The last few weeks is always a busy time, but as I reflect on the year, I am so proud of how much we have achieved as a staff and school community. Our focused work in learning ‘structured literacy’ and our commitment from staff has been exceptional! The thing that stands out most about our staff is their genuine drive to learn, to be better and to do their best for your children.

There are so many teams working together across our school (prioritising Learning and Wellbeing) to make WEPS the best place it can be. From our Learning communities, Education Support, Admin team (and Jimmy Boxer), Action teams (focusing on all curriculum areas – Literacy, Numeracy, Inquiry, Wellbeing), Engagement and Wellbeing team, School Improvement team and Leadership. We all have your child’s best interests at heart and we are all open to working with you to work out the best plan.

We are so privileged to be working with your children and in partnership with you. We are invested, we care and we love what we do. We feel we are genuinely strengthening our partnership between home and school – it is about celebrating together but also hearing your perspective on how we can improve– this is important to us!

I also reflect on how connected our community is. We love to bring you together to different events at school, most recently the colour run, our parent forum and last week we held our foundation 2025 information session and welcomed a number of new families into our community. You model inclusion, connection and joy when you come together at school. Please keep doing this and keep making parent circles bigger and stronger.

Congratulations to all our students on all they have learnt and achieved this year. They have embraced challenges, had a great time with friends, problem-solved, embraced the learning changes and who show up to school with a smile.

The school is in great hands with the incredible group of parents we have representing you on School Council – Thank you Dave Long (President), Clinton Hill (Treasurer), members – Phil Dennis, Shell Lyons, Elisia Nicol, Emma Charlton, Sam Pereira, Billy Gardner, Garth Baulch, (community member) and DET members Ann Dwyer, Jess Turland Rhook, Mary Lee and Ali Smith, for their commitment and involvement in the school improvement journey. School council is an invested group of parents and staff who have been so proactive in making positive change for our school community. The parent representative role is to be a conduit between the school and school community, and we have worked together to review policy, improve groups, and get some fundraising off the ground, thanks to the amazing work of Emma Charlton, Elisha Nicol and Shell Lyons. They are seeking help for 2025.

The end of the year always brings some farewells. Thank you and farewell to;

Mr Mitch Bowman (2K) – replacing Ms West in Term 4
Meg Buchannan (6J) – replacing Ms Jess Turland Rhook in Term 4
Ms Keely West (2K)
Ms Shannon Dillon (12 months leave)
Our trainees – Tiger, Talia and Stella
Kerry Pigott (ES) who is retiring after 29 years
Maureen O’Keefe (English Additional Language cluster educator) who is retiring.

To our Grade 6 parents

I would like to extend my congratulations to all of you. Today is not just about your children completing their primary school journey, but it is also about you completing the journey with them. This is a very important milestone for you all and I know that you are all very proud parents today.

For some of you, it is also goodbye to WEPS forever. To the families leaving us this year, we sincerely thank you for all your contributions to the school community over the years, we have loved working with you to ensure the best learning and wellbeing outcomes for your children. We wish you all well and looking forward to hearing many future success stories about your children.

To our school captains – Addi, Nick, Danny and Olive.

I have been in absolute awe of your drive to lead this year. Thank you for keeping your teachers and I on our toes with your organisation, co-ordination of assemblies and your leadership with the student voice team.

You have been intentionally inclusive of all year levels, making sure you celebrated achievements and shared events. Please know you have kept the whole school connected by doing this.

We admire the way you have led by example and know that you have left a long lasting legacy here at WEPS.

To the class of 2024

It has been an absolute honour and pleasure to have been part of your primary school journey for the past 3 years. I feel very lucky to know you, to have spent time with you and see you grow during this time. I feel lucky to have attended grade 5 camp with you all.

I will always remember your lovely manners, for taking time to stop and say hello, have a chat and share your learning experiences with me.

I hope you can look back on your time at Warrnambool East Primary School and smile.

I hope you continue your wonderful friendships (even though some of you are heading off to different secondary schools). And, I hope you continue to live the WEPS school values of kindness, respect, inclusion and perseverance in every stage of your life.

I encourage you to be open to challenges and new experiences, allow yourselves to make mistakes and grow from them, value what is important to you and most importantly just be yourselves - embrace the next wonderful chapter of your lives. You have so much to look forward to.

Please know we all wish you the very best always, and look forward to hearing about your future experiences and achievements.

Please come back and visit, stop and say hello if you see us down the street (this always makes our day).

Congratulations to the Class of 2024!

We are looking forward to welcoming everyone else back to school on Friday 31st January. A reminder to book in for your Numeracy Assessment times.

Tuesday 28th January

WEPS admin office opens (staff return)

Wednesday 29th January and Thursday 30th Jan

Foundation Entry Assessments - Numeracy (2 hour sessions in small groups)

Friday 31st January

All students back to school - Foundation 8.50am-1pm

Monday 3rd February and Tuesday 4th February

Foundation 8.50-1pm

Wednesday 5th February - Wednesday 6th March (Wednesday only)

Foundation rest day (Literacy testing catch up and support meetings if required)

Monday 10th February

Welcome to 2025 - Bullying Blitz launch with Luke Kennedy for parents 6.30pm

Monday 24th February

Welcome to 2025 parent/teacher partnership chats 3.40-5.40pm

Wednesday 26th February

Welcome to 2025 parent/teacher partnership chats 3.40-5.40pm

We have included the option of a 10 minute meeting (face to face or via phone) with your new classroom teachers. The purpose of this meeting is to give parents the opportunity to meet their new classroom teacher, have time to share essential information about their child and create the conditions for a strong partnership between home and school. Parents will receive a form to complete about their child prior to this date (in the new year) to support the conversation. Please look out for bookings on Compass at the beginning of 2025. We are hearing that you are craving stronger connection, we are adjusting to make this happen.

Based on further feedback from our community - we are also committing to a Bullying Blitz (zero tolerance approach to bullying, physical or verbally abusive behaviours). Motivational speaker Luke Kennedy is joining us for workshops with grade 3-6 students and a session for parents in the evening. We are excited to launch with Luke and develop a strong plan for zero tolerance and setting the standard for expected behaviours at WEPS and in the wider community. This will, and does go wrong, but our intention is to take a preventative approach, strong education and clear plan to support everyone involved.

For more information

https://www.lukeskennedy.com/about-guest-speaker-sydney

School Council President ‘end of year speech ‘ presented at our final assembly– David Long

Thank you for the opportunity to share a few thoughts on behalf of the school council.

Firstly this is another opportunity to publicly acknowledge and thank the teachers and staff for their dedication and commitment in continually striving to improve on what is already a great education at WEPS. It’s been a big year of change and I’ve seen first hand how invested you are in your work, and what you bring to our kids. Please join me in thanking our teachers and staff once again.

It's also a chance to mention some of the work the school council are doing to help shape the school's future. We’ve had a fabulous group of people on council this year who have brought with them their diverse skills and some amazing energy and ideas.

Special mentions go out to Elisia Nicol, Emma Charlton and Michelle Lyons and the rest of the fundraising group who have seriously raised the bar this year, raising over $30,000.

Billy Gardner, Phil Dennis and Clinton Hill have been a tower of strength and a great sounding board for school maintenance projects, upgrades, compliance and risk assessment.

Apologies to anyone from council that I’ve left off that list of special mentions - you are no less valuable and I thank you all for what you bring.

As a school, we've continued to grow our cultural and socio-economic diversity which speaks to one of the school values of inclusion, and as we look at the future growth of WEPS, one of the key metrics is the number of new enrolments for 2025, which are looking very healthy indeed. Many of these new families to the school report that they have found us by word of mouth, which is also pleasing to hear, as it reflects a healthy culture and positivity within the school community.

On this note I want to make special mention of Marina Milich, our School Principal, who has been a great pleasure to work alongside this year. Together with the teachers, she brings an open minded positivity and growth mindset culture to the school which is infectious, and helps to attract both new students AND new teachers. Marina, I look forward to your continued energy in what sounds like being a big 2025.

I won’t single out any more people other than to thank Jimmy Boxer once again. I did thank him yesterday, but to a more limited audience and he probably deserves a second thanks anyway. Jimmy if you’re here, thank you for your dedication to the school gardens once again. We are so fortunate to have someone who puts in so much to keep the school looking beautiful.

Lastly to all the students, we are all here as teachers, staff, council and families to support you and to see you grow and thrive. I hope you feel like you’ve been given that chance again this year and that you’ve made some great friends and remember one or two things you’ve been taught along the way. On that note, you probably can’t wait to get out of here, so I’ll stop talking, other than to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season. Rest up, rejuvenate and bring your stories and smiles back again in 2025. Thank you.

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