Principal's Report

In this week’s newsletter:

• Appreciations and Acknowledgements
  • Musical Futures mini concerts for the grade 5s and 6s
  • Keira and The Bont
  • Nick, Jack B and Jack H with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan
• News
  • Student dress code reminder 
  • Semester 1 student reports
  • Emergency lockdown drill today
  • Facilities update
  • Building design project update
  • Specialists Programs in Semester Two
  • CRT (Casual Relief Teacher) Coverage in Classes
  • Western Metropolitan Region Cross Country Finals
• Coming Up
  • Winter sports grand finals
  • Assembly
  • Student learning conferences 
  • Camps, sports and excursions fund
  • Term dismissal 2:20pm next Friday
• Repeated (and updated messages)

Appreciations and Acknowledgements

Musical Futures Mini Concerts - A very big appreciation to our music gurus, Jane and Maddie (Soundgarage) who came into school on Saturday to set the music room up for our grade 5 and 6 mini performances on Wednesday.  Our students were well prepped, nervous and excited to perform for a live audience of family and peers.  

Keira and The Bont

Keira from grade 1 was pictured with champion footballer, Marcus Bontempelli at a recent Auskick morning. What a marvellous and memorable pic!

Nick, Jack B and Jack H with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan

Nick, Jack B and Jack H were keen to share this pic from Dumbo on Tuesday morning, after they bumped into Bulldogs young star, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. He was warm and encouraging. Another memorable moment for some of our lucky kids.

News

Student Dress Code Reminder - We have noted that we have a significant number of students wearing non uniform tops instead of school bomber jackets or pullovers.  We would appreciate all our students complying with our uniform expectations.  We will remind everyone at assembly this weekend provide families next week to sort this out prior to putting this into action next term. On the odd occasion, such as when it is difficult to dry a school top, please send a note or a message on Compass. The second hand uniform stall will next be available on Thursday, 18 July during Week 1 of Term 3.

Semester 1 Student Reports - Semester 1 student reports will be available to parents and carers via Compass from 4pm on Friday.  This will enable families to have an opportunity to thoroughly review the reports prior to meeting with class teachers and specialists at Student Learning Conferences next Tuesday (junior grades) or Wednesday (senior grades).

Emergency Lockdown Drill - As noted in a Compass post earlier this week, we held an emergency drill, locking down the school at 1:00pm today.  We provide our community with an awareness that we are holding drills, in order to avoid unnecessarily alarming students and seeking their understanding as to the reasons we conduct them.  Grades were reminded this morning and considered what actions needed to be taken, as well as having an opportunity to review the practice afterwards.

Facilities Update - We are seeking a State Government Facilities grant to assist our costs in renovating our main student toilet block.  We understand that they are subject to very high and strenuous use.  Our first priority will be the boys’ toilets as they are approximately ⅓ of the size of the girls’ block and consequently receive even more wear and tear and are in greater need of renovation.  While we plan to renovate our toilets regardless of the grant outcome, the extent of our project will be dependent on whether this $50K grant is successful.

Building Design Project Update - The Principal team continues to meet regularly online with the Victorian Schools’ Building Authority managed team as we work through the myriad of elements relating to the new gym, music, food technology and canteen space.  Unfortunately, confidentiality requirements do not allow us to share the design with our school community yet.  We have learnt that the expected decanting period (the time when we will need to remove our furniture and fittings from Gecko) is now predicted to be in the final fortnight of Term 4.

Specialists Programs in Semester Two - As we’re sure you have heard regularly in the media recently, there is a very concerning teacher shortage at present. Despite the good reputation of our school and the high staff opinion survey results, our school is not immune to this, and recruitment of staff to fill vacancies for Semester Two has proven to be extremely challenging. 

In addition to staffing challenges, we have the upcoming complications of a large building program, where we will need to manage a change in crucial specialist teaching spaces for a significant period of time. 

This has required us to be flexible in our short-term implementation of specialist programs which have been long-standing, particularly the Performing Arts and Music programs. We hope that families understand we have worked extremely hard to find the best solution we can, given the current climate. Our priority is, and always will be, employing staff who are caring, committed and capable. 

Based on staff availability and predicted available teaching spaces, the following Specialist programs will run for the different year levels in Semester Two:

• Prep – Art, PE, Italian, Music, Social Skills 
• Year One – Art, PE, Italian, Music, Social Skills
• Year Two – Art, PE, Italian, Music, Social Skills
• Year Three – Art, PE, Italian, Music, Library
• Year Four – Art, PE, Italian, Music, Library
• Year Five – Art, PE, Italian, Performing Arts, Library
• Year Six – Art, PE, Italian, Performing Arts, Library

We thank families for their understanding as we work through these difficult times in our school and in the education sector generally.

CRT (Casual Relief Teacher) Coverage in Classes - At Footscray West Primary School all teachers plan collaboratively on a two week cycle with their team. We use common visuals and processes across the year levels to ensure consistency between grades.

When teachers are away, the regular program proceeds in most instances with the casual relief teacher (CRT). Occasionally a teacher may swap a more complex lesson with one from later in the week, if the teacher wishes to conduct assessment observations of students as they work. Rest assured that despite your child’s teacher being absent, we ensure that the planned learning program is implemented by the CRT.

The leadership team always attempts to provide continuity for the grade with a CRT request where this is able to happen. Some parents have expressed concern about having different CRTs on consecutive days or from week to week. In the current climate of teacher shortages, we are more often than not, unable to obtain the same CRT on consecutive days or from week to week, even when bookings are made well in advance. There have been an increasing number of days where we have been notified by our agencies that indeed no more CRTs are available. Sometimes members of the leadership team will take classes when possible, and on rare occasions, when no additional staffing is available, we do need to split a grade across year levels, our less desired outcome.

Please know that we are committed to maintaining the regular program with continuity of teacher staff as much as is possible in the current challenging climate.

Western Metropolitan Region Cross Country Finals - a report will be included in next week's newsletter.

Coming Up… 

Winter Sports Grand Finals - Footscray District Primary Schools’ Sports Association grand finals are due to be played tomorrow at FWPS and surrounding grounds.  Congrats to our 2 teams that have made it to the final game.  Our AFL team will play Footscray Primary School at Shorten Reserve and our Tee Ball team will play Dinjerra PS at Johnson Reserve.  All games are scheduled to start at 12.15pm.  We wish all our participants the best of fortune.  Parents and carers are of course welcome to attend. 

Assembly - This week 2CW will present their assembly item and our sports grand final teams will report on the outcome of their matches.  If the weather is wet or too cold, like last week, we will hold our assembly in the gallery space of Dingo. For family members with a particular interest in attending due to their child(ren) presenting, reporting or receiving an award, gates will open at 2:30pm, with assembly starting at 2:40pm sharp.

Student Learning Conferences - We appreciate that many families have arranged to attend (in person or online) Student Learning Conferences (Student Led Conferences with grade 5 and 6 students). On Tuesday, 25th June P - 2 families will meet from 1:00pm to 6:00pm and on Wednesday, 26th June, 3 - 6 families will meet from 12:10pm to 6:00pm.

CSEF - For eligible families the Camps, Sports and Education Fund provides $150 to be spent at school for each child.  We have repeatedly communicated this message, as we do not want any eligible family to miss out.  The deadline for eligible families is next Friday, 28th June - the end of term.

End of Term - School will be dismissed on Friday of next week (28th June) at 2:20pm (the customary one hour earlier finish at the conclusion of Terms 1, 2 and 3).  Assembly will precede dismissal.

Cheers,

Brendan

Repeated (and Updated) Messages…