Principal's Report

School Review 

Yesterday we concluded the School Review process. The three days of Review was an opportunity to evaluate our performance as a school, to celebrate our highlights, acknowledge the challenges and look forward to identifying the future direction of our work.

I am already looking forward to some of the potential work that we can engage in, as we strive for continual improvement in learning and wellbeing. At this stage we have drafted our Goals and Key Actions for our new School Strategic Plan. Once this work is finalised, we will communicate to families via the School Review Report, as well as through our normal channels.

The School Review Panel commented on how articulate our students were during the visit; on the positive and professional staff culture that they experienced during their interviews; on the high levels of involvement and engagement of parents through the parent focus group.

Parent Focus Group

Parent feedback forms a very important part of the School Review process. To ensure that we had representation from all year levels, our class liaisons were invited to meet with the Panel last Tuesday, with over 20 parents attending. 

This allowed parents the opportunities to express their thoughts and opinions in relation to the responses from last year’s Parent Opinion Survey (distributed to all families).

Although I was not part of the focus group meeting, it was very valuable to hear the thoughts and ideas that were shared, as well as the good news stories that parents had experienced. Whilst not all these ideas will present themselves in the School Review Report or in the new School Strategic Plan, I am starting to consider how we might be able to address some of the items discussed in an informal way.

I am always open to hear thoughts and ideas that families have, so if you have anything that you think would be helpful to share or discuss, send me an email.

Year 5 Anglesea Camp

I am sure that those of you who have children in Year 5 have been hearing about the wonderful time that the students had at Anglesea. I received regular updates from the teachers, who described how great camp had been for them – the words ‘spectacular’ and ‘amazing’ were frequently used in the teachers’ messages.

Congratulations to our students for their ‘have a go’ attitude, and for embracing all challenges that came their way. You represented the school superbly.

Thank you to the parent helpers – Hylton Menz, Louise Currie and Rose McCrohan for their support. Thank you also to the staff – Anna, Lauren, Aaron, Michele and Daniel P for making the camp such a success.

Year 1 and 2 Concerts

What a spectacular evening we enjoyed at Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar Performing Arts Centre as our Year 1 and 2 students pulled out all the stops to put on two fantastic performances of ‘What Will It Be?’.

It was lovely to be part of such an occasion and to see the students in a different (spot)light. There was an energy in the room as the students sang, danced, and spoke with such style. I am sure that the event will live long in the memory for everyone.

These concerts take a lot of planning and preparation to bring together. Thank you to the many parents involved in the creation of props and costumes. Thank you to all the teachers for their support in preparing the students, and on the big night itself. A special thank you to our Performing Arts teacher, Keri, for her commitment – booking the venue, coordinating stage scenes, rehearsing with the students, and directing on the evening – you did a sensational job!

Father’s Day/Special Person’s Day Breakfast

Once again, the school grounds became the location for an early morning breakfast celebration. The smell of bacon, a couple of coffee carts, and a huge turn out from the community made for a very positive start to the day. The playground was filled with conversation and excitement as of children and their adults gathered to eat and connect before school. 

This event raised a total of $1,050 for the school.

A big thanks to Jennifer Clarke for her event planning and the troop of volunteers who turned up to cook, serve, set up and pack up on the day. Thanks, we couldn’t have done it without you! 

We would like to thank the following volunteers:

Individual Education Plans (IEPs)

As part of the School Review process, we have been reconsidering our implementation of IEPs.

IEPs are provided to students who require significant adjustments to be made, beyond the differentiated classroom program significant adjustments and whose needs cannot be met by the classroom program Our current IEP implementation means that most grades have more than 10 students who have an IEP. The School Review highlighted that our lessons are suitably differentiated to meet the needs of most students in the grade, recommending that we review and reduce our implementation of IEPs.

We recognise that there is a need for IEPs for some students, and we are working through how this will be coordinated from next term. We will keep you informed via the school newsletter.

School Holiday Maintenance

We have several works scheduled to take place these holidays:

• Restoring the external wall on Langridge St (where the scaffolding is currently situated).
• Asphalting of the playground where the tree was removed.
• Fence replacement on Langridge Street.
• Fence and gate work on WSC. This work involves the double gates on WSC being moved further away from the footpath, thus reducing congestion on the footpath on Wingrove St.

Farewell Daniel Paladino

We say goodbye, thank you and good luck to one of our integration aides, Daniel Paladino, who has been successful in applying for a job in IT. 

Daniel has been at FPS since 2020 working with several our students. We wish Daniel well for the future.

2023 Curriculum Days

School Council approved the following curriculum days for 2023.

• Friday 27 January
• Monday 24 April
• Friday 11 August
• Monday 6 November

Happy Holidays & End of Term Assembly

It has been a term to celebrate, with a lot of work and learning accomplished. We thank everyone for their support of the school.

A reminder that we have an end of term assembly at 1.30pm on Friday 16 September, with an early dismissal at 2pm.

Wishing everyone a wonderful two-week break.

~ Paul Wallace, Principal