Newsletter 5 – Week 5, Term 4, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, ICAS Celebrating Students Success, School Dates 2022, P&C General Meeting Tonight, Rm 21 Maths, Book Club, Morning Running Club, Uniform Shop, Canteen, Kids Carnival & Christmas Markets

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

We have reached the mid-point of the final term of the year and we are on the home stretch to summer holidays and the culmination of a year of learning. There are many events over the next few weeks including orientations and transitions in our early childhood years, Year 5 astronomy night, surfing in Year 6 and in-term swimming for our Pre-primary – Year 3 students. In addition, we have junior and senior talent quests, excursions, the annual All Stars Concert, 2022 Student Leadership assembly and of course, our Year 6 graduation events. It’s an exciting time of the year and although busy, these are all events we look forward to as staff and of course, our students are also buzzing with the events that are coming up. We look forward to welcoming you to these events and a positive and happy end to the school year.

Teaching and Learning

Data Responsive Teaching:

As described earlier in the term, our teachers have been engaged in professional learning to build capabilities in data literacy to inform teaching and learning programs. Deputy principals Rachel Cusack and Alan Ramsey have been working with teachers to strengthen knowledge in analysing the data sets and platforms available to them and develop plans that target specific student needs. Being data-informed is essential to student progress and achievement.

Through collaboration in Professional Learning Communities at each year level, teachers have analysed the results of student achievement data and identified specific concepts in key learning areas that require further explicit teaching, both at the cohort level and in small groups of students who have similar needs. Teachers are engaging students in daily warm-ups, which are short, sharp sessions focused on helping address gaps in student learning based on the data. All year levels have been highly collaborative throughout this process which is best practice in teaching. Teachers are constantly responding to data throughout the year, however our student development days have assisted us to fine-tune this process and work towards a connected, whole-school approach to data-informed teaching.

In these photos, a Year 1 class is working on a daily warm-up in mathematics with explicit teaching and revision from the teacher and guided practice by the students.

Community Engagement

Sun Smart Policy:

As we approach the summer months and the importance of sun protection moves to the front of our minds, it is timely that we are in the final stages of drafting our first Sun Smart Policy. The policy is a joint project between physical education teacher Kathy Watson and parents Suzie Turner and Lisa Oliver. Suzie initially presented to the School Board on the rationale for developing the policy earlier in the year which was supported by the Board and, following a collaborative process, we are now working through a revised draft version with input from various stakeholders. I wish to thank Suzie, Lisa and Kathy for their work so far. Protecting both students and staff from UV rays is very important and ongoing sun safety education for students, staff and the community will be a focus in the coming months. I personally found the table below, which is included in the policy, really informative. You can now find a UV widget on the home page of the Wembley PS website when you scroll down, should you ever wish to quickly check the UV rating.

The months of the year the UV is likely to reach high (orange), very high (red) or extreme (purple) in the middle of the day.

Connect, Collaborate, Communicate

Yours in learning

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Kerry