Newsletter 6 – Week 6, Term 3, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Book Week Parade, Athletics Carnival, Canteen, Uniform, School Photos, Mr Scott’s Retirement, MS Readathon, Junior Choir, Father’s Day Stall, CSHS 2022 Yr 7 Information Night and Orientation Day, Mark Lee Football Holiday Clinic

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

I thank you for turning out in such great numbers to support our annual Book Week parade on Monday morning. I absolutely loved starting my week as Cruella, although I probably could have been a little more in character! I’m not sure Cruella is known for smiling but it was too much fun to pretend to be cross! My staff of 101 Dalmations and other creative costumes were also outstanding, adding to the enjoyment of the day. Parents and students outdid themselves once again with the array of outfits. Well done to all those parents and caregivers who helped put reading in the spotlight with a focus on characters in favourite stories. We can’t forget Mrs Jordan and Mrs Devenish in the library and our Year 6 Library Captains for all their hard work organising the event. Thank you, it was a fabulous morning.

Year 2-6 Faction Athletics Carnival: We are full steam ahead for our next community event, the Year 2-6 faction athletics carnival this Thursday. Although there are still showers forecast that may pass through, the outlook is better than last week and we will have marquees set up to pause for any heavy rain. Please ensure your child has a rain jacket packed and that sunscreen is applied before school as there are likely to be periods of sunny weather. We will also have sunscreen available at the event for children to re-apply as needed. We look forward to a great day focused on participation and teamwork with our CARES values expected to be on full display. Thank you to all those parents who are helping with running the carnival. Mr Bowman and Mrs Watson, we couldn’t do it without you.

One Big Voice: Congratulations to our junior choir and Miss Kate Goyder who performed at the One Big Voice event last week. One of Australia’s largest children’s choir events, this was a fantastic opportunity for our students to perform alongside students from other schools, an experience I’m sure they will remember for a long time. Well done to Miss Goyder who conducted on the day and spent hours preparing the choir for the event. We are so lucky to have such talented and dedicated staff who make opportunities like this happen.

Home Learning Preparedness: Over the next week, you will see a QR code uploaded to your child’s Seesaw profile. This is your child’s home learning code that will need to used with the Seesaw class app, in the event of school disruption due to the pandemic. It should not be used at the moment but has been uploaded so that you have access should you have lost the paper code sent home earlier this term. Parents and caregivers should continue to use the Seesaw family app to view and comment on uploads from your children in the meantime. If you have any questions, please ask your child’s teacher.

Teaching and Learning

National Science Week: What a fantastic few days we had, with so many activities throughout the week. Many thanks to Mrs Sue Webber, our Science specialist, the whole Year 3 teaching team and Mrs Stacey for their help in making it happen. Dr Webber from the CSIRO was a very entertaining speaker on Wednesday and we also had lunchtime coding, cooking and experiments happening across the week, in class and before school. In the photo below, Year 3s were doing an experiment during Science Week while exploring states of matter and discovering that Ooblek isn’t a liquid or a solid but a non-Newtonian fluid that can change its properties when you apply pressure to it.

We also congratulate all students who entered the science photography competition. Well done to all the school winners who were announced during Science Week. There were 1^st , 2^nd and 3^rd place-getters for all year levels who did an amazing job seeing science all around them. Our winners will be on display during the showcase afternoon scheduled for Friday afternoon, Week 9.

The place-getters were all submitted to the Interschool Science Photography Competition and we had a number of successful students in the interschool competition too! Congratulations to the following budding scientists:

3^rd place, Year 3 – Jasmin S

2^nd place, Year 4 – Tom L

2^nd place, Year 5 – Oscar H

Leadership

Senior Leadership Team: In Term 2, Dr Melinda Harris joined us as deputy principal when I stepped into the principal role following Donna Snow’s appointment to a system leadership position. We so appreciated the ability of Dr Harris to step into the school at short notice and contribute to our leadership team. Dr Harris’ skills are in high demand as she has just accepted a short term acting principal role for the remainder of this term at another school. We thank Melinda for all her hard work over the past term and a half and wish her every success in this new appointment.

Miss Hannah Cox, Year 6 teacher, School Board member and Senior Teacher, who has engaged in 18 months of professional learning in the Churchlands Regional Schools Network’s Aspirant School Leader Program, will be stepping into the role from Wednesday-Friday for the remainder of the term. I congratulate Hannah on her appointment and thank Mrs Renae Small, her existing tandem teacher, who will increase her hours to enable Hannah to step into leadership.

Community Engagement

Cambridge Rotary Public Speaking Competition: For the fourth year in a row, Wembley has competed in the Cambridge Rotary Public Speaking. It is a fantastic evening with two students from five schools speaking on their passions, raising environmental and social issues important to them. Last Wednesday, Oliver P and Juliet K represented our school superbly and spoke exceptionally. Oliver came 2nd with his speech on The Men’s Shed. He will now speak at the district rotary final in September.

After a rigorous audition process during lunchtimes in Week 4, with 15 Year 5 and 6 students trying out, Miss Smith and Miss Cox narrowed it down to a top five before four other teachers helped select Oliver and Juliet. We thank the students that auditioned and the courage they showed presenting their speeches. Miss Cox thanks the teachers who helped her with the audition process.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Melinda