Principal's Report
Dear families and friends of MPW
Welcome back for the 2025 school year. We had a great start to the year last Thursday, and welcome our Foundation students who were excited and happy for their first day of school today. I would like to welcome all of our new families to the MPW community.
Making my way around the school throughout the first couple of days, students have been settled, engaged and calm. We start the year with the ‘Learning to Learn’ focus, where classes are setting up their routines and structures, and Rights and Responsibility agreements over the first weeks of the year.
Staffing Updates
An update on Elisha, who was out for end of Term 4 last year on sick leave with a lower back problem. Elisha continues to be on sick leave as we begin the new year, but she is looking to return in the coming weeks. We wish her well and hope her recovery enables her to return soon.
We welcome Kristy Bedford to Moonee Ponds West and the 3/4 team this year. Sadly, Sophie Hedditch won’t be returning this year as she has taken up the opportunity to travel with her partner to Germany for the year. In her place, we have been able to retain Robyn Patrick and Kellie Meehan for the 2025 school year in the 1/2 team.
Capital Works update
We are finally at the full completion of the Capital Works program, with the last elements works completed over the school holidays. We had some roofing work completed on the heritage buildings and restoration of the basketball court undertaken. We also took the opportunity to sand and re-stain most of the existing decking areas around the school, giving them a much needed restoration.
As mentioned in previous communications, there was some damage that occurred in the Little Adventure courtyard during the roof works, and repairs are well underway to rectify the issues that have arisen just before our return this year. These works are expected to be completed by Wednesday, or Thursday this week at the latest.
I have had confirmation and finalised scheduling for the Local Member for Essendon to visit us on Friday 7th February, along with representatives from the VSBA, Amity (builders) and BSPN (architects), to officially open the library building and celebrate the completion of the project. We will be holding a special assembly in the gym at 9.30am, to acknowledge the works and the opportunities the updates around the school have created for our students for years to come. Parents are welcome to come along to the assembly at 9.30, this Friday.
As this is our first newsletter, below are some important reminders, clarifications and a preview of what is coming up over the next couple of weeks.
SunSmart Reminders
As we are a SunSmart school, our SunSmart policy was updated last year. Students at Moonee Ponds West Primary School are encouraged to make healthy choices and are supported to understand the benefits and risks of sun exposure. A combination of sun protection measures are in place:
- Students will be required to wear hats that protect their face, neck, and ears from mid-August to the end of April when they are outside.
- Hats must be broad-brimmed, legionnaire, or a bucket hat. Baseball caps and visors are not considered a suitable alternative.
- Sun-protective clothing such as: loose, cool, tightly woven fabric; shirts with a collar and/or high necklines; tops with elbow length or long sleeves; longer style shorts and skirts.
- Sun protective clothing is included in our school uniform.
- The use of SPF30, SPF50, or SPF50+ broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen is encouraged, with time allowed for applying sunscreen. Students will be reminded to apply sunscreen before going outdoors.
The full policy can be found on our school website:
https://www.mooneewestps.vic.edu.au/uploaded_files/media/1678339973mpw_sunsmart_policy_2022.pdf
School Uniform
The school’s dress code policy includes the following expectations for all students in 2025:
- It is expected that a logoed school uniform top will be worn to school and on identified offsite school events.
- Uniform bottoms should be consistent with the navy-blue colour aspects of the uniform and are not required to be logoed.
- Shoes should be closed toe and fit for the day’s activities.
- Additional layers of clothing may be worn underneath the uniform for added warmth.
- Closed toe footwear must be worn at school to comply with safety regulations.
- Footwear should be appropriate for the day’s activity.
- The school also operates a lost property and second-hand uniform opportunity for parents.
- Please contact the school’s Business Manager, Sandra Monaghan to discuss support that we may be able to provide to families experiencing difficulty meeting uniform costs, including information about eligibility for uniform support through State Schools’ Relief.
- Further information about State Schools’ Relief is also available on their website: htps://www.ssr.net.au
We at times get questions and families seeking clarifications regarding the expectations, such as non-uniform items, colour of pants and shorts, sports uniform and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. I hope the dot points below help clarify these questions.
- Casual jumpers, hoodies, jackets are not part of the school uniform and should not be worn during school time. On wet days, students can wear waterproof or rain jackets to and from school but should be taken off during class-time.
- The colour scheme of shorts, pants, skirts should be consistent with the navy-blue aspects of the uniform.
- Pants and shorts do not need to be logoed and can be sourced from other providers
- Short length shorts or skirts (that are above the mid-thigh) should not be worn, as they do not meet requirements of our Sunsmart policy. Shorts and skirts should be longer in style to protect students’ legs. Denim shorts should not be worn.
- Sports uniform can be worn any day of the week, not just on sports days.
- Caps or visors should not be worn to school, as they do not meet requirements of our Sunsmart policy.
The full policy including uniform items can be found on our school website:
Lunch Orders
Darling Street Café will begin lunch orders from tomorrow, using the Spriggy Schools app. Lunch orders will continue to be offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays. The cut off for ordering lunch orders is 9:15am the day of the order.
Specialist Sessions in 2025
This year, we are providing additional time to our Japanese and Creative Arts programs for the 4th hour of specialists time for students. In Terms 1 & 2, our F-2 students will have 2 hours of Japanese each week and our 3-6 students will have 2 hours of Creative Arts each week. For Terms 3 & 4, this will alternate for our F-2 students having 2 hours of Creative Arts and our 3-6 students having 2 hours of Japanese.
This opportunity will allow students to engage more deeply in our Specialist programs and support the successful implementation of specific activities, such as virtual conferencing with our sister school in Japen for students in 3-6, and opportunities for additional learning across the arts curriculum.
Parent Information Sessions next week
Next week we will be offering parent information sessions for each Professional Learning Team to provide you with an overview of what to expect in your child’s year level in 2024. These will be held directly after the school day, from 3.45pm – 4.45pm, over three nights to provide opportunity to get to any sibling sessions you may want to attend also.
- F/1 and Year 2 will be on Tuesday 11th
- 3/4s will be on Wednesday 12th
- 5/6s will be on Thursday 13th
Specialists will be visiting each session to introduce themselves and talk about their programs.
Teachers will send out more information, in particular about location for your child’s session by the end of the week.
Basket Tea
This year’s Basket Tea is scheduled for Friday 21st February, commencing at 5:00pm and concluding at 8:00pm. The Basket Tea is our first social opportunity for parents to meet other families in your class and year level groupings at the start the year. I hope that you and your family can attend.
The night is held on the Tiger Turf area and is BYO everything, so bring a picnic rug and keep an eye on the weather, last year it was a warm night.
The Basket Tea will be set up in 2025 class allocations, to allow you to get to know families from your child’s class this year. We leave the Soccer Pitch accessible for students to play.
Access to the school’s toilets near the basketball court will be available until approximately 7.30pm. The buildings across the school will be locked and alarmed when the cleaners are finished for the day.
A reminder that students should not be attending the Basket Tea unsupervised without their parents accompanying them.
Annual privacy reminder for our school community
Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.
Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy, describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. It also outlines expectations of parents taking photos of students during school related activities.
The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education] safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using [Microsoft 365/Google Workspace for Education], please contact the school.
For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents. This information is also available in ten community languages:
* Amharic
* Arabic
* Dari
* Gujarati
* Mandarin
* Somali
* Sudanese
* Turkish
* Urdu
* Vietnamese
Parent Teacher Meetings in Week 5
Parent-Teacher Meet and Greet meetings are also scheduled for Week 4, 25th to 27th Feb. These sessions are our first Parent Teacher Interview opportunity, to provide time to meet your child’s teacher and share valuable information for a successful year for your child.
The schedule for bookings will be accessible through Compass. We will send a Compass notification when these are setup and ready on Compass for you to book.
It has been great to see families in the mornings and the afternoons. We are looking forward to a great year!
Regards,
Jarrod Sutton
Principal