Principal  Message

C CAMP 2025 - Mt Eliza

I went down to camp yesterday and there were some very excited students as they moved through the outdoor activities in their groups.  The groups attended their activities in rotations which included damper cooking, flying fox, tree rolling, giant swing and bike riding. In-between activities the children enjoyed free time in their cabins and playing outdoors on the tennis court, gaga pit, ping pong table or just sitting in the rec hall. There was a huge amount of food on offer, and they ate well (really well). The groups rotated kitchen duty, and it was nice to see multi-age going so strong. I was incredibly proud of the students as they worked as a team. 

Thank you to the parent helpers on the camp as it was incredibly helpful to have them supervise and support the wellbeing of the students. I also want to acknowledge the dedication of our staff. They are on duty 24/7 and get very little sleep and no breaks at all from the time they get on the bus to the time getting off.  There are always needs that have to be addressed on the spot and ahead of time.  Resources are stretched thin with 100 students, but their commitment to your children's safety and wellbeing is to be applauded. 

Literacy program at WPS

You may be aware there has been a literacy drive going on over the last couple of weeks. The Prep 2025 families approached me asking if they could do more to support our Little Learners Love Literacy program after learning that the new program costs are significant in a small school. The high cost of resources has meant we don't have all the physical resources and we're relying on photocopying and online books with the program. We harnessed the parents enthusiasm and set up a Gofundraise page for the prep families to contribute if they wanted to. We raised just under $5000 in 24 hours and I can't begin to tell you how excited Nerole was to be able to purchase the resources for our early year's students.  After we reached the $5000 milestone we opened the fundraising page to our grade 1 and 2 families to extend the reach. Any funds raised beyond $5000 are being allocated to this team, who are equally happy to be able to grow their reader selection and small group books. Nerole has been able to purchase the necessary books to get them to end of Prep and the Grade 1/2 team are purchasing small group reading books, readers and non fiction LLLL resources. Of course, we will continue to grow our resources and next years budget will have money allocated to help with this. 

I have heard there is some misinformation around where Preps should be by the end of the year in the Little Learners program. It used to be that by the end of Prep they would have worked up to Level 4. However, this is no longer the case. The feedback the program got from teachers was they were not challenging the student enough and the level 4 was too easy. Therefore, they reworked their entire scope and sequence and the expected level for end of Prep is Level 7.1. Nerole has been able to buy resources to take them to this. 

I also campaigned to our regional office behind the scenes for resources as the new phonics program is mandated by the Victorian Government. As a small school to replace years' worth of reader and resources with the new program is hindered by the sheer cost of these books and teaching resources, which have increased in price significantly since the mandate.  The North East Region responded by giving us just over $2000. This means the grade 1 and 2's now have over $2000 to spend so all our junior school will benefit.

Some parents have asked why doesn't the school have money for books. The short answer is budgets are always tight in a school of this size. Our budgets are based on enrolments. Prep enrolments bring in the most money and that figures drops each year until grade 6 student receive almost half that of preps. 80% of this budget goes on staffing and is never given in cash, but rather credit towards staff salaries. The remaining 20% is given in termly cash grants to help run the school, maintain the buildings and grounds, pay utilities, buy resources and we must cover any incidental issues that arise (ie leaking roofs, blocked toilets). We try very hard to be thrifty put aside enough money, and I see our teachers always looking for ways to give our students the best with very little. 

I can also announce that we received a grant from the regional office (which is funded separately from the Cental office) to develop and build voice and agency in our school program. We had $12000 to spend by the mid-June. This was largely used to fund professional learning leadership courses. Rick, Greg and Chris are all undertaking a project-based curriculum leadership or aspiring leadership course which runs over 3 months. The grant covers the cost and replacement of relief teachers. We also funded our Podcasting equipment and recording equipment as well as surveying our level 3 and 4 students about the types of books they would like to engage in their literacy circles. This is expensive as we need to buy 6 of each title they want. I am pleased to say though we used the last of this grant to offer them a choice of books and deliver to them by the end of term 2.  When we receive grants, we are required to acquit them and so they must be spent on the terms and scope of the application/grant.  Being able to get in $2000 worth of literacy circle books via this grant was a great win for the middle year's students. 

I want to thank all parents not only for their financial support through their donations, but the amazing support you offer our school community and your commitment to your children's education. There is a nice relationship between staff and parents at WPS, which I believe is growing stronger each year. 

Future Grant applications

We never stop finding ways to fund things and improvements so there are a couple of projects that we have or will be applying for in the near future. 

Lions Prep interior upgrade

This was a small upgrade, but has made a huge difference to the look and feel of the Prep space. Slowly we have been able to remove clutter and open the space up. The space is a little fresher looking and flooring in the foyer is clean. This was funded by the Lions Club of Warrandyte and topped up by $5000 out of our FOWPS.

Bendigo Bank Grant - 2025 application

After discussions with the school council we are going to apply for a grant with Bendigo Bank Warrandyte this month. The grant will be for the resurfacing of the front entrance to the school and around the side of the stone building. The proposed works will improve the health and wellbeing of our students based on research in a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2021, Volume 18, Issue 8, Article 4334.)  This study found that access to well-designed, safe playgrounds increases levels of physical activity, improves mood, and reduces stress and anxiety in children aged 5 to 12. 

Our current outdoor surfaces, particularly in high-use play and activity zones, have significantly deteriorated due to age, weather exposure, and regular use. Large sections of bitumen are cracked, uneven, and pose an increasing safety risk—particularly during high-energy playtimes, where multiple trips and falls take place. These surfaces no longer fit for purpose and are contributing to avoidable injuries, reduced physical activity, and limited inclusive play. 

Promoting active, healthy lifestyles by providing safe, engaging, and inclusive outdoor spaces that encourage daily physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour. Supporting social and emotional wellbeing by offering outdoor areas that foster cooperative play, creativity, resilience, and positive peer interactions.  The image below is the proposed outcome for our schools main entrance.

Toilet Area Make Over

We are offering our students a chance to tell us what they would like done to help improve the toilet facilities, which we can all agree look very dark and old. We will allocate $5000 of FOWPS fundraising to provide a much needed makeover. Claire has already begun talks with our Junior School Council who were shown some options of what we could do to spruce the toilets up. The ideas range from a full colourful paint job, motivational blurbs and murals, new basins and fitting and potentially new doors. WE certainly are all keen to get rid of the rusty bars at the entrance. We will launch full steam ahead next term as we head into the warmer weather.  The JSC will take the ideas and ask their classmates for feedback. We can't wait to see what the students come up with. They are usually much better and being creative than the adults. My hope is that by engaging in this project, the students who consistently mistreat the toilets area, might respect the space a little more. I go back to my earlier comments on budgets. Every time we have to call a plumber to unblock toilets that have been blocked with rolls of toilet paper and other items, it is less money for other more important resources. 

I hope you all have a great break. It's been a long term with many families being struck by winter flu. See you next term.

Stay safe,

Nieta