Newsletter - 8 December 2022

Issue 39


Principal's Report

In this week’s newsletter:

Included in today’s newsletter:

Appreciations

  • Crazy Hair and Pyjamas day
  • Student reports
  • School Council 
  • Salvation Army Christmas charity
  • Susie B
News …
  • Time in lieu and school camp dilemma
News … this week
  • Student reports
  • Interschool sport grand finals 
  • Next week at FWPS
  • Covid update
Appreciations
  • Crazy Hair and Pyjama Mufti Day … was a successful and enjoyable day.  Many of our students love dressing up and it is even better when it is for a great cause.  Thanks to Cara Windsor, VC from 6CL who germinated the idea and Lauren Crump and the grade 6 captains for their support.  We were pleased to raise $833.90 for Variety the Children’s Charity. 

  • Thanks to all our teaching staff for the diligent and professional approach to preparing thorough learning reports for all students.  It is a big job, preceded by assessment, moderation and judgement.  As one of the staff members who proofreads our reports, I can attest to the professionalism of our teaching teams. Reports will be available on Friday afternoon.
  • Appreciations to members of the School Council.  We enjoyed our annual dinner last evening at Harley and Rose and it was great to spend time with members of our school community who are generous, supportive and share a passion for supporting all kids and all families.  
  • Salvation Army Christmas Appeal - Thanks to all the families for the generous donations (pictured).  Collection will occur next Wednesday.  We will accept new items until Wednesday morning.
  • Wish Wands - I think Susie has outdone herself this time, with humongous wish wands for each of her visual art classes (they seem to get bigger each year).  Pictured are Zain and Tash hauling their trophies for being judged the students who most demonstrate our Agreements of demonstrating Mutual Respect, Attentive Listening, Appreciations and Personal Best.

      



News … 

  • Time in Lieu - anticipated effect on school camps - Regular readers of the newsletter and those who have been following the media will be aware that the Victorian Schools Agreement, effectively the salary and conditions package for staff in government education, has very significant implications for how schools are able to be run.  First up, principals I speak to agree that mounting expectations for conscientious teaching staff (the majority by a long margin) are onerous, and we understand that Covid has exacerbated a growing issue with staffing supply.  We agree that the provision for ‘time in lieu’ is reasonable in an education sector that has continued to increase expectations, without provisioning commensurate wage and conditions.  Hence, the mandating of a ‘formal’ 38 hour week.  Now principals and teachers know that very few teachers will ever reduce their work hours to 38 hours, but it does preserve this as a notion of ‘enforceable’ hours.  This becomes a particular issue for events such as school camps, where teaching staff have always willingly attended for no additional remuneration.  This additional time now must be provided in ‘time in lieu’ (TIL) or payment, or a mix of both.  However, despite many funded school initiatives over the last few years, this one remains entirely unfunded.  This leaves schools in an invidious position.  Find or divert funding from other sources, increase the costs to families, or cancel camps and overnight programs.  The Department has informed schools that much of the time that teachers attend camp can be considered 'non duty’ times and therefore should not be considered TIL.  This runs contrary to what teachers were informed by the Australian Education Union and in the eyes of many is simply an action of poor faith.  The Victorian Parents Victoria has prepared a survey to seek community support to apply pressure on government to fund schools to continue to run camp programs - you may wish to complete this survey at: https://www.parentsvictoria.asn.au/school-camps-under-threat/
This week …

Student reports - Tomorrow (Friday 9th December) all student reports will be made available for access by parents and carers.  All reports will be sent in PDFormat)  This information will be sent via a Compass post.

Interschool Sports Grand Finals - Grade 6 sporting teams that have made it through to their respective Grand Finals will be competing against local schools tomorrow.  It is an exciting moment for the students and of course we all wish them the best of luck and urge all players to prepare well and try their personal best. 

Tomorrow the Footscray District Summer Sport Grand Finals are being held at Footscray North Primary School. All of the finals will be held on the school grounds from 9.45 am. 

The events are as follows

Basketball Girls (Footscray West qualified first) V Corpus Christi

Basketball Boys (Did not qualify) St Johns V Corpus Christi

Bat tennis (Footscray West qualified second) V Footscray North

Cricket (Footscray West qualified second) V Footscray)

Newcombe (Did not qualify) St Bernadette V Footscray North

At the conclusion of the Grand Finals presentations of shields and certificates will be made in the gym at Footscray North.
Parents and carers are welcome to attend on the day.

A big thank to all of the coaches for their efforts during the seasons

Mikala – Basketball

Marco – Bat tennis

Stratos – Cricket 

Lauren - Newcombe

Next week at FWPS
Of course next week is our final full week of what has been a challenging but very successful year of learning following the incredible disruptions of the previous two years.  On Monday we will hold our final (live) Monday assembly for this year and perhaps ever, as next year we will transition to a Friday afternoon assembly model.  Here we will present our final Pupil of the Week Awards for this year and acknowledge our grade 6 sports participants.

Monday evening will be time for our Graduation event.  After two years of Covid restrictions, we are delighted to be able to welcome parents and carers to RecWest for the event, something we were restricted from doing for the two previous years.  We have adjusted over this time and are pleased that we will also be able to stream the event as well.  All grade 6 families have been provided with 3 tickets to ensure mum and dad and one other significant person can join us.  Using a combination of RecWest, Gecko and grade 5 and 6 chairs will just enable seating for our audience.  As you can imagine, there are significant logistics to manage.  A big appreciation in advance to Marco and the grade 6 team and our maintenance person, Taleb for their work.

On Tuesday we will hold our Through School Transition day.  This year for logistical reasons we will hold the class visits after lunch. We know students and parents will be keen to know about the grades.  While the grade visits are occurring, each family will receive a post indicating what class their children have been placed in. We are pleased that all our new teachers will be attending on Tuesday.  They will have a busy day of meetings with the Principal, School Improvement, and Professional Learning teams.  We will provide a welcome morning tea and ensure they are really well prepared for when they meet their new classes later in the day.

On Wednesday we will hold our annual Park to Park event for students in grades 5 and 6.  Usually, students travel by coach to Pipemakers Park before walking or jogging to Coulson Reserve.  Due to the recent flooding,  this year we will be spending the day at Hansen Reserve.  This is the day grade 6 students are allowed to sign each other's shirts … whilst wearing them, a long tradition at FWPS.  Wednesday will also be a moving day. We will work with contractors to move boxes and the minimum amount of furniture that is required to be moved.  With 18 classes needing to be relocated, you will understand that this is challenging during an operational school day.  The work is overseen by Rick, our .2 OHS consultant to ensure that convenience never outweighs safety.

On Thursday it will of course be our revised date to hold our inaugural Diversity Day, culminating in our Diversity Dash, a colour run for all students and staff who wish to participate.  This is a day that students (and staff) may wish to dress in a way that enhances the colour effect.  Diversity Dash will be held on the oval during the last session.  Earlier, all cohorts will have some time for some active participation games and events.  These will be prepared by our school’s Specialist Team and supported by the classroom teachers.  Next year we will plan to revert to the original day of the Friday prior to the Melbourne Cup. You will recall that this year it was a very wet day, in a very damp week.  We are of course hoping for more temperate weather next week.

Next Thursday will also be the final day that the canteen operates this year.  In this challenging year we are appreciative of the service that Lindy and her team provides.

Friday will be Celebration Day, when grades will hold their outdoor parties. At this late stage of the year our Operations Guide still requires students not to share food.  Consequently, we will ask each family to send along some party food for their child to enjoy, separate to their lunch and morning snack.

This will also be when we hold our Celebration Assembly in the afternoon from 2.45 pm.  We will celebrate our year, present graduation (and other) award winners and as a community, officially say farewell to our wonderful grade 6 cohort and other families moving from our neighbourhood.  We know for some families this will be the last day at school, hence our wish to maximise the audience for this final assembly.  This will be our last official event in what you can see will be a busy last full week of school.  
School will officially conclude at 1:30pm on Tuesday 20th December.  TheirCare will start at this earlier time. 

COVID update - Covid numbers registered with us have steadied, however anecdotally I have heard of significant cases still affecting so many in the wider community.  Please remain vigilant and test with your accumulated RAT packs.  We still have a considerable number of RATs at school.  Just contact us if you have run or are running out and we will send one or two packs home with your child.

New COVID cases over the last 5 days …

Positive cases

7 students 

1 staff member

We will continue to contact parents and carers to collect children if they present with symptoms at school that may be transmissible.

Voluntary Financial Contributions 2023
Footscray West Primary School is looking forward to another great year of teaching and learning and would like to advise the School’s voluntary financial contributions for 2023 will remain at the same figure. Please see the attached letter: FWPS Parent Payment Arrangement 2023

Cheers,
Brendan

Coming Events

DATECOMING EVENTS
Mon 12 DecGrade 1 Christmas Melodies at Hamer Hall
Mon 12 DecGrade 6 Graduation - RecWest - 7pm
Tues 13 DecThrough School Transition - Grades P-5
Statewide Transition Grade 6 to Year 7
Wed 14 DecPark to Park Celebration Grade 5/6
Thur 15 DecDiversity Dash
Fri 16 DecEnd of Year Grade Parties 
Fri 16 DecParents Assocation End of Year Get Together - West Footscray Wines - 12noon to 2.30pm
Fri 16 DecCelebration Assembly @ 2:45pm
Tues 20 DecLast Day - early finish 1:30pm


Pupil of the Week

NAME

GRADE

APPRECIATION FOR:

Amaya

PAC

Approaching learning in a positive way and being thoughtful towards your classmates. Keep it up!
Have a gorgeous day!

Brian

PAK

Being a friendly and kind member of our class. We appreciate you.

Arlo

PHS

Applying your personal best effort to tasks. Keep up the wonderful work.

Zed

PKB

The effort you are putting into building your literacy and numeracy skills. Keep it up super star!

Chelsea

PKT

Her positive attitude and love for learning. We love your big smiles everyday!

Grace

1CD

Making this a wonderful year by embracing every learning opportunity and encouraging one another to always do their personal best. Well done 1CD you are super stars!

Noah

1CW

The effort he put into his phoneme crossword. It is great to see you trying your best!

Alex

1LB

Writing a detailed plan and demonstrating his creative side when making a model of a scorpion for our minibeast unit! A brilliant effort Alex!

Annie

1HP

The hard work and effort you put into each and every task.

Evie

1LL

Putting so much effort into your writing and always helping those around you.

Ababo

2BD

Applying your personal best effort when making your very creative ocean diorama. 

Lydia

2JI

Her consistent growth mindset, enthusiasm towards learning, and her exceptional leadership skills supporting 2JI throughout the year especially in her role as Junior School Council representative. Wonderful effort Lydia. 

Rose

2LE

Writing great poems thinking about word choice.

Leni

2TN

Being a kind, considerate classmate and always having a positive attitude towards your learning. Well done Leni!

Jordan

3JS

Always being so kind and caring to all your classmates. What a wonderful role model you are.  We wish you all the very best at your new school and adventure. You will be clearly missed at FWPS!

Seb

3MK

Your positive attitude and growth mindset towards all aspects of school. Keep it up.

Tavish

3MP

Always showing a growth mindset in all tasks. You are a superstar!

Finn

3TM

Asking for help more often and always applying your personal best effort! What a great year you have had!

Mare

4AF

Putting in her personal best effort towards her learning, especially during maths. Mare, you have grown so much this year!

Yuna

4BC

Always being a kind and positive member of the class. Your love for learning and your considerate nature are much appreciated by 4BC. Well done!

Tahlia

4DW

Your positive attitude towards learning and for always showing resilience in the face of challenges. You have made so much progress this year. Well done!

Mollie

4MS

Always demonstrating enthusiasm and personal best efforts during learning tasks. Fantastic efforts in 2022 Mollie!

Jonah

5CG

Always striving for your personal best! Your hard work and kindness doesn’t go unnoticed, well done Jonah!

Billie

5SM

Being a kind and hardworking classmate who always follows the Tribes Agreements.

Finn

5TH

Your dedication to completing all tasks to your personal best. What a fantastic role model to others!

Maya

6LC

The effort you put into your Mission to Mars project. Well done, Maya!

Arthur

6MP

Your consistent effort to get the most out of all tasks including our recent Maths Games Day and Mission to Mars project.

Tayla

6MC

Always thinking of others and bringing your glowing personality to school every day. Way to go, Tayla!



Parents Association

Good Afternoon to all our Footscray West Families.

You can certainly tell it’s the end of the year when the kids start bringing all their artwork and writing home- and just lovely to see what they have achieved over the year.

Left over sausages
We still have 3 bags of sausages available for purchase. Please email FWPSParentsAssociation@outlook.com if you would like to purchase a 5 kg bag of frozen sausages (approx. 70 sausages per bag) for $50.00- it’s a good deal. Stock up for summer and help us add a little more cash to the fundraising total.

End of term get together
West Footscray Wines will be hosting us for the final time this year. Bring a mate and join us for an end of year beverage before school pick up at 3.30.

Grade 6 Graduation
The Parents Association have been proud financial supporters of the Grade 6 graduation for years and years. Feedback from our recent member survey means that this year, we are moving away from funding individual student awards, to funding something that every student gets to partake in and enjoy. So, the graduation coordinators have organised a gift from the Parents Association for all students, we hope the students enjoy them. The Parents Association wish to congratulate all graduates and their families and wish them will in their high school endeavours.

Remember, follow us of facebook! Search : FWPS Parents Association.

Enjoy the weekend,
Sharee, Kate and Tinny (your PA Exec) & PA Committee

 

 

 



Salvation Army Xmas Appeal


Thank you to everyone who has donated. We are accepting donations until the morning of Wednesday 14th