Principal's Report

In this week’s newsletter:

Congratulations and Appreciations

• Marrung members who were presented with their badges at assembly last week

News

• An Emergency Management drill was held on Monday 
• Book Launch incursion for the grade 4s was held on Monday 
• The Annual Prep Picnic was held on Tuesday after school
• Prep Open Afternoon visits started on Wednesday
• Sunsmart reminder
• School Saver Bonus reminder
• Inform and Empower program / Raising Kids in a Digital World parent / carer information forum was held last Thursday evening

Coming Up

• Friday Assembly
• Labour Day public holiday is this Monday
• Maribyrnong District Swim Carnival next Tuesday for qualifying students 
• NAPLAN for grade 3 and 5 
• Grade 4 Campaspe Downs camp starts Thursday

Reminders

• Curriculum contributions
• Photograph and video permission requirements

Congratulations and Appreciations

Congratulations to our new Marrung Leaders

Last week our Marrung reps from grades 1-6 were presented with their badges. Pictured are our new members: 

Marrung Team members: Lily, Ethan, Emmanouil, Junior, Alicia, Julietta, Julian, Mia, Evert, Margaret, Keira, Theo, Hayley, Ada, Lenny, Pippa, Asha, Archie, Sam, Zoe, Adele, Coco, Alex, Zoe, Donnie & Florence

Children without photo permissions will have their faces obscured.

News

An Emergency Management Drill was held on Monday

Government schools are required to conduct practice emergency drills each term.  Unsurprisingly, we generally prioritise an evacuation drill from classrooms / specialist spaces. For the Preps, we understand that this initial experience could be confronting.  Therefore, our teachers do a great job at explaining why we need to apply this practice and how we can go about it in a positive manner. Grades moved effectively and promptly to the areas mapped in the emergency plan and signed on the Blandford Street fence line.  The teaching team provided feedback after school and suggestions will be applied if deemed relevant and helpful. Later in the year you can anticipate a shelter in place, lockdown and probably an additional evacuation. As we do understand that we wish to manage the eventuality of an emergency situation in a proactive way, we will continue to provide notice to the students, parents and carers with future emergency management practices.

Book Launch held with the Grade 4

Thanks to Shannon who has returned to FWPS with great gusto to a revamped library role.  By developing an active relationship with our fabulous local kids’ bookshop, The Chestnut Tree, Shannon was able to host a grade 4 book launch incursion on Monday with author Dr Judy Friedlander who showcased her engaging, environmentally focused book, The Bee Squad. Shannon took the following pics as the kids responded to the experience. 

I know there will be a report at tomorrow’s assembly and expect there will be a student inclusion in next week’s newsletter as well.

The Annual Prep Picnic

The Annual Prep Picnic was held after school on Tuesday. We had a terrific turn up for the annual opportunity for our prep cohort to return after school to play and to picnic on the oval. This year we didn’t subject our visitors to a brief information update (which was sometimes hard to hear) and I expect that the parents and carers missed that even less than Karri and I did!

Prep Open Afternoon Visits

It was great to see a line of Prep parents and carers signing in at the office Wednesday afternoon for the first Open Afternoon visit. Families are invited to book one of the three remaining available afternoons on Wednesdays in March to visit their child's grade, where they can experience their child engaged with their peers and teacher in a Learning Through Play session. Open afternoons run from 2:40pm to 3:10pm. To ensure that all families have the opportunity to attend, each child is able to have one pair of adults attend one of the sessions only.

Sunsmart Reminder 

We really do have the vast majority of our students (and staff) wearing their broad brimmed hats every lunch and recess. Nevertheless, there are always a few students without hats required to remain in the shaded area between the main buildings. Fine if your child has a hat and wants to hang out there, but not so fine if they are limited by not having their hat at school with them. Please do what you can to encourage your child to be responsible for having their hat (clearly labelled) at school daily.

School Saver Bonus 

The office team and in particular our Business Manager, Sandra have been pleased to be able to assist parents and carers every day in ensuring that they are registered and able to access the $400 one off School Saver Bonus. If this has got away from you, or you just need some assistance, please contact the office team for some practical help.

Inform and Empower Program / Raising Kids in a Digital World Information Evening 

This was a great new initiative for our school. If you missed the parent / carer information evening held last Thursday, it's not too late. A replay of Marty and Carley’s first rate presentation and family resources are available here: 

Coming Up

Friday Assembly 

Friday’s assembly will feature this week’s Pupils of the Week, sports reporters and the presentation of our Environment Team leaders representative badges. We have fingers crossed again that the weather will be warm but suitable for an outdoor assembly under our giant green shade sail.  

Labour Day Public Holiday 

Next Monday is the Labour Day Public holiday.  School will be closed.

Maribyrnong Division Swimming Carnival 

Maribyrnong Division Swimming Carnival will be held at Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre next Tuesday, 11th March. The team of 24 qualifiers in grades 4, 5 and 6 will depart school at 9:00am sharp accompanied by our PE teacher Stratos and grade 5 team member, Dan. This event will conclude at approximately 1:15pm, so all students are encouraged to bring appropriate drinks, snacks and lunch. This event is being substantially subsidised by our school to make the cost more affordable to families. Full school uniform is required on the day for arrival and departure. All parents and carers are welcome to attend.

We wish our participants fast and fluent stroke making!

NAPLAN Assessment 

The National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy will involve our grade 3 and 5 cohorts over a 5 day testing window. This will start next Wednesday and the program is due to conclude for the grade groups on the following Tuesday. There will be some limited opportunity for ‘catch up’ assessments for students absent through illness. If you have questions regarding the logistics of the testing program, please contact Assistant Principal, Carolyn.

Grade 4 Campaspe Camp 

We seem only just to have returned from the Zoo and we have the grade 4 cohort attending the Campaspe Downs Camp near Tylden for an overnight experience. Students will leave next Thursday morning at approximately 9:30am and return before the end of the school day on Friday. 

Reminders

Curriculum Contributions 

A parent / carer payment contribution Compass post was sent to all families on Monday early in term. We appreciate the positive response from so many. We really appreciate your support in making this payment for each of your children as soon as possible. Funds received are directed to subsidising the many curriculum costs in managing a school of this size. FWPS is a school that is underfunded based on the Schooling Resource Standard https://www.education.gov.au/recurrent-funding-schools/schooling-resource-standard for Australian schools.  At FWPS we receive a lower rate of equity funding due to our local demographic than many other western suburb schools. This may be deemed as fair from a systemic perspective, but doesn't help us pay the bills!  With annual fees topped at $300 (prep) we really think our community can do better than the 69% of families (grades 1-6) last year who contributed their expected contribution. There is an opportunity to pay by instalments.  Please contact the office team if you would like more information or assistance.

Photo and Video Permission Form 

The Department of Education now requires parents and carers to sign this permission form annually (this used to be a requirement only when students started school or moved to FWPS). This requirement has made a ‘once off task’ for every child now a x7 task for every child. That is a lot of parent time and you can imagine how that is magnified from a schools’ administration perspective. If you haven't done this yet, please make this a priority to complete and return to the office (or classroom). 

We really wish to encourage parents and carers to tick all 3 boxes to enable pictures or videos from class events (incursions, excursions, assemblies, sporting events and camps) and special moments (such as presentations and reports from assembly) to be able to be shown (or linked) in the newsletter and official school Facebook page.

Warm regards,

Brendan