Principal's Report 

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

Welcome to term 4. Isn’t it fantastic that we have got this far into the year with no lockdowns and no remote learning. The cases of Covid 19 reported to the school has slowed, however we will continue to notify you when confirmed cases have been on-site. The new guidelines around isolation will come into effect in the next few weeks and as soon as we have confirmation about how that impacts schools, I will let you know. 

I wish to thank Mrs Mills, who was the Acting Principal at the end of last term. She did a wonderful job and was well supported by the entire Melton West PS Team. 

I had an amazing trip, travelling to countries I had only ever seen on TV and experienced many things for the first time. One of the things I learnt to appreciate about Australia is the safety element of our day-to-day living. Whilst walking in the streets of Turkey I needed to be very careful to watch where I was walking at all times. Narrow footpaths unexpectedly turned into steps leading to a door underground. There were no rails or warnings. I believe the Turkish people would be very used to this and be quite aware of their surrounding ensuring they kept safe, but because that is not the norm here, I found it very interesting. Both Turkey and Greece are wonderful places, steeped in history. A fact I learnt about Istanbul is that it is a city (not sure if it’s the only one in the world) that is on two continents – Asia and Europe. I found this amazing! 

I really appreciated all the welcome backs I received from students, staff and parents. Thank-you.

50th Anniversary Celebration: We are very excited to be celebrating our 50th Anniversary as a school on November 18th 2022 from 3.00 pm until 6.30 pm. The official opening of the gym will take place on this day as well. There will be plenty of free, family friendly activities for children to participate in as well as the opportunity to purchase food and drinks. Look out for more information in the following weeks. Put this date in your diary so you don’t forget. 

Kinder Carpark: The carpark set aside for the Try West Kindergarten and Child Health Centre is not designed as a drop off or pick up point for children who attend Melton West PS. When cars enter the carpark and stop in the throughway for children to exit or enter the car, this creates many dangerous situations. Cars are reversing from carpark spaces, which may hit children, cars bank up over pedestrian crossover along West Melton Drive and cars waiting to turn into the carpark sometimes block the lanes on West Melton Drive also. Can I encourage you to drop your child off in the Melton Wave Pool Carpark, cross at the manned crossing on Coburns Road and walk your child to the gate or into the school. As the children gain confidence, dropping them at the Wave Pool Carpark may be all they need, as they become familiar with the route to get to school. This route involves not crossing any other roads apart from the manned one on Coburn Road. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this. 

Assembly Performances: Some assembly performances were postponed throughout the year for various reasons and will be rescheduled to this term. Please check the calendar included in this newsletter for the rescheduled dates if your child’s class has not performed yet.

Term 4 School Experiences: School is a very exciting place to be in Term 4 with many things to acknowledge and celebrate such as Year 6 Graduation, Year 6/7 Transition, Kinder Transition etc. The Grade 1 and 2 students are going to the National Gallery for an Art Excursion, the Koorie Club is off to the Museum and some lucky Grade 5/6 students are representing our school in Rugby. We also have swimming planned for all year levels, so look out for these notes as they will be coming home over the next few weeks. We would like as many children as possible to participate in these events.

Prep Enrolments for 2023: If you have a child in preschool, or is turning 5 before 30th April 2022, we are accepting enrolments for Prep 2023. Please call the office for details and to book an appointment with a member of the Principal Class team. If you have family or friends with children who should start school next year, please encourage them to contact the school for a Prep Enrolment Pack and a tour. The 2023 Prep Transition Program will commence in November. If they are enrolled by then they will be invited to be part of this wonderful experience.

2023 Plans: We will be beginning the process of forming new class grouping for 2023 during Term 4. In order to know how many classes, we will need please contact the office to let us know if you know your child will not be returning in 2023 for any reason so we can plan accordingly. If you are unsure of the new school that is okay, we do not need to know that information now. 

Special Requests for 2023 Class: Part of the work we do in term 4 is to form the new classes for the following year. if you have any concerns or requests about other children your child should or shouldn’t be with please put these in writing before Friday 28th October. Any requests received after this date CAN NOT be able to be considered, due to the flow-on effect that any changes to classes already created has across the board. I will need to stick to this timeline quite tightly to ensure the process runs as smoothly and as efficiently as possible. Please note, requests for specific teachers will not be considered. If you have any questions or concerns in regard to this process, please do not hesitate to contact the office to make an appointment to speak with me. 

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal