A Message from Vassie
Vassie Vatsilas-D'Arcangelo - Principal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Wurundjeri, Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation and pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. Aboriginal people have a deep and continuous connection to the place now called Victoria. Aboriginal people have lived in the Maribyrnong River valley for over 40,000 years.
Welcome to Week Four of Term Three. We have had a great start to term three, with 3-6 school and district Athletics Day, Girls Football Competition, year 3 camp to Phillip Island, Prep 100 days of school, 2025 prep enrolment being offered, parent/caregiver/guardian survey opening, brick paver orders coming in and closing, Bogan Bingo Parent fundraising event, and significant progress in the capital works building project.
In the next fortnight, we have:
-Girls regional soccer tomorrow-Thursday 7 August
-Prep-Year 2 Mini Olympics-Friday 16 August (see info below)
-Year 5 UPP incursion-Friday 16 August
-Book Week in week 6 Monday 19-23 August, with a BOOK WEEK PARADE on Friday 23 August. (see info below)
Remaining Pupil Free Day - Monday 4 November
As previously shared, please note we have one final pupil free day on Monday 4 November which will be a Report Writing Day.
TheirCare will be operating on the pupil free days to provide care for students, if required by families. Bookings can be made by directly contacting TheirCare on wembley@theircare.com.au, ph: 1300 072 410.
Capital Building Works Project-Term Four Move in Date!
We have a revised handover date which is Thursday 5 September! Year 4 classes, Rachel's year 5 class, specialist teachers and our office staff will be decanting and moving into the new building throughout the final 3 weeks of term. Over the holiday break demolition will begin, and at such time the TheirCare Holiday program will be relocating to another school. We were only informed yesterday so Theircare is securing another school site for the holiday program and will contact families to confirm information.
On Monday we had the NBN and Vicsmart router relocation occur and students and staff members demonstrated 'digital resilience' in enduring with 'analogue learning' for the day. It was a great success. We have placed a furniture order for the new building for each classroom, learning and specialist space.
We will be operating out of the new building from the beginning of term four!
The progress is great and the most recent site walk was very pleasing. See below for photos! We are on the home stretch now.
Prep 100 Days of School
Well done to our prep students, teachers and parents for the milestone of 100 days of school on Monday 27 July. It was a special celebratory day, and week, ending with the prep 100 days of school performance at assembly. We are so proud!
Year 3 Phillip Island Camp
Our year three students returned safely yesterday from camp.
Our campers played minigolf, visited the animal park, and enjoyed activity rotations of the flying fox, pedal racers, archery, pinnacle and the giant swing. They also enjoyed a movie night and the disco.
A big thank you to the year 3 teachers, Anna Kikidis (3A), Josh Bramham (3B), Steph Kostas (3C) and Monica Nekic (3D), Year 3-6 assistant principal, Renee Johnson, for organising this fun and engaging camp, and to the parent helpers, Andrew Dawson, Cate Dellow, Ella McKay, Linh Krygger, and Luke Fossett, for supporting our students and spending time away from home to honour this special camping experience.
SCHOOL COUNCIL
Our next School Council meeting is scheduled for Monday 19 August at 6:00pm in the staffroom. This meeting will also be our AGM where we will share our 2023 Annual Report to Community. Visitors are welcome!
If you would like to attend as a visitor, please contact email Mandy, Business Manager, by COB 4:00pm, Friday 16 August on wembley.ps@education.vic.gov.au
District Athletics - WESTGATE DISTRICT WINNERS
The results from last week’s Westgate District Athletics Carnival have been finalised and I am happy to announce that Wembley Primary School were the overall winners based on results. Which means we will now be presented with the Westgate District Athletics shield! Thank you to Gus Carty-Cowling and the teachers and parents for their support of the athletics events and preparation. Well done to all students who participated and demonstrated our Wembley Values of Resilience, Respect, Inclusion and Empathy. It was a great day and we lucked out with the weather.
In terms of those students involved and their progression to the Divisional Athletics, that will be taking place on September 10 (Week 9). Gus is in the process of reviewing the results and finalising our student’s progression. Gus will be in touch with the students progressing in the next fortnight.
Prep to Year 2 Mini Olympics - Friday 16 August
Whole School Olympics Dress Up Day!
On Friday 16 August we will be running a "Mini Olympics" event for Prep, Year One and Year Two students.
- Prep: The Prep events will run from approximately 9:15am - 10:45am (sessions 1 and 2)
- Year One and Year Two: The Year One and Year Two events will run from approximately 12:10pm - 1:40pm (session 3 and 4)
The day will involve students rotating through athletics-style events around the school yard with their classroom teacher. The focus will be on students having fun and showing our values of Respect, Inclusion, Empathy and Resilience as they complete each of the events. Please ensure that your child is wearing runners and brings their drink bottle to school. Year six students will be assisting prep-2 students on the day.
Whilst this is a mini Olympics Day for prep-year two students, as a junior school alternative for the 3-6 athletics day held a fortnight ago, all students across the school from years prep-year six are invited to come along dressed in:
-house colours
-Olympic colours
-costumes representing cultural backgrounds/countries, or
-as a favourite athlete, to celebrate the Olympic Games.
Please note, that students do not need to bring along a gold coin donation for this dress up day.
We would like to invite students to dress up on the day. They can choose to wear colours to show their support for a country in the Olympics or might choose to wear an item of clothing that represents their house colour. Students will be reminded of their house colours in their classrooms.
Parents and carers are welcome to attend and support students at this event. If you have any questions about the event please speak to your child's teacher or Melanie Irons, Assistant Principal of Prep to Year Two.
BOOK WEEK
This year, the Children's Book Council of Australia. (CBCA) is celebrating Book Week from Saturday, 17 of August - Friday 23rd of August.
We are excited to be acknowledging Australian children's authors and illustrators, with plans for a wonderful week of activities and learning across the school. This years' theme is 'Reading is Magic'.
Author Visits
Each year we organise for Australian authors to come and visit Wembley Primary School. They engage the students with presentations about their writing process, idea generation and inspiration, while answering the many questions that are asked by our enthusiastic readers!
This year, the following authors will be presenting to our students:
Tuesday 20 August: Ailsa Wild ('Small Friends' series, 'The Naughtiest Pixie' series and many more) for students in Years 3 - 6
Thursday 22 August: Emma Bowd ('This Is My Happy Place', 'Wonderful Shoes', 'The Day You Were Born', and more) for students in Prep to Year 2.
Book Week Costume Parade
On Friday 23 August, students and staff will have the opportunity to dress up, using a book as inspiration. They may dress as their favourite character, in the theme of a book or inspired by the front cover of a book. We will have a whole school parade beginning at 9:05am on the Soccer Pitch. Parents are welcome to attend to watch the parade.
We look forward to a fun filled week, celebrating literacy, literature, authors and illustrators.
Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Survey
Our school is conducting the annual Parent / Caregiver / Guardian Opinion Survey offered by the Department of Education and is seeking your feedback. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families' perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, 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 Friday 2 August to Friday 30 August 2024. See the sental notification sent to parents on Friday 2 August.
All families are invited to participate in the survey.
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.
The online survey will be available in English and 10 other languages including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents / caregivers / guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to your child's teacher, or the school directly for survey guides in your language.
Link for the survey https://www.orima.com.au/parent
PIN: 921685
We thank you in advance for your feedback.
YARRAVILLE LIBRARY - COUNCIL COMMUNITY CONSULTATION
See below information from the Maribyrnong Council regarding the Yarraville Library.
With the local population forecast to increase by 34% by 2051, the challenge is how the library can continue to meet the needs of a growing community
While we know that our community like the collections and programs offered at the library, most agreed the current space was too small and want more community spaces and spaces to support both quiet study and collaborative work.
With this in mind, we are asking our community to consider two options: rebuild or relocate.
The option to rebuild would involve demolishing the existing library at Wembley Avenue and rebuilding, potentially adding a second storey. This would:
- potentially expand the library footprint by up to three times
- allow for more study space; and
- cost Council and the community upwards of $5-6 million and be delivered no earlier than 2034.
The option to relocate would see a new purpose-built library opened in Yarraville at the nearby Bradmill site. This would:
- provide a space that is five times larger than the current library
- accommodate children’s, teenager, and maker spaces;
- include three community rooms for use;
- be largely funded by the developers, with only fit-out costs for Council and the community estimated at $800-900k in 2024 dollars;
- be located approximately 600m from the current location.
Libraries are an important part of our social fabric and provide an important place to meet and connect.
I have met with Lyndell Browne from the library to
Please join the conversation by providing your input online in writing:
The opportunity to provide feedback will close at midnight Sunday 11 August 2024.
Divisional Football
Well done to the year 6 students that participated in the divisional soccer on Wednesday 17 July. We were very proud of their effort and sportsmanship. We are very proud of them! Thank you to Simon Zammit and the parents that attended and assisted with car pooling on the day.
Student personal devices
This is a reminder that as per the Department of Education School Devices Policy, students are not to contact parents via smart watches or devices during school time. If a student must wear a smart watch to school, it must be placed on school mode and not be able to send or receive notifications. If students use smart watches and other devices to contact parents during school time, we will speak with the student about the policy and expectations to speak with a staff member for support, and if required confiscate the device.
Mobile phones are placed in a lock box in the classroom at 8:55am and handed back to students at 3:30pm, and are not to be used on school grounds, and this has been an effective process, however if we find smart watches are impacting learning time, we have received advice that it may be best to ban them from school.
In the interim, we ask for your cooperation with this. If you have any questions, please contact a member of the leadership team.
Well done Milana
Milana represented Wembley Primary School at the All Schools State Cross Country Championships at Bundoora on Saturday.
She ran so well she has been selected to represent Victoria at the Australian National Cross Country Championships in Tasmania! Well done Milana!
Calling Parent Volunteers
Our office team are calling for parent volunteers to assist our amazing helper, Eileen.
Eileen's team of helpers at the end of 2023 moved on from Wembley PS as there children began at secondary school this year.
Eileen assists tirelessly with publication, binding of books, laminating, photocopying, lost found, and so much more!
We are seeking a small team of helpers to assist and support when able. If you can spare and hour or two on some mornings, we would love to hear from you. Please email the school at Wembley.ps@education.vic.gov.au indicating your availability and we will pass it on to Eileen.
Even if you can only spare an hour, it all helps. Volunteers will need a completed or in-progress WWCC.
We thank our many parent volunteers who support our students and staff members it is very much appreciated.
Uniform
A reminder that all students are expected to wear full Wembley PS school uniform. Students are not to wear sporting club uniform. If students are not wearing uniform, they will be asked to visit lost property of pre-loved clothing, to borrow a uniform item for the day. We understand that some students have two homes and sometimes uniform is not readily available. If this is the case, we ask parents to contact the school to inform us how we can best support your child.
Positive Partnerships - Free 2-Day Parent/Carer Autism Workshop
See below for a free parent/carer workshop regarding Autism which was recommended to local schools, by our Department of Education psychologist, Rebecca Loizou.
