Principal  Message

Hello to all our families

In the light of the confusion of the fire ratings and relocation plans for WPS under the new system, I would like to clarify a few things and shed some light on the information I received about the way decisions are now being made in regards to school relocation or closures for schools like WPS. As you know, schools do not make the final decision about closures or relocations. These decisions are made much higher up the chain of command and must be approved by the Regional Director. 

Under the new system the rating for Manningham local area was High and it has remained High throughout today. We did have some anxious students today who voiced their concerns about it being an Extreme rating.

All jurisdictions across Australia are now implementing the new fire danger forecasting system, the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). This is meant to deliver a nationally consistent system for fire danger ratings based on the latest scientific research.  It is believed it will result in more accurate predictions for fire danger as well as clearer, simplified messaging for all communities. 

In Victoria, the implementation for the AFDRS is being led by Emergency Management Victoria (EMV). 

The descriptions for the ratings are below.

It seems there is a divide between what the media report as the fire ratings and how the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) analyse each Local Government Areas (LGA’s) and then work with the Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) to advise Department of Education (DET). That doesn’t mean the information DET uses is wrong but that the new system provides for each local government area to be considered and given a rating using a combination of weather forecasting and information about vegetation that could fuel a fire. 

When I voiced my concerns within the Department channels last night, it was explained to me that under the new AFDRS system, for Extreme to be chosen, the FBI (Fire Behaviour Index) needs to be 50 or over. Today’s rating for Manningham was 34, at the time of my communications last night. 

It was also explained to me it only takes 1 LGA in the Central fire district to reach Extreme for the media to broadcast all of Central as Extreme as they do not use LGA data. This means there is a divide between the information I get and that of the media. You likely want to ask, where is that information available for you and I am making enquiries as to whether there can be a transparent approach to offering the information so that you are confident about the decisions made. Looking at the AFDRS website, it doesn’t seem to appear to be information other than a more general overview of the new system and how it works. I can also see that the CFA information also set the entire Central region as Extreme today. Again, this doesn't mean the LGA of Manningham was Extreme. I have requested clarification and explanation as to how we can provide assurance to our families that the information given under the new system is accurate and accessible to all.  I will keep you up to date.

Calendar Dates

Meet the Teacher

We are holding the Meet the Teacher interviews on Wednesday 1st March for all Grade 1 – 6 classes and you should have received a Compass message with a link to book in. Prep parents will arrange alternative times with the Prep teachers. The staff wanted to return to holding these sessions face-to-face, but you can let the teacher know if you prefer online and we will accommodate.  Starting and finishing time can vary on the day due to an interview going over and someone coming in late, but we will do our best to accommodate. 

Festival – 18th & 19th March

The Warrandyte Festival is coming up quickly as we begin to prepare for the parade and our stage performance on the Main Stage.  Details around times and places, will come out closer to the date. The theme of this years Festival is ‘Show us your Colours’.  Our Art teacher, Eliza, consulted with the students and it was agreed to do a theme of the colours of our waters. This incorporates the ocean and river creatures, and we are looking to construct a large and colourful Octopus float. Last years float was an amazing creation, and it will be hard to top, but I am sure we can do it. 

Unfortunately, Eliza has had a bad fall (not work related) and has broken her wrist and torn her ACL in her knee.  She had surgery last week on the wrist and will have to undergo rehabilitation for both injuries.  It is unclear if she needs surgery for her knee or not at this stage.  I am unsure at this stage how much longer she will need off, but I can confirm she is not here next week and the following week. We all wish her the best as she recovers, and the staff and students have missed her happy, colourful character moving through the school when she works to create such amazing pieces of art with the classes.  Claire has very kindly agreed to fill Eliza’s role until she is able to return. Claire has been an Art teacher in the past and enjoys the creative side of this.  She is in constant communication with Eliza about what the students can be creating to use in the parade. Eliza’s main concern when I talk to her is around the Festival and the float.

Eliza is going to order all the materials for it and then we will plan to ensure it gets done time. Keep an eye out on Compass as we may need to elicit some help from parents one weekend to help with construction. The older students can help to a degree, but some of the construction and mechanical mechanisms will need adult’s input.

Kevin O’Mara is busy finalising the Bush Band auditions to get started on their first performance for the year. Kirsty is also working on a couple of numbers to present on stage also. They both always showcase a huge array of talents and provide all students the chance to participate in this annual community event. 

The Festival Stall is being organised by our new FOWPS President, Terri Fernando. She is already working behind the scenes, hiring Fairy Floss machines and arranging the stall requirements for serving food. We will be doing or usual baked goods and fairy floss. The Banh Mi was a huge success last year and Vy Costen and Terri have agreed to run this part of the stall again. 

As the Festival is two days and we sold out of the 200 made last year very quickly on the Saturday, there will be a larger production line for this year.  Please look out for messages from Terri for support with either preparations or helping on the day.  We can only run this very popular fundraising event with the volunteers that help in the lead up to and on the day. I thank all organisers in advance for their time and recognise that in our busy day to day lives, fundraising events are an additional stress. We will set up an online booking system to help coordinate the 3 areas of the stall that will need support.

Financial support by Warrandyte & Donvale Rotary Club

Last year I gave a talk at the local Rotary Club committee meeting about the pressures that our school face in today’s world. The members were so pleased to be able to better understand the complexity of running a small school and the financial limitations we can face. They asked to come and visit and have me show them around the school to see if they could perhaps help us with something to improve our school.

There were many things that were highlighted on the walkthrough. As you know, many of our buildings are old and in need some refurbishment and modernisation.  After the tour they asked me to source a quote for the cost to begin the refurbishment and renovation of the interior of senior school building (Grades 4-6).  The changes we have quoted for will be in the style of the main building’s layout. The quote has been sent through and they will be discussing this at their next meeting.  

As part of the alliance now formed Rotary, they have also decided that all the proceeds raised at the annual Art Show at the Warrandyte Festival this year will be donated to Warrandyte Primary School toward this project. This is wonderful news and Rotary really have stood by their commitment to support us.  You can help by promoting the Art Show and encouraging people to attend.

NAPLAN – Grade 3 & 5

This year, NAPLAN has been moved to be earlier in the year. NAPLAN testing will take place between 15th March and 24th March. It is compulsory to have Writing test first and there is a firm date on the 15th March.  However, there is some room on when to schedule the other tests in a sequential order.  Unfortunately, the dates fall within the Warrandyte Festival weekend so we will not schedule any tests on the Monday after as we know that our students are all usually very tired on this day from two days of festival fun.  Further details about test dates will come out next week.

If you are looking for general information about what NAPLAN is, you can find it at this site.

NAP - For parents and carers

We do not teach to the test at WPS but rather help the students revise some areas to build their confidence. An example of this is that the Writing piece will either be a prompt for a narrative text or a persuasive text. The classes will spend some time before the testing dates just revising the structures of these texts and linking our 6+1 Traits of Writing as part of the writing process.  

We also spend some time looking at the wording in the questions as the questions are designed in such a way where the answer may not be directly obvious.  Below is an example of this in a Reading question.

Read ‘Sara’s Early Morning’

On Saturday morning, Sara got up early to play football. 

She put on her football shirt and black shorts. Then, she pulled on some long socks. Next, she carried her football boots to the door and put them on. 

‘I thought you played football on Sunday, not Saturday!’ said Sara’s dad. 

‘Oh, yeah!’ said Sara, and she went back to bed. 

PRACTICE QUESTIONS: 

• What did Sara plan to do on Saturday morning? 

1.  
   1.  
      1. homework 
      2. play football 
      3. go horse-riding 
      4. make breakfast 

• According to the text, what was Sara’s mistake? 

You can see from the 2nd part of this question; they are looking for the implied information rather than explicitly stated information. When we analyse our student’s assessment data, it is a common error to not pick up on the implied information. Another area we know students can struggle in is finding facts in a non-fiction text. We use this understanding of students needs to build skills in these areas, so they feel equipped to tackle these types of questions. 

We do not like to just implement practice tests over and over as this builds anxiety and often disengages our students. We have many students that report feeling anxious in the lead up to NAPLAN, so please see your teacher if this is happening as we start to work now on building their resilience and sense of confidence. 

Wednesday 5th April – Friendship and Family Fun Day/Afternoon

We will be holding a special whole school celebration day in the final week of Term 1 and in the lead up to Easter break. The Junior School Council have met for the first time this week and it was discussed that we run a special friendship day to celebrate our emphasis on friendships and teamwork as part of the start-up program run in the new year. 

The details are still to be finalised but the thinking behind it all is that we will have a free dress day and there will be fun whole school activities throughout the day. We will open the classrooms after lunch to showcase our rooms and the work we have done. All family members are welcome to come and walk through, chat to students and teachers.  After school we will have some games and activities for families as well as live music. Families are then invited to eat and celebrate together as the FOWPS parents provide a BBQ style menu for families to enjoy. 

Details to follow later in the term so make sure you mark April 5th down as an afternoon for our families to come together. It is also a chance for our new Prep families to meet and come together to see our wonderful community.  As we really don’t want to have to cancel anything this term, if the weather is raining, we will provide some marquee spaces over the basketball courts to see us through.

I hope you have a good weekend and can stay cool.

Take care

Nieta