From the  Principal 

Diana Ellis

Hats

As per our Sun Protection Policy, our students are still required to wear hats. Each day we are finding many students without hats and students are often coming up to Lost Property looking for spare hats. For health reasons, we do not provide spare hats. If your child does not have their hat, they will be required to play in the court yard area under the shade of the verandahs.

Rubbish

Despite having many bins around the school, we are seeing an alarming increase in rubbish around the school. We ask that you help us to keep our school clean and where possible you reduce the amount of soft plastics that you put in your child’s lunch. This Friday we are having our Clean Up Australia event. We hope this will result in a return to our beautiful rubbish free school grounds. 

Fire Drill

As we are a bush fire rated school we are required by law to have emergency drills to practise for a fire situation. This term we will be having a Shelter in Place Drill and in term 4 we will have an off site evacuation.

CDSSA – Summer sports

This week our Senior Unit students participated in our inter school sports competition in Volleyball, Softball and Tennis.

I was extremely proud of the feedback I received from parent spectators about the exemplary sportsmanship of our students, in particular their willingness to support and congratulate others. 

Mark's Baby Shower

At Woodend Primary we love any excuse to have a celebration. This week we celebrated the impending birth of baby Condon. Mr Condon and his wife are due to become parents any day now. We wish them all the best for the safe arrival of their baby and the beginning of a new life chapter.

Around the classes

Prep routines and testing  

Our Prep students have spent the first month settling in and we are seeing their little personalities come to the fore as they engage with their teachers and peers and explore their surroundings. Every Wednesday our Foundation teachers have continued to do the Prep Entry Testing with their students. This testing provides a wonderful insight into the literacy and numeracy levels of our students and allows the teachers to plan for different learning levels. 

Year 1-2 Local History Excursion

Our Year 1-2 students are learning all about their local community and they have participated in a walk around our local community to learn about our local history.

Year 3 writing

Our Year 3 students are learning all about rhetorical writing and this week I had the pleasure of seeing some great examples of their understanding.

Making castles

Our Year 4 students are enjoying making Castles during their Art sessions. The castles are very intricate and have items such as draw bridges, turrets, cannons, balconies and more.

Visitors to school

Our expectations are that all visitors sign into the office on arrival, however there are always exceptions to the rule. Recently we spent a few hours looking after a very special visitor after she had strayed from home while her humans were away at school and work.

Retirement

By now I am sure news of my upcoming retirement has travelled far and wide on the “community grapevine”.

Many of you who know me well, know my absolute heart and soul is in education and ensuring we can do our absolute best for our students by providing the skills, knowledge and mindsets needed that underpin success.

From the age of 4, I told anyone who would listen that I was going to be a teacher, vet or police officer. 

Although in my secondary school years I became obsessed with Physical Education and fitness and also Law.

I applied for and was accepted into university to study law but in my heart I knew teaching was for me with some negotiating I was able to change into teaching.

After three years at college and specialising in the field of Physical Education, I applied to teach Physical Education in Melbourne but instead I was appointed to Wedderburn Primary in the Mallee, in the middle of a moues plague, to teach Art and Library to the whole school. I did not know what had hit me. The love of the job, the sense of adventure (in between my head spinning) and the support of very welcoming colleagues and parents in the community meant that I soon fell in love with the school and after 3 years, I found it hard to leave a country community that I had fallen in love with. 

I then had a compassionate transfer to Melbourne so that I could get married. I was appointed to a very different setting at the newly developed Craigieburn P-12 School and taught Preps for 3 years before starting family leave with my first child.

For the next 5 years, I was a stay-at-home mum but I did a lot of relief teaching, contract work in schools and kindergartens close to Romsey area, and tutoring.

In returning to the work force, I was appointed to Romsey Primary and spent 14 years there teaching Preps and then Year 5/6 before being appointed as Principal of Lancefield Primary where I was Principal for 6 years.

In October 2016 I was appointed as Principal of Woodend Primary School. I am immensely proud of our school and what we continue to achieve. We have an excellent cohort of staff who do their utmost every day to support our students and families. 

Over my time at Woodend Primary, I have felt blessed to have spent so much time with the wonderful students, parents and staff that make our school such a warm and welcoming place. Being at a wonderful school like Woodend has made the decision to retire so much harder, our school is in a great place and now is the right time to move on.  After giving 40 years to the Education system, I am now looking forward to giving all of my time to my family and my aging parents, my beautiful friends and our adorable dog. We don’t get the privilege of 40 years of retirement after 40 years of work, so I am going to embrace opportunities to relax, travel, garden, play golf, go to gym and enjoy my photography. 

My final week will be the first week of term 2 (Thursday April 24). I hope that I have many more opportunities to interact with you before I leave. I have been able to lead this school with pride, conviction and passion because of the ongoing support from staff and parents. Thankyou.

Principal

Diana Ellis