ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Wurundjeri, Woi Wurrung and Boonwurrung/Boonurung Peoples of the Kulin Nation and pay our respect to their Elders, past, present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within our school community.

It is hard to believe that we have reached the half way mark of term four!

We have had a great term thus far in officially operating from the new building, 2025 prep transition, athletics success, basketball success, year 4 and 5 camp, with year 6 students heading to camp next week, remembrance day, Halloween spook-a-thon, school events, and engaging daily learning and teaching success.

Parent Reminder around Respect

I would like to take this opportunity to remind our community about the importance of respect of all community members.

School principals received a pre-recorded short video message from Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Hon. Ben Carroll MP, which he asked us to pass on to parents and carers, about the importance of the second school term for learning, along with a few helpful reminders. This was shared in term two, however I feel it is pertinent to share once again.

It contains an acknowledgement of all school leaders, teachers and support staff for their efforts to deliver a high standard of public education.

It also contains a message reminding students and parents about mobile phone usage in schools. This more so pertains to secondary settings, however this is still relevant to primary school settings regarding personal use of devices including macbooks and smart watches.

It also contains an important message regarding respectful behaviours, expected of not only students but also adults, within and across school communities.

This serves as an important reminder and an opportunity to reinforce with all community members our Wembley PS Values of Respect, Inclusion, Resilience and Empathy; and the Department of Education values of Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights.

We have taken the time to specifically share this information with you, as whilst most parents and carers within our community engage respectfully with staff and students, unfortunately on occasion we have had instances where some community members have not engaged respectfully with staff members and students, whether it be via face to face, or written communication.

Everyone should feel safe in our school community, and this includes our staff members. It is also an opportunity to share our Statement of Values and School Philosophy-Staff, Parent/Carer, Student Code of Conduct with all community members. I ask that you take the time to read and/or re-read the information shared.

We share this because we do not want to find ourselves in the situation that many schools find themselves in, where educators are leaving the profession, and are hesitant about contacting families, unsure of the nature of the response they will receive.

In addition, if students make choices that aren't aligned with our school values, we encourage students and parents to report this to school staff if we aren't already aware, to support the students involved, and to follow up in line with Department of Education policy and processes.

A reminder that under no circumstances are parents to approach other peoples children to discuss the matters. This also relates to the Child Safe Standards.

All students, staff members and parents have a right and responsibility to be safe, feel safe, and act safely, at all times. Behaviours that don't align with our school and Department of Education values, will not be tolerated.

This is a topical theme being discussed and addressed in educational forums across the state and Western Region, and serves as a timely reminder for Wembley PS community members.

We are fortunate to have incredibly dedicated and passionate staff members at Wembley Primary School, and whilst we acknowledge and understand that we may not satisfy every need at all times, we are always acting with the students' best interests at heart.

All community members have a right and responsibility to be safe, feel safe, and act safely, at all times.

As Hon. Ben Carroll MP stated, we are working in partnership to ensure healthy and happy students. Thank you for your consideration of this important message, and in anticipation of your continued partnership.

Whooping Cough Case-Year 5

We wish to inform our community that a whooping cough case has been reported in year five. Please monitor your child for symptoms and inform the school if your child is diagnosed with Whooping Cough.

RECYCLING WEEK 11-15 NOVEMBER!

An enormous thank you to Macy, Marlie and Rose (sustainability and environment captains), as supported by Sofia, Mel I, Lou and the wider Wembley Waste Warrior volunteers for all their progress with sustainability and environment efforts.

Thank you to Lisa Marty and Russell Hunt for assisting our students and staff members with the clothes swap today!

See our website for a web page they've created to showcase their sustainability and environment efforts. A reminder to DRESS UP on Friday and bring a gold coin donation, if you wish!! See below for more information.

See the poster below capturing all information regarding RECYCLING WEEK AT WPS!

As announced by our Sustainability Captains at assembly Week 6, Wembley will be celebrating Recycling Week. Students will be given the opportunity to engage in a number of exciting activities to learn about and promote recycling.
Clothes Swap
We are holding our first ever Clothes Swap. Please bring any quality, clean, unwanted children's clothes to the centre of the Jim Kinniburgh (BER) building. The Jim Kinniburgh building is located on the Hawkhurst Street side of Wembley adjacent to the football oval. You can drop clothes off before or after school this week or on Monday next week.
In the middle of the Jim Kinniburgh building you will find a blue labelled table where you can leave your clothes. There is also a sheet where you can record your child's name and class. This will enable us to give the children of families who have donated clothes the first opportunity to attend the swap shop.
During Week 6 (week beginning Monday 11 November), students who have donated to the swap shop will have a chance to visit the swap shop to select some "new" items. If after these visits, there are still items remaining, we will then open up the shop to the rest of the school community to come and take something.
Optional Dress Up
On Friday, 15th November, students are welcome to wear a recycled outfit, op-shopped outfit, green outfit, accessory fashioned from recycled materials or anything that shows support for the environment and sustainability. Any gold coin donations would be gratefully accepted on this day to go towards expanding Wembley's classroom composting systems to include more classes.
Writing Competition
During the week, students will be given time in class to complete a writing piece promoting recycling which will then be entered into a school-wide writing competition!
Sustainability Games
Our Sustainability Captains will be running games at recess for students to take part in.

2025 Prep Transition

Today we welcomed the 99 prep students and families to Wembley Primary School for a whole cohort transition session.

We thank Melanie Irons (Prep-Year 2 Assistant Principal), and the 2025 prep team (Hannah Tabart, Bella Clemmens, Annemarie Sterjovski, Jasmine Turner and Tom Li) for their support in facilitating this important process. It was wonderful to welcome families with existing students at Wembley PS, and also new parents to the community.

We are in the finals stages of workforce planning for 2025. The full 2025 staffing list will be shared with our community in December.

Remembrance Day

We honoured Remembrance Day on November 11 an 11:00am with a whole school assembly. Thank you to Carmel Manning and Alex Wignall who assisted the year six students to facilitate the assembly with me, reading the ode, explaining the significance of this day, and sharing student written poetry honouring the fallen.

Thank you to the community members that purchased a poppy from the office.

We would like to thank two of our hard working cleaning team members, Mick and Cindy, who donated poppy pins to the school, as crocheted by Cindy's mother Nanna Barb.

Halloween Spook-a-thon - Thank You

I would like to thank the WPA for planning the much anticipated and highly successful Halloween Spook-a-thon.

I would like to thank Ghost Dad, Tom Jecks, and his scarily fabulous team of helpers, Russell hunt, Andy Dawson, Kristy Coley, Nicole Bowshall, Wendy Schofield, Linh krygger and Kim Coleman.

Thank you to all those families who donated to the spook-a-thon which supports our buildings and grounds improvements.

Congratulations to Bella Clemmens Prep C class who received the highest number of donations at $1560, with Havana raising $530 herself, and as such will receive a class reward of an in-school cup cake making class which will occur on December.

School Saving Bonus

Parent and carer School Saving Bonus code distribution .

The Victorian Government is delivering the School Saving Bonus – a one-off $400 support for government school students from Prep to Year 12 in 2025.

From Tuesday 26 November 2024, you will receive an email from the Department of Education with your unique $400 School Saving Bonus code.

The School Saving Bonus will help families cover the cost of uniforms, textbooks, excursions, activities and more.

If you have multiple children enrolled in Victorian government schools for 2025, you will receive one School Saving Bonus code email per child. These emails might arrive on different days. Please make sure to check your spam/junk email folder.

Parents and carers can use the School Saving Bonus code in store at school-nominated suppliers. Parents and carers can also choose to access the School Saving Bonus online system, where they can allocate part or all the $400 bonus to use at school nominated-online suppliers or for school activities.  To learn more about the School Saving Bonus, visit School Saving Bonus | vic.gov.au (www.vic.gov.au). A step-by-step user guide will be available on the webpage on 26 November.  

If you have not received your School Saving Bonus code via email by Friday 29 November, please contact the Department of Education by emailing school.saving.bonus@education.vic.gov.au

2025 Acting Principal Role Advertisement

I did share this in our last newsletter but thought it would be helpful to share it once again in the event that parents didn't have a chance to read the past newsletter.

As we are in the process of workforce planning and staffing for 2025, I wish to inform you that I have decided that I will be taking long service leave for terms one and two of the 2025 school year.

By way of background, my family and I were planning to travel overseas for an extended holiday during term three and into term four of this year, however given the ongoing building project delays and Wembley PS work commitments, we chose to put this trip on hold, and now plan to travel in early 2025.

As many community members will understand, these decisions are never made lightly, however I trust that a suitable replacement will be appointed.

As such, an Acting Principal role will be advertised across the South West Victorian Region. Regional staff will form a panel and will fill the Acting Principal vacancy. The community will be informed of the outcome later this term.

Capital Building Works Update

It has been wonderful learning within our new building! Thank you to those parents that have attended tours throughout the first 6 weeks of term. If any further parents would like a tour, please contact the office and we can book you into a tour.

The second stage of the building works are underway with the landscape design coming to fruition. Stage 1B of the landscape design including reinstatement of the athletics track, garden beds, vegetation, brick pavers, a fence, and synthetic turf for extended play spaces are happening-see below. This is due to be completed by December 20, 2024. As such, one of the classrooms on the ground floor will be used as a site office for term four, and will not be accessible or visible internally from students.

The concrete will be poured in the next fortnight.

The final stage of asbestos removal is likely to occur over the next two Saturdays. The VSBA will confirm this with us and I will send out a VBSA letter notifying community, once it is confirmed.

The brick pavers are arriving in the next fortnight and will be installed in early December. Thank you to the families that purchased a brick.

The year 6 students have been invited to take part in imprinting botanical stencils into an area of concrete. As the year 6 students wont be able to enjoy the full benefit of the new building project landscape design as it due to be completed on the final day of the 2024 school year, they will be invited to choose a leaf to imprint into a passage of concrete. The contractors are confirming with us the details of this process, and they will be invited to do so in the next fortnight.

CYBER SAFETY - Alannah and Madeline Foundation e-safety Digital Licence

An empowering 7News story has run this week to promote the 'launch' of the Alannah and Madeline Foundations new eSmart Digital Licence for lower primary program. It featured some of the video content the Alannah and Madeline Foundation captured with some of the Wembley students from earlier this year. Thank you to the families for consenting to this. thank yuo to one of our parents Simone Redman Jones, who is media and communications manager at the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, for inviting us to participate in the campaign.

See below I have attached a clip of the news story and included a link to the 7News Instagram post below (in case you also wanted to share it on socials).

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBtHIyrxbKX/?igsh=d3Nkb3czZWJrOTR6

Also the information about the eSmart program, including the latest program roll out can be found here.

Student acknowledgements

BASKETBALL

Congratulations to our Hooptime basketball team. They played on Tuesday and won all games but the last one! An incredible achievement indeed and demonstrated great teamwork and our values of respect, inclusion, empathy and resilience. Thank you to Ben and Ryan C for being their coaches and supporting our students in their training to assist them in reaching their potential as a team! Thank you to the parents for your support also.

PET RESCUERS-Thanks Macy and Sadie

Also Macy and Sadie were showcased in this article. Well done!

Macy and Sadie have recently been featured in an article. They took the initiative to reach out to Pet Rescue on her own (through their website bot!) to ask for a contact who could assist with the posters. They responded by emailing the parents to get consent, and from there, I'm told Macy selected some photos and answered a few questions.

https://www.petrescue.com.au/library/articles/using-creativity-to-help-homeless-pets

CONGRATULATIONS MARLIE - Netball Star!

Congratulations to Marlie Craig who has made it into the Indoor State Netball team. She will represent Wembley/Victoria and do them proud next February.

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