Principal's Report 

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome to the 2024 school year. I hope your holidays were restful, with lots of fun together as a family. Our staff have been working hard leading up to the return to school date, to be ready for a positive start to the school year. We spent the first few days learning about the new Disability Inclusion program, that focuses on identifying and providing adjustments for all students to have a successful experience at school. We look forward to sharing this information with you over the coming weeks.

2024 Staff: Over the January Holidays, we worked extremely hard to try to fill our vacant positions. By mid-January we were fully staffed, however one of the teachers decided early this week that he would no longer accept the position, which is extremely disappointing. We are continuing to use all available sources to try to fill this position as quickly as possible. We have communicated directly with the families of the class affected and will keep them informed throughout the process.

Below is a list of our teaching staff. In the next newsletter I will include our Education Support Staff and their roles:

School Policies: Our school website includes many relevant policies that are applicable to all students. parents/carers and visitors. Please click on this link to take you to our School Policies page on our school website. Our School | Melton West Primary School (meltonwestps.vic.edu.au). In this first newsletter I would like to draw your attention to the following, which have been included in this newsletter for your convenience:

• Sun Smart Policy – this refers to the need for staff and students to wear a broad-rimmed hat when the UV rays are over 3, which have a UV-rating of moderate, typically during term 1 and term 4. Did you know that a UV rating of 3 (rated as moderate) or above is deemed dangerous for our unprotected skin. Even on cloudy days, the UV rating could reach 9 which is rated as very high. Children who do not have a suitable hat will be directed to spend their break time under the pergola. Please ensure your child has a NAMED broad-rimmed hat by Monday 5th February 2024 for them to wear whilst outside at recess and lunch and during outside learning experiences. Please encourage your child to wear their hat at the appropriate times.
• Mobile Phone Policy – The Government has mandated that all students in Victorian schools are required to store their mobile devices, including Smart Watches, in a secure location. If your child is required to carry a mobile phone or smart device, they are required to sign it in at the office on arrival.
• Respect for School Staff Policy – This policy outlines how staff, parents/carers and visitors work together in fostering a safe and inclusive environment for the entire school community.

Covid-19 Update: There is at present an increase in community transmission of COVID-19 in Victoria. You can help us keep our school as safe as possible by taking 2 important steps:

1. Ensure your COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date. Information on how and where to get vaccinated is available on the Get vaccinated webpage.
2. If your child shows symptoms of COVID-19, please ensure they stay home and get tested. The easiest way to test is to use a rapid antigen test (RAT).

We have RATs available at our school for collection. Free RATs are also available from your local council where you can collect 2 packs of 5 RATs and an extra 2 packs for each person in your household. People with disability and their carers can get 4 packs of 5 RATs. You are not required to have a Medicare card and you can collect RATs as many times as you need. You can also buy RATs at supermarkets, pharmacies and other retailers. If your child has symptoms but tests negative, please ensure they stay home until they no longer have symptoms. If the RAT test result is positive, please ensure they say home for at least 5 days and until there are no more symptoms. Thank you for your support – these steps will help us all stay well.

Communication: Keeping parents informed about the happenings around school is very important to us as we believe it helps strengthen the partnership between home and school. We have a number of ways in which we send important information in the hope that all parents and carers can access it in some form. 

• Class Dojo is a great tool where messages can be sent direct to the teachers. It is important to remember that it is a written form, similar to text messaging, so lengthy detailed descriptions are not appropriate in this context. If you have a concern, a short text asking the teacher to contact you is preferable to writing the whole incident down. Please note, I do not get the chance to check Class Dojo often, so if you need to contact me, please call the office and leave a message rather than placing it on Class Dojo, which may not get seen for a few days!
• Sentral is the system we use across the school where we can send SMS messages direct to parents’ mobile phones or an email to the parent’s email address.
• Skoolbag App is app that can be put on any Smart Phone and can be set up to send you alerts when information, such as the newsletter, is available. It also sends reminders about things that are due such as camps and excursions. It is available from the App Store – type in Skoolbag and look for Melton West PS 
• Facebook is another platform we use to post messages 
• Instagram is a platform where we post some information, including celebrations. Consider following us @meltonwest_primaryschool on Instagram

Please remember for complex issues a phone call or face to face meeting with the teacher is the best way to ensure it gets sorted as quickly as possible. Please call the office to make an appointment.

“Getting to Know Your Child” Parent/Teacher Interview": Another important way to communicate is via Parent teacher Interviews. We have organised these for Wednesday 14th February from 2.00pm – 6.00pm for our Prep Parents and for Years 1-6, it is scheduled for Thursday 15th February 2.00pm – 6.30pm. Information about these and how to book a time will be sent home shortly and posted on all the above communication platforms. If you would like help setting up an interview time, please call the office on 

9743 5818. 

Whole School Swimming: This year, swimming is scheduled for term 4 for all students. Information regarding securing a place will be available at the end of term 3.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal