A Word from the Principal

A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

Thank you to everyone in our community for your constant support during the isolation period.  Who would have guessed we would have had to quickly pack up the school and have students ready to leave on Friday for remote learning with two hours notice.  I would especially like to thank the teaching staff, who were able to turn their classroom activities into online activities over the weekend.  Thank-you! 

Learning does not stop at Weeden Heights PS and the staff are committed to keep learning happening through the Google Classroom.   Learning continuity is a clear focus for us as we have put things into place to maintain our online learning platform.  It certainly came in handy this week! Should this happen again, and it is very possible, then our students are expected to complete most of their usual onsite day but at home.  During 2020 remote learning, our students were completing a minimum of 3-4 hours of lessons every day, including work from specialist teachers.  This will continue when learning from home and we will ensure that school will still provide an education and learning activities. 

Thank you once again everyone. I feel privileged to be a part of such a committed community. 

During our lockdown, we also got some fabulous news.  I would sincerely like to congratulate David and Belinda Saville on the slightly early, but safe arrival of their baby boy, Bailey on Tuesday.  Such great news and David ensures me that another Essendon supporter has arrived to join the ranks as a ‘baby bomber’!  We all wish them the very best and look forward to seeing some pictures soon.

School Council Elections

We have now completed our final School Council meeting with our current school council.  Our last meeting was on Monday 15 February.  Councillors take up a two year term on council and each year we go through a process of re-election to establish the composition of school council for the current year. 

I have sent you an email calling for nominations to fill the 2021 council positions that have become vacant.  Please consider if you are interested in making a difference for the school and our students.  Nominations close on Monday 22 February and nomination forms are also attached to this newsletter. 

The following positions will be advertised as vacant:

• Parent Category for School Council for 2021: 4 year term x 4 positions,
• Department of Education and Training (DET) Member Category on School Council: 3 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: Kirsty White, Daniel Rodger, Gavin Hodgins and Belinda Davis who completed a one year term.

One of their highlights would have been to be involved in supporting the school through 2020 and with the achievements that they were able to make during isolation.  It was a difficult year and they did incredibly well representing our school community.    They should all be very proud of the work completed in the sub committees along with their generous commitment of time, advice and expertise.

NO SMART WATCHES AT SCHOOL

I wanted to make parents aware of an issue that is becoming prevalent this year.  A few students are now wearing smart watches to school and they are not to wear smart watches at school or any device that allows them to communicate, play games or video.  These are very expensive items and there should be no expensive items bought to school.  All items bought to school are at the 'owners risk'.  Over the last few weeks, we have caught students playing games during class.  One student was even speaking to their mother during class!  One of the main issues revolves around student and teacher privacy.  If students need to communicate with their parent then we will pass on any messages or the student will be able to use the school phone.  Thank you for your understanding.  Students will be able to enjoy wearing their smart watches out of school hours and on the weekends. 

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 stud/sleeper earrings and a watch
• Year 6 students have their own signature school t-shirt and rugby jumper

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 wear 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.  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.

Reminder: Safety and Parking

Please observe the parking signs around the school.  Parking, walking through and using the car park as a ‘drop off’ point is forbidden due to the interest of your child’s safety.  The car park at the front and back of the school is for staff and authorised vehicles and personnel only.  We certainly do not want any accidents so please use our school crossings and footpaths and encourage your child to do the same.  Parents using OSHC are also not to use the staff car park. Please park on the street and walk up to the program to collect your child.  Thank you.

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 DET 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 2021 are:

• Junior School (Prep – Year 2) – Melinda Michalski
• Senior School (Year 3 – 6) – Allison McLaren

Our Learning Specialist is Aarti Arya who can also support you with any information about our curriculum or programs. 

Information Nights 2021- 22 February 2021

At the beginning of every year we conduct information nights and the 2021 sessions will be available for you through the Google Classroom next Monday night.  The information that is relevant and critical to your child’s year level will be delivered through a video presentation and this will also allow you to attend all of your children’s sessions without a clashing of times or rushing between classrooms.  Teachers will be available to answer questions through the stream in the Google Classroom. 

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. 

Instagram , Facebook and School Stream!

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram follow us on @weeden.heights.ps  

Please like us on Facebook as well.  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. 

‘Getting to Know You’ Interviews – 2 Way Meetings

Thank-you to the families who participated in the interviews last week in the Google Classrooms.  We value the information that you give us about your child as it allows us to develop individual plans to cater for their individual learning needs. 

Some of our parents will be involved in Student Support Group Meetings in coming weeks.  A note will come home soon to arrange a time with you.    We look forward to meeting with you then to develop learning goals for your child.

Stay safe everyone and it is great news that we are back again onsite today. It is critical to maintain your involvement with our Google Classrooms as this may not be our only shut down this year.  Cross your fingers everyone!

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!