Safety and Uniforms

Every week, Wattle Park Primary School brings something new, but two events from last week have stayed with me.

The first relates to student safety.

On Friday, a report was made to the Department of Education after a member of the public was observed standing outside the school fence appearing to take photographs into the school grounds. Department processes were immediately followed, and the matter was reported through the appropriate channels.

I would like to acknowledge the students who noticed something that did not seem right and informed their teacher, who then brought the matter to my attention. Student safety is everyone's responsibility, and I was pleased to see our students acting so responsibly.

Interestingly, a similar situation occurred some years ago. On that occasion, after making enquiries, it turned out the person taking photographs was actually the father of one of our students, sending a picture of the grounds to family members overseas. Nevertheless, our approach remains the same: if something does not seem right, we investigate. Better safe than sorry.

The second event involved a discussion about school uniforms.

While out in the playground, one of our students asked me why students could not wear jeans to school.

After a lengthy and entertaining conversation—which included the student correctly pointing out that I happened to be wearing jeans at the time (we clearly teach excellent debating skills in our senior classrooms!)—we arrived at a simple conclusion.

A school uniform has two important jobs.

Firstly, it is practical. It helps keep students warm in winter, cool in summer and protected from the sun.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it identifies us as members of the Wattle Park Primary School community.

Our focus at WPPS is keeping students safe, happy and learning to the highest standard possible. As a result, uniforms are not something I speak about very often. However, the conversation prompted me to think about the important role they play.

The two incidents above are connected.

When a child is wearing a school uniform, they are easily identifiable. Members of the community notice them. Most of us have probably seen a child in school uniform during school hours and wondered, "Shouldn't that student be at school?"

That visibility is important. It helps keep our students safe, identifies them as belonging to our school community and creates a sense of connection and pride. I like to think our students wear the WPPS uniform with pride because of the culture of kindness, respect and high achievement that exists within our school.

A quick reminder regarding footwear:

Our school uniform includes plain black or plain white sneakers.

While I am generally a strong advocate for people being able to express themselves through what they wear, when we are at school we are representing our community. Uniforms help identify us as WPPS students, support student safety and ensure children are comfortable and ready to learn.

Therefore, when attending school, students should wear black or white sneakers in accordance with our uniform expectations.

Please call the office if you would like support with this and we’ll look into it.

THIS is our school uniform.

Vintage Uniform Shop next open:

Friday, 12th June from 8.30am - 9.15am in the gym.

Our Students

2026.06.04 Dance

On Thursday ‘Dance Curriculum’ came to WPPS. We won this program at National Young Leaders Day in Term One. This is an excursion where a few lucky Year Six students spend the day listening to how various leaders became successful. 

The two ‘Dance Curriculum’ teachers came to our school and taught us a dance routine. That was a great way to start the morning. We loved seeing the dance moves Dean and Tyrone (dance instructors) could do and learning some new moves! 

Marley 5B - "It was really fun and we learnt new moves for a dance routine, the instructors were really good dancers"

Jake 5B - "The dance moves were groovy and funny, I liked watching Tyrone (dance instructor) breakdance."

Natalia 5B - "I liked how everyone danced together, I learnt new dance moves and I like Dean's (dance instructor) moonwalk."

Asher 5A - "We learned a lot! It was very fun and my favourite part of the dance was the Charleston."

Zan 6B - "Dean and Tyrone came to teach us a fun dance that we were able to enjoy and perform as a group." 

Oliver 6B - "It was really good to have Dance Curriculum come to our school to teach us fun dance moves that we all did together.

And from us we had the best experience!! 

By Heidi and Matilda - 6A 

Students of the Week
As a result of our recent School Review, as well as the work we are doing with our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support Program, our school values changed last year from six:

Respect, Responsibility, Care, Encourage, Value and Challenge to the ‘Three R’s’;

Respect • Responsibility • Resilience

Mathematics Award
A round of applause for:

who has excelled in Mathletics this week through consistent participation and impressive performance. Well done Hirumi!

ECO MVP

How to win….

It’s simple

 - Continue to bring your nude food lunches

 - Pick up rubbish around the classroom and school

 - Turn off lights and powerpoints that don’t need to be on

 - Turn off leaking taps

 - Dispose of rubbish appropriately.

Each week, a Scarecrow teacher or leader will visit one classroom (at random). They will select one student for the ECO MVP, and their photo will be taken for Assembly. The student will receive an amazing Banana Trophy and Plantable Pencil.

Congratulations to:

Class of the Week Awards -   PE class
Congratulations to: 3B

who were awarded ‘Class of the Week’ for their exemplary behaviour and effort in Physical Education.

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. 

Our Staff

This week interview Mr Lawrence who teacher Year 5A:

Notices

Vintage Uniform Shop next open:
Friday 15th of June from 8.30 - 9.15 in the gym

Running Club
8am every Thursday on top oval 8am

ICAS
Dear Parents/Guardians,  

We are delighted to inform you that we will be participating in the world-renowned ICAS competition again 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.   

Learn more about ICAS here.

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.

1. Read the terms and conditions here.

1. Go to Parent Portal to purchase tests here.

1. Enter our school’s access code –  IOQ829  

1. 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 Test Dates, Results and Certificates 

We will notify you when your child’s ICAS results are ready. You have until Monday 27th July to make an order. 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.  

Privacy Collection Statement  

The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure.  

Janison is aware of our responsibility to protect the identity of, and all information relating to, children, and students in general, from disclosure and consequently Janison does not:  

• collect any personal information or data of children other than as required for the purposes of completion of the assessment, test or exam;  
• transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in Australia to any jurisdiction outside of Australia other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;  
• transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in other international regions out of the child’s jurisdiction other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;  
• share any personal information or data relating to children or students with any third parties (other than a third party whose services are necessary for servicing our products, e.g. print/distribution companies, medal engraving, etc.) except with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian;  

• use any personal information or data relating to children or students for marketing purposes.  

Janison may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or
you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com.  

We are proud to offer ICAS and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year.  Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions or send me an email at james.feather@education.vic.gov.au.

Kind regards,  

James Feather
Year 4 Teacher & Learning Specialist

Assembly                     Fridays at 9.15am

Running Club               Thursday 8am - 8:40am 

Kitchen Volunteers!
We are looking for volunteers from our wonderful school community to help support the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program at Wattle Park Primary School. Working with  Children's Check required.

Year 3

Year 4

Weekend Chicken Volunteers!

Our Year Four students do an incredible job caring for our chickens at WPPS. However, they're not there to care for them on weekends so we're in need of some help.

Our SignUp is structured so that you are responsible for the chickens for a full day on the weekend, but this only requires one visit in the morning (at or before 9am) and one visit in the afternoon (between 3pm-5pm). 

Please click here to visit the volunteer SignUp page.

Click here to read more about what is required on your visit with our chooks! 

Have a great weekend!

Steve Donohue

Principal

Wattle Park Primary School

Thank you to the families that have so far returned the form. There are still 108 families outstanding.

We are requesting confirmation of parent/guardians’ occupations.  Like all government schools, parent occupations are directly linked to and determine the level of funding our school receives.

We ask that you return this form next week either to the classroom teacher or to the office. 

With thanks

School Office

2. Sushi Day

3. Wattle Park Primary School Sausage Sizzle

The Year 6 students are running a Whole School Sausage Sizzle on Thursday 25th of June 2026!
We are fundraising to support the SolarBuddy program, which aims to provide solar lights to children living in extreme energy poverty.

All students will receive their orders at lunchtime on Thursday 25th of June, 2026.

Please note, online ordering closes 8.00am Wednesday 24th of June.

To order go to:

https://events.humanitix.com/wattle-park-primary-school-sausage-sizzle-2026

Cash and Card welcome.

Next Opening Time

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).

Payment amounts for eligible family this year is $400 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.

Please return completed CSEF application forms to the office by Friday 26 June 2026

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

In order to keep our First Aid Room clean and tidy, we require volunteers to assist with this task. It is not time consuming and requires approximately 15 minutes of your time on a FRIDAY.

Please click on the link below to sign up.

Thank you for your time

https://signup.com/go/GZAwtYc

7. School Beanies


8. Digimaker


9. Chess Club

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