Dear Parents/Carers,

The last few weeks have been jam packed with a range of events occurring across the school, especially for our Grade 5/6s. The students made the trek through the Black Spur up to Alexandra for their camp from Monday to Wednesday. It was a real highlight for me to spend some time up at camp and see our students challenge themselves through various activities that tested their resilience, teamwork and patience. The teachers also took the opportunity to challenge themselves on activities such as the high ropes course and giant swing. Thank you to Mrs Hume, Ms Tia, Mrs Keating, Ms Gelb, Ms Deng, Mrs Majdan and our helpers Casey, Natalie, Christine and Emily for the support they gave to all students. Our Grade 5/6s had a normal day back at school before competing in our District Interschool sports competition across Basketball, Softball, Volleyball and Tennis. We wish them best of luck on their second day of competition on Wednesday 18th September.

NAPLAN Roadshow

Last Friday Mrs Terranzani and myself attended the Department of Education NAPLAN Roadshow which supports schools in greater understanding their NAPLAN data. As previously mentioned we were extremely proud of some of our results for our students in the higher bands (Strong and Exceeding). During this day we also looked at our results in supporting students which highlighted some impressive results in comparison to similar schools. The lower percentages below indicate the number of students who achieved a result of Needs Additional Support. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our intervention programs and the work of our teaching teams in identifying students requiring support and putting in place measures to support their growth!

Bunnings BBQ - Seedlings Saturday and Warekila Sunday

Thank you to our parents at Seedlings and Warekila Kindergartens for hosting their Bunnings BBQs on Saturday and Sunday. I hear that both days were well supported with the money raised going towards supporting the kinders in upgrading their equipment. Thank you also to Michelle and Cheryl who came along to assist.

Planning for 2025 – Are you leaving Whitehorse?

We ask that you let us know if you are moving or have enrolled to another school in 2025. We require this information as soon as possible to establish classroom structures for the start of the new school year. If your child is currently in F-5 and will not be at Whitehorse PS in 2025, please notify the school office or email Andrew.denelzen@education.vic.gov.au as soon as possible.

ICAS

Over the last few weeks our Grade 2-6 students have been involved in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS). ICAS is a well-known academic competition that has seen participation by over 10 million school students from 16,000 schools across 41 countries since 1981. It celebrates academic performance in a way similar to sports or the arts, with engaging, fun questions designed to test students’ higher-order thinking skills. Every student who participated will receive a printed certificate and an online results report available now. Well done to all those who participated and to big thanks to Mrs Keating for organising ICAS and to the staff who supported Mrs Keating to administer the assessments throughout the term.

Over the next few weeks students will receive their certificates for their achievements.

Congratulations to the following students who received a Distinction (top 10% in Australia) or High Distinction (top 1%) in their ICAS results:

English

Derek Z - High Distinction

Maths

Noah W - Distinction

Derek Z - Distinction

Callum T - Distinction

Joshua W - Distinction

Science

Rahul S - Distinction

Joshua W - High Distinction

Spelling

Noah W - Distinction

Derek Z - Distinction

Ethan Z - Distinction

School Attendance

Each term, our School Leadership team reviews whole school attendance data and processes to support students attending school. This term there has been a trend of an increase of students arriving late to school or students missing periods of school due to extended family holidays. A reminder that any family planning an extended holiday is required to provide written communication to the school via email prior to their holiday.

For all students, regular attendance at school is crucial to student performance. We do not want sick children sent to school but it is in each child’s best interest that they attend school regularly. If your child is absent please inform the school as to the reason as soon as possible. This should be done through Compass. There are a number of aspects that relate to absences – late arrivals, early leavers as well as a day absence.

We encourage all students to be on time for school and would ask that parents support us, by ensuring children are well aware of morning routines in the home and are prepared ahead of time to facilitate a prompt arrival at school.

It is also important that students are on time each day as any late arrival means that your child has missed out on vital instructional time. For the teacher and the remainder of the class it causes disruption and a break in concentration. The teacher is required then to go back over instructions already discussed. It is also giving your child the wrong message as it is saying that it is OK not to arrive on time.

We ask all families to reinforce the importance of attending school every day with your child and help them develop a positive attitude towards learning. Where there are difficulties in students getting to school on time or attending school due to illness or other reasons, open communication with your child’s teacher will ensure that we can put in place the supports to ensure students are attending school regularly.

School Saving Bonus

In Term 4, 2024, families with a child enrolled in a government school from Prep to Year 12 in 2025 will receive the one-off $400 School Saving Bonus.

The $400 School Saving Bonus provides families with support for education-related costs, such as school activities and/or school uniforms and textbooks.

The School Saving Bonus is not available for full-fee international students, home schooled students, TAFE students and students attending kindergarten in 2025.

Actions for parents and carers

Before 18 October 2024, the Department of Education is asking parents and carers to:

We need to ensure your contact information is up to date as the Department of Education will email you twice:

in October, to verify your email address
in November, with your $400 School Saving Bonus.

Please check your junk mail regularly to make sure you do not miss an important email.

To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, download the School Saving Bonus Information sheet for government school parents and carers or visit vic.gov.au/school-saving-bonus.

Kind regards,

Andrew Den Elzen

Whitehorse Whisperer

We actively support the development of the whole child by delivering life-long learning skills including relevant academic, social and emotional skills.

Issue 10 · 11 Sep 2024

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