Term 4, Week 10

Dear families,

Last week we held our annual Christmas Carols evening and what an entertaining evening it was. It was fantastic to see all of our students who participated, put their best foot forward and showed us all their great singing and dancing skills. A big thank you goes to Miss Chelsea and our classroom teachers who choreographed the performances. We would also like to thank our amazing Williamstown North community for attending the event – we hope you enjoyed the night as much as us.

Over the next fortnight, all year levels will be undertaking end of year celebratory excursions. They are heading to various locations around Melbourne as a fun opportunity to enjoy each other’s company, before heading off for the summer holidays. Please remind students that they are still upholding the values representing Williamstown North Primary School and themselves. We hope all students enjoy this opportunity and each other’s company.

From Wednesday 10th December 2025, a new law requires age-restricted social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from having a social media account. Anyone under 16 in Australia won’t be able to keep or create accounts on social media apps from December 10, 2025. This law is intended to target social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, X, Facebook and YouTube.

Next Monday, our year 6s will be participating in their end of primary school graduation ceremony. It’s exciting to think that our students are heading into high school and the next chapter of their education. We thank our year 6s for leading our school and being fine examples to our younger students throughout the year. We look forward to celebrating their growth and learning.

It is also that time of year where we say farewell to some staff members as well as welcome new staff members for the next school year. Firstly, I would like to thank and farewell Mr Nick Reese, who will taking up a PE teaching position at another school, Mr Cameron Brown, who will be taking up a Mathematics leading teacher position at another school, Ms Sam Ng -Yong who is returning to Canada, and Ms Laura Buckley who will be taking up a position closer to home. We also have Mrs Dianna Lane and Ms Lisa Caulfield who will be finishing up with us in a permanent capacity, but you will most likely see them returning to WNPS in a CRT role in the new year. We thank both Dianna and Lisa for their ongoing commitment and contributions to our school. Next year, Mrs Belinda Gill and Mrs Giorgia Moss will be embarking on 12 months of well-earned leave from their roles at Willy North. I’m sure that even though they will be on leave, we will see them popping in and out throughout the year prior to their return in 2027. We welcome the following staff to our school for the 2026 school year: Mrs Corrina Jones (year 1), Mr Jacob Lloyd (year 2), Mrs Alicia McPherson (year 2), (Mr Callum Jackson (year 2), Ms Alexandra Cook (year 4), and Ms Emily Cunningham (year 5). Of course, we also welcome back Mrs Tania Brown to year Prep who has enjoyed a year travelling in 2025, and Mrs Katherine Richards who is returning from family leave.

Yesterday, all students met their 2026 teachers and became familiar with their classrooms and classmates. Staff have worked tirelessly creating our 2026 classes meeting the academic, social/emotional and wellbeing needs of all students as well as endeavouring to meet over 100 parent requests. We recognise the importance of positive friendship groups in supporting student wellbeing and engagement. Whilst we have already welcomed requests from families, we also value the opportunity for students to form new friendships and work with a range of peers. We are proud of our team of dedicated and highly committed educators, but we are unable to accommodate individual teacher requests. Class teachers are allocated based on student needs, teacher expertise and the creation of balanced classes. To ensure we cater for all students needs and provide equitable class opportunities, these classes are now final, and further changes are unable to be made.

Over the last fortnight our school went through the school review process. This process is facilitated every four years and informs the development of the school’s 4-year School Strategic Plan. The 2 components of a school review were:

1. The Pre-Review Self-Evaluation (PRSE) where we reviewed data to form a collective view of current practice and areas for improvement.

2. Additional review activities such as classroom observations and focus groups to garner feedback from students, teachers, and parents. These additional activities are facilitated by an independent school reviewer and a panel comprising 2 external school principal challenge partners, the Senior Education Improvement Leader, School Council President, and WNPS School Leaders and Principal team. Over the fieldwork days, we observed a variety of year levels teaching Literacy and Numeracy, as well as Specialist Classes. The panel spoke with parents, school leaders, teachers, education support staff and a selection of students.

Strengths:

Restructuring and strengthening of leadership capacity: more opportunities and development
Orderly and consistent classroom environments and curriculum delivery: Learning Intentions & Success criteria, use of instructional model
Communication with families have increased: weekly class newsletters, accessibility of teachers etc.
Wellbeing of students is priority & improvements in attendance processes & data.
Parents feel a strong sense of community and belonging at the school: participation in sports/clubs outside of school as well as engagement with families within the school.
Transitions are a strength – additional visits to WHS and extensive entry to prep transition program.
Students enjoy learning at WNPS – like the facilities and staff. Enjoy being supported by smaller instructional groupings etc.
Staff feel valued and enjoy time to plan and work collegiately: resource sharing and three levels of planning. Working with ES has been supportive – openness to modify and share strategies

Opportunities for Development:

Leadership role descriptions and clarity: communicating these to wider community.
High proportion of students in strong band for NAPLAN: moving them into exceeding through extension in class and/or withdrawal programs and the consistency of these a future focus.
Refining formative assessment practices and increasing staff data literacy: capacity to use data to inform planning purposefully – Professional Learning Communities and Cycles of Inquiry.\Depth and rigour in understanding and use of learning intentions and success criteria: student goals and feedback strategies.
Reducing variability in communications from staff to parents, streamlining Compass newsfeeds and days etc.
Future planning: Inclusion Profile processes, implementation of Positive Classroom Management Strategies, review of values/vision, child safety (start & end of day times, lunch breaks)

Overall, it was a very positive experience and has provided a clear direction for future school improvement. A key finding from our review was the need to supervise our school yard earlier each morning when students arrive. This will ensure we are in-line with Child Safety Standards and able to protect our students from nearby busy roads, the train station and an unsupervised playground.

Therefore, effective from the start of next year, term one, teachers will now be scheduled to supervise our school yard from 8:35am until 8:50am. At 8:50am, all classrooms will be open and supervised by classroom teachers with the expectation that students enter the classroom, set themselves up for the day, and undertake a quiet activity until 9:00am. Learning instruction will commence sharply at 9:00am, which is the official start time for all students, but 8:50am arrival is strongly encouraged. Between 8:50am and 9:00am, our leading teachers and specialist teachers will supervise the school yard and direct students to their classrooms.

This change to teachers’ working hours will enable teachers to be available to parents each morning between 8.30am and 8.50am. Since this is a change to teacher’s working hours, there must also be a change to the end of school day bringing us in-line with the Victorian Governments Schools Agreement (VGSA). Effective from 2026, the school day will finish at 3:15pm. Whilst the class time officially ends at 3:15pm for students, the school yard will continue to be supervised until 3:30pm, meaning more flexibility on parent pick up times if needed. OSCH will continue to operate as per normal with a 3:15pm start time.

After analysing 2025 wellbeing data relating to behaviour incidents during lunch breaks, the findings painted a picture of student boredom and unrest during the second half of lunch. This year, between 1:30pm and 2:00pm, there were 90 behavioural incidents that required follow-up from classroom teachers and members of the wellbeing team. This figure almost tripled in the second half of lunch to a massive 236 behavioural incidents.

In response to this information, we will also re-structure the recess and lunch breaks and eating time to better support the wellbeing of all our students. Whilst there is a reduction in the lunch break, the recess break increases by 10 minutes and a further 5 minutes of eating time will assist in reducing the need for students to take food packages out into the school yard which will greatly improve our current litter situation. The Butterfly Room and Library will also be open for the entirety of the lunch break in 2026, and we will investigate the viability of opening these spaces at recess as well during term 1. Students will also have the opportunity to have 15 minutes of supervised play in the school yard at the end of each day between 3.15pm and 3.30pm.

A summary of the proposed changes can be found below:

8.30am – Teachers commence duty

8.35am – 8.50am - Yard duty supervision – classroom teachers rostered

8.50am-9.00am - Soft start: Teacher supervision in classes (Leading teachers and specialist teachers supervising school yard and directing students to classrooms)

9.00am-11.00am - Sessions 1&2

11.00am-11.05am – Snack in class supervision

11.05am-11.35am – Recess

11.35am-1.35pm - Sessions 3&4

1.35pm-1.45pm - Lunch eating in class supervision

1.45pm-2.15pm - Lunch break

2.15pm-3.15pm – Session 5

3.15pm-3.30pm – After school yard duty

Thank you for your support in these adjustments of timings to better care for our students.

Our last day for Term 4 is Friday 19 December with all students finishing at 1:30pm. We will be having our end of year assembly in the gym from 12.45pm. Semester 2 reports will be live on Compass for your viewing from 3:30pm on Monday 15 December. Should you wish to arrange a time to speak with your child’s teacher about their reports prior to the end of the year, please do not hesitate to contact them directly via Compass.

Enjoy the last week and a half of the school year.

Have a wonderful weekend,

WNPS Leadership Team

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