Principal's Report
Term 3 Week 6
Appreciations
One of the things I most appreciate about our FWPS community, is the manner in which given an opportunity, we collectively seek to support others. The FWPS MailBox, a recent class and school captains’ initiative, was communicated through last week’s newsletter and this week’s assembly video. We are working with Maribyrnong Council staff to share positive messages to older community members locked down in local aged care facilities. On Tuesday during our weekly video meeting with grade 6 teacher, Shannon and the class and school captains, I ducked out to the newly placed mailbox to find that it was full of creative, colourful and hopeful items - letters, art pieces, a story, a mobile, and chatter boxes - amongst other things! At that very moment, Elsa from PAF arrived (pictured), accompanied by her mum and little sister to post her card (also featured).
I was pleased to be able to capture the scene and highlight this optimistic moment in the newsletter. I then shared some of the kids’ creations when I returned to the meeting. The first ‘harvest’ features in the accompanying pictures.
Please keep all your creative stories, cards and art and craft treasures of hope and good cheer coming in. We are looking forward to sharing them with our senior neighbours at the earliest opportunity.
Parent/Teacher interviews
We have appreciated the feedback from parents/carers, students and staff following our successful online Parent/Teacher interviews (and Student Led Conferences for grades 5 & 6) held last week. We acknowledge there were some technical issues (mainly due to an incorrect link), but it seems in most cases these were managed effectively, sometimes with the support of the children. There were many stories shared of successful learning over this period of remote and flexible learning. Teaching teams have met this week and comprehensively discussed and noted successes, concerns and challenges. These will be addressed over the last few weeks of this term individually or generally, depending on their nature and where it is practical to do so.
Again, I would like to acknowledge the ongoing support and resilience of our community of students, staff, parents and carers. A specific appreciation is warranted for our Office Manager, Yvonne who expertly arranged all the online Parent Teacher interview logistics. We have learnt that little of this constantly challenging and evolving situation has been either predictable or easy. For instance, some students who may have managed the initial iteration of remote learning may have found it harder to muster the enthusiasm during the second round. Others, having learnt new skills and confidence, have consequently benefited during R&FL@H 2.0. Many of our adult community will understand this, as they too may be struggling to maintain a work/ life balance over such a long period, whilst also coping with limited interaction with family, friends and colleagues. The loss of normal social interaction is one that featured in much of the feedback from teams. Yet we also know that many children have learnt through adversity. Independence and resilience gained through challenging times is still authentic learning. With a focus on creativity and problem solving new learning can occur. On that very point, I was saddened to hear of the premature death this week of UK educationalist and author, Sir Ken Robinson. It promotes me to provide a link to a famous TED talk that he did back in 2006. His engaging and controversial stance remains relevant today.
Junior School Council members continue to meet regularly in order to facilitate shared ideas and goals. Our successful Crazy Hair Day was a simple and fun idea that translated very well to an online remote learning environment. I hope you enjoyed the CHD highlights shared in this week’s assembly video. Today we shared some longer videos featuring Junior, Middle and Senior school students. They are linked within each of the Google classrooms and via the Flexischools/FlexiBuzz. As noted on page 5 JSC will meet online tomorrow to discuss Literacy and Numeracy Week options. Once again, hats off to Medha and Joanna for the superb support for all the students in JSC.
Preps
Grade 1/2s
Grade 3s to 6s
Pupil of the Week Awards - Anyone who viewed this week’s assembly video could not have failed to note the issues encountered in recording the Pupil of the Week awards. Consistent with Stage 4 Restrictions, we felt it was best to reduce the number of people attending school, therefore we chose to temporarily suspend onsite recording of our class captains presentations. Initially, we had some success with the captains recording and uploading their parts for me to edit and upload. The effort to record from a WebEx video however was not successful. Next week we will welcome some ‘guest’ presenters (who will already be onsite) and anticipate that we will return to offsite recorded presentations for subsequent weeks during the remainder of remote and flexible learning.
Facilities works - While there is some time yet until we can look forward to welcoming our students back to school, we continue to keep the gardens and grounds in excellent condition. Pictured on Wednesday, are our gardener, Craig and maintenance person, Taleb during a break in the thorough thinning of overgrown trees in our grounds. Oh - if anyone is wondering, the chainsaws are not operating!
Bendigo Community Bank in Seddon - This week I learnt that the corporate arm of the Bendigo Bank has made the decision to discontinue student school banking services in Australia (see page 3). Nevertheless, we will maintain our relationship with our community bank as one of our financial partners, as we appreciate the nature of our community bank's mission in providing support for voluntary enterprises in our neighbourhood.
Look after yourselves. Look out for others.
Regards
Brendan