MPPS Council Corner   

Council Corner 

Thank you to all the parents who completed the School Council Parent Survey sent out in early Term 1 this year. This is the second year we’ve undertaken the survey, and both years we have had a great response from families with 105 parents/carers completing the survey this year. Hearing your feedback on the school in this way is critical in understanding the perspectives of the wider school community, in helping us represent the whole school community during council discussions, and knowing the priorities we should be focused on. 

Some of what we’ve heard this year: 

• Most parents (65%) agree or strongly agree that their child’s academic needs were being met. 
• Most parents (72%) agree or strongly agree that their child’s wellbeing needs were being met. 
• Many parents expressed gratitude to the staff at the school, the relationships they build with students, and their care and teaching expertise. For example: 

“We love this school and it has been great for our family.”  

“Thank you all for your huge efforts. Please keep it up!”  

“MPPS is a lovely, warm, school that my children love attending”  

“Thank you Tim for being so committed. You set such a high bar and your care and concern for the school community is highly evident”  

“Very grateful for the caring teachers” 

• The most commonly selected strengths of the school included: 
• Encouraging student participation and engagement 
• Creating and inclusive and welcoming school community 
• Promoting, monitoring and responding to the school values of kindness, gratitude, and respect 

We also wanted to know what the priorities are for improvements. 

• The most commonly selected areas for improvement included: 
• Supporting literacy learning 
• Supporting maths learning 
• Preparing students for transitioning beyond MPPS 
• Some parents also described concerns related to problematic student behaviour. 

What comes next? 

• Proposed plans for parent forums, dedicated to specific topics, with an aim to learn more from parents about some of the areas identified in the survey. 
• Further communication to describe and showcase current developments in teaching and learning excellence within our school. 
• Further communication to describe and showcase current developments in evidence-based wellbeing supports, including the Real Schools program. Real schools is a program which supports teachers, students, and the broader school community to build strong relationships that foster student learning and growth. 
• Increased focus on the learning and wellness goals of the school’s Strategic Plan through the Strategy, Planning, and Policy Committee and opportunities to explore specific topics identified as areas of need in greater depth at school council meetings. 

Thanks once again to all parents who completed the survey. 

Kerry Villalobos 

MPPS School Council Vice-President 

Chair of Strategy, Policy, and Planning Subcommittee