Footscray West PS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Principal: Brendan Millar

 In this week’s newsletter:

  • Appreciations and News
    • Through School Transition and induction of new staff
    • Volunteers’ appreciation morning tea was held today
    • Building project update
    • Grade 6 captains’ party
    • Toilet grant unsuccessful
    • Focus groups
    • Parking fines handed out
    • Salvation Army / FWPS appeal closes 11am tomorrow
    • Canteen final service tomorrow
  • Coming Up
    • Grade 6 interschool sport finals at FNPS tomorrow
    • Assembly tomorrow
    • Graduation on Monday
    • Picnic in the Park
    • Annual Moving Days
    • Class Parties
    • Last Day Dismissal
  • Reminders
    • Whooping cough and Covid alerts
    • School Saver bonus
    • Curriculum and Professional Practice days in 2025

Appreciations and News

Through School Transition and Induction for New Staff

We had a successful Through School Transition day on Tuesday.  The smooth running of such an event is of course only due to the preparation beforehand.  It really does take most of the last term to prepare all the steps to ensure such a complex process can be successfully implemented.  We were pleased to host our new staff; Hayley McAlinden, Drew Murphy and Ella Pepper who spent a busy day being inducted into school practices and processes and finally meeting with their new teaching team at the end of the day.  Class teachers and students moved to new classrooms and spent time starting the process of getting to know each other. As Annie McNeil is still in the UK, Heather Patterson stepped in to start the familiarisation process with her class.  We also hosted new students who visited for just the TST session along with their new classmates.  A huge appreciation from class teachers and specialists to members of leadership, for the outstanding management of the entire complex process.

 

Thank You Morning Tea for Volunteers 

We were pleased to host many volunteers from the FWPS community this morning during our annual Volunteers Morning Tea held in the gallery space in Dingo.  Food was provided by staff and prepared by the office team to ensure no one needed lunch!  This is a lovely FWPS tradition in making acknowledgement that excursions, swimming, some sporting events and camps cannot be run without the volunteer efforts of parents and carers. 

 

Building Update 

We remain unsure when the Victorian Schools Building Authority will provide us with the go ahead to share gym / music / food tech and canteen building plans with our community.  We finally will be able to share the designs with staff and that will occur with our afterschool meeting on Monday and we will share plans with our community the moment we are permitted to.  On a practical note, this week the music room was cleared - a big thanks to our Soundgarage crew and Jane McCracken - and Stratos and Taleb have also been clearing the PE store.  Redundant items, such as metal cricket stumps have been gifted to families and donated to our local op shop, as Stratos sets up two small stores for next year’s program. The first being using the art store at the south end of Bilby for medium term storage and repurposing the Bilby meeting room next year for high use PE resources, as well as Jane’s music resources. From today TheirCare will start clearing out resources from Emu Corner, as we collaboratively prepare the gallery space, teacher office and Orchard to Plate kitchen for daily TheirCare use.  We expect that the last morning TheirCare will be using Emu Corner will be next Monday, before transitioning the entire program to Dingo on Monday afternoon.  Access for parents will be from the rear of the school via the Blandford Street pedestrian entrance.  We anticipate that due to the building project access centred on Argyle Street, this will continue to be the TheirCare access point for the period of construction for mornings and afternoons during term and during holiday programs.

 

Grade 6 Captains’ Party 

Captains’ convener, Marshal and I enjoyed hosting our annual Captains’ party on Wednesday in the Bilby meeting room.  We enjoyed some party food that was beautifully presented by office team member Rachael.  We then filmed a quick welcome for our captains for next year and finally the crew joined in with some Just Dance action.  I appreciated the volunteers who did such a great job cleaning up that the room looked better than when we started! 

Just trying out the combination dance move!

 

Toilet Grant Submission Unsuccessful 

We were hopeful that by seeking a small grant to reduce the school cost for our proposed main student toilet refurbishment, we would be more likely to receive the green light.  Alas that was not the case!  We will therefore switch to plan B and use school funds for this purpose.  Our expectation at this stage is that this work will be managed during the Term 1 holidays next year.

 

Focus Groups 

Digging deeper into student responses to the Attitudes to School survey, an annual mandated Department of Education initiative, we are appreciative of the assistance of School Council member, Katie Berman who volunteered her professional expertise along with the assistance of Assistant Principal, Carolyn.  By asking the students to expand on their responses from earlier in the year, we are planning to better understand our middle and senior students' expectations, understanding and aspirations.

 

Parking Fines Handed Out 

Recently Maribyrnong City Council traffic officers fined multiple motorists who were illegally parked on and around Argyle Street at the busy school dismissal time.  We regularly urge drivers to act responsibly and thoughtfully around school and feel frustrated that our concerns can be so readily ignored. There was a picture shared by a concerned parent today that showed 2 cars double parked while students alighted unsafely.  We will forward any such evidence onto authorities.

 

Salvation Army / FWPS JSC Christmas Appeal 

Thanks to our community. The appeal has been wonderfully supported. The collection for the toy and food donations will cease at 11am on tomorrow.

 

The Canteen’s Final Service will also be Tomorrow

Thanks to Lindy and the team. It has been another big year with a full stop at least for now with the requirement for us to launch a lunch delivery service next year.

Coming Up 

Grade 6 Interschool Sport Finals at Footscray North PS 

Finals matches will be played tomorrow morning. Our girls’ and boys’ basketball teams and the bat tennis team are eagerly looking forward to representing our school. The players and coaches will walk to FNPS for their matches - an ideal warm up.  We welcome parents / carers to attend and support the teams. Matches are due to be played from approximately 9.30am with girls’ basketball and bat tennis matches occurring from that time and the boys’ basketball to follow the girls’ match.  We wish all players the best of luck!

 

Assembly Tomorrow 

We will hope for another outdoor assembly tomorrow.  We will provide sports reports from tomorrow's finals and our assembly item will feature a minibeast presentation from the grade 1 team. This will also be the final Pupil of the Week Awards for this year. 

 

Graduation 

Our annual night of nights will again be held at Quin Auditorium, Caroline Chisholm Catholic College on Monday evening. Most grade 6 students will be collected early from school to provide them with some preparation and rest time prior to graduation. With the extreme weather forecast we are hoping that the air conditioning is very functional! All grade 6 families received 3 complimentary tickets and were able to purchase additional tickets. These were provided to the students today. The grade 6 teachers have worked closely with our graduation class and are confident that they are poised and ready to showcase their best to our community. This year Marco (joining the grade 3 team next year) has cast aside his emcee duties and the event will be jointly hosted by Mikala and Marshal on an evening when brief speeches by student and staff representatives are interspersed with our academic and community and citizenship awards, presentation of graduation certificates and grade performances. We always appreciate that past staff members attend, as will our local Member of the State Parliament, Ms Katie Hall to present the (now) annual Dr Moss Cass Award for Community and Integrity.  We will provide a comprehensive report in next week’s newsletter, include a list of award winners and present these to the community at our final assembly on Friday of next week.

 

Picnic in the Park 

After graduation, the vibe becomes a lot more relaxed with our annual day long grade 6 Picnic in the Park at Hansen Reserve on Wednesday, 18th December. This is a day when some students and staff will engage with what feels like a day-long game of soccer, others relax under the awning, or play on the fantastic equipment and chat with friends and teachers. This is also the one day when students, armed with permanent pens, are given the opportunity to sign each other’s school shirts.  You just may see a few of these in the yard after school!

 

Annual Moving Days 

On Tuesday and Wednesday we have arranged for contractors to move major resources to classes and specialist spaces to accommodate the grade placement arrangements for the next school year. They also will be likely to be moving some heavier items from Gecko or the shelter shed into Emu Corner in preparation for our big build. With the assistance of our maintenance person Taleb, we have a strong focus on this process occurring with safety in mind. When moving resources we ensure that the rooms are clear of students and staff and we set up barriers whenever necessary to ensure corridors can be utilised without being affected by pedestrian traffic.

 

Class Parties 

These are all due to take place next Thursday, the second last day of the school year.  While you may receive communication from your child’s teacher, we anticipate that each child will bring some party fare, bearing in mind that students with food allergies will need to supply food that is suitable for their consumption.

 

Last Day Early Dismissal 

Please note that our school year is due to end at 1.20pm on Friday of next week, 20th December.

Reminders

Whooping Cough and Covid Warnings 

Unfortunately, we continue to receive feedback from families testing positive for whooping cough. Please see your doctor if a member of your family is experiencing the following symptoms:

Additionally, I have received a Department of Education alert regarding recent COVID spread in metro Melbourne: 

Please be vigilant and if in doubt, please keep your child at home until symptoms have abated. 

 

School Saver Bonus 

In recent weeks we provided information on how all our families can access the one off School Saver Bonus in 2025. This initiative is open to all families, with a $400 bonus for each child attending a state government school next year.  However, to receive access for costs set for the first semester next year you will need to ‘activate’ your account using details provided in an email on or about November 26th from the Department of Education to the email address that you have provided in your child’s enrolment documentation. Please check your spam folder if you do not receive this email.

  • Please follow the instructions contained in that email to activate your School Saving Bonus account.
  • See the ‘From the Office Team’ page where you will find detailed steps on what every family must do to activate their funding.
  • Once you have completed the steps above you will have immediate access to the $400 for 2025 costs.  This includes camp payments, such as the grade 3 Zoo Snooze that we are required to collect this year for these Term 1 events next year.

Curriculum and Professional Practice Days in 2025 

Last week School Council approved the following student-free curriculum and professional practice days in 2025. We anticipate that Their Care will provide a full program of care on these dates.  You may wish to place them in your diary.

  • Tuesday, 28th January 2025 (Staff Planning)
  • Monday, 10th February 2025 (Berry Street Education Model Day 3)
  • Monday, 26th May 2025 (Berry Street Education Model Day 4)
  • Tuesday, 27th May 2025 (Report Writing)
  • Monday, 3rd November 2025 (Professional Practice Day)

Cheers,

Brendan

REPEATED MESSAGES FROM PAST NEWSLETTERS

Leaving FWPS in 2025?

If your family is planning to leave for another school next year, we would really appreciate you emailing us at: footscray.west.ps@education.vic.gov.au using the subject line (above) and letting us know your child’s new school so we can process the transfer.