Principal's Report 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Father’s Day Breakfast:

Thank you to the dads, uncles, grandpas and significant males in children’s live who attended the Father’s Day Breakfast this morning. As with Mother’s Day, we changed it up from a stall to a welcome event. We hoped you enjoyed it. Thank you to the dedicated admin staff, Tolley and Alec who organised everything, including the invite, shopping, cooking and cleaning up.

Swimming:

The last 2 weeks we have had our Prep and Year 1/2s attend swimming. By all accounts, it was a successful program and the children who attended had a wonderful time, Thank you to the parents and carers who assisted at the pool and simply came to support their child by watching. It was pleasing to know that all but 1 Year Prep – 2 students who wanted to attend were able to. Also, thank you to the staff who went to the pool. The duty of care for the students lies with school staff and their vigilance and attentiveness demonstrated a strong committed to the well-being of all students in all settings.              

Special Requests for 2026 Class:

Early in term 4 we begin to form new classes for the following year. This involves the children indicating 3-4 people they feel they work well with. We endeavour to ensure they are with at least one of those people. We can also put in parameters to separate children, if required, due to ongoing issues. If you have any requests to have your child away from another for whatever reasons, please put it in writing by Friday 24th October. You can do this by writing a note and giving to office or send an email to melton.west.ps@education.vic.gov.au. Any requests received after this date CANNOT be considered, due to the flow-on effect that making changes after classes have been created. Please note, requests for specific teachers will not be considered, however if you have any concerns about this, please make an  appointment to chat to me about this so that we can ensure your child is placed with the most appropriate teacher. 

Student Toilets:

Unfortunately, we have had a number of toilets vandalised over the past few weeks. We have been working hard on curbing this behaviour by reminding students of expected behaviours related to the toilets through student messages at assembly, explicit teaching of appropriate behaviour and continuous monitoring. However, unfortunately, these disappointing actions continue. We would appreciate if you could speak to your child about behaviour they may witness in the toilets and encourage them to let an adult know if they see someone deliberately destroying them. 

Supervision at Park:

As you may be aware, there is a park on the corner of Coburns Road and West Melton Drive, where a number of students wait for their parents/carers afterschool. Please be aware that the school is not able to provide teacher supervision in this area. I therefore suggest that you consider an alternative location at which your child waits to be picked up. Can I also remind you that we do have an After School care facility run by Extend, which is safe and well supervised and children can attend at a minimal cost? Please contact the school if you would like further information about Extend. Enrolment Packs are available at the office. 

We have staff on yard duty, within the school grounds, before school from 8.30 am when gates are opened and afterschool until 3.20 pm. Please ensure your child is collected promptly at 3.05 pm when they are released from their classroom, as it can be very stressful for a child to be the only one left in the playground when all other children have gone home. 

I would like to remind parents that it is your responsibility to:

1. ensure that your child arrives to school safely and are in the care of school staff at the beginning of the school day, and 

2. ensure that your child is collected from the school premises at the end of the school day, or that alternative arrangements have been made for your children 

2025 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey:

Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation. Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September 2025. All families are invited to participate in the survey. The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones. The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist Parents / Caregivers / Guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to our office team 9743 5818 for survey guides in your language. Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information.

PACER:

Students from our school have recently undertaken, an education tour of the national capital. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding to our school in the amount of $67.50 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal