Newsletter – Week 5, Term 2, 2022 – Message from Admin Team, School Development Day and Public Holiday, Kindy Busy Bee, Cross Country, Canteen, School Student Photos, Crazy Hair Day, Year 6 Fundraiser on Election Day, Cookbooks are Back, The Wembley Family Fun Day needs YOU!

Message from the Executive Administration Team

Dear parents and caregivers

It was fantastic to see the Year 6 students and families working together in the sunshine on Saturday while the school was a polling booth to fundraise for their camp and graduation activities. I came along with my daughter to support their efforts and indulge in some baked goodies and a democracy sausage. Delicious! Thank you to Cassie and the Year 6 P&C fundraising sub-committee for all their efforts in preparing for the day and to all the volunteers. It was a great success.

Staffing:

This week we welcomed Mrs Shona Gilfillan to the Wembley PS community. Mrs Gilfillan will be working alongside Mrs Thompson in Room 10, Year 1, working Monday-Wednesday. Mrs Jessica Ralph has commenced maternity leave a little earlier than planned. Her little one can’t wait to meet her it seems! Mrs Gilfillan is an experienced early childhood teacher and has achieved Level 3 Classroom Teacher status with the Department of Education, which recognises exemplary teachers through a rigorous assessment process.  Please make Mrs Gilfillan feel welcome as she settles into her new role.

The school continues to experience ongoing challenges in relation to staffing with many staff being impacted by COVID themselves or their own children becoming unwell. It’s a very difficult period of time for all sectors, including the school system, as COVID cases remain high in the community. We continue to do our best to meet these challenges and keep teaching and learning programs progressing with the least disruption as possible.

In light of the ongoing challenges, I will be moving this principal message to fortnightly from this week. The newsletter post will still go out weekly on Tuesdays with other messages, reminders and updates from the school, P&C and community. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Teaching and Learning

Year 1 Wildlife Incursion:

Last week, our Year 1 classes were lucky enough to have some furry, slimy and scaly visitors during their West Oz Wildlife incursion. The Year 1s are learning all about living things and their different habitats as part of Biological Science term. This close up encounter certainly brought the learning to life for our Year 1s!

Following the incursion, our Year 1s were able to use their experiences during creative writing and art, creating some wonderful poems and drawings. Well done to these clever students from Room 9 and 11.

 

Community Engagement

National Reconciliation Week and Sorry Day:

National Sorry Day is held on 26 May each year and is a day to acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generation Survivors and reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process for our people and nation. National Reconciliation Week (NRW), held between 27 May and 3 June each year is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As a school we do so through the goals in our developing Reconciliation Action Plan, Student Representative Council, School Board and Business Plan strategy for improvement of creating a ‘culturally responsive school, embedding the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework into teaching and learning programs’.

Our teachers will be exploring Reconciliation Week through developmentally appropriate ways during the week, sharing First Nations culture and histories through picture books, writing, science and more. We look forward to sharing some of these teaching and learning experiences with you in the next newsletter.

Assemblies:

As indicated earlier in the term, we begin resuming face-to-face assemblies today although in a modified format. Prior to the pandemic, we have always run whole school assemblies, with Year 1-6 students in attendance. Our new format will see Year 1-3 (Junior) and Year 4-6 (Senior) students rotating fortnightly. The Year 6 leaders will still run the assemblies on a rotation basis. Class items will be performed live as opposed to the video format we have been using in 2021 and last term.

Students will utilise the whole area and side doors will be lifted for ventilation. Students will be awarded merit certificates and any other special awards during the assembly. Parents are welcome to spectate at the rear of the undercover area, masks are encouraged. Today’s assembly is presented by Year 5/6, Room 14 and next week, Room 7 takes the stage. Please see the school calendar for when each classroom has their turn. Some classes have already presented prior to now, in the online format. We look forward to welcoming the community to assemblies again.

‘Collaborate, Connect, Communicate and Care’.

Yours in learning

The Senior Leadership Team

Tamara, Milani, Rachel, Stacey and Natalie