Principal's report

Greetings Parents,Carers and Students of Moonee Ponds West PS

Over the last two days I have been involved in a conference with the focus on Resilient Leadership.  What does this mean? How do school leaders lead in this way?

One of the presenters offered some definitions and information about resilience and how to develop this in our students, staff, leaders and principals. Some relevant information that is of importance and from research indicates that 10% of feeling stressed is attributed to outside factors, 50% to genetics and 40% to how we think and act.  Being able to manage self and learning skills  is incredibly important. This raised questions for me around how well do we teach our children these skills, how well do we as parents and teachers model  these skills to  our children and how do I as a leader develop these skills in the staff that I lead.

I learned there are three areas for consideration. These are:

Filter:  how well do you filter information and interpret the world.  Blame lives here

Act: How do you handle the challenge. How well do you manage change.  Self assurance in what you are doing is important here

Interact: How you communicate and connect with others.

Being able to manage the fright, fight, flight created by fear helps us manage ourselves and enables us to be resilient. All food for our thinking.

School Review

• We continue to gather information and opinion for including in the Pre Review Self Evaluation.  Last Tuesday at the Staff Meeting the staff looked at the schools academic and survey data sets (Student,Staff and Parent) to evaluate whether  we have achieved the goals and targets set in our Strategic Plan.  The small group discussions provided staff with the opportunity to provide context and comment on what they believed contributed to the data sets. Data of all sorts is used to provide a rich explanation of what schools do, however there are explicit data measured that we must attend to when assessing the success of a school, any school.  These of course relate to statewide measures for Reading and Numeracy, measures within the student survey around connectedness and student safety, in the staff survey around collective efficacy and academic emphasis, and in the parent survey around general satisfaction and student safety at school. In the School Review these measures will be highlighted and we will present evidence around our achievement.  We determine if our targets have been met, partially met or not met.

The School Review process provides the school with an opportunity to stop, reflect and plan a way forward with all stakeholders.  When the Self Evaluation is complete I will share parts with you.  Of course the new strategic plan will also be shared with directions highlighted for monitoring each year through the Annual Implementation Plan.

Music Camp

The MVIMP annual camp is fast approaching (next week from Tuesday to Fri).  I smile as I remember my eldest son Jack attending I think the first camp in the 1980’s. If your child is attending you will be surprised at how this intensive opportunity builds and deepens skill. Enjoy the experience children and I look forward to acknowledging your learning when I attend the concert on Thursday night.  Ms Michelle Bovè is attending as MPWPS staff.  I even think Michelle is hosting the concert.

Fundraising 2018

Our two major fundraising events for the year have been very successful, thanks to the efforts of our fantastic fundraising team and the wonderful community support at the events. The Term 1 Movie Night raised $4700.75 and the Term 2 Trivia Night raised $8932.06.  Monies raised from fundraising in 2018 will assist with the landscaping required with the toilet upgrade.

After hours use of the grounds

We have had some noisy and dangerous behaviour in our grounds after hours.  Thank you to our community members who have informed the Police about these after hour activities and we are grateful that no one has been hurt and that no substantial damage has occurred. We are forced to take action and so the grounds will be locked at dusk and re opened for daily use especially on the weekends.  I have been in the school on the weekend and witnessed the high usage of our synthetic grass area by families from the community.  It is a great community asset. We will monitor the introduced measures to ensure safety of all and keep you informed.  Let’s use this community resource in the right way.   If you see anyone perhaps not adhering to such norms please inform them of what is expected.  Collectively we can make a difference.

Well that’s about it from me for this week.  I can sense a little bit of Spring creeping into our days!  That is always a wonderful feeling don’t you agree!

Sincerely and in good faith

Kerri