A Message from Vassie 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Wurundjeri, Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung Peoples of the Kulin Nation and pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. Aboriginal people have a deep and continuous connection to the place now called Victoria. Aboriginal people have lived in the Maribyrnong River valley for over 40,000 years.

Welcome to Week Two of Term Three, and our first fortnightly newsletter for the term. 

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all community members back to Wembley Primary School for Term Two. I'm pleased to share that we have had a successful and smooth start to the term. It's always a pleasure to see and hear the wonderful sounds of students learning and playing happily, in classrooms and in the yard.

We have had a great start to term with 3-6 Athletics Day, Divisional Soccer Competition, NAIDOC Week Smoking Ceremony, Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN results released, prep 'camp' yoga experience, Prep AEDC census commencement, pupil free day focusing on 2025 curriculum 2.0 development, year 1 movie night, Year 5 & 6 SHV Personal Development Sessions, Year 3 & 4 Koorie Incursions, and significant progress for the capital works building project. 

Please see below my Principal's Update for the WPA Bogan Bingo flyer!

Prep 100 Days of School and Camp

Thank you to Jacinda Richards, Florence's mother in Prep E, who kindly facilitated our prep yoga camp event on Tuesday. Thank you to the prep teachers Hannah, Bella, Ryan, Annemarie and Jasmine who planned such an engaging first camping experience! Great fun was had by all. Namaste! 

We also wish our preppies all the best as they celebrate their 100 days of school on Monday 29 July. They are invited to come dressed in clothes that are 100 themed. We are immensely proud of our prep students for their growth, learning and development in their first 100 days of school. I also acknowledge the amazing prep teaching team, leadership team and parents, for your partnership and support of our prep students. 

Unfortunately I will have to hang up my walking stick and granny wig for the day as I have the Government Schools Principal's Conference on Monday which sadly coincides with 100 days of school, however I look forward to celebrating our preps at assembly on Friday 2 August from 3:00pm when they will sing a song to celebrate 100 days of school. 

NAIDOC Week Smoking Ceremony

Thank you to the students, teachers and parents who attended our smoking ceremony on Friday 19 July honouring NAIDOC week. We also thank Uncle Colin Hunter Jr Jr from the Wurundjeri Corporation for facilitating the smoking ceremony. 

Year 3-6 Athletics Day

We would like to thank Gus Carty-Cowling for coordinating our athletics day at Newport Athletics Track. Well done to all students who participated and demonstrated our Wembley Values of Resilience, Respect, Inclusion and Empathy. Thank you to the staff and parents who setup, facilitated the event, and attended. It was a great day and we lucked out with the weather. 

Divisional Soccer

Well done to the year 6 students that participated in the divisional soccer on Wednesday 17 July. We were very proud of their effort and sportsmanship. We are very proud of them! Thank you to Simon Zammit and the parents that attended and assisted with car pooling on the day. 

Student personal devices

This is a reminder that as per the Department of Education School Devices Policy, students are not to contact parents via smart watches or devices during school time. If a student must wear a smart watch to school, it must be placed on school mode and not be able to send or receive notifications. If students use smart watches and other devices to contact parents during school time, we will speak with the student about the policy and expectations to speak with a staff member for support, and if required confiscate the device. 

Mobile phones are placed in a lock box in the classroom at 8:55am and handed back to students at 3:30pm, and are not to be used on school grounds, and this has been an effective process, however if we find smart watches are impacting learning time, we have received advice that it may be best to ban them from school. 

In the interim, we ask for your cooperation with this. If you have any questions, please contact a member of the leadership team. 

Pupil Free Day - Curriculum 2.0

I would like to thank our executive leadership team, Katie, Mel, Renee, Adriana, Phoebe and Georgia for facilitating an engaging pupil free day today, focused on curriculum 2.0 coming into effect from 2025.  We also thank our facilitators (team leaders) for sharing the knowledge. It has been a great day of professional learning. 

Remaining Pupil Free Day - Monday 4 November

As previously shared, please note we have one final pupil free day on Monday 4 November which will be a Report Writing Day. 

TheirCare will be operating on the pupil free days to provide care for students, if required by families. Bookings can be made by directly contacting TheirCare on wembley@theircare.com.au, ph: 1300 072 410.

Brick Paver Fundraiser - Order Close Wednesday 31 July

This is a reminder that last term information was sent home regarding a brick fundraiser we are running. See the sentral emails sent on 26.6.24 and 16.7.24. If you are wishing to order a paver, the order form should have come home with your child last term. If you need another order form there are spare copies available at the office.

Orders close on Wednesday 31 July. 

Thank you to Melanie Irons and Grant Hobson who have coordinated this fundraiser. 

Calling Parent Volunteers

Our office team are calling for parent volunteers to assist our amazing helper, Eileen.

Eileen's team of helpers at the end of 2023 moved on from Wembley PS as there children began at secondary school this year.

Eileen assists tirelessly with publication, binding of books, laminating, photocopying, lost found, and so much more!

We are seeking a small team of helpers to assist and support when able. If you can spare and hour or two on some mornings, we would love to hear from you. Please email the school at Wembley.ps@education.vic.gov.au  indicating your availability and we will pass it on to Eileen.

Even if you can only spare an hour, it all helps. Volunteers will need a completed or in-progress WWCC.

We thank our many parent volunteers who support our students and staff members it is very much appreciated.

AEDC - Prep Australian Early Development Census

Building a national picture of child health

From July 2024, our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). 

The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school.

The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years. Children don’t miss any class time while the AEDC is completed, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information. The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool. Some teachers have found that completing the AEDC made them more aware of the needs of individual children and their class, and that the data was useful for planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing programs.

Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, however the AEDC relies on all schools with children in their first year of full-time school participating in the collection. 

Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

If you have any questions, you can contact Vassie Vatsilas-D'Arcangelo on vassie.vatsilas@education.vic.gov.au 

Prep 2024 Enrolments

A reminder to families who have children of school age wishing to enrol their child for prep in 2025, to enrol at your earliest convenience. Please visit our school website and/or contact the office to seek an enrolment form. I will be sending enrolment confirmation letter to families next week. 

Uniform

A reminder that all students are expected to wear full Wembley PS school uniform. Students are not to wear sporting club uniform. If students are not wearing uniform, they will be asked to visit lost property of pre-loved clothing, to borrow a uniform item for the day. We understand that some students have two homes and sometimes uniform is not readily available. If this is the case, we ask parents to contact the school to inform us how we can best support your child.

Capital Building Works Project

Unfortunately over the holiday break there was another significant break in onsite, and copper and data cabling was cut and taken, as well as materials, which has delayed the project completion, meaning the handover date is now 22 August. I was sorry to hear this and to have to share this with our community. 

In our most recent site meeting the building team discussed insurance and seeking police reports. They are also looking at having some security and cameras fitted within the site, as our school cameras and residential cameras haven't managed to catch them in the act based on initial checks. You will have also seen that they have installed barbed wire on top of the site fence to mitigate risk of this occurring again. 

We have placed a furniture order for the new building for each classroom, learning and specialist space.

We have a decanting plan for the existing block A building. We will be packing down over the next month, and moving in from 22 August. Students will move in, in early September. 

Once we have moved in, demolition of the remaining Block A building will occur in mid September. The progress is great and the most recent site walk was very pleasing. See below for photos! We are on the home stretch now. 

Positive Partnerships - Free 2-Day Parent/Carer Autism Workshop 

See below for a free parent/carer workshop regarding Autism which was recommended to local schools, by our Department of Education psychologist, Rebecca Loizou. 

BOGAN BINGO

Thank you to the WPA for organising a parent fundraising event in Bogan Bingo. See below flyer.