Dear Families,

Well winter is definitely upon us, as the start of term has been a cold one. It has been great seeing students settle back into the routines of school smoothly and quickly.

The term has many exciting student events planned. These include interschool sports finals, district athletics, a range of incursions including one to celebrate book week, preps’ 100 days of school, the school disco and footy day.

On top of all these events the term will see our Willy Kids continue to explore core curriculum areas through their daily learning programs.

Road Safety

Recently, we have had reports of near misses near the several of our crossings around pick up times which are more complicated than drop off times due to the concentration of families arriving at school at the same time. Can we please remind families to slow right down near crossings, ensure that you don't double park behind parked cars and refrain from parking in “Keep Clear” access areas, in particular the two on Electra st and the one on Hanmer st which must be clear at all times.

Parent eSafety webinar

The school continues to work with The Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s eSmart team in providing our students and families with eSafety learning opportunities. While we are still in the process of finalising a date, we can confirm that the session will be hosted online. This is to increase access to families, removing the challenges of supervision for children that a on-site session would create. Previous online webinars have been highly successful, so we look forward to providing further information shortly.

Parent & Carers Opinion Survey

Next week all families will receive a personalised link to complete the 2024 Parent/Carers/Guardian Opinion Survey. The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. The survey is optional, but we encourage and appreciate your participation.

Our school will use the survey results to assist in identifying areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school, to target school planning and improvement strategies.

Principal Q & A

Next Tuesday 30th July The Friends of Willy (Parents Association) will be hosting the Principal’s Q&A at the Titanic Hotel , Nelson Place. I’d like to thank all who contributed to the distributed survey asking for key themes for presentation. The night will see Lisa and I present on the following most common themes, while also taking on questions related to these themes

Student Wellbeing
Supporting Neurodiversity
Buildings and Infrastructure Improvements

Each theme will be explored through a 10 minute presentation followed by a 5-10 min question time.

All other themes submitted will be responded to in writing via a written Q&A. Questions and topics have been merged into themes in an attempt to respond in a holistic manner.

We look forward to engaging with everyone in attendance

Child safety and wellbeing at Williamstown Primary School:

Williamstown Primary School is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety framework includes policies, codes and procedures that explain how we support and maintain the safety and wellbeing of our students and protect them from harm. These documents are available on our website: https://www.williamstownps.vic.edu.au/page/6/Policies

We are also committed to continuous improvement of our child safety framework. We are currently reviewing our child safety policies and practices to ensure they are up-to-date and effective.

Our students and families are important partners in this process. We welcome your feedback or ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing.

On the ‘Policies’ page of this newsletter, is the draft version of 3 policies which have been updated. If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Steven Puhar on at steven.puhar@education.vic.gov.au. Although feedback is always welcome, for these policies, we require feedback to please occur before Wednesday, 7th August. This will ensure it can be included before the policies are approved at the next school council meeting.

Chess Club

What a start to our new Wednesday after school Chess Club. Twenty Willy Kids had their first session in the library after school learning the rules and strategies of the game known as “The Game of Kings”. We are hopeful that this opportunity continues to be taken up and interest in the game grows. If you have a child who is interest in joining please contact

Trivia Night

Saturday 3rd August the Friends of Willy will be hosting the Rock Stars & Pop Idol Trivia Night at the Italian Social Club. Tickets are available via Compasstix https://compasstix.com/e/x0xxuj501v.

Tickets close Monday 29thJuly

Change Makers Expo - Year 4

It was a great day for our Year 4 students on Monday, as they held their change makers expo. Students explored key figures of history who they felt had made significant change to the world. From Marie Curie and Thomas Edison to Vincent Lingiari. The students used a range of tools to demonstrate their knowledge of the impact of their change makers.

Students from across the school had the opportunity to walk through the expo as did our Grade 4 families.

Prep 100 days of school

One of the biggest days on the prep calendar is the celebration of the first 100 days of school. This day not only serves as a milestone for our students but it is also part of the maths curriculum as students explore the numbers 1-100 and the groups of 10 that are created. We look forward to celebrating this milestone with our prep Willy Kids.

Buildings and Grounds Master Plan

The school continues to work through its Buildings and Grounds Master Plan with many items being able to be ticked off as complete at the most recent Buildings and Grounds sub-committee. These items include

Replacement of carpet in the redbrick, portables and administration building.
Junior Quad Redevelopment
Hall Basketball Rings (Portable)
Playground Border
PA system Replacement
Perimeter Gate Upgrade
Entrance Wall Signage

The school has also submitted a grant application for the redevelopment of the school’s junior toilets. These toilets were part of a two stage project to redevelop the south east corner of the school, with stage 1 being the junior quad grounds project. We are hopeful of being successful with this application. Successful applicants will be notified in September.

The sub-committee is in the process of revising the plan, while also looking to make the document accessible to the general community with key visuals and graphics added to the document. As part of the direction and vision outlined by the school council major fundraising events help support the completion of works that are listed in this document. The hope is that the document helps provide clear understandings around project priorities and strategy.

2025 Prep Enrolments

A reminder that enrolment applications for families close tomorrow, Friday the 26th July.

If you have a child enrolling for foundation in 2025 please ensure your application forms are in by the designated date. Likewise if you know of someone who is looking to enrol their child please let them know and refer them to the school office if they require support.

5/6 Interschool Sports

This week we have seen our school Netball and Soccer teams head off to Divisional Finals. A great effort by all with our girls netball team winning its way through to the regional Finals, with our mixed netball team came runners. Our soccer team was extremely competitive in their carnival yesterday, while our hockey teams will compete today. With Williamstown being a highly active community with many students participating in community sports, it is great seeing students have the opportunity to participate and represent our school.

Warm regards,

Mat

Team Kids