Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW,

Congratulations again to our MVIMP campers, who showcased their instrumental music skills at the MVIMP camp concert last Thursday night. All reports from the students and staff at the camp that all had a great time and enjoyed the experience. I would like to thank Reece Wilke for volunteering to attend and support the camp as our supervising teacher. Thank you to Sandra, for her support in liaising with the MVIMP network schools to organise another successful camp. It was a proud moment as Principal to see the student’s enthusiasm and effortless performances alongside students from other schools at the Gala Concert on Thursday night attended by the MVIMP student families.

Congratulations also to our students who participated in district athletics, winning the District Shield for MPW this year. Thank you to Miranda, Bill and the parent helpers for their support on the day. I wish those moving on to division finals all the best, and encourage you as always to try your best.

5/6 Camps

Next week, we begin the first of our two 5/6 camps. The 5/6 team have been busy organising the activities and logistics of the camp, and will again prove to be another exciting experience for senior students. Additional details will be sent home to families this week in preparation for next week’s camp.

Swimming Program

We have had a great up take for the 5/6 swimming program over the past fortnight. Thank you to Miranda for her organisation of this important life skill opportunity, and to the teachers and parent helpers who have supported students each afternoon to and from the pool.

Our 3/4 students begin their swimming program this week and I am sure it will be as successful.

School Review Focus Group Sessions

We have again employed the services of Leslie Tulloch, educational consultant, to facilitate our focus group sessions to support our school review. Leslie will be conducting parent, staff and student focus groups to seek feedback and celebrations about the school. 

We have organised some structured focus groups this Thursday, involving our Parent Representative Group, School Council members, Junior School Council and staff. Next Wednesday 17th August at 7pm Leslie will facilitate an open session for the whole community to join, this will be held online and we will communicate the link in the coming days through Compass.

Parent Opinion Survey

It is that time of the year again, where we will be randomly inviting a selection of families to complete the Parent Opinion Survey. It doesn’t take long to complete, and we hope for at least 80% of selected families to complete the survey in order to get a reliable sampling of the community. 

The survey opens on Monday August 15th and runs through to September 16th. If your family is randomly selected we encourage you to participate.

Science Week 

Next week is Science Week, with all teams having a science driven Inquiry focus this term we anticipate the opportunity to celebrate Science not only next week but through the whole term. I am hoping to pop into our 3-6 classes myself next week to run a science lesson and investigation. We will be posting on Compass some science activities that can be conducted at home to celebrate Science Week also.

Book Week is coming

Book week commences the week of the 22nd August. The theme this year is “Dream with your eyes open”. Students have been asking when our big dress up day for Book Week will be held, it will be Monday 22nd August. We have chosen this day to ensure all students can participate, as we also have 5/6 camp in the same week from Tuesday. Book Week continues the school’s highlighting of rich literature and love of reading. Students will be able to connect with their favourite book, read it again and recommend it to others. We look forward to students and staff dressing up as their favourite book characters on the 22nd.

Capital Works Update

We have now finalised the first phase of the capital works funding process (AMP 1). This has been approved by the South Western Victoria Region and Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA). We have worked through a process with the VSBA to interview architects and have now been allocated an architect to work with on the next phase, which is the AMP 2 to determine the project’s scope and options for improving the areas listed in the funding announcement.

Finally, we have rescheduled our Open Classroom session to later in the term. Our case numbers have crept up again in the past two weeks, and we want to ensure that we provide families with the opportunity to come in for the open classroom sessions in a safe way. A reminder that face masks are encouraged to be worn during the winter season, especially if your child has any symptoms such as a cough or runny nose. Masks are encouraged to support the limiting of sharing colds, flus and COVID. Students are required to wear a mask if they are a household contact and when traveling on buses. 

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Acting Principal