Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

My apologies this newsletter is a day late, however it has provided the opportunity to thank the community for their well-wishes for Principal’s Day, today 2nd August. Sarah Mills, Dani Bird and I were recognised at assembly for our leadership across the school which we feel privileged to lead. Making a difference to children’s learning and wellbeing, through working in partnership with staff and families is a real honour for each of us. The greetings, smiles and gifts of appreciation classes have created with their teachers and ES staff has made this day extra special. Our Admin team also surprised us with decorations in the admin building. Thank you everyone for making this a special day!

Prep Enrolments 2025: If you or somebody you know has a child turning 5 before 30th April 2025 they are eligible to attend school in 2025. All children have a guaranteed place in their local school, and some schools, like ours, can accept enrolments outside their designated area. If you feel they are ready to start school next year and would like to find out more about what we have to offer, please call the office to join one of our small group tours. To help with organising staff and preparing for an effective transition program, enrolments should be received by as soon as possible.

Speaking to Other Children: We occasionally have situations where parents or carers of a child feel it necessary to intervene with an incident involving a different child. It may be because they see inappropriate behaviour they feel needs addressing or that the child may have had an incident with their own child that they feel needs to be followed up. It is important to let the school deal with these situations as it can be quite frightening for children to have unknown adults talk to them or reprimand them. If you have witnessed a situation in the yard that concerns you, please speak to myself or Sarah Mills about your concerns. Due to privacy reasons, we probably can’t go into much detail, however ensuring you know we are aware and are dealing with the situation hopefully will help alleviate any concerns you may have. There can be numerous factors impacting a child’s behaviour and observing a small part of a situation does not usually adequately depict how we may be managing the situation. We appreciate your understanding and trust that we are doing all we can to support the child and others who may be impacted, including utilising external supports as and when required.

If your child is experiencing difficulties, including bullying, that you do not believe has been properly followed up, please call the office to make an appointment with a member of the Principal Class Team, or Ms Moore our Wellbeing Teacher.

Inclusive Education: Inclusive education means that all members of every school community are valued and supported to fully participate, learn, develop and succeed within an inclusive school culture. Victoria has a strong and vibrant education system that celebrates diversity and is committed to supporting the achievement and participation of all students. Inclusive education acknowledges that some children and young people have intersecting identities or additional needs that schools may need to take into consideration. These identities may relate to:

having a disability or additional learning needs
gender identity
sexual orientation
being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person
race
cultural identity
speaking a language other than English
social factors
economic factors
experience of abuse, neglect or family violence.

The department is committed to embedding inclusive education in all school environments for students with disability and additional needs, and we fully support this. All Victorians, irrespective of the school they attend, where they live or their social or economic status, should have access to high quality education. An inclusive education system enables all students to be welcomed, accepted and engaged so that they can participate, achieve and thrive in school life. At Melton West PS many students have individual plans to support them in a variety of ways. It may be as simple as giving them access to some fidget toys in their classroom that they can use to help them focus, or more complex as having a modified learning program for some or all of their learning. You may see children around the school doing things that you think they shouldn’t be doing, such as being on the playground during learning time, however this may be part of their individual plan, related to an individual learning goal. We need everyone in our school community to understand that we work closely with families to support all students, in many ways. Please do not judge the behaviours of other children. If you are concerned for your own child’s safety or learning, please arrange meeting with a member of the Principal Class Team where we can develop a plan.

Button Batteries Awareness: This week at the Principal Network meeting we heard from a lady who lost her very young daughter in 2015 after she swallowed a button battery and died. Her story was harrowing, and she has since created a foundation to raise awareness of the dangers of button batteries, especially for children under the age of 8. I am sharing details in this newsletter as the first step in helping share this important information with our families in the hope that it keeps the children in your homes, and school, safe. I was made aware that 20 children a week present to emergency department with a button battery injury, which is over 1000 children across Australia each year. Button batteries are found in many household items, including musical cards and watches. They should be carefully removed and disposed of when not in use, and kept out of reach of children, when necessary, in the home, like for car keys. A tip shared was to wrap old/flat batteries in sticky tape before disposal, so that if they are ingested/swallowed/put in ears or up the nose, the damage is minimised. Storing any type of battery should be out of children’s reach at all times. For more information is available at www.bellafootprints.com.au I have also placed information in this newsletter.

Communication: Class Dojo is an effective means of communication that suit the 21st century way of communicating. If it is your preferred way of communicating with teacher, please check regularly and ensure all contact details, including mobile phone numbers and email addresses are up to date. I am aware that the last update of the App may have caused a few issues. I regularly need to uninstall and re-install to maintain functionality. Of course, if you prefer to call or have our staff speak to you over the phone or in person, we can arrange that.

Swimming: A reminder to return swimming notes as soon as possible to ensure a place.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal