From the Principal

Preps start their Willy Kid Journey

On Monday morning we welcomed our 2024 Grade Prep students for their first official day at Willy Primary. It was great seeing the prep area a buzz, as parents and carers arrived at school full of energy and excitement. Change is always tough, but it was great to see that even students who found the first day overwhelming had quickly settled throughout the morning. I encourage everyone to check out the prep page of the newsletter for more details.

School Photos

As photo day approaches, we just needed to make families aware of important information regarding the use of photos taken.

All students presented to our photographers on photo day will be photographed, their images will appear in school photography packages which will be available to purchase by school families.

If you have any questions regarding the use of photos and images within photo packages, please contact the office prior to photo day.

Student Leadership Program

Junior School Council

Over the first week all classes have been working away establishing their 2024 JSC students. In years Prep - 4 each class will have 1 representative, each voted by their class peers. 

In years 5/6 the JSC structure is slightly different. Known as our senior JSC the group is made up of 12 students with a composite of 6 grade six and 6 grade fives. From the 6 grade six students, two school captains will be elected by the school leadership team. Please note that all student leadership roles are not gender specific.

House Captains

Yesterday our newly appointed School House Captains had their first role as leaders of the school, championing their houses at the School House Swim Carnival. This is a long-standing tradition at the school and the event provides a range of swimming competition events for students of all abilities, while also providing students in years three and four the chance to try out for the school district swim team. We hope all house captains enjoyed the day and their new roles.

GRIP Conference

This coming Monday 12th Feb, our senior student leaders will head off to the GRIP Conference at the exhibition centre in the city. This event gives student leaders the tools to help lead within their school community and will be the foundation of the work the students undertake throughout the year. We look forward to reporting details of this event next week.

Student Inclusion Leadership Committee

We are continuing to reshape our student leadership program with the establishment of a Student Inclusion Leadership Committee. This committee will work directly with the school leadership team as well as advocating for all students across the school. Comprised of self-nominated year five and six students the group will provide feedback on school facilities, resources, and programs through an inclusive lens, enhancing student voice to ensure all students from all walks of life and background feel safe and supported. We look forward to detail the works of this group over the coming months.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community 

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice. 

Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy https://www.williamstownps.vic.edu.au/uploaded_files/media/williamstown_ps__photographing_filming_recording_students_policy_november_2022.pdf,

describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. 

The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. 

We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school. For more information about privacy, refer to: Schools’ Privacy Policy — 

https://www.vic.gov.au/schools-privacy-policy?Redirect=1

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/privacy-information-sharing/policy

This information is also available in ten community languages: 

* Amharic, Arabic, Dari, Gujarati ,Mandarin, Somali, Sudanese, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese

School Council

The final meeting of the current school council will take place on Tuesday 20th Feb. At the conclusion of this meeting the school will make a call out for candidates for the vacated positions. Further information about this process will be distributed in the coming weeks, but we encourage all interested parties to contact myself, the office or a current council member if they would like to discuss what is involved in being part of school council.

Meet the Teacher

Term One "Meet the Teacher" meetings will take place on Wednesday 14th February from 1pm-7pm. 

The Compass Conferences portal is open to accept bookings until Tuesday 13th February.

If you have any questions regarding the booking of these meetings please contact the school's office.

These meetings are designed to give parents an opportunity to meet their child's 2024 teacher and provide a chance for parents to pass on any important information about their child. 

It should be noted that as it is only the beginning of the school year teachers will have had limited time to feedback academic progress.This information will be discussed during the learning conferences held late in term 2.

This year the school is providing parents the opportunity to submit information to their child's teacher prior to meeting. We believe that this will enhance the productivity and exchange of information at the meetings. This process will be undertaken through the completion of a Google Form. The form can be accessed via the link below.https://forms.gle/uxs3M758v5hC5zFX7If you have any questions regarding the "Meet the Teacher' meetings please contact your child's teacher or school office for assistance.

ANZAC Day Service

Each year the school recognises the contributions that many Australians have made through service to our countries defence forces. ANZAC day is one of these key acknowledgements and this year the school will look to further recognise members of our school community who serve our country. 

This year we are welcoming members of our current school community to take part in this year’s school service which will take place on Wednesday 24th April, the day prior to ANZAC day. 

If you would like to be involved in this event, please feel free to contact me directly to this discuss further.

Secondly, this year the school will be looking to participate in Williamstown’s local ANZAC dawn service by having student leaders place a wreath at the memorial cenotaph at the end of Ferguson Street. We encourage all families to attend in recognition of the sacrifice and contributions of all service people.

Wellbeing Hub

Today we were very excited to accept delivery of our new wellbeing hub. This brand-new refurbished shipping container will be located in the admin quadrangle, tucked up towards the bluestone building. The hub will be a great physical resource that will be home to our expressive arts therapy program as well as a key workspace for our mental health practitioner, which the school is looking to appoint over the coming months. Overall, this is a great addition to the school to enhance the wellbeing support of all Willy Kids.

Basketball Ring Upgrade

On Monday the school received delivery of two stadium grade basketball systems. These rings will not only support our sports and PE programs, but it will also increase the opportunity for local sporting clubs to hire the facilities for training purposes. In addition to these basketball systems the school’s external basketball court will receive a backboard and ring upgrade. The courts which have external lighting, provides even further opportunities for both our school community and sports organisations.

Redbrick Quadrangle Project

This week I met with landscapers to discuss stage 1 of redbrick quadrangle upgrade. This phase looks to redevelop the external area between the redbrick building, portables and the 5/6 deck. This stage will be followed by stage 2 which is the redevelopment of the redbrick toilets. This two-part project was the fundraising focus of the 2023 Seaside Fair. We are very excited to share the progress across the year.

Warm regards,

Mat