Principal's Report
Dear families and friends of MPW
Welcome to the 2026 school year and our first newsletter for the new year. A reminder that the School Newsletter is published on our school website on Tuesday afternoons, fortnightly. The newsletter contains upcoming important information, reminders and acknowledgements. We strongly encourage you to read the newsletter to stay informed and aware of what is happening in the school.
We had a great start on Thursday with our 1-6 students returning very settled in their new classes. Today we welcomed our Foundation students for their first day of school. Getting around the school throughout the first couple of days, students have been very settled, engaged and calm. We start the year with the ‘Learning to Learn’ focus, where classes are setting up their routines and structures, and Rights and Responsibility agreements over the first weeks of the year.
We welcome all our new families joining the MPW community this year. To kick off the year, we have our Basket Tea, the first community event, on Friday 20th February. This is a social opportunity for the community to come together, make connections for this year’s classes and get to know each other for the new year. It is BYO everything on the Tiger Turf from about 4:45pm until 7:30ish.
The Basket Tea will be set up in 2026 class allocations to begin with, to allow you to get to know families from your child’s class this year. However, you are welcome to move around to get to know the wider community. We leave the Soccer Pitch accessible for students to play.
Access to the school’s toilets near the basketball court will be available until approximately 7.30pm. The buildings across the school will then be locked and alarmed.
A reminder that students should not be attending the Basket Tea unsupervised without their parents accompanying them.
I hope that you and your family can attend.
Staffing Updates
This year we welcome Jessie Freestone to the Foundation team, Felicity Marshall to the 3/4 and of course our new Assistant Principal Anna Gbikpi-Benissan. Anna has an introduction in the Wellbeing section of the newsletter and will be on yard duty before and after school, generally in the Tiger Turf area should you wish to say hello in person.
Start of year Reminders:
School times- Arrival and Departure:
8:45am- School gates open for students and families to begin coming on site. Students should not be entering the school grounds through the office prior to the gates opening.
8:50am- First bell for soft entry into classrooms to get organised for the day.
9.00am- Bell to start the school day.
3.20pm- School gates open for families to begin coming on site for collection of students.
3.30pm- Bell for end of the school day and student dismissal.
Parents are welcome to come onsite before and after school once gates are open, and able to come inside into classrooms between 8.50am and 9.00am or after school. As the school day begins at 9am, we do ask that you leave classrooms when the 9am bell goes to allow teachers to begin their day. Gates are generally locked a few minutes after the bell at 9am and 3.45pm.
Sunsmart
As we are a SunSmart school, our SunSmart policy was updated last year. Students at Moonee Ponds West Primary School are encouraged to make healthy choices and are supported to understand the benefits and risks of sun exposure. A combination of sun protection measures are in place:
- Students will be required to wear hats that protect their face, neck, and ears from mid-August to the end of April when they are outside.
- Hats must be broad-brimmed, legionnaire, or a bucket hat. Baseball caps and visors are not considered a suitable alternative.
- Sun-protective clothing such as: loose, cool, tightly woven fabric; shirts with a collar and/or high necklines; tops with elbow length or long sleeves; longer style shorts and skirts.
- Sun protective clothing is included in our school uniform.
- The use of SPF30, SPF50, or SPF50+ broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen is encouraged, with time allowed for applying sunscreen. Students will be reminded to apply sunscreen before going outdoors.
The full policy can be found on our school website:
https://www.mooneewestps.vic.edu.au/uploaded_files/media/1678339973mpw_sunsmart_policy_2022.pdf
School Uniform
The school’s dress code policy includes the following expectations for all students in 2026:
- It is expected that a logoed school uniform top will be worn to school and on identified offsite school events.
- Uniform bottoms should be consistent with the navy-blue colour aspects of the uniform and are not required to be logoed.
- Shoes should be closed toe and fit for the day’s activities.
- Additional layers of clothing may be worn underneath the uniform for added warmth.
- Closed toe footwear must be worn at school to comply with safety regulations.
- Footwear should be appropriate for the day’s activity.
- The school also operates a lost property and second-hand uniform opportunity for parents.
- Please contact the school’s Business Manager, Sandra Monaghan to discuss support that we may be able to provide to families experiencing difficulty meeting uniform costs, including information about eligibility for uniform support through State Schools’ Relief.
- Further information about State Schools’ Relief is also available on their website: htps://www.ssr.net.au
We at times get questions and families seeking clarifications we receive regarding the expectations, such as non-uniform items, colour of pants and shorts, sports uniform and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. I hope the dot points below help clarify these questions.
- Casual jumpers, hoodies, jackets are not part of the school uniform and should not be worn during school time. On wet days, students can wear waterproof or rain jackets to and from school but should be taken off during class-time.
- The colour scheme of shorts, pants, skirts should be consistent with the navy-blue aspects of the uniform.
- Pants and shorts do not need to be logoed and can be sourced from other providers
- Short length shorts or skirts (that are above the mid-thigh) should not be worn, as they do not meet requirements of our Sunsmart policy. Shorts and skirts should be longer in style to protect students’ legs. Denim shorts should not be worn.
- Sports uniform can be worn any day of the week, not just on sports days.
- Caps or visors should not be worn to school, as they do not meet requirements of our Sunsmart policy.
The full policy including uniform items can be found on our school website:
Lunch Orders
Darling Street Café will begin lunch orders from tomorrow, using the Spriggy Schools app. Lunch orders will continue to be offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. The cut off for ordering lunch orders is 9:15am the day of the order.
Specialist Sessions in 2026
This year, we are continuing to provide additional time to our Japanese and Creative Arts programs for the 4th hour of specialists time for students. In Terms 1 & 2, our F-2 students will have 2 hours of Japanese each week and our 3-6 students will have 2 hours of Creative Arts each week. For Terms 3 & 4, this will alternate for our F-2 students having 2 hours of Creative Arts and our 3-6 students having 2 hours of Japanese.
This opportunity has allowed students to engage more deeply in our Specialist programs and support the successful implementation of specific activities, such as virtual conferencing with our sister school in Japan for students in 3-6, and opportunities for additional learning across the arts curriculum.
Parent Information Sessions next week
Next week we will be offering parent information sessions for each Professional Learning Team to provide you with an overview of what to expect in your child’s year level in 2026. These will be held directly after the school day, from 3.45pm – 4.45pm, over three nights to provide opportunity to get to any sibling sessions you may want to attend also.
F/1 and Year 2 will be on Tuesday 10th
3/4s will be on Wednesday 11th
5/6s will be on Thursday 12th
Specialists will be visiting each session to introduce themselves and talk about their programs.
Teachers will send out more information, in particular about location for your child’s session by the end of the week.
Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ privacy policy and the Schools’ privacy collection notice.
Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. It also outlines expectations of parents taking photos of students during school related activities.
The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:
* Amharic
* Arabic
* Dari
* Gujarati
* Mandarin
* Somali
* Sudanese
* Turkish
* Urdu
* Vietnamese
Parent Teacher Meetings in Week 5
Parent-Teacher Meet and Greet meetings are also scheduled for Week 4, 24th to 26th Feb. These sessions are our first Parent Teacher Interview opportunity, to provide time to meet your child’s teacher and share valuable information for a successful year for your child.
The schedule for bookings will be accessible through Compass. We will send a Compass notification when these are setup and ready on Compass for you to book in the coming weeks.
It has been great to see families in the mornings and the afternoons the past few days, and great to see new faces this morning.
We are looking forward to another fantastic year of learning and fun at MPW!
Regards,
Jarrod Sutton
Principal