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Acting Principal’s Report

Dear Families and Carers,

I would like to congratulate Hana Dennaoui, who was the successful applicant for the substantive Assistant Principal role, commencing Term 3. Hana comes with a wealth of knowledge and we feel very excited and fortunate to have her curriculum and data expertise, amongst many other, here at Moreland PS.  Rhyarna Gilford is also joining our Education Support staff team.  I had the privilege of working with Hana as part of her social work placement with Victoria University this semester. Rhyarna was the successful applicant in picking up the Education support position and she will be working on a part time basis in Lexie’s grade. 

It is hard to believe that the end of term 2, 2022 is nearly upon us. What a busy term it has been! We have been able to have our community members and families back on site, children have spent the entire term learning in their classrooms and teachers have been able to work together to ensure that they are delivering the highest quality teaching and learning. 

Flu Season 

With borders opening and the arrival of colder weather, cases of influenza (the flu) are increasing throughout Victoria. Our community is at risk of higher rates of students and staff affected by the flu or COVID-19 this season. 

To help keep your child and our school community safe, please take the following steps if your child has any cold or flu-like symptoms: 

• take a COVID-19 test and follow the current Department of Health isolation requirements if a positive result is shown
• keep your child at home until their symptoms pass
• encourage your child to wash their hands regularly and ask them to cover their nose and mouth when sneezing and coughing. 

Common flu-like symptoms include a high fever, cough, runny nose, loss of appetite, body aches and feeling extremely weak and tired. Diagnosis of the flu can only be confirmed by a doctor after a nose or throat swab.

In recent weeks, as we have all navigated the challenges of COVID-19, I have witnessed the positive community impact that has kept our students and staff safe and learning continuing. We have had significant pressures on staff and student absences with many classes having up to 40% of students absent throughout the week. We have staff absent as they too are impacted by COVID-19 presenting challenges in finding relief staff to cover these absences. 

Despite these challenges learning continues, with our staff being amazing to step in where required. We have needed to be flexible with our staffing and timetable and will continue to be in order to keep the learning of our students uninterrupted. The flexibility and support of our staff to go above and beyond amongst the pressures on our health and wellbeing presently is to be commended. Thank you to parents and carers who are also supporting the safety of students and staff by keeping children home when they are unwell and testing when required. 

Absence 

Following the information above regarding Covid/flu/illness, we understand that student absence is higher than normal at the moment. Please ensure that you update your child’s attendance on Compass as early as possible if your child is unwell and is going to be absent from school. 

Annual General Meeting 

This week we held our Annual General Meeting, after our School Council meeting. Thank you to the parent who attended! It was lovely to have a visitor. At the AGM I presented our 2021 Annual Report to the school community. This document is available in hard copy from our front office and on the school website.

Maria Giordano

Acting Principal

School Council Report - 6th of June 2022

The most recent school council meeting included the following agenda items:

Child Safe standards: 

All Victorian schools need to comply with the 7 child safe standards, plus the principal of inclusion. To ensure we are familiar with the most recent definition of the standards, council currently has a regular agenda item to review 2 standards each meeting.

School Review: 

2022 Maria provided an overview of the recent school review. The review involves huge effort to gather various datasets that describe student learning, as well as feedback from staff, students and the school community. This information helps us to understand what MPS is doing well and to define goals to improve outcomes for all of our students in the future. The review forms the first stage of establishing a new strategic plan in 2022, that will guide the school over the next 4 years. 

Annual implementation Plan update: 

Maria provided a mid-year update on progress toward the school Annual Implementation Plan (AIP). The AIP is an important part of the school planning process and outlines activities that will be undertaken each year to meet the goals defined by the School Strategic Plan.

Sub-committees:

 We heard about the activities of our Finance, Education, Parents and Carers, Buildings and Grounds and Grants sub-committees. Sub-committee membership is open to all members of the school community and is a great way to get involved and learn more about how the school runs. 

To learn more about School Council business or express interest in joining a sub-committee please contact Council President Lee Cath, lee_cath@yahoo.com.

Kynan Lawlor, School Council Parent Member