Assistant Principal's Report

NAPLAN Practice Tests

In preparation for the 2023 NAPLAN tests the Year 3 and 5 students will be involved in the NAPLAN Practice Tests. These will be held in over the next two weeks. 

The Practice tests;

• allow students to become familiar with the online portal and the look of the tests and the types of questions
• gives us, as a school, the chance test our own capabilities for running the test and allows us to detect any possible technical issues

Parents you are also welcome to access the NAPLAN Public Demonstration site if you would like to do some extra practice tests. 

John Monash Science School

This year, we are lucky enough to be involved with the John Monash Science School's Primary Outreach Program, which runs on Wednesday after lunch. 

What is JMSS Primary School Outreach?As one of its flagship initiatives, JMSS Primary School Outreach is dedicated to expanding the reach of its specialised STEM education to younger students in the Metro Melbourne area. JMSS students provide mentorship to primary-aged students, teaching them a variety of concepts from science, maths and digital technology.

This is a wonderful opportunity for some of our students to meet like-minded students and to engage in activities that are both challenging and fun.  A big thank you to Mr Stockton who will be accompanying these students each week.

Each program runs for 4 sessions.  For Program 1 we have four students participating in Mini Mathematicians and four students participating in Spike- Prime-ARY.

‘Mini Mathematicians’ tackle math through hands-on problem-solving games, puzzles, and kinetic challenges.‘Spike Prime-ARY’ subject uses Lego robotic kits to engage students in coding through fun and exciting challenges.

Nude Food

School Pride

A big thank you to 6SC who ventured outside to participate in School Pride this week. EAch class is reostered on for School Pride two or three times each year.  They can choose to participate in an activity that helps to look after our yard. This could be sweeping up sand, mulching, gardening, tidying up, picking up rubbish etc.

Classroom helpers

Wheelers Hill Primary School is strongly committed to building important relationships between school and home. An integral part of many of our programs is parental assistance. Classroom teachers value the help of parents to enable them to provide high-quality teaching and learning programs.

Maddy Gallagher, our MSL Learning Specialist,  will be hosting a parent information session focussing on how we teach reading and writing (Multisensory Structured Language) at our school and how to be parent helper in the classroom on Friday 6th March at 9.15am in 6SC.

This session will give an insight into the types of activities that are part of our MSL approach. It will also include some hands-on activities. This session is aimed at Prep parents, but some Year 1 and 2 parents might like to attend too.  

I will also run through the expectations of being a parent helper, the types of activities you might be required to help with, confidentiality and compliance.

During the session, we will cover topics such as:

• What is a classroom helper?
• Confidentiality
• Legal Requirements (to be a parent helper in the classroom)
• What is MSL?
• The stages of reading and writing
• Strategies for fostering literacy skills at home
• Irregular and decodable word lists

Please note this session is not compulsory. We know many parents are interested in helping out and learning more about our MSL approach.

If you are interested in attending, please look out the Compass post early next week to register your interest. 

The session will begin promptly at 9:15am and will run until 10:30am. There will be time for questions at the end.

All parent helpers and volunteers who work with children at WHPS must have a current Working With Children Check (WWCC) and must also complete the Mandatory Volunteer Child Safety Training. 

This training needs to be completed only once.

The signed acknowledgement contained within the training document must be returned to the school office before commencing volunteer work with children at WHPS.

https://www.wheelershillps.vic.edu.au/volunteer-or-work

A hard copy of the training is also available to view at the school office.

Classroom helpers will begin in Week 5 - please contact your child's teacher if you are interested in helping out. If you have any questions regarding Classroom helpers - please contact me via email leasyl.richards@education.vic.gov.au or  speak to your child's class teacher. 

NAPLAN DATES

Our NAPLAN dates at Wheelers Hill for 2026 are:

Leasyl Richards

Leasyl.Richards@education.vic.gov.au