From the Principal, Diana Ellis

Voluntary Funds

Some of our School Councillor’s have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to investigate the state of Voluntary Funds in our school. Please read the passage below that further explains what we are trying to achieve.

The future of voluntary contributions:

How much money is appropriate as a voluntary contribution to the school? (Currently, we request $140 per child.)
Which areas of the school would you like the voluntary funds to support?
What is the best time of year to pay the voluntary contribution?
These are some of the questions the School Council is asking in a short survey that was sent home yesterday with your youngest child. It takes about 3 minutes to complete (most answers require only a tick).
We'd love your feedback no matter whether you always pay the voluntary contribution or you never pay.
As a token of our appreciation for completing the survey, you will be entered into a draw to win a family movie voucher. Your answers will remain anonymous.
Voluntary contributions are an important topic. The school needs the money to support your children’s education.
Please spare a few minutes now to help us determine the best way forward.

Shayne Summers, School Council Treasurer

Fathers’ Day

This weekend is Fathers’ Day and I would like to take this opportunity to say "Happy Fathers” Day to all the significant males that play a role in the lives of our children. In our modern world, we acknowledge and celebrate that a family can take many forms, but we know that male teachers, neighbours, grandparents, friends, also play a valuable role. We hope that all males who play those roles are appreciated and thanked and we look forward to meeting with many of you tomorrow morning at the breakfast being hosted by our Parents and Friends.

I have added some of the very sweet comments that a range of our students from across the school provided about their feelings for their dads.

I love my dad because he plays soccer with me. JU2 - Annabelle
My dad is special because he lets me have liquorice from his liquorice stash and if we run out we get more from the chemist. JU1 - Orlando
I love my dad because is very kind and he cares about me. If I went missing he wouldn’t stop looking until he found me. MU7 - Ben
I love my dad because we both barrack for the swans and sometimes we play footy. MU2 - Caleb
I love my dad because he tells very funny jokes. MU4 - Paddy
I love my dad because he always helps me to do things like building and he always makes me breakfast. I am proud of him. MU5 Hamish
I love my dad because he is really nice to me. He tells me really funny stories. He plays lego with me. I love him. MU8 - Maddison
I love my dad because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to do what I wanted to do my whole life because he got me a horse. MU8 - Isabelle
I love my dad so much because he loves me all he can. MU2 - Milla
I love my dad because he works so hard to keep our family stable and he is just a loving, caring man. SU1 - Laura
I love my dad because he is so special to me because he always wants to spend time with me and he will do anything he can to spend time with me. His cooking is amazing. SU1 - Harley
I love my dad and he is special because he is always happy and he makes me smile. He is one of my top role models and he works really hard to put food on the table for our family. He works really hard to achieve his goals. SU2 - Ginger
I love my dad because he is loving and he has helped to do things at our school every year since I was in preps. I am proud of him. SU2 - Josh
I love my dad because he always makes me laugh. He spends a lot of time with me and he encourages me and he is always there for me. SU2 - Jonty
I love my dad because he cooks great food. Every Tuesday he cooks us chicken noodle stir fry. He goes on lots of runs with me and helps me get fit. SU2 - Samson
I love my dad because he works hard to get money for our family. He likes to joke and he makes me laugh. SU3 - Finn
I love my dad because he had cancer and now he only has one leg but he works hard every day. I really love my dad and I am really proud of him. SU3 - Sam
I love my dad because he always works hard and makes sure we have lots of money for food and he is funny. CU2 - James
I love my dad because he helps when I am hurt. He is really loving and he plays sports and video games with me. CU2 - Felix
I love my dad because he is friendly and funny. He plays board games with us. He is a very good cook. CU2 - Nina

Athletics

Congratulations to the outstanding efforts and exemplary efforts of our students last week, at the District Athletic Championships at Bendigo. We now have a further seven students heading off to the regional finals and we wish them well. Also a big shout out to our Physical Education teacher, Mrs. Connell who organised and ran the Athletics Carnival for the Cobaw District Schools. It was a highly successful day because of her comprehensive planning and organisation.

Attendance

As communicated last week we are implementing a number of strategies to improve attendance and punctuality. Being at school and on time, is essential. At Woodend Primary, our Whole School Instructional Model ensures that across the school, we deliver lessons using one consistent method. At the beginning of the lesson, teachers explain the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria which explicitly describe what the children are learning and why and what they need to achieve to be successful with that concept. The teacher then links the lesson to previous learning to build on a concept or they introduce a new concept. This is the most crucial time of the lesson and when children are late or they miss the introduction of a concept, it is very hard to catch up.

To ensure your child has the best opportunity of success please ensure they are here daily and ready to start learning at 9.00 a.m.