WNPS School Newsletter

Principal's Report

Term 3 Week 3

Dear Families,

 

Parent Teacher Interviews:

 

Thank you to all families who engaged in our parent teacher interviews over the past fortnight. I trust that you found the evenings informative as well as being a valuable opportunity to provide feedback to your child’s teacher. Families are reminded that should you require further time to meet with teachers, please feel free to contact them, to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet.

 

2026 Prep:

 

Last week, we sent letters of offer to 2026 prep applicants. We are thrilled to have 5 prep classes next year who will be nurtured by our 2026 prep teaching team, Mr Schmidt, Mrs Wilkinson, Miss Fyfe, Miss Mayer and Mrs Brown (who is returning from a year of travelling). I would like to thank Miss Hayes and the current prep team, as well as Kerri in the office and Tinh (our technician) for all of their efforts in preparing the offers as well as co-ordinating our comprehensive prep transition program which will kick off in the coming weeks. If you have received a letter of offer (or know someone who has) please ensure you contact Kerri and notify us as to whether you are accepting or declining the placement as we have a small waiting list who would like to be considered for any places that do become available.

 

Staff Absences:

 

I have had some recent contact from families regarding staff members who are or have been on leave from the workplace for various reasons. Whilst I acknowledge the inconvenience and disruption that staff being on leave may have on a class or individual students, I would like to advise families that personal leave accrued by staff is part of their working conditions and confidential in nature. I have included below, a brief and general summary of teacher absence protocols. 

 

There are times when things arise that can take teachers and support staff away from being in our classrooms. Some of these reasons may include:

  • Illness/injury
  • Caring for an unwell family member
  • Professional Learning courses
  • Applying assessments requested by DET
  • Professional Practice Day - where teachers can engage in PL or catch up with assessments or planning of their choice
  • Time in lieu
  • Specialist medical appointments
  • Leave of other types e.g. long service leave, leave without pay

Your child’s teacher will preferably be replaced by a CRT (Casual Relief Teacher). They will use the planning documents that would be used by your child’s classroom teacher and will be supported by the team leader and the teacher next door. If no CRTs are available (which does happen) as a last resort, your child’s class will be split. Please understand that teachers have private lives and may not wish to discuss their personal details and as a school, we are only able to share information that is approved for us to share and only once the information is made available to us.  Please see links below to which further outline the Department of Education’s Leave Policy and the Victorian Government School’s Agreement 2022".

 

Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022

Personal Leave — Teaching Service: Overview | VIC.GOV.AU | Policy and Advisory Library

 

NAPLAN 2025:

 

It’s with great excitement that we present our 2025 NAPLAN results in comparison to Similar Schools in red, all schools within our Hobson’s Bay Network in yellow, and all schools within the state in green. As you can see, there is plenty to celebrate. We have outperformed Network schools in all areas across Years 3 and 5 as well as Similar schools in a growing number of domains. We have also vastly outperformed state percentages in all testing domains. A huge congratulations needs to go to all our staff and students in Years 3 and 5. And a special thank you to our parent community who continue to provide additional support to all our students and for working closely with your child’s classroom teacher to achieve this success. 

 

All families have received hard copies of their Individual Student Report last week, please read through and store these for future reference as you may need them for select-entry high schools, and scholarship programs in the future. If you have any questions, please contact your classroom teacher.

 

MESSAGE FROM MR SKIPWORTH:

 

Hello Williamstown North Primary School,

 

It has been fantastic to be welcomed by all the staff and students at this amazing school and I look forward to building strong connections with the parent community. 

 

I have been in education for over 20 years in different locations and undertaken a variety of different portfolios.  At WNPS, I will be working in the Wellbeing and Inclusion spaces, so if there’s anything you need to discuss to support your child, reach out and get in contact. 

 

A bit of information about myself is that I’m married with two kids (13yr old and 11yr old) and I currently live in Geelong – however I am a one eyed Western Bulldogs member.  I’m pleased to be part of a school that has a lot of students who support the dogs and have my fingers crossed for this season. 

 

I look forward to meeting you all,

 

Jonathon Skipworth. 

 

Have a wonderful fortnight an I look forward to seeing everyone for Reading and Writing Together is Magic in Week 5

 

Richard Buckingham 

Principal