Newsletter 10 – Week 10, Term 3, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Important Dates/Information, MS Readathon, Canteen, Cake Stall/Sausage Sizzle, Canteen/Volunteering Survey, Fathering Project, P&C Cookbook Recipe Requests, School Dental Mobile/Dental Screening, Redhage Basketball Term 4, Tennis Academy Holiday Clinic and Term 4 Program, Integrated Cricket for Children with ASD or Disability Diagnosis

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

What a magic afternoon we enjoyed together last Friday for our 2^nd annual Inquiry Learning Showcase! The weather was lovely, the school became an art gallery in the undercover area, library, stairwells and through the gardens and the classrooms were buzzing with families connecting with their children. It was wonderful to see our students articulating their learning and sharing their thinking with pride. Thank you to our Year 6 parents, teachers and students for making the cake stall and sausage sizzle a huge success and to the community for their support. It raised a significant amount of funds for the Year 6 graduation events and created a brilliant community atmosphere. We hope you enjoyed the opportunity to visit your child’s classroom. Our staff put in many hours of work to make the afternoon a great success, so please join me in thanking our teachers and EAs for their commitment to your children’s education. We would love to hear your thoughts, please take a moment to share your feedback on the event here:

Inquiry Showcase Parent Feedback

Grassed Quadrangle: We are currently giving the grassed quadrangle near the Year 1-3 classrooms a few weeks rest from foot traffic to help it recover from the long winter of rain and lack of sun. The area has been treated with fertiliser and will be cored tomorrow. The Year 1 students have a flagged off area on the school oval to run and play ball games. This has been working very well and the students have responded to this new arrangement responsibly. Year 2-6 students already have access to the oval at break times and have been very respectful of the designated Year 1 area which is supervised by the oval duty teacher.

Massed Choir Festival: Congratulations to our senior choir who performed in the Massed Choir Festival last Thursday night. If you’re not familiar with the Massed Choir Festival concept, it involves school choirs joining together to form one ‘massed choir’, singing a number of different songs, including commissioned compositions. Wembley PS performed at the Perth Concert Hall alongside several hundred other students from a range of public primary schools across Perth. Year 6 student Adlyne S, excelled in her role as co-compere on the night, and Year 6 student Georgia N was simply outstanding as a soloist. I was lucky enough to be in prime seating alongside Mr Ramsey and Mr Bowman for the event and we were all blow away. Congratulations to Massed Choir Festival Director, our very own Mary-Anne Goyder, on her work leading this impressive festival which spans nine nights and involves thousands of primary school children. To Miss Kate Goyder, thank you again for the preparation and practice that went into this event. I know it was a late night for parents and kids but it isn’t every day you get to sing on the Perth Concert Hall stage. These types of experiences last a lifetime, so thank you parents for driving your kids to choir on all those early mornings and valuing music in your child’s education.

Gary Scott’s Retirement Assembly: This Friday afternoon, we will be holding a farewell assembly for our beloved Mr Gary Scott, who is retiring from teaching after 29 years at Wembley PS and a total of 35 years with the Department of Education. Our Year 3-6 students will be at the assembly as will current and past staff and Mr Scott’s family and friends. We would love for the community to join us at 1:50pm in the undercover area for the event, particularly if your child has been taught by Mr Scott over the years. Gary has made an enormous impact on our school community and will be missed. It would be wonderful for parents and caregivers to come and show their appreciation as we farewell Gary into retirement.

Community Engagement

Tuning into Kids: Our first group of parents graduated from their five-week program last week! Congratulations to our first participants. The program, facilitated by Penrhos College school psychologist Tracy Hart, gave parents the language and knowledge to navigate tantrums, common worries, friendship issues, upsets and big emotions by strengthening connections and helping to build their child’s ability to self-soothe and independently solve problems. All parents I spoke to were overwhelming in their praise of the program and talked about the positive impact it was having with family dynamics.

The first workshop series was for parents of 5-8 years old and our next workshop series will be for 9-12 year-olds or ‘pre-teens’ in Term 4. This workshop series is now fully subscribed but we will collate a waiting list for future workshop series due to demand. Please register your interest for future Tuning into Kids workshops here. Tracy will be in contact with those who have registered to attend the Term 4 series. Tracy is a trained Tuning into Kids facilitator through the University of Melbourne.

Lighthouse Maths Family Afternoon: Yesterday afternoon, we invited families from Year 2 and Year 5 to engage in a family afternoon of mathematical thinking problem solving. Miss Ryan in Room 5, Year 2, and Miss McClean in Room 25, Year 5 have been engaging in a year-long coaching program with Sci-tech called Lighthouse Maths. The professional learning supports teachers to develop powerful strategies to promote a deeper understanding of maths through discussion, problem-solving and reasoning. By participating in programs such as these, our teachers are exposed to new ways of approaching traditional subject areas for the benefit of our students. Miss Ryan and Miss McClean will then be able to upskill their colleagues and lead professional learning for staff with their new skills and knowledge. We hope the families who attended had a great afternoon testing their brainpower together!  Try solving the most challenging puzzle presented at the event. Answers (with your name and room number) are due to Mrs Cusack by Friday 24 September 2021.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Hannah