From the  Principal 

Diana Ellis

Dear Parents

We warmly welcome you to the 2025 school year and we look forward to engaging with our families throughout the year by providing regular opportunities for you to experience with your child/children.

We have enjoyed a very calm start to the new school year and I would like to personally take this opportunity to thank our staff for the preparation they did over the holidays in preparing their classrooms and programs. A great deal of pride has gone into making classrooms inviting and enjoyable learning spaces. In each room you will find a classroom library and resources to support literacy such as our anchor charts about what a good reader or writer looks like, whole school reading strategies, the alphabet, and word walls. You will also find our numeracy section with lots of hands on manipulative resources, number lines and number charts, clocks and calendars. In each class you will also find our school values, school wide behaviour expectations and our behaviour flowchart and our school wide maths strategies. On display you will also find our Indigenous acknowledgement and the Map of Indigenous tribes. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for assisting in preparing your child/children for school by supporting our Woodend Primary School Dress Code and implementing consistent routines for going to bed and getting ready for school, along with clear behaviour expectations. The willingness of people to read and follow communications about daily school life and our routines complements our efforts towards the smooth transition into school and the routines of school life. We look forward to working with you to support your child to have a happy, successful time at school.

Newsletters

Our WPS Newsletter will come out the first week of every term and then every second week. This is our main source of communication where all of the priority information will be communicated.

We also use COMPASS to send out news feeds about certain items of importance, however we strongly recommend you stay informed by reading the newsletters.

This year we have 16 classrooms 

Communication with staff

In this newsletter in our Business Manager’s information, the email addresses of all staff have been provided.

Whilst we absolutely encourage and promote timely communication, our expectation is that all emails and interactions will be respectful. We appreciate parents can be very protective of their children but please ensure you have as much information as possible (the facts) not just a response based on your child’s emotions.

As a matter of staff wellbeing, our staff have been advised not to read emails once they are at home at night with their family. Unfortunately, in most cases once children have gone home, we cannot resolve the issue until we are back at school and find out all of the necessary information from all parties. 

If you send an email at night we will endeavour to reply via email or phone, as soon as possible.

If we have any concerns about any incidents or issues that arise during the school day, your child’s class teacher will take the time to contact you.

Class Newsletters

Each term (around week 3), you will receive a class newsletter with information pertinent to your child’s year level. It will include things such as a daily timetable, specialist sessions, any upcoming events, home learning and class routines/expectations.

Appointments with teachers

If you need to organise a meeting with your child’s teacher regarding a concern, please be aware that our staff are required in meetings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 3.45 until 4.45.

If you need to meet with your class teacher please book a mutually convenient time, preferably during the day when teachers have some sessions of non-face to face teaching time. 

Please be mindful that staff are very busy before school each morning preparing for lessons and welcoming their students, so this is generally not a suitable time for meetings. 

School Leaders

At the last assembly for 2024 we announced our new student leaders for 2025 including our School Captains, House Captains, Environmental Leaders, Literacy and Numeracy Leaders and. In the next few weeks, we will also conduct class voting for the selection of Junior School Council. From Years 2 - 6 there will be 2 representatives from each class that meet regularly to discuss ideas for fundraising and school improvement projects.

GRIP Leadership Conference

Each year we take all of our student leaders into the city to attend the GRIP Leadership Conference. Our previous leaders have provided very positive feedback about the day and how it armed them with strategies to use in their leadership role. Further details will be provided in the near future to the leadership students and their families about the event.

Professional Learning for staff

On the first day of school our staff engaged in a full day of induction, and professional learning about phonics. Our staff reported the learning was very useful to helping build their understanding about the role of phonics in reading and writing.

Meet and Greet Interviews

In the coming weeks you will be sent information about our Meet and Greet interviews. This is an opportunity to meet your child’s teachers and share information about your child, as well as discussing your child’s learning goals for 2025.

Drop off and pick up

A gentle reminder to all as we reset our routines for the new year, that learning starts promptly at 9.00 each morning. Our classrooms are open from 8.45 each morning. We recommend that students are at school no later than 8.50. This gives children time to find their friends and for a quick play before the music starts to warn children it is time for class.

The roll will be marked promptly, immediately after 9.00 am. If your child misses the roll, they will be marked absent and you will receive a notification from the office. If your child arrives late at school, they must be signed in at the office by an adult. If your child is going to be absent, please ensure the office or your child’s teacher are made aware via COMPASS or a phone call. 

Parents on site

This week is our settling in week and we have had many parents on site to see their children settle into school. As of Monday, it is our expectation that once the music starts and students head to class, all parents make their way off site unless they are signed in and here for an organised event such as canteen or class helper.

If parents are on site and lingering in and around classrooms, that is a distraction to our students and impacts on their learning.

At the end of the day, we ask parents to meet their child/children at a designated, pre-arranged site at one of the gates around our school boundary. Parents will not be allowed to mingle in the corridors due to the safety issues if we were to have an emergency event. 

Canteen – HELP !!!!!!!

We are privileged at this school to be able to provide a canteen service, however we can only provide this service if we have the appropriate level of support. If we cannot get at least 2 volunteers a day, we simply will have no option but to implement the following actions-

• cap orders at a certain number by the end of business each day prior

• cut back the number of days we offer canteen

• cut the back the menu to a limited few options.

In a school the size of Woodend Primary we should be able to easily fill the request for volunteers. We are asking 3 hours of your time and it is a great way to meet other parents and also bring a huge sense of pride and a big smile on your child’s face when they see you in the canteen.

We would love you to sign up now.

Student friendships and conflict

We are all aware that in relationships there can be bumpy times – this includes mutual conflict between children in their friendship circles. If issues arise at school, we ask that you let school do the follow up, which generally includes contacting parents and restorative conferences with students. Please refrain from contacting other parents about these issues, unless it is an out of school issue.

School maintenance and gardens

During the holidays a number of maintenance works were completed around the school. Our memorial garden at the top of the school is continuing to take shape. We look forward to adding the park benches and dining pod this term.

Annual General Meeting for Parents and Friends and School Council

In March we will be having our Annual General Meetings for Parents and Friends and School Council.

The information and nomination forms will be sent out in the next newsletter.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Each year we are required by DET to put out the following statement regarding privacy.

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice.

The Department of Education (the department) values your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal and health information that schools collect.

All school staff must comply with Victorian privacy law and the Schools' privacy policy. This notice explains how the department, including Victorian government schools (schools), handles personal and health information. On occasion, specific consent will be sought for the collection and use of information, for example, for a student to receive a health service. Our schools are also required by legislation, such as the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, to collect some of this information.

Throughout this notice, 'staff' includes principals, teachers, student support service officers, youth workers, social workers, nurses and any other allied health practitioners, and all other employees, contractors, volunteers and service providers of the school and the department.

On enrolment, and during the ordinary course of a student's attendance at a school, schools will collect information about students and their families for the following purposes:

• educating students

• supporting students' social and emotional wellbeing, and health

• fulfilling legal obligations, including duty of care, anti-discrimination law and occupational health and safety law

• communicating and engaging with parents

• student administration

• school management

• supporting policy in relation to student education and wellbeing.

If this information is not collected, schools may be unable to provide optimal education or support to students or fulfil legal obligations.

For example, our schools rely on parents to provide health information about any medical condition or disability that their child has, medication their child may take while at school, any known allergies and contact details of their child's doctor. If parents do not provide all relevant health information, this may put their child's health at risk.

Our schools also require current, relevant information about all parents and carers so that schools can take account of safety concerns that affect their children. Parents should provide schools with copies of all current parenting plans and court orders about or that affect their children and provide updated copies when they change.

When parents enrol their child in primary school, they will be asked to provide personal and health information in several ways, including via the Enrolment Form, the School Entrance Health Questionnaire (SEHQ) and in some cases, the Early Childhood Intervention Service (ECIS).

The Enrolment form is used to collect information that is essential for the purposes listed above, and requests information such as:

• Emergency contacts – Individuals parents nominate for a school to contact during an emergency. Parents should ensure that their nominated emergency contact agrees to their contact details being provided to the school and that they understand their details may be disclosed by the department if lawful, e.g. in the case of emergency communications relating to bush fires or floods.

• Student background information – Information about country of birth, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, language spoken at home and parent occupation. This information enables the department to allocate appropriate resources to schools. The department also uses this information to plan for future educational needs in Victoria and shares some information with the Commonwealth government to monitor, plan and allocate resources.

• Immunisation status – This assists schools to manage health risks and legal obligations. The department may also provide this information to the Department of Health and Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to assess immunisation rates in Victoria, but not in a way which identifies students.

• Visa status – This is required to process a student's enrolment.

All schools may use departmental systems and online tools such as apps and other software to effectively collect and manage information about students and families for the purposes listed above.

When schools use these online tools, they take steps to ensure that student information is secure. If parents or carers have any concerns about the use of these online tools, please contact the school.

School staff will only share student and family information with other school staff who need to know to enable them to educate or support the student as described above. Information will only be shared outside the school (and outside the department) as required or authorised by law, including where sharing is required to meet duty of care, anti-discrimination, occupational health and safety, and child wellbeing and safety obligations. The information collected will not be disclosed beyond the school and department without parent consent unless such disclosure is lawful.

When a student transfers to another school (including Catholic, independent and interstate), personal and/or health information about that student may be transferred to the next school. Transferring this information is in the best interests of the student and assists the next school to provide the best possible education and support to the student. For further detail about how and what level of information is provided to the next school, refer to the: Enrolment: Student transfers between schools.

Schools only provide school reports and ordinary school communications to students, parents, carers or others who have a legal right to that information. Requests for access to other student information or by others must be made by lodging a Freedom of Information (FOI) application.

To update student or family information, parents should contact their school.

For more information about how schools and the department collect and manage personal and health information, or how to access personal and health information held by a school about you or your child, refer to the Schools' privacy policy.

https://www.vic.gov.au/schools-privacy-policy-information-parents

Principal

Diana Ellis