Footscray West PS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Principal: Brendan Millar

In this Week's Newsletter

  • Attention (more information below)
    • Students in grade 3 next year have until Tuesday next week to book a place on our Zoo Snooze camps for week 4 of Term 1 next year.
    • Swimming for grade 1 and 2 students next year will be held on week 4 and 5 of Term 1 next year. Bookings will open next week and will close in the first week back.
  • Appreciations…
    • Thanks to staff, students and community 
    • Graduation evening
    • Salvation Army Christmas Appeal
  • Reminders
    • Parent and carers Appreciation Morning Tea is tomorrow
    • Grade 3 Zoo Snooze Camp (deadline for booking next Tuesday)
    • School Facilities Master planning survey 
  • News
    • Through School Transition 
    • Grade 1 and 2 swimming bookings will open next week and close first week of Term 1
    • Grade 6 Graduation awards
    • Annual Chris Goethel Environment Team award
  • This Week 
    • Grade 6 Picnic (pizza) in the Park 
    • Moving day today
    • Assembly tomorrow
    • Student reports posted via Compass tomorrow
    • Canteen - last day is Friday
  • Coming up...next week
    • Grade parties (5 - prep)
    • School concludes at 1.20 pm on Wednesday, 20th December
  • Repeated (and updated) messages

Appreciations

End of Year Acknowledgement - We have a wonderful school and FWPS community.  I would like to take this opportunity, in the final newsletter of the year, to express my gratitude to the many people who have enabled an organisation as complex as our school to have thrived in 2023 despite everyday challenges.  There has been much achieved despite many bumps along the road.  A very big personal appreciation to my Principal class colleagues, Liz and Carolyn, members of the School Improvement Team, Office team, Instructional Leaders, Class and Specialist teachers and Educational Support staff.  Schools are people places and we have so many passionate and caring staff who contribute beyond expectation every day. From Prep to grade 6 we have big hearted, talented, passionate kids and kids who just getting to school regularly is a significant achievement.  We love observing the rich relationships formed in every class and with their teachers.  Schools are reliant on the contribution of parents and carers.  And we have had wonderful contributions from our active and supportive School Council, by members of Parents’ Association and the many contributors who have enabled events and opportunities to happen, such as the Second Hand Uniform Shop, Mothers’, Fathers’ /Special persons’ stalls and the Halloween Disco. We cannot attend camps or run excursions without parent/carer assistance.  We do hope we see many of you drop into our Parent/Carers Appreciation Morning Tea tomorrow at 11.30 am in the Gallery Space.

 

Graduation Evening - A very big thank you to Marco Pitisano, grade 6 Team Leader for the superb planning, preparation and presentation of a wonderful grade 6 Graduation event on Monday evening.  To this appreciation I would like to acknowledge team members, Marshal, Towela and Monica for the terrific support, while Lauren who left 6LC at the end of term due to maternity leave, was definitely not forgotten.  We all appreciated the dance performances from all classes.  We have our Performing Arts Specialist, Jess to thank for that.  Many of you will have seen the life sized 3D characters that have been created during art classes during the year - one for every graduate.  While it was impractical to have all their alter egos in attendance, Susie did manage to bring along a few passengers as you can see, suitably wearing their seatbelts. Apparently, they even went via the McDonalds drive through!

Salvation Army Christmas Appeal - A huge appreciation to all of the families who supported the Annual Salvation Army Christmas Appeal hosted at FWPS.  The appeal has now closed and all items will be collected tomorrow.

Reminders

Parent and Carer’s Appreciation Morning Tea - We are inviting all parents and carers who have assisted in our programs this year to join us in the gallery space in Dingo tomorrow, Friday 15th December for an appreciation morning tea from 11.30 am.  This is our opportunity to thank you for what you have done to support the children and staff across a variety of experiences this year.  So, if you have assisted by being a helper in classrooms or specialists, helped on camps, excursions or swimming, been a member of Parents’ Association or School Council, or made a contribution to another of our schools’ programs or initiatives, we would love to see you in attendance, if you can possibly make it.  Our morning tea will be held in the gallery space in Dingo at 11.30 am on Friday, 15th December.

 

Camp Dates for 2024 - Last week we posted information at the very first opportunity about the very early grade 3 Zoo Snooze program to be held next year.  We know the time from a payment point of view is challenging for parents (and us), however a program early in the year, rather than in the middle of winter was preferable.  We urge all families to consider the program as a priority.  

 

The deadline for commitment is next Tuesday and there will be no extension of that opportunity as the implications around costing are extremely significant for our budgeting.

 

School Facilities’ Master Planning - Last week the Building master planning survey was posted on Compass and shared in the newsletter.  Our architects are pleased to have already received over 100 parent/carer responses.  I understand that there were several families that had difficulty accessing the survey in the last few days.   That has been corrected and the survey can still be accessed for a few more days at: https://gtui6nhlqr0.typeform.com/to/pzZSp4YQ 

The survey will close on 17th December.

News

Through School Transition Day - It was great to see the results of many hours of preparation culminating in the smooth transition across the school for students as they had their first opportunity to interact with their 2024 teachers and peers.  The process of developing new grades is very complex.  We put our best efforts in preparing and providing parents and carers with the opportunity for input beforehand.  Consequently, there is no flexibility at this late stage for changes of class or student peers.

In planning for classes, we are funded by the Department of Education for a 28 grade model in a highly complex funding arrangement which accounts for the entire student population, rather than year level populations. As a school with increasing socio-economic means, we receive minimal equity funding to employ additional staffing. We have chosen, however, to support 29 grades. In addition to monetary constraints, we are using every available classroom teaching space that exists in our school. Having no additional classroom space is a key factor in some of our class sizes being slightly larger next year, particularly at the Grade 4 level. Eligible students in this cohort will receive additional support through our Tutor Learning Initiative program. Student learning will also be supported by three Numeracy Pedagogical Coaches and two Literacy Pedagogical Coaches next year. All teachers and students enjoy the extensive specialist program on offer, some of which also need to travel from room to room. 

 

The Grade 1 and 2 Intensive 9 day Swimming Program… will be held early next year (weeks 4 and 5 of Term 1), so there will be a Compass post made early next week, as we will need to lock in planning and student numbers very early.  We expect payment for this program will need to be made in the first week of Term 1.

 

Graduation Awards - Each year at our Grade 6 Graduation we acknowledge student excellence and conscientious efforts in literacy, numeracy and with our specialists’ program.  We were delighted to provide awards to the following students, who will also be acknowledged at assembly on Friday.

 

Russell Ford Classroom Encouragement Awards:

  • Luca Longley - 6MP
  • Simmi Deshmukh - 6MP
  • Charlie Muhllechner - 6MC
  • Ella Meyer - 6MC
  • Audrey McLauchlan - 6LC
  • Eli Flight - 6LC

Specialist Awards:

  • Oscar Cameron - Physical Education Award
  • Scarlett Vuddamalay - Art Award
  • Katherine Tregear - Italian Award
  • Nico Munro - Music Award
  • Alice May-Weiss - Performing Arts Award

Community & Citizenship Awards

  • Jacob Barham - The Thelma McAlinden and Phyllis Carson Award: 
  • Harry Axiak - The Lyn Burnham Peer Support Award
  • Billie Shortis - Dr Moss Cass Award for Community and Integrity

Academic Achievement Awards

  • Harriet Newman - Literacy: The Frank Burtonclay Award
  • Sadie MacDonell - Literacy: The Frederick Mellor Award
  • Claire Satzke - Literacy: The Caren Taylor Award
  • Ayush Saraswat - Numeracy: The Sylvia McColl Award
  • Sinon Mohammad - Numeracy: The Paul Bailey Award
  • Rayn Shikder - Numeracy: The Jeanette Fielding Award

All Rounder Award

  • Michael Bayarsaikhan - The Harold Lynn All Rounder Award

We would like to acknowledge all our grade 6 graduates and will ensure that they receive a rousing send off next Wednesday when we hold a brief end of term assembly prior to our 1.20 pm early finish for the year.

This Week...

Grade 6 Picnic (Pizza) at the Park - Today the Grade 6s were transported to Hansen Reserve for Picnic at the Park, an opportunity to celebrate their time at FWPS together. We are fortunate that Sonia and Remi, parents of grade 6 cohort members, Lucas and Morgan, run Happy Camper Pizza, for they generously provided pizza to all the Grade 6 students and staff. At this annual event a long term school tradition of signing student shirts occurs.  Thanks to Marco, Marshal, Towela and Stratos for making this day special for our grade sixes.

 

Movement of Furniture and Staff Resources - Today contractors attended and moved class furniture where required and staff and class resources in preparation for the 2024 school year.  During this process all movement was managed and supervised by Rick, our OH&S consultant who works with us every Thursday.

 

Assembly - On Friday at (hopefully) an outdoor assembly, we will present our final Pupil of the Week awards for this year.  We will acknowledge our grade 6 graduate awards and present the annual Chris Goethel Environment Team award and our inaugural Marrung Leadership award.  This will also be an opportunity to share a school wide appreciation to Giuliano Iacuzzi who will be leaving FWPS after 16 years as our Italian language specialist.  If the weather is against us, we will present our assembly from the gallery space in Dingo.  We always welcome parents and carers who attend to see the presentation of an award or report.

 

Student Reports - will be posted via Compass to parents and carers tomorrow.

 

The Canteen’s Final Service... for this year will also be tomorrow.  A big thanks to Fiona and her small team.  It can be a challenging job and they always try their best and always look out for the kids.

 

Coming up...in the final (part) week of Term - The final week of term will be from Monday to Wednesday 18th, 19th and 20th December.  A reminder that the final day concludes at 1:20pm

 

End of Year Celebrations - On Tuesday, 19th December, the second last day of the school year, the Grade 5 cohort will hold a picnic and games morning at Johnson Reserve.  All other grade levels will have their parties at school, at various times over the final two weeks, preferably in our grounds and gardens. Each of the teaching teams will (or have) communicate(d) details of relevance.

 

We will hold a final assembly (outdoors if weather permits) from a time to be specified on Wednesday, 20th December.  School will be dismissed for the January holidays at 1.20 pm.  TheirCare will run their program from this earlier time on this day.  Please ensure you have made arrangements to collect your child at this earlier time.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Brendan

 

Repeated (and updated) messages…

 

Repeated (and Updated) Messages.pdf