May 14th 2021

7


Reconciliation Week

The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week (May27 – June 3) is ‘More Than a Word: Reconciliation Takes Action’. Our staff will be facilitating mini-inquiries that will support each class to develop an acknowledgement of country that is meaningful to them. We would love to build on this to develop a school acknowledgement following this. This year, reconciliation week asks us to take braver action and move beyond just words. To learn more about Reconciliation Week, visit the website - https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/about-nrw/

 



NAPLAN

Congratulations to our Year 3 and Year 5 students who have finished a busy week of NAPLAN testing! Across the week, students took part in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions and Numeracy testing.

Our teachers have commented on how proud they were of the efforts demonstrated by students in applying their personal best across the week. We do not overstate or understate the importance of NAPLAN, as these experiences give students the chance to develop test taking and time management skills that will benefit them in future schooling and into adulthood.

To our Year 3 and Year 5 students, we hope you have a relaxing weekend, you deserve it!



Healthy Eating in the Footscray Learning Precinct

Over the past few months, we have been meeting across the precinct with representatives from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH, formerly DHHS) to discuss healthy eating. DFFH have generously provided Footscray Primary School with access to a dietician, Carla Battaglia, to support us in reviewing the canteen menu and developing a range of healthy options to ensure our students have access to healthy food and drink while at school.
Luke, Arta, and Hanh are working with Carla and Vinh to review the existing Canteen menu to identify any foods that could be replaced with a healthy alternative. In the coming months, we will invite students to contribute their ideas around which healthy foods they would like to see in our canteen and reach out to all of you for your ideas too! Thank you to DFFH for your support and to Clare Green for bringing this project together for the FLP.



Mural Launch

In early 2020, Janine, Wendy and 20 FPS students attended a series of workshops to create the concept for a community mural on the outer wall of the FCPS gymnasium. The workshops were attended by students from across the Footscray Learning Precinct and facilitated by the mural artists Heesco, Chuck Mayfield, Julia Both and Tayla Broekman. Last month, our students were given the opportunity to return to FCPS and contribute to the painting of the mural.  

Last week, Calum and Jen proudly accompanied a group of Year 6 students to officially launch the mural and celebrate this extraordinary precinct collaboration. Our students represented Footscray Primary well and contributed some insightful reflections to the live Q & A sessions. We were particularly proud of Sunny, Jimmy and Jackson who spoke in front of the crowd to introduce special guests Katie Hall MP, and VU Vice-Chancellor, Adam Shoemaker, We would also like to thank Saskia Lee for joining the FCPS band for the launch and representing our school so well.

What a proud moment it was for us to attend this launch and for these students to know they contributed to such a bright and inspirational community project. If you haven’t seen the mural yet, check it out!! 



Save the date

This year, we are throwing a 160th Anniversary, Art show extravaganza! We will be holding the day as a community event on Saturday, November 20. We look forward to sharing more with you as plans evolve, but for now please save the date!

 



School Attendance

Did you know you can log your child's absences on Compass, through the desktop browser or Compass App? 

All Victorian government primary schools have a legislative requirement to record student attendance twice per day. As part of this requirement, schools must follow up all unexplained absences with a parent or carer.

We understand that unexpected events or illness can occur. In the event your child is absent, logging this absence through Compass enables the school to accurately track student attendance, and of course, check that everything is ok.

When students are healthy and well, we look forward to seeing them at school, on time, every day.

The below step-by-step tutorials have been put together to assist you in navigating logging an absence, either through a desktop browser or Compass App.

If you require support with your child's school attendance, please reach out as we are ready to assist.

Logging Attendance - Compass App

Logging Attendance - Computer 










Education Support Personnel Day

This Sunday May 16th is Education Support Personnel Day. Schools could not function without the invaluable work performed by our Education Support Staff. At Footscray Primary School, we are extremely fortunate to have the following staff as part of our team:

Education Support:
Carol Moore
Joyce Aquilina
Kate Kingsmill

Language Assistant:
Federica Mancusi

Library:
Katrina Firman

Office Administration:
Jessie Brown
Rhiannon Long

Business Manager:
Rowena Harris

Many of you will see the tireless work performed by our ES staff, whether it be maintaining our wonderful Library, assistance at our Front Office, or classroom and student support. Our staff celebrated this important day of recognition with an afternoon tea, while students spent time making thoughtful cards of appreciation.

To our fabulous ES staff, we hope you enjoyed your special day!



FPS Social Club

FPS Social Club would like to announce the lucky winner of the Medallion Club prize was Brenda Parker. We raised an impressive $2800.00 from the prize generously donated by TheirCare for 4 seats at the Medallion Club.  This brings our tally for Classroom Ipads to $4900.00.  The school will be purchasing 10-12 Ipads in the coming weeks to add to our assets.

These funds were a result of the Colour Run, The Hot Cross Bun drive and Easter Egg guess, and the AFL Raffle. We still have all the colour powder for the Colour Run and this will be arranged for later in the year when we have the green light under eased Covid Restrictions.  Thank you again for your ongoing support. 



Annual School Photo Permissions

During the school year there are many occasions and events where staff may photograph, film or record students participating in school activities and events. We do this for many reasons such as celebrating student participation and achievement, showcasing particular learning programs, documenting a student’s learning journey, capturing moments on camps/excursions/sports events etc, communicating with our parents and school community in newsletters, the school Facebook page and class communication through apps such as Seesaw.

Footscray Primary School understands that parents and carers have the right to withhold permission for our school to use photographs, video or recordings of your child (apart from circumstances where the school is not required to seek consent – see our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy). Follow the link here Photography, Filming & Recording Policy

We are still waiting for some families to complete the consent form, The students who need to complete the form should of received the note in their bag at the start of this week. 

We are asking if these forms can be handed back to the office by Friday 11th June. 

If you need a new copy please come by the office to pick one up. 



Koorie Facts

When did humans begin grinding seeds to make flour? Many people believe bread-making began in Egypt or Mesopotamia as long as 17,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently found evidence that Aboriginal Australians were producing flour 65,000 years ago. Were they the world’s first bakers?



Vietnamese Language Program News

The year 1 students have been learning about Vietnamese titles using the ELLA APPS. They are also learning how to describe themselves and use simple sentences to introduce family members for example: This is me/Đây là tôi. This is Mum/ Đây là Mẹ.


The year 3 students have been participating in short – role plays that involve taking turns and active listening. They are really working well and enthusiastic in performing.  Excellent - Xuất sắc!



The year 5 students have been working together with their partners to create  short dialogues and using language associated with routine, time and sequence. The students practice with their partners to perform in front of the class. They also learn how to give feedback using positive phrases in Vietnamese.



Thanks for your on-going support.

Warm regards,

Cô Hạnh

 



TheirCare

TheirCare News: May 2021
Upcoming Weekly Themes at TheirCare (Term 2, 2021)

  • Week 4: Construction
  • Week 5: Footy
  • Week 6: Leadership
  • Week 7: Reconciliation

We are always looking for new ideas, which include activities, food menu items, program themes and other suggestions. Please feel free to provide feedback to any of the staff at the service.

Important Reminders: To ensure a high standard of care of safety of all the children at the service is maintained, families are required to advise TheirCare of their child’s absence. Families, please update any further bookings via your online account. Please ensure all bookings are up-to-date for Before School Care, After School Care and Holiday Program to ensure staffing, food and activities planned are maintained to cater for all our children.

Late Pick up fee: Late fees will be charged to your account when your child/ren is collected later than closing time. Service Coordinators will log the late pick-up fee via your account. This will activate a late pick fee of $1 per minute per child left at the service after closing time.

What you require at TheirCare if your child has a Medical Condition:
All children who have been diagnosed with a medical condition, including all allergies, food/chemical intolerances, anaphylaxis, asthma, epilepsy, or any other medical condition which may affect the child must have a completed medical management plan with a colour photo in order to attend.

It is a legal requirement under the Education & Care National Regulations and the Term & Conditions for bookings that these are provided, along with any medication listed on the plans where required.


- Vanessa Attard and Jessica Alessi
footscray@theircare.com.au




Student of the Week 3

Please see below for Week 3 Student of the Week.
Class Student 
FALeni
FBAbi
FCRuben 
1BCoco
2AVictoria P
2BAnnabel C
2CEva M 
34CElsie
34ESamuel T
5CHugo 
Vietnamese Finlo FB
Art 2C (whole grade) For their creative techniques using soft chalk pastels


Student of the Week 4

Class Student 
FAAlice 
FBRaffy
FCTahlia
1AChristian B
1BAustin 
2AOdessa
2CJalena K
34AAndy
34BEli E & Louise D
34CCatherine & Kate 
34DOscar & Gaby 
34EHank
6AFinn
6BDameo
VietnameseRuby 5A
Art Nicholas FA


Important dates to remember

Important dates to remember 



Art Competition by Zart



Community News