Newsletter - 18 August 2022

Issue 25


Principal's Report

In today’s Principal Report:

Appreciations

  • My absence
  • 5/6 camp information 

News

  • Sharon’s retirement
  • Smile Squad update
  • Shade structure
  • Incursions and excursions

Appreciations
Thanks to members of our Principal team, Liz and Carolyn, for all the work they do every day, but especially this week when Covid has finally caught up with me.  I will continue to work from home as best I can and look forward to (health willing), returning to school next Tuesday.

The Camp information session for grade 5 and 6 students was streamed last night streamed via Webex.  A very big appreciation to team member, Lauren Crump for the wonderful work as our Camp coordinator, and parents, carers and of course grade 5 and 6 students for your involvement and interest.  Lauren presented the information, along with Carolyn and supported by Liz.  The camp at Alexandra Adventure Resort is very well resourced and is now less than a fortnight away. As you can all understand, when we last held a school camp in September, 2019 we could not imagine there would be a three year wait for our next one.  The excitement is certainly building.

You can check out the camp at: https://www.alexandraadventureresort.com.au/

News …

Sharon’s retirement
Next Thursday will be the last teaching day for Sharon Higgins.  Sharon joined us almost a decade ago after early retirement from an Assistant Principal position she held at a local school.  Since that time we have benefitted from her vast knowledge.  Sharon has been a very highly regarded member of the Specialist Teaching team, in a variety of roles, including Physical Education for the younger students and working with Susie in our Visual Arts program.  Sharon was also a reading intervention teacher and then became one of our first Tutor Learning Initiative teachers last year.  I know many students and their parents have appreciated the care and expertise she provided when in these roles given her love of teaching individuals and small groups in developing literacy skills.  

As a member of the Specialist Team Sharon has been an active and very supportive team member.  We appreciate that after a long career, Sharon has made the decision to retire from teaching with our well wishes.  We will celebrate Sharon’s commitment to education with a staff morning tea next Thursday.  Regular relief teacher, Raine will provide our Visual Art program on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with long term art teacher, Susie working with the students on Wednesday to Friday each week. 

Smile Squad staff began on Monday assessing students dental health for parents/carers who provided consent previously.  The team started with our prep students, however due to the same staffing challenges so many organisations have faced the program was suspended on Wednesday, but is again operating today.  

Our new shade structure has now had the ribs installed.  The beams are yet to be fully locked down and tensioned, so you may notice some movement.  We have been assured this is of no structural concern however for our community’s comfort we have placed an exclusion area around where this movement has been most evident.
We look forward to the next step as we wait for the project to be completed. We expect there will be further restrictions put in place at short notice as we liaise with the busy schedule of Shadeport, our construction contractor.

Excursion and Incursions
Unfortunately, due to today’s very dodgy weather forecast the decision was made to postpone the grade 6 excursion to Maribyrnong Secondary College for their school musical.  This decision was made as we had decided that our senior students would be able to walk to the school.  Relying on ‘shanks pony’ (as my dad would have said), was of course always weather dependent.

The Preps and the grade 3s were both looking forward to STEM related incursions today. 

Coming Events

  • The Father’s Day baking day organised by Parents Association will be held tomorrow from 9 am in the Dingo Kitchen.  Volunteers are welcome.
  • The Department of Education annual Parent and Carers Opinion Survey will open next week.  We have made the decision to open this up for all families to participate in.  An email will be sent to each family with unique logon details early next week.
  • The Athletics Divisional event will be held next Wednesday, 24th August at the Newport Athletics Track next to the power station.  Families of all students in grades 4, 5 and 6 who qualified will have received communication relating to the organisational details.  Stratos, Marco and staff and some parent volunteers will supervise and assist.  
  • A Book Parade will be a highlight next Friday, 26th August for Book Week.  As promoted in last Monday’s assembly video and in a Compass post this week to all classes, all students will be encouraged to dress as a favourite book character.  It is fine to keep it simple, participation is the key!
  • Grade 5/6 camp will be held from Wednesday, 31st August until Friday 2nd September.  Last evening’s WebEx presentation was recorded and the link will be provided for anyone wishing to review it.

Weekly Covid update 

Well this week Covid became personal with me catching it for the first time.  A reminder that the virus continues to be active in the community.

As mentioned last week, families will be aware that our remaining supplies of RATs were distributed to all but 4 grades on Tuesday.  When new supplies arrived yesterday those remaining classes received their allotments. 

New Covid cases this week …

Positive 

Household close contact

3 students 

staff member

3 students 
0 staff members

Please remember if your child tests positive there are two steps you must take:

  1. If staff or students receive a positive test result at any time, they must report this through the Department of Health system (Rapid antigen tests | Coronavirus Victoria) or via the coronavirus hotline at 1800 675 398.
  2. Parents must continue to report a positive Covid case for their children to our school, either through the Covid Test portal or by phone or in writing; this is so we can accurately record absences for the 7-day isolation period and inform the community of the number of Covid cases to encourage parents to remain vigilant.

If a staff member or student has recovered from COVID-19, they are not required to get tested or isolate/quarantine if re-exposed to a case within 4 weeks of ending their isolation period. Please note this is a change from the previous period of 12 weeks.

All students and staff who return a positive result from a rapid antigen test should also follow the latest advice at https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/rapid-antigen-tests.

Cheers,
Brendan



Coming Events

DATE

COMING EVENTS

Fri 19 August3/4 Camp Final Payment Due

Father’s Day Stall Wrapping session -9:00am
Wed 24 AugustFootscray District Athletics Carnival - Newport Athletics Track - selected students
Thur 25 AugustParents Assoc Committee meeting 
Fri 26 AugustBook Week Parade - 9am
Fri 26 August 2nd hand uniform shop open 8:45-9:15am
Tue 30 AugustFathers' Day Stall - 5 & 6s
Wed 31 AugustTheirCare 2nd Hand Uniform Shop - 4:30-6:00pm
Wed 31 August to Fri 2 SeptGrade 5/6 Alexandra Adventure Camp
Fri 2 SeptFathers' Day Stall - Prep to Grade 4
Wed 7 Sept to Fri 9 SeptGrade 3/4 Lord Somers Camp
Fri 16 SeptLast day of Term 3 - early finish 2:30pm


Pupil of the Week

NAME

GRADE

APPRECIATION FOR:

Otis

PAC

Your interesting contributions to our class discussions about the body. Brilliant Effort!

Maisie

PAK

The wonderful effort you apply to your writing. You listen carefully for sounds in words to spell them correctly. Keep it up!

Freya

PKB

Always applying your personal best effort to tasks. Keep up the amazing work!

Alfie

PKT

The effort he has put into listening for sounds to record in his writing. Keep up the growth mindset, Alfie!

Tomas

1CD

Creating a wonderful boat for our Inquiry topic and sharing his reflections about his design with the class. 

Isabella

1CW

Her enthusiasm when cooking in the orchard to plate program.

Adem

1LB

Settling back into classroom routines well after an overseas family trip. Adem has been applying his personal best effort during our narrative unit and should be commended for his efforts!

Metta

1HP

The hard work and effort you are putting into your multiplication tasks. Keep it up.

Freddie

1LL

Putting effort into his story writing and sounding out words.

Mark

2BD

The enthusiasm and curiosity that you have shown when making musical instruments. 

Ava

2JI

Being a thoughtful, inclusive and kind student who consistently demonstrates mutual respect towards others. You are a star Ava.

Albert

2LE

Sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm about music and instruments.

Zane

2TN

Applying personal best effort to your reading task and reading with great expression. Well done Zane!

Ronin

3JS

Ronin Do for challenging himself during all maths tasks.

Rory B

3MK

Showing a growth mindset and applying your personal best in our reading sessions.

Felix

3MP

His dedication in his mathematics learning. Keep it up!

Aryan

3TM

Your excellent effort and participation in all Maths lessons! You are a Maths whizz!

Perry

4AF

Striving for his personal best during literature circles and helping other students to do the same. Perry, you are a star!

Aaron

4BC

Applying effort and enthusiasm when learning the ‘ng’ sound. Keep up the fantastic effort, Aaron!

Dean

4DW

His fantastic attitude to learning. It's great to see you sharing your ideas with the grade. You always give your personal best!

Lawrence

4MS

His enthusiasm in all aspects of the classroom and showing mutual respect at all times.

Torin

5CG

Consistently sharing his knowledge and ideas with our community, even when he is challenged! Fantastic effort Torin!

Eden

5SM

Your eagerness to share your ideas and strategies, especially during maths

Cami

5TH

Putting in amazing effort to complete a science report about our 'Lava Lamp' experiment.

Fletcher

6LC

Your consistent kindness and respect towards others. The positive vibes you spread around 6LC are very much appreciated- thank you!

Het

6MP

Always following the Tribes Agreements in and out of the classroom. It's great to have you in 6MP.

Tyler

6MC

Your excitement and dedication toward the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee. Your passion for spelling and words is contagious! Keep up the good work, Tyler!

Lydia Coglin

TheirCare

Being an amazing role model at TheirCare and helping staff organize the room! 

 

 



Book Week



Premiers’ Reading Challenge 2022

 

Last Days!

Congratulations to all those students who have completed the challenge so far this year.

A reminder to all those students who are taking part in the Reading Challenge this year that the Premiers’ Reading Challenge ends Monday 29th August.  Please make sure you enter all your books online and mark them as finished by the end of that day.

If you have any problems please come and see me in the library.

Jodi
Library



Parents Association

Happy Thursday,

Father’s and Special Person’s Stall
Firstly, a big thank you to all the parents who showed up to the 540 on Barkly Wrapping session last week. We were thrilled with the response- we only wish we had more to wrap! As it was such a success, we hope more out of hour sessions can be scheduled next year.

If you are free tomorrow morning, we have a cooking session running at the school from 9.00am! The cooking session will be run by Bec and Maggie and be held in the Dingo Kitchen. There is nothing you need to bring except a willingness to help! We would love to see some new faces.

Remember, we are still seeking Stall Volunteers to come and work at the Father’s and Special Person’s Stall or to set it up and make it look lovely the day before. If you are able to assist either on Thursday 1st or Friday 2nd of September, please register using the sign up link below.

VOLUNTEER SIGN UP HERE

2nd hand Uniform Shop

Pop it in your diary now, we have another stall scheduled for Friday 26th of August from 8.45am to 9.15am. This is the same date as the book week parade, so come have a browse and then you can wander over to the parade.

Parent Association Committee Meeting August

And finally, please be reminded that our next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday 25th of August. A meeting agenda will be forwarded to all members prior to the meeting. As always, If you have something to contribute or share please reach out. We always welcome new attendees to our meetings, and if you can’t make a meeting we are more than happy to arrange a school yard chat. FWPSParentsAssociation@outlook.com

Have a lovely weekend and good luck organising those Book Week costumes!

Cheers,
PA Exec (Sharee, Kate & Tinny) and PA Committee

 



TheirCare

Hi parents, guardians, staff, and friends! 

We continue to welcome all children and families to TheirCare this term and we are very excited to be getting more children each morning and afternoon and meeting more of the amazing people in this beautiful FWPS community! 

This week is Harry Potter week again! The children were so ecstatic last week, that they requested we have another week! The children have been colouring in their favourite house emblems and playing spell-featured games! We also had a trivia where the children were able to show off their Harry Potter knowledge! 

This week’s Star of the Week for TheirCare will be Lydia Coglin for being an amazing role model at TheirCare and helping staff organize the room! 

We are still supporting the ASRC through donations of food and activities for the rest of this term. So, if any families have any spare canned goods they would like to donate, our donation basket is under the sign in desk in the Emu corner.  

Our lost property basket has continued to grow, especially our collection of water bottles! So, if anyone has been missing a jumper or bottle, it may be with us here in the Emu corner.  

For all families if you have any questions about TheirCare and would like to come and have a chat please come visit us in Emu Corner in the morning or afternoon, alternatively you can contact us on the details provided and we will help you as best we can 😊 

TheirCare Team: 
Louise, Daniel & Connie 

Contact Details: 
Service Phone: 0487004072 
Service Email: footscraywest@theircare.com.au                                           Head Office: 1300 072 410 



Community Notices

We love to share stories of events and challenges our students participate in out of school hours.

Congratulations to Kara-Li Bennett (4AF), as she will be competing in the upcoming 2022 National Clubs Carnival, Gymnastics Championships on the Gold Coast.

The event is scheduled to be staged from the  15 September – 4 October, the event will attract over 5,000 competitors, officials, and support staff — not to mention spectators — from across Australia.

Kara has been training very diligently over the past few months in preparation for the upcoming event.  Kara will be representing Team Adrenalin.  

For more information click the link:

https://www.nationalclubscarnival.com.au