What an eventful week 8 and 9 we have had at WEPS. Thank you for joining us to celebrate Harmony Week. It was very heartwarming to see so many families in classrooms, learning and talking together about different backgrounds and cultures. During my car park duty that afternoon, so many of you commented on what a great afternoon you had as you left the school – please know how much your positive comments are appreciated. I would like to thank Nicole Farrelly (Diversity and Inclusion Leader) and our wonderful EAL team (English as an Additional Language) – Kellee Philpot, Natasha Watt and Katie Uzkuraitis who worked together to prepare the wonderful activities. We love having families join us to celebrate and engage in different activities, we also understand that this can be difficult for some. We aim to create many different opportunities for you to engage with your child’s learning at WEPS. Please continue to attend when you can – we love having you all!

On Monday night this week we had a fabulous time celebrating our Foundation students and families, as we congratulated all of them on their first term of school at WEPS. Lots of smiles, play, parents connecting, a delicious sausage sizzle and perfect twilight weather proved to be all we needed for a wonderful night together. We are so impressed with the way our 4 classes have settled into school life and commend our wonderful teachers and parents for working together to create the best possible start for every student. Our specialist teachers, school leaders and casual relief teachers regularly provide feedback on how well the classes are working, learning and playing together. As I always say, at times things do go wrong, but we are always here to work through all situations with everyone. I would like to thank TheirCare for their very generous donation of sausages and bread and assistance in cooking and serving families.

Congratulations to all our grade 3-6 athletics day participants and Mr Karl Burton and team for a successful Athletics Day on Tuesday. Again, it was wonderful to see so many families attend and support their children. We were very impressed with student behaviour and we had many hands on deck assisting in preparation and events on the day. Thank you to Danny Finn (parent at WEPS and teacher at Emmanuel College) for organising a group of students to support with running events. We were very impressed with their work ethic in assisting us with all events and the way they positively engaged with our students and staff.

On Tuesday night this week we had our School Council AGM and March meeting. Congratulations to the following parent members taking on an office bearer position

Dave Long –President
Emma Charlton – Vice President
Clinton Hill – Treasurer

School council parent members

Billy Gardner, Phil Dennis, Elisia Nichol, Michelle Lyons, Rachael James,

School Council Community member (co-opted)

Kerry Nicholson

The community member category is an optional category for school councils. Community members are co-opted onto council, usually at the first meeting of the newly elected council. Community members:

cannot be department employees
typically bring special skills, interests or experience to the council.

Our area of focus is to engage our English as an Additional Language (EAL) families and support everyone of different backgrounds to feel safe, included and respected at WEPS (and in the wider Warrnambool Community). Kerry has a profound experience in the Multicultural space and we look forward to having her on our council for the next 12 month. Kerry is also a parent at WEPS.

School Council DET member

Marina Milich, Ann Dwyer, Ali Smith, Mary Lee and Nicholas Richardson.

We also moved the following sub-committees for 2026

School Facilities and Roads – Billy Gardner, Clinton Hill, Jimmy Boxer, Emma Charlton, Leanne Ross, Marina Milich, Ann Dwyer
Finance – Clinton Hill, Leanne Ross, David Long, Rachael James, Marina Milich, Ann Dwyer
Parents Fundraising Group – Emmah Charlton, Elisia Nichol, Michelle Lyons

School Council passed the following dates for Term 2;
Tuesday 22nd April – Curriculum Day focusing on School Wide Positive Behaviour and Responding to Behaviours of Concern (TheirCare available)
Friday 6th June – Professional Practice Day – pupil free day (TheirCare available)
Monday 23rd June – Parent/Teacher Partnership Meetings – alternative program provided (we encourage parents to make alternative care arrangement if they can, so that teachers can focus on parent meetings).

We are seeking support with the development of the Parents and Friends Group and inviting parents who may be interested in joining as a regular or casual member. Our first meeting will be on Tuesday 6th May 7pm at Warrnambool East PS (staff room).

https://forms.gle/ry7V34rnCZMKNNgK6

I would also like to bring you attention to the website. We have added a ‘Feedback Survey’ tab under the main tab ‘For Parents/Carers’.

https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/page/94/Feedback-Surveys

The information under this heading provides an explanation for our 3 main sources of feedback – Attitudes to School Survey, Parent Opinion Survey and PIVOT surveys (student feedback to teachers). Please take some time to view our 2024 results and read the outline of our priority areas we are focusing on.

Under the School Documents tab we have also added the Annual Implementation Plan for 2025.

https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/page/12/School-Documents

I also want to reassure the community we are working closely with Warrnambool City Council regarding our road safety upgrades, we will continue to provide updates through the link from Term 2.

Foundation 2026

Yes, it is that time of year when we start to prepare for next year’s foundation enrolments. Please promote our information night and school tour dates amongst your circles (see flyer below). We will be sharing it on our facebook page and website in the coming days, please feel free to share and forward on to extended family members or friends. If you have a child starting school next year, please come along too, we love having current families join us. You are welcome to collect an enrolment form from the office or download it from the website and assist us with sorting our numbers nice and early.

Next week we are looking forward to our Week 10 celebration assembly. A reminder to come along on Thursday at 2.50pm. This will be our final assembly for Term. We are excited to wear our pyjamas to school on Friday for our final day of the term (gold coin donation for Good Friday appeal).

HATS reminder – it is compulsory to wear hats until the 31st April. We have noticed a high number of students coming to school without a hat. If this is the case, the expectation is they stay in the undercover or shade areas. It will make play time much more fun if your child has their hat. Please remind them to wear it at all times when they are outside. We are a SunSmart school and the expectation is we follow the SunSmart policy for the health and safety of all staff and students.

https://www.weps.vic.edu.au/source/BUILD/Sunsmart%20-%20Policy%20Sep%2023.pdf

We are looking forward to a positive end to the term together. I wish you all a happy and safe term break. Enjoy the Easter weekend. Thank you for a great start to 2025! We look forward to seeing everyone back at school for a very short week on Wednesday 23rd April.

Student Leaders Congress