A Word from the Principal 

A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

A warm welcome to our community

GREAT NEWS….our amazing students have worked so hard and Weeden Heights PS has been listed in Victoria’s top 20 highest performing government schools and Victoria’s top 50 highest performing schools (government and independent).  I can’t tell you all how proud and impressed I am with the students’ performance on NAPLAN, PAT testing and teacher judgements.  Go Weeden Heights PS!

The weather is certainly getting cooler and Winter is well and truly on its way.  Remember to  purchase our Weeden Heights PS beanie for some extra warmth and they are a great addition to the school uniform.  Also don’t forget the WHPS maroon spray jackets are a fabulous way to stay warm as they cut out the wind and breeze.    We also have WHPS sleeveless vests for extra warmth in our uniform collection.  The beanies can be purchased from our office if you are interested and the spray jacket and sleeveless vest are available at the uniform supplier’s shop.  

Education Week (including Grandparents Morning Tea, Open Night and Mathematics Day)

Last week was fabulous as we celebrated Education Week with our community.  Thank you so much to everyone who came to visit our classrooms and programs on our open night on Thursday night.  It was fabulous to see everyone getting involved and enjoying the activities, performances and student displays. 

It was very special to see so many grandparents last Tuesday.  Several students had all four of their grandparents there….amazing! Half of their school brought their grandparents to school for the tour and morning tea and our wonderful visitors had so much to share with us.  It is great to learn from our family members.

Mathematics Day was well received by the students and it was the perfect opportunity to participate in mathematical challenges.  Students worked with cross aged groups to apply their mathematical  learning and understandings.  Most of all they had loads of fun and enjoy the maths in their environment. 

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD).  Weeden Heights PS will be participating in the data collection this term.  The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools 
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

Attitudes to School Survey

We value student voice at Weeden Heights because it is a means to improving student engagement, wellbeing and quality instruction. Students in years 4, 5 and 6 completed the Attitudes to School Survey last week. By completing the survey, the school is able to identify what students think, believe and how they feel about their learning, peers, teachers and Weeden Heights PS. 

The Attitudes to School survey is an annual student survey offered by the Department of Education and Training to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.

The survey is completed online during school hours and all responses from each student are confidential. 

Cold, Flu and Covid reminders

With the arrival of the colder weather there is an increase of colds, COVID and flu at this time of year. Whilst we understand that students want to attend school, it is important that they stay at home even if their symptoms are mild, and do not return to school until they are completely well. If your child presents at school with coughs and sniffles, it places all students and staff at risk.

Please take note of the following reminders to help us manage COVID at school. 

• If your child is unwell and is experiencing COVID like symptoms such as a cough, headache, runny nose and fever, test for COVID and keep them at home until they are feeling better
• If you are concerned about COVID in the school community, you are welcome to send your child to school wearing a mask.

Enrolments for 2025 : Sibling enrolments

We would really appreciate if our Weeden Heights families with preschoolers coming to school in 2025, could fill in their online enrolment forms and submit them to our office.  We know that there are a few families out there who have not yet enrolled. If you have neighbours starting school next year, please let them know about the final dates and send them to our office for an enrolment form and a tour. 

Schools do have zones, however, Weeden Heights is in a position to take students from out of our zoned area as we sit on a very large school site. Please encourage friends and neighbours to take a look at Weeden Heights PS.  Our highly successful Bright Beginnings transition program commences at the end of term 3  and we do not want our future students to miss the opportunity to attend.  Please contact either Kerryn or Cindy in the office and collect an enrolment form for your pre-schooler. The enrolment form is also available from the website. Thank you. 

Lastly, don't forget that we have a student free day on Tuesday 4 June.  Teachers will be taking the day to engage with Dr Jenni Wilson to sharpen our inquiry learning tools to promote greater student agency in their inquiry investigations.  It is going to be a full on and challenging day that we are all looking forward to.  

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal