Hello everyone,

We have many people who donate their time to WPPS in a variety of ways including our volunteers and the PFA who create myriad events to enrich our community.

This week we thank Drew Noakes for generously sharing his time, knowledge and passion for beekeeping with our Year 3 students.

Opportunities such as these bring learning to life and help students make meaningful connections between their classroom studies and the world around them. It is wonderful to see members of our parent community contributing their expertise and enriching our students' educational experiences.

Thank you, Drew, for inspiring our young learners and helping them develop a greater appreciation for these remarkable creatures.

2026.06.15 Year 3/4 Bee Incursion 

Felix in Year 5 enjoys fresh honey at home! His dad Drew keeps bees. We were lucky to have Drew Noakes come in to speak to us on Monday about his hobby and love of bees. We even had the chance to investigate a beehive frame, wax honeycomb and propolis!

We learnt that there are over 1600 species of bees in Australia and that the honey bee was introduced from Europe. Wasps and bees are closely related, but wasps are more likely to sting you. Take some friendly advice and leave the wasps alone!  Bees are curious and friendly creatures so let them be. They won’t harm you unless they feel threatened. If you do get stung, tell an adult because bees have a stinger which contains venom.

Beekeepers keep bee hives. They have special equipment to keep both themselves and their bees safe. Bees become familiar with their hive and always return to it.

The bee life cycle takes 21 days. The Queen bee oversees her bees and only needs to lay eggs. She has a very long body which is full of eggs. The female bees in the hive are called workers. The male bees are drones. There are far fewer drones than workers in the hive. Bees flap on hot days which is called fanning. This keeps their bodies cool.

Bees pollinate plants and provide us with honey and beeswax. It could take 6 bees their entire lifetime to make one teaspoon of honey!

Many thanks to Drew for coming in and teaching us all about bees!

By 3A and Ms Antonino

Our Students

2026.06.11 Year 5/6 Winter Gala Day

On Thursday, 11th of June, the Year Five and Six students went to Winter Gala Day. It was held over two different locations, Mahoney’s Reserve and Sportslink Vermont. We could choose from four sports including AFL Nines, Tee Ball, Netball, or Soccer. Our teams played against several different schools and had a great day. In our team, netball, we played 5 netball games and won 2 out of 4. Our best game was against Kerrimuir. In that game, we scored 14 to 1. We had so much fun, and we are sure everyone else did too. We also got to see what positions people were best at. It was a real highlight to be able to see our friends from other schools at the last Gala day. It was our final Gala day, so we made sure it was our best. In soccer, one of the teams tied twice, lost twice, and won once .The tee-ball teams had a few wins and a few losses but enjoyed a great day too. In Footy they won three games out of five. In conclusion we won some, we lost some but we all had fun.

Kara and Ayva  

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

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 -  Performing Arts

Congratulations to: 3A

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

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 Ms Julie Carlson who teaches 6A:

A big hello from me, Ms Carlson!

Most of you would know me as a Year 6 teacher, which is where you would have found me over the past few years! I love every minute with my amazing Year Sixes especially Suitcase Stories, Night of the Notables and of course camp. The grand finale ‘Graduation’ is also a very special time in Year 6 which is so exciting!

I am fortunate to have taught every other level -can you guess which year I haven’t tackled yet? Let me know!

Outside the classroom, I’m usually busy with my daughter’s basketball or footy. Otherwise, I’m entertaining my 16 year old white Maltshi and 5 year old black Pug, who are both very cheeky and curious pooches. I also love exploring Melbourne cafes with friends and family.

Notices

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.
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 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

3A     Annmaria Antonino & Dominic Monea - 3A Sign Up Page
3B     Monica Woodhouse - 3B Sign Up Page

Year 4

4A     Lauren Neilson - 4A Sign Up Page
4B     James Feather & Richard Abell - 4B Sign Up Page

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 74 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

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

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

5. School Beanies


6. Chess Club


7. Digimaker

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