A Word from the Principal 

A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

Welcome to our School Community, 

Hello everyone and I hope you are all keeping up to date with all of the building works.  It is definitely moving forward quickly and the builders are a month a head of schedule. At this point of time, the junior school will be able to move back down to rooms 1 – 4 just after Easter which is awesome.  The senior toilets are well on their way and will be completed in the same time frame. A new false wall has gone up through the corridor and had chalk paint painted on it.  The builders would love our students to decorate the wall so Mrs Lee, our lovely Art teacher, definitely has some ideas. 

School Council Elections

 I have sent you an email calling for nominations to fill the 2023 school council positions that have become vacant. We have one more meeting with the current school council (February) but the new council will being in March.   

Please consider if you are interested in making a difference for the school and our students.  Nominations close on Monday 20 February and the nomination forms were attached to the email that was sent.  Paper versions for parent nominations are also available at the main office and they are attached in the link below.  

The following positions will be advertised as vacant:

•  Parent Category for School Council for 2023: 4 positions (2-year term), 
•  Department of Education and Training (DE) Member Category on School Council: 2  x 2-year terms and 1 x1 year term

If you have any questions around becoming a part of School Council then please speak with the current School Council members. It is an excellent opportunity to participate in your child’s school.

Thank-you to our exciting and valued School Councillors 

On behalf of our school community, I would like to thank the following School Councillors for their amazing work over their two-year term: Tony Goldsmith, Daniel Rodger, Gavin Hodgins, Sarah Crooks, Beth Alter and Kerryn Cheetham.

They should all be very proud of the work completed on council and in the sub committees along with their generous commitment of time, advice and expertise. 

Family Fun Night

We are looking forward to seeing you all at our Family Fun night next Thursday from 5.30pm.  We are finally able to conduct one of our great community events that was unfortunately cancelled last year due to the restrictions.  There will be a BBQ and a performance up on the oval.  You are welcome to bring your own dinner and don’t forget a rug or some chairs to sit on as well.  We really hope that everyone has the chance to catch up with each other and especially introduce themselves to our new families.  There are many new students, not just in prep, but across the whole school to welcome into our community. 

Sunsmart Hats

Students must wear a school uniform brimmed hat until the end of April.  Please assist by ensuring your child has protection from the sun by having his/her hat at school, reinforcing the importance of wearing a hat and of course please apply sun cream before your child comes to school each day.  We do have ‘a no hat, no play’ rule at Weeden Heights PS so it should be a great encouragement for your child to remember.

Uniform Reminder:

At assembly, we talk about school pride and in particular school pride attached to the wearing of our school uniform. As a reminder, our school council recommended school uniform is: 

• Hair to be tied back if below the shoulder
• No jewellery except for plain gold or silver stud/sleeper earrings and a watch 
• Year 6 students have their own signature school t-shirt and rugby jumper
• NO SMART WATCHES OR DEVICES THAT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET (or can take video or photos)

We expect our students to take great pride in their appearance as this directly impacts on the image of the school. No one should be wearing a WHPS summer dress with coloured leggings or a different coloured long sleeved t-shirt under a WHPS short-sleeved t-shirt at any time.  Nor should students were coloured socks other than white (or navy with track pants).   

Please support the School Council's uniform policy and ensure that your children are in the correct uniform.

Reminder: Student Supervision

It is terrific to see how enthusiastic our students are to be at school.  However, I would like to remind families that the school grounds are not supervised by staff until 8.45am each morning and are unsupervised after 3.45pm each afternoon.  It is inappropriate for students to be in the school grounds unsupervised before and after these times so please ensure that your child remains safe by arriving at school as close to 8.45am as possible and collecting your children at 3.30pm. 

It is really important to have the children in a routine back at school so please remember that learning begins at 9am in the classrooms.  If you arrive late then your child will be unsettled for the day.  They will not know  the outline for the day or session and it puts them behind right from the start of the day. 

Parents are welcome to supervise their children playing on the grounds after school hours.  We do understand that unexpected incidents happen to cause late pickups but please call the office should this occur.  Out of School Hours care is available from 7.30am – 8.45am each day and 3.30- 6.00pm should you need the service.

Student Accident Insurance/Ambulance Cover Arrangements and Private Property Brought to Schools

This is a  reminder to our community that parents/guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for their injured children, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs. Parents/guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers to protect their child while at school.

Parents/guardians and DE employees should also note the Department does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.

Staff Leadership Team

If you have any concerns regarding anything related to your child’s schooling then please see your child’s classroom teacher. Level co-ordinators are also available to assist where necessary to help clarify the answer to any questions that you might have.

Level Coordinators who have this responsibility in 2022 are:

• Junior School (Prep – Year 2) – Melinda Michalski  
• Senior School (Year 3 – 6) – Aarti Arya

Aarti is also our Learning Specialist and she can support you with any information about our curriculum or programs. 

Information Nights 2023

At the beginning of every year, we conduct information nights and the 2023 sessions have returned on site at school. 

The information that will be presented is relevant and critical to your child’s year level.  The teachers are currently completing the grade information books for each year level and these will be available for you via School Stream and on our website soon. 

Facebook, Instagram and School Stream!

Please like us on Facebook and follow Weeden Heights on Instagram as we post many of our activities up there and you can keep in touch with what is happening.  The posts also make great conversation starters at the dinner table.  Search for us at Weeden Heights Primary School (Vermont South).

We are always adding posts and updates to our social media exposure to keep you up to date and so that you can see the exciting things happening at our school.  Share our page with family as well and they can also see what we are up to at school. 

Communication with and from the school is vital and it is always an area we are working on.  We are making great use of the phone app, School Stream. Every family by now should be using School Stream and it also includes a translator so there is no excuse for anyone not getting information. School information does go out to families through the app so it is vital that you download it to your phone. 

Don’t forget, grade information night on Monday night and the Family Fun Night on Thursday night.  See you all there!

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!

From the Department of Education – DE

Staying safe from mosquitoes

Recent wet and warm weather has increased mosquito breeding. Mosquitoes can carry diseases that may be passed on to people through mosquito bites. A range of mosquito-borne diseases have recently been detected in mosquitoes in northern Victoria.  Mosquito-borne diseases can cause serious illness, including infections of the brain, with children particularly at risk.

The best way to prevent mosquito-borne diseases is to avoid mosquito bites. 

In line with community health advice , families can protect against mosquito bites by:

• using insect repellent that contains picaridin or DEET on all exposed skin if outdoors when mosquitoes are observed, from October to March
• wearing long, loose-fitting clothing outdoors if possible if mosquitoes are around and covering exposed skin as much as possible. Summer school uniforms, including polos and shorts, can continue to be worn, but students should use insect repellent on exposed skin if mosquitoes are active
• limiting outdoor activity when mosquitoes are active.

Further information

• A handy guide to help protect you and your family from mosquito-borne disease
• Better Health Channel information about preventing mosquito-borne diseases.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects, uses, discloses and stores student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy.

Please take time to read our school’s collection notice, found on our website.   We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — information for parents.