A Word from the Principal

A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

A warm welcome to our community

Welcome back to term 2!  I hope that you all had a great break over Easter and got to spend some special time as a family.  We have had a wonderful start to term 2 and the students have settled back into their learning well.

We are terribly saddened to hear about the conditions due to Covid 19 in India.  Many of our Weeden Heights families have family in India and we hope they are well and safe.  Please know the thoughts of our whole community are with you at this most difficult and challenging time. 

I would like to congratulate our student leaders on their presentations at the Anzac Day Ceremony that was held at our school on Monday. It always brings a tear to my eye but it is critical that our younger generations understand the freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia because of the sacrifice of others.  Respect for our country and our flag is reinforced clearly at assemblies.  

I hope that you took the opportunity on Sunday to discuss Anzac Day with your family and to reflect on our history and respect those who have served our great country. 

School Oath

Respect is one of our school values and we demonstrate this in many ways.  We observe Anzac Day and we also acknowledge this each week at assembly. For new parents and as a reminder to others, at assembly we have a school oath that all students pledge. 

Weeden Heights Primary School Oath

I love my country, Australia.

I value peace and freedom.

I will treat all people equally

I will respectfully look after the environment.

I’m proud of my school,

And I’ll do my best to make it a friendly and caring place.

I hope this helps your child to learn the oath

Welcome to our new Wellbeing Officer

I would like to officially welcome a new staff member, Ms Nicole Agius, who has been employed to continue on the great work of looking after wellbeing across the school.  She has started her induction this week and will meet your children on Friday.  This will be her first official day at Weeden Heights PS.  Nicole will be involved in our classroom wellbeing programs, individual and small group friendship sessions, organising our Kidz Coaches, caring casserole program and potentially our Fathering project.  She will re connect with our retirement villages, run lunchtime clubs and support our year 6 leaders to run their lunchtime student programs.  When Nicole gets a moment, she will run parent programs and be a part of all our school activities.  We have employed Nicole for three days per week so you will all get to meet her at events or at pick up/drop off times.  Please make her feel welcome and she is there to support our families as well. 

Uniform

I’m sure that you have all noticed a change in the weather!  Student are now able to wear their winter uniform and they are not required to wear their hats as of May 1.  They may of course chose to wear hats.  Please remember that tights or leggings are not to be worn with our summer dress.  Girls are required to wear blue track pants or the tunic with dark blue tights/blue leggings & blue socks. 

Transition from Year 6 to Year 7

Our Transition Co-ordinator will be in contact soon to support parents with the transition process for our Year 6 students.  I know parents are very busy selecting schools and touring them with many questions which is fantastic.  Please check out the following link which explains the process and may answer many of your questions:

 https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/going-to-school/Pages/year-6-to-7.

Just a reminder to be careful with allergies:

I would like to thank all of our parents who have provided special treats that are individually wrapped to celebrate our very special birthdays across the school.  Students will generally receive these treat bags at the end of the day so that you can decide what you would like your child to eat.  This way you can accommodate for any allergies or saving a ‘sugar fix’ for another time. 

In our parent’s efforts to find individually packaged treats, some families have sourced items produced from overseas and the ingredients are written in another language.  If your child brings home a birthday bag and you are unsure of what ingredients are contained in an item, then it is best to not allow your child to eat the contents in case there is something that your child may be allergic to. 

NAPLAN

NAPLAN assessments will be held over a two week period in May for students in Years 3 and 5.  Weeden Heights has completed the exams over the past few years, on line and all parents in years 3 and 5 should have received information from our Assessment Co-ordinator last week. Please advise your child’s classroom teacher if your child is expected to be absent on any of these dates or if you have any concerns.

Please remind your children we want their 'best efforts' on the day!  The rest of the school will be most supportive of our year 3's and 5's so they can focus and show everyone what they know and understand.  

Annual General Meeting 

This year our Annual General Meeting will be held just before our school council meeting on 17 May at 6.00pm.  The 2020 Annual Report will be presented to the community which highlights our great successes for the year.  The report is already published and has been available on our website since last week. Take a look and you will be able to download the document. 

If you intend to take part in the AGM then please email the school to confirm your attendance by Thursday 13 May.  While everyone is welcome there are restrictions based on Covid and space restrictions so I do need to be aware of the numbers of ‘visitors’ to the school.   The School Council meeting will begin promptly at 6.30pm that night. 

Tours and enrolments for 2021

I continue to conduct school tours on a Wednesday morning for families interested in attending Weeden Heights PS or have already enrolled. Please encourage your friends and neighbours to return their enrolment forms for the 2022 Prep students to our office as they are now due. 

Our highly successful Bright Beginnings transition program commences in August this year and we don’t want you or any future families to miss out on the opportunity.  

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!