From the Principal 

Elissa Campbell

Dear Families

The term has passed so quickly with only three weeks remaining, we have seen some glimmers of the future Spring weather but August is definitely ending with a chill. 

NAPLAN results 2025

Several weeks ago families of students in Year 3 and 5 received their child’s NAPLAN results. These results have been shared with staff and School Council. We are pleased with the results achieved by our students.

As shown, we have consistently achieved above the state average in all areas across Year 3 and Year 5. We have spent the last few years refining our instructional practices across English and Maths and feel these changes have made an impact on our students results. While these results show our school is performing above the state, this year we also outperformed similar schools and other schools in our network. As a school we utilise many pieces of data and evidence about student learning achievement, with NAPLAN being just one test on one day. Our teachers spend regular time each week, working in their Professional Learning Communities to review student outcomes and performance in all areas of learning. They use this information to support the learning programs they deliver and differentiate the learning where necessary to meet student needs. The time spent analysing student performance, supports staff to make their teacher judgements at the end of each semester. I thank our teachers from Year Prep - 6 for their hard work, dedication and ability to work collaboratively to improve the learning outcomes for our students. I would also like to thank our Education Support Staff and Tutors who work to provide intervention programs that support our students who experience challenges in their learning.

Staff and Student Illness

There are still many people in our community who are affected by the numerous illnesses circulating as Winter comes to an end. We are experiencing high numbers of absences with our staff and students. Our teachers are not infallible and do have to take time off to recover. As I am sure families are aware, Victoria is still struggling with a teacher shortage across all schools, this includes access to Casual Relief Teachers. We attempt to cover staff where possible but are not always able to find enough replacement staff. As a school we have been lucky to be minimally affected by the shortage, we know of other schools who have struggled to employ enough staff for each of their classes. We also know that some secondary schools are resorting to days of online learning when they are not able to find enough teachers to cover classes. When we are unable to access a Casual Relief Teacher we do have to resort to splitting classes or putting more than one teacher in a class for the day. Please note that where possible students are split into their year level groups, however this is not always possible and we try to keep class sizes small. There seems to be a misunderstanding in our community with some parents believing that students are not provided with learning that is age appropriate. When students are not sent to classes in their year level, they are provided with work from their teachers to complete while in the class they have been sent to. Please also note that our teachers create weekly collaborative learning planners so there is consistency in the teaching and learning programs delivered across year levels.

Emergency Management Plan

Each year all schools are required to complete an Emergency Management Plan to support school operations in the event of an emergency. I am currently working to complete this plan and it will be shared with the community in the next few weeks. This plan is accessible via our school website throughout the year. As we are a Bushfire rated school we are required to advise our families of arrangements during times of high fire danger. Please be advised that Woodend Primary School will not open on days rated as ‘Catastrophic’, we are not required to close or relocate on ‘High’ rated days, however we do not send Year 4 students out to Carlsruhe on these days.

School Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan

At the end of Term 1 we completed our 5-year school review, as a result of this review we created a new Strategic Plan to support the future direction of the school. Each year we are required to create an Annual Implementation Plan to support our engagement with the strategic direction of the school. While this is usually done at the beginning of each year, because of our new strategic plan this has only just been completed. Both of these documents are available on our school website for viewing by our school community.

Events and Activities

Our students have participated in many exciting events over the last few weeks including our Book Week Parade and open morning last Wednesday. It was lovely to see so many families coming along to watch the fabulous parade of costumes and share in some learning in the classrooms. I know the teachers appreciated the extra pairs of hands in the classrooms, especially those that undertook craft activities.

Thanks to our PFA for running a very successful Parents evening last Friday night, our parent volunteers will also be running our Book Fair in the Library on Thursday and Friday afternoon. Please come by and visit if you have time after school. Next Friday morning our annual Father’s Day breakfast will be held in our Multipurpose Hall. We look forward to celebrating our fathers, grandfathers and other significant males in the lives of our students.

Lost Property

Items of clothing, toys and/or other personal bits & bobs are continually picked up from the school rooms, corridors and grounds and are placed in the Lost Property area outside the Uniform Shop. We ask parents, if they could from time to time stop by and see if items belong to their child(ren) or if they could ask their child(ren) to check. Named items which make their way to lost property, are returned to students at least a couple of times per week.  These are some of this week's 'catch'.  Do you  recognise any of these items? if so, please call into the office to collect.

I hope you are all able to stay warm and dry over the next few days.

Principal

Elissa Campbell