NAPLAN COMMENCES NEXT WEEK

Our Year 3 & 5 students start NAPLAN next week. The NAPLAN tests assess literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through their regular school curriculum. Students will sit assessments in Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy (schedule below).

We encourage all students to prepare for the tests by making sure they get plenty of sleep the night before, have a good breakfast and arrive at school on time. The best approach for preparing your child is to encourage them to do the best they can on the day.

If your child is absent on a test day, where possible we will make arrangements for them to sit the test on another day.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

We have now finalised our 2024 School Council Election process. I would like to formally introduce our school council:

Parent Category Members	DET Category Members
Abdul Ghafar Jess Appeldorff Karlie Miles Laura McCleary Laura Muscat Meredith Jones Stewart Greig	Brooke Barnes Chris Gatt Kerrie Slaymaker Susan Richardson

Office bearers for 2024 will be decided at our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 12th March. Our Annual General Meeting is an open forum and all members of our school community are welcome to join.

We would like to thank you retiring School Councillors, Kelly Bennett, Marijke Welsh, Matthew Witbrodt and Jesse Langdon for their contributions to our school council over the last two years.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

WESTGROVE PRIMARY SCHOOL KINDERGARTEN (interim name)

A new kindergarten is being built at our school and is expected to be completed and open Term 1, 2026. This new centre will provide additional kindergarten places for the local community, while making drop-off time simpler and more convenient for some families.

This is an exciting time for our school, and I look forward to sharing further updates and the design of the building once they become available.

If you have any questions about the works you can contact the VSBA by phone at 1800 896 950, email vsba@education.vic.gov.au or visit their website: https://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au

STAFFING UPDATE

Next Friday we will be farewelling one of our Education Support Staff, Emma Inglis. She will be transferring to a school closer to her home. We thank her for her contributions to our Westgrove community over the last 12-months.

YEAR 6 CAMP

On Wednesday 21st February - Friday 23rd February, 69 of our Year 6 students along with seven staff attended the Year 6 Camp to Anglesea.

The students took part in a range of activities, including surfing or body boarding, yabbying and a bush dance. We were extremely impressed by our students, particularly their behaviour, companionship, encouragement and support of others and willingness to give all activities a go.

We would like to thank all the staff who attended, as without their support the camp could not have gone ahead.

SCHOOL SPORTS VICTORIA (SSV), WERRIBEE DISTRICT SWIMMING CARNIVAL

On Thursday 22nd February, ten of our strongest swimmers represented our school in the annual SSVWD swimming carnival. Every report I have had from staff and parents who attended was extremely positive not only about the way our students swam but about the wonderful way they supported each other to do their very best.

As well as having a really positive day, our children performed extremely well in their events and should be proud of their efforts. We now have 2 children who have qualified to represent the Wyndham Division in the next level of School Sports Victoria competition.

STUDENT WELLBEING & SAFETY

We regularly have reports from concerned parents about dangerous driver behaviour on the roads around our school before and after school. Please drive carefully round our school and obey parking regulations.

We also remind our students and their families to use the school crossings that surround our school. We have had reports of students neglecting to use supervised crossings and cross roads dangerously.

English News

Literacy at Westgrove