Principal's Message

Dear Families

Reminder:  School finishes at 2.30pm on Friday (June 28) following a whole of school assembly.  Please arrange for the earlier collection of your child at this time.  School resumes for term three at 8.35am on Monday, July 15. 

School events

There is a lot going on in this last week of term – our year ones have been on an excursion to the Werribee Zoo and a very excited group of foundation students headed off to Animal Land.  Students in years 3- 6 also had their Athletics Sports on Monday and Tuesday of this week.  A big thank you to the staff for their organisation of these events for our students – this gives children an experience to look forward to, enhances their understandings, and makes school fun! Photos of these events can be found later in the newsletter. 

Student reports

Student reports were released to families earlier this week.  Parent teacher interviews to discuss the content of these are planned for week two of term three.  The opportunity to book an interview with your child’s class teacher was released on COMPASS on Monday.  Please also note that the frequency at which you receive your son or daughter’s report is about to change.  

Up until now Wyndham Vale Primary School has released student reports every term.  However, after a review of our processes we are going to move that to a semester report (i.e. term two and four only) from this report and moving forward.  This is due to the fact that the Victorian curriculum is changing.  Maths in particular will now be assessed as one strand, instead of the numerous ones (for example, measurement and geometry, number and algebra, statistics and probability).  This means that the class will not have covered enough of the curriculum content to facilitate a report each term.  We believe that a move to a semester report will, therefore, result in more accurate information to be shared with parents.  Note that the scales for homework, punctuality and home reading will also be adjusted to accommodate this new schedule – with a higher number of nights needed to achieve an ‘excellent’ standard.   Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.  

Cookie Dough

With the arrival of cookie dough yesterday, families now have at least one fun activity to do on the holidays.

Thank you to everyone who supported this fundraiser as organised by the parents and friends’ group.  Your support raised over $2,000 for the school. 

Review of child safety practices

WVPS is committed to ensuring a child safe environment for all students.  We regularly review our school policies and this year we have had been fortunate to have support from the Department of Education’s compliance team as part of our 4-yearly school review process. 

We value the input of our school community and welcome any feedback or queries in relation to child safety related matters, policies and procedures. Please contact the office on 8754 0888 if you wish to discuss any of this further. Our policies are available on our school website - https://www.wyndhamvaleps.vic.edu.au/policies

Thank-you

As I reflect on what is my last newsletter for a period of time I am filled with a degree of melancholy, but also pride, as the school has come a long way since opening its doors on the last day of January 2015, to a very excited 151 students.  I can hardly remember what it is like having 151 students in foundation, let alone the whole school!  

There has been many challenges along the way, but many wins too:  obviously watching children learn and grow into the best they can be has been very rewarding, but so too has been shaping the careers of the numerous staff members that have joined the team throughout the years.  This has encompassed a number that have gone on to become leaders in both our own and other schools, following their time as a classroom teacher with us, inclusive of five assistant principals and two Principals, as well as several leading teachers.   This has certainly been a part of the WVPS legacy!

Together with the support of the school council we have grown the school in numbers and resources, developed, refined and implemented curriculum, investigated approaches to wellbeing – the list is endless.  We have navigated the challenges of a two-year pandemic and the lockdowns that went along with it, and even managed to gather a few laughs along the way.  To say it has all been easy would not be an honest reflection, but I can truly say that decision making, even when we have got it wrong, has always been made with what we believed to be the best interests of people involved considered – even if at times you did not agree with us! 

Thank you to the school council for their interest and support around school life.  It is an important body in relation to school operation and a great support to any Principal.  Thank you to each of the members for the role they have played in my journey at WVPS. I acknowledge too the tireless and often unseen work of our parents and friends group who continue to work towards improvements at WVPS.  We do appreciate your efforts.    

A big thank you too to the staff of our wonderful school.  Your commitment to the best experience for the children of WVPS is fabulous, and your interest in continually improving your practice means that we are forever developing the skills of the students who attend here.  To our families I would thank you for your regular greetings in the yard, and your never-ending support.  Keep talking to the school – as I indicated earlier, you may not always agree with school decisions, and sometimes factors of which you are not aware can influence an outcome, but if we don’t hear from you, we are not able to follow through.  

I am confident that the newly appointed Acting Principal, Chris Johns,  will also have the best interests of the school in mind, and you will see new and different progress.  In the meantime, I will be filling my days with coffee shops and grandchildren and enjoying a period of rest.  A decision about what to do next will need to be made by mid-term four, as I am keeping my options open at the moment – I’ll keep you informed. 

Sue Seneviratne

Principal