A warm welcome to our community

Whole School Camp - Lake Dewar Discovery Camp

Last week we had a sensational time at camp and I hope that you have managed to catch up with all of the activities from your children. We have posted a lot of photos and videos on Facebook so I hope you have had a look and also used it as a check in. I would especially like to thank all of the parents who volunteered their time to make this such a worthwhile activity. I am sure you can appreciate that this is a massive event to plan. Thanks to David Saville our camp coordinator and the staff who also attended.

The camp bush setting was incredible and very different from our previous camp. It offered a different range of opportunities and experiences for our students. The camp staff focussed on taking personal risks to stretch our comfort zone. It was impressive to see our students’ set goals and work towards achieving them. We also had the opportunity to have Milo, one of our Wellbeing Dogs to come along as well which was awesome.

NAPLAN RESULTS !!!!

I have to congratulate everyone on their incredible NAPLAN results! Weeden Heights is a high performing school that out performs all of our network schools, schools with similar profiles and of course the state results. This year our students have continued to perform extremely well in the strong and exceeding areas in each of the subject areas tested.

95% of the students in year 3 achieved strong or exceeding in Reading (83% in network schools)
89% of the students in year 5 achieved strong or exceeding in Reading (86% in networks schools)
100% of students in year 3 achieved strong or exceeding in Writing (89% in network schools)
92% of students in year 5 achieved strong or exceeding in Writing (84% in network schools)
95% of the students in year 3 achieved strong or exceeding in Numeracy (83% in network schools)
93% of the students in year 5 achieved strong or exceeding in Numeracy (87% in network schools)

This is so impressive and I am extremely proud of how our students focus on improving their own learning. Amazing and congratulations to all of our students. Go Weeden Heights PS!

Annual Department of Education Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

Yesterday, you would have received an invitation to complete the 2025 Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education. The survey is offered every year to all our families and aims to seek your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behavior, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

The Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey will be open online from Monday 18 August to Friday 19 September 2025.

The survey will be conducted online, only takes 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or smartphones.

Thank you to all of the parents who have completed the parent survey already. I really value your feedback and it does assist me to drive improvement at our wonderful school.

100 Days at School!

In week 2, just before our newsletter, our Preps achieved a significant milestone. Congratulations to our Prep students who have now been attending school for 100 days (111 today actually!!). That is a big achievement and definitely worth celebrating. The feature of the day was the preps and Mrs Michalski dressing up as if they were 100 years old. They celebrated with many special literacy and numeracy activities and with their buddies so well-done Preps! Parents should be immensely proud of these wonderful young people for what they have achieved so far in their schooling and how they have settled into Weeden Heights PS.

Book Week

Book Week is next week so it is time to start thinking of some great costumes for your children to wear in the parade that will be held at assembly on Monday. Your children will also have some definite ideas about what character they would like to be dressed as! I love how nearly everyone gets dressed up at Weeden Heights. We certainly enjoy our dress up days!

Reminder about Personal Items bought to School

The Department of Education (DE) does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools. Anything that students or staff choose to bring to school is at their own risk. Principals have been requested to remind students and parents/guardians of this and to discourage parents/students from bringing any unnecessary or particularly valuable items to school. Please try and avoid bringing these items as it can be most upsetting for all concerned if items go missing or are damaged.

Workforce Planning

Preparations for 2026 have already started. It is that time of the year when I begin to work out staffing and budgeting for the next year. I do need your support so that the leadership team and I can make the best decisions for the school.

If you intend leaving Weeden Heights and your children will be starting at another school next year, can you please let me know, in writing, so that we can make the necessary adjustments to our calculations. If you also have a pre-schooler starting school and you have not yet accepted the offer in the portal , then please do so asap so that they are considered in the plan. Please do not leave it to the last minute as it does have a profound effect on the proposed budget. Having accurate student enrolments is critical in establishing a sound budget.

Curriculum Day- Pupil Free Day

Monday was a Curriculum Day and teachers were at school completing professional learning about the Writing Traits. Writing traits are the basis for our approach to writing so this was day an excellent opportunity to sharpen our approach with the introduction of the new Victorian Curriculum 2.0. They day was extremely beneficial for all of the teaching staff.

Stay warm and well everyone!

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Scholastic Book Fair