News, Appreciations and Acknowledgements

Changes at FWPS in 2027

As the Principal of Footscray West Primary School for the past 19 years, I have had the privilege of serving our community with great joy and gratitude. I have worked with so many wonderful parents, carers and, of course, staff members during my years in the role, particularly those who have generously supported the school through School Council and the Parents Association.

It has been a pleasure to see so many students start their journey in Prep, grow and achieve throughout their primary years, and then pass through the gates on their way to secondary school, knowing that the school has served them well academically, socially and as young people.

As notified to School Council at our recent meeting, this will be my final year as Principal, and I am looking forward to new adventures upon my retirement. To ensure there is sufficient time for preparation, we have arranged an additional ‘extraordinary’ School Council meeting in Week 10 to outline the process for selecting our next Principal.

The meeting will be presided over by Karen Harris, our network’s Senior Education Improvement Leader, who will assist School Council in planning for a principal selection panel to be established in Term 4. I will, of course, share more information when I am able to do so about the process and timeline, and, ultimately, the outcome.

This is a significant moment for me personally, and I look forward to keeping our community informed as we begin this next chapter for Footscray West Primary School.

Wear it Purple Day

Tomorrow we encourage students, staff and parents / carers to show our support for diversity and inclusion by donning purple or rainbow colours. You may like to go all out, or add a splash of purple or rainbow, a badge or ribbon. The day will be celebrated with our kids invited to a lunchtime dance party in the gym.

Swim Program

Every day this week has been a busy one with continual movement of students departing for and returning from the MAC for week 1 of this 2 week program. Ensuring that adult : student ratios are compliant was challenging in the preparation and we appreciate the many parents and carers who are attending the program and returning to school throughout the week. Feedback from the children I have enquired of has been really positive. Just the bus ride to and from the pool seems to be enjoyed and the swim experience in a purpose built indoor facility during what started as a wet and cold week is a bonus. Thanks to Year 2 team member Trang for her organisation with, as always, the awesome support of Liz and our office team. Last but most importantly, I would like to share our appreciation of the marvellous attitude of respect, responsibility and resilience that has been shown across all year levels and every bus / swimming group.

School Council met on Tuesday

School Council members met in person on Tuesday evening for the second meeting this term.

Discussion points included tabling of previous business and correspondence including challenges local residents are encountering with street parking, exacerbated by the opening of community use of the Eagle Gymnasium and processes for extending our contract with our OSHC provider, TheirCare for a further 12 months.

Our School Council sub committees reported on business within their scope:

The ComPol languages survey has identified 5 preferred languages; Mandarin, Japanese, Auslan, Spanish, French. A position for a suitable qualified teacher of any of these languages will be advertised shortly.

The Facilities sub committee discussed the minutes of the meeting held last week. Main points for discussion were the ongoing maintenance issues with the Wallaby Building that are evident with a walk through the downstairs corridor. These issues are being closely monitored with the Department’s ‘Make Safe’ building and engineering team, with recommendations being prepared for an eventual repair program. We discussed the Gazebo paving, sand and water play project and specifically plans for necessary drainage works. The initial stage of paving the area between the outdoor basketball court and the gazebo, ahead of a replacement basketball court surface slated for January was also discussed.

The Finance sub committee thoroughly reviews our real time financial health. As with every meeting, the previous month’s spending was reviewed and approved.

The Parents’ Association reported on the success of the recent Winter Disco and the status of preparation for the forthcoming Father’s and Special Person’s stall and the Trivia Night.

In general business the DoE requires an annual review of the school uniform policy. In doing so, we discussed the gradual deletion of yellow shirts and bomber jackets, currently aimed for a year from now. As approximately 20% of students still wear them and we always have an eye on affordability, we will review this situation next year and consider lengthening the time line if usage remains significant. We are keen however to discourage families from buying new yellow shirts and we will discontinue sales of yellow shirts from our second hand uniform stall immediately.

In our final general business item, Assistant Principal Carolyn expertly outlined the thinking, planning, purpose and process that has accompanied the implementation of our Explicit Maths Program throughout this year. Along with Carolyn’s knowledge, Council also heard of some of the direct experiences shared by Caity Gray, a member of our Year 3 team who joined Council this year.

New Stages Purchased for Eagle Gymnasium

We were delighted to take delivery today of 3 compact portable staging units for use in our Eagle Gymnasium. The units will be stored in a new shed that we have had installed earlier this year next to Emu Corner. With purposes such as our graduation now to take place at school, we need to have a practical and portable solution on hand. We have specifically obtained the stages at this time ahead of our music concert week in Week 9.

Coming Up

Assembly

Tomorrow’s assembly will be one of our first not to feature a grade assembly item. We will of course celebrate this week’s Pupil of the Week award winners and share relevant information and reports from our students. Due to the all day nature of the swim program, 1HL, 2TN, 2DM and 3TM will not attend assembly for the next 2 weeks and will subsequently also not have POTW awards presented.

Parent / Carer Opinion Survey

The annual Parent and Carer Opinion Survey is a Department of Education mandated process that seeks feedback about families’ experiences of attending their local government school. An email containing a personalised PIN with details of how to access the survey was sent to the Parent A of each household, from the school's email address. Please ensure you check your junk mailbox, in the event it has been diverted there. We have had a response from approximately 10% of families and we encourage all families to have their views represented. The survey will conclude on Friday, 18 September 2026.

Smile Squad

The dental hygiene program is in full swing at the moment with the dental van parked in the bike park being supplemented by a secondary treatment space in our Bilby Meeting room. The program is anticipated to conclude by the end of this week, with any remaining students who have been absent being invited to attend the clinic in Paisley Street, Footscray.

Coming Up During the Next Few Weeks

Concert Week

As shared for several weeks, Concert Week will be held in the gym throughout Week 9 (Tuesday, 8th to Thursday, 10th September) with a series of brief day time concerts held during the day for our specialist music program and after school concerts for our Soundgarage participants. For families with children in Grades 2 and up, this is similar to the model we last held in 2024 in our old Gecko Gym, prior to the redevelopment last year. We know that the roster will for many families involve several visits, however by keeping the ‘mini’ concerts to only a few classes at a time, we feel that attending for a short period, knowing that you will see your child participate, is a reasonable compromise. Please understand that every change that affects a year level, let alone the whole school, requires very significant timetable changes. With our focus on arranging swimming, the specific timetable changes for Concert Week were shared as soon as they had been developed and checked.

Eagle Building Official Opening Assembly time Friday, 11th September

I was pleased to be able to report informally at assembly last week that we finally will be able to hold an official opening for our magnificent new Eagle Building.

During the long period of industrial disputation, we were unfortunately unable to issue an invitation for our local MP Katie Hall as work bans precluded such visits. With an in principle agreement in place, we are now free to invite Katie to an opening, rightfully acknowledging all she has done in obtaining the grant. As the Victorian government goes into caretaker mode on 1st October we only have a small window of time to arrange the opening.

Fortunately, Katie indicated to my informal invitation that she is available to attend at our regular assembly time (2:40pm) on Friday, 11th September. We would love members of our community, including former families, to join us for this assembly with a difference.

(Please note that due to the Eagle Opening taking place on this date, there will be no POTW awards for Week 9.)

Best regards,

Brendan

Repeated and Revised Messages

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