Principal's Report

In this Week's Newsletter

• Appreciations and News…
  • Last chance - Vision and Values at FWPS 
  • Halloween Disco
  • COVID cases
  • School Council news
  • Finance
  • Building Project
  • Prep Transition
  • Leaving FWPS?
• Coming up...tomorrow 
  • Diversity Day 
  • Bye - no interschool, summer sport
  • Assembly
• Coming up...next week
  • Curriculum Day report writing on Monday
  • Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup public holiday
• Coming up...over the next few weeks
  • 2024 Prep transition continues
  • Prep swimming
• Repeated (and updated) messages

Appreciations and News

Vision and Values - As we work together to develop our next strategic plan for our school, two parent members of School Council, Katie Berman and Tess Sketchley have generously volunteered their professional expertise to run a final session (online) this evening at 6.30 pm (access via Compass).  We know you are busy - we all are, but if you do have a view about what our school should stand for, this evening’s session is the final opportunity to shape the direction.  You can join the session by selecting the Zoom link on today’s updated Compass post. 

Halloween Disco - What a great night with our successful and very popular junior and senior discos last Thursday! 

Please see the link below of our Senior Halloween Disco:

Senior Halloween Disco 2023 on Vimeo

While there will have been some very handy funds raised, our focus was on fun raising and that was definitely achieved.  Our students not only had a great time but demonstrated a terrific and inclusive attitude as well.

There were some amazing costumes and makeup, some of them were very clever and quite funny as well.   Thanks to our Parents’ Association led by Adele Coone.  We also had a great bunch of parents, carers and staff volunteers assisting on the evening. 

The Halloween spirit runs deep in our neighbourhood.  I could hardly believe the number of ghosts, ghouls, wizards and quirky characters doing the rounds on Tuesday evening.  I heard the best places to be were Khartoum Street and the haunted house on Barkly Street where many of the households embraced the fun.

COVID Cases - While we love to look forward two years on from pandemic lockdowns, we are alert to the current high proportion of community infections.  We appreciate that when in doubt, if your child has cold / flu like symptoms please protect peers and staff by keeping the kids home for the days they are likely to be infectious.  Staff have been reminded to maintain use of our air purifiers, combined with ventilation and to use masks by preference.  Masks are available from the office for any visitors who choose to wear them.

School Council News - Council met online on Monday evening.  Some key information shared were aspects of planning as we move towards the second half of Term 4.  While our 2024 staffing arrangements are not fully finalised, we are very well advanced.  We will have some permanent and short term changes with teaching and education support staff.  

Firstly, Giuliano Iacuzzi, a long time member of our specialist teaching team will finish at FWPS at the end of term.  All who have spent time with Giuliano will appreciate how much passion he has for life.  We will have some amazing memories of his irrepressible creativity, especially expressed during Multicultural Days.  

Our office team will have a very different feel next year with our part time office team manager, Yvonne Healy retiring at the end of term.  Yvonne has been with us for over 12 years.  In news that is more recent to us, Natalie Hill, who has worked with the office team for the last 5 years, has been successful in applying for a role managing international students and supporting families at Bayside Secondary College.  Natalie will move into her new role in a couple of weeks and is engaged in training one day a week concurrently while continuing to work at FWPS.  There will not be one family who has not been assisted professionally and courteously by Yvonne and Natalie during their tenure with us.  We appreciate that our school nurse Zowi has agreed to increase her work hours to full time for the rest of the school year.  We hope our community will appreciate that with our Business Manager, Sandra on leave in Scotland until the end of the year, our school office capacity may be stretched at times until the end of term.

Class teachers, Shannon Mason and Caity Gray along with Angela Dickson from the Education Support Team have been granted 12 months leave from FWPS for personal reasons.  We value their passion and support for our students and relationship with their colleagues.  We look forward to them rejoining us in a year’s time.

We have a great teaching and support team at FWPS, so staff members who leave are rightly appreciated and missed.

Many families will recognise we have a very strong track record of selecting new staff who bring new enthusiasm and ideas, as well as aligning with our positive, student focussed ethos.

Finance - Costs in running schools continue to escalate.  Unfortunately, this year our community has collectively not been as supportive in meeting parent payments (school fees) at the same rate as previously.  In fact, this year a little over 70% of parent payments have been received, a drop of over 20% since last year.  If you have overlooked paying these costs, it is not too late, we will happily accept them until the last day of term.  We are aware there are multiple reasons for non payments, with the cost of living a most evident one.  Nevertheless, it is hard to argue that our fee structure is high for what our school offers.  What is more, our fees have not been raised for 7 years!  While a fee rise was on the table, during the pandemic recommendations for increase were deferred.  This year however Council has felt compelled to support a Finance Committee recommendation to support an increase.  Therefore, your parent payment letters will note that for students in grades 1 - 6 the parent payment will be $275 per child.  For Prep starters the figure is $15 greater, so $290, in order to include the book bag that will be used throughout the junior years to protect the take home books for daily use.

Building Project - Our own BIG build was discussed during Monday’s Council meeting and with greater detail, during Wednesday’s Facilities meeting.  We discussed how the FWPS principal team met with the 3 Victorian Schools Building Authority staff who will be our key contacts during the life of the project, as well as 3 members of the winning architectural team who will shape the planning.  Interestingly, in the bureaucratic nature of such government funded projects, we are not at liberty to name the successful company in the newsletter, as it has not yet been communicated via the minister’s office!  We discussed the broad scope of the project and some of the potential challenges that will face us.  The architectural firm will be very busy through the next few weeks, as an important part of the brief is to create a facilities master plan for the school.  This is part of the Asset Management Program 2, a step that requires the input of local knowledge and any previous plans, in order to create a project scope that is feasible.

The FWPS principal team will next meet with the project teams next Monday and then fortnightly. I promise we will be regularly updating our community during the rest of this term.

Prep Transition - A smooth first transition day was a testament to the planning of Kim, Liz and the Prep team.  We also appreciated the support of the grade 6 captains.  I am keen to receive feedback during today’s Captain’s Meeting in preparation for the next transition visit in week 6.

Leaving FWPS? - While it is naturally disappointing to see families leave our community, an appreciation to all the families that, having made that life changing decision, have already informed us of their intentions for next year.  We will repeat this reminder, as moving home can be such a stressful experience, some important obligations may be overlooked.  If this message is timely for your family, please email us with any information of relevance. This information includes whether your child will conclude at FWPS prior to the end of the school year or stay until the last week, and most importantly, what school they are transferring to.  As we develop our grade lists over the next few weeks, it is very important that we factor in all students who will be leaving, as well as new students to our school community.

We are planning to hold our Through School Transition day on Tuesday, 12th December - that is the day we plan to have every new teacher attend FWPS and invite new students (grades 1 - 6) to visit in the afternoon when the new classes meet for the first time.

Coming up…tomorrow

Diversity Day - Tomorrow we will celebrate our second annual Diversity Day.  This year we have arranged for Kaboom Kids to run an inclusive tabloid event.  We appreciate that many families have provided permission and paid the $10 event cost.

Students are encouraged to wear colourful clothing to show their support for diversity and inclusion but are required to wear a suitable sunsmart hat (of course this can be the school hat). It is important to wear sporty clothing and runners/sneakers so they can fully participate in activities.

Assembly - Weather permitting, assembly will be held as usual at our Bilby shade sail at 2.40 pm tomorrow and it will be PAC’s turn to present their assembly item which will focus on the wonderful recent wildlife incursion.  

Coming up…next week

We have a Pupil Free Curriculum Day (report writing) next Monday, 6th November, the day prior to the annual Melbourne Cup public holiday.  Their Care will be operating a full  day’s program.  Please book through the usual manner.

Coming up...over the next few weeks

The Prep swimming fortnight intensive swim program will start on Monday, 13th November.  We currently have 81 students registered to attend.  Families have until tomorrow to book a place.

Our Music concert week will be held on the week starting Monday, 4th December.   This will be the first concert week held since Covid lockdowns.  The Musical Futures program will feature during the day on Monday through to Wednesday.  The Soundgarage (paid instrumental program) concerts will be held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.  Detailed information will be provided closer to the event.

Cheers,

Brendan

Repeated (and updated) messages…