Principal's Report 

Dear families and friends of MPW,

Well we had some happy F/1 students on Friday, as the wet weather stayed away for their Werribee Zoo excursion. Thank you to the parent helpers who assisted on the day. It was a great success and I have heard lots of positives from the day. Even that there was a spotting of a unicorn camouflaged as a rhino whilst on the bus zoo tour.

Cold and Flu season

As we head into cold and flu season and there are a few bugs, Tonsilitis and colds going around. This has resulted in an increase in staff and student absences. We do ask that if your child is unwell, they are best to be at home to recover and get well quicker and to not pass anything on. Where students are presenting as unwell at school, we will contact parents.

We are also experiencing staff falling unwell. Where staff are absent, we do try our best to cover with a casual relief teacher (CRT) but there continues to be a shortage and some days require flexibility and class splits to accommodate. I have run a few PE sessions myself and Amanda has covered some classes to support coverage when required. We do aim for continuity in student learning as best we can manage. We thank you for your understanding in this area.

Annual Report and Annual Implementation Plan

Last Monday, we held the Annual General Meeting via WebEx to present and speak to the 2022 Annual Report. Thank you to those who were able to join this meeting, and to our Learning Specialist Kim who spoke to the work in Literacy throughout 2022. The report is generated by the Department of Education and outlines the school’s performance in the areas of Student Learning, Student Wellbeing and Engagement, Parent and Staff Opinion survey results and our financial situation.

We have also had our Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) endorsed through School Council. This plan flows out of our newly developed 4-year Strategic Plan. A core focus this year is narrowing in on consistency, collaboration and clarity of teaching practices both academic and wellbeing.

Both of these documents can be found on our school website.

District and Division Cross Country

Well done to those students who represented MPW at District Cross Country. Our students’ efforts secured the District Shield, which is a great achievement. We now have 8 students progressing to Division tomorrow. We wish them all the best and as always, their best effort is all we ask for win or lose.

5/6 Camp

We have our 4 day 5/6 camp to Echuca next week, students are getting excited about this experience and teachers have been working hard to organise a fun camp for them. Part of the experience is a trip into the Port of Echuca for a ride on a paddle steamer down the river and tour of the historical port. We hope the students are practising rolling up their sleeping bags before heading off!  I am looking forward to being able to head off to camp myself to support the team next week. Amanda will be looking after things back at school for those days.

Finally, a reminder that there is a public holiday on Monday 12th June, King’s Birthday.

Regards,

Jarrod Sutton

Principal