Principal's Column

Over the last month there has been a lot happening at Westgrove, with a lot more coming up! Here is a little snippet...

FAREWELL MISS. LAWLESS

Last week we farewelled Miss. Lawless as she commenced family leave. Miss. Lawless and her husband are patiently awaiting the arrival of their first child, which is due in mid-April. We would like to thank her for her support in Year 3 over so far this year and wish her well on this new venture!

SCHOOL PHOTOS

Next Wednesday, 19th March is school photo day. Students should have come home with information from SchoolPix. Please ensure that you follow the instructions to order school photos. If you are having issues with your codes, please contact the office. Orders are not taken at the school.

DISTRICT AND DIVISION SWIMMING

We were fortunate to have 24 of our students participate in the District Swimming Carnival on the 25th February. These students were committed to our school team by training regularly before school and supporting each other with the events on the day. We then had 13 of our students go on to the Division Swimming meet on March 6th. 

All students represented our school wonderfully and demonstrated our core values. We are extremely proud of their efforts and thank the families for their support.

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Over the last few weeks we have had our school council nominations and ballot (parent category). We would like to introduce you to our 2025 School Councillors:

• Parent Category: Abdul Ghafar, Jasmine Klebic, Jessica Appeldorff, Karlie Miles, Laura McCleary, Laura Muscat,  Meredith Jones and Stewart Greig.
• DE Category: Chris Gatt (Executive Officer), Dean Hamence and Kerrie Slaymaker.

Office bearers for 2025 will be decided at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday March 18 at 5.30pm. Our AGM is an open forum and all member of our school community are welcome to join. 

YEAR 6 ANGLESEA CAMP

In late February a number of Year 6 students attended a 3-day camp in Anglesea. They participated a range of activities on the camp grounds, as well as a range of beach activities including surfing, body boarding and team initiatives. The children challenged themselves in different ways and at the same time were most supportive and inclusive of one another. 

Children not attending camp undertook a range of activities at school, including kite making, bridge building and team games.

We would like to thank everyone involved in this event because without our combined efforts it would have not been the success it was!

CELEBRATING CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Harmony Day (Friday 21st March) is celebrated annually and began in 1999, coinciding with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The continuing message of Harmony Day is 'Everyone Belongs'. It is about community participation, inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, respect and belonging. Due to event clashes on this day, we will be acknowledging Harmony Day on Monday 24th March, which will include children dressing in cultural clothing or the colour orange. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. More information will come via Class Dojo closer to the event. 

SUN SMART

A reminder to children and families that UV levels start to rise significantly from mid-August and our SunSmart policy applies. Students must bring a broad-brimmed, legionnaire, or bucket hat to school every day. As per our policy, hats must be worn whenever students are outdoors from now until the end of April.

LOOKING AHEAD...

There are a number of things happening over the next few weeks, so we encourage you to keep your eye on Compass and Class Dojo.

• Cultural Diversity Week (including celebrations on the 24th March)
• Year 6 Summer Gala Day (21st March)
• Cross Country (27th March) 
• School Photos (19th March)
• Year 4 Camp (2nd-4th April)