From the Principal & Assistant Principal

What an amazing Term 3 we have had culminating in several open classroom events this week with our Year 1/2 and Year 3 students sharing their learning about pollution in our waterways and lifecycles of living things (respectively). We hope families have enjoyed the many opportunities they have had this term to interact with the learning environment of your children, including our Book Week events and Family Maths evening. Our teachers work incredibly hard to get students engaged in learning and these events are evidence of that. We appreciate the support of our families who often send in materials or support their child with project work at home. Please take the time to look at your child’s Year Level newsletter item, as the staff work diligently to keep families up to date on what happens in the classroom.

Congratulations to our group of Year 4-6 students who competed in the division Athletics competition on Monday. With some of this group now progressing through to the next level to the Loddon Mallee region early next term. We look forward to hearing about your experiences.

End of Term Arrangements

Please note that tomorrow is the final day of Term 3 and students will be dismissed at 2.30pm. We will be altering lunchtime to finish at 2.15pm so students have time to return to their classrooms prior to being dismissed. Please also note that students commence Term 4 on Monday 5th October, our Term 4 Curriculum day is not until Monday 2nd November (the day before Melbourne Cup).

WhatsApp Year Level Groups

A few years ago we changed our WhatsApp Parent Groups to be Year Level groups and we instituted strict guidelines about the purpose for these groups; a place for families to interact and increase connections within our community. These groups are not a place to raise concerns about the school, teachers etc. Since bringing in these changes and with the support of our volunteer facilitators these expectations have generally been maintained. I remind parents to review our policies on communication and how to raise concerns with the school directly. Our official communication channels continue to Compass, email, telephone, the website, our official school Facebook page and this newsletter. Please remember that we ask parents not to email teachers directly, instead please use the school email woodend.ps@education.vic.gov.au. If the WhatsApp groups are used for other purposes the school will need to reconsider if we continue to use them into the future.

Semester 2 Reporting

As you know we made changes to student reports during Semester 1, this was in response to stop work action undertaken by the AEU. As an in principle agreement is now in place the stop work action has ceased. However, the Department of Education has changed reporting guidelines for 2027. With this in mind your child’s Semester 2 report will be modified to reflect the upcoming changes to reporting. You will still receive an indication of where they are placed against the curriculum in all areas taught, a judgement against our school values and a general teacher comment. More information will be shared with parents prior to the reports being released.

Policy Updates

At our School Council meeting on Monday night consultation was held about the following policies, with School Council approval given for our Child Safe Code of Conduct. Please be aware that these policies are written under strict guidance provided by the Department of Education, with small amounts of personalisation to our school environment.

Child Safe Code of Conduct

Volunteers Policy

Visitors Policy 

Student Engagement and Wellbeing policy 

Yard Duty and Supervision Policy 

Lost Property

We have an assortment of glasses, watches, jewellery, swap cards, wallets (with $) and other bits & bobs in our Lost Property box .  If you recognise any item, please come past the office as all will be going to the local charity shops over the school break.

We wish you all a safe and enjoyable break, hopefully the weather remains fine and you are able to enjoy some of the Spring sunshine. 

Principal              Assistant Principal                 

Elissa Campbell                  Adam Sayers