It has been a very busy start to term 2 at WEPS and this week is our first 5 day week! We loved having so many mums and special others in on Monday afternoon to celebrate Mother’s Day. We thank everyone for making the time to come and spend some quality time with your child/children in their classrooms.

Foundation 2024

This week we have also been busy showing off our beautiful school to parents and students in Foundation (prep) next year. Many families already have children at WEPS, and many are taking interest in our school for the first time. And, many attended our Foundation 2024 information evening last night, where we shared our way of working, connecting and supporting our students, parents and staff at WEPS. I would like to extend my appreciation to our Foundation team – Veronica Couch (team leader), Kimberley Leach and Sally Kilpatrick for demonstrating a day in the life of a prep students and answering lots of questions. We were also extremely proud of our school captains – Mabel, Ollie, Lexie and Lily for sharing some of their school highlights over the years and insights into why WEPS is a great school. They have given me permission to share their speeches with the whole community.

Lily: Hi, I’m Lily Cheeseman and I’m also a school captain for 2023. When I was in prep the sticker rockets were always a highlight of my day. Every child in prep got a colourful spaceship with their face in the middle. Good behaviour = a sticker and over time the little rockets were filled with stickers. I loved this and it always encouraged me to show good behaviour. Another thing was the coloured words, they were printed sheets with basic words such a `the’ and `because’ and each sheet was colour coded, different colours were different levels. I learnt how to spell and read so much easier with this method.

Some highlights I have had over the years as a student at this school has been the different events we have, such as the colour run. Events like those are so much fun and with the kids cheering you on it feels like our school is one big family. I also like the buddy sessions where we get to learn about special events that are on and do activities with all different year levels following the event. Having older students help you in prep is so exciting and as you get older you get to help the younger kids.

I believe your child should come to our school because Warrnambool East Primary School is an inclusive school and we are one big family. We focus lots on wellbeing and character strengths and we have many things available to make every students journey as enjoyable as possible.

Lexie: Good evening everyone, my name is Lexie and I'm one of Warrnambool East School captains. I started here at W.E.P.S, in grade 4, feeling very anxious, but when I arrived I remember beginning to feel more excited as everyone was making sure I was included and knew where everything was, and soon I felt like I had been at this school since prep. One of my memories from when I began at this school was when I discovered that W.E.P.S had class pets. I was so excited.

Some of my highlights over the years was definitely grade five camp to Halls Gap, and also becoming school captain. I have loved making new friends, and now in grade 6, just making the most of opportunities, with sport and leadership. Warrnambool East Primary School is such a great school. It has so many opportunities, from inter-school, many leadership rolls, and our kitchen garden, they are truly endless! I hope you all enjoy the rest of your night.

Mabel: When I started at this school, I was in year one and although I didn’t start here in prep I was still welcomed with open arms. When I was at home the night before my first day of school I was a bit nervous, but when I got to school the next day I couldn’t have felt more welcome.

I can never forget the smiling faces of my peers as I walked into the class on the first day of school. I remember all the hands that went up when the teacher asked who wanted to show me around.

Some of my highlights at this school are the specialist like art and P.E, because Mr. Burton always makes it really fun for all year levels.

Thank you for listening to me.

Ollie: Hello I’m Ollie Barclay and I am one of the school captains at Warrnambool East Primary School. When I came to our school in August 2017 I was put in a class filled with no-one I knew but I overcame that and made friends with nearly everyone in my class. One of my highlights was making a glitter jar and you would shake them when you were scared or sad.

We also had our year 2 camp at Port Fairy, it was so much fun and we had so many good activities and entertainment.

I think you should choose Warrnambool East Primary School because everyone has a chance to grow and learn.

Thank you for listening to me.

Each family received a ‘Welcome to WEPS’ pack which included an brand new ‘Welcome’ brochure, enrolment form, transition information and some treats for their child. We have been running school tours this week and cannot commend our students and staff enough on the continuing to focus on their learning, as well as saying hello and sharing some smiles as new and existing families walked through the classrooms. We are having some more school tours on Tuesday and Thursday next week (9.30-10.30) if you know anyone who missed out this week, please encourage them to come along or make an alternative time to visit our beautiful school.

THRIVE@WEPS

We are very excited to show off our new THRIVE@WEPS logo. THRIVE @ WEPS encompasses our wellbeing programs for all students from foundation to year 6.

Grade 3 camp

Grade 3 students have had an fantastic overnight stay at Warra Gnan Coastal Camp this week with lots of fun activities. Thank you to Ms. Ali Smith and the Grade 3/4 teaching/support team for enabling this experience for our students. Being away from mum/dad/families can be a very daunting experience for many students, but I know that our Grade 3s have been looked after and supported to have a wonderful time.

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected for the Victorian High Abilities Program (VHAP) ‘English’ - Isabelle Norton, Oliver Gellert and Jesse Kew (all in Grade 5). The Victorian High-Ability Program (VHAP) has given nearly 48,000 high-ability students from Grade 5 to Year 8 the chance to take part in online extension and enrichment programs in English and mathematics.

VHAP consists of ten-week online courses in Mathematics and English for both primary and secondary levels. Students engage in synchronous WebEx classes. The VHAP classroom provides students with the opportunity to:

explore and express their ideas freely
make their own decisions about their work
be inspired and challenged by each other
gain confidence in their choices and abilities
feel excited by their learning.

Congratulations to the students selected – this is a wonderful achievement.

I wish all our mums/special others a very Happy Mother’s Day on Sunday. I hope you all do something a little special for yourselves on this day and spend some quality time with those that matter to you most.

Next week is Education Week – we are excited to have open classrooms and the Art Show to celebrate (and more) please see the flyer for details.

Walking Towards Reconciliation

Tuesday May 30