Hello Everyone,

I hope we all had a rejuvenating long weekend. Although it's been a short week for our students there has been lots of things going on. Not the least of which has been a series of lunchtimes spent inside due to this unseasonably cold and wet weather.

However, hope for finer days ahead is on the horizon - just in time for our Great Big Working bee on Saturday 12th of November! There are plenty of jobs on this list that can be done at any time (eg chainsawing up the random log in the staff carpark drain that has been there since before l began here in 2017, and throwing it in the skip). 

If you’d like to do something on another weekend or after/before school, please just let the office know. For more details, read on…

Our Students

Science Incursion

Last Friday 28th October the Year 3 had a Science incursion as part of their raw and processed materials Science Unit. Ms Easterbrook’s class have written about it below:

‘In our science incursion, we learnt all about processed and natural materials. For our first activity we sorted materials into different categories including: plants, animals, rocks and minerals. In another activity, we used gelatine powder, food dye and hot water to make a bioplastic, which we left at school over the weekend to set. We also used microscopes to explore absorbency by examining the pores in different fabrics. In general we really enjoyed our science incursion.’

Student of the week

Congratulations to all of our students who received Student of the Week Awards at Assembly on Friday this week. These certificates are awarded to our students for a variety of reasons including academic excellence and displaying our school values of Respect, Encourage, Value, Care, Challenge and Responsibility.

  9.15 - 9.35 F- Yr 3 Assembly 

  2.35 - 3.00 Yr 4-6 Assembly

Maths Olympiad Achievements

Due to our Yr 56’s being involved in a variety of activities on the past two Fridays including  Hooptime Regional Finals (20 students) and Girls Division Hot shots (8 students) we will be unable to award the Maths Olympiad awards all at one Assembly. However it is a major achievement WPPS came in the top 20% of all of the nation.  As mentioned in last week's newsletter, individual trophies, pins patches and certificates will be presented to those present at today’s assembly.

Literacy Specialist

Ms Statkus of 6A, as you’ll note from last week’s Staff Profile, spends each Tuesday as our Learning Specialist enhancing instructional practice for our teachers and learning outcomes for our students in Literacy.

Students in Year 4 have been developing their skills as authors this term. Both classes have learned about how to use the traits of writing to improve their work, with a focus on Word Choice. Students have unpacked how one author made language choices in their book through a study of Margaret Wild’s ‘Fox’. 

Learning Intention: To make purposeful language choices to add precision to our writing.

Our lessons covered the sentence structure of ‘Fox’, focussing on the language choices and patterns in the opening sentence of the text, which is ‘Through the charred forest, over hot ash, runs Dog, with a bird clamped in his big, gentle mouth.’ 

After we discussed the different parts of this sentence, we worked together to write our own version - these amazing authors came up with ‘Through the polluted ocean, under wild, muddy seaweed, swims Seal, with a fish dancing beside him.’ I can’t wait to read more of their writing! The next step was for students to work in groups using this sentence model to improve their own texts about lighthouses. 

“In writing, we watched a short clip called ‘The Lighthouse’. We then used the screen shots as prompts to write concise, detailed snapshots focusing on the use of Excellent Word Choice. We are currently putting the snapshots together and we will turn it onto a published narrative.”

Sporting achievements

On Wednesday, Eva Baird from 6A competed at the State Athletics comp. She came 1st in Discus and 2nd in Shot Put! An amazing achievement at a very high level!

Congratulations also to Henry Curlewis from 6B who competed in the All Schools Victorian State Championships (29^th and 30^th Oct) in the U14 section, qualifying 3rd in his 1500m heat on Saturday and placing 13th in the 1500m final on Sunday. An amazing achievement given he is only in u12 and racing in the u14 section.

Henry also competed in the School Sport Victoria State Finals (3^rd Nov). He placed third in the 800m and third in the 1500m. A terrific acheivement!

Well done also to Kelly Baird and Sally Curlewis, such achievements do not happen without the parent support crew!

Million for Mental Health Day 

A message from our Wellbeing Leader, Ms Kelly:

Next Thursday 10th November is Mental Health Day and Headspace are holding their very first national fundraising campaign Million for Mental Health Day. Their goal is to raise $1 million in one day to help support families looking after young people experiencing mental health challenges. 

The WPPS community will be contributing to this vital fundraiser and organization next Friday 11th November. We invite you to wear a touch of bright green and bring a gold coin donation. Funds raised from Million for Mental Health Day will help Headspace increase available services and resources for families supporting a young person going through a tough time.  

If you would like to learn more about the fundraiser or the Headspace organization please visit their website: https://headspace.org.au/

Our Staff

Continuing our series introducing staff at WPPS, we have our English as an Additional Language teacher (EAL)  Ms Annmaria Antonino:

Dear WPPS community,

“Where do I begin

To tell the story of how great a love can be…”

My relationship with Wattle Park Primary School began in January 1990 when I accepted a position teaching Year 3/4. I was just 22 years old, exploding with passion and excitement, eager to have my first class after a year of shared specialist roles in two other schools. WPPS had around 180 students and just seven classes on enormous grounds, with a shelter shed on top court and mature wattle trees scattered all around… such a beautiful setting. My classroom in the main building was quite bare, just a blackboard with out-of-date canvas pull down maps, traditional heavy wooden desks and one Apple Computer, the Macintosh with the large floppy discs! I was the only person on staff whose parents were born overseas and spoke a language other than English. I was so very proud of my Italian heritage and shared my love of all things Italian with everyone. I was never shy! The WPPS community was so warm and welcoming, I had found my place.

Writing this piece makes me smile as I reflect on a very special relationship so far, 33 years in fact!  I spent the first five years at WPPS as a class teacher, then I had the opportunity to work in industry. My WPPS community wished me well, but they all knew I would return to them and how right they were! Although it was so much fun to wear suits, be taken out for long business lunch meetings, develop teaching programs for adults and experience a life without bells, that year away, chasing profits, made me realise just how important teaching was to me and how this was where I could make a difference in the lives of so many!

I returned from industry to WPPS for another memorable five years as a class teacher, always encouraging families to be involved in their children’s education. My door was always open, or I was just a phone call away on the school landline! I believe communication is key to success and families quickly learnt that together we could work through any challenges they might be facing and together we would also celebrate success!

My WPPS community was there when I married Aurelio in 1997, their children sang in church as my papà walked me down the aisle. I simply went from Miss to Ms Antonino and after my European honeymoon, continued to teach. Then in 2000 I took leave to begin my own family. Motherhood is my other great love, as family means everything to me! I devoted myself to my children, Mia and Gianni, and when they both began their schooling, I finally returned to WPPS. 

I decided to work part time so I could involve myself in my children’s schools and give to their teachers the support that so many parents at WPPS had given to me over the years. I was a class representative most years and involved on so many committees, it was so much fun to be the parent helper! 

Upon my return to WPPS, I was given the opportunity to teach Italian to Year 3-6 students. It was wonderful to be back at school and to be sharing Italian language and culture with students who were so eager to learn a second language. By now WPPS had doubled in size and Deakin University was feeding us enrolments from all around the world. Never had we had such a multicultural community. The school was buzzing with different languages, the community was slowly changing.

When Italian was replaced with Chinese at WPPS, I taught Art, another great love, but I finally found my calling when I began to support EAL (English as an Additional Language) students and their families about ten years ago. In my EAL classroom, the focus is on teaching learners to understand and speak English. This means that a great deal of time is spent playing games, acting out real-life English scenarios and singing songs. I feel my fun, energetic personality puts students at ease and draws them into activities that help them improve their English language abilities.

Being an EAL teacher can be somewhat like working as a social worker. Sometimes I may learn that a student’s family is having difficulty filling out paperwork for a hospital visit or that they are not sure how to use our transport system. I take the time to help students and their families navigate these real-life problems or refer them to people who can help.

I feel blessed to be a part of the Wattle Park Primary School community. Thank you for the love, everyone! 

Thank you

Drain cleared

Thank you to whomever has taken the initiative (was that you Steve Lew?)  to already clean out the drain at the base of the staff car park. 

Grafted Mandarin and Orange trees planted

Thank you also to Jason Szlymek Gay and Makka who planted the grafted and orange and Mandarine trees on the weekend just gone. Removing these 6 trees from the 10 litre pots, digging the holes (in perfect alignment l noticed too!) complete with chicken poo fertiliser is a massive job, thank you!

Notices

The Great Big Working Bee! Sat 12th November 2022 - 10am  - 1pm

Our mission is to clean up the Banksia Street side of the school. We want clean, broad, mulched mass planted beds with defined edges. 

We need people with chainsaws, whipper snippers, shovels/spades, brooms and blowers!

This will make the place easier to maintain and provide a sense of order and calm. What better way to have a safe learning environment! Click on the link below to see what, with your much appreciated assistance, we are going to achieve. We can use our newly donated tools!

Sat 12.11.2022 - The  Great Big Working Bee! 10am  - 1pm

COVID 19 

If you require RATs please make a request to the school office. HERE is information from the Victorian Government about ‘Managing illness in schools and ECEC - information for parents and carers’ . HERE is information regarding facemasks.

A summary below:

The Victorian Government has announced the end of the Pandemic Declaration and associated Pandemic Orders. The following settings, based on advice from the Department of Health, will apply from 11.59pm Wednesday 12 October 2022.

It is strongly recommended that students:

• who test positive to COVID-19 stay home and isolate for 5 days

• should not attend school after 5 days if still symptomatic

• who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school

• advise the school of the COVID-19 positive test result

• students who wish to wear a face mask should be supported to do so, and schools should continue to make face masks available for staff, students and visitors.

Where students become symptomatic at school they should:

• be collected by their parents/carers

• undergo testing for COVID-19

• Parents and carers will therefore be asked to continue to report positive student COVID-19 cases using the VicED COVID Tool.

Hats on from September!

This term all students must wear a WPPS school uniform hat when outside. This is part of our Sunsmart Policy to protect our students against UV radiation and the ravages of cancer - ugh! More information can be found on our website HERE. 

School Calendar

Please refer to the calendar on the School Calendar to find details about Term 4 dates, finish times and term holidays dates etc.

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.

One more thing!

We are padlocking shut the gate to Warrigal Road after 9.15am every morning. It opens again around 3pm. We are doing this because we have a student who has a penchant for running out of the class and out of the school grounds. There are processes in place to ameliorate this issue but the safety issues are abundantly evident. Thanks for your understanding on this one.

Have a great weekend.

Steve Donohue

Principal

1. Second Hand Uniform Shop

Monday, 14th November, 8.30 - 9am

 

It’s that time of year - September, when all students are required to have on a hat for outside play.  Children will be required to play in the shade if no hat is worn, and being a Sun Smart School its important to have sun protection from now till May.
New hats are available from the office $15.

3. School Council Dates for 2022

Tuesday, 13th December, 7pm

4. Car Parking, Banksia Street

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