A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

School Council

On Monday night, School Council inducted its new members through the AGM. Congratulations to the school councillors who were elected to the following office bearing positions:

Mr Gavin Hodgins

– School Council President

Mr Daniel Rodger - Vice President
Mr Tony Goldsmith– Treasurer
Mrs Kerryn Cheetham – Minute Secretary

We also welcomed our new school council members for their very first meeting: Ms Jean Crewe and Mrs Anne Lee.

The school council also operates with sub committees and their main role is to advise council through their research and investigations. Parents are more than welcome join sub committees and you don’t need to commit to being on school council. We also still have three parent vacancies on council so if you are interested then please let me know.

Please come and speak with Gavin, our president, or a council member if you are interested in being involved in a sub- committee:

Grants and Grounds Development
School Promotions, Fundraising and Community Building

We welcome our parents and the council would greatly appreciate input from the wider community.

Student Absences from School

One of our improvement strategies in the new strategic plan is to improve student attendance due to the significant absences of our students at Weeden Heights PS. The Department of Education is following our attendances closely and this week I received a report on every student who has had more than five absences. There are thirteen students already on the list which places them in danger in the chronic category for the rest of the year and we have two students who are on attendance plans. Many of these students have had up to 10 days absent.

You should be all aware, a student missing one day a fortnight will miss four weeks in a year, and more than a year of school by the time they reach year 10. Twenty or more days absent in a year is categorised as chronic absence.

We need to improve student attendance across the whole school. ‘It is not okay to be away’ is the focus from the department and their policy states:

In accordance with the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic), schooling is compulsory for children and young people aged from 6 to 17 years unless an exemption has been granted.

Parents/carers must enrol a child of compulsory school age at a registered school and ensure the child attends school at all times when the school is open for instruction.

Family holidays during school terms are not an approved absence. Please do not organise holidays during school times or delay returns to school as the term dates for school years are well published. I would greatly appreciate your support with this.

There are a few families that have already asked teachers to provide class work while they take a family holiday. The teachers are not obligated to provide work or correct any work when a family has chosen to keep their child out of school. Please take a look at our school Attendance Policy

Students at Weeden Heights PS are expected at school everyday unless they are ill.

Capital Works Update

This week I have signed off on the capital works on behalf of the school and we have started to move into the new administration area. I am hoping that we may be fully operating out of the space by the second week of school next term. It took a term to move admin up to the library so it takes time to move back down. Thanks so much for your patience over the last year or so but there are telephone services to move along with setting up all of the IT again etc. I believe it is really worth the wait as the space is lovely and will set a very good impression for visitors to our school.

Prep 2024 Tours and Enrolments

We have had many calls and visits already for information regarding enrolments at Weeden Heights Primary School for 2024. Tours and enrolment information is available now. Positions are filling fast so if you are an existing family, please complete your enrolment form and hand it in at the office.

We do rely on the ‘positive word’ of our school community to promote the school amongst neighbours and friends. Our staff, walked throughout the neighbourhood on Tuesday night delivering pamphlets. We have also had some terrific parents walking along side us as well and promoting our high performing school. THANK YOU! You can assist Weeden Heights PS by talking about the work of the school and your experiences. Sharing our Facebook posts and making comments also assist. Weeden Heights is on Instagram as well! Thank you for helping us with this process.

If you know anyone who requires assistance with 2024 placements, please direct them to call our office to book a tour date and time. There is a new online enrolment system for prep students so Cindy will be there to assist and information will be sent home through the kindergartens. Thank you for helping us with this process.

Parent Association/ Parent Group/Parent Association

Thank-you to the wonderful parents who have shown great interest in our PFA. The parents have met to conduct their AGM and are beginning to organise all the events for the year.

The parents welcome anyone who would like to join them to support the school and most importantly our students.

The main goal of the PFA is to support fundraising in the school to benefit our students and their educational programs. We will be setting up the library soon with all the new shelving that was purchased by the PFA and the fundraising of the past. The PFA make an enormous difference to our school and we value all of their efforts and of course, the fun activities that they organise for us. Stay tuned for the up-coming events and I hope that you can support our wonderful PFA.

End of Term Assembly

Parents are reminded that this term will conclude on THURSDAY 28 MARCH at 2.30pm. Please note the early closing time. We will conduct our end of term assembly from the basketball courts and parents will be welcome to attend from 2.10pm.

Term two will commence on Monday 15 April 2024 after a two-week break. Please take this time to relax with the family and I hope that you all have a very Happy Easter and enjoy a wonderful break. Please stay safe and healthy.

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Parents & Friends Association