Principal's Message
Dear Parents/Carers,
EXPLICIT DIRECT INSTRUCTION - LITERACY
You may have heard that the Victorian Government has mandated that Explicit Direct Instruction of phonics and phonemic in literacy lessons in Victorian schools this year. At Warrnambool Primary School we have been at the forefront of this delivery for several years now and schools from around the district often come tour school to observe our lessons and take away strategies and ideas for their settings.
Literacy is the cornerstone of all learning. Being literate enhances wellbeing, engagement in learning, and our ability to navigate our way through the wider world.
At Warrnambool Primary School we prioritise explicit and systematic instruction of core literacy skills providing a solid base for learning in all subject areas. Teacher-led instruction is delivered in an explicit way where concepts and skills are fully modelled and explained in clear logical steps. Checking for student understanding occurs frequently throughout each lesson, enabling prompt targeted feedback.
Focused attention is given to word-level reading, spelling, oral reading fluency, handwriting, sentence construction, and building a learning environment rich in knowledge. As students progress through each year level, content and skills are reviewed, refined, and expanded upon. Students will learn to apply both knowledge and skills in increasingly sophisticated ways.
Learning to read and write are not natural processes. We reference a large body of research about how the brain learns to read and write, and integrate evidence-based instructional practices at all levels.
Literacy instruction spans across all curriculum areas each day incorporating the following key components:
Oral language – Speaking and listening.
Phonological and phonemic awareness – Ability to hear, identify, and play with sounds in spoken language including rhymes, syllables, and the smallest units of sound (phonemes).
Phonics – Learning about letters and letter combinations (graphemes), and the sounds (phonemes) they represent.
Vocabulary – Learning about words, word parts, word meanings and the origins (morphology/etymology).
Fluency – Automatic word recognition for smooth, expressive oral reading, and an understanding of what is read.
Comprehension – Thinking about, understanding, and responding to spoken and written language.
Writing – Handwriting is explicitly taught from the formation of individual letters to words, then to sentences, and short passages. Writing is a complex process where students communicate their ideas in print. They learn about sentence and text structure, syntax, grammar, and punctuation.
STUDENT TEACHERS
Welcome to Warrnambool Primary School! We extend a warm welcome to our two Canadian guests, Sarah Louth and Kirsten McKay. Sarah and Kirsten will be experiencing different year levels throughout their stay. They have expressed their admiration for our fantastic students, staff, and community. We thank them for their enthusiasm and encourage them as they continue their journey to become wonderful teachers.
STUDENT REPORTS AND PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS
Teachers and students have been working very hard over the past few weeks completing assessment and reporting tasks. Our Pupil Free Day tomorrow is to ensure that reports are written and completed ready for proof reading and editing. The reports will be available on Compass on Thursday 3rd July 2025. Parent Teacher Interviews will be in the third week of Term 3. Please ensure that you book your Interview time through compass when bookings open but if you have any issues please contact the school office.
Parent Teacher Interviews will be held Monday 4th to Wednesday 6th August 2025 from 3.30 - 5pm.
NB: Year 3-4 interviews will commence earlier for those families who can access that time.
FIRST NATIONS LEADERSHIP DAY
Last Thursday 5th June, 7 of our Year 5/6 Koorie leaders took part in Day 2 of th First Nations leadership workshop held at Deakin University.
The students heard the inspiring story of local Peek Warrong man Jordan Gould, author of popular book series Wylah, along with his co creator Richard Pritchard. All students were ecstatic to be gifted a copy of the novel and many had theirs signed by the authors.
They then listened to local stories from aboriginal elder Rob Lowe Snr, learned language and songs and participated in a scavenger hunt.
This was a great experience for our students and leaders of tomorrow. A big thankyou to Jess Arnott and Sam Delaney for attending and helping on the day.
The students are excited for Day 3 later in the year.
AFL SESSIONS
On Thursday, 12th June, our students enjoyed an exciting AFL session during their PE lessons, thanks to the support of the Sporting Schools Grant. This initiative provided students with the opportunity to learn new skills and engage in a professionally-led Australian Rules Football (AFL) session.
A big thank you to Tristan and the Sporting Schools program for making this possible.
We look forward to more great sporting experiences in the future!
LIONS CLUB EYESIGHT TESTING
Several Lions Club members will complete sight testing on selected students- those who have returned their consent forms. The testing covers visual accuracy, colour vision, depth perception and the spot screener covered myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, anisometropia, binocular vision and anisocoria. Parents will receive a letter providing the results. Testing may pick up a few students who become recommended for some further assessment. If you have concerns about your child’s sight this is free and it would be worth following up for an appointment. The screenings occur on Friday 27th June 2025. It is not too late to submit your forms which were sent home last month.
YEAR 5/6 GIRLS AFL 9’s
Well done to our AFL 9’s girls’ teams who competed with pride this week. Each girl did a fantastic job learning about teamwork and persisting in the elements. Well done to Mr Lewis for coaching the teams.
YEAR 6 CAMP- MELBOURNE 18TH-20TH JUNE 2025
The Year 6 students are looking forward to their Camp to Melbourne next week. Please ensure all medical/ consent forms are submitted. This promises to be one of the highlights of not only Year 6 but their school life.
Consider these activities- MCG Tour; Ice Skating; Museum and many more.
We can’t wait to hear of their adventures.
YEAR 1 NIGHT WALK 24TH JUNE 2025
To complement their studies on Astronomy, the Year 1 students will have the opportunity to stay after school and participate in activities before attending a night walk at the Botanical Gardens. While are at the Botanical Gardens they will be explore the night sky and observe the stars. They will also enjoy a BBQ dinner.
Please make sure you provide consent on Compass.
Have a great weekend.
Peter Lee
Principal