Hello Everyone!

On Monday the Year 5/6's presented their suitcase stories showcase as part of their ’Immgration Origins’ History Unit.  On Tuesday the Year 6’s also ventured to the Queen Vic Markets excursion as part of this unit. We also sounded the alarm (literally) to practise a whole school emergency  procedure. There are various types of emergency protocols we are required to practise throughout the year. This particular one required us to go into ‘Lockdown’ ensuring all the students were locked inside buildings and out of sight. This lasted two minutes and was deemed a success. Yesterday the Year 5/6's attended the 5/6 Gala Day, already postponed due to pernicious atmospheric issues. Yesterday our Foundation students attended the CARP Fairytale show in PAC as part of their writing unit on ‘Fairytales’.

Teaching and Learning

Maths at WPPS - Year One Mathematics: Location

The past week Year Ones have been working to give and follow directions to familiar locations.

Children drew a bird's eye view map of their bedrooms and were given materials such as Duplo, Lego, blocks, and Unifix to create a model of the bedroom using their map. When the models were completed, they were displayed alongside the maps where students saw the similarities between the maps and the models. They also used positional language such as ‘beside’, ‘right’ ‘left, ‘under’, ‘next to’.

Students later worked in a group to program the BeeBots and practise using their positional language to describe the BeeBot’s path. They used the language of distance and direction to move from place to place. Students wrote down the path in their maths books before entering in the directions on the Beebot, adjusting their path if needed.   

Literacy at WPPS - Year 6 Suitcase stories

By Sumayyah (6A) and James (6A)

In Term Two Year Six worked on Suitcase Stories, creating characters and telling the story of their migration journey to Australia. We were each given a country and wave of migration to focus on - for example you could have been given an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, or a post war migrant from Belarus. When we found out that we were doing this project, everyone in Year Six wanted to produce their most outstanding work. I tried to make mine realistic and researched as much as I could to have a really detailed story. 

Elements like correct language, historical details, and sentence structure were essential for a great story. When we finished our stories our teachers and a friend would read our writing, giving us feedback on our stories and suggestions for improvement. After six weeks of working we had produced great stories, and were very proud of our work. The next step was to start working on our artefacts and displays. Over the course of this project we made a slideshow on Canva about our person and their story. We needed at least 5 artefacts that your person brought with them on the journey. 

As time went on we finally made it to the day we were presenting, and we were looking forward to showing our work to the rest of the school. Dressing up was optional but we didn’t really care, as almost all of us dressed up in very colourful clothes and cultural dresses. Everyone had terrific outfits to capture their person’s culture and bought in amazing artefacts to display. Some people chose gemstones and jewellery, others brought in books and old toys. 

Our work could be displayed in a digital suitcase with images of the artefacts, or we could bring in a suitcase or bag. Our suitcase displays were outstanding and showed everyone’s learning brilliantly. Every class came up and had a look at the presentations. They were all very impressed and wanted to stay longer and keep looking. Overall it was an awesome day!

Literacy at WPPS - Year 6 Queen Victoria Market

Isabelle (6A) and Holly (6A)

When we first arrived at school we saw the bus and got really excited - we were off on excursion! When we finally got there, the excitement level got even higher because we could see the market. Our first stop was Flagstaff Gardens, where we ate our snack so we weren't starving. We got into our groups and did a quick recap on what we might get for lunch. We worked in teams of 4, 5 or 6, and everybody contributed $10 to buy a picnic lunch.Then it was time to explore and shop! When we walked into the market some groups went straight to the food section and others made a beeline for the souvenirs and toys. Squishy dumpling toys, fluffy animal hats, and shiny necklaces were popular purchases! 

After two hours of shopping, we made our way back to Flagstaff Gardens for our picnic lunch. Each group spread out their blanket and set out their food. People had chosen lots of different foods - pizza, chips, cake, hot jam donuts, cupcakes, fruit, vegetables, turkish bread, chocolate, salami, borek, gelato, ice cream and pastries. We all made sure that everyone in our groups had something that they could eat, and each group was respectful of each other’s cultural and medical dietary needs. 

The Queen Victoria Market was a very fun experience; a good way to try new foods, explore that part of the city and to learn about budgets and money. Overall, this was an amazing experience out of school and everyone loved exploring the markets.  

Our Staff

As we continue to get to know our staff at WPPS I’d like to introduce our Year 1B Teacher - Kim Duong.

It is such a delight to be part of the WPPS community. I have been teaching here for 7 years and am currently teaching Year One. There are so many interesting programs that run in Year One, my favourite being the reading program with our neighbours at Cameron Close Retirement Village (currently on pause due to COVID-19). Each week, the students will bring over some books to read with the residents. It is such a beautiful time they get to share together, with plenty of chatting and bonding. Truly a favourite for both the students and residents!

Hello Chickens!

In a feat of domesticated junglefowl inspired caring and spreadsheeting we can joyfully announce the chickens are in safe hands over the holidays! A huge thank you to Aisha Gray who has been holding the Gallus gallus domesticus (look it up…) flag for a long time. More recently Ms. Monica Woodhouse of 4A and Ms. Amy Easterbrook of 4B who forensically organised the looking after of our fowls and Sheri Spiteri who took on the task of organising our parental volunteers over the holidays.

2022.07.11 Term 3 Curriculum Day - Student free day

Term 3 begins with a student free Curriculum Day on Monday 11th July. Tuesday 12th July is when the students return to school for Term 3. If you would like to book your child into Team Kids on Monday 11th July please go HERE for details on how to do this. Team Kids is open from 7am - 6pm. BYO lunch.

2023 Enrolments

2023 school planning has commenced. We are having quite a few families who are asking to enrol from outside our zone due to various factors - all of which are inherently a very positive reflection on WPPS!  So, if you have a child/children due to commence school in 2023 please complete a school enrolment and forward to the school office along with a copy of their Birth Certificate & Vaccination Certificate ASAP. A  2023 School Enrolment form is available HERE on the WPPS website or the school office.

Term 2 Reports

Reports go home today in hard copy. They are also downloadable from COMPASS from 4pm today.  In fact, all reports from 2015 onwards are online and downloadable via COMPASS. 

Parents and Carers Survey
We have been going through the results of this survey with a working group of teachers and have made some inroads in a few areas. We'll communicate more about the key themes and action plans next year. Thank you for your participation.

COVID 19

Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID case are not required to quarantine. They may return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests 5 times during their 7-day period. They are required to notify the school that they are household contact. Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption. COVID positive results must be reported to school by phone or written notification and remain in 7-day isolation. More information about the management of COVID 19 at WPPS can be found HERE. 

Doggy Doos

If you are on site with your dog at any time, please remember to pick up any messes they may leave.  We have noticed an increase in doggie doos in recent times.

Events

The last day of term 2 (today) was free dress day which involved a gold coin donation for State School Relief and we’ve raised $297. Well done and thank you everyone.

Please check the calendar on our school’s  website to keep up to date with what’s happening across the school.

Have a great term break everyone and see you all back on Tuesday, 12th July.

Steve Donohue

Principal

Along with the student enrolment form, you must also send:

• A copy of your child’s birth certificate/passport
• Your child's immunisation history
• Any visas (if applicable)

Once received, you will receive a confirmation email at our earliest convenience.

If you know of other families yet to enrol, please encourage them to do so.

If you have any questions relating to the enrolment process, please email or call the office (9808 2165).


We look forward to seeing you in 2023.

Kind regards,

Steve Donohue
Principal

Term 3 begins with a student free Curriculum Day on Monday 11th July. Tuesday 12th July is when the students return to school for Term 3. If you would like to book your child into Team Kids on Monday 11th July please go HERE for details on how to do this. Team Kids is open from 7am - 6pm. BYO lunch.

2. Canteen News

1. Thank you to parents who are using the Flexi School app for ordering lunch orders.
   Please be mindful of the following when ordering:

• Date - please check you have ordered for the correct date
• Have you received a confirmation email?
• Please supervise if your child/ren are ordering lunch

1. Canteen is always looking for volunteers to help.....12pm - 1.30pm on Friday.  Please register via            https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/827030846186224028/false?popup=true#/invitation

3. School Council Dates for 2022

Tuesday, 26th July, 7pm
Tuesday, 23rd August, 7pm
Tuesday, 18th October, 7pm
Tuesday, 13th December, 7pm

Parents, out of courtesy to our neighbours please do not park across their driveways in Banksia Street, when dropping off or picking up your children. Whitehorse Traffic Officers will be patrolling during these times.

We operate a first aid room at Wattle Park Primary school. In order to keep our First Aid Room clean and tidy, we require parent volunteers to assist us each Friday. We'd love 40 families to help - so you only have to help once a year!
For only around 15 minutes we appreciate you checking the area, changing the sheets, and returned washed sheets the following Monday. 

How to assist

• Click on the link below, choose the date you can assist, and sign up.
• You will not require an account or to keep a password. 
• If you would prefer not to use your email address, please email the school and your details can be entered manually to include you on the roster. 
• To assist with tidying the First Aid room please sign up here: 

https://signup.com/go/bpUzddO