A warm welcome to our community

Hello everyone.

Congratulations to our New School Council Members

The School Council election process was declared this week so I can now officially ‘declare’ that following parents and staff have been elected as a school councillor:

Daniel Rodger (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Akshay Shah (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Sarika Pandey (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Nisa Vahebi (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Gavin Hodgins (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Vacant Position (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Vacant Position (Parent Representative 2-year term)
Emma Harper (DE Representative 1- year term)
Sarah McDonell (DE Representative 2-year term)
Vacant Position (DE Representative 2-year term)
Vacant Position (DE Representative 2-year term)

Congratulations to all of the new councillors and we appreciate your efforts to make our great school even better. They will join Jean Crewe and myself as the Executive Officer on council Thank you! You will see that there are four positions that are left unfilled so if you are interested then please let me know and you can be a part of the new council.

The new council will meet for the first time on Monday 17 March 2025. Please remember that if you would like to ever be a part of the meeting you are more than welcome or please speak with your parent representatives.

District Swimming

Congratulations to all of the students who represented our school at the District Swimming Competition. It was terrific to cheer on our students poolside and watch them swim as well as they could for our school. I put some photos of the day in the Google Classroom so please take a look. There were ribbons being won in every event and was incredibly exciting to be there and wonderful to see so many parents there to support their children.

Many students qualified for Division and they will be competing on Wednesday so by the time you are reading Nokuna, the races will be over. Make sure you look at our social media or Google Classroom as we will share our results. The competition will be tough but students will perform with true Weeden Heights PS spirit.

Family Fun Night and whole school incursion

It was terrific to have the whole school last week up on the oval and mixing with each other as a community. What a fabulous night! There were some wonderful activities for students to entertain them and most importantly, have fun! It was a great opportunity for the students to show off the skills that they learnt during the circus workshops that were held during the day. The feedback from the students and staff was incredible so if you loved the night, hopefully you have liked us on Instagram and Facebook and of course, caught up with all of the photos and videos.

Thank you to those families that came along to enjoy a meal with our community. I would like to give a hearty thanks to our fabulous staff who spent the night cooking for you. I truly hope that you were able to catch up with many familiar faces and also make our new families feel welcome.

School Attendance

As it is term one, I wanted to remind parents of the importance of attending school every day and on time. We absolutely shone in our school achievements last year but our poor attendance was highlighted in the school review in 2023 and the high absence rates did not decrease last year. Attending school each day continues to be a goal in the new annual implementation plan and is outlined in our four-year strategic plan. Our school must improve student attendance and it is being tracked by the department and myself closely. Many students are now being placed on ‘attendance plans’ to help address

non-attendance and ensure that learning time is optimal.

Please organise your holidays on the school holidays rather than during school time. Students cannot make up lost learning time and time away from school impacts on results. I have noticed several students arriving late regularly. Late arrival to school is reported to you on the student reports along with absences.

Arriving late to school also creates an issue for students as they miss vital information and then disrupt the learning zone when they enter the classroom, distracting every other learner in the room. Classroom doors open at 8.50am to allow students to settle and start work straight away at 9am.

The data for student attendance is collected by the Department of Education. You will continue to receive this information on your school reports as attendance will affect the results your child achieves.

Here is a guide Weeden Heights used to highlight absences & punctuality and was included in the final report for your child:

We do not expect students to come to school when they are ill and all of our parents appreciate students being kept home until they are well enough so that nothing is passed onto other students. However, I am sure that we can all be organised, arrive on time and be ready to learn for 9am. Family holidays need to be planned for during school holiday times so that children do not miss vital and essential learning.

Prep 2026 Tours and Enrolments

We have had many calls already for information regarding enrolments at Weeden Heights Primary School for 2026 and beyond. We have several students already enrolled for next year and our tours will begin next week and this has allowed our students to settle into the new year. Our School Ambassadors will also be a part of the tour in their role as a year 6 leader.

Enrolment information is available now so if you have a child starting at Weeden next year or know anyone who requires assistance with 2026 placements, please direct them to call our office to book a tour date and time. Tours are conducted on a Wednesday at 9.30am. Thank you for helping us with this process.

Social Media

Please remember to check out our Facebook and Instagram page as we have been posting many photos and information up so that you are of what our talented students and staff are up to. You are also welcome to leave a positive comment as students do like to read what you have written to them.

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

OSHC - AFTER THE BELL