Newsletter 11 – Week 11, Term 2, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Interschool Cross Country, ICAS Assessment, Canteen, Loose Parts Donations,Homeless Connect Donations, Crazy Hair Day Total, School Mobile Dental Van, Book Week Costume Sale

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

COVID-19: Last week, my message to you was about the relaxation of restrictions and today we enter a new lockdown. How quickly things can change in this pandemic. As we enter the four-day lockdown period today, we are thankful that schools have been allowed to stay open and students can finish the learning programs as planned. As the community emails have stated, we are open for learning for all students this week. We respect that some families may choose to keep their children home; the Premier has indicated you have that choice this week. We ask that you keep us informed of your child’s reason for absence through the SMS attendance system.

School Leadership: I have been asked by the Director of Education, North Metropolitan Region to continue as Principal in Term 3. I have accepted the position and look forward to continuing to lead Wembley Primary School next term. Congratulations to Donna Snow who has had her tenure as Collegiate Principal extended.

I wanted to thank you all for your support and encouragement in my first term as principal. I feel very privileged to lead this school and am solely focused on ensuring that as a school we provide our kids with the opportunities that they deserve, so that every child has the chance to shine and grow. That effort is a collaborative one, involving every member of staff and every parent and carer. Thank you for continuing to support us as we embed the Wembley CARES values and work towards our vision, ‘To foster a culture of curiosity and innovation, empowering our students to be caring, courageous members of our community.’ I look forward to another great term at Wembley.

Interschool Cross Country: Last Wednesday, our driven and motivated cross country team competed against nine other schools in the City Beach PS Invitational Cross Country event. Our team made us very proud on the day, showing incredible grit, resilience and talent in their respective races. I am very proud to announce that Wembley PS came 1^st for the tenth year in a row – what an achievement!

Extra special congratulations must go to those who placed on the podium:

Leo V – 2^nd, Year 3 Boys

Mitchell P –  2^nd, Year 5 Boys

Sansa T –  1^st, Year 5 Girls

Uma Carr – 3^rd, Year 6 Girls

Thank you to our physical education specialist teachers Mr Jon Bowman and Mrs Kathy Watson for the work that went into preparing our team for the event, with many early morning running training sessions and organisation. Thanks also to our parent helpers for the training, faction event and interschool event – we couldn’t do it without you.

Teaching and Learning

Mathematics: Lighthouse Maths is a program that develops the capability of primary teachers as leaders in inquiry maths approaches, with a focus on the use of problem solving and reasoning techniques to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of maths through challenging tasks. Through workshops, coaching and networking sessions with peers; it aims to empower primary educators with a tool kit to enhance their teaching practice and improve student engagement and achievement in maths.

Room 5 with Miss Ryan and Room 25 with Miss McClean have been lucky enough to be involved in this program so far this year. Year 2 students are captured in these photos participating in the process. These teachers will be sharing their practice with more staff in the months to come. Next term Lighthouse Maths will be facilitating some parent workshops after school to share how parents can help their students at home with maths. Stay tuned for dates!

NAIDOC Week: This week across the school, the spotlight is on the 2021 theme, ‘Heal Country!’.

Across the school, students are being immersed in First Nations cultures and histories. The theme calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect and maintain all aspects of First Nations cultures and heritage. Thank you to Mrs Jordan for the wonderful organisation of quality literature in the NAIDOC display in the School Library.

We would love our families to join us in extending these conversations into next week, the official commencement of NAIDOC Week is this Sunday. Think about the following:

• Who are the traditional owners of Country where our school and homes are located?
• What does it mean to care for Country, what does it mean to be a caretaker?
• Why do we need to care for Country?
• How can you care for Country?
• How are we connected to Country?

Country is always spelled with a capital C, as the meaning of Country is more than just ownership or connection to land.

 

Leadership

Student Representative Council: Over the past few weeks, led by Senior Teacher Hannah Cox, our Year 6 prefects and Head Boy and Head Girl have been coordinating the process for our very first Student Representative Council (SRC). The SRC will represent the student body and give a voice to all students in relation to matters that affect them including policy development, new initiatives and health and wellbeing.

Students self-nominated and then once the top three candidates from each class were decided by their peers and teachers, students in Years 3-6 gave a short speech to the Year 6 leaders. Today, the final few are presenting including our Head Girl, Juliet via WebEx! Well done to these students for having the courage and commitment to put themselves forward as a student representative. We look forward to seeing who will be part of the first SRC.

 

Thank you to Ms Cox who has worked with our student leaders to develop this model and oversee the process. Student agency through authentic leadership opportunities is a key focus area for the school in our current business plan and the SRC will allow us to hear the voices of a greater cross-section of the student population for positive and collaborative change.

 

Community Engagement

The Fathering Project: Recently, one of the dads in the community approached the school about launching The Fathering Project at Wembley PS. The Fathering Project is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to improve child development outcomes by inspiring and equipping fathers and father-figures to effectively engage with their kids. Founded in 2013 by Professor Bruce Robinson in Western Australia, the program is now running in hundreds of schools across Australia

The Fathering Project supports the needs of dads and father-figures to engage with their children through Dads Groups. The Dads Groups meet as dads only to enable fathers and father-figures to connect and also through organised dads and kids events.

We would like you to ‘save the date’ for Tuesday 27 July at 7pm which will be the launch event at a location to be confirmed. Should there be sufficient interest for the launch we can then move forward with setting up the Wembley chapter. Early next term, an RSVP link will be distributed and we encourage fathers and father-figures to come along and find out what it’s all about. Thank you to Ehsan Karaji for initiating this community engagement project.

On behalf of all staff, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday break. I know it is much needed after this extra-long term. Tomorrow, parents and carers will receive the Semester 1 report which will be a great way to reflect on the progress and achievements of our students. Let’s hope these restrictions lift so we can all enjoy a little more freedom on the holidays.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Melinda