Principal's Report
Dear families and friends of MPW,
Welcome back to Term 4. There are some exciting events coming up this term for all year levels. We conclude our camping program with the F/1 activity night and Year 2 sleepover. Teams have some stimulating excursions and incursions planned including: Scienceworks, the City, the Maribyrnong River, 3/4 Bike Education, 5/6 FAD (free activity day), the Museum and our 5/6 Circus program.
Towards the end of the term we will also be hosting the return of the Fun Run, we haven’t been able to do this for the past two years and JSC have been discussing it for a fun way to end the year. Stay tuned for more information, some students have mentioned to me today there might be a ‘slime the principal’ component to the day and seemed a little too keen about that idea.
Transition Programs
Last term we began our Kinder transition processes by conducting some kinder visits to our future foundation students. Our Kinder to school transition program will run onsite starting Friday 14th of October for a four-week period. The program will allow for our new parents to come onsite for information sessions focusing on Literacy and Numeracy, while the children have time to get a feel for the school, meet and work with some of our F/1 staff.
Again, I would like to acknowledge the work of our classroom parent representatives and parent helpers throughout the last two terms, for excursions, camps, sporting events, fundraising activities and in general support of the school. These events and activities are able to run because of parent support, and also provides an opportunity for parents to be part of the learning and activities as well.
For parents of our Year 6 students, we are waiting for information from the secondary schools about transition opportunities. At times they will contact families directly with this information.
The last part of the process is the State wide Transition day on Tuesday 13th December where our kinder students come in to meet their class and teacher and our year 6 students go off to visit their secondary school.
Upcoming Pupil Free Days
A reminder that we have two pupil free days throughout this term. The first is our final Curriculum Day for the year on Monday 31st October, followed by the Melbourne Cup Day public holiday. The second is the common teacher professional practice day on Monday 21st November.
Thank you to those who have been able to provide positive feedback around the open classroom sessions over the last couple of weeks of term 3, it was great to see parents able to participate in learning opportunities more and more as the year has progressed. Again we are hoping to offer our Classroom Helpers session in the next week or two so parents can again volunteer in the classrooms.
The last day for students this term will be Monday 19th December, with a 3.30pm dismissal time. On the last day we will hold our final assembly for the year.
Staff’s last day of the year will be Tuesday 20th December, this is a student free day.
COVID update
The school will not be receiving any more deliveries of Rapid Antigen Tests in term 4. The RATs we sent home last term was the final distribution from the school to families.
The updated advice from the department regarding face masks in schools: it is no longer an expectation to wear masks indoors but continues to be encouraged. Those who are a household close contact are required to wear a mask indoors.
Year 6 Graduation
The date for our year 6 Graduation has been pencilled in for Wednesday 14th December. The senior teachers will begin organising this over the coming weeks and provide details to families. The process over the last two years has been highly successful, and we have received positive feedback from families on this model.
Leaving MPW in 2023?
We continue planning towards the 2023 school year, a reminder that if you are planning on your child(ren) not being at Moonee Ponds West in 2023 that you please complete the form below and return to the office or to moonee.ponds.west.ps@education.vic.gov.au
This information will help the school to confirm enrolment numbers for next year.
If you are not returning, I offer thanks to the student(s) and family for their contributions and partnership with our school. We wish all the best for those moving on to a new setting in their future learning journey.
Regards,
Jarrod Sutton
Acting Principal