In this week’s newsletter:

News

Congratulations and appreciations
School Council met on Monday
Grade 3MP attended the Zoo Snooze camp this week
School photo day today and on Friday
Inform and Empower program/ Raising Kids in a Digital World parent/carer information forum will be held next Thursday evening

Coming Up

Cross country trial tomorrow
Friday Assembly

Reminders

Curriculum contributions
Photograph and video permission requirements

News

Congratulations to our New Class Captains

Last week our new grade 6 class captains were presented with their badges. Pictured are the new team.

Back Row:

Jack (6ML), Isabelle (6ML), Stella (6ML), Indi (6ML), Sophie T (6MI)

Front Row:

Hugo (6MA), Jude (6MA), Harry (6MI), Spencer (6MI), Sophie M (6MA),

Siena (6MI), Ellfa (6MA)

Appreciations

An appreciation to Sharon in the office for arranging the receipt of new flags and our flag monitors for conscientiously raising them on Monday for the first time. They look great!

School Council met on Monday

FWPS School Council met online on Monday evening to reflect on the past year. We took a moment to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of two council members who will not be continuing in their roles.

Katie Berman has been a dynamic and invaluable contributor, working closely with school leadership on a variety of initiatives, including planning, presenting to focus groups, participating in the school review, and helping to shape our new vision and values. Katie has completed two terms on the council (4 years) and is now stepping down to dedicate more time to the Parents' Association.

Jess Elliott has also made significant contributions to the success of our School Council, particularly in her role with the Facilities Sub-Committee. Notably, when we explored the installation of a solar array, Jess took on the considerable responsibility of leading the project. Her efforts resulted in the successful installation of a 64KW PV panel system on the Dingo and Bilby roof areas in 2022/23. Jess has also served for the equivalent of 2 terms (4 years) having begun by filling a casual vacancy in 2021 and, after careful consideration, has chosen to step down from the council, provided we could accommodate this change.

We are pleased to announce that two new members have filled the vacant positions on the council. Andrew Jago, father of Sam (4TF) and Keira (2AM), brings with him an education and AFL coaching background, while Kate Riley, mother of Tavish (6ML) and Arlo (3DM), offers expertise in medical counselling. Kate will fill the casual position created due to Jess relinquishing her role mid term.

School councils typically have a parent-majority membership, complemented by Department of Education representatives. I would also like to express my gratitude to Assistant Principal Liz and leadership member Towela, for renominating to remain on the council. It’s important to note that council members are volunteers and do not receive payment for their time. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated and high-quality group of individuals serving on our council.

During our meeting we discussed the following aspects:

Concerns relating to food shared for birthday celebrations were considered at our ComPol sub committee meeting (immediately) prior to and subsequently during our school council meeting. There are some recommendations that will be developed into a policy to enable a clear and consistent approach to managing this.
The Parents' Association shared plans for this term. Hey Nice Murals have been provided the go ahead to design a wonderful mural for the PA second hand uniform container, now far more visible since being moved to the front of Bilby, prior to the demolition of the Gecko building.
- PA will work with our office team in running the traditional Easter Raffle. Mother’s and Father’s day stalls will have the price per item increased this year from $5, an amount that has remained at the same amount for over 2 decades!
- PA will again provide a donation to the student representative groups (JSC, Marrung and Enviroment Team) to enable them to act on their major priorities.
- The Parents' Association will meet next week to discuss this year’s plans. PA would love to have some new faces join them at their first meeting next Monday, 24th February at 8.50am in the staffroom (northern end of Wallaby). No need to respond beforehand.
The demolition stage of our building project has progressed and is due to be completed by the end of this week. We are working well with the Bowden team who are very professional and supportive in all interactions. The school principal team is involved in all decision making and made fully aware of the program through a fortnightly onsite meeting with all parties represented. We were required to provide a NAPLAN assessment program ahead of the year 3 and 5 program next month. Consequently, onsite work will cease for this 5 day testing window to ensure students and staff can focus on the NAPLAN assessment without fear of interruption.

Grade 3MP attended the Zoo Snooze camp this week

On Tuesday afternoon, the first group of excited Grade 3 campers from 3MP returned to school in the late afternoon, dressed in casual, comfortable clothes, eager and ready for their inaugural Zoo Snooze camp. Assistant Principal Carolyn was scheduled to support class teacher Marco. However, Marco was unwell and unable to attend school on Tuesday or the overnight camp. As a result, I stepped in at short notice to accompany the class. I felt pretty lucky attending this amazing camp at short notice and even luckier considering what a marvellous crew of 3MP campers attended, along with Vi Caputo’s (amazing) mum, Tanya. We saw some wonderfully active animals during the night tour after a really substantial dinner. The evening closed with a ride on Australia’s oldest amusement carousel.

There were some very tired campers by the time everyone was zipped in their sleeping bags and tents.

The next morning I left to return for a school meeting and Carolyn followed after Libby and Jess RD had arrived for the morning shift. Following breakfast, the crew had the opportunity to experience the Zoo in the daytime. I had great feedback from Libby, Jess and Tanya on how resilient the children were and how members of the public commented on how kind and helpful they were. It was a great experience and we hope that Marco is well enough to return to hear all about it while the experience is still fresh. Our remaining grade 3s will all experience their own Zoo Snooze camps next week, supported by their class teachers, members of our leadership team and parents. We will keep our fingers crossed that all the remaining camps are as successful as this first one.

School photo days today and on Friday

The first of our two days of student and staff photos was held today. Grade photos have been arranged to be held in order to best fit with our school program, particularly in mind of grades 4, 5 and 6, all photographed today due to tomorrow morning’s scheduled cross country trial. An information flyer has been included in several recent newsletters and is included again today. For any enquiries relating to ordering photos should be directed to Arthur Reed on 1800 032 028.

Inform and Empower program / Raising Kids in a Digital World information forum is on Thursday of next week

Raising Kids in a Digital World online information session for parents

It is pleasing to see that over 60 parents and carers have booked (or rebooked) on the new booking link for the parent information session to be presented next Thursday. If you haven’t yet, please read the information I first posted a fortnight ago and have subsequently revised.

By the way, our Inform and Empower online lessons for our grades started with students from grades 1 to 6 this week. The majority of classes have already participated, and those who hadn’t will attend one of the multiple viewing times available next week. The prep team will have their opportunity to stream their introductory session during week 6.

Parents and carers will have a comprehensive understanding of the nature and purpose of the Inform and Empower program if they join the parent information webcast on the evening of Thursday, 27th February (7.30 - 9.00 pm). This session is aimed at an adult audience only.

Booking details included in last week’s newsletter are repeated (below).

With the financial support of Inner West Enterprises (the community outreach for the Seddon branch of the Community Bendigo Bank), FWPS is delighted to launch our relationship with Inform and Empower. www.informandempower.com.au. The team at I&E are local educators who, experiencing the concerns most of us feel about the ubiquitous nature of the internet and the negative impact it can have on our kids, started an online active education program for primary schools. This is webcast live each term in a series of programs catering for all age groups. We started the program at FWPS this week. Thanks to the 58 families who, based only on the link provided in our return to school information post and some flyers that had been placed around the school, had already booked for what had been advertised as an onsite presentation from the I & E team. This quick uptake created a nice problem for us! Remember all we have been sharing about the space challenges during our big build? We decided that the gallery space is not big enough to meet the interest already shown, so with few alternative venue options and with the agreement of our sponsors and the I&E team, we decided switch to an online presentation - same date Thursday, 27th February running from 7.30 to 9.00pm. The booking link has been changed and families that had already booked have been emailed with the new link. Here it is: bit.ly/FWPSwebinar. I booked my spot and it only took a few seconds. If you have a couple of minutes, presenters Marty and Carley provide a brief video introduction. Digitally presenting their content in an engaging way is a key element of what they do.

I hope we have a huge influx of our community online on this date.

A flyer with all relevant information and a QR code is again included in today’s newsletter and at key locations around the school.

Please note that this is an event presented for adults.

Coming Up

Cross Country Trials are on Friday

All students grades 4 - 6 will be attending our cross country trials at Johnson Reserve tomorrow morning. The following details were provided recently to all families:

The program will commence at 9.30am in the following order and distances.

9/10yr Girls - 2kms
9/10yr Boys - 2km
11yr Girls - 3km
11yr Boys - 3km
12yr Girls - 3km
12yr Boys - 3km

Due to the limited time we have to complete the selection process before we need to be back at school for the lunch break, not all races will run until every student crosses the line. The six fastest competitors in each race will qualify for our school's Cross Country team, to compete in the Footscray District Cross Country at Hansen Reserve on Friday, 21st March.

Please ensure that your child is appropriately attired for this event with school shorts, top and runners. Hats will be compulsory when not running and sunscreen should be applied prior to coming to school. All asthmatic students are expected to bring their puffers if it is recommended as part of their asthma plan.

All families are welcome to attend as spectators outside of the running track, to support and encourage participants on the day. We expect to conclude the event by approximately 11:15am.

*Please note that we encourage all students to do their personal best, and we acknowledge this may include walking the track for some students.

Friday Assembly

Friday’s assembly will feature this week’s Pupils of the Week, sports reporters and the presentation of Junior School Council representative badges. We are hopeful with dry warm weather an outdoor assembly will be able to be held.

Reminders

Curriculum Contributions

A parent / carer payment contribution Compass post was sent to all families on Monday of last week. There has already been a pleasing response. We really appreciate your support in making this payment for each of your children as soon as possible. Funds received are directed to subsidising the many curriculum costs in managing a school of this size. FWPS is a school that is underfunded based on the Schooling Resource Standard https://www.education.gov.au/recurrent-funding-schools/schooling-resource-standard for Australian schools.

At FWPS we receive a lower rate of equity funding due to our local demographic than many other western suburb schools. This may be deemed as fair from a systemic perspective, but doesn't help us pay the bills! With annual fees topped at $300 (prep) we really think our community can do better than the 69% of families (grades 1 - 6) last year who contributed their expected contribution. There is an opportunity to pay by instalments. Please contact the office team if you would like more information or assistance.

Photo and Video Permission Form

The Department of Education now requires parents and carers to sign this permission form annually (this used to be a requirement only when students started school or moved to FWPS). This requirement has made a ‘once off task’ for every child now a x7 task for every child. That is a lot of parent time and you can imagine how that is magnified from a schools’ administration perspective. If you haven't done this yet, please make this a priority to complete and return to the office (or classroom).

We really wish to encourage parents and carers to tick all 3 boxes to enable pictures or videos from class events (incursions, excursions, assemblies, sporting events and camps) and special moments (such as presentations and reports from assembly) to be able to be shown (or linked) in the newsletter and official school Facebook page.

Warm regards,

Brendan

Art News

Visual Art Teachers: Susie Belcher & Jessica Russell-Davies