Newsletter 9 – Week 9, Term 3, 2021 – Message from Admin Team, Important Dates, The Fathering Project, Australian Mathematics Competition, Yr 6 Cake Stall & Sausage Sizzle, Canteen, P&C Cookbook, PP/Yr1 Athletics Carnival, Mark Lee Before School Soccer Term 4, Chess Term 4, Junior Cricket Blast, Triple P Free Program

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

It’s been another eventful week at Wembley, hasn’t it? The Pre-primary / Year 1 Athletics Carnival was a great success, held in wonderful weather. Thank you to our community for turning out in such great numbers to support our students having a go at team games and competing in some of their very first running races. I was so impressed with the resilience our youngest students displayed. We loved having our Kindy students included too. Thank you to Mr Bowman, Mrs Watson, all our K/PP/Year 1 staff and our parent volunteers who helped on the day, with special mention to Amy and Anna for helping out in the tent with the placegetters. There was a brilliant community atmosphere all morning.  Best of luck to the students participating in the upcoming Years 3 to 6  Interschool Athletics events and to all students performing in the Massed Choir Festival at the Perth Concert Hall on Thursday night.

Thank you so much for all the kind words and messages of congratulations last week following my appointment as principal. It was wonderful to feel the level of support from the community. As I said in my email, it really is a privilege to lead a school like Wembley. I look forward to continuing to partner with you in your child’s journey at the school.

Inquiry Learning Showcase: Our next community event is this Friday afternoon! In case you had missed that this was on, we do include all community events on the term overviews which get published on class blogs every term, school calendar and there was a ‘Save the Date’ in my section of the Term 3, Week 1 newsletter. It’s a busy term so I understand it can be difficult to stay abreast of all school events. There is some work going on in the background at a senior leadership level and through a School Board sub-committee to find workable solutions to communicating with the community.

We hope to make the showcase afternoon a very relaxed community event with the opportunity to spend an extended amount of time in the classroom and on school grounds with your child. There will be a selection of art on display in the undercover area, music performances on the big screen and make sure you head upstairs to the Science Lab to see the exhibition of science photography submitted for our recent Science Week competition. The Year 6s will also be fundraising for graduation with a cake stall and sausage sizzle. Hopefully the weather will be fine for families to enjoy a picnic on the oval.

You are also welcome to take a look at work produced by our two classrooms participating in the Creative Schools program this year. The ‘Casting Light’ exhibition is being presented in Room 15 and there will also be a secret door under the stairwell opposite the music room featuring some of their work. These Year 6s have been collaborating with artist Anne Gee as part of the Creative Schools program and have developed very imaginative multimedia stories of migration as part of their learning in History, English and Health. I won’t say any more so I don’t spoil the surprise!

Our Year 4s in Room 22 have also been working with an artist, Jodie Davidson, as part of the Creative Schools program. There will be a gallery of ‘humanimals’ on display on the grassed area parallel to Grantham St, close to the junior playground climbing frame. The Year 4s have been working very hard on their creations, showing great imagination, collaboration and persistence to develop these ‘humanimals’. This Creative Schools project has given students the opportunity to actively apply their biological science and design technologies knowledge and skills in a hands on approach by creating with a range of natural and found materials. We can’t wait to see their handiwork. Don’t miss the opportunity to take a look at these ‘humanimals’ in their ‘natural habitats’.

We hope you can join us. Don’t forget to book your spot using the link to the Student Online Booking System sent by email on Monday. Please ensure your children are supervised at all times after 3:10pm as there will be no teachers on duty. Students will not be able to be on school grounds without a parent or caregiver while the showcase is on and we ask that younger siblings are supervised around classroom displays and exhibitions as so much work has gone into these. Thank you for your support.

Teaching and Learning

R U OK? Day: Last Thursday, we had a great response to R U OK? Day with a sea of yellow amongst the students and staff to raise awareness of the importance of mental health and emotional wellbeing. Students in Room 25, Year 5 created conversation starters so they could explore ways they could ask R U OK? with their peers. I love the way these students approached this task and thought carefully about how would they talk to someone. Knowing how to start that conversation is often the hardest part, so well done to these students for talking it through and making a plan, and to Miss McClean for guiding the students in their thinking.

Year 3 Scitech Incursion: Our Year 3 students enjoyed a great day last week when Scitech visited the school. These students engaged in a range of activities to stimulate their curiosity and thinking in STEAM, collaborating and having lots of fun in the process.

Community Engagement

WPS Cookbook: This year is the school’s 85^th anniversary and the P&C are gathering recipes for inclusion in a special cook-book to commemorate the occasion. I have submitted one of my favourite recipes and we would love for as many members of the community as possible to submit a recipe. It will make a lovely keepsake for many years to come. If you go to www.PublishedAuthors.com.au then click on ’Submit Your Recipe Here’. Choose Wembley Primary School from the dropdown menu and away you go. The closing date is this Friday night.

Jersey St Pedestrian Crossing: Last week I included the survey link below in response to a community member making a proposal to the School Board to consider endorsing the Jersey St pedestrian and warden controlled crossing being moved from its current position near Ruislip St further up the road to the middle of the block, closer to Rutter Park or closer to the Kindy entrance.

Thank you to those people who have completed the survey. We have had 35 responses to the survey but in order to better understand the needs of the community, further responses are required on how many families use this crossing, where they originate from and whether there is support for the option of relocating the crossing. The Town of Cambridge require this step to be completed before any further consideration is given to the proposal. Please complete the survey here. This survey will be open until the end of Term 3.

Collaborate, Connect, Communicate.

Yours in learning

Executive Admin Team

Tamara, Alan, Rachel and Hannah