Principal's Report

In this week’s newsletter:

News and Appreciations 

• Such generosity and initiative!
• Harmony Day was held on Monday
• NAPLAN assessment concluded for this year
• Eagle Signage
• Family Voluntary Contributions

• TheirCare Booking Reminder 

   

Coming Up...Tomorrow

• Ride2School Day
• Cross Country Event

• Assembly tomorrow - please aim to be seated by 2.45pm

   

Coming Up...Next Week

• Stopwork action on Tuesday
• Parents’ Association Second Hand uniform stall before school on Wednesday
• Student Free Curriculum Day next Thursday
• Emergency Management Drill next Friday
• Prep Open Afternoon (final)

Repeated Messages

News and Appreciations

Such generosity and initiative!

The following story is a wonderful example of the best of our FWPS community.

I was astounded on Monday when I received the following message from Liz.

“Hi Brendan,

Aoife (and her dad Rory) visited me this morning to share that the three girls have raised some money for Susie’s Art program (approx. $500 – final figure dependent on expenses). This was by selling bracelets, tattoos and stickers over the weekend. Susie even visited the stall!

Rory asked how they will be able to donate the money. I advised him to make a cash payment to the office and we’ll make sure it gets allocated to Susie’s budget.”

Pictured are all the 3 girls (Quinn and Emma from 2BL and Aoife from 1MC) with Susie symbolically accepting a massive cheque for $500 for some special orders for Art.

We will acknowledge the girls’ positive spirit and encapsulation of our values of Belonging and Responsibility with Principal Awards at assembly tomorrow. 

Harmony Day

We acknowledged Harmony Day on Monday during Harmony Week. Classes participated in a variety of activities, some examples of which are featured.

NAPLAN

The annual testing extravaganza is all but complete! All year 3 and 5 classes concluded the assessment window with the Numeracy test on Tuesday. Carolyn and senior staff will continue to provide catch up tests for students who have been absent. We have until next Monday to complete that process. For any questions from parents, please contact Assistant Principal Carolyn. Speaking of Carolyn, our entire NAPLAN process is managed by her and she has again done this with a high degree of professionalism. We are also all deeply appreciative of our year 3 and 5 teaching teams and our education support staff and other senior teachers, Libby and Towela for assisting the administration and support during the class assessments. Finally, a big appreciation to our year 3 and 5 students. Some students really love the opportunity to be tested in this manner and others find it challenging. All students who participated however showed significant resilience. This was particularly evident with our very first year 5 online assessment when we were affected by a systemic platform issue - mentioned in the newsletter last week.

Eagle Signage

On Wednesday new signage was installed on the western exterior wall of the Eagle Building visible from the street.

I think the sign looks awesome and will help embed the Eagle Building’s name within our community.

Family Voluntary Contributions

Thank you to the continued contributions via Compass. We would appreciate this trend continuing to ensure that we can afford the curriculum programs we have in place. While the principle of a “free education” remains a right, the politicisation of parent contributions has had a significant impact on government schools. FWPS used to receive parent payments from approximately 95% of families. This figure now typically sits between 65% and 70%.

Although we have worked hard to keep contributions low and ensure value for money, receiving approximately 25% less revenue has a very real effect on our ability to provide the quality and range of resources we believe are necessary. In recent years, we have introduced programs such as Spelling Mastery, the Explicit Maths Program, and Inform and Empower. Each of these programs carries a per-student cost. When family contributions are not received, we must find funding elsewhere.

As I write this, I am very conscious that a number of families are experiencing financial hardship. Contributions may be made as a part payment rather than in full. If you are in a position to do so, please support the school by contributing to the best of your capacity.

TheirCare Booking Reminder

Families are reminded that if they would like to use the service, they must book in advance with TheirCare, as places are limited and not guaranteed without a prior booking.

Coming Up - Tomorrow

Ride2School Day

Our Junior School Council will be promoting National Ride2School Day tomorrow. I can confirm that we will have Warrick, a member of the Community Bike Hub team visiting before school conducting a safety check on bikes.  For students who wish to have their bike (or scooter) quickly assessed for safety and benefit from minor adjustments, please line up at the school crossing entrance gate with your bike/scooter at 8.20am.  Students will be supervised by me and Lee (JSC co-convener). I will take some photographs on behalf of the Bike Hub for use for their promotion and will be providing all photographed students with a hard copy photo permission form. We would appreciate them being signed and returned to the school office on Monday.

Cross Country Event

Students who qualified for our District Cross Country received their school sports tops today ahead of the event that will be held tomorrow at Hansen Reserve. The bus will be due to depart at 9.30am from Blandford Street. The morning program will commence at 10.00am with the 9/10yrs Girls and conclude with the 12yr Boys. The team will be accompanied by Stratos and Marco. In his absence, Marco’s class will be backfilled to other classes in the middle and senior school. We wish our competitors the best of luck and welcome parents and carers to attend to support the team.

Assembly

Assembly will be held in the Eagle Gymnasium at 2.50pm sharp (please be seated beforehand).

This week we will:

Present our Pupil of the Week Awards and feature 4LW with their assembly item.

From a recent assembly:

Marrung Team members received their badges

5AN presented a terrific assembly item celebrating International Women’s Day

Coming Up – Next Week

Stopwork on Tuesday

As stated in the Compass post earlier this week, we have an expectation that there will be a very strong level of support for the protected industrial stop work action next Tuesday.  There will be more advice provided on Monday.

Parents’ Association Second hand Uniform Stall on Wednesday 

We appreciate our volunteers for providing this opportunity before school next Wednesday. The PA uniform store is located at the front of the Bilby building.  

Curriculum Day on Thursday

Our Curriculum Day next Thursday, 26th March will focus on our Explicit Maths Program priority. TheirCare will provide a full day program on that day.  

Emergency Management Drill on Friday 

We will have an emergency management practice at 1.30pm next Friday. On this day we would appreciate any families arranging early pick ups to do so by 1.15pm or after 2.00pm. We plan EMDs each term and will work through a variety of scenarios to endeavour to suitably prepare students and staff should we ever experience a real emergency.  

Best regards,

Brendan

Repeated Messages

Inform and Empower Cyber Safety Program

Parent Welcome Letter 2026

Photographing, Filming and Recording Students

Our annual reminder that if you wish to adjust your current level of permission for photographing, filming or recording of your child to contact the office. Please see the Policy page on our school website for more information:

 https://www.fwps.vic.edu.au/page/222/Policies-and-Child-Safe-Standards

Annual Privacy Reminder

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students policy, available on the Policies page on our website: https://www.fwps.vic.edu.au/page/222/Policies-and-Child-Safe-Standards, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn.

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use the Google Suite (G Suite Information for Parents & Guardians) 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 Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ privacy policy: information for parents. This information is also available in eleven community languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Dari, Gujarati, Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund Applications for Families

Please also make sure you look at the flyer in the newsletter regarding Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund applications for 2026. Applications close in June and are a great help for families.