Term 2 can be somewhat challenging with shorter days, cold weather and colds, flus and of course COVID, but we made it! Despite the challenges, we have lots to celebrate…

We are half way through the year and well into flow.
Teachers have completed mid year reports and they are ready to be shared with parents on Friday.
Mrs Milich, Mrs Dwyer (Assistant Principal) and Mrs Baulch (Learning Leader) enjoyed reading lots of reports and learning more about how our students at WEPS are individually progressing.
Teachers had a wonderful day celebrating achievements, and discussing opportunities for further development, with parents and students on Wednesday.
We keep working on setting high expectations and following our school values – Kindness, Respect, Inclusion and Perseverance.
We are working in clean, orderly and engaging learning spaces.
When things go wrong – we are here to hear all voices, make a plan and support following through.
Teachers received feedback on their teaching from their students, shared the results and have co-constructed an improvement plan with their classes for Term 3.
Our student voice team has been working hard together and are looking forward -----.
Teachers had a wonderful time celebrating their hard work and commitment to our whole school focus on Numeracy this term (see photo attached)
Structured Literacy is progressing positively in each classroom. We are looking forward to inviting parents to an information session in Term 3.

I would like to thank our incredible staff for their commitment to our students this term. They are an exceptional group of professionals who see, hear and care deeply about your children. They have worked hard this term and I congratulate them all on all their hard work during the course of Term 2.

Parent Teacher Partnership meetings are an important part of our reporting process. Our teachers are always open to connecting with you, but this day provides time and space for celebrating your child’s achievements, an opportunity to understand progress and next steps in their learning. Semester 1 reports are open to parents on Friday, if you feel you need further clarity, please don’t hesitate to contact your classroom teacher.

WEPS 2024 Reporting Schedule

Thank for attending on Wednesday. We had a very high engagement rate of parents either face to face or via phone conversation. If you missed your meeting (only a very small percentage of families), your teacher will make contact with you to arrange an alternative time. Our teachers were exhausted after a big day of speaking with families, however they also walked out of school last night with a kick in their step because of how valued and supported they feel by you all. We truly are working as a one whole community to create the absolute best conditions for our extremely important WEPS students, so they continue to flourish and thrive at school each day.

This week we celebrated our final St Vincent De Paul reading session. The program has been running once a week, every Tuesday afternoon, for the past 3 years. Suzie Maxwell-Wright (program co-ordinator) and many volunteers have been committed to providing some of our students with literacy and general social, emotional and academic support. The program has been operating in Dandenong, Heidelberg West, Maidstone, Melton, Noble Park, Northcote, Warrnambool West and we were very fortunate to have it here at WEPS. Unfortunately, all programs are no longer running after this term. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Suzie Maxwell-Wright and all the volunteers for their time and commitment to providing some of our students with a high quality after-school program. We will miss seeing them each week, and wish them all the very best if whatever they choose to pursue next.

Last week we had our second School Council meeting for the term. We established a fundraising plan for the following school improvements and upgrades (part 1):

Upgrade front of school signage
Visible school values
Junior playground

Our target is to raise $100,000 to fund these upgrades. We will also be seeking grants to support raising much needed funds.

School Council sub committee for fundraising (Elisia Nichol, Emma Charlton and Michelle Lyons) have organised our first fundraising event – Bunnings BBQ, and are looking for parent helpers for the 10th August.

Our long awaited project to construct walls in the grade 3/4 building is going ahead during the break. Ms Gleeson and 3G are looking forward to moving into the building after the holidays.

We have been successful in receiving a Landcare Grant to the value of $5,000 with a focus on upgrading our Indigenous Garden space, allocated in the garden spaces behind the admin/F-2 building (west of the assembly area). Thank you Ms Bree Kavanagh, who applied for the grant before she left our school. We are following through with the project during Term 3.

Each meeting, School Council takes time to review and update policies. Our list of policies are on an ongoing review cycle – 1 year or 3 years (according to DET guidelines).

School Council reviewed the following policies;

Dogs at school (published on the school website)
Photography, Filming and Media (published on the school website)
Child Safety and Wellbeing (attached for consultation)
Visitors (attached for consultation)
Volunteers (attached for consultation)

School Council ratified the following policy;

Child Safe Code of Conduct

Please see the following policies attached for community consultation and send in feedback to marina.milich@education.vic.gov.au by Thursday 18th July, 2024.

Please also note, the following policies have been updated and are located on our school website/LINK;

First Aid
Anaphylaxis
Medication
Asthma
Health Care Needs

Last week I had the pleasure of sharing our Annual Implementation Plan progress with 3 colleagues (Peter Lee – Warrnambool PS, Wes Allen – Allansford PS, Karen Holdsworthy Assistant Principal – Warrnambool West PS) and Cherie Kilpatrick – our Senior Education Improvement Leader. I am so proud to share the progress we are making with our focus on Structured Literacy, continuing our work in Numeracy and enhancing Diversity and Inclusion. Each term the School Improvement Team work together to evaluate progress (week 8) and use a traffic light colour system (red – not started, yellow – in progress and green – embedded/achieved) to assess current progress, then we discuss, document and action what is required to achieve next steps. Families are welcome to view the Annual Implementation Plan.

On Tuesday, it was lovely to acknowledge Trevor’s 80th birthday with our whole school guard of honour, a lovely cake presented to Trevor by our school captains (baked by Elisa Nichol) and singing happy birthday. Trevor is a highly valued member of our school community, serving our families and keeping them safe over many years. It was lovely to see so many birthday wishes shared on our school facebook post.

Congratulations Ellie Clarke, Joe and little Winni on the safe arrival of Poppy Florence last week. We wish them all the best as they begin their journey as a family of 4.

Sadly, we farewell James Chapman this week. James is taking 6 months leave to pursue another job opportunity. We are thrilled for James and know that he will be an asset to any team he works with. We thank James for all his hard work, innovation and support to many staff, students and families over the past 8 years, and wish him well in his new role.

We have lots happening next term (please keep a close eye on the calendar):

Science Show
Dan Petro (Behaviour Analyst) parent session – if you missed it last year you have another opportunity to come along
Book Week
Structured Literacy and Assessment information session for parents

And, no doubt there will be more.

I wish you all a safe and happy term break. Hopefully there is opportunity for outdoor activity, and of course, taking time to recharge. Please remember to come along to our end of term assembly on Friday afternoon (in your pyjamas).

Eisteddfod Celebration