Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW 

Congratulations to the following 7 students for their participation and efforts at Division Swimming last week: Albert G, Michael G, Louis K, Will T, Mason L, Archer W and Henry J. I was fortunate to go along on the day, and it was, as expected, great to see how supportive and positive the group was.  Reaching the Division level is a great achievement. Well done to our relay team who came second place, a great group effort. Thank you to Bree and those parents who attended to support our students.  We wish all the best to Albert who will represent us at the Regional finals at the end of the term.

Movie Night

We have the Movie Night, Paddington in Peru, this Friday night. Thank you to those who have signed up to support the running of our stalls on the night and those who have donated some lollies for the lolly bags.

The forecast is currently expecting about 24 degrees and low chance of rain. We are very hopeful we won’t need to postpone this time!

Don’t forget to purchase your tickets on Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/mpw-movie-night-2026-tickets-1983586976042?aff=oddtdtcreator

More details can be found in the Fundraising section of the newsletter.

NAPLAN

I would like to acknowledge our year 3 and 5 students who last week began their NAPLAN testing. It has been great to see the students’ positive attitude and effort they have shown toward these assessments, we have created a supportive environment where students see NAPLAN as just another classroom activity that gives them a chance to share their understandings and do their best. NAPLAN testing concludes this week. We had our Numeracy assessment today and then the catchup session on Thursday.

 Classroom Helpers

Yesterday, we held our annual Classroom Helpers induction session for parents wanting to volunteer in the classroom. If you are wanting to help in the classroom on a regular or non-regular basis, please ensure that you reach out to your child’s teacher to organise how you can help in the classroom. All parent helpers are required to read through our induction information regarding privacy and Child Safety and are required to have a Working With Children’s Check to volunteer in the school.  A push will be sent today with the relevant documents for you to review.

We look forward to welcoming parents who can come in to support our students and teachers where possible in classrooms and on excursions this year.

Mobile Phones & Smart Watches

In line with the Department of Education policy and guidelines, all mobile devices need to be handed into the office at the beginning of the school day. All devices are stored in the office throughout the day and returned at the end of the day to students. The scope of our Mobile Phone Policy extends to Smart Watches. The expectation is that communication features are disabled during school hours from 8:50am-3:30pm. 

It is difficult for teachers to check if these features are disabled, therefore will use their discretion if Smart Watch devices are not being used appropriately or prove to be a distraction to student’s learning, the student will be asked to store their device at the office.

If students decide not to hand in their devices to the office as per the school’s policy, and are found at school, the phone will be collected and stored in the office. For ongoing issues, phones will be collected, parents will be notified and required to collect devices.

We strongly encourage that parents ensure student’s mobile devices are left at home, unless absolutely necessary and there is a compelling reason. 

Any communication between parents and students during school hours should be done by contacting the school office. 

The Mobile Phone policy can be found here: https://www.mooneewestps.vic.edu.au/uploaded_files/media/mobilephonespolicy_2025.pdf

Upcoming Stop Work Action

You may have heard that the AEU (Australian Education Union) has planned stop work action for union members on Tuesday 24th March. We are working through the implications for this, and once numbers taking stop work action are known, formal communication will be sent directly to families, no later than 2.00pm Monday 23rd, outlining confirmed arrangements and/or modifications for the day on Tuesday 24th. Stay tuned.

As we close to the end of the term, a reminder school concludes on Thursday 2nd April at 2.30pm. We hold our final assembly on Thursday morning at 9:05am. There is no assembly on the Monday in the last week.

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Principal