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On Wednesday 9th September, the Mernda Park Primary School community came together for our 2026 Writers’ Festival, transforming our spaces into a vibrant showcase of student talent. Press play on the video below to experience the afternoon all over again. A Garden of Student Talent Taking inspiration from our school wide Gardens theme, students across all year levels spent weeks cultivating their storytelling skills and crafting accompanying artwork. From imaginative narratives to striking visual pieces, the depth of thought and effort on display throughout the Learning Communities was remarkable. Celebrations & Highlights
Our young writers truly dug deep and showcased their absolute best. Press play to watch the video recap, and join us in celebrating the incredible efforts of our students!  The creativity kept flowing this week as our break time activities continued to build excitement ahead of the upcoming Writers’ Festival! Building on the success of our Book Week celebrations, students stepped into new spaces across the school to explore their artistic and literary talents: • Bookmark designing: Students gathered in the Carome Learning Community to craft vibrant, nature-inspired bookmarks to keep their place in their favourite books. • Guided drawing: Budding artists in the Yan Yean Learning Community joined a guided drawing session, bringing detailed blossom trees to life on paper. Thank you to all the students who dropped by to craft, create, and compose their own literary and artistic works!   On Monday 24th August, our school was filled with music, rhythm, and imagination as we kicked off Book Week with our grand dress-up parade! It was an absolute delight to see our students and staff bring this year’s theme, Symphony of Stories, to life in the Stadium. From the first beat of the morning, our parade was a dazzling spectacle of creativity. Characters from every genre played their part in our story—roaring dinosaurs stomped alongside enchanting fairytale characters. We saw legendary sporting heroes, mysterious wizards casting spells, and beloved book icons all striking a chord together. Families joined in the audience to cheer on the parade, making the atmosphere extra special as our Learning Communities showcased their incredible costumes. A huge thank you to all our families for the effort, enthusiasm, and imagination poured into every single costume. The dress-up parade was the perfect opening to what will be an unforgettable week of exploring the magic of reading!  This week’s break time activities were a fantastic success, keeping the spirit of our Symphony of Stories and Book Week celebrations alive in the lead-up to our Writers’ Festival. Students brought incredible energy and imagination to each session: Bookmaking & Card Crafting: Young authors gathered in the Plenty Learning Community to design mini-books for their original tales, while students in the Simon Learning Community crafted personalised cards to share with friends and family. Stay tuned for next week's break time activities: bookmark designing and guided drawing!   Our Resource Room has officially received a fantastic facelift, marked by the installation of beautiful new furniture! This vibrant update was made possible entirely by the funds raised through our collective school efforts this year. Enhanced organisation: We've prioritised keeping our resources ready for immediate use. The upgrade includes: Dedicated storage units to keep our valuable educational materials neatly organised and easily accessible. Modular storage solutions that allow staff and students to quickly locate and organise resources, maximising instruction time. Comfort and quiet zones: We know that students thrive when they have choices in their learning environment. The new Resource Room now features a quiet reading cubby house. A designated, semi-enclosed space that provides a safe, distraction-reduced nook perfect for individual quiet reading, reflection or focused independent work. This refreshed space is now ready to support our students and staff in new and engaging ways. We recently had the incredible opportunity to host the PETAA Young Writers Program for some students in years 3-6, a truly special initiative in collaboration with the Victorian State Government, and it was nothing short of wonderful! Our school was buzzing with creativity as our talented young writers embarked on a day filled with narrative adventures. And who better to guide them than the marvellous author, Meredith Costain?! You might recognise her from the hilarious and heartwarming Ella Diaries series, My Life in the Wild books or perhaps the funny Aussie Nibbles series – just to name a few! Meredith shared fascinating insights into her life as an author, taking us on a journey through her own childhood experiences that sparked her love for writing. She revealed the secrets behind crafting captivating stories which prepared our students to delve deep into the art of narrative writing. They learned how to build compelling characters, create exciting plots, and weave words into stories that truly come alive. Laughter, thoughtful discussions, and a flurry of creative energy filled the room. The PETAA Young Writers Program, part of the Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series, is about nurturing the unique talents of our high-ability writers. And we couldn't be prouder of how our students embraced this opportunity. We are so grateful to Meredith Costain and PETAA for providing such an enriching and memorable experience. We are delighted to share that our recent book fair was a resounding success! The students in each Learning Community had the wonderful opportunity to select books for our school library using the vouchers generously provided by Scholastic. The enthusiasm and excitement displayed by our students as they explored the wide range of books was truly inspiring. This will not only enrich our school library collection but also foster a love of reading among our young learners.  On Friday the 1st of September we welcomed Rob Mitchell, our local Federal Member of Parliament, to MPPS. He is the Member for McEwen. Our Principal, Mary Ryan arranged for Rob Mitchell to supply us with our new Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags. Rob Mitchell delivered our original flags when we were a brand-new school in 2017. The flags are an important part of our identity and will fly proudly at the front of our administration building. Early in the year MPPS received a request from Mernda Town Centre to create a mural for display. After meeting with management and discussing a possible theme, a small group of YYLC students were selected to design and create a mural, guided by our Visual Arts teacher, Holly. The main idea was to represent the diversity of culture within the MPPS community. The words at the roots of the tree represent all the languages spoken by MPPS staff and families, with all the various greetings. The hands as the leaves show the flags of the different nationalities within our community. Finally, the silhouette of the young girl represents our Acknowledgement of Country, which reads as follows - ‘Mernda comes from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘young girl’ and we are proud to be part of the Mernda community that is on the land and around the waters of the Kulin Nation’. The students all worked enthusiastically during their break-times to create this mural and we are very proud of the final result which is displayed at Mernda Town Centre in Entrance 3 (near Groove Train).  On Thursday 10th August students from Prep to Grade 6 participated in a traditional Japanese Taiko Drumming incursion. This experience was completely interactive, providing a great introduction to the basics of taiko drumming. Taiko drumming is energetic with visually appealing movements that resemble dance choreography. This aimed to develop musical and listening skills through coordinated movements of the arms, legs and body. Students were highly engaged when learning rhythmic patterns and mini performances were enjoyed by all. Thank-you to our Japanese teacher, Mio Sensei for organising such an educational and fun learning experience for our students. |
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