Across Oliver's Desk  

Dear Parents,

WELCOME BACK!

Welcome back to 2026! We have had a great summer with only a little bit of work done to the school. You will notice that the Ga Ga Ball pit now has a floor, we have put some artificial turf down in front of 3/4C and we have also set up the buddy benches near Mr Gibbon’s equipment sheds. 

It has been a great start to the school year with everything running smoothly so far. As a community, we need to extend a big welcome to our new and returning staff; Taylor Collyer 3/4A, Amy Forte 5/6A, Jen Gibson 5/6D, Haylee Malan 3/4B & 3/4D, Mel Rowe 1C & 2A, Emma Diston 5/6B & 5/6C. Welcome back Alex Dear and Sophie Young who will be sharing the Art position this year. 

We also have three new teacher aides starting with us. Welcome to Sarah Wyatt, Rachel Fulton and Jess Wilson. Again, welcome to Woori, we know you will love working at our beautiful school. 

Our 56 new Preps have made a fantastic start to life at primary school. They look so crisp, new and cute. They have already impressed their new teachers with their behaviour and enthusiasm for everything. 

We also had some new families move into the area and join the school, the following students started this week:

Gatkuoth and Tesloach Gatkuoth

Lyra Dean

Liam Dinh

Scarlett, Jolene & Axel Shotter

Wren & Quinn Thompson

We welcome all those wonderful families to Woori!

Our New Preps

Just a quick look at how the Preps went in their first week at school:

More Woori Staff Babies!

A big congratulations to Ash Gibbons, Archie James was born on the 2/1. Also a big congratulations to Amy Cleary, Hughie was born just before Christmas on the 20/12. 

Our Woori family just keeps growing and growing. We look forward to meeting Archie and Hughie soon. 

2026 PRIORITIES 

The focuses for our school in 2026 are the following:

• Numeracy

• Resilience 

Although Numeracy is a school strength, we believe we can further boost our results. We want to challenge our students further and teach problem solving skills well at every level. 

Last year’s student surveys demonstrated that our students lack resilience at times.  We feel these are areas that we want to keep trying to improve across our school. We will be trialling some new strategies throughout the year. Our curriculum days (teacher learning) will be based around these two priorities. 

SCHOOL SONG

A school song is something I have wanted for a long time. What we want to do through the year is: students learn our new school song and sing it at assembly each week and feel proud of their school. The very talented Jess Riley who teaches 2C has put the song together. It is in draft form at the moment. For the children to hear the song we are playing it over the loudspeakers. The idea is that once junior school council has been organised for the year. They will give Jess some feedback on the song and the words and she will then continue to work on it until we have a song that represents WYPS. I have to say the words are beautiful and I thank Jess for the work that she has already put into the song.

PERMISSION AND PAYMENTS FOR EXCURSIONS

Last year we implemented a policy that was derived from our school council. The policy states that if parents don’t accept and pay for excursions/camps on time, children will unfortunately not be able to participate. Due to the size of the school and the extra planning that needs to go into camps/excursions we simply cannot accept late permission/

payments.  We will always send plenty of notifications about deadlines. We also understand the cost of living crisis and how difficult things are for families. Natalie Potter our school’s Business Manager will always try to work things out for families in need. This, however, needs to be done before deadlines have occurred. 

SCHOOL COUNCIL

It’s that time of year when we need to elect our new School Council. There are six parents that are up for election this year with two of those parents not wishing to return to council. 

If you would like to nominate for council, you just need to go to the office and fill out a nomination form. You can also nominate someone for school council, but you do need the persons permission to be nominated. A change to department rules this year means that all school council members need to have a current Working with Children’s Check.

Parents on school council attend 9 school council meetings throughout the year as well as 9 sub-committee meetings. School council sets the direction of the school while checking policies, procedures and school finances, in line with department guidelines. We have had really wonderful, supportive and productive school councils in my time at the school. We have a lot to thank those councils for as the school is thriving in all aspects. 

UNIFORM

A real push at the start of the year is to make sure we get our uniform right and that our students wear their uniform with pride. We have started the year well, but I would like to remind parents that our uniform includes predominately black shoes, with white or black laces. When everyone is in their uniform, the school always looks and feels so much better. We will be talking about wearing our uniform with pride and the next few assemblies. 

Please remember that students need to wear their hats in term 1 and 4. Unfortunately if they don’t have a hat they can’t play outside.

GRADE 5/6 CAMP

Excitingly it is not long now until our grade 5/6 students head off to the best camping ground in Victoria, Wilson’s Promontory. The 5/6 students head off to camp during week 4 of the term. 

BUSHFIRE AT RISK REGISTER

We have been identified as a school that closes on days that are deemed to have a fire danger rating of catastrophic. Some schools are asked to relocate if the rating is extreme. We are not one of those schools.

See below for more information regarding our school being on the Bushfire-At Risk Register.

School procedures for the bushfire season

The way schools in Victoria respond to bushfires is being constantly revised. 

Fire danger ratings and warnings are used in Victoria to provide clear direction on the safest options for preserving life.

Schools – and children’s services – identified as being at highest bushfire risk have been included on the Bushfire-At Risk Register (BARR) and will be closed on days determined by fire authorities to be Catastrophic. Our school has been identified as a school that is on the Departments Bushfire Register, however the risk level for our school is towards the bottom of that register. 

Where possible, we will provide parents with as much notice as possible of a planned closure following the issue of a Catastrophic warning by the CFA.  We will contact you directly by Compass, email, SMS or letter sent home with your child with advice on planned closures and will confirm the decision to close by 5pm the day before (as this is when it is released by Emergency Victoria).

Once confirmed, the decision to close will not change, regardless of improvements in the weather forecast. This is to avoid confusion and help your family plan alternative care arrangements for your child.

• No staff will be on site on days when the school is closed by the risk of fire. 

• Out-of-school care will be cancelled on these days. 

• School camps will be cancelled if the area where the camp is taking place is at risk. 

• There may also be changes to school bus routes. Depending on routes, this may also occur on days when the school is not closed. 

   

On a catastrophic day families are encouraged to enact their Bushfire Survival Plan – on such days, children should never be left at home unattended or in the care of older children. 

For those of us living in a bushfire-prone area, the safest option when a Catastrophic day is declared may be to leave the night before, or early in the morning.

As part of preparing our school for the threat of fire we have updated our emergency management plan; reprioritised any maintenance works that may assist in preparing for the threat of fire and cleared our school grounds and gutters.

What can parents do?

• Make sure your family’s Bushfire Survival Plan is up-to-date and includes alternative care arrangements for your children in the event that our school is closed. 

• Ensure we have your current contact details, including your mobile phone numbers.  Keep in touch with us by reading our newsletters, by checking our website, and by talking to your child’s teacher or any other member of the teaching staff about our emergency plans. 

• Most importantly at this time of year, if you’re planning a holiday or short stay in the bush or in a coastal area, you should check warnings in advance of travel and remain vigilant during your stay.

• If your child is old enough, talk to them about bushfires and your family’s Bushfire Survival Plan. 

• You can access more information about school closures on the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development website – see http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/pages/emergencies.aspx

For up-to-date information on this year’s fire season and Bushfire Survival Planning, visit the CFA website at www.cfa.vic.gov.au or call the Vic emergency hotline on 1800 226 226.

CURRICULUM DAY

We do have a curriculum day planned for Friday 6th March. We know that curriculum days are difficult for parents to navigate. However, these days are essential for us to make sure that our school learning priorities are going to be met. We invest heavily in our teachers, which in turn means that we are investing in our children. All curriculum days are approved by our school council. 

There has been some debate in the media recently regarding a new agreement where teachers get double the curriculum days that they get at the moment. My thoughts on that is that we need to balance teacher needs with what is reasonable for parents, considering the busy lives of families. 

SCHOOL SPEED ZONES AND NO RIGHT TURN SIGN

A reminder to everyone now that we are back at school that the speed limit in the school speed zone during specified times from 8.00 - 9.30 am and 2.30 - 4.00 pm is 40 km/h. Also please remember the No Right Turn sign into the middle of the kiss and drop. 

This means you can only gain access to the kiss and drop zone from the top of the parent carpark. Please be aware that each year we consistently have marked and unmarked police patrolling the stretch of road outside the school. 

I know we live in a busy world and parking is a problem around the school. However, if everyone is patient, courteous and does the right thing around our pickup and drop off times, life would be better for all of us. 

I hope you all had a great break over the January period. It is such a nice time of year for all. Personally I had fun watching my son play cricket in the Olinda 1st X1, over January he made 3 scores over 50 and in a one day match he made 102 not out. It really is wonderful living life through your children’s accomplishments. I hope that all of you do that through some wonderful academic results at school.

As life starts to get busy as we move away from the January period. Don’t forget to escape to the wonderful world of a book. 

I’ll see you around the school, I do try and get to the kiss and drop in the mornings if you need to have a chat. 

To all our new parents welcome to the best school community ever!