Hello Everyone,

Safety of our children first.

Please be careful when you are at pick up and drop off. There is no event after school so important, that it requires you to risk the safety of a child.

Papilio Early Learning is a great supporter of our school. Our Year 5’s head over there regularly to do reading and they have been very accommodating. Please do not use their car park - they need it as much as we need a ‘Kiss and Drop’ zone!

Our Students
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.

Mathletics Champion
Congratulations to: Cherish C from 3B who won this week for her excellent performance and regular participation in Mathletics this week. 

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. 

Education Perfect - Language Championships
The Education Perfect Languages Championship 2024 was a highly successful event for Wattle Park Primary School. 

Our students earned:

• 4 emerald awards
• 2 gold awards
• 6 silver awards
• 14 bronze awards
• 24 credit awards

Well done to the following students who were awarded a certificate for achieving particular milestones.

Emerald Award
For earning over 5000 points. Congratulations:

Gold Award
For earning over  000 points. Congratulations:

Silver Award
For earning over 2000 points. Congratulations:

Bronze Award
For earning over 1000 points. Congratulations:

Credit Award
For earning over 500 points. Congratulations:

Year 2 Mathematics
We have been learning to identify and name 3D shapes. We have also used nets to make and investigate the attributes of 3D shapes. 

“3D shapes are really cool. There are so many 3D shapes and 2D shapes! 2D shapes make the faces of 3D shapes.”
Evie

 “I learnt that a vertex is a corner of a 3D shape.”
Arvid

“3D shapes are three dimensional. They have vertices, faces and edges. Some prisms and pyramids have a base that helps name the shape. A pyramid with a square base is called a square based pyramid.”
Kingsley

 “3D shapes have three dimensions, length, width and height. The faces of the 3D shapes can be made up of 2D shapes. A cube has square faces.”
Ella

“There are many types of 3D shapes. There are cylinders, spheres and lots of prisms and pyramids. There is a square based pyramid, triangular based pyramid, octagonal prism, hexagonal prism and triangular prism. We can use nets to build 3D shapes.”
Eden

 “You can hold a 3D shape but not a 2D shape. 3D shapes have faces, edges and vertices. They have different names to 2D shapes but some use the 2D shapes in their name, like rectangular prism.”
Anna

“3D shapes, have width and you can hold them unlike 2D shapes. We made 3D shapes out of nets and once we had made them we had to label them with their correct name and say how many faces, edges and vertices there were.”
Edward

 “A cube has 6 square faces, 12 edges and 8 vertices. I made a cone it has one flat face, one curved face one edge and one vertex.”
Ellie

 “3D shapes are three dimensional, it means they have length, width and height. Some 3D shapes are cones, triangular prisms, pentagonal prisms, hexagonal prisms, pyramid, octogonal prism. A hexagonal prism has 8 faces, 18 edges and 12 vertices.”
Sami

Victorian State School Spectacular
Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Performing Arts Specialist, Ms, Sylwia Michalska, earlier this year we were selected to host a rehearsal for the Victorian State school Spectacular. This rehearsal occurred in our gym on Tuesday of this week. Several school choirs from various schools attended including:

• Hawthorn West PS
• Mount Waverley North PS
• Old Orchard PS
• Weeden Heights PS

If you have never been, it is quite something to behold. Click to have a look at last years.

Victorian State Schools Spectacular 2023 - Anything to Declare (Prelude), The World is Ours

ICAS
We are delighted to inform you that  we will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS competition this year across Years 4 – 6.  

What is ICAS?  
ICAS (International Competitions and Assessments for Schools) is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing, Spelling and Digital Technologies.  

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals.  

We encourage you to consider entering your child (Year 4-6 only) into ICAS this year.   

How to participate in ICAS  
If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please:  

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here.
2. Read the terms and conditions here.
3. Go to Parent Portal to purchase tests here.
4. Enter our school’s access code –  IOQ829  
5. Enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to   payment.  

Please note that the ICAS tests shown for selection are at the school’s discretion.   

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email. Please keep this for your records.  

ICAS Results and Certificates 
We will notify you of the date(s) that we run ICAS at the school and when your child’s ICAS results are ready. You will have until Monday 29th July to make an order, and your child will be sitting the test/s in August. Once we have received your child’s ICAS certificate, we will send it home with your child. The back of the certificate shows ICAS results and the login details, ‘TAP ID and Pin’, that you and your child need to enter on the Results Portal.  

Our Staff

Continuing getting to know our staff at WPPS, we get to know Ms Annmaria Antonino who teaches 3A on Mondays.

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, 34 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 delighted to see the Cameron Close Reading Program was still running weekly and the relationship with our neighbours was strong (I established this program in 1996). I was given the opportunity to teach Italian to Year 3-6 students which was exciting. 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 for a few years, another interest, but I finally found my calling when I began supporting EAL (English as an Additional Language) students and their families over a decade ago. Teaching students English and helping families establish themselves in our community was very rewarding, but a new opportunity came knocking.

This year I have returned to the classroom in a shared teaching role with Mr Monea in Year 3. Cooking and gardening bring me such joy, so I am delighted to share both these passions with 3A in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, working closely with our garden specialist Nikki and kitchen specialist Carolina. Promoting environmental and sustainability learning and educating students to develop a lifelong appreciation of fresh, seasonal, delicious food is my next challenge. One piece of advice, I just can’t help myself… cook together, set the table and share a meal and conversation with your family every day – you will be surprised what you learn!

If you would like to know more about SAKGP please contact me, as I love welcoming new volunteers to the garden and kitchen. Or look out for me on yard duty every Monday afternoon where I’m happily chatting with families whilst children play.

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

Notices

Wattle Park Primary School presents.... 

WPPS Kids Disco! 

Get ready for a night of dancing, singing and entertainment with the famous DJ Jessie J!

Tickets from HERE

Thursday 20 June 2024
SESSION 1 | Foundation to Year 2 - 5:00pm-5:45pm
SESSION 2 | Year 3 to Year 6 - 6:00pm-7:00pm 

Bookclub
A message from our magnificent book club organiser Jill H who has done a mighty job with Bookclub and is now going to hand over the reigns:

Hello everyone,

Scholastic Book Club happens at the start of each term.

Firstly, you’ll need to stamp the catalogues with the deadline date. (approx. 1hr)

Once the orders are placed online, you will then process the orders on the deadline date.

You will receive an email from Scholastics Book Club letting you know your orders have been dispatched. When the orders have been delivered to the school, the office will email or contact you.

Finally, is the sorting of the orders, this in the fun part. (approx. 1 1/2hrs)

If you are interested in perhaps taking over this role, please contact the office to obtain my details;

Phone: 98082165 Email: wattle.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Uniform Shop

New Uniforms
The Uniform Shop for new uniforms is located off site.

Please click HERE for the location and price list for all our new uniforms.

Uniform orders can be delivered to the school office. 

School Bags and School Beanies
Available from the school office

Second Hand Uniform Shop
Located in the school gymnasium 
Cash only

Last Friday of every month - next opening times
Friday 28th June 8.30 - 9.15am

• Donations of second hand uniforms are welcome. 
• Clothing must be washed and in very good condition. 
• Please bring donations to the school office.
• Thank you for supporting this initiative!

Assembly

9.15am  Fridays

Chooks
Thank you to Ms Woodhouse and Ms Duong for incorporating the assistance of Team Kids and the Cameron Close residents to populate our feeding schedule so we do not have to appeal so desperately to our school families to attend to the ladies on the weekends.

Click here to visit the Volunteer SignUp page.

Click here to read more about what is required for Chicken Care

School Photos

An email we received from Advanced Life Photography indicating a delay in WPPS receiving our school photos:

I hope this email finds you well!

I am touching base to keep you informed about your school photo delivery.  I know that you will be inundated with this question from parents, so I want you to know in advance so that you can communicate to your families.

Advancedlife would like to apologise for the  delay in the distribution of the school photographs. We recently implemented new software and systems to enhance our photo processing and delivery procedures. Unfortunately, unforeseen technical issues arose during this transition period, causing delays in editing, processing, and ultimately delivering the final products to you. We understand the importance of these school photographs, capturing precious moments and memories that will be treasured for years to come. I deeply regret that our new systems and software issues have jeopardized the timely delivery of this year’s school photo packages.

I want to assure you that every effort is being made to speed up the delivery process without compromising the quality of the final product. Measures have been put in place to prevent such delays from happening again, and we are committed to ensuring a smoother and more efficient distribution process moving forward. All our staff understand that you have placed your trust in us to capture and deliver these important school memories. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we are dedicated to making this right for you.

We are truly grateful for the opportunity to serve your school community. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the delay or if you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Advancedlife directly on 9852 1133. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we are here to assist you in any way we can. Thank you for your understanding.

Kind Regards

Jennifer

Jennifer Scully

Office Manager (Mon-Thurs 9am -2pm)

Victoria Branch

Ph: 03 9852 1133

Volunteers course

If you’d like to volunteer in 2024, please obtain a Working with Children’s Check and complete our Volunteers course.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Steve Donohue

Principal

Wattle Park Primary School

• TeamKids Newsletter 
• Lunchtime Legends
• TeamKids Clubs

Second Hand uniform shop will be in the school gymnasium on 

• Friday, 28th June 8.30 - 9.15am 

• And then - Last Friday of every month, same bat time and same bat station.
                                                 

2. School Beanies

If you are the holder of a Govt Concession Card or Health Care Card, you are eligible for Government assistance called CSEF, (Camps, Sports, Excursions Fund).

This payment of $150 is for any school activity including camps.

Please fill out the form HERE along with a copy of your concession card, and hand into the office.

This procedure should also be followed for eligible existing families, for 2024 payment.

If you have  any enquiries, please contact the office on 9808 2165.

4. Volunteer Needed for the First Aid Room
Much appriciated if any one can help us clean the sheets in First Aid Room. Your help can make the First Aid room a more safer and cleaner enviroments.We have had no one since mid last term. Please sign up HERE.

5. Late Students
All late students MUST report to office before heading to class, to receive a late slip.  Otherwise, your child will be reported as absent and parents will receive an sms notification that their child in an unexplained absence.