Edition 4 | June, 2018

Staying Connected with Alena

Alena Swinbourne, Stakeholder And School Relations Coordinator

Since the last edition of InFocus we have been working on developing a new tagline, key messages and brand guidelines for our school. We wanted to ensure that these messages would be engaging and informative, inspiring new families to enquire about a Montessori education for their child. In addition, we also want to ensure that our current families continue to feel a sense of pride in FMS.

Tagline

We developed a new tagline which will sit underneath the current FMS school crest. The new tagline –

Forestville Montessori School – Thriving Beyond…

communicates how a Montessori education at FMS will encourage your child to ‘thrive beyond’ the norm and achieve the extraordinary. The new logo and tagline (which you can see at the top of this page) will be used across all communication going forward.

Key Messages

The new key messages developed as part of the marketing campaign have been designed specifically for the four programs offered at FMS – Under 3 (Birth-3), Pre-Primary (3-6 Years), Lower Primary (6-9 Years) and Upper Primary (9-12 Years). An extra final message developed captures the potential to be gained from an education at FMS.

Each key message connects with the new tagline, further extending the ‘Thriving Beyond’ message. In addition, each key message has the appropriate coloured Montessori square positioned behind the ED – reinforcing the importance of the unique Montessori Education in preparing children for their place in the world.

To portray the messages visually, we commissioned a professional photographer to capture the children at our school immersed in learning in their carefully prepared environment whilst working with their Montessori materials. These images and messages will be used in the future marketing collateral and will form the basis of all marketing activities moving forward. Thank you to all the families that provided permission for their children to be involved. Following are the five key messages:

Forestville Montessori School – Thriving Beyond…

 
BEYOND IMAGINED - GROWING PATHWAYS

Under 3 (Birth - 3 years)

Embracing your child’s individuality while nurturing ways to explore a deep and meaningful understanding of the world around them.

BEYOND INSPIRED - HARNESSING CURIOSITY

Pre-Primary (3 - 6 years)

Seeking adventures to ignite your child’s natural curiosity, energy and joy for lifelong learning.

BEYOND ENGAGED - CAPTURING ENTHUSIASM

Lower Primary (6 - 9 years)

Offering your child hands-on, self-paced, collaborative learning. We explore individual interests to enable ongoing positive engagement and enthusiasm.

BEYOND ACCOMPLISHED - EXPANDING HORIZONS

Upper Primary (9 - 12 years)

Playing to your child’s innate strengths regardless of their age or abilities without competitive pressure. We cultivate thinking outside the box.

BEYOND GIFTED - RELEASING POTENTIAL

All Ages

Celebrating joyful scholars who embrace independence, responsibility, initiative and self-discipline. We guide your child to take their place in the world as mentors and leaders of the future.

In addition to the development of our new marketing campaign, we have focussed on connecting with our FMS community through a range of different events during the early part of Term 2.

FMS Scholastic Book Fair

The Book Fair was held for one week from the 8th – 14th May, it was a great success with a total of $3,385 raised. It was lovely seeing the children’s love of learning, they all thoroughly enjoyed looking through all the new and exciting books on display. Thank you to all the families that helped raise these funds, we will be using it to expand the libraries in your child’s classrooms.

Mother’s Day High Tea

On Friday 11th May, the children at FMS hosted a very special high tea, thanking their mums/special carers for all their hard work during the year. We had such a great turnout with 47 people attending the event, it was so lovely that you could all come along to enjoy this special day. All our classes worked very hard to create the special atmosphere:

  • Mairi’s Birth–3 children made little bath bombs given to all as they arrived.
  • Christine’s 3-6 class grew pots of snow peas from seed, these were used as beautiful decorations during the morning and were then provided as gifts to the mothers of the children in her class.
  • Natasha’s 3-6 class provided some hand decorated doilies were used during the morning.
  • Pippa’s 3-6 class made some delicious shortbread cookies.
  • Anthony & Xarifa’s 6-9 class made scrumptious scones and lemon tarts.
  • Datevig’s 9-12 graduates had a few roles - they greeted all those as they attended, served the food, looked after smaller siblings so the mums could enjoy a quiet cup of tea and also briefly presented on their time at FMS.

We also played a short video showing why some of the children at FMS love their mums. There were a few tears spotted around the room which is not surprising, the answers given were truly special and very sweet!

A few mums kindly provided a few words expressing their thoughts on the morning:

“I’d been getting hints from my children in the days leading up to the morning tea about what we would eat and what might happen. When I walked in the array of delicious treats all lovingly cooked by the children looked even more amazing than I imagined. Jake had only told me that morning with great trepidation that he would be speaking, and it was so lovely to see the graduates speaking and getting involved. We learnt just how much they ALL love camp!

“I don’t think there were many dry eyes after we watched the wonderful video of some of our children talking about what they loved about their mums. It was a very thoughtful and touching tribute.

“Most of all it was special to spend time with the other mums at the school and get to catch up over a nice hot tea, with some delicious treats.”

Idette Warburton

“The Mother’s Day morning tea was an enjoyable, social and almost tear jerking morning. The 9-12s, with the help of the staff, created a beautiful space with special China tea cups and delicious treats displayed beautifully, in a high tea fashion. Even a child care corner for the little ones, so all mums could truly relax.

“The 6-9 class worked hard to create delicious lemon tarts and scones, complete with whipped cream and jam. The 3-6 classes added their touch with plants grown from seed and beautifully decorated paper doilies and biscuits. We were warmly welcomed in and the 9-12 children assisted with the preparing of our tea and ensuring the food on the table was kept supplied. The sandwiches and fruit as well as all the sweet treats were delicious and the morning was topped off by a lovely video of many of the children, telling why they love their mums. Thank you to all the staff who assisted. To all the children, thank you! You all did a great job and based on how I felt and what I sae of the other mums, we all enjoyed ourselves and felt very special.”

Alexis Weidland

“It was lovely to receive the invitation, and I was particularly delighted to see the offer of childminding for those of us who had littler ones in tow. Winter had suddenly arrived, but the warmth of the room, the tea, the company, and the spirit of the morning more than made up for the chill morning air. The video that had been made was very touching, and in some ways made for a hilarious realisation that we mums are largely bringers of food to the youngest age group!”

Genevieve Lang

Thank you to all those that came along, we hope you enjoyed it.

Outdoor Movie Night & Book Fair

On the 12th Maywe hosted our annual outdoor movie night – despite the impending rain, the night went ahead and it was so lovely seeing the FMS families working together to provide a night of fun for all the children. The funds raised from the night will go towards the development of the outdoor space which is being developed this year.

It has been lovely getting to know more of you over the last few months, if you ever have any questions for me please don’t hesitate to pop in to see me anytime.