A Message from Vassie 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Wurundjeri, Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung/Boonurung Peoples of the Kulin Nation and pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within our school community. 

Welcome to week 8 of term 4. It is hard to believe that we've reached the second last fortnightly newsletter of the 2024 school year. 

In the past fortnight we have had year 6 urban camp, 2025 prep transition, recycling week, book fair and Theircare's biggest lunch time. 

The Theircare planned fun lunch time activities for all students to enjoy with craft, sports and games on Thursday 21 November. 

Thank you to Sam Pistun and Eileen who have arranged the book fair. Students can purchase items during recess, lunch or after school in the BER building. See the Sentral email sent last week for more information. 

We are looking forward to the Lacrosse finals, Hooptime finals, prep family gathering (Wednesday 4th December 5-6:30pm), the year 6 graduation and various WPA events, and many end of year events!

Students will meet their 2025 teachers and class during the whole school step up day on Tuesday 10th December!

2025 STUDENT NUMBERS

It's that time of year when the leadership team are working through 2025 planning, class structures and recruitment processes. We would appreciate parents notifying the school if your child/ren will not be returning to Wembley Primary School in 2025, as soon as possible.

Please contact the school office on 9314 7054, or alternatively on wembley.ps@education.vic.gov.au to inform us if your child/ren will not be returning to Wembley PS.

WPA Fundraising Events!

Please see information for the sausage sizzle, zooper dooper day, Christmas raffle and Christmas gift guide. Thank you to Linh and the WPA for organising therse events!

2025 STAFFING UPDATE

We would like to congratulate our current staff members who have sought positions and promotions in other schools, and/or are taking leave for 2025. 

In alphabetical order of first name…

Farewell, and congratulations to:

• Avery Francis-Avery will be taking leave without pay to move back to Canada for the 2025 year. 
• Georgia Phillips-Georgia will return to the first few weeks of Term One, 2025, and will then take maternity leave to welcome her baby girl. Georgia will return to Wembley PS in Term Four, and will share the DI LT role with Zarah for Term Four. Georgia will then continue in the substantive DI LT role from 2026. 
• Joshua Bramham-who was successful in picking up a teaching position at St Albans Secondary College. 
• Kim Cleghorn-who will be taking leave in Term One, and will return in Term Two.
• Laura Gardiner-will be taking maternity leave to welcome her second child. Laura will return for a few weeks in term one. 
• Nathan Welsh-who will be taking leave without pay, and working as a CRT in 2025. 
• Vanessa Hancock-who will be taking leave without pay to study in 2025. 
• Vassie-who will be taking long service leave for Term One and Term Two. 

Welcome back to:

• Brad Morin-who is returning to us from North Melbourne Primary School. 
• Gina Tan-who is returning from maternity and family leave.  

Congratulations to:

• Zarah Moloney in being appointed to the Acting Disability Inclusion Leading Teacher 0.6 for the 2025 school year. Zarah will be taking Intervention 0.4. Zarah will be shadowing Georgia Phillips in DI for the remainder of the year, and supporting the executive leadership team for the remainder of the year, as Phoebe Moore is Acting AP at Burnside PS. As such, RTI will conclude for the year as of this week. 
• Simon Zammit in being appointed to the Mental Health and Wellbeing role 0.6 for the 2025 school year. Simon will be in a classroom 0.4.We would like to welcome the staff members new to the Wembley PS family, whom we will introduce when they attend the handover PLC meeting later this term. You will see their names in the workforce plan. Welcome to you!  

Welcome and congratulations to:

• Dale Heterick- comes to us from Kew Primary School, and lives locally. 
• Jacqui Anderson- comes to us from a teaching role in New Zealand and is moving into a property locally. 
• Jordan Nelson- comes to us from Manor Lakes College, and lives locally.
• Kate Townsend- comes to us from Epping Views Primary School, and is working part time since returning from family leave. Occupation Therapist as well as teacher. 

We will share the full staffing list in our next newsletter. 

WHOOPING COUGH

We write it inform you that we have had four cases of whooping cough reported. The children have not attended school, and will return to school following the incubation period and/or once they are feeling well. We wish these students all the best in their recovery. 

Please see the below information from the Department of Education, and the Department of Health:

Whooping cough is a serious and very contagious respiratory infection. It should be diagnosed by a doctor and treated immediately to lessen the risk of a serious illness and stop the spread to others.

The health and safety of our school community is paramount, and we aim to protect all of us at [Primary School] and ensure that students can return to school as soon as they are well. Please monitor your child for symptoms of whooping cough.

Symptoms of whooping cough include a blocked or runny nose, tiredness, mild fever and severe bouts of coughing, which are often followed by a 'whooping' sound on breathing.

If you child becomes unwell, please see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

Students diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend school

To reduce the spread of infection and protect others within the school community, students who are diagnosed with whooping cough must not attend our school for 21 days after their cough was first present, or until they have taken a full course of antibiotics prescribed by a doctor (usually a 5-day course). This exclusion is required by the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 - School exclusion table for primary schools and children's services.

If your child is diagnosed with whooping cough, please contact the school to let us know.

Contacts of students diagnosed with whooping cough

To further reduce the spread of infection to your child and the school community, the Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 require that some students who were in the same classroom as a student diagnosed with whooping cough should not attend school.

Your child should not attend school for 14 days after they were last exposed to a person diagnosed with whooping cough, or until they have 5 days of a course of antibiotic treatment if they are:

• aged less than 7 years; and
• not fully vaccinated with 3 doses of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine.
• This 14-day exclusion timeframe includes weekends.
• The school will contact you directly if this applies to your family.

I understand that this will be a significant inconvenience for you and your child. I hope we can work together to protect the whole school community by following the recommended advice.

Unwell students

As is our usual procedure, we will contact parents/carers to collect their child if they become unwell at school.

If your child develops a cough or you are concerned about their health, please see a doctor. Please keep your child at home while they are unwell. We encourage all students to practice good hand hygiene, cover their cough and dispose of tissues in a bin.

More information

For more information about whooping cough, see: Whooping cough - Better Health Channel.

Vaccination is the most important preventive measure against whooping cough as it reduces the risk of infection and severe illness. It is recommended to stay up to date with immunisations, including booster doses. If you are unsure about your child's vaccination status for whooping cough, please discuss with an immunisation provider, such as your doctor.

We thank our community for working in partnership with us to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our community. 

School Saving Bonus

Parent and carer School Saving Bonus code distribution . 

The Victorian Government is delivering the School Saving Bonus – a one-off $400 support for government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.

From Tuesday 26 November 2024, you will receive an email from the Department of Education with your unique $400 School Saving Bonus code.

The School Saving Bonus will help families cover the cost of uniforms, textbooks, excursions, activities and more.

If you have multiple children enrolled in Victorian government schools for 2025, you will receive one School Saving Bonus code email per child. These emails might arrive on different days. Please make sure to check your spam/junk email folder.

Parents and carers can use the School Saving Bonus code in store at school-nominated suppliers. Parents and carers can also choose to access the School Saving Bonus online system, where they can allocate part or all the $400 bonus to use at school nominated-online suppliers or for school activities.  To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, visit School Saving Bonus | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au). A step-by-step user guide will be available on the webpage on 26 November.  

If you have not received your School Saving Bonus code via email by Friday 29 November, please contact the Department of Education by emailing school.saving.bonus@education.vic.gov.au 

2025 Acting Principal Role Advertisement

I did share this in our last newsletter but thought it would be helpful to share it once again in the event that parents didn't have a chance to read the past newsletter. 

As we are in the process of workforce planning and staffing for 2025, I wish to inform you that I have decided that I will be taking long service leave for terms one and two of the 2025 school year. 

By way of background, my family and I were planning to travel overseas for an extended holiday during term three and into term four of this year, however given the ongoing building project delays and Wembley PS work commitments, we chose to put this trip on hold, and now plan to travel in early 2025. 

As many community members will understand, these decisions are never made lightly, however I trust that a suitable replacement will be appointed. 

As such, an Acting Principal role has been advertised across the South West Victorian Region. Regional staff have formed a panel and will fill the Acting Principal vacancy. The community will be informed of the outcome later this term. 

Capital Building Works Update

The second stage of the building works are underway with the landscape design coming to fruition. Stage 1B of the landscape design including reinstatement of the athletics track, garden beds, vegetation, brick pavers, a fence, and synthetic turf for extended play spaces are happening-see below. This is due to be completed by December 20, 2024. As such, one of the classrooms on the ground floor will be used as a site office for term four, and will not be accessible or visible internally from students.

The concrete has been poured. 

The final stage of asbestos removal is likely to occur over the next two Saturdays. The VSBA will confirm this with us and I will send out a VBSA letter notifying community, once it is confirmed.

The brick pavers are arriving in the next fortnight and will be installed in early December. Thank you to the families that purchased a brick. 

The year 6 students chose leaves to imprint as botanical stencils into an area of concrete. As the year 6 students wont be able to enjoy the full benefit of the new building project landscape design as it due to be completed on the final day of the 2024 school year, they were invited to choose a leaf to imprint into a passage of concrete. 

CYBER SAFETY - Alannah and Madeline Foundation e-safety Digital Licence

An empowering 7News story has run this week to promote the 'launch' of the Alannah and Madeline Foundations new eSmart Digital Licence for lower primary program. It featured some of the video content the Alannah and Madeline Foundation captured with some of the Wembley students from earlier this year. Thank you to the families for consenting to this. thank yuo to one of our parents Simone Redman Jones, who is media and communications manager at the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, for inviting us to participate in the campaign.

See below I have attached a clip of the news story and included a link to the 7News Instagram post below (in case you also wanted to share it on socials). 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBtHIyrxbKX/?igsh=d3Nkb3czZWJrOTR6

Also the information about the eSmart program, including the latest program roll out can be found here. 

Student acknowledgements