Reminders
Included in today’s newsletter:
Appreciations
News …
Remembrance Day was acknowledged at our morning assembly on Monday due to our Pupil Free Day being held on Friday. The children were complimented for the very respectful manner in which they listened and remained respectful during the minute of silence.
Staffing in 2023
We know that parents/carers and students are always keen to see the teaching arrangements for the new school year. In the current climate we are very pleased to have (nearly) all staffing in place. Over the last few days we have been able to place some additional Educational Support Staff to our staffing complement. Welcome Nicole Odzovski (soon to be a former FWPS parent), Jennifer Attard and Marion Cole. We have some sessional Soundgarage music roles and David’s Musical Futures’ Junior school position yet to finalise. A big appreciation to my Principal class colleagues; Liz and Carolyn and staff members of multiple staffing panels (Caitlin, Joanna, Jess Nem Singh and Lisa), for the stellar work from day one of this term.
Please click on this link for a full list of Footscray West PS Staff for 2023
Please click on the link for Class and program locations for 2023
Facilities news - Our Facilities sub-committee that is made up of staff and parents and carers and usually meets a few days prior to Council. At Wednesday’s meeting matters discussed included:
An appreciation to all who ‘attended’ our WebEx meeting.
COVID update
Please note that Covid positive cases continue to be prevalent. We urge our community to remain vigilant and respectful of others.
New COVID cases over the last 5 days …
Positive |
5 students 2 staff members |
We will continue to contact parents and carers to collect your child if they present with symptoms at school that may be transmissible.
Cheers,
Brendan
DATE | COMING EVENTS |
Thur 17 Nov | Parent Asociation AGM |
Fri 18 Nov | Their Care 2nd Hand Uniform Shop PM |
Thur 24 Nov | Prep 2023 Transition Session #2 |
Thur 24 Nov | Their Care 2nd Hand Uniform Shop |
Thur 1 Dec | Prep 2023 Transition Session #3 |
Tue 6 Dec or Thur 8 Dec | Prep 2023 Playground Dates |
Mon 12 Dec | Grade 1 Christmas Melodies at Hamer Hall |
Mon 12 Dec | Grade 6 Graduation - RecWest |
Tues 13 Dec | Through School Transition - Grades P-5 Statewide Transition Grade 6 to Year 7 |
Wed 14 Dec | Park to Park Celebration Grade 5/6 |
Thur 15 Dec | Diversity Dash |
Fri 16 Dec | End of Year Grade Parties |
Fri 16 Dec | Parents Assocation End of Year Get Together - West Footscray Wines - 12noon to 2.30pm |
Fri 16 Dec | Celebration Assembly @ 2:45pm |
Tues 20 Dec | Last Day - early finish 1:30pm |
NAME | GRADE | APPRECIATION FOR: |
Evie | PAC | Showing enthusiasm for learning and giving your personal best to all work tasks. Magnificent Effort Evie! |
Heidi | PAK | The enthusiasm and effort you apply to your learning. Keep it up! |
Felix | PHS | Completing and applying your personal best to all tasks. Well done Felix! |
Jean | PKB | Completing her work to the best of her ability! Jean has been a star! |
Luella | PKT | Her effort and growth mindset when sorting animals according to their features. You are a star! |
Tomas | 1CD | Seeking to help out others when they were unsure how to complete their coding tasks and sharing his great knowledge in the topic. Well done! |
Panayiota
| 1CW | The care and consideration you have been putting into your writing. Keep up the great effort. |
Malik | 1LB | Working exceptionally hard to apply his letter-sound knowledge when reading unfamiliar words! Fantastic effort Malik! |
Ivy | 1HP | Your amazing progress in reading! Keep it up! |
Petar | 1LL | Continued effort with all your schoolwork. Well done! |
Eric | 2BD | The enthusiasm and dedication that you show being our class Junior School Representative. |
Marlon | 2JI | His perseverance and diligence to complete tasks with great determination and enthusiasm especially when writing his information report. Superb effort! |
Penny | 2LE | The fabulous effort she has put into writing tasks. |
Luigi | 2TN | Working hard to research facts about your sea animal and planning a great information report. Wonderful effort! |
Lola | 3JS | Always applying your growth mindset in all set tasks and consistently following the Tribes Agreements. What a wonderful role model you are! |
Flynn | 3MK | Applying your personal best effort during writing sessions. Keep it up. |
Stella | 3MP | Displaying her personal best. You are a superstar! |
Ryan | 3TM | Always doing the right thing and being an excellent role model to your peers in 3TM! |
Amelie | 4AF | Setting a fantastic example for the standard of work she produces. Amelie, it is amazing to see you continuously work at your personal best! |
Miles Wright | 4BC | Positively settling back into school life. 4BC loved hearing about your travel stories! |
Dione | 4DW | An incredible assembly report about the non-swimmers' water safety program. You delivered it with great confidence and expression - well done! |
Ben | 4MS | Demonstrating his enthusiasm and personal best efforts in his creative writing. Fantastic efforts Ben! |
Ela | 5CG | Stepping up and teaching her peers during small group sessions and demonstrating commitment to her learning. Keep it up Ela!! |
Jacob | 5SM | Being a kind and sensible classmate and never calling out. |
Evie Millsom | 5TH | Consistently showing kindness and helping others. |
Eva | 6LC | Effectively using a variety of literary devices in your poetry writing. Fantastic work, Eva! |
Maverick | 6MP | The effort that you put into all tasks and the way you look out for others. Well done! |
Emily | 6MC | Always following the Tribes Agreements and leading others by example. The effort you put toward everything you do is commendable. Keep it up, Em! |
Audrey Manning | TheirCare | Being a super kind person, taking great care of children at TheirCare and always checking in on everyone! |
Dear parents and carers,
In 2023 our school start and finish times will shift at the start and end of the school day to meet required lunch break times in the VGSA (workplace agreement). Both the start and end of the day will move forward by 10 minutes.
New start time: 8:50am
New finish time: 3:20pm
How was this decision made?
To reach this point, the staff Consultative Committee developed multiple options for our daily structure, aiming to maintain the current start and finish times. This, however, has not been possible whilst still prioritising quality teaching and learning time in the morning and middle parts of the day. Our staff are deeply committed to the learning and wellbeing of all our students, and so, elected to recommend a change of start/finish times to the FWPS School Council. This recommendation was discussed with Council, including considerations for outside providers such as TheirCare and Lunchbox 3012, and was approved through a unanimous vote at an Extraordinary School Council Meeting on Monday evening.
What are the changes?
NEW TIMES | OLD TIMES |
8:50am to 9:40am - Session 1 9:40am to 10:30am - Session 2 10:30am to 11:20am - Session 3 11:20am to 11:30am - Lunch eating 11:30am to 12:10pm 12:10pm to 1:00pm - Session 4 1:00pm to 1:50pm - Session 5 1:50pm to 2:00pm 2:00pm to 2:30pm 2:30pm to 3:20pm - Session 6 | 9:00am to 9:50am - Session 1 9:50am to 10:40am - Session 2 10:40am to 11:10am - Play time 11:10am to 12:00pm - Session 3 12:00pm to 12:50pm - Session 4 12:50 to 1:00pm - Eating time 1:00pm to 1:50pm - Big play 1:50pm to 2:40pm - Session 5 2:40pm to 3:30pm - Session 6 |
*changes in bold
Why do we need to change?
The reason for this adjustment is to meet the parameters of the new Victorian Government Schools Agreement (VGSA) - specifically the industrial requirement for all teachers to have a half hour break each day between 11.30 am and 2.30 pm, free from duties. As we currently operate, any day a teacher has a lunch yard duty, they have only 25 minutes free from duties during the required time period. While our school staff team have been keen to maintain this status quo, we have been clearly informed that we will be considered to be ‘in breach’ of the Agreement and that this is not a position that we can continue with.
What have been the considerations/limitations?
We know that families will trust our best intentions for students and their learning were applied for this decision.
Warm regards,
The FWPS Principal Team - Brendan, Liz and Carolyn
Before we start I’m going to ask you something. Has anyone made you feel different or not fit in?Now I want you to think about why he or she made you feel different.
You might be thinking “why is this girl asking me questions? I just want you to be yourself. It doesn't matter what people say or think, be who you are and want to be.
Disabilities🦯
Some of you out there might have a disability. A disability is like being blind, deaf, can’t walk or talk. Disabilities can get in the way of some things and it’s hard but don’t let it take you down, keep trying.
There once was a woman named Alicia Alonso. As a kid she had to stay in bed a lot and her eyesight got so bad that she became blind but as an adult she was a very famous ballerina.So you don’t have to give up on what you love because of a disability.😇
LGBTQ ðŸ³ï¸ðŸŒˆ
Maybe some of you don’t know what LGBTQ means. You might need to ask your parents more about this. Some people feel scared of telling people about this and OH BOY I KNOW. Some kids feel this way and as a kid it can be hard like Coy Mathis.
Coy Mathis was in pre school. When he wanted to go to the toilet he could only go in the boys toilet or the disabled toilet so he said “I’m not a boy and I’m not disabled I'm a girl” the teachers accepted who he was. So it’s fine to be gay,lesbian or transgender be who you are.ðŸ³ï¸ðŸŒˆðŸ‘
Gender⚧
Has anyone judged you because of your gender?Well, tell that person to buzz off because being a boy or a girl doesn't make you any different.
There once was a girl who lived in Iran and women were not allowed to drive but she thought that was dumb so she got her brothers car and posted a video on YouTube of her driving and saying that woman should be allowed to drive. She went to jail 3 times and then they were allowed to drive.🚗🚻✔ï¸
You are probably asking yourself “the people she’s talking about are famous, I'm not famous!” These people are famous because of who they are!
So go out there and be YOURSELF
Volunteer. Donate. Vote.
Testing testing… hello…. Hello…. Can you hear me down the back? That is our impression of what it is like using the current portable PA system at FWPS. We are a pretty excited that all the money raised at the Election Sausage Sizzle on the 26th will go towards a powerful new PA that will be used at assembly, sporting events, picnics and book week parades! Something that all students and parents at FWPS will surely benefit from.
In addition to the traditional democracy sausage and soft drinks, this year we'll also be offering ice-creams, freshly popped popcorn and ‘old fashioned’ Mixed Lolly bags.
How can you help?
There are several ways, and all will be much appreciated:
Volunteer
Please follow THIS LINK to sign up to help out on Election Day. We'll have the election tunes pumping, and it really is a fun social day. Children are welcome to attend.
Election Day Sausage Sizzle- Nov 26 Please review the available time slots below and click on the button to sign up. So you may see/meet some familiar faces- we encourage you to sign up this way: Time slot B: Prep and grade 1 parents Time slot C: Grade 2 and 3 parents Time slot D: Grade 4, 5 and 6 parents. You are welcome to sign up for more than 1 time slot, and you may sign up for any slot you wish. The slot suggestions are purely a guide. Also your FWPS children are welcome to attend. An email will be sent to you on Friday the 25th with further information about the sizzle. Thank you for donating your time. If you have any queries in the lead up to the sizzle please email FWPSParentsAssociation@outlook.com Thank you! |
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Volunteers on the day will be led by Election coordinator (and experienced sizzler) Rob DeMaid, School leadership and PA members.
Donate
If you're unable to donate your time on the day, please consider donating consumables to the sausage sizzle. All donations directly support our stall's profit making ability.
This week and into early next week, we're asking for donations to be dropped off to the office. Here's what we need:
Vote
Vote at FWPS, and enjoy a democracy sausage (or two)! Also, search FWPS Parents Association on Facebook and be sure to share our promotional poster with your local networks!
Thank you for helping the Parents Association to take advantage of this opportunity, and we welcome and appreciate any contributions that you can make.
Regards,
Sharee, Kate & Tinny (PA Exec Team), Rob and the PA Committee.
Hi parents, guardians, staff, and friends!
We are thrilled to welcome back all children and families to TheirCare! We have welcomed new children and families and we are so excited to continue meeting all the wonderful people in our community!
This week our theme is the World Cup! The weather has been very wet and cold this week, so we have spent loads of time playing world cup themed activities in the gym and Emu Corner. The students made bookmarks and hama bead creations this week and are excited to play with all the new resources!
This week’s Star of the Week for TheirCare will be Audrey Manning for being a super kind person, taking great care of children at TheirCare and always checking in on everyone!
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, Connie, Ashleigh, A’shya & Nuray
Contact Details:
Service Phone: 0487004072
Service Email: footscraywest@theircare.com.au
Head Office: 1300 072 410