Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW,

As we draw near the end of the year, there are few updates I would like to provide to the school community as we prepare for the 2023 school year.

2023 School Structure Update

With our current numbers across the school, we will be decreasing to 15 classes in next year. Considering where our cohort numbers are currently, we have been reviewing options for a structure that the school will be able to deliver in 2023. Factors that are considered include our enrolment numbers at each year level, student needs, our staffing profile and the school’s budget.

Taking all of this into account the structure the school can operate at for 2023.

Foundation/1: 3 classes; 1/2: 4 classes; 3/4: 4 classes; 5/6 4 classes.

 We were aiming to maintain the current structure with a straight year 2, but class sizes would have been too high in the F/1 classes with the current numbers which is unsustainable to operate in line with the Victorian Schools Agreement.

The school has operated with an F/1 and 1/2 structure in the past. The teaching and learning delivered is based on the student’s needs, not whether they are in an F/1 or a 1/2 classroom. This is same across other multi-age groups in the school. 

The F-2 sub school do work together to support across the structure just as the 3-6 sub school do as well.

Teachers have begun the work to develop classes for 2023, taking into account the social and academic mix of the students and we also consider the information provided by parents.   We place all students with at least one friend from their list, and teachers have taken time to consider many other aspects.  

Whole School Transition Day

Tuesday 13th December is our Whole School Transition Day, where students will move into their 2023 classrooms and meet their teachers. Students will be with their 2023 class for the morning session. Our year 6 students will have their transition to Secondary Schools on this day also.

Parent Survey Results

We have received the preliminary Parent Survey results.  Of the 80 parents invited to participate 17 surveys were completed, which is only a small sampling of the parent community. The results have identified areas for us to work on, some of these acknowledged in the School Review this term. A key area of focus is around parent engagement post COVID. Parent’s sense of School Connectedness has increased from last year.

We do not have any comparison data yet but will continue to unpack the data to identify areas for improvement into 2023.

NAPLAN DATA

The school has recently received the national and state comparison data for NAPLAN. There was a delay in the release of state and national NAPLAN data this year. 

I am pleased to note that MPW performed above the state and national average in the following areas: Year 3 and 5 Reading; Year 3 and 5 Numeracy; and Year 3 Writing.

Our number of students performing in the top 2 bands (above the level) were also above the state and national level for: Year 3 Reading, Writing and Numeracy; and Year 5 Reading.

Our Year 5 Writing data was slightly down this year. Being the first-time students participated in the online Writing for NAPLAN, we did notice that some word processing skills require focus to support students with their typing stamina and typing using paragraphs and punctuation on a computer. Word processing is another skill that we will continue working on with our students in years 3-6.

As students did not sit NAPLAN in 2020, the school doesn’t have the usual growth data for our year 5 students this year.

End of Year Final Assembly

The last day for our students this year is Monday December 19th. Tuesday December 20th will be a pupil free day/time in lieu for teaching teams to plan together in preparation for 2023. Camp Australia will offer their services on this day.

On Friday the 16th of December we will hold our final assembly for the year, outside on the Tiger Turf weather permitting.  Families are encouraged to attend as we acknowledge some achievements for year, and farewell those leaving, especially our year 6 students.  We will also draw the Christmas Raffle. It will be a fun event so move everything from your calendar. The assembly will commence at 2.00pm to fit in with the 3.30pm dismissal.

Colour Fun Run

Excitement is brewing around the school for the Colour Fun Run, which is on Friday 9th December.  The Fun Run will be held at Maribyrnong Park at 12pm and we expect to return to school at 2pm.

We have sent out some communications to our parent representatives for support on the day, but families are welcome to come down to watch and join in the fun also.

Students are well aware there is an opportunity to go into the draw to ‘slime the principal’, which I am currently reminded of on a daily basis. The official ‘sliming’ will conclude the Fun Run spectacle before returning to school.

Let’s hope the sun is shining on the day.

Capital Works Update

We have moved through the second stage (AMP2) of the Capital Works process with the VSBA. This phase was to identify the scope of the project in line with the minister’s funding letter to update the junior building, library and playgrounds. We now move into the Schematic Design stage, where we begin to work with the architects on design ideas. We have and will hold some workshops with our students and staff generate ideas for the library space and playgrounds to support this phase. We will send a formal end of year update in the coming weeks on the progress to date.

Year 6 Graduation

Graduation will be held on Wednesday 14th. We are currently working on the logistics of night, to enable parents to be part of the night, whilst being inclusive to those unable to attend. We are investigating holding graduation in either the gym or performance and incorporating a live streaming for those unable to come onsite. Whilst the gym has practical problems with the live stream components, we have had a parent provide some support to fix our audio capabilities in the gym today, which means no more static feedback and all microphones on the stage are working once again. Thanks Paul!

We are hoping to communicate the final arrangements for graduation by the end of the week, so stay tuned.

Congratulations Alannah

I would like to congratulate Alannah in year 6, who recently had a writing piece titled ‘Refugee’ published in the ‘OzKids in Print’ magazine. Alannah was also the recipient of the ‘2022 Young Writers Award’. This is an outstanding achievement for Alannah. At assembly, Alannah spoke about the award ceremony she attended on the weekend and read an excerpt of her writing. We will be making some copies of her writing as a book to include in the school library.

Please check out the Education section for Alannah’s recount of her experience and story ‘Refugee’. 

Well done, Alannah! 

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Acting Principal