Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to term 3 2021. Let’s cross all our collective fingers and toes, hoping that we get through a term without finding ourselves back in lockdown throughout the term. There will be plenty to celebrate if we get through unscathed.

Student Semester 1 Academic Reports: On Monday the 19th July, your child will receive their Semester 1 Report. Please check their bag on this day. If you are reading this as a parent who does not have daily care for your child, you can get a copy of the report sent or emailed to you. Please contact the office on 9743 5818 to let them know your current details and that you would like a copy.

Parent-Teacher Interviews: Om Thursday 22nd July we are holding our Student-Led Conferences for students in Years 5/6 and our 3-Way Conferences for children in Years Prep-4. Details on how to make an appointment were sent home earlier in the week and are available on our social media. If you are having any trouble booking an appointment, please call the office who will be able to assist you. If you require an interpreter, please let your child’s teacher or the office know so we can arrange that for you.

School Review: This term we are involved in our School Review. I’d like to thank the parents and carers who participated in providing feedback, that formed part of our Self-Evaluation. The Reviewer, Wendy Hobbs, visited the school briefly yesterday and spoke very highly of how the children were playing and engaging with each other. There may be a possibility to participate in a parent-focus group on the Fieldwork Day, scheduled for Tuesday 24th August – more details will follow, so keep a look out if that is something you might be interested in.

Speak Up/Speak Out:

During Term 2 some of our Year 5/6 students joined with students from Wedge Park PS and completed a 6-week program with Courtney Ugle, an AFLW player from the Essendon Football Club. They explored lots of themes about their identity and met a number of people along the way. All participants developed confidence throughout the program and all spoke highly of their involvement. Congratulations to the following students: Courtney 56F, Andrew 56W and Ky 56F. You did Melton West proud!

Canteen: You may be aware that the canteen has an online ordering system available from this term. We are a little disappointed about the fees involved, as we were not expecting that, however, please rest assured that none of these go to the school and the choice to continue to order using cash and the brown paper back through the classroom remains. This method will not incur any additional fees. I have included the fees for your information:

When you top up via credit card (i.e. Master or Visa or Amex) or PayPal you may incur a fee by your bank.
When you ‘top-up’ to enable direct debit for QuickCliq Website it will attract a fee of $0.50 per transfer.
Any canteen order will attract a $0.21 processing fee per child.
There is an additional $2.00 late processing fee per family when orders are placed after the cut-off time.

School Uniform: Just a reminder that school uniform is compulsory at Melton West Primary School. I have noticed a number of children returning from the school holidays not in school uniform. I have attached a copy of the current policy for your information. The children are rewarded with Dojo points when they are in full uniform. So please help them by ensuring they have the correct unform and that they wear it each day.

Attendance: I would like to re-iterate the IMPORTANCE of coming to school EVERY DAY your child is well. Every day counts. Attending school enables students to learn and connect with friends and teachers. We want to see your child at school every day and are here to help if we can. If you are experiencing difficulty getting your child to school, please contact the school to make an appointment with your child’s teacher or a member of the well-being team. Sometimes there are very good reasons why a student can’t come to school. Other times students are reluctant to come to school or frequently ask to come home early. I have included some common reasons students miss school and the recommended way for you to manage this.

Ngello is behind in school work

Ngello has been struggling with learning English since his family arrived in Australia. His teacher reminds the class that their book report is due the next day. Ngello asks his parents if he can stay home just for the day so he can finish the book and write the report.

What we recommend

Ngello's parents ask him to do the best job he can, but refuse to let him stay home. They email his teacher, letting the teacher know Ngello is struggling and asking for a meeting about his progress. The teacher organises a meeting with Ngello and his parents to work out an alternative task for this unit, some extra assistance with his English and extra time to complete all attendance tasks.

We don’t recommend

Ngello's parents allow him to stay home, and/or provide him with a note trying to excuse him. Ngello finishes his book report but misses out on watching the beginning of movie version of the book. The whole next week of lessons involve comparing and contrasting the movie and book, and Ngello feels even more isolated and is unable to complete the work.

Harrison needs to go to the dentist

Harrison is a Year 6 student. He hasn’t been to the dentist for a long time and his mum makes an appointment for a check-up on Tuesday morning. Harrison asks not to go back to school after the appointment because his friends have been teasing him. His mother says that’s fine. She knows he’s been having a hard time at school.

What we recommend

Harrison’s mum makes the appointment time after school. She tries to talk to him about why he doesn’t like school. She makes an appointment with Year Level Coordinator or Wellbeing Coordinator to talk about her concerns. Together they come up with a plan to make school attendance easier for Harrison.

We don’t recommend

Harrison’s mum lets him take the rest of the day off. Harrison is relieved to get away from the teasing from his classmates and starts looking for more excuses to take days off. He gets behind in his work and the assessment tasks start to pile up. Very quickly, he is at risk of falling behind, which puts more pressure on him and Harrison starts to feel anxious and overwhelmed.

Child Safe Standards: I have included the Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy in this newsletter for your reference. It is available on our website and is important as it applies to all staff, volunteers and school community members, including Extend, our Out of School Hours provider. Please take the opportunity to become familiar with it and don’t hesitate if you have any questions.

High Levels of Learning for All

Michelle Costa

Principal

Student Voice: Vice Captain Report

We hope you have had an enjoyable holiday break and are looking forward to a new term of learning.

This term we have quite a few exciting things to look forward to. In Week 4, the Grade 3/4s will be going to Camp Kangaroobie for 3 days. Later in the term, the Grade 5/6s will be attending the Summit Camp in the country town of Trafalgar East.

Next week, on Thursday, we have 3-way conferences where we get to share our learning and successes from Semester 1 with our parents/carers. Our teachers have started preparing us for this so hopefully all families make an appointment. A note regarding the booking process went home on Tuesday.

We also have a new menu and online ordering at the canteen. Check out ClassDojo for information on how to access this.

Have a great week!

Akki and Tonson (Vice-captains)

Parent Information/Community News