Principal's Message

At Wembley Primary School, we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which our school sits, the Woi-wurrung and Boonwurrung people of the South-Eastern Kulin Nation. 

We celebrate and respect the oldest continuing culture and recognise the importance of education in truth telling, equity and justice.

We pay our respects to Elders past and present and recognise and value the learning that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, colleagues and community bring into our schools.  

Week 3-4 Update

Students are now well and truly settling into their classes - with most cohorts having mastered their morning line-up and classroom entry routines. We are continuing to support some of our junior years with this process and have really appreciated parents' support with this: encouraging students to finish their play, joining their class line ups and then parents exiting the space promptly to aid their child's transition to the care of their teacher. Thank you! 

Classes have been focussed on their 'First 15 Days' of learning; these are largely introductory lessons that span all areas of the curriculum and focus on setting the associated expectations and routines of a particular curriculum area. For example, in reading a teacher might introduce and practise what Guided Reading might look like in the student's new year level, or they might introduce how the class will use Google Classroom as part of their reading lessons. With this, has come a lot of work on understanding the 'Learning Pit' and the importance of practising a Growth Mindset.

Speaking of having a growth mindset - we did want to acknowledge our Year 6 Captains, who spoke at assembly last Friday under extremely difficult circumstances. Unfortunately our PA system is still experiencing some problems, and despite thorough testing throughout the day, decided to stop working only a few minutes into the assembly. The students had to think on their feet and hold assembly from the middle of the school body, seated on the basketball court, and project their voices without a working microphone. As a school we were incredibly proud of their resilience and willingness to try their best. We also acknowledge the remaining captains, who had given up their lunchtimes to practise their components of the assembly, which unfortunately had to be postponed - I know they were disappointed in this outcome, but they held themselves with maturity and understanding. We continue to work with the VSBA on resolving this issue and will keep you informed. 

A highlight of the opening weeks of Term 1 is always our 5/6 Beach Program - which forms part of our overall Swimming Program. We have partnered with the Port Melbourne SLSC for many years now, and the students enjoy 3 half days of beach and open-water safety, as well as learning CPR. The Year 6 students in particular conducted themselves extremely well - demonstrating our school values and expected behaviours continuously. The teachers have been incredibly proud of their participation thus far. 

Next Monday will be the final session for the students, where tradition has those that are brave enough jumping off the pier! We'll keep our fingers crossed for the right water and wind conditions! 

Landscaping and planting has begun on our newly opened school grounds: Murray Jones & Callum Hobson are shown below, working hard to establish our beautiful, new all-native Mallee Alley!

Many of the trees, ground covers and shrubs are from Western Australia and remote South Australia.  We are excited about this addition to our school landscape which will eventually offer us shade, enjoyment and provide habitat for birds and wildlife, as well as opportunities for students to learn about native flora.

We do ask that all members of our school community share in the care and protection of our new gardens. Please refrain from entering the beds as many of our new small plants can be easily damaged from unintended trampling. We have had some locally crafted barriers in situ to act as a reminder. Thank you to Grant Hobson for overseeing this. 

Thank you all for a productive and positive fortnight. 

~ Katie McClue: Acting Principal ~

Ministerial Opening 

On Thursday 13 February we welcomed a number of VIPs onsite to celebrate and formally open the new building. We were joined by the Honourable Melissa Horne, our local member for Williamstown and Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety as well as Minister for Health Infrastructure. 

The event was opened by our School Captains, who Acknowledged Country and then went on to introduce the many guests, which included representatives from the VSBA, AOA Architects, the Department of Education, School Council Office Bearers, old WPS staff members, and of course our current substantive principal, Vassie Vatsilas-D'Arcangelo, along with previous co-principal, Terry Lawless. 

The event saw a performance from our Senior School choir, some poetry from our Year 6 School Captains, as well as speeches from our Guests of Honour. 

Our students did a wonderful job of staying focussed through the event, demonstrating our value of respect with flying colours! 

School Council Nominations Update

As already mentioned, we have 3 parent member vacancies this year and thus opened up nominations on Monday 10 February, which closed Monday 17th. We are excited to announce that we have community interest in the vacancies and thus will move to an election process. All nominated candidates have been contacted and are now in the process of developing a short 'blurb' to support community understanding of who they are and what contributions they can bring to our School Council. 

These candidate summaries will be shared with our whole School Community, via Sentral, on Monday 24 February, when elections will open. Elections will remain open until the following Monday 3rd March. 

Our next School Council meeting will occur on Monday 17 March; this will be our final meeting with our current members and first meeting with our newly formed council. 

General Reminders