Principal's Report
Dear families and friends of MPW,
3/4 Camp next week
Next week, Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd our year 3/4 staff and students head off to PGL Adventure Camp near Kyneton. It is great to see most of our students are attending. Camps are a great experience, and we look forward to this opportunity to support developing students’ independence and resilience away from home. I will be heading up to the first day and night of camp with the group, and I am looking forward to some good camp fun.
Enrolments for 2024
Over the past few weeks, we have been holding our school tours for prospective families with children who are starting school in 2024. There is a new state-wide enrolment process this year, that aims to streamline the enrolment processes for both parents and schools. If you or your friends have children to start school next year and are interested in enrolling with us, please pass on this information. We will have an enrolment board up shortly and this year there is a QR code for parents to find out more about our school as part of the process.
We will be looking to ramp up our future enrolment efforts and are currently looking into dates at the beginning of Term 2 to hold some Open Days for prospective families to attend. We will be looking at involving some of our senior students to guide and take tours for these sessions.
Learning to Learn
Over the past six weeks our classes have been focussed on setting up their classroom and learning routines for a safe and orderly learning environment in 2023. Classes have been in discussion about their class Rights and Responsibilities, what good learning looks like, and how to transition from one learning task to another. All these routines are taught so that the class can spend the maximum time on learning. Ask your child about the Learning to Learn aspects of ‘what is a good learner or what is a good teacher’. It is also important for students to know what makes a good lesson in any of the learning areas to allow for them to apply full effort.
As we come to the end of the term, classes will be finalising their Rights and Responsibilities for their class, based on our whole school rights to: learn, be respected, be included and be safe. Students discuss and agree to their responsibilities to help hold each other to account in these areas whilst at school. Rights and Responsibilities for each class are then presented and displayed outside the principal’s office.
School Photos
Our annual School Photos are coming up in a couple of weeks, on THURSDAY March 30. There will be class, individual and family photos as in the past. Details about the school photos will be coming home soon.
Mobile Phones and Smart Watches
Finally, I would like to remind parents of the Department of Education and school’s policy around students bringing mobile phones and/or smart watches to school.
Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours, including recess and lunchtime, unless an exception has been granted by the Principal. At Moonee Ponds West, we ask students bring their phones to the General Office to be securely stored during the day. Students should not store their phones in their school bags.
Students wearing smart watches must ensure that any connectivity that allows for the watch to make calls or send messages is disabled during school hours 9.00am-3.30pm.
Students who are found to be using a phone or smart watch will be spoken to by staff and we will contact families directly to remind them of the school’s policy.
The full Mobile Phone policy can be found on our website.
Regards,
Jarrod Sutton
Principal