been sent home to read over the holidays and before school begins.

As with previous years, we have had staffing challenges with teacher shortages across the nation but this year, we finish on a high note with all teacher positions filled for the start of next year. Some these teachers are coming all the way from the UK with experience in education support contexts. We look forward to sharing more information with you next year.

Whilst we celebrate having a full complement of teachers for 2025, we say a huge thank you and farewell to the following teachers;

• Zoe Bailey Jones
• Tylah Adams
• Tamara Reed
• Kym Poidevin
• Kate Dee
• Liam Martin
• Verity Besseling
• Jacqui Kinniburgh
• Jacoba De Groot

We wish them all the best.

We also thank our permanent education assistants and support staff who are leaving us and wish them the best, as well as those taking LWOP for the year; Monica Brereton and Lucy Entwistle, and Tori Kingston who will be taking parental leave.

To our fixed term and casual staff, a huge thank you. Many of you will be returning either on contract, or in a relief capacity. We look forward to seeing you in the new year.

In terms of our Leadership Team for 2025, we welcome Miss Kirstee Birch as our Deputy Principal for our Junior Cluster for 2025 and congratulate Mrs Tiffany Brunswick on her permanent appointment as Deputy Principal.

This has been a wonderful year of achievement, thanks to the strong partnerships with families and our community with a special thanks to HMAS Stirling and the Lions Club of Rockingham.

I congratulate and thank the Malibu P&C and what they have achieved this year. They have worked tirelessly with support from families which includes publishing a beautiful cookbook, providing sausage sizzles, and fundraisers; Easter, Winter Warmer and Colour Explosion. As a result of their fundraising, they raised $1946 which has supported our students through the donation of Graduation shirts and the funding of our Year 6 Camp, to name a few.

Our appreciation extends also to our School Board. Every member gives their time generously to share their insights and discuss directions for the school, always focused on student outcomes. 

Thank you to our families for your ongoing support and partnership with us. Our new staff look forward to developing these relationships with you.

Finally, a huge thank you to Merrilee. The position of Principal does not have a start and finish time each day and neither are you really on holidays as you are always on call. I do hope you manage to have some downtime soon, Merrilee.

As the New Year approaches, our team will be enjoying a well-deserved break.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and enjoyable holiday season, safe travels to those heading away and a brilliant start to the New Year. I look forward to welcoming our new and returning families soon.

Kind regards
Heather Stephens

News from the Board

As we finish the 2024 school year, I would like to thank you past and present members on our School Board.  Everyone has done a great job to help and support our staff and school. 

Thank you to our P&C for their amazing work this year organising fundraising activities and providing wonderful opportunities for our students.  Well done on raising nearly $2000 this year to support our students.

Thank you to our families for their ongoing support in working with the school to provide the best opportunities for their children.

Thank you to staff for their hard work and dedication.  I wish those leaving all the best and those going on leave, I hope they enjoy new opportunities and priorities.

Merry Christmas and wishing all a Happy New year to all.

Jason Biffin

School Board Chair

P&C News - Thank You for an Amazing Year!

Dear Families,

As the year draws to a close, the P&C would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our incredible volunteers and supporters. Your dedication, time, and enthusiasm have made this year one to celebrate!

Together, we’ve achieved so much, including raising an amazing $10,000 for our school! A special shoutout goes to everyone who contributed to our Christmas raffle – your generosity helped us raise $1,500 from that event alone.

We’re also thrilled about the success of our School Cookbook! With its delicious recipes and community spirit, it’s been a hit – we’ve already sold three-quarters of the copies. If you haven’t grabbed yours yet, be quick before they’re all gone! They make excellent Christmas presents and the wonderful Pre-Primaries have created wrapping paper for them too.

Our fundraising efforts have purchased the Seniors leavers shirts, trikes and outdoor equipment for the Junior Block and contributed to Year 7 graduation events.

Looking ahead, we warmly welcome new members to join the P&C next year. Your energy, ideas, and support are essential to keeping our school community thriving. Whether you can spare a little time or a lot, we’d love to have you onboard. Together, we can achieve even more for our students and their school experience.

Wishing you a safe and joyful Christmas and school break!

Warm regards,
The P&C Team

Malibu School Annual Christmas Appeal

Malibu School has once again held the Annual Christmas Appeal and were able to donate a car and boot full of goodies which were donated to The Crew in Rockingham.  The staff at The Crew wanted to thank the students, staff and their families for their generous donations which will help many families in need.

Junior 7

J7 have been so busy this semester, learning about accessing the community and putting our skills into practice!

We loved our visits to the café each Friday, choosing our treat and practising exchanging our money to Moetu.

Our first outing to the oval was a great success, with all participating students following road safety instructions beautifully. Students shared a picnic, before making it back to class to discuss how everything went.

Our annual Cricket Carnival went smoothly, students participated in fun games and enjoyed meeting friends from different schools.

 More recently we had a great excursion to XLR8, enjoying the obstacle course and fitness centre. Ted and Sandra were our awesome instructors and helped make our session special.

It was a very special end to the semester with our Year 6 students graduating from Primary School. All our students were amazing and we are all very proud of how far they have come on their journey through Junior School.

J7 wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Middle 1

In Middle 1 this term we have been doing community access and travel training every fortnight. First, we went to the Dome Café where we practised getting on public transport. Everyone did a great job of getting safely on and off the bus and when we got to Dome, we were able to share some delicious food. Next, we took the school bus to Bunnings to help us plan our Enterprise product for Market Day. We enjoyed browsing the shelves and thinking about what we would need for our reusable Christmas wrapping. Then, we took a trip up to Whiteman Park to visit the Revolutions Transport Museum. Our favourite exhibits were the interactive ones where we could sit in a car, bus or train and pretend to drive them. We finished off our community access and travel training for the term with a trip to the cinema to see Moana 2. Well done Middle 1 on demonstrating our school values out in the community and thank you to all the wonderful staff who made these excursions such a success.

As we near the end of term we have been busy creating artwork for our Christmas window display. We have made Santa’s out of card, painted and decorated wreaths, made snowmen out of cotton wool and collaged baubles. We have really enjoyed making our crafts and are hoping we win the prize for the best Christmas window display.  

Rachel, Vicki, Sharon, Fiona, Jhoanna

Second hand uniforms!

New opening hours for Malibu School Uniform Shop

Perth SkillsWest Careers & Employment Expo

You’re Invited to Visit WA’s Biggest Tertiary, Careers & Jobs Event at the Perth Convention Centre in July 24^th – 26th, 2025

The Perth SkillsWest Careers & Employment Expo in July, offers you and your students the perfect opportunity to connect with over 160 businesses, Universities, TAFE, RTO’s and Leading Employers

Farm Respite Care

Karen is a respite provider for children & young adults with special needs, specialising in Autism based on a small farm in Pinjarra. School Holiday Availability.  Enquiries can be made to Karen on 0401958240 or email redfernretreat12@gmail

LIONS Festival for Disadvantaged Children (WA) Inc.- 2024 Free Online World Festival of Magic Show

Due to high demand, The Lions Festival for Disadvantaged Children (WA) Inc. is giving families in the Greater Perth Region unlimited and on-demand streaming access to their 2024 Online Family Variety Show.

Access is available throughout the school holidays - fantastic holiday viewing for families.

Video access link below and on the PDF flyer attached.

https://vimeo.com/showcase/perth24

SaverPlus