Newsletter 4 – Week 4, Term 2, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, School Song, P&C Meeting Tonight, Kindergarten 2022, Pre-primary 2022, Canteen, Book Club, State Cross Country Yrs 3-6, Celebrating Success

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

What a relief it has been to ditch the masks this week and welcome parents and caregivers back onto communal verandahs and into classrooms as parent volunteers! A wonderful result for the State that we have avoided any further ongoing restrictions that significantly impact schooling. I thank you again for your support over the past few weeks as we have contended with an ever changing landscape.

Our Year 3 and 5 students had a very smooth start to NAPLAN testing today with no technical issues or problems encountered. While I’m sure there were a few nerves, all students gave their very best and approached the testing with great courage and resilience. Great to see our students drawing on their CARES values, and thank you parents and caregivers for your help over the next two weeks with getting your children to school on time, rested and charged up with lots of healthy food to keep energy levels high.

Learning Environment

In this digital world, our students are growing up in an environment far different to the one many of us, as staff and parents, grew up in. The challenges faced by both students and therefore parents and caregivers can be complex. As a school, our aim is to be proactive in our approach to cyber safety education to keep students safe online and provide students with the knowledge and skills needed at the developmentally appropriate time. We use a number of resources to teach children about cyber safety including the eSafety Commissioner website, which also has a great section for parents: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents. I would also recommend the Beacon app, developed by Telethon Kids Institute for a trusted and reliable source of information.

This year, we have partnered with ySafe again, a leading company who offer cyber safety education to schools across Australia. On Friday, our Year 6 students attended an interactive and engaging session with two presenters from ySafe which was relevant to their age group and the issues they may face such as navigating digital messages between peers. Our Year 5 students are scheduled to have a similar session in Week 6 to complement the work being done by teachers in this space.

I am also pleased to confirm that a parent session hosted by ySafe will be held at Wembley PS in the coming weeks. Please save the date – Tuesday June 1 at 6:30pm in the school undercover area. A registration link is being created by ySafe and will be available for parents to reserve their place soon. Access to ySafe’s Cyber Safety Hub will also be made available for parents following the event.

Community Engagement

An aim of the School Board is to keep the community informed about school policies that are reviewed and endorsed through discussion and consultation at the Board level. All school policies are periodically reviewed according to a set schedule to ensure that school operations and procedures are clear and effective.

In 2019, a significant body of work was undertaken around community engagement and school culture by a School Board sub-committee in partnership with the staff, Board and parent focus groups. A number of these policies will be reviewed throughout the course of 2021. At the School Board meeting held on 30 March, 2021 there were two policies, ‘Talking With My School’ and ‘Complaints Management’, re-endorsed and I would like to draw your attention to their location on the Policies page on the school website: http://www.wembleyps.wa.edu.au/policies/. Currently, the ‘Good Standing Policy’ is under review and the community engagement board sub-committee is considering changes to make the process clearer for students, teachers and parents.

I would also like to celebrate the very positive external Public School Review Report that is now available on the school website. As you would be aware, every 3-5 years, all Independent Public Schools undertake this rigorous process of school self-assessment and review. The report reflects the commitment of our senior leadership team and staff in partnership with our community through the School Board and P&C into making WPS an engaging learning environment that focuses on the whole child through academic, social and emotional learning. The recommendations made by the reviewers were self-nominated by the school as areas we wish to continue seeking to improve on and strengthen, as set out in our Business Plan. Work has already commenced on many of these this Term. I encourage you to read the report, located here on the school website.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Melinda