Principal's Message
Julie Crawford
What a busy start to the year we have had! Our new Preps have had a wonderful start, settling into school routines and enjoying having their Grade 6 buddies there to support them. All of our classes have been focussing on building connections and setting up their class agreements for the year ahead. Many of our programs are in full swing with our whole school TRIBES underway, our Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program started for our Grade 3/4s, Interschool Sport for our Grade 6s and extra curricula programs commencing including After School Basketball, Hot Shot Tennis and Junior Rockers.
Congratulations to our Grade 6s who have been great role models and leaders in our school. Last week they received their personalised Oxford jackets and t-shirts and are wearing them proudly as our school leaders! They are all looking forward to attending the Young Leader's Day held in city, later this month.
Burch Memorial Pre-school
We are very pleased that the alliance between the Burch Memorial Pre-school and Wonga Park PS continues to strengthen with the recent transfer of governance. We look forward to continuing to build partnerships between our learning communities. We warmly welcomed our pre-school families to last week's annual Colour Run on Thursday, March 16th. We hope our school and kinder families enjoyed our first whole school event for 2023!
Building Partnerships
Building strong partnerships between home and school and keeping parents informed of how their child is progressing and building strong partnerships is a priority. In response to feedback from parents during our parent forums last year we are making some changes to the frequency and the ways we communicate regarding student progress.
As in previous years, we hope all of our parents have taken up the offer to have a 'Getting To Know You' conversation with the class teacher. This is such a valuable opportunity to share information about your child and start building the partnership between home and school. We also encourage parents to take a look at the Wonga Weekly that is distributed each Monday. It includes an overview of the week's learning, reminders and prompts that parents can use to initiate great conversations with their child about their learning.
Some new features we are introducing are 'Learning Snapshots' and 'Learning Updates'. In the Wonga Weekly, parents will begin to see a reference to 'Learning Snapshots'. Leaning snapshots will be distributed via Showbie and will be examples of your child's work. A learning snapshot could be a photo of your child's writing, a maths or reading task, something they have constructed, a video of them reading or practising a skill in PE. It is an exciting way for parents to see their child's great learning throughout the term! Teachers will use the Wonga Weekly to let parents know when to expect a learning snapshot. There will be an explanation about the learning task and some simple prompts that parents can use to have a deeper conversation with their child.Look out for the first learning snapshot that will be coming shortly!
As well as Learning Snapshots, teachers have also been working hard on developing a Learning Update document, which is a progress report parents will receive at the end of the term. The purpose of the Learning Update is to communicate your child's progress in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Maths, Challenge Based Learning and Specialist Subjects. There will also be information about your child's engagement , learning dispositions and social development. Parents will also have the opportunity to meet the classroom teacher for parent teacher interview. We look forward to continuing to seek feedback from parents about how we can further strengthen our learning partnership.
Grants News - Thank You Warrandyte Community Bank!
We are always very appreciative of the support we have received over many years from the Warrandyte Community Bank. Over the next few months we will be transforming the area at the front of the school to create our Welcome To Country Garden. The generous grant of $5,500 will help to make this project possible.
Last week we received further exciting news from Warrandyte Community Bank that we have been successful in the first step towards a $45,000 grant to create a new learning and play space!! We now have the opportunity to submit more detailed plans for the space that will be created beneath new shade sails that are to be installed during the next term holidays. The project, which will cover the area nestled between the admin building, the Prep and Grade 1/2 buildings and the SAKG/Maker Space building will see the current asphalt surface transformed into a creative playspace that includes large rocks and mounds and a softer synthetic grass surface. We look forward to seeking ideas from our students as we plan this exciting new space!
School Leaders Badge Presentation
Congratulations to our 2023 School Leaders. We look forward to acknowledging them officially at the Badge Presentation Assembly on Wednesday, March 29th at 9:00am. All welcome
School Tours - Prep 2024
We have been busy with school tours for our 2024 Preps. Tours are offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We will also be having an information night early in Term 2. We are planning for three prep classes again next year and are able to take out of zone applications for preps. Please spread the word if you have any friends or family who are looking for a school for next year for their prep child and encourage them to book in for a school tour.
Friendology Program
We are very pleased to announce that we will be introducing the Friendology Program from P-6 next term. Staff will complete the professional learning on the next curriculum day and the program will be launched with students in Term 2. The program supports young people to have a common language and set of skills to be able to form and maintain healthy friendships and have the strategies to put out 'friendship fires'.
Fathering Project - Fathers Of The Oak
Our Fathers Of The Oak group for our dads and father-figures is part of the Australia-wide Fathering Project. The mission of The Fathering Project is to educate, connect and mobilise fathers and families to create brighter futures for children. We look forward to involving our dads in a variety of dads only and dads and kids events this year. Please save the date for the 2023 relaunch of Fathers Of The Oak with a dads only event on Wednesday, May 3rd. More details will be emailed today.
New School Bank Details
Please note that there has been a change of school bank details. The new account details are - CBA BSB 063 093 ACCOUNT NUMBER 1000 1573
2023 School Council
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our outgoing School Councillors - Matt Kohler, Kristy Dinnison, Rachael Gopal and Cindy Norman. Your contribution over many years has been greatly appreciated.
We are pleased to announce that at the close of nominations for the 2023 School Council the following Parent and DET representatives were elected to the Wonga Park School Council -
Jo Allen (Parent Representative)
Jodie Winterton (Parent Representative)
Narelle Evans (Parent Representative)
Brett Powell (Parent Representative)
Natalie McKinnon (DET Representative)
Terri Gioia (DET Representative)
Two Community Member vacancies are yet to be confirmed. Members are co-opted by a decision of the council because of their special skills, interests or experience. Community Member positions are for one year with full voting rights.
The first meeting of the School Council will be Monday 20th March at 7:30pm. All welcome.
Warrandyte Festival
Many thanks to Mrs Lambden and Mrs O'Sullivan who worked so hard with our junior and senior choir to prepare for their first performance at last weekend's Warrandyte Festival. Our choirs sounded amazing and were so excited about performing at the festival. Unfortunately, due to high temperatures and fire danger, the event was cancelled. Please pop in your diary that our choirs will now be performing for their peers and families at the badge presentation on Wednesday, March 29th at 9:00am. All welcome.
Regards
Julie