Mount Pleasant Primary School

"Gorgeous little historical school in the centre of Ballarat, with lovely and dedicated teaching staff. School has bullying issues, a standoffish unapproachable and seemingly invisible principal who is more concerned with the schools social-media appearance & budget and running her own air B&B from her warm office than provisioning for the following.... * Students with additional needs * School excursions * Adequate school resources and technology. * Ensuring the students are in uniform and are bringing lunch each day. Many aren't! * Keeping kids safe at school, especially our little ones. * School lacks a sense of community and pride, parents are not welcome to attend assembly's nor are parents routinely invited to help out at the school or participate in any community events like other local schools do. Ie, Begonia festival, ANZAC or Grandparents day,etc. Zero community involvement/awards * School council is purely for the purpose of passing motions the principal and the school business manager have devised between themselves. No input from council members welcome or considered. ( I'm on the council and am about to give my notice) * Strict lunch box rules ( nude food only) to save school money re- waste management. So if your child accidentally drops their open lunch box onto the floor, they lose most of their lunch. No nuts, no Eggs, despite no children at our school being allergic to these foods. * School tours emphasise " new toilets " and have little else better to offer. * School introduced extra playground tax (cleaning fee) on top of the existing fee structure in 2022 for a planned new sensory playground that has yet to be built. This is the second playground improvement grant in 3 years that has amounted to absolutely nothing. * Principal lacks empathy, presence and initiative, parents and students never see her at the gates or on yard duty, or in their classrooms hense the behavioural issues at this school. Many principals even read books to classrooms, or socialise with their students in other way's, however not Kate. * Kids are required to address their principal by her first name. *Parents may see Principal by appointment only, and this is only if she sees fit. Principal makes it very clear that she's not prepared to discuss school bullying issue's. * No government funded free programs like breakfast club, after school sports clubs like most other local public schools because having these programs would interfere with schools Extend before and after school care arrangement $$$$$ *Uniform shop is always understocked, best to purchase uniforms online from "Next" or take items purchased from department stores to a Uniform shop in Ballarat called Ruff Cutts who will embroid the school logo onto any garment. Some fantastic results driven teaching staff at this school, however many long term staff and families have left since new Principal arrived. When staff leave, they're replaced with new graduates to save money, fortunately, my own daughter has been blessed with great teachers so far. This was once a fantastic school, however when the head teacher left in 2022 to take up a position as deputy Principal at another local primary school, students have been leaving in droves, and despite principal advertising, new parents are reluctant to enrol their prep/foundation children at our school. The school fees are on par with other local schools which offer so much more. Why are we staying at this school? The teaching staff themselves are lovely and dedicated, and my daughter is approaching secondary school. I completed a placement at this school myself before it deteriorated to what it has. The Principal is seemingly distracted with her own business adventures, family life, and unfortunately this has taken it's toll on what was once a gorgeous little historical school in the centre of town with a family of long term staff. Better options would be the following... Dana Street Canadian Lead Phoenix P-6 ( not the secondary school) Anything really!!! The 5 stars are for the lovely teaching staff."

"this school turned my friend trans now she is a canadian political candidate who advicates for building a wall around ottowa"

"I went to MPPS my whole life and I will not lie it was a decent experience, I liked going because of the nice teachers and my friends but, this school barley taught me anything. By the time I was in year 5 my teacher back then had given me and my class year 2 level work, and by year 6 I was learning the same things over and over and over again. When we did learn something important we only learned it for like a week then chucked aside. I am now in high school and I haven' learnt all the things I should've. A lot of the time my teachers will say "You all should have learnt this in primary school, put your hand up if you have", everyone puts there hand up expect for me, because my old teachers never taught me anything new, only old stuff I had learnt in the past. The only decent thing about MPPS was the friendly teachers, nice school grounds, and the teachers who got me into reading. MPPS in my opinion is a not a great school, but I will always cherish the moments I spent there."

"Great school, helpful ES stuff. Great teachers. Grounds are well kept."

"I currently go to this school and all the people are lovely we get to go a lot of thrilling excursions Unfortunately this is my last year at this school my time has been so awesome."