Principal's Report

Great Momentum

The great start to the year that I described in our first newsletter, has certainly continued. There is such positive energy around all of the school, and the strong connectedness that students are demonstrating to their learning – and to each other – is highly visible.

Staff and students have been dedicating significant time to reinforcing our whole-school expectations, as communicated in the wellbeing section of the first newsletter. Below are the behaviours and attitudes that we want everybody to strive towards, and which are set out in our SWPBS matrix.

• Listen to others
• Show care and kindness
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• Pack away to leave shared spaces clean and tidy
• Use equipment and resources carefully
• Ask for and accept help
• Use a growth mindset
• Participate
• Be organised
• Stay in your own body bubble
• Tell a teacher if we see or hear something unsafe
• Return to the class when we are meant to

By establishing these routines early on in the year, students are providing the opportunities for everyone to succeed. 

2025 Priorities

Last week, our leadership team met with our Senior Education Improvement Leader to discuss our 2025 priorities. It was great to reflect on our recent successes and continue to plan for 2025 during this meeting. This strategic work is communicated in our Annual Implementation Plan, which will be available to parents via our website after I present it at next week’s school council meeting.

Our school priorities were expressed in detail in Newsletter 18 (2024). A snapshot of this work includes:

• Embedding our mandated phonics program in Foundation – Year 2.
• A focus on the effective teaching of grammar.
• Consolidating our approach to Maths, based on the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model 2.0.
• Continued implementation of the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Framework (SWPBS).

Our Senior Education Improvement Leader commented on the clear direction that our school has when planning for the exciting year ahead.

Staffing Update – Jane O’Riley

Our Business Manager, Jane O’Riley, will be leaving FPS at the end of this month. 

Jane has successfully been appointed as Business Manager at Banyule Primary School.

Jane has been at FPS for five years, and during that time has provided astute and valued financial leadership, as well as supporting families with all the types of queries that go through a school office! We wish Jane all the very best in her next chapter.

Parent Contributions – Building Fund & Library Fund 

Last week, families received information regarding parent contributions. Thank you to those families that have already contributed to these funds. 

We are excited to be using the Library Fund to introduce an e-catalogue of books for students to borrow – details to follow.

Building Fund expenditure for this year includes:

• Installation of a sliding door to separate the gym and foyer area.
• Installation of a sink in the science room.
• Purchase of whiteboards in classrooms to support teaching.
• Purchase of additional SoundField amplification systems in classrooms, including microphones and speakers (you may have already seen these in your child’s Year 2, 5, and 6 classrooms, or in the Science and French rooms).
• Replacement of three bubbler taps in the school yard.
• Upgrade to the Wingrove St fence.

Call for Nominations for School Council

In your Compass feed you will see information regarding school council nominations; this year we have six parent vacancies. School council provides an opportunity for parents to become involved in rich discussions around a range of topics, including buildings and grounds, finance, policy, and social events. I encourage anyone interested in taking on this role to submit a nomination form, and we look forward to having you on board.

Foundation Social Evening Success

A couple of Fridays ago, we hosted our annual Foundation Social Evening. This event provides an opportunity for the families of our youngest students to come together and spend time getting to know new faces as well as catching up with old friends.

It was a great night! The vibe in the room was fantastic – everyone was chatting happily, meeting new people and socialising. The volunteering was also great as there were more than enough hands on deck throughout the night. 

 

~ Year 1 volunteer

Thank you to our Year 1 parent volunteers for supporting this event – Rebecca Collins, Phil Collins, Michael Gaté, Kate McGillivray, Ingrid Quanchi, Annika Koops, Nick McCormack, Carolina Osario and a special mention to Mitali Bravo and Michael Gill (parents) and Sarah Moody (office administration) for their planning and coordination.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

~ Paul Wallace, Principal