Principal's Report

 In this week’s newsletter:

• What's Up?
  • Sporting Colours Day
• Appreciations and News
  • Open afternoon
  • Considerations for friendships for 2025 classes
  • 2025 Additional considerations process
  • Whooping cough
• Coming Up
  • Sporting Colours Day 
  • Assembly tomorrow … early dismissal at 2:20pm
• Coming Up... Next Term
  • Vision and Values launch 
  • Save the date - Vision and Values Smoking Ceremony
  • Sunsmart from the beginning of term 
  • Staff on leave
• Repeated (and updated) Messages

What's Up?

Sporting Colours Day is held each year at FWPS on the last day of term 3.  This provides a great opportunity for kids to wear their casual sporting garb for the last day of a tiring term.  By providing a gold coin donation, we can actively support the State Schools Relief Charity, our very own government schools’ charity that supports thousands of Victorian families each year, including families at FWPS.  This annual day is organised and supported by the Junior School Council.  We encourage each child to bring along a coin to class.  Shortly after the beginning of the day, all JSC members will collect donations from their grade and take them to the office.  Money raised is totalled, banked and transferred to SSR and the amount shared at our end of term assembly prior to dismissal.

Appreciations and News...

Open Afternoon - We love sharing what is happening at FWPS:

• Recent grade 4 chemical science incursion - https://vimeo.com/1009711773?share=copy
• Celebrating Prep 100 Days of School and Milos’ Birthday Surprise- (apologies for the late posting - we had some tech issues at the time it was originally planned to be posted) - https://vimeo.com/1009011450?share=copy 

2025 Learning Buddy suggestions for students in Grades Prep to 5 - (see more information below) - Each year class teachers enable all students from Grades Prep to 5 to select 5 children from their grade level who they would like to be within the same grade the following year and are good candidates as learning buddies.  We aim to ensure that a minimum of one child on that list will be with them in their step up grade.  Again, this year we will provide families with the opportunity to provide their list following discussion at home.  All families will have until Friday, 18 October (Week 2) to complete this list online.  We encourage all families to participate in this process.  Where families do not provide a list, the class teachers will provide this opportunity in class-time, as per our previous process. The above information will also be provided to parents and carers tomorrow as a specific, pinned Compass post.

• 2025 Learning buddy form: https://forms.gle/g5GHBcjTv9oCAbDi6

Leaving FWPS for 2025? - If your family is planning to leave for another school next year we would really appreciate you emailing us at: footscray.west.ps@education.vic.gov.au using the subject line (above).

2025 Additional Considerations for Placement (see more information below) - Each year we provide the opportunity for parents and carers to communicate considerations for class placement for the following school year.  This information and this online link is provided below in today’s newsletter and will be repeated during Weeks 1 and 2 of Term 4.  We ask all families to carefully consider whether they need to make a submission, as class placement is a complex process that involves all our teaching and leadership staff to develop over much of Term 4.  There are clear and abiding parameters that we have in place.  Please read with careful consideration and if you choose to make a submission, do so by Friday, 18 October (Week 2).  There will be no opportunity for late submissions with either of these processes.

• 2025 Extra considerations form  https://forms.gle/2Dtfp7NXGa6iAs6R7

Whooping Cough (sometimes called pertussis) - During the week we have communicated to families in several grades and then to the whole school community, regarding multiple incidences of whooping cough within our school population. Please exercise an abundance of caution if any family members have demonstrated symptoms, especially if they have been in close contact with others who have returned positive results following testing.

Kids’ Share Open Afternoon - Once again classrooms were brimming with families on Tuesday as our students returned to their grades after school for our second Kids’ Share Open Afternoon for the year. We appreciate how this relatively new and very simple approach encourages family dialogue about learning and an opportunity for your children to share highlights of their learning. Thanks to all the families who participated.

Coming Up… 

Sporting Colours Day - See above in What’s Up?

Assembly tomorrow - At the end of Terms 1, 2 and 3, the tradition is for school 

to finish one hour earlier. Therefore, we will hold our assembly earlier too.  Our learning day will be shortened by having only one learning session after lunch (rather than the usual two).  As a consequence, recess will be held between 1:00pm and 1:30pm.  Assembly will follow at 1:50pm and students will be dismissed after all grades return to their classrooms. Unfortunately, we will not feature a grade item this week.  Amel has been unwell and may not return this term and as a result PAC has not had the opportunity to prepare and rehearse as is normally the case.  PAC will provide their assembly item during Term 4.  As usual the weather will determine the location of (a slightly shorter) assembly.

Coming up …Next Term

Vision and Values launch - Plans are now well advanced for our official launch of our Vision and Values on 11 October, the first Friday of Term 4. The day will be celebrated with mixed aged groups, focussing on activities themed around our values of respect, responsibility, resilience and belonging. A highlight will be a sausage sizzle supported by TheirCare and the Flight family (Solomon 5RC) who have generously offered to donate bread from their bakery. Orders for the sausage sizzle closed yesterday and as the canteen will not operate on the day of our Vision and Values launch, any child who did not order will need to bring lunch from home.

Thanks to the parents and carers who have already volunteered to assist with running our second sausage sizzle for the year.  If you can help for a stint, please click on the link below provided by our Parents’ Association: 

VolunteerSignup - Vision & Values Launch Sausage Sizzle signup sheet

Save the Date (morning) - for our Vision and Values Smoking Ceremony on the morning of the first Friday of term (11 October 2024). The day will begin with a traditional Smoking Ceremony, and we hope to see many parents and carers in attendance.

Sunsmart - We are enforcing the wearing of wide brimmed or bucket hats from the beginning of next term at lunch and recess play times and sport and class activities held outdoors. Please ensure that your child has an appropriate and labelled hat ready for use, as come next term there will be a requirement for students without their hats to only play in limited shaded areas. 

Leave - During the first 5 weeks of next term, I will be going on leave. Liz will be the very able Acting Principal during my absence. Of course, Assistant Principal Carolyn will return at the beginning of next term.

Cheers,

Brendan

Repeated (and Updated) Messages…

2025 LEARNING BUDDY SUGGESTIONS

Dear Parents and Carers,

Each year we provide an opportunity for our students (Grades Prep to Five) to suggest the names of five peers (learning buddies) who they would like to be with in the same class for the following school year.

A good learning buddy is someone who works well with your child, is supportive and they respect the learning of your child. A good learning buddy partnership benefits the development and learning of both children, and should not encourage an overreliance on the friendship.

Through this process, we aim to ensure each child will have one learning buddy from their list in their 2025 class.

We are continuing the process started last year enabling  parents and carers to collaboratively make their list WITH THEIR CHILD via the Google Form below. We kindly ask that all families sit down with their children to fill out this form and to discuss suitable learning buddy options.

This process will need to be completed by Friday, 18th October 2024. There will be no extensions for families should they miss this deadline. Please use a different form for each of your children.

We have an expectation that students of separated families will collaborate on this process and submit only one response per child.

In order to be valid, each child's entry MUST include FIVE (5) different students from the same grade level. Where families do not choose to provide an entry, the child will be provided this opportunity to do so in class time.

Please note that submissions will be deemed invalid if:

- One child is listed more than once on your child's form

- Not all five spots are filled (i.e. we will not accept only one name on the form).

If the entry is deemed invalid, your child will be provided the opportunity to complete this process correctly during class time.

The five buddies listed are not preferential and will be treated as such during the grade placement process.

No further discussion or correspondence will be entered into at the completion of grade placements. This is your one time to have input into the process.

In making decision for grade placements, teachers consider the needs of all students from a social, academic and behavioural perspective.  

Please note that all communication on this matter will need to be received via this form, no later than Friday, 18th October. 

You will receive an automatically generated email acknowledgement after submission. Please ensure your email is correctly listed. 

LINK TO LEARNING BUDDY REQUESTS FOR 2025:

https://forms.gle/g5GHBcjTv9oCAbDi6

Warm regards,

Brendan Millar, Carolyn Lockie and Liz Beasley

FWPS Principal Team

2025 Additional Considerations for Placement

Dear Parents and Carers, 

During Term 4, the teaching teams will spend many hours preparing grades for next year. Throughout this process, the needs of all students are considered from a social, academic and behavioural perspective.   

In limited situations, we may consider communications or requests from families regarding their child's 2025 grade placement. 

If you believe that the following listed considerations are relevant to your child's needs, we advise that this form must be completed by the due date. This is the formal communication for this process so we will not be accepting phone calls or emails.

Please note that requests from previous years do not carry over. If there are still concerns, new requests should be made for the 2025 year.

All matters will be dealt with sensitively; however, we must stress that requests for specific teachers, classes or friendships will not be accommodated. Throughout the grade placement process, teachers look for compatible learning partners and encourage the development of new friendships.

Requests related to learning, behavioural or social requirements will be considered on merit and in consultation with key staff members.

Again this year, families will be able to submit learning partner suggestions through a separate online process. Please see Compass and the newsletter for these specific links. 

Do not list learning buddies on this form as they will not be considered.

Requests related to learning, behavioural or social requirements will be considered on merit and in consultation with key staff members. 

Please note that all communication on this matter will need to be received via this form, no later than Friday, 18th October.

You will receive an automatically generated email acknowledgement after submission. We may seek further discussions or clarification with families.

LINK TO PLACEMENT REQUESTS FOR 2025: https://forms.gle/2Dtfp7NXGa6iAs6R7

Warm regards,

Brendan Millar, Carolyn Lockie and Liz Beasley

FWPS Principal Team

Naplan 

An appreciation to Towela and Libby who have prepared the following comprehensive school summary presentation of NAPLAN for School Council. 

Our students sat NAPLAN back in March this year and parents received results in July. We now have the full suite of school comparison information to share with our families. From 2023, NAPLAN results were reported against 4 proficiency standard levels rather than numerical bands and national minimum standards. This means that the previous 10-band NAPLAN scale and national minimum standards are no longer applicable. One obvious negative however, is that the amended model does not allow a measure of growth from previous years until last year’s (Yr3) cohort participate in Year 5 NAPLAN in 2025.

NAPLAN professional standards include four proficiency levels for each assessment area at each year level.

• Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing. 
• Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
• Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
• Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing. They are likely to need additional support to progress satisfactorily.

Each of the standards represents increasingly challenging skills and understandings as students move through the years of schooling with cut offs matched to the curriculum rather than an arbitrary number scale as in the previous reporting format.

In regards to FWPS overall results, there were some highlights, as well as areas for growth.

We are very pleased that we have a very high participation rate. All students in grades 3 and 5 are expected to participate. We do however respect the right of parents to choose. In all cases where students did not participate, it was either due to parent/carer choice, or they were absent. Where students were absent, whenever possible, catch up assessments were held in priority areas of reading, writing and numeracy.

Where to now?