Principal's Report
Dear families,
Congratulations to our Foundation students who celebrated their first 100 days at school on 26th July. Students (and adults) were entertained by a visit from magician Tim Credible. Students also engaged in a range of numeracy activities relating to the number 100, including a numbers scavenger hunt around the school. They had a fun day celebrating this milestone day.
Our Moonee Vale Instrumental Music Program (MVIMP) Soiree was held last Wednesday evening. It was amazing to see students performing (some for the first time) in front of their family members. Thank you to our music tutors and Sandra for their organisation of the program and evening.
Congratulations to all our students who performed, some in groups and some individually. The opportunity to perform in front of a large audience is a learning skill, and I am pleased with the level of confidence our students displayed on the night.
Our next MVIMP event is the Combined School Concert on Thursday November 9th. This is another fantastic opportunity for our students to work with their peers across Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale and Ascot Vale West Primary Schools to further their learning together as a larger instrumental group and as a combined school band.
Science Week next week
Next week is Science Week, with some of our teaching teams having a science driven Inquiry focus this term we anticipate the opportunity to celebrate Science not only next week but through the whole term. If you are further interested in some science learning at home, attached are two DIY Science activities you can do in the kitchen.
Book Week is coming
Book week commences the week of the 21st August. The theme this year is “Read, Grow, Inspire”. Students have been asking when our big dress up day for Book Week will be held, it will be Monday 21st August. We have chosen this day to ensure all students can participate in a special Assembly parade. Book Week continues the school’s highlighting of rich literature and love of reading. Students will be able to connect with their favourite book, read it again and recommend it to others. We look forward to students and staff dressing up as their favourite book characters on the 21st.
I have been organising my own costume for this year based on a character from a classic fantasy tale from 1937, this old and wise character also featured in a follow up trilogy of books release in 1954-1955. Can you guess who it might be?
Parent Opinion Survey
The Parent Opinion Survey is completed annually by the Department of Education and is conducted amongst parents at every school in Victoria. All responses to the survey are anonymous. The survey helps our school gain an understanding of how you view our school climate, student engagement, and relationships. All parents/carers will be invited to respond. Our school will use the results to inform school planning and improvement strategies. The survey will be conducted online by ORIMA Research Pty Ltd and only takes 15 minutes to complete. The survey opens this week and closes on Friday 8th September.
Over the next day or two, a computer generated, random sampling of parents will receive an invitation to participate in the survey. We encourage those who receive the invitation to participate.
2024 School Planning
It is that time of the year where we begin planning for the 2024 school year, offers to our future foundation families have been distributed and acceptances are coming in, many very excited to be joining the school community.
We do ask that if you are planning on your child(ren) not being at Moonee Ponds West in 2024 that you please complete the form below and return to the office or to moonee.ponds.west.ps@education.vic.gov.au
This will help the school to confirm enrolment numbers for next year. If you are not returning, I offer thanks to the student(s) and family for their contributions and partnership with our school. We wish all the best for those moving on to a new setting in their future learning journey.
Upcoming Curriculum Day
Monday 14th August, next week, we have our next Curriculum Day. This is a student free day.
Teachers will be working with literacy consultant Misty Adoniou once again to continue work started last year. Misty will be focusing on how we can link reading and writing using rich mentor texts to develop our students as writers, by improving their use of language.
Camp Australia will be available on the day for those families requiring their services for the day.
Capital Works update
We continue to plan forward for packing up our junior and library buildings in preparation for the upcoming building project. We have developed a decanting timeline to assist with this process, to ensure we are minimising disruption to learning. Classroom spaces will be the last to be packed up and decanted. Those families involved in any change of space will be notified in the coming weeks of the moving plans. The VSBA is finalising the tender stage of the process behind the scenes at the moment, so we are just waiting for the go ahead to be able to share the details of the project with the community through a formal VSBA communication package.
It is an exciting time ahead to have these improvements to the school. There will be some short-term adjustments to space and movement over the next 12-15months but the end results will be well worth it and we look forward to the development of these learning and play spaces.
Regards,
Jarrod Sutton
Principal