From the Principal 

Diana Ellis

Appreciation

Over the last 5 weeks I have been on leave, and I would like to begin this newsletter by communicating a heartfelt acknowledgement of appreciation to our WPS staff and parent volunteers for stepping up so seamlessly and continuing with all of our planned goals and priorities, including the many whole school activities that have occurred over the last month.

As many of you know, I have a close connection to a number of the small villages and schools in more remote areas of Bali and I enjoy regular opportunities to learn from their culture and embrace their simple, less complicated way of life. There is such a strong focus on extended family and also community working together. It is a joy watching the local people go about their daily life and rituals. Whilst we were there it was rice harvesting season. The workers would start at 8.00 in the morning (mostly women) and work in the hot sun slashing and thrashing rice manually, until about 4.00 in the afternoon.

One of the other schools that we spend time at, is within 10 km of the Bali Airport but is a very poor village that lives within the tip and huge mountains of rubbish. Children attend school 6 days a week. Within the tip there is a small school for junior primary with two classrooms. Each Friday we deliver over 300 meals to the families that live in the tip and important items such as milk formula and items such as dermaveen and creams and ointments to help with infection and rashes from the environment.

The families that live and work within the tip as either drivers of the rubbish trucks or collecting recyclables. For a kilo of empty plastic bottles, they get twenty cents. 

From the rice fields, the active volcano Mt Agung is visible. Photos of harvesting, school visit & a beautiful sunset.

Grounds and maintenance project

Our school is a hive of activity at the moment with a number of projects in progress.

Our Bushfire Preparedness Program continues and we currently have scaffolding erected in the bottom section of the school as they remove and replace the timber boards on the building.

Unfortunately due to bushfire regulations, a number of sleepers and vegetation have been removed and our plastic water tanks have been removed and replaced with new steel ones.

ANZAC Commemorative Project

At the top of the school our landscaping works have started. We are particularly excited about this project. Few people realise that the small spindly oak tree that stands in isolation is a Gallipoli Oak that was gifted to the school many years ago. I have always had a concern that the tree is unmarked and it has nearly been chopped down on a number of occasions as a random self seeded pine. My vision for this space is to develop it as a reflective, commemorative space for people to enjoy. We have engaged a landscape designer and our project will occur in stages. 

I am currently applying for grants to help fund this much anticipated project.

These are some of the components we hope will be in the finished project.

School Tours

Currently we are running school tours and we have already had a lot of interest for enrolments for 2025. If you or someone you know is interested in a tour, please ring the office to book. We look forward to meeting you and proudly telling you about our dedicated staff, engaging programs, our achievements and future goals and priorities. 

Year 3 Camp

This week our Year 3 students and teachers headed off to camp. By all accounts they are having a great time. They enjoyed a visit to the Ballarat Wildlife Park and are engaging in many fun adventure activities at the camp.

Local author

Recently, we were privileged to have local author Zoe Cottew attend our school and introduce our students to her book “Pip and Zoe’s amazing Adventures". The book was set in Indonesia and is a compilation of short stories accompanied with the most beautiful illustrations. One of the stories was about a pet Gibbon called Jemima. The students particularly enjoyed this story. Zoe then worked with our students in the Senior Unit to talk about the process and craft of writing. She will continue working in other classes and we feel blessed to have a talented author in our community. We look forward to supporting Zoe and ongoing opportunities for our students to learn from her. 

Sanitorium Lake

I am always very proud of the beautiful area we live in and enjoy exploring the area and showing visitors around the area. A favourite area for walks is Sanitorium Lake. At this time of the year the forest is full of an array of weird and wonderful fungi.

Principal

Diana Ellis