Footscray West PS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Principal: Brendan Millar

In this week’s newsletter:

  • Appreciations and Congratulations
    • Captain’s badge presentation at assembly last week
    • Cross country trials
    • Grade 1 and 2 swimming
  • News
    • School Council Update
    • Zoo Snooze camps are off and running
  • Coming Up
    • Badge presentations over the next 3 weeks
    • 1 and 2 swimming continues
    • Zoo Snooze continues
    • Upcoming professional development for staff
  • Repeated Messages (and updated)
    • Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)
    • Curriculum Contributions
    • Carpark Access
    • Parent / Carer Volunteer Induction

Appreciations and Congratulations

Captain’s Badge Presentation - Congratulations to this year’s cohort of grade 6 class captains, elected by their peers and pictured having been presented with their Captain’s pins at assembly last week.  

Cross Country Trials - Thanks to Stratos and the staff team, who supported our students in grades 4 to 6 at our annual cross country trials at Johnson Reserve last Friday.  We appreciate the support of all the parents and carers who attended and cheered for all the participants,

 

Grade 1 and 2 Swimming - From the first session on Monday, the students in grades 1 and 2 attending swimming lessons at the MAC have been terrific.  They have been highly motivated from the start and with such a large movement of students daily, following instructions and acting safely are really important.  An experience such as this can supercharge a child’s sense of confidence and achievement.  

 

Zoo Snooze - There has been a great deal of effort, starting last term, in preparation for us to hold our first camp experiences for the year at such an early stage.  This would not have been possible without the work of Liz Beasley who oversaw the booking and Compass payments and grade 3 team member Trang Nguyen who has arranged the logistics so diligently.

News…

School Council Update - On Monday the final meeting with the 2024 School Council membership was held as an online meeting.  We thanked outgoing council members; Korin Greenwood (parent) and Lisa Peterson (staff) and acknowledged their involvement and commitment.  We welcomed our Parents’ Association representative, Clare Mitchell-Crow, who along with Alicia Madden have stepped into the roles of executive members.  We have a guaranteed Community position on our SC, so we were pleased to have Clare join us one meeting earlier than would otherwise have been the case.  Clare ran through the Term 1 program (all fundraising events must be approved by School Council).  The events that will be held first up are:

  • A re-introduction of the end of term bbq (Wednesday, 27th March)  
  • Easter raffle (drawn at final Term 1 assembly on Thursday, 28th March) 
  • Mother’s / Special person’s Day stall (preparation in Term 1 for Term 2 stall)

We acknowledged that a very busy Term 1 has been planned.  The moving forward of the grade 3 and 4 camping programs in seeking more favourable weather has exacerbated this situation.  That will of course provide a trade off later in the year.

 

We outlined the implementation plan for the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) in greater detail than has been communicated via the newsletter.  It is exciting to look forward to what the future holds, as we hold onto values that are consistent with our Tribes past, but better reflect the changing world.  The opportunity for whole staff professional learning with curriculum days this year and next, will provide us with a guide to manage the changes effectively.  We will regularly reference BSEM over this period as we slowly and thoroughly introduce and work to embed the program.  The next BSEM curriculum day will be during week 8 of next term.

 

We discussed the concerns with the metro area cleaning model with the change of contractor at the end of the year.  While the previous situation had been a difficult one over the life of the contract, the change of provider has also involved a reduction of cleaning hours.  This concern was also a topic at the principal network meeting I attended on Tuesday. We are not alone in dealing with this situation!

 

School Council also discussed the new building gym, music, food tech and canteen development that is in the design and planning stage.  Unfortunately, we are not able to share the design plans due to Department of Education confidentiality protocols.  We have been well supported by the design team at Kennedy Nolan Architects who have taken great interest in listening to the staff members who currently use the space and have provided a high level of specific feedback as to what may work best. Consequently, thoughtful and efficient planning adjustments have been made.  You may also have noted contractors onsite investigating services and geo technical sampling.  Avoiding underground surprises will of course have very important implications in the construction phase. There will be many steps to take until the project design stage is completed.  The demolition and building stage of course will not follow until all design and planning components have been finalised.

 

Finally, we discussed ongoing concerns about the internal structural cracking in the Wallaby corridor.  The process of having these issues managed has taken considerable time, however the structural, plumbing and geo technical investigations now are providing awareness of the reasons for the issues that have occurred over the last year.  When site works to ameliorate the issue are arranged, I will of course share this information through the newsletter.

 

Zoo Snooze camps are off and running, with the first two classes, 3TN (Mon/Tues) and 3TN (Wed/Thurs) being held in summery conditions.  Only one school/class can attend a Zoo Snooze on any day that the program runs and unsurprisingly this program is highly sought after.  Following running the program last year for students in grades 3 and 4, we decided to make this a dedicated grade 3 overnight camp and sought a more popular time of the year, as last year, as first timers we could only book a time in winter.  What was clear from when 3TN attended, is that some of the most popular exhibits were more active in the evening than what we experienced when we attended in winter last year.  We have included a few pics of this memorable experience.

 

Coming Up… 

Badge presentations over the next 3 weeks - At assembly tomorrow, Junior School Council members will be presented with their badges.  We encourage parents and carers to attend.  Marrung members will receive their badges next week (week 5) and our Environment Team members will receive their badges the following Friday (week 6).  Regardless of the weather, presentations will be made.  When we experience extreme weather on Fridays we hold an assembly indoors in the gallery space and encourage all parents and carers to attend if their child is represented.

 

1 and 2 swimming continues - Remember, that due to the pool having a booked event, there will be no program tomorrow.  That might be beneficial, as the students are tiring towards the end of the week.  The program will continue next week for the full 5 days, culminating on Friday, 1st March.

 

Zoo Snooze continues - Next week it will be Tess’ class (3TM) attending from Monday evening and returning on Tuesday afternoon and finally Michael’s class on Tuesday afternoon, returning on Wednesday afternoon. 

 

Upcoming professional development - On Monday and Tuesday of next week, members of our School Improvement Team; Carolyn, Libby, Towela, Monica, Medha and Dan will participate in a 2 day leadership development program provided by Growth Coaching.  Towela, Carolyn and Helena will also be out on Wednesday and Thursday for the first 2 days of training to support the implementation of the Mental Health in Primary Schools program mandated to be introduced to all schools in our Region this year. When professional learning is held, it always relates to either a Department of Education, or a FWPS priority identified through the Review process and 4 year Strategic Plan that has been consequently developed.  Where required, all classes will be covered by relief teachers or by internal arrangements.  

 

 

Cheers,

Brendan

 

Repeated messages (and updated)…

Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) - If you have eligibility we don't want you to miss out. Please read the information included again this week in the 'From the Office Team' page.

 

Curriculum Contributions - A parent/carer payment contribution Compass post was forwarded to all families a fortnight ago and will be sitting near the top of your Compass tab.  We appreciate all who have supported our programs by making this payment already.

 

Car Park Access - A reminder that the car park is open prior to 8 am and after 4 pm daily for parent access for the TheirCare OSHC program.  At other times please appreciate that the car park is for staff use.  Should you need to walk through to the TheirCare location at Emu Corner, for safety’s sake we ask that you use the pedestrian gate next to the boom gate and make your way between Koala and the Wallaby buildings past Gecko via the basketball court through to Emu Corner.

 

Parent/Carer Volunteer Induction Please look out for the Compass post, pinned so it remains easily accessible. For all new families, or parents and carers who didn’t complete the online process last year, if you wish to assist in classrooms, excursions or camps, or volunteer for really any other purpose at FWPS, we need you to complete the modules online.  For parents/carers who did this last year, all you need to do is sign the relevant form at the office.  While the content will be adjusted when the Child Safety and Wellbeing Team can find the time, it remains relevant.