Mill Park Heights Primary School is located in Melbourne’s north with 631 students, 28 classes and 51.8 staff. With 33 different nationalities, our community is rich and vibrant, and cultural diversity is a celebrated feature of our school. The school’s reputation continues to grow within our school community, local area and Whittlesea Schools Network.

We live by the core values of Respect, Responsibility, Care & Compassion, Honesty& Trust, Personal Best and Teamwork. We encourage our students, staff and parent community to support our values and highlight these in our daily interactions.

Our school vision is to ensure that all students at Mill Park Heights Primary School will be critical and creative thinkers who are resilient and valuable contributors to a global society. Our mission is to ensure high quality instruction that maximises the individual potential and growth of all students. We have a clear and consistent approach towards teaching and learning across Foundation to Year 6 that is underpinned by collaboration, collective efficacy and student voice.

Our facilities and outdoor structures are a point of great pride within our school. The main permanent building houses administration and staff facilities, staff lounge, senior art room, ICT Lab, library, STEM centre and ten general-purpose classrooms. We have two additional permanent buildings and an extension of two permanent classrooms onto the main building.  The Foundation building supports our Foundation classes and our Junior Visual and Performing Arts Centre. This building is attached to the canteen and main gymnasium which also hosts our Out of School Care Program with Camp Australia. MPHPS works in close partnership with Camp Australia to provide families with before/afterschool, Curriculum Day and vacation care.

Two brand new permanent buildings built 2018 now accommodate the Year 1 & 2 cohort. These buildings also house our Language Support, Tutoring team and Chaplain.  The Year 3 & 4 cohorts are accommodated in modern new and refurbished relocatables that include six classrooms in each building, collaboration galleries, wet areas and kitchen facilities. The Language room is in a modern relocatable and is located next to our Professional Learning and Community Hub.

Our Very Important Person (VIP) double portable that supports our students across all hours of the school day has now moved to allow for greater student access and the hosting of our weekly breakfast club. We have a relocatable Arts precinct that accommodates Senior Performing Arts and we have also commenced developing three mini library hubs for immediate student access to resources.

The school grounds have undergone extensive landscaping with the installation of a soccer pitch, gaga pit, turfed play areas, reinstallation of playground equipment, a sand pit and garden beds. After an Arborist’s report, we had many of our ‘high priority’ trees cut down. We continue to replant small shrubs and medium sized trees around the exterior of the school and work hard to maintain the upkeep of our school gardens and grounds.

There are a number of play spaces for students including three adventure playgrounds, 2 basketball/netball courts and an oval.  The school has established a strong commitment to developing a sustainability culture with an urban forest, vegetable and sensory garden.  Our students are strong drivers of this sustainable culture and as the Guardians of the Garden, take much of the responsibility in decisions and directions made around improving gardens and spaces. Student voice has had an impact on how we manage our waste at Mill Park Heights Primary School both within classrooms and in the playground.

The learning environment at Mill Park Heights Primary School is defined as respectful, supportive, calm and safe. Student voice is a priority and students are given the opportunity to share and celebrate their learning at year level and whole school assemblies and also via our interactive newsletter and visual website. Students are given the opportunity to participate in student-leadership initiatives/partnership involving some of the local feeder schools, YMCA Whittlesea and the local council. We provide leadership opportunities for our students across all year levels which encourages students to build their skills and capacity in leading others, collaborating and in caring for our school.  The following opportunities are offered at each year level:

  • Foundation – Foundation Gardens & Play Area
  • Year 1 & 2 – Sustainability & Year 1 & 2 Gardens
  • Year 3 – Guardians of the Garden, Junior School Council
  • Year 4 – Foundation Buddies, Junior School Council
  • Year 5 – Library, Technology & Recycling Leaders, Junior School Council
  • Year 6 – School Captains, House Captains, Arts Captains, Languages Captains, Sci Tech Captains, Respectful Relationships Captains and Junior School Council

Specialist programs include The Arts, Languages- Auslan, Science & Technology and Physical Education/Sport. Acceleration/Intervention and Extension Programs are available to selected students and based on staffing allocations. To further encourage and develop student voice and agency we have developed extra-curricular programs that run within cohorts or become lunchtime clubs. Often these programs are student led and driven.

At Mill Park Heights Primary School, our core beliefs about how students learn drive everything we do in all aspects of school life and are the determining factor in decision-making. Our beliefs are;

  • Children bring with them their own beliefs, knowledge and experiences that we value and build upon.
  • Children learn best through interactions, active exploration using all of their senses and experimentation.
  • Children learn best when the intention and expectations for learning are clearly articulated.
  • Children learn best when they can articulate, reflect upon, review, and represent their learning in different ways.
  • Children’s positive dispositions to learning and to themselves as learners are essential for success in school and beyond. They need to be given the time to develop their school readiness.
  • Children learn best when there is a place for creativity, imagination and self-expression in learning.
  • Children learn best when assessment is used to evaluate and inform teaching and learning.
  • Children learn best when there are supportive relationships among all partners (including peers) in the learning community.
  • Children learn best when their learning is structured to ensure continuity of learning as they move to and through school ensuring foundations for their future success.

We are proud to work in collaboration with our active School Council and parent / carer community. We are always reviewing our processes and look for the best practice where presented. We strive to move forward and look to provide opportunities that allow our students to grow in a 21st Century global environment. We aim to communicate clearly and work in conjunction with families to ensure every child is safe, happy and empowered. We adhere to the Child Safe standards and promote voice and agency in learning and life. We are thrilled to have you as part of our learning journey and encourage you to become a member of our wonderful Mill Park Heights Primary School Community.

 

Chris Beare

Principal

 

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