We have had a fantastic start to Term 3 with the Boodjar Kaatijin group performing for students in Week 1 and then swimming lessons commencing this week for all Primary School students. The Adolescent students have also had a range of going out activities since the beginning of the term including the Zoo, Murdoch University, Fremantle, Lake Richmond and Point Peron. All of these activities are integral in the development of a comprehensive Montessori experience where the students learn both within the classroom and within the wider community.
We were delighted to receive approval for a working visa for Aimee Bernado so she can join our AP team. On Aimee’s arrival, we will once again split the Bamba advisory so the Maambakoort Subschool returns to three Middle School advisories. Aimee completed her AMI 12-18 Orientation with Kirsty and Scarlett in Melbourne. We welcome Sarah McNeice to the Sea Lions class to replace Lizeth whilst she is on Maternity leave. Sarah comes to us with a background in Montessori as she has been working at Stepping Stones which is a Montessori childcare centre. Although these staff commenced last term we welcome to staff Katherine De Vere and Luke Lamb as teachers in the AP, along with Dinky Ghandi as our IT Support Officer.
The progression of Montessori transformation at our West Coast Montessori Early Learning Centre has been fantastic over term two. We will shortly be ordering our second lot of Montessori equipment for the two Children’s House classes which will include Moveable Alphabets and higher level work to extend the children in both language and maths areas. When you walk in to these two classes now they feel and look like they belong to our school and the workflow is so evident with children focused and moving with grace and courtesy. A huge thank you to Deb D and Liz M for working so hard to have this transformation come to fruition. Over the past weeks the focus has now moved to our babies (6 weeks – 18 months) where the room has been set up with Montessori equipment and our two toddler rooms (18 months – 3 years) are undergoing this change too. Thank you to Orla for her work in setting up these rooms and also for working with the staff whilst they implement the Montessori pedagogy. The staff at the centre have attended the Introduction to Montessori course and a Practical Life workshop presented by Montessori Institute. I encourage you to take a visit to the centre as this is a really exciting part of the Rockingham Montessori School Inc organisation’s journey.
I thank those parents who attended our Annual General Meeting last week and also to Jy, Keira and DeLaRey for presenting about their time through the School from Children’s House to Senior School. I also congratulate Christina Tanumihardja for being voted onto the School Board.