Principal's Message

Dear Families

On this the last official newsletter of the year, I want to take the time to thank you for your ongoing support and understanding over the course of 2023.  

Some updates on the last few days of the year:

Friday, December 15

Raffle tickets and money, as well as any last donations we can use for hampers, are due.

Year five robotics team head to the National competition in Tasmania.  

Monday December 18

Whole school assembly – Christmas raffle is drawn. Library book raffle is also drawn.

Year six graduation

Tuesday, December 19

Last day to return school library and home reading books.  The remainder of student workbooks will come home today.  

Wednesday, December 20

Last day of school

• Casual dress day for students.  No open toed shoes or bare shoulders
• NO SCHOOL BAGS are to come to school.
• No lunchbreak on this day – children will need to eat when they get home.
• The canteen will operate on a limited menu– at recess time only.  (No lunch orders)
• Students will meet their new class for 2024, and, where available, teacher on this morning
• School finishes for the year at 1.15pm – following a whole of school gathering whereby we farewell our year six students at 1.05pm

School resumes in 2024

• The first day of school for all children is Wednesday, January 31, 2024.  Note:  this start date may be different to other local schools.
• Foundation children will have Wednesdays off for the month of February.
• Wednesday, February 14 is a Curriculum Day for the whole school.  NO STUDENTS are required to come to school.

Curriculum (and pupil free) Days for 2024

To assist you with your planning I provide for you below the dates of the pupil free days for 2024, as endorsed by the school council:

• Monday, January 29 – staff return to school.  The front office will be open, and if you wish you can come in on this day to make an early payment of your voluntary parent contribution – which the school council has set at $180 per child.  
• Tuesday, January 30: Curriculum Day – office open
• Wednesday, February 14: Curriculum Day
• Friday, April 26 (the day after the Anzac Day public holiday): Professional Practice Day
• Monday, November 4 (the day before the public holiday for the Melbourne Cup) 

Raffle for the return of library books

We are currently running our annual book raffle to encourage the return of our school library and take home books.  For every book a student returns they get one entry in to the raffle and a chance to win one of three $50 Coles Myer vouchers: which are able to be used at Kmart, Target, Officeworks, Coles and Myer.  Note that students who have routinely done the right thing, recording their books on a regular basis, get several bonus entries as a reward for their consistency here.  

Class groups for 2024

Next Wednesday, students who will be with us in 2024 will meet their new class, and, where available, class teacher in preparation for next year.  Many hours have been spent putting these classes together, inclusive of input from teachers, friendship nominations from students and confidential information shared with us by families.  Classes now have a balance of academic level, behavioural and social needs in every room and, therefore NO changes will be made.  I am hopeful that you can see that this is more than requesting some names from children, but even this can be complicated because the children your child selects may not, in fact, have picked your son and daughter as a preference; or possibly a teacher has suggested that two children do not work well together.    Classes are now set, and, as already stated no changes will be made.  

School uniform

Over the course of the school holidays many parents take the opportunity to update their child’s uniform.  As you are doing this can I please remind you of our uniform requirements, as determined by our school policy:

• Shoes must be all black, with no white stripes or bands or other colour visible, inclusive of coloured laces
• Hats – navy, bucket type – are compulsory in terms one and four when children are working or playing outside.  This hat does not need to be the official school one, but otherwise must be a plain navy bucket hat, not a cap.  
• Navy pants/shorts/skorts can be purchased from a discount store if you wish, however these must be plain navy, with no additional logo or stripe.
• Please ensure you NAME all student clothing that children are likely to take off during the day:  e.g. hats and jumpers/windcheaters
• Children do not need to have the official WVPS school bag, just one that will be large enough to carry their books and belongings home in.  

Robotics Team

Good luck to the eight student members of our Year Five Robotics team who head to Tasmania tomorrow morning with Mr Laird and Mrs Gauci to compete in the national competition.  Good luck team – we are very proud of you and know that you will represent us very well.  

Happy holidays and thank you……

At the close of another successful year in the life of WVPS we take the time to reflect on the achievements of our school - and student body – as a whole.  Children have had positive experiences in years two, four and six through participation in sleepovers or camps whilst our foundation children shared some of school life with their parents or caregivers through involvement in mothers’ and fathers’ day afternoons.  Our students have been successful across varying sporting endeavors – often moving on to represent the school at higher levels of the competition.  Naplan results demonstrated an improvement in student learning, and this is also reflected by our internal testing.  Lots of other activities have been planned and run to add to a positive experience for our students, inclusive of the Active Travel initiative, the swimming program, and the community picnic to name but a few.  

We have been well supported by various bodies within the school inclusive of our Junior School Council who have represented their peers well, Parents and Friends Group (whose tireless fundraising has been a huge benefit to the school) and the School Council who have been diligent in meeting and making decisions in the best interests of the children and school.  A big thank you to our staff as well who have put everything into their role with the intention of getting the greatest outcomes for the children they are working with.  The staff come to work each day determined to do the best they can for the students of WVPS.  At times parents will disagree on a course of action but please be aware that we will always respect your right to advocate for your child, but also ask you to understand that we have a need to investigate all sides of the story and our version may be different to the one that has been shared with you at home.  

For those of you who are leaving us, you go with our best wishes, and we trust that you take with you fond memories of your time at WVPS.  To our year six cohort, we look forward to celebrating with you at your graduation on Monday night.  You are moving into the next stage of your educational journey, one that is filled with many opportunities, and we encourage you to make the best of all that is offered to you.  Enjoy your journey through your secondary education: and continue to put in your best effort.  

Have a fabulous holiday break, and we look forward to seeing many of you again in the new year.  

Sue Seneviratne

Principal