Hello Everyone,

We hire people because they are excellent teachers who keep our students safe and inspire them to be their best.

This is the exact reason they are sought after by International Schools :

Hello Wattle Park PS Community,

I have been fortunate to have had the pleasure and privilege of teaching and working with young people for over a decade across a number of different primary and secondary school settings. I have been a part of the WPPS community since 2017, and am currently in the middle school as a Year 3 teacher. 

From my very first day, I was impressed and welcomed by the warmth and openness of the WPPS community. It is a privilege to work every day with such wonderful children, dedicated staff and caring parents and wider community. 

Students are at the centre of my learning and teaching, and I strive to foster an atmosphere that encourages engagement, involvement and participatory learning. I endeavour to inspire growth in my students by giving them tools to take into other domains of their life. Among these tools are a sense of curiosity, an open mind and a thirst for knowledge.  

It is with a combination of excitement and a heavy heart that I inform the school community that I will be taking 2 years leave at the end of this term to teach at an international school in South Korea. My passion for travel, history, exploring unfamiliar places and interacting with cultures that challenge my world views have inspired my curiosity to explore teaching abroad. 

I will certainly miss the students, staff and community enormously. 

Emma Tan | Year 3 Teacher

Wattle Park Primary School 

2023 Parent Contributions

There are many things your parent contribution pays for. This includes:

• Classroom and curriculum supplies including pens, pencils and books
• Literacy and Science Materials
• Educational research projects
• Digital learning including a computer for each student to use in upper primary
• Mathletics Subscription
• Kitchen garden program
• LOTE (Chinese Education Perfect subscription)
• Performing Arts Supplies
• Art supplies including coloured paper, paint, pastels, clay and glue

If you haven't already paid school contributions, please look on Compass Pay to do so. We appreciate your efforts and thank you for your support.

If you have any trouble with this system on your mobile device, please uninstall then reinstall your Compass app. 

An investment in education is an investment in your child’s future.

Our Students

Assembly 9.15am on Friday 

Students of the week

Well done to all our recipients for actively displaying our school values. Students who are not in attendance to receive their certificate will be awarded at next week's assembly.

Class Student

Our Students  - Year 6 Leadership Initiatives 

Hello Wattle Park!

We, the school captains (Shreshth, Zune, Zoe and Gretel) paired up with the Visual Art leaders (Scarlett, Eva, Olive and Ivy) to create our school's very own beanies! When we were given the opportunity as Year 6s to come up with a leadership initiative, we decided the one thing that our school was missing out on was a beanie. After individually writing letters and creating many designs we got the thumbs up from Mr Donohue to start contacting PSW (the company that creates our school uniform). We eventually were sent four sample designs from PSW which we narrowed down to two that we thought Wattle Park would love and we went down to each class and took votes from the school's students to see which design was preferred. The clear winner was this design which was also preferred by most teachers:

Now, a few weeks later, we are so excited to announce that our beanies are an official part of the school uniform and will hopefully be on our heads this winter. They will be costing around $20 each. We all hope that you are as excited as we are by this new introduction to our school and that you approve of our leadership initiative.

Thank You!

Our students - Yr 6 Mathematics 

As part of our Year 6 unit on ‘Fractions, Decimals & Percentages’, the Year 6 students have been developing their understanding of fractions and decimals and have been involved in a range of problem-solving activities involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of these numbers. They have also explored the place value system, applying their knowledge of the repeating patterns to both large whole numbers and decimal numbers. 

To begin the unit, the students worked with an interactive number line (pictured below). This involved a long piece of rope at the front of the classroom with ‘0’ at one end and ‘1’ at the other. Each student was then given a fraction card (e.g. 2/8) and were asked to place it where they think it belongs on the number line.

We had lots of rich discussions on identifying and comparing fractions as well as equivalent fractions. We then changed the number line to range from ‘0’ to ‘2’ with ‘1’ in the middle. This gave the students opportunities to identify that fractions can be greater than one (e.g. 4/3) and see how these fractions link to the real world.

From next week, students will study percentages and develop their understanding in connecting and converting between fractions, decimals and percentages.

James Feather & Julie Carlson

Year 6 Teachers

House Points

The House Points have been collected for this week. 

The winning house decorates the trophy with their colours and has it displayed in the foyer of the school. 

• There are 4 school houses
• Waratah, Lomandra, Bluegum and Acacia
• Each student is designated a school house - your child’s house is on their Compass profile
• 1-3 points system is used school wide. Here are some examples

• 3 points

• Student of the Week Award
• Mathletics awards
• Academic excellence
• Representing WPPS at district swimming, completing PRC
• Demonstrating our WPPS School Values

• 2 points
• Academic achievement
• Participation in extra-curricular school-based events (such as, Running Club)
• Nude food

• 1 point

• Academic endeavour 
• Participating in school based events, cross country, good behaviour

Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge is now open and WPPS is excited to be participating. The PRC application offers a range of exciting features including:

• access to a library catalogue (including book images and blurbs)
• a modern user-friendly interface
• rewarding students with badges as challenge milestones are achieved
• the option for students to mark books as a favourite, give them a star rating or complete a book review
• https://www.vic.gov.au/school-student-and-parents-taking-part-premiers-reading-challenge

The Challenge is open to all Victorian children from birth to Year 10 in recognition of the importance of reading for literacy development. It is not a competition; but a personal challenge for children to read a set number of books by 8 September 2023.

Children from Prep to Year 2 are encouraged to read or ‘experience’ 30 books with their parents and teachers. Children from Year 3 to Year 10 are challenged to read 15 books.

All children who meet the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the Victorian Premier and former Premiers.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge

Building and Grounds - Great Big Working Bee

Thank you to our Horticultural Specialist, Nikki Browne and Building and Grounds Committee leader, Michael Hunt for organising the following Great Big Working Bee dates. These are on our website calendar and downloadable to your phone.

Term 2 Sat 17th June        Great Big Working Bee       10 - 1pm

Term 3 Sat 2nd Sept         Great Big Working Bee       10 - 1pm

Term 4 Sat 9th Dec           Great Big Working Bee       10 – 1pm

Chicken duty!

All you have to do is sign up and assist with the chickens on the weekend/during the holidays to win one of the following prizes! Each time you volunteer, you and your family receive an entry into the raffle.  If you win, you get to choose what ‘family experience’ you would like.  These experiences include;

• Ninja Parc
• Hoyts
• Rainbow World
• Inflatable World
• Bounce
• Flip Out

Please see this link for more information and to sign up.

A special thank you to the Parents and Friends Association for the donation of the prizes. 

2024 Foundation (Prep) Enrolments

Next year Foundation enrolments are now open!

1. Contact our school or book through our website (book a school tour) to learn more about our school and the enrolment application process
2. Download the Foundation (Prep) enrolment information pack from Enrolling in Foundation   
3. Submit an enrolment application for Foundation  by Friday 28 July 2023
4. You will be notified of the outcome of your application by Friday 11 August 2023. If you receive an offer of placement, you should contact our school to accept the offer by Friday 25 August 2023
5. Take part in enrolment information and transition sessions during Term 4, 2023
6. Your child will start Foundation (Prep) from Tuesday 30 January 2024.

Enrolment applications submitted after 28 July 2023 will be processed by our school as they are received, in accordance with the department’s Placement Policy.

Have a great weekend.

Steve Donohue

Principal

Wattle Park Primary School

Hello Wattle Park Families!

Wattle Park Primary will be holding a Twilight Fete on Saturday 18^th November from 3pm-9pm.

The fete will not only raise funds to support students on their education journey, but it is also a fun family orientated event for the entire school community.

To put on this incredible event, we require support in the form of either financial sponsorship or donations of goods. We are currently asking local businesses and school families for sponsorship, as detailed below:

• Platinum Sponsorship - $3,000 donation
• Diamond Sponsorship - $2,500 donation
• Gold Sponsorship - $1,000 donation
• Silver Sponsorship - $750 donation
• Bronze Sponsorship - $500 donation

We have individual packages for each sponsorship level which benefit both the school and local businesses.

If you would like further information about our sponsorship opportunities, please contact either of our Sponsorship contacts, Sam Stringer (0438 386 960) or Samantha Stringer (0466 961 801).

It’s been five long years since the last school fete – help us make this year’s better than ever!

• MOTHER'S & SPECIAL PERSON'S DAY STALL
• WPPS MUMS SOCIAL EVENT
• Up Coming Events

1. Apply now to enrol your child in Foundation (Prep) for 2024

The Department of Education has released a new statewide timeline for enrolling in Foundation (Prep) for the 2024 school year.

If you have a child starting primary school in 2024, it’s time to enrol. Make sure to submit your enrolment application by Friday 28 July 2023.

If you are enrolling the sibling of a student at our school for Foundation in 2024, and both children will be attending our school at the same time, your child is prioritised for a place at our school as per the department’s Placement Policy.

It is important to follow the statewide timeline to enrol your child in Foundation. Enrolling your child in line with the timelines allows us to plan our classrooms, staffing and transition activities and ensures your child has the best start to school.

For more information, please read about when and how to enrol your child in Foundation at vic.gov.au/enrolling-foundation-prep.

If you are seeking to enrol your child into Foundation next year, please contact our school office on 9808 2165  to request an enrolment form or visit our website https://www.wattleparkps.vic.edu.au/page/80/Enrolment to download a Word Version – 2024 Enrolments.

3. First Aid Room Volunteer
In order to keep our First Aid Room clean and tidy, we require volunteers to assist with this task. We need approximately 40 families on our roster to ensure that every family only needs to do this once per year. It is not time consuming and requires approximately 15 minutes of your time on a FRIDAY.
https://signup.com/go/MvZZbFq

4. PSW New Deliver Option
From 15th February, parents are able to order PSW school uniforms online and have the order delivered to the school office. Deliveries will be weekly for parent collection. This will save parents from actually having to go to the PSW shop if you  know what you want and sizes. 

Above is a screen shot of how the screen would look like. 

The parent needs to choose the “Click and Collect” Option, the drop down box will appear and they choose for their item to be delivered to Wattle Park Primary School.

5. Second Hand Uniform Shop
Monday, 5th June 8.30-9am

Second Hand Uniforms Urgently Needed

Thank you to our wonderful parents who keep the Uniform Shop in supply.  We are in desperate need for the following items:

Sports Polos

Large Sizes.

If you have any items of clothing that have been out grown, and in wearable condition (would you want your child to wear it?), please donate to the shop by placing clothing in the big cardboard box outside the office.

Thank you for your generosity.

Uniform Shop