Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW

Last Friday we acknowledged the dedication, contribution and hard work of our teachers for World Teachers Day. Thank you to all the teachers who support and care for our school community.

We have had another successful Foundation Transition program, with our future Foundation students coming in over the last two weeks to familiarise themselves with the school. Parents were invited to information sessions.  The last official part of their transition is to meet the teacher and class for 2025 on our whole school Orientation Day on Tuesday 10th December.

Congratulations to those students who participated in Regional Athletics last week. As always, our students put their best effort forward and had an enjoyable day regardless of the outcome.  Making the Regional level is a great achievement. Congratulations to Peppa for making it to the State finals and we wish her all the best.

Capital Works Update

As per my Compass communication on Saturday, the new updated Little Adventure play space and courtyard area will be officially accessible from this Thursday. The Lennox Street double gates will again be available for accessing the school, and we encourage this entry point for our F-2 families. An updated map will be circulated via Compass on Wednesday.

We will be providing an opportunity for our F-2 classes to use the new space prior to the first break on Thursday.

The space looks amazing and will provide an opportunity for play and outdoor learning for classes throughout the day.  With the removal of the portables from this space, we now have a view of the beautiful heritage building facades alongside the new garden beds and decking areas.

We are working through establishing and setting up the updated Library building spaces, and will be aiming to have an official celebration at the conclusion of the Capital Works program in December. 

Remembrance Day

Monday 11th November is Remembrance Day. We will be acknowledging this at our assembly with members of JSC leading a ceremony that will help understanding and learning about the legacy of those who served. We will also be holding one minute silence for reflection at 11am.  JSC will be discussing awareness and support through the ANZAC appeal at the next JSC meeting.  JSC students will promote and sell items prior to the day.

Term and Curriculum Dates 2025

TERM ONE -28th January – 4th of April finish time 2:30pm

• Students in Years 1-6 commence on 30th of January
• Foundation students commence on the 4th of February (Foundation testing will be held during the 30th of January – 3rd of February). You child will receive a date and time for their testing during the period.

TERM TWO --22nd April – 4th July 2024 2:30pm

TERM THREE- 21st July – 19th September 2:30pm

TERM FOUR- 6th October – 19th December 1:30pm  finish

CURRICULUM DAYS 2025

TERM ONE

28th January

29th January

TERM TWO

TBA

TERM THREE

TBA

TERM FOUR

Monday 3rd November

Class Placement for 2025

Class placement arrangements for next year are beginning and any input parents wish to highlight as part of the class placement process needs to be in writing to the Principal using the attached form and returned to the office, by Tuesday 12th November.

While we cannot accommodate requests for specific teachers for your child, we always strive to make the best possible placement for all students. 

There are many considerations when classes are arranged, such as: 

• Where possible keep the class group together and/or with the same teacher for a second year. Where this is not possible, we will endeavour to keep the class group together
• Using the teachers’ collective judgment on the academic, social, and physical development of the student 
• The academic and social mix of the class group 

As part of the process for developing classes, students are asked to nominate “learning buddies” that they hope to be in a class with in 2025. These are peers who they enjoy being with and who bring out the best in them as a learner. The school will then ensure that each student is placed with at least one of their nominated peers.

It is important to note that part of children’s social and emotional learning and development is for the school to support and provide opportunity for students to continually develop their resilience and skills to both maintain and make new friendships throughout their time at school. 

It is normal to feel apprehensive about moving classes or starting a new year. The following attachment features some useful tips and strategies from Dr Judith Locke (clinical psychologist, former teacher and author of the book ‘The Bonsai Child’) to support students to feel successful in the transition to next year. It is important that children develop confidence in their ability to cope with new experiences and environments.

2025 School Structure

After consideration of enrolment numbers, student needs and staff profile for next year, the school structure will be:

3 Foundation classes

4  Year 1/2 classes

4 Year 3/4 classes

3 Year 5/6 classes.  

There will be a total of 14 classes for 2025.

Regards,

Jarrod

Principal