Principal's Report 

Greetings families and friends of MPW,

Welcome back to Term 2, I hope you had an enjoyable school holiday period. It was a shorter first week to start the term with the first day for students on Wednesday 26th April. We had some of our senior students: Cooper, Lilly and Sienna lead us through our ANZAC Day observation just prior to lunch time. The flags were at half-mast and there was a reading of ‘In Flanders Fields’, ‘The Ode’ and then playing of the Last Post, a minute silence and finally The Rouse.

Term 2 is a shorter term than usual this year, only 9 weeks with 8 to go now. Teachers will ensure they make the most of this time in classrooms as they work through their assessment and semester reporting obligations.

This year we are seeking feedback on our Ongoing and Semester Reporting from staff and the community for continual improvement. We are hoping to act on any feedback in the second semester. The Education Committee of School Council will be a conduit for discussion with staff and parent feedback.

Congratulations to all our students who participated in the school Cross Country last term. Big thanks to Bree and all the parents who assisted on the day as well. Without your support, our extracurricular events cannot happen!

2024 Foundation Enrolments

Applications for Foundation enrolments for 2024 are now open. There is a new State Wide process this year, with specific timelines where application close on 28th July. For families at MPW that will be having siblings join the school in 2024, please ensure that you complete your application for enrolments at this time. You can find information and resources about the new timeline, including factsheets, at: Enrolling in Foundation (Prep). You can also download the ‘Foundation (Prep) Enrolment Information Pack for Parents/Carers for the 2024 school year’ from the Starting School webpage .

Last week we ran two Open Day sessions for prospective parents to come and see the school in action. We had a good turnout of parents attend for the student led tours around the school, with a specific stop in a Foundation classroom. Thank you to our fantastic year 5 students, Holiday, Will, Benjamin J, Christian and Benjamin V who were able to talk highly about our school and answer parent’s questions. 

Young Writers at MPW

We had two of our students present at assembly this week their efforts in entering a Young Writer’s Competition through the Maribyrnong Library. Rand in year 4, came second place in the ‘Graphic Short Story 9-12 year old’ category and Nada in year 2, came second place in the ‘Short Story 6-8 year old’ category. I offer my congratulations to both Rand and Nada for their initiative to share their writing publicly and have their success celebrated and recognised.

Both stories can be found and viewed at the Maribyrnong Library. We have attached their stories to share their work with the school community.

School Strategic Plan and Annual General Meeting

Last term we completed our new 4-year School Strategic Plan based on our School Review last year. The strategic plan has been endorsed by School Council and is available for the community on our website. Our 2023 Annual Implementation Plan will now be finalised and presented at this month’s School Council Meeting.

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday 29th May at 5:30pm, prior to our School Council meeting. All school community members are welcome to attend this meeting, where we will discuss the 2022 annual Report to the community.

Hats outside

Our SunSmart policy requires students to wear hats outside between mid-August and end of April. As of this week, students are not required to wear their hat outside, but we do encourage hats to continue to be worn on hot and sunny days.

Year 6 to 7 Transition

This week the application forms and information from the Department of Education was sent home to our year 6 families regarding the year 6 to 7 transition process. This booklet contains a lot of information regarding the process, deadlines and school zoning requirements.

We will be holding a parent information session next week on Wednesday 10th of May  at 6.30pm via Webex to support families with information about the process. A Compass push with the details will be sent in the coming days.

School Uniform Update

A reminder that our timeline for rolling out the move to a compulsory uniform requires students to be wearing a school uniform top for offsite activities starting Term 3 this year. For our year 6 students this can be their Year 6 tops.

Capital Works Update

We continue to work and meet with the Victorian Building Authority and architects towards our Capital Works Project. We are nearing the end of the Design Development phase and are still on schedule for works to begin in Term 4 this year. The first phase of works will be in the Junior Building. We are working with JSC this week for more feedback about the playgrounds to pass on their requests to the landscaper and architects. We are hoping to share an official update to the community in upcoming newsletters. 

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Principal