Principal  Message

I wanted to start by thanking the FOWPS for their contribution to our school by organising and executing a great Halloween Disco last week. Jaime Young has once again worked hard to coordinate these much-loved evenings. With the help of many parents with supervision, decorations and food, the evening was a big success. 

I want to thank Jaime& Adam Young, Sophie Matson, Terri Fernando, and all the parents who contributed on the night supervising or doing food. A special thank you to Will Pyett, Sashka's dad, who was our DJ for the night. Thank you also to past student Miette, who put together some games for the junior disco. It was great to see her back here.

Christmas Celebration Event

Save the Date - 11th December & 5pm-7pm

This year we are going to run our Christmas night at Stiggant's Reserve again. We felt the additional space and undercover stage worked well last year. This year we have secured the African Drumming incursion to provide families with some additional entertainment. This is an interactive performance and was very popular at the Arts Festival so we are looking forward to having them return.

There will also be performances by students on the stage with Kirsty getting some songs together. Also, Chris Cavill will be running a signing group to perform on the night also. From Week 6, Chris will invite any students who would like to sing some Christmas songs with him to rehearse.  We also have a special appearance by Kevin O'Mara, who will be performing with some grade 5/6 students on the night. There will be some commitment to attend rehearsals if your child wishes to perform in the group. We will be arranging for this time to be given in the last hour of the day so no core curriculum activities are missed. 

Food, ice-cream and drinks will be available on the evening thanks to FOWPS. If you are able to help FOWPS on this night, please let Terri know. You don't have to be a member of FOWPS to help out at events or fundraising drives. This year we have been saving our FOWPS funds to purchase a set of laptops/tablets for the school and to create a recording space for a podcasting studio in 2025. Students will be able to record their work, run shows or create student reports on items of interest for all to listen to. 

A reminder that the Community Carols is on the 14th December and there will be performances by Warrandyte Primary. Again, Kevin O'Mara has agreed to return for the carols and has lined up some WPS students to perform with him.

Christmas Raffle

Each child has been sent home with a book of raffle tickets to sell. There are 10 tickets and are selling for 1 for $2, 5 for $6 and 10 for $10.  Each ticket sold goes into the draw to win a Christmas Hamper at the WPS Christmas Celebration Event. All students are asked to bring in a small gift or Christmas themed item to place in their Classroom Christmas tub for us to make up hampers. We ran one of these hampers drive a couple of Easter's ago and the students really enjoyed that.  

There are more raffle books at the office if you want to sell more. You can also pay for your raffle tickets on Compass or at the office. 

Class Requests

We open up our Parent Requests next week so look out for the Compass message. I have attached our class placement policy below for anyone interested in reading through this. The main detail I think is relevant to you is that we offer a chance for parents to put in requests as a way of keeping the channels of communication open between home and school.  Asking for particular things such as friendships can have a direct impact on other students when we grant a request.  The most important point to make is that we don't want to penalise other children because a parent from another family has made a request that impacts allocation of other people's children. We do not get involved in any issues between families and do not let this impact our decisions. I also want to stress that we don't take requests for particular class structures across the school as this decision is based on a much bigger picture in relation to financial viability and future financial needs on top of the varying needs of particular cohorts. Schools have access to a great deal of information that is not always public knowledge, and we remain committed to protecting the privacy of students and families. 

Principal Morning Tea

We had our monthly morning tea with Winston this morning for any students who have been awarded a Principal Award at assembly. The implementation of these awards has had a very positive impact on our students, which teachers reporting that their whole class celebrates when a student in their grade has been selected. 

The morning tea is also a space for different age levels to come together and get to know each other a little better. I see the older students nurturing the younger ones and the younger ones making the older students laugh. This morning 3 of the Grade 6 girls in the group stayed in the staff room well after the morning tea has finished with their cups of tea and were chatting and laughing, enjoying a chance to socialise in this informal setting. 

The Principal Awards play an important role in shaping a positive school culture by recognising and celebrating the achievements and efforts of our students. When students are acknowledged for demonstrating their core value beliefs, it fosters a sense of pride and belonging within the school community. This recognition not only motivates recipients to continue striving for excellence but also inspires their peers to reach their own potential. The celebration of a range of accomplishments such as academic, social or extracurricular, creates an inclusive environment where every student feels valued and encouraged to contribute. I also enjoy my time with the students and look forward to the morning tea as a way of asking questions and finding out more about how they are feeling or engaging in activities. Getting to know students better and sharing in a laugh is time well spent.

Have a great weekend.

Take care,

Nieta