Principal's Report
Photo Day
What a glorious day to have school photos! This year the sunshine and lack of wind meant we were able to have class photographs taken on the playground under the trees. Our annual school photos wrap-up on Thursday with Year 6 and sibling photos – fingers crossed again for amenable weather.
By the end of this week, children will bring home a flyer with their photo code. Use these codes to view and order your images online.
FPS Staff Teams
Students are used to seeing our teachers and staff in their classrooms, doing all of those amazing things to help them with their learning and wellbeing. Between 9am – 3.30pm, our teachers are putting all their efforts into their classes, however you might be interested to know about the different teams that meet outside of these hours, supporting our school improvement journey.
| Team name | Who is in the team? | What does the team discuss? |
Teaching staff (Staff Meetings) | All teaching staff. | Professional learning in the areas of wellbeing and learning.
|
Year Level / Professional Learning Communities
| All teaching staff. | Teachers meet in year levels to analyse student data and plan improvement strategies. |
| School Improvement Teams (SIT) | All teaching staff. | Teachers work in teams to plan improvement in:
|
| Wellbeing Leadership | Principal class (Paul & Nicole) Wellbeing leaders (Cathy & Grace). | Leading of wellbeing initiatives, including Respectful Relationships and, School Wide Positive Behaviour Support.
|
| Learning Leadership | Principal class (Paul & Nicole) Learning leaders (Sophie & Binh).
| Leading of student learning and teacher development in the areas of literacy and numeracy. |
| Year Level Leaders | Principal class (Paul & Nicole) Learning leaders (Sophie & Binh) and teachers from each year level and specialists.
| Teachers discuss agenda items related to learning and what this implementation would look like in each year level. |
| Integration aides | Nicole and integration aides.
| Interventions and support for our students who receive additional funding. |
| Consultative Committee | Paul and staff who nominate to be part of this committee.
| Workplace related matters. |
Separate to the teams listed above, there are occasions when we release teachers from the classroom for a full day so that they are given time to lead work in wellbeing and learning. This might explain why your child may report seeing their teacher at school, just not in the classroom.
These additional teams are:
- School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) Team: This team consists of three teachers who work alongside Grace and Nicole to plan our SWPBS work.
- Data and Assessment Team: This team of three teachers work with Sophie, Binh and Nicole to improve our data practices.
This work has been captured in our 2025 Annual Implementation Plan, which is now available to view.
Year 3 & Year 5 NAPLAN
Next week our Year 3 and Year 5 students will start their NAPLAN tests (the schedule has been communicated to Year 3 and 5 families). NAPLAN is just one of the many pieces of data that we use at FPS to measure student performance and to plan for improvement. The Data and Assessment Team are leading the work to enrich how we use our internal data throughout the school.
When preparing for NAPLAN, we aim to provide an environment where the students complete the tests feeling calm and relaxed, and feel that they can give it their very best!
School Welcome Picnic
I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Welcome Picnic, however I am pleased that the weather was kind to us, and I heard that there was a high attendance and a lovely atmosphere on the oval. Thank you to the parents that assisted with organising the event, including parents who set up and packed down, parents who organised the bin system, and parents who locked the school at the end of the evening. A special thanks to our parent DJ, Paul Agius, for playing the tunes.
Unfortunately, I did receive reports of some poor behaviour by students during the event. Whilst we highly value the opportunity for families to spend time with each other, it is important that as a community we are mindful of the safety aspects of running an out-of-hours event. Part of all of our event processes includes an evaluation, which we will do for the picnic at our next Social Club meeting.
School Council Nominations
We recently called out for parents who are interested in joining our school council, with six vacancies available. We have received five nominations for these vacancies, which means that we still require one more parent to join the council to ensure that we meet our full quota. If this is a role that you are interested in, please email me.
Principal Morning Tea – 7 March
This Friday is the first morning tea of the year. Families are invited to pop by the staff room at 9am, have a chat and find out what’s going on about the school.
- When: Friday 7 March, from 9am
- Where: Staff room
- What: Grab a cuppa and have a chat!
Thank you for your ongoing support. Enjoy the rest of your week and the long weekend.
~ Paul Wallace, Principal