Principal's Report
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my 30 year high school reunion – yes, 30 years! It brought me so much joy to reconnect with old friends, visit our school - which looks somewhat different, yet in many ways the same, and spend time reflecting on our time at secondary school. I am fortunate to have a small group of friends from all stages of schooling – from kindergarten, primary and secondary school, who were there to celebrate our 30 year milestone. We had a wonderful time reminiscing (there were lots of laughs) and catching up on life experiences beyond secondary school. This prompted me to think about all our current and past WEPS students. My hope for all of them is they too experience connection to school beyond school life in the future and realise what an important role they all play in each other lives during their formative years. I loved my time at both primary and secondary school (this may reflect the reason why I am still at school). I hope all students who leave WEPS at the end of grade 6 feel the same and look back on their time at our school as a positive experience with connections to their peers and a strong sense of belonging to our school community.
This week Ann Dwyer (assistant principal) and I are attended the Statewide Annual Victorian Principal’s Conference (Government Schools). The sea of principals moving through the Melbourne Exhibition and Conference Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday this week was an interesting sight – a great one at that. We heard from a number of inspirational guest speakers, Department of Education Leaders and the Minister for Education - Ben Carroll. We also engaged in a number of workshops, focusing on maximizing student engagement and school attendance, stamping out racism and managing principal, leader and teacher workload.
At WEPS we conduct Learning Walks each term. This term we are focusing on our Literacy block. Learning Walks are a structured process where groups of teachers/leaders visit classrooms to observe teaching and learning practices. These visits are focused on learning and reflection, rather than evaluation or judgement. The goal is to foster collaborative conversations and develop a shared vision of high-quality teaching that positively impacts student learning. Learning Walk observations and wonderings are shared with our whole teaching staff, celebrating what is working well in relation to our evidence based agreed teaching approaches to literacy as well as identifying areas for improvement (eg timing, consistency of language, error correcting, responding to students and so on). At WEPS we are committed to improvement and implementing evidence based, high quality teaching practices in alignment with the statewide Victorian Curriculum. For more information on Literacy, I have included the link to our website, outlining how we go about teaching Literacy at WEPS. Please note – explicit teaching of spelling is an essential component of teaching literacy from Foundation to grade 6.
https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/page/26/Literacy
Tomorrow our teachers have been allocated a Professional Practice Day (pupil free day). Professional Practice days are a part of the Victorian Government School Agreement, providing teachers with release from their scheduled duties (all duties which would have been otherwise scheduled, including teaching) to focus on the improved delivery of high quality teaching and learning. Most of our teachers will be completing assessment notes and evaluations in preparation for our Semester 1 reports. For more information about how and what assessments are conducted, please click on the website link;
https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/page/84/Assessment-at-WEPS
Last week we had our May school council meeting. We focussed on the following agenda items;
New school signage and school values totems for the front and side of the school – I am looking forward to sharing plans over the coming weeks
Strategy for roads and parking improvement plan in consultation with Warrnambool City Council rep Shaun Lucas
Parent and Friends fundraising plan - plant sale information to come
School Council will prepare a roads and parking submission to council by the end of the financial year. This submission will then go to Warrnambool City Council for approval in August. Following approvals, the roads and parking improvement plan will be shared with the community. School Council have a deep insight into our road and parking challenges. I would like to assure you they are aware of all dangers and improvement hot spots directly around Warrnambool East PS and beyond.
Some of you may find me at the exit to the school car park at the end of the school day. I am there when I am not on duty in other areas. My goal is to inform/educate all families on our ‘no right turn’ road safety requirement. Thank you to all parents/carers and others who pick up children for taking notice and following the road rule. NO RIGHT TURN DURING SCHOOL HOURS.
Parent Teacher Partnership Meetings are coming up on Monday 23rd June. These meetings are part of our reporting process and all parents are required to attend (students are welcome). We will not be having formal classes on this day, but will provide an alternative program for families who cannot arrange alternative care. Please contact the office (phone or email) if your child will be attending the alternative program on this day. You will receive a notification when bookings for Parent/Teacher partnership meetings open on Compass. All students attending the alternative program will begin and end their school day in the stadium. Usual school hours apply and school uniform is required.
We have noticed an increased number of students arriving at school between 8am and 8.30am. Some students are there before teachers. Please note staff do not officially begin their work day until 8.40am. Students are supervised outside between 8.40am and 8.50am. Please be aware of the safety risks when arriving before this time.
Please click on the link for details regarding school times.
https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/page/51/School-Times
It has come to our attention that not all parents are aware of the Warrnambool East Primary School Parents Group page, which was created many years ago. We have decided to create a new page in the coming week, so we are giving all current parents the opportunity to join. We will send out a notification when this is ready. The new closed group will replace the existing page, so that we ensure all current parents are accepted into the group. The WEPS Admin team will monitor the page and ensure prompt responses when required. The purpose of this page is for sharing important dates, reminders, 2nd hand uniform swaps/sales, general school queries and anything else school related (in general terms). Please note, this is not a forum for informing the office or staff about individual students, complaints, negative comments or put downs. We will inform the community when this closed group on facebook is ready for you to join.
A reminder, enrolments are due on Friday 25th July. Please support early planning and enroll now if you have a child starting in foundation next year and encourage friends, extended family to enroll as soon as possible. We are continuing to tour prospective families through the school – our school captains are doing a superb job of leading the tours. I appreciate you all for supporting positive perceptions in the community based on the number of families who tell us our school has been recommended to them by friends or extended family members. We really appreciate and feel your support!