Principal's report

Greetings to Parents, Carers, Staff and Students of Moonee Ponds West PS,

What an exciting week this one is going to be! The rehearsals for the choir’s performance are in full swing and again you are going to be amazed!

This year the performance is a ticketed event so make sure you have your ticket on the night. We have released another 30 tickets yesterday for both nights.  Seats are limited, and you know the gym it isn’t very big.  Each night the cast will perform to a maximum of 180 parents and friends. It could be standing room only!

Chookas to cast, crew and the volunteers  involved in The Wind in the Willows Choir production! All hands have contributed.

End of year reporting

As we have mentioned previously all student reports will be shared digitally this term. Your child’s end of Semester report will be available on COMPASS under the REPORTING tab on Friday December 13th.  This process is in line with our focus on being sustainable.

The Middle School (Grades 3/4) have been involved in continuous reporting this Semester and so their end of year report will look different from others.  The comments part of their report have been evidenced in samples of work continuously across the Semester. Again these will be available on COMPASS under the reporting tab

The GAGA Pit

This week we have welcomed a new addition to the school playing space: a GaGa Pit!  This is a structure that children play within, using a soft ball, with the aim to hit players with the ball between the foot and knee.  Once you are hit you are out.  When there are three players left, there is a count down from 30 to name the winner.  It is very inclusive, all children of all abilities can play.  The notion of the GaGa Pit came from an early in the year Inquiry unit around setting up some sort of business. Some senior students, after raising money from their business, came to float this idea with me, requesting that their money raised be put to the building of this structure  They actually did a ‘pitch’ with a working model (scaled down of course) and  some convincing arguments.  A number of our neighbouring schools have this play space, so there was a visit, discussion with the maker and School Council, and the dream became a reality! There will be a roster of use, with the senior students overseeing, until the rules and structure of the game are well known.  At this stage the GaGa Pit is for students in the Middle and Senior classes.

Parent Forum this FRIDAY December 6

Topic Transition what will happen at Secondary College Day One 2020? Last week wasn’t a popular day for the Forum with no parents attending.  So we have rescheduled for this FRIDAY.  We have made an Eventbrite booking so we can gauge interest.  As we have a speaker coming (Secondary Transition Co-ordinator from Mt Alexander College) I will confirm on Thursday if this is to go ahead.  This type of opportunity maybe too late in the year or at the wrong time! The confirmation will be via a push to COMPASS.

Well that’s about it from me. Only a couple more Newsletters for this year.  In 2020 I am thinking of making the Newsletter fortnightly, rather than weekly, as we now have other means of communication directly to parents.  Seems this is the trend in our Network schools.

Until we meet in person, enjoy the talent of our students, staff and their families at Wind in The Willows.

Sincerely

Kerri Simpson (Acting at Moonee Ponds West PS)