Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW,

Well, it has been a great start to the year. Students have settled right into the usual routines and structures and our new foundation students have jumped right into their first term with confidence and a positive outlook. It is great to see our students in years 1-6 guiding and looking out for the foundation students at break times. There have been playground tours, helping bring them back to class after the bell (when they want to keep playing) and in general just saying hello and making the foundation students feel welcome.

I am pleased to announce to the whole community that we have a full compliment of classroom teachers for 2023. Our last classroom vacancy was filled the day after our first newsletter last fortnight. We welcome Samantha Patajac to the MPW team. Samantha will be working part time, sharing a class with Alyena Mohummadally who has been helpful in being able to stay on with us two days this year (even though she was intending to have a year of leave). 

Basket Tea

We have our Basket Tea coming up on 24th February. This is our first community event, and we aim to have our class representatives organised before this day to help connect parents together. The night will begin at 5:15pm and conclude at 8pm.   It is BYO everything, so pack a picnic blanket, food and drinks and enjoy the evening.

School Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan

We now have our official School Review Report approved and will commence work on the 4 year School Strategic Plan for endorsement at School Council. The new strategic plan will have two overarching goals, one focussed on learning growth of all students and the second on strengthening engagement and wellbeing. Our Annual Implementation Plan is also being developed and will align with these goals to elevate a particular component for the school to strengthen.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

A reminder that our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice attached below.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.

Parent Class Representatives

Thank you to those parents who have nominated to be a classroom representative for 2023.

We still need a few more representatives and currently don’t have reps for the following classes:

• Room 14
• Room 22

If you are interested, please complete the attached expression of interest and return to  sandra.monaghan@education.vic.gov.au.  We hope to have these filled by the end of the week.

School Council Elections

Each year, half of the Council’s membership changes over the February/March months.

We have posted the notice of the call for nominations through Compass for parent and staff information.  Being on School Council is a great opportunity to contribute to the school for the benefit of all students., Please have a think about this role as a contribution you can make whilst your child is in their primary years.  All information is available at the General Office.  Ask to speak with Sandra (School Council Secretary) who oversees the election process.

My thanks to those School Councillors who are at the end of their term(s) and are or may step away from School Council: Brian Stanley, Fiona Limoli, Kate Collinson, Laura Tripp and Helen Lockart. In the case these councillors do not renominate, I thank you for your contribution and support over the past years as member of School Council. Please look out for the nomination communication via Compass today and on the school website.

Professional Learning for Staff

This term our Professional Learning Team (PLT) Leaders, Lauren Klymenko, Kim Simmons, Toula Fenech and Fiona McKenzie, along with Amanda and myself will be engaging in DET’s Professional Learning Community (PLC) training. This professional learning will allow us to strengthen our existing PLT structures. This is one of the actions from our School Review that the review panel expressed as a support to strengthen our work across the whole school.

There will be some days throughout the term and early next term where our PLT leaders will be out of class to undertake this training and development and will be replaced by relief teachers, where possible familiar faces.

Last week, we continued our work with our Numeracy consultant Chris Coombes. Chris met with some of our teaching teams with a focus on maths planning. 

In August, we again host Misty Adoniou on our Term 3 curriculum day to continue strengthening our focus on writing. We are looking forward to working with Misty again to continue the work we started in this area last year.

Continuing to reflect and build on staff’s knowledge and practices is an important aspect of ensuring we are delivering the best teaching and learning for our students.

Term 1 Assessments

NAPLAN is coming up soon. This is the first time it will be conducted in Term 1. We will begin speaking with our year 3 and 5 students in preparation for the testing window. There will be a practice test opportunity prior to the official test dates.

Our year 1 teachers are required to conduct English Online Testing this year with all year 1 students. DET is providing time for teachers to ensure this is administered over the next couple of weeks. A relief teacher will take the class to allow the testing to be completed with the least disruption to the class and teaching and learning over the testing period. This data will allow us to further identify and teach to the needs of our students for 2023.

Swimming Trials

Well done to those who tried out at swimming trials yesterday. It was a great morning at the pool. I thank those parents who were able to attend and help out to ensure the morning ran smoothly. Good luck to those who have qualified for district swimming on 27th February.

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Principal