Hello Everyone!

Having been away for a variety of reasons lately it’s good to be back with our vital and dynamic students. 

I’d like to thank Emma Tan, our Assistant Principal, who flawlessly carried on with the myriad tasks that are required with the everyday running of a school and our teachers and ES staff who, as always, approached, evaluated and resolved a variety of matters with their customary, rhythm, grace and strategic thinking.

Mobile phones and various other devices of communication capability.

In the interests of keeping our school community updated, the Department of Education and Training’s mobile phone at school policy states:

‘Students who choose to bring mobile phones to school must have them switched off and securely stored during school hours.’ 

‘Mobile phones owned by students are brought to school at the owner’s risk.’

This policy is for all state schools and you can read it HERE on our website.

Our students are well aware of this and are generally very responsible. They are also aware we confiscate phones that are used during school time and only give them back at the end of the day. 

However, 

This policy was updated on 22nd of April to include a definition that acknowledges the progression of technology to include wearable devices like Apple watches etc.

‘For the purpose of this policy, a mobile phone is a telephone with access to a cellular (telecommunication) system, with or without a physical connection to a network.’

All schools deal with a variety of court orders which very often involve directions regarding who is allowed to pick a student up, where from and at what time. Schools are notified of changes to these orders and operate accordingly ensuring, as much as possible, all students remain safe. This safety mechanism is severely jeopardised by taking the schools monitoring system out of this loop and the school not knowing where a student is supposed to be.

For these safety reasons all communication between students and people off site must be done via the school office. The office staff are happy to communicate any essential messages from concerned parents or guardians. 

For educational reasons students cannot be interrupted during school hours by devices diverting their attention from class. 

In acknowledgement of the above the following is also included in the policy: 

‘... if they are brought to school, students must switch off all notifications during the school day.’

So please everyone, send all messages via the office staff, make sure your child’s notifications are turned off during the day if they wear a comms device. Call Joy or Jo if you need to change a plan. The office ladies love having a chat on the phone!

 District Cross Country

On Monday the 30th May 20 WPPS students ran in the Division Cross Country held at Ruffey Park Lake. These students were asked to attend because of their prior achievements in the District Cross country held on the 25th of May.  Congratulations to all students who attended:

Year 6:

Matilda VW, Mae P, Charlotte A, Tiana B, Henry C, Alice M, Tom P, Scarlett S, Dion T and Cleo T

Year 5:

Lila S, Emily B, Darcy A, Nathan K, Riley E and Patrick B

Year 4:

Ethan W, Lachlan C, Tier M and James C

Special Mention to those who achieved particularly highly:

James C 6th in the 9/10 boys

Lachlan C 9th 9/10 boys

Charlotte A 11th 12/13 girls

Tiana B 10th 12/13 girls

Henry C 1st 12/13 boys

The above place getters will progress to  the Eastern Metropolitan Primary Regional Cross Country to be held on Tues 14th June at Yarra Glen Racecourse in Yarra Glen. 

A big thank you to our Nic Lindsay, our Physical Education teacher, for his organisation of the day. Also, many thanks to all the staff and parent volunteers who helped out in so many different ways. A special mention to Sally Curlewis, Caroline Van West who transported multiple students to the venue.

Canteen

A message from our hardworking Canteen Manager, Charlotte Stilve

Hi there, 

It's been lovely getting to know the school community and the wonderful volunteers who help in the canteen every week over the past months.  Thank you for making me feel so welcome.

From time to time, we need to adjust our processes to help us continue to serve all students well. As an example, order errors (eg. incorrect dates or wrong food selections) can lead to tricky conversations and upset students. No one wants these outcomes and I understand these order mistakes are not intentional. 

Change from Monday 6 June

Where students that have not received their lunch order due to an incorrectly placed order, they will be offered either a vegemite or cheese sandwich. 

Helpful tips for successful lunch orders via Flexischools

1. Check the date of your order is correct.
2. Once you "Confirm Order" please also complete the next step of "Place Order"
3. To avoid order errors, consider checking your child's order or complete it yourself. 

For further information including a "how to order" video and FAQs, visit the Flexischools website: https://community.flexischools.com.au/s/

Have a great day!

Charlotte

COMPASS PAY - 2022 Parent Voluntary Contribution Reminder

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 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 their voluntary contributions so far.

Building & Library Funds are Tax Deductible and can be included in this current Financial Year if payment is received before 30/6/2022.

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.

Be on the lookout for a Compass alert early next week.

Details on how to use this can be found HERE as a list of instructions or HERE as an instructional video.

Premier’s’ Reading Challenge

A reminder that the ‘2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge’ opened on March 15th. The Challenge encourages children to read a number of books over the year and to log their reading efforts online. This year’s Challenge ends 2nd September, 2022. All successful participants will receive a certificate at assembly later in the year. Parents/carers, please speak to your child’s teacher if you need your child’s login details.

Teacher Professional Practice Day - Friday 10th June

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, a whole school Professional Practice day has been mandated for term 2 by Deputy Secretary of Education, David Howes.

School Council has approved Friday 10th June.

Please note that this will be a student-free day and therefore students will not attend school this day.

To assist families, TeamKids will operate. Please contact TeamKids directly to make bookings. Tel: 1300 035 000

WPPS has scheduled the common Professional Practice Day for teachers on Friday 10th June. Please note that this will be a student-free day and therefore students will not attend school this day. To assist families, TeamKids will operate. Please contact TeamKids directly to make bookings. 

Working Bee

On Sunday 5th of June from 11-1pm,  we have scheduled a mammoth Working Bee at WPPS to do the things listed below HERE. 

If you see something on the list you’d like to take care of prior to this date,  please email steven.donohue@education.vic.gov.au or emma.tan@education.vic.gov.au Please email all other inquiries to either Email Michael Hunt or Emily Beard at: pfawattleparkps@gmail.com.

COVID 19

Students and staff who are household contacts of a COVID case are not required to quarantine. They may return to school as long as they undertake rapid antigen tests 5 times during their 7-day period. They are required to notify the school that they are household contact. Students aged 8 years and above who are household contacts are required to wear face masks when indoors at school unless they have a valid exemption. 

COVID positive results must be reported to school by phone or written notification and remain in 7-day isolation. 

More information about the management of COVID 19 at WPPS can be found HERE. 

Early Arrivals 

Just a reminder to all families that our school grounds are not supervised before 8.45am. Please ensure that your child does not come to school prior to 8.45am to ensure their safety. We ask that you please utilise our Before and After School Care service through TeamKids if required.

Events

Please check the calendar on the school website regularly to keep up to date with what’s happening across the school.

Go HERE for event details on our website’s calendar.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Steve Donohue

Principal

Great BBQ weather last Sunday for our Bunnings Box Hill Fundraiser.

This year we were quite fortunate to keep expenditure down based on the number of very generous donations received from local businesses keen to support our school, Bread Street Bakery Mont Albert, Ashburton Meats,  Coles and Woolworths with gift cards, and Bunnings with extra sausages, bread and napkins from the MND fundraiser the previous day.

We raised a wonderful $1570!

With that being said special too - Kate Simos for her tireless efforts in seeking donations from various local businesses and supermarkets. Also to our BBQ captains Stephen Lew and Tom Rosewarne who assisted in the lead up as well as getting the BBQ site organised on the day with coordination of volunteers, overseeing the BBQ operation and abiding by bunnings BBQ processes. And to Haley Evans a new parent to the school who arranged all the Shopping for the day.

Thank you to the numerous parent crew members, George Looker, Jack Clark, Lucy Farmer, Ben Wyhatt, Richard George, Jonathon & Haley Evens, Jason Gay, Brad Cahill, Alex Butt & Jason Agars

A big thank you also to the event organiser Aiesha Grey on behalf of the PFA team for another great event

Stay tuned for more social events and fundraising coming up in term three.

Anthony Hall
PFA President 2022

on behalf of the Committee & School

Wattle Park Primary School

M: 0409 806 478 E: pfawattleparkps@gmail.com
wattleparkps.vic.edu.au

1. Student Free Day Friday, 10th June

Student Free Day 10^th June for ‘Teachers' Professional Practice Day’ for Term 2, 2022

3. 2022 Parent Contributions

Please remember that donations to the WPPS Building and Library Funds are Tax Deductable.

If you have missed the opportunity to contribute to 2022 Parent Contributions, it’s not too late.

Student Curriculum Contributions $300 providing all student classroom and curriculum supplies

Library Fund (Tax Deductable) providing library and IT resources

Building Fund (Tax Deductable)  providing classroom/buildings upgrades

Ground Maintenance providing regular lawn and grounds maintenance

Financial assistance

Current Health Care Card holders are able to apply for CSEF – Camps Sport & Excursion Funds - $125 per student

Please note applications close on the 24^th JUNE 2022

Please don’t hesitate to contact the office if you require assistance.

If you have missed the opportunity to contribute to our Parent Contributions, it's not too late! You will receive information via COMPASS next week. 

4. Canteen News

1. Thank you to parents who are using the Flexi School app for ordering lunch orders.
   Please be mindful of the following when ordering:

• Date - please check you have ordered for the correct date
• Have you received confirmation email?
• Please supervise if your child/ren are ordering lunch

1. Canteen is always looking for volunteers to help.....12pm - 1.30pm on Friday.  Please register via            https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/827030846186224028/false?popup=true#/invitation

5. Second Hand Uniform Shop - Gymnasium

• Monday, 20th June, Items for sale range between $2-$5

6. School Council Dates for 2022

Tuesday, 21st June, 7pm
Tuesday, 26th July, 7pm
Tuesday, 23rd August, 7pm
Tuesday, 18th October, 7pm
Tuesday, 13th December, 7pm

7. Student Free Day

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.

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