WPPS Newsletter 11th November

#104


Principal's Report 11th November 2022

Hello Everyone,

Given everyone l speak to is as well intentioned as they are time poor, l appreciate anyone turning up for any amount of time to our Working Bee!

The $ we receive for the upkeep of our site barely pays for our three weekly lawn mowing, so if you can, it's on tomorrow! Click below for details:

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

A message regarding this years 2022 Parent Contributions:

Wattle Park Primary School provides all students with free instruction to fulfil the standard Victorian Curriculum.  All contributions are voluntary. However, the ongoing support of our school families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students.

Wattle Park Primary's School Council makes every effort to keep the cost of items and activities to a minimum for all parents by purchasing in bulk, all student learning requisites, keeping items exempt from GST.

Wattle Park Primary School offers a wide range of subjects, differentiated programs and special curriculum experiences for our students across all year levels and provides all necessary student subscriptions and supplies.

Thank you to those who have paid 2022 contributions so far. For those of you who haven’t paid, we really encourage you to do so if possible as the school has purchased all student requisites for 2022 in good faith.

Our Students

Student of the week

All parents and carers are invited to assembly. Any student who was awarded a ‘Student of the Week’ certificate last week and was not present at Assembly, will receive theirs this week.

      9.15 - 9.35 F- Yr 3 Assembly 

      2.35 - 3.00 Yr 4-6 Assembly

Class Student

FA

Evie A

FB

Sienna M

1A

Jake Y

1B

Mishti P

2A

Billy W

2B

Zuby J

3A

Aaryan D

3B

Zen S

4A

Jasmine M

4B

Kevin L

5A

Chad F

5B

Holly P

6A

Murray E

6B

Scarlett S

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program

Last week we had all of our old ovens , notorious for either being too hot or not doing anything, replaced with brand spanking new ones! There has been lots of positive feedback from our parent helpers, whom, after soldiering on for so long with inadequate hot plate support, are now experiencing the best new gastronomic technology can provide.

A message from Ms. Easterbrook:

This week as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, students in 4B engaged in both a Garden session and a Kitchen session. In Garden, students worked in groups to complete a number of crucial tasks including: cleaning out the chicken coop, weeding and harvesting; broad beans, lettuce leaves, spring onion, sage and mint for our following Kitchen session. In Kitchen students created two delicious dishes, a broad bean and burnt butter sage pasta and a seasonal salad with garden leaves accompanied by a refreshing mint tea. The Year 4 students had a fantastic time and a huge thank you goes out to our volunteers! Without our volunteers, we would not be able to have such a wonderful and enriching program at Wattle Park! 

Broad bean and burnt butter sage pasta

Ingredients

Broad beans – shelled and remove outer skin

Spring onion – chopped finely

Parsley – rock and chop

Sage – remove leaves and chop

2 tablespoons olive oil

I tablespoon butter

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ red chilli – deseeded and chopped finely

3 cups of cooked pasta

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

What to do

  1. Heat oil in the frypan and add spring onions, chopped chilli, salt and pepper.
  2. Add broad beans and sauté for 3 minutes, then add chopped parsley.
  3. Place cooked pasta into a bowl and add mixture.
  4. Heat butter in the frypan until it bubbles. Add sage leaves and cook until they are crispy.
  5. Place into the bowl and add grated parmesan cheese and mix gently.

Seasonal salad with garden leaves

Ingredients

lettuce leaves – chopped

fennel- finely shaved

radish- finely shaved

cabbage – finely shaved

parsley – finely chopped

cucumber – finely shaved

dressing

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

½ teaspoon salt and pepper

Place into a jar with lid and shake.

What to do

  1. Combine cabbage, lettuce leaves, radish, fennel and cucumber with parsley and parmesan.
  2. Dress with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.





















Hooptime Allstar Girls

On Friday last week WPPS sent a Hooptime All Star Girls team to compete for a spot in the State championships - and they won! A remarkable achievement! Thank you to all the parents and guardians who helped coordinate attendance, support and departures and Mr. Lindsay, our PE teacher, who provided all administrative support. 





Maths Specialist

A message from our Maths Specialist Mr James Feather and Year 56 Team Leader Mr Richard Abell:

Throughout Terms 2 and 3, students in Years 5 and 6 took part in the APSMO Maths Games program. The aim of the program is to teach valuable problem-solving skills and exposes students to the application of mathematical problem-solving strategies and techniques. The Maths Games is aligned with the Australian curriculum and focuses on challenging students to think laterally and creatively when solving mathematically-based problems. It is grounded in the 'real-world' application of problem-solving strategies and highlights that there may be multiple ways to reach a solution. 

Congratulations to all the Year 5 and 6 students who participated in the 2022 Maths Games program. In particular, we'd like to acknowledge 15 students that excelled throughout the program.

Below is a list of the Maths Star Award recipients from the APSMO Maths Games. Students are in order of results.

Nelya S (5B)

Lingyu Z (5B)

Emily S (5A)

Alice MacK (6B)

Cleo T (6B)

Atticus C-B (6B)

Zoe B (5B)

Thomas S (5B)

Callum W (5B)

Gretal B (5B)

Isabella C (5A)

Matias R (6A)

Sophie F (6A)

 

Library

Over the past few weeks we have had Ms Von Singleton in our library. As part of her role Von is conducting an audit of our library and editing where appropriate to make space for more books. A message from Von:

My greatest passion is fostering and nurturing children’s love for libraries, creating a comfortable and exciting space where every child has the freedom to find their own book of interest. I recently came across a quote that resonated with me:

‘Children fall in love with books because of the memories created when they snuggle up with someone they love.’

What Von has brought to my attention recently is how she makes decisions regarding what stays in the library and what goes. One of these decision lenses is the last time a book was borrowed. Here we have one example;



A book not borrowed in 50 years needs to go so we can literally make space for texts the students are more likely to engage with.

Our Staff

Continuing our series introducing staff at WPPS, we have our Foundation teacher, Robyn Heeps:

I have been part of the Wattle Park school community for many years.

It has always been a friendly and supportive body, and I have become acquainted with wonderful families and children during this time.

I have worked across the school and watched students grow and develop in preparation for their secondary schooling. It is always delightful when they come back to see you, or you meet by chance, and they relate stories of the fun things we did together.

Foundation is an exciting year to be part of: it is rewarding to follow and observe the transition of these young children as they  become independent and capable students.

Wattle Park is a great place to work. 

Thank you

I’m not sure who did this but thank you to whomever make a great start on weeding the orange daisy flower bed near the before  and after care room - a step closer to our grounds being a botanical triumph!

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.

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



Leaving the school in 2022 - Exit form

Planning has began for 2023 classes. To help us in this process, if your child/children will not be returning to Wattle Park Primary School next year, please complete the Exit Form and sent it back to school as soon as possible.
Thank you.

WPPS Notices 11th November 2022

Please scroll through to see all of our latest notices!


1. Second Hand Uniform Shop
2. Remember September - No Hat No Play
3. School Council Dates for 2022
4. Banksia Street Parking - Please avoid driveways!
5. Volunteers Urgently Needed for First Aid Room



1. Second Hand Uniform Shop

Monday, 14th November, 8.30 - 9am

2. Remember September - No Hat No Play
 

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.


5. Volunteers Urgently Needed for First Aid Room

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

 



Community Notices 11th November 2022

Support our local business!!!