Footscray West PS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Acting Principal: Liz Beasley (7th October to 8th November 2024)

 In this week’s newsletter:

  • Appreciations and News
    • Vision and Values Launch Day
    • Prep 2025 Welcome Visits
    • Community of Practice - Disability Inclusion Transition
    • Parents Association AGM and Regular Meeting
    • Environment Team Incursion: CERES
    • Final Reminder: 2025 Learning Buddy Suggestions and Additional Considerations (Grades Prep to 5)
  • Coming Up
    • Year 6 Summer Sport
    • PLB for assembly tomorrow
    • Year 3 & 4 Footy Clinics
    • Prep Nurse Visits
    • Grade 5 Camp (Wednesday to Friday)
    • World Teachers Day - Friday 25th October

Appreciations and News

Vision and Values Launch Day

We are thrilled with the success of our Vision and Values launch day last Friday. Starting with a moving Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony conducted by Bunurong Elder, Uncle Shane Clarke, it was joyous to see so many of our community members join staff and students for this part of the day. Uncle Shane’s telling of the traditional owners’ connection to country was woven so beautifully with our four school values, and we want to thank him for sharing this special experience with us all. We also want to thank our students and express how proud we are of the respect they displayed during the ceremony. 

 

The rest of the day was full of activities exploring the four values, with students in multi age groups. Again, the staff expressed how excellent the students were across the day, with their support of each other and their excellent behaviour. 

 

A big thank you to the many volunteers who cooked up a storm at the sausage sizzle during the day. Getting over 700 sausages out to students in such a short space of time is no mean feat! 

 

At the assembly our Year 6 school and class captains shared their experiences of the day. It was also great to see the smiling faces of our inaugural ‘new format certificate’ Pupil of the Week awardees.

 

It was a great day, but the launch is just the start! We still have a very large body of work ahead of us, including signage and displays around the school, documentation of the values and curriculum around these, and most importantly, the day-to-day embedding of these as we learn and work together. 

 

Prep 2025 Welcome Visits

On Tuesday, Karri Barker (who is leading Kinder to Prep transition this year) warmly welcomed nearly 100 Prep 2025 students and their families into the school across four sessions. In a chance to become more familiar with the school and the faces they will see next year, the students joined Karri for a book, songs and a play in the yard. This visit is a new addition to the Prep transition program for this year, and we thank Karri for the incredible support she is providing to our students and their families to assist them to settle into life at FWPS.

 

Community of Practice - Disability Inclusion Transition

Speaking of Karri, this week I had the honour of joining Karri as co-chair of the Melbourne-Maribyrnong and Moonee Valley networks’ Community of Practice for Disability Inclusion Transition in Kinder to Prep, alongside our network’s Education Improvement Leader, Pagen Williams. This role, which will continue over into 2025, recognises the exemplar work Karri has implemented in our school to support students with additional needs as they transition from the kindergarten setting. In the COP (Community of Practice), we are fortunate to work closely with incredible colleagues in our network schools, so that together we can identify and implement best practice and share ways we can all do the best we possibly can for our students at the systemic level.    

 

Parents Association AGM and Regular Meeting

On Monday evening, Carolyn and I joined the AGM of our FWPS Parents Association. It was pleasing to see some newer faces join our tirelessly working and long standing committee members. The Parents Association are a vital part of our school, and without their exceptional work your children’s school experience would look vastly different. Their work is far-reaching; including raising funds which support a range of initiatives across the school, to hosting the second-hand uniform stall and the experiences they directly run such as the Special Persons’ Stalls, sausage sizzles and the Disco. These things don’t happen because magical elves are doing the work though, and the PA team are actively seeking more volunteers to support their initiatives. If you have some time or expertise to provide, no matter how big or small, please drop them a line at fwpsparentsassociation@outlook.com to put your hand up. 

 

At the AGM, office bearers were elected. We thank Clare Mitchell Crow and Alicia Madden who are continuing as Co-Presidents, and Rebecca Gregg who is continuing as Secretary, in 2025. They will be joined by Tanya Tran in the Vice Presidency and Jess Cork as Treasurer (both will be new to the role). While remaining on the committee in 2025, we’d like to express our deep appreciation to both Sharee Logan and Adele Coone for their significant work over the past few years. Both Sharee and Adele will be handing over the reins of their specific roles in 2025. Sharee has been the Treasurer this year after many years as the President, and Adele has led the Second Hand Uniform Shop and Disco. Again, we thank both for their expert and unwavering support. 

 

Environment Team Incursion: CERES

Today our Environment Team members participated in an incursion with CERES, supported by teachers Michael Padgett and Michelle Metcalf who lead the Environment Team. In the first part of the session, the students looked at how we can move towards zero waste and resource recovery with the ‘6 Rs’. They then explored how we can restore ecosystems, with a particular focus on change in our school community. We look forward to having our Environment Team members sharing their learning with their classmates and we thank the Maribyrnong Council who generously funded this incursion for our students.

 

FINAL REMINDER: 2025 Learning Buddy Suggestions and Additional Considerations (Grades Prep to 5)

A reminder that TOMORROW is the last day to submit your child’s learning buddy suggestions, and any additional considerations (only if required). 

Please refer to instructions at the bottom of this page for links and information about the process.

Coming Up 

Year 6 Summer Sport

The Year 6 Summer Sport program is upon us, starting with a home game tomorrow against Corpus Christi Primary School. Each week in Term 4, our students participate in home or away games of cricket, basketball, newcombe and bat tennis, playing in teams and representing our school against other local primary schools. Good luck, Year Sixes!

 

PLB for assembly tomorrow

PLB and Lauren have been excitedly preparing their assembly item for tomorrow. The weather forecast isn’t looking too kind, but that won't stop the fun! If it is raining, we will ask PLB families to join us in the Gallery for the assembly. Please keep an eye on Compass for any updates during the day.

 

Year 3 & 4 Footy Clinics

Tomorrow, a group of Year 11 and 12 students from SEDA College will be visiting FWPS to teach the Year 3 and 4 students a range of footy skills in a free clinic. The clinic starts with a warm up with the whole group, then students are put into five different groups to rotate through different footy skills and games.

 

Prep Nurse Visits

Next week on Monday and Tuesday, our Prep students will have a visit from the Department of Education’s Primary School Nurse team. This program is a free health and wellbeing service offered to all Victorian students in their first year of school, and aims to assist in the early identification of children with potential health, wellbeing or developmental concerns which may impact their education. Thank you to the parents who have completed the consent and questionnaire which allows your child to participate.

 

Grade 5 Camp (Wednesday to Friday)

Next week from Wednesday to Friday, our Year 5 students and staff will be heading to Kangaroobie Camp, which is in Princetown along the Great Ocean Road. This is always a very popular camp, full of exciting adventure and beach activities. We thank the parent volunteers who are joining the staff for this one. We know the students will have a great time!

 

World Teachers Day - Friday 25th October

World Teachers' Day is being celebrated in Victorian schools on Friday next week, the 25th October. This day is an opportunity to say thank you to the teachers who continue to make a difference today – and everyday – to children and young people’s lives. 

We thank the Parents Association who are putting on a morning tea for our staff to celebrate this, on Tuesday next week (a few days earlier, since our Year 5 staff will be on camp on Friday).

 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Liz Beasley

FINAL CALL: 2025 LEARNING BUDDY SUGGESTIONS

Through this process, we aim for each child to have a minimum of one name on that list as a learning buddy in their 2025 class.

 

For the 2025 school year, we are asking parents and carers to collaboratively make their list WITH THEIR CHILD via the Google Form below. We kindly ask that all families sit down with their children to fill out this form and to discuss suitable learning buddy options.

 

This process will need to be completed by Friday 18th October 2024. There will be no extensions for families should they miss this deadline as we need to commence the grade placement process the following Monday.

 

Please use a different form for each of your children.

 

We have an expectation that students of separated families will collaborate on this process and submit only one response per child.

 

In order to be valid, each child's entry MUST include FIVE (5) different students from the same grade level. Where families do not choose to provide an entry, the child will be provided this opportunity to do so in class time.

 

Please note that submissions will be deemed invalid if:

- One child is listed more than once on your child's form

- Not all five spots are filled (i.e. we will not accept only one name on the form).

If the entry is deemed invalid, your child will be provided the opportunity to complete this process correctly during class time.

 

The five buddies listed are not preferential and will be treated as such during the grade placement process.

 

No further discussion or correspondence will be entered into at the completion of grade placements. This is your one time to have input into the process.

 

In making decisions for grade placements, teachers consider the needs of all students from a social, academic and behavioural perspective. At times, we are also faced with opposing requests from families, and we ask that you respect we may not always be able to provide great detail about our decisions, to ensure the privacy of others.    

 

Please note that all communication on this matter will need to be received via this form only, no later than Friday 18th October 2024. You will receive an automatically generated email acknowledgement after submission. Please ensure your email is correctly listed.

 

Or use this link: https://forms.gle/g5GHBcjTv9oCAbDi6  

FINAL CALL: 2025 Additional Considerations for Placement

In limited situations, we may consider additional communications or requests from families regarding their child's 2025 grade placement. 

 

There is a formal Google Form process for this (we will not be accepting phone calls or emails), and the due date is also Friday 18th October 2024. If you believe that the following listed considerations are relevant to your child's needs, we advise that this form must be completed by the due date. 

 

Please note that requests from previous years do not carry over. If there are still concerns, new requests should be made for the 2025 year.

 

All matters will be dealt with sensitively; however, we must stress that requests for specific teachers, classes or friendships will not be accommodated. Throughout the grade placement process, teachers look for compatible learning partners and encourage the development of new friendships.

 

Requests related to learning, behavioural or social requirements will be considered on merit and in consultation with key staff members.

 

Again this year, families will be able to submit learning partner suggestions through a separate online process. Please see above for this specific link. 

 

Requests related to learning, behavioral or social requirements will be considered on merit and in consultation with key staff members. 

 

You will receive an automatically generated email acknowledgement after submission. We may seek further discussions or clarification with families.

 

Or use this link: https://forms.gle/2Dtfp7NXGa6iAs6R7

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.