Newsletter - 13 May 2021

Issue 13


Principal's Report

Appreciations

We are all deeply appreciative of the combined effort provided by members of our Parents’ Association in ensuring our Mother’s Day stall last Friday was a marvellous success.  The stall raised $2,308.40! There was a wonderful sense of anticipation and when I visited and took a few photos, it was a very excited PAF who were in the midst of shopping.  We are so appreciative of the work our PA do in making connections and supporting our work.  Please see the full report on page 9. 

Prep 2022 info sessions – Thanks to Karri, our K to P coordinator, all members of the Prep team and new Assistant Principal, Liz, in preparing for and providing a positive morning and evening information  session and tour for the parents of our prospective 2022 Prep intake.  After last year when we had to find innovative methods to connect with new families, being able to meet in person was enjoyable and effective.  Our next Prep tour will be held on Thursday 27th May.

Education Support Staff Day – We will celebrate the work our wonderful Education Staff members do on Monday.  I know that our teachers and grades will show their support to our admin and classroom based ES staff.  We simply couldn’t do it without them. 

Orchard to Plate
With the sun out shining on Wednesday, Diane was busy harvesting in the Orchard.  This produce was made available to our school community with a gold coin donation.   Thanks Diane!

News …

Staff and student absences – We have had significant staff and student absences over the last couple of weeks as illnesses seem to be far more prevalent this year.  This is presumably due to far greater personal interaction this year in comparison to last. Staff and students are still subject to a heightened requirement to seek COVID testing and remain absent until symptoms are no longer evident.

School Council news – Our 2021 School Council met for the second time on Monday.  We were pleased to introduce Liz, our new Assistant Principal to our Council members.  While Liz was officially there at this stage as an observer, she was able to contribute effectively to our discussions.  During our meeting we were pleased to have a positive discussion regarding how as a School Council we can more comprehensively acknowledge and demonstrate respect for our First Nations’ people.  While in recent years a more balanced historical view is evident within the curriculum, the goal will be to see how this approach can be more fully represented within our school.  We will work with our staff, students, our local schools and indigenous representatives to manage this development in respect to our whole school approach.

Our 2020 Annual Report to the School Community was tabled at our previous meeting and uploaded to the website this week.  Due to the reduced requirement last year for schools to survey students and parents, the report lacks the array of data sets that would normally be included.  The report can be accessed at: 2020 Annual Report to the School Community

NAPLAN assessment – The National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy for students in grades 3 and 5 started this week and will continue next week.  As the period of assessment has been extended to this longer period we have been able to manage the requirement more moderately, in most cases holding the assessment modules for grade 3 and 5 students on alternate days.  For those who may be interested NAPLAN FAQs are available at:Naplan FAQ

Coming up … later in term

Reporting day – a reminder that on Monday 24th May (the Monday after next) there will be a Curriculum Day, one of our four ‘student free days’ held each year. This has been provided for teachers to focus on assessment and report writing. Their Care will hold a full day program to supervise students. 

Prep 2022 info sessions – The remaining sessions will be held on Thursdays at 9.30 am on 27th May and 3rd June. Details and bookings are available via our website.

SAVE the DATES

Parent/teacher interviews and Student led conferences (grades 5 and 6) … will be held on Tues 15th and Wed 16th June (after Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday). Booking details (both onsite and remote option) will be provided at the appropriate time.

Winter Solstice – Winter Lights event will be a whole school celebration of the Arts and will be celebrated for our whole community on the evening of Wednesday, 23rd June. Booking details will be shared in next week’s newsletter

Reminder to families to ensure you have written your child's name on all items of uniform, especially jackets, jumpers and hats!

If your family donated the box pictured below, can you please contact the office.


   


Cheers, 

Brendan

Coming Events

DATE

COMING EVENTS

Mon 24 May Student Free Day - Report Writing Day
Thur 27 May Prep 2022 Parent Information Session #3
9.30 - 11am
Thur 27 May Classroom Helper Program 9:30-11:00am
Online via Webex
Thur 3 June Prep 2022 Parent Information Session #4
9.30 - 11am
Sun 6 JuneSchool Working Bee - 9-12pm.
Mon 7 JuneThen & Now Mrs Sargood Incursion - 2JI, 2LP, 2ES
Tue 8 JuneThen & Now Mrs Sargood Incursion - 1TN, 2BD, 2LE
Mon 14 JuneQueen's Birthday Public Holiday - School Closed
Wed 16 June Then & Now Mrs Sargood Incursion - 1CW, 1LB, 1HP, 1JN
Mon 7 June  & Mon 21 June Grade 5 & 6 CERES Excursion
Tue 15 June & Wed 16 June Parent/Teacher interviews and Student Led Conferences (G5-6).
Wed 23 June Winter Solstice Event
Fri 25 June LAST DAY OF TERM 2 - Early Finish 2:30pm


Pupil of the Week

NAME

GRADE

APPRECIATION FOR:

Rory

2LE

Apologies to Rory for the incorrect photo last week.
The great effort she put into finding and sharing words with double letters.

Zoe

PAC

Being a motivated and independent student with a great love of learning. Superb effort! 

Tomas

PAF

Being on task during reading sessions. Keep it up Tomas.

Edward

PAK

Applying his personal best and using a growth mindset to independently attempt tasks that are challenging. Keep up the terrific effort!

Theodore

PHS

Consistently showing mutual respect and kindness to others. You are a wonderful role model.

Hamish

PKS

The way you are sounding out and using the pictures to help read tricky words. Well done!

Audrey

1HP

The confidence you are showing in the classroom and when you share your ideas in community circles and during class discussions.

Albert

1JN

Applying a growth mindset during reading and writing! What great progress you have shown. Keep up the great effort!

Alex

1LB

Consistently working hard to listen and notice our weekly sound. Alex has been exploring the way we can make the /t/ sound and indetifying words with this sound in it. Great work!

Ari

1TN

Being a helpful student and caring for others in the classroom. 

Solomon

2BD

The commitment and growth mindset you have demonstrated to improve your skills in all areas of your learning.

Molly

2JI

Applying her personal best effort in completing academic tasks and taking risks to participate during class discussions on various topics. Sensational!

Flynn

2ES

Using the 'counting up' strategy as an efficient way to solve subtraction problems. Well done Flynn. 

Alex P

2LE

The great effort you put into class tasks and for being a great JSC representative for 2LE.

Lixuan

2LP

Applying continued effort to all class activities. Well done!

Monty

3AC

Continuously giving his personal best and for never giving up, even though school can be challenging at times!

Perry

3BC

Approaching tasks with a positive mindset and for including others. Well done, Perry!

Dean

3JS

Taking on feedback during reading and applying it to his learning. 

Yuna

3MK

Being a kind and considerate classmate. Amazing, Yuna!

Shukri

4LB

Putting so much effort into your maths and reading in the past week and using a growth mindset. Great effort Shukri!

Aiden

4CL

Applying your personal best effort to your work.

Ryder

4DW

Effort he is putting into all learning. It's great to see you give your personal best in all subjects. Keep it up, mate!

Sophia

5HK

Always demonstrating the Tribes Agreements. Thank you!

Kane

5KT

The effort he has put into tasks in the classroom. Well done for persevering even when it may be challenging!

Luke

5LC

Consistently applying a personal best level of effort across all subjects. You are a wonderful role model to your peers!

Isabelle

6MK

Being a supportive and inclusive member of 6MK.

Azwaaf

6SM

An improved effort in completing his homework.

Alexis

6MP

Having a great attitude and applying effort since joining our class this term. We love having you at FWPS.

Max

6TS

Sharing your enthusiasm and knowledge about electrical circuits. Keep it up Max!

William

TheirCare

His kind speech to the TheirCare staff that made them all feel appreciated and respected. Your kindness is always welcomed and celebrated at TheirCare William!



Winter Sports Results

Winter sports Round Two V Footscray North

Tee ball 9 - 5

Netball Girls  7 - 5

Netball Mixed 17 - 0

Soccer 2 – 3



 



Walk Safely to School Day

Walk Safely to School Day is an annual, national event when all primary school children are encouraged to walk and commute safely to school. It is a community event seeking to promote road safety, health, public transport and the environment.

On Friday the 14th of May, 2021 children throughout Australia are being asked to walk to school with their parents or carers, while learning to be safe, active and healthy.

If you can’t walk all the way, combine a walk with public transport.

If you must use the car, try leaving it a good distance from the school and walk the rest of the way.

And try to do it every day.

Have a Happy Walk Safely to School Day.

Until they’re ten, children must always hold an adults hand when crossing the road.

Active Kids are Smarter Kids.

Every Monday is Walk to School Day at Footscray West Primary School.

Classes with the most students walking to school on Mondays will be awarded fortnightly and recognised in the newsletter.

 

From the Environment Team



Litter Free Lunches

What is a Litter Free Lunch?

A litter free lunch means a litter free lunch box.

This means that your whole lunch box should be free of litter.

This includes fruit break, snack and lunch.

You should not have any plastic wrappers over your food, or with your food in it.

These are some great examples of litter Free Lunch boxes:

  1. Lunch boxes with compartments.
  2. Lunch boxes that have small containers in them to separate fruit and snacks.
  3. Beeswax wrappers to wrap sandwiches.
         

Classes with the most students with Litter Free Lunches will be awarded fortnightly and recognised in the newsletter.

Remember:

Every Tuesday and Thursday is Litter Free Lunch Day.

Please help reduce rubbish in our school grounds by having a litter free lunch.

From the Environment Team



Victorian High Ability Program

Each term primary schools across Victoria are notified of students from grade 5 or 6 that have been selected to be a part of VHAP in either maths or writing.

This term at FWPS we have four students selected to participate in the VHAP writing program.

Congratulations to:

Lily Bryant
Lachlan Shackell
Mae Bettinsoli
Maya Macdonnell

These four students were selected by the DET from grade 5 and 6 students across the state to participate in the online program. They are our first students from FWPS to be selected for the writing program!!

They will work with an expert virtual teacher and will have the opportunity to learn exciting new concepts with other students from across the state during the virtual lessons. At the end of the term, it is planned that there will be a day for the online class to meet in person and participate in activities.

Libby Buck

 



2021 Attitudes to School Survey

WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK!

We value student voice as a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing, and quality instruction, and are conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school.

The AtoSS is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist our school to gain an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Students will be asked about their thoughts and feelings in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, bullying and life in general.

Students from Year 4 to 6, at our school will participate in the survey. Your child will complete the survey online during school hours using a purpose built secure online survey tool.  It is important to note that we are not in any way “testing” your child. Your child has the right to refuse or withdraw from the survey at any time.

Your child will be provided with a unique login to complete the survey. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data for statistical and research purposes only. All responses to the survey are kept anonymous in the response file. Personal identification data will not be recorded in the survey response file. This ensures that the confidentiality of your child’s responses is protected at all times.

This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the period Friday 14th May to Friday 11 June. The survey takes around 20-45 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.

The survey results will be reported back to the school in an aggregate form throughout the survey period. All survey data that is made available in reports are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified. Data suppression rules are used for schools with low student numbers per year level. Previously, we used the survey results to run focus groups to ensure students have an authentic voice in improving our school.

If you would like more information, please speak to Liz Beasley (Assistant Principal), or Carolyn Lockie (Leading Teacher), or visit https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/data-collection-surveys/guidance/attitudes-school-survey

 

 



Parents' Association

Thank you!
Who received a plant? Anyone get a bath bomb or did you receive a delicious home made slice? One thing that we know you received on Sunday, was a gift chosen with love and care by your little one! 

The stall was constantly abuzz with excitement as the children carefully chose and purchased their gifts. Especially excited were the preps and Grade 1’s who have never attended a stall before. 

We were so proud to deliver this stall. We are also very proud and thankful for Maggie and Bec who took the lead and delivered the stall. They did an amazing job sourcing gifts, and we bet that Father’s Day is also shaping up to be hit.  


The Parents' Association wish to sincerely thank all the families in our wonderful community for supporting the Mother's Day stall this year. By purchasing a gift, donating gifts and giving your time, not only did our students get to show their love for the special people in their lives, but also raise funds that will enrich the school life of all our children. 

        

So many people helped make this stall a success, and we would love to have even more people involved for future stalls. A HUGE thank you to: 

Alyson O’Brien, Mo Cushnie, Adelle Coone, Angela Ashley-Chiew, Jess Elliott, Kim Herbert, Carmen Griffin, Sarah Griffioen, Ines Vara, George Richards, Andita Satia, Emily Re, Kristen Mackenzie, Randall Wee, Verna Kristie, Antonella Hellier, Clare Mitchell Crow, Annette Miller, Allison Roberts, Sharee Logan, Pramila Rani Das, Farida Rahman, Rebecca Cook, Zoe Harris, Michelle Lucas, Kate Garcia, Kate Matasese, Rebecca Pratt, Sara Good, Lou Stock, Kristine Irwin, Helen Batchelor, Marcela Rigg, Rebecca Gregg, Angela Stanley, Mei Li, Lis Shorten, Krystal McMillan, Claire Denby, Laresa Kosloff, Chris Griffioen, Eva Portillo, the West Footscray Primary Thermomixers Group, Suzanna Mosca, Lulu Wonders, Kate Phelan, Sarah MacLauchlan and finally to the lovely office staff and teachers at FWPS for allowing us to store and wrap our gifts at school.          



Prep Tours 2022

We are looking forward to welcoming our new Preps in 2022.
Come along to find out about our school community and programs.
Parents and families are invited to visit Footscray West Primary School on the remaining dates: 

Thursday 27th of May - 9:30 – 11:00 am - Session Full

Thursday 3rd of June - 9:30 – 11:00 am
 
BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL.

Go to Prep Tours 2022 and follow these simple instructions:

Enter Code: v97f6 and hit GO
Enter your details
Select the date and session that you wish to attend. 

When you click FINISH, your interview timetable will be emailed to you automatically.  

If you do not receive your email immediately, check your junk mail folder AND make sure you have spelled your email address correctly.

You can return to School Interviews at any time, and change your interviews until the bookings close.  Please contact the school on 9687 1535 if you require assistance. 

Enrolment forms are currently available for collection, completion and acceptance at the office from 8:30am-4:00pm on school days. 

Please also ensure you reside within our school zone at www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au

 
 


Classroom Helpers Program 2021

After such a long break from having parents/carers onsite we were pleased that this term we could welcome people back onto the school grounds.

While COVID is still with us there have been some lifting of restrictions by the department, which means that we can again run our FWPS classroom helpers program which is necessary to complete before helping out at the school.

Many of our parents/carers of students in grades 2 – 6 would have participated in the program previously, while there was limited access last year for the 2020 prep parents before we all went in to lockdown.

This year we have scheduled sessions on a Thursday morning with a choice of either participating in the program face to face at the school or online. 

We are however still limited to the number of adults we can have in any space and therefore numbers for each session will be capped.  Book early to avoid missing out.

To help in the school, attend excursions or camps, you must attend one of these sessions and have a current working with children’s check (WWCC).

Sessions are scheduled for the remaining dates.  You will be able to choose from a face to face session at the school or an online session via WEBEX.

  • Thursday 27th May online via WEBEX 9:30 - 11:00am
Go to Classroom Helpers Program and follow these simple instructions:

Enter Code: mnzca and hit GO
Enter your details
Select the date and session that you wish to attend. 

When you click FINISH, your interview timetable will be emailed to you automatically.  

If you do not receive your email immediately, check your junk mail folder AND make sure you have spelled your email address correctly.

You can return to School Interviews at any time, and change your interview.  Bookings are still open. 



TheirCare

Dear parents, guardians, staff and friends! 

Last week we had the theme of Mother’s Day and Friendship. We focused on children’s friendships and chatted about caring for and looking after our friendships. The children created lots of gifts for their Mums, Grandmas and any special people in their lives. We hope that all the mothers and special people had an amazing day Sunday and were spoilt and treated to a beautiful day to remember.

    

This week we have been focusing on the MSreadathon challenge and we are encouraging children to try to sign up and read as many age-appropriate books as possible. We had a talk on Tuesday about what MS is and answered some questions that were posed. The children have been asked to recommend books to others and the staff and staff will be reading books throughout the week to the younger children and those who wish to participate.  

    

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, throughout the year we will be trying to focus on important dates and events within the calendar. If there are any important events that you would like us to focus on, or that you believe would be great for the children to be made more aware of, please contact us with your suggestions.


   

This week’s TheirCare Star of the week is William Polli for his kind speech to the TheirCare staff that made them all feel appreciated and respected. Your kindness is always welcomed and celebrated at TheirCare William! 

With it getting colder we are seeing more and more jackets get left behind, please ensure you are all checking our lost property bucket near the sign in desk! We also have quiet a few items from the holidays that do not have names on them. 

As a part of our community engagement, we will be starting a food drive later in the term to donate to those in need. If you can all start to look at your pantries and follow this space to see when we will be collecting. 

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: 
Luke, Nelly, Louise, Eleanor & Callum 

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


TheirCare Program Flyer and Costs