Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW,

We had a fantastic time at the Grade 2 Sleepover on Friday night. Our Grade 2's returned at 5.30pm to setup their sleeping bags and settle in for the night ahead. We had pizza for dinner outside as the stars started to come out, just in time for Tim Credible’s magic show. There was laughter, suspense and surprised faces throughout his performance that ended with students having a turn standing inside a giant bubble! We then went outside for a game of spotlight tiggy on the Tiger Turf (see attached photo and a photo of the school bell tower by moonlight). We settled back inside for a short movie, changed into our PJ’s and brushed our teeth, ready for bed. Despite some saying they stayed up all night, everyone got a good night’s sleep. It was an enjoyable night and a positive camping experience for our students.

End of Term Reminders

Next Friday 15th September is the last day of Term 3, and we will be holding our final assembly at 9am in the gym on Friday morning. Dismissal time for the last day of term is 2.30pm.

SunSmart Reminder - Hats

It is the time of the year again where students are required to wear  SunSmart (broadbrimmed) hats when outside for play, PE or class activities. Students without hats will be asked to play or sit in shaded areas. Caps and visors are not suitable alternatives for SunSmart protection. 

NAPLAN 2023 Results

Just over a week ago, the State and National results were released for NAPLAN. Please find attached a letter from the Deputy Secretary acknowledging Victoria’s results. The school has since received more comparison data to support our achievements.

In summary for MPW, I am pleased to announce that our Year 3 students performed higher than the state and national mean for Reading, Writing, Spelling and Numeracy but were slightly behind state in Grammar and Punctuation. Our Year 5 students performed higher than the state and national mean in Spelling, Numeracy and were the same as state for Reading, but very slightly behind state in Writing and slightly behind state in Grammar and Punctuation.

It was pleasing to see that our year 3 writing data was quite impressive this year, with a large majority of our students performing in the ‘Strong’ and ‘Exceeding’ proficiency levels. This is an area to be celebrated along with the rest of our results which are quite positive.

As a school, we are continuing to analyse the NAPLAN results at the school level to reflect on areas of strengthen and future work to continue striving to improve learning outcomes for all our students. NAPLAN gives us a point in time reflection of student and school performance. Our recent work with Misty Adoniou on writing is a step towards working on specific areas in writing focused on grammar and punctuation. Some examples of this work are in the Education section of the newsletter.

Having questions or concerns about your child’s learning?

I would like to take this opportunity to remind families of the school’s processes and policy regarding Concerns and Complaints. We do encourage parents to address your questions or concerns with the classroom teacher as the first point of contact. Teachers are available between 8.50-9.00am or 3.30-3.40pm for a quick in person check in or can be contacted through email to organise a time for a discussion. Where questions or concerns are more complex or needing further attention, the Assistant Principal or myself can also be contacted to organise a meeting time. Both Jenny (Acting Assistant Principal) and myself are visible in the yard at the beginning and end of the day from 8.45-9.00am and 3.25-3.40pm for a quick in person check in if required. The relationship between school and home is an important partnership for student learning to succeed.  Our Parent Concerns and Complaints Policy can be found on our website here: 

16783392274.13_mpwcomplaints_policy_template_2022.pdf (mooneewestps.vic.edu.au)

Parent Opinion Survey Reminder

A reminder that if you were randomly invited to participate in the Parent Opinion Survey for the school that we encourage you to complete this in order to provide valuable feedback to the school. As of today, only 16% of the 100 families invited have completed the survey. For the school to get a get a reasonable sample of parent feedback and perception we would like to reach at least a 75% response rate. 

Please take the time to complete the survey this week as it closes on Friday 8th September.

Capital Works Update

Yesterday, a letter went home to families regarding the ‘decanting phase’ in preparation for the upcoming works, this was sent both in hard copy and soft copy. Whilst there will be some disruptions during the project, the school has been working hard to maximise learning opportunities with the spaces available. We are excited to begin the works next term, and look forward to the enhanced learning opportunities our updated learning spaces will provide our students.

With the building works expected to commence in October, full arrangements will be communicated to the community once the Victorian Schools Building Authority (VSBA) have finalised the appointment of the builders. 

Show Day this Thursday!

Show Day is set for Thursday 7th between 12pm-2pm. Students and JSC have been working on their stalls to provide an enjoyable and fun experience for all. This is a community event, we encourage parents to come down to the school to join in on the festivities. We hope the weather will be kind and the sun will stay out for us on the day.

Change to the Last Day of the School Year

Coming into 2023, we had initially planned for the last day of the school year to be a student free day as per previous years. This is no longer the case and the last day for students will now be Wednesday 20th December with a 1:30pm dismissal time. On this day we will hold our final assembly for the year where we farewell our Year 6 students and draw our Christmas raffle.

Finally, I would like to congratulate our District Basketball teams who played on Friday. Feedback from Bree was that, as always, our students put in their best effort and represented the school with a positive and supportive mindset. Win or lose, we ask our students try their best, be part of a team, have fun and enjoy the experience. Well done to the boys team for winning their final, and well done to the girls team for putting up a good game in their final as well.

We also had some students attend Division Athletics finals today. Results aren’t in at the time of me writing this, but I would also like to congratulate those students who made it to this level and I am confident they gave their best efforts today and look forward to hearing from them tomorrow.

I hope you have an enjoyable September school holiday period with your families and look forward to some exciting learning opportunities for our students and teachers in Term 4.

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Principal