Newsletter 2 – Week 2, Term 2, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Cross Country Training, 2022 Kindy Applications, Library, Canteen, P&C Quiz Night Postponed, CSHS P&C Community Art Exhibition, Wembley Playgroup Open Day

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

We had a very smooth start this morning as we eased out of lockdown and into the staged restrictions as set out by the State Government. We were all very thankful that schooling could continue this week with no disruption to teaching and learning programs.

Thank you for following the guidelines and avoiding congregating on school grounds. Please continue to physical distance this week and wear masks at all times. A further restriction not included in yesterday’s communications is that parent spectators are not permitted for extra-curricular sports this week. This includes soccer, cross-country training, tennis and basketball. These before and after school sports can still go ahead but parents will need to drop off and collect at the finish times rather than watch.

Hopefully these restrictions will be short-lived and we can continue to enjoy the relative freedom we have here in comparison to the rest of the world. Our thoughts are with those families with relatives in countries who are experiencing surges in COVID-19 infections right now, such as India.

 

Learning Environment

This term, the whole school inquiry thread is, ‘Where we live and how it works’ which focuses on the Physical World. Classrooms have started diving into this concept for the ‘Tuning In’ stage of the Inquiry process. Inquiry is an approach that includes metacognitive strategies which teach students to think about their own thinking and dive deeper into learning. A recognised high impact strategy, we have invested significant time and resources into this approach to ensure we focus on students’ ability to think critically and creatively.

By this Friday afternoon, a term overview will be posted to classroom blogs. The term overviews give you information about the concepts and topics being explored in all learning areas at school. I encourage you to look at this so you are informed about the learning process this term, allowing you to have conversations at home and continue to strengthen the home-school connection.

 

Leadership

On the school website, you will find candidate information for all six parents who have nominated to become a representative on the school board due to vacancies http://www.wembleyps.wa.edu.au/our-school/school-board/. I thank the parents who nominated for their commitment to supporting the school.

An email to the online election survey and your unique voting code was sent to all parent/guardian contacts in our system last week. If you do not have an email address registered with the school, please contact our administration and we can provide you with the survey’s online location and a unique voting code or, alternatively, a paper form.

The election will close this Thursday 29 April at 4pm. You are encouraged to vote. Successful candidates will be notified directly by Monday 3 May once election scrutineering has taken place. The next Board meeting takes place next Tuesday 4 May at 5:45pm.

Community Engagement

Last Friday morning we held the school ANZAC service on the school basketball court. We are so grateful that we were able to commemorate and connect as a school community before the restrictions came into place.

It was a very moving service, starting with a Welcome to Country by Aboriginal Elder and relative of the Jackson family, Ken Hayward. Stories were shared by Mr Alan Downes, sub-warden of the Highgate sub-branch of the RSL WA, Christine Tonkin MLA, Member for Churchlands and Donna Snow as her last community engagement at Wembley PS for Term 2. Our Year 6 students also spoke, sharing creative writing inspired by studying the history of conflicts in the past.

A very special thank you to Billy B, ex-Wembley PS alumni and current Year 7 student at Perth Modern School, for playing The Last Post and Reveille during the service. After the service was cancelled due to COVID-19 last year, I know Billy was very disappointed he didn’t get to play. We were very happy to invite him back to his old school to commemorate with the community.

Performances by the senior choir and soloists were simply beautiful and I know I certainly felt a wave of goosebumps as they sang. A huge congratulations and thank you must go to Ms Kate Goyder who spent weeks preparing students for the performance and teaching the whole school the song, Shackleton. I’m sure you will agree that it was a powerful moment when all students rose to sing the chorus of the song as a school in unison. Well done to Head Girl, Juliet, and Head Boy, Lachlan, for their outstanding job hosting the event, their first major community event at the school in their roles. We thank them for their leadership and poise. What a beautiful way to honour those who have and continue to serve our country.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Melinda