FPS Newsletter

Principal's Report

Congratulations Everyone!

I wasn’t expecting to be writing my first newsletter of the term from home! However, the start of the year has been so fantastic that a short absence due to COVID wasn’t going to get in the way of such wonderful momentum. I would like to thank Nicole Rettke for her leadership of the school in my absence, and to the support given to her by the rest of the staff.

 

It has been such a positive start to 2023. I am gradually becoming familiar with seeing new faces in new places, and it is true when I say to the students, ‘I can’t believe you are in Year 3’ – time flies and children grow quickly! The start of the new school year comes with excitement and nerves. It also comes with so many possibilities – possibilities with new friendships, new teachers, new spaces, new learning, and new experiences. The students have fully embraced the ‘newness’ and are taking great pleasure in telling me what they enjoy about being their new year level.

 

At FPS, the start of the year focuses on students feeling settled and comfortable in their new classroom. Once they feel connected, confident, and positive, the sky is the limit. The start of this year bodes very well for what lies ahead.

 

I would like to make a special mention to our Year 6 students who have their final primary school year ahead of them. The new Year 6 tops arrived last week, the yellow really adds additional sunshine around the corridors.

Our Focus

As the term progresses, staff will explore our priorities for the school year, which form this year’s Annual Implementation Plan. We will continue to put equal focus into Wellbeing and Learning, recognising that for learning to thrive, we need to put the wellbeing of the child at the centre. 

 

We look forward to sharing our work with you. A lot of the learning work will be led by our Learning Specialists, Sophie Ratcliffe (Numeracy) and Binh Hoag (Literacy). Sophie and Binh are already visiting classrooms, observing lessons, and providing support to teachers.

 

We also look forward to sharing information about Cathy Turner’s role this year. Cathy is providing additional classroom support in Year 2 and is also leading some of our Mental Health Initiative work across the school. Cathy has already made a positive difference by supporting the transition to school/a new year level for many of our students.

 

Therapists in School

During the start of the year, FPS has been contacted by families regarding therapists working at school. Please note that the school follows Department of Education Policy in relation to approving therapists for students who are funded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to work at school. A summary of the Department’s Policy is below:

  • Schools are encouraged to support students and their parents in exercising a level of choice and control with their National Disability Insurance Scheme supports at school where it is safe and practical to do so.
  • The Department has produced guidelines for Victorian Government schools related to requests for the delivery of funded therapy in schools.
  • Ultimately, the decision to allow funded therapists to conduct therapy on school grounds rests with the principal.
  • The therapies funded by the National Disability Insurance Scheme are related to the student’s functional whole-of-life support needs, and not for educational purposes. The responsibility for therapy for educational attainment remains with the education system. On this basis, schools should continue to employ therapists and access therapy from Student Support Services to provide educational supports.

 

If your child is NDIS funded and you would like the school to consider therapy related to their functional whole-of-life support needs, please contact the office with the request. I will then work through the approval process, including the exchange of paperwork before approving any request.

 

Upcoming Events at FPS

Every Thursday we produce ‘What’s On’ – a quick guide to the school events happening across the next seven days. In addition to this, we keep Compass and our school website updated so that people can make a note of dates.

 

I would like to point you in the direction of some upcoming events.

 

Friday 10 February - Foundation Social Evening; 7 – 10pm (in the gym building). Families have been sent details of this annual event, so hopefully the babysitter is booked and you are all ready to go. Thank you to the Year 1 parent volunteers who have kindly agreed to help run this event.

 

Monday 13 February - Welcome Assembly; 9am (Fig Tree Courtyard). This has been rescheduled from last Friday.

 

Thursday 2 March – Parent Teacher Interviews; 1:40 – 7pm (online). 10-minute interviews will be held across all year levels via WebEx. On this day there is an early dismissal at 1pm. OSHClub will be from this time onwards.

 

Wednesday 15 March - School Photo Day. Although some way off, we wanted to draw your attention to this date as we needed to reschedule due to a clash with the Region Swimming Carnival.

 

Wednesday 15 - Tuesday 21 March - NAPLAN. Year 3 and 5 families have been informed of their year level’s specific dates and times.

 

Thank you everyone for all your support at the start of the school year. See you around the grounds!

~ Paul Wallace, Principal