Principal's Report

21st July 2023

Welcome Back

I hope everyone enjoyed a restful and relaxing break. Term 3 looks to be an exciting term with the senior school concert coming up next week, and the new oval scheduled to be opened soon. We are also looking forward to the Shark Stalls later in the term, book week and the dress up parade, and a number of interesting year level incursions and excursions planned. It looks like another great term ahead at Wheelers Hill Primary School. 

NAPLAN Results 2023

NAPLAN results were made available to schools earlier this week. Sometime next week, the hard copy reports will be delivered to school and sent home with students in Years 3 and 5.

As in other recent years, our NAPLAN results are very high which reflects the high quality teaching and learning programs and experiences Wheelers Hill Primary School provides our students. 

This year, the way NAPLAN is reported has changed and is summarised below. I would interpret the new reporting as students who score strong to be at the very least at expected curriculum level, and if they scored exceeding, to above or significantly above the expected curriculum level.

1. Exceeding: the student’s result exceeds expectations at the time of testing.
2. Strong: the student’s result meets challenging but reasonable expectations at the time of testing.
3. Developing: the student’s result indicates that they are working towards expectations at the time of testing.
4. Needs additional support: the student’s result indicates that they are not achieving the learning outcomes expected at the time of testing.

As in recent years, our school NAPLAN results continue to be higher when compared to other schools. State comparison results are not available yet.

For both Year 3 and 5 in all subjects tested, 90% or more of our students are either strong or exceeding. This is higher than similar schools (similar size, socio-economic levels, number of EAL students, PSD students etc.) or our network schools in the Monash and Manningham local government areas, most of which share similar demographics, types of students etc.

These results are summarised below.

YEAR 3 % Strong and Exceeding

YEAR 5 % Strong and Exceeding

NAPLAN can also be measured through a mean scale score for each subject in each year level tested (e.g Year 5 reading, Year 3 writing etc). This year most of our mean scale scores in Year 3 and 5 were the highest ever, or second highest ever scored. Our students are doing very well with NAPLAN!!!

Well done to our students for their terrific scores and to all the teachers and staff at WHPS. We should all be very proud of our students, our staff and school for these exceptional results. 

Parents' Association

The school council is looking to revive the WHPS Parents' Assocation (PA) after an extended break due to COVID and lockdowns. A new Parents' Assocation page has been created in the newsletter (the page after this one) where you will find information on what the PA is and how you can join. Information about the PA is also available on Compass. Please have a read through this page and consider joining. Thank you to school councillor Michael Wos for his work with restarting the association. 

Senior School Concert

Students and staff are very excited about the senior school concert "WHPS - A Celebration of Cinema" next week. This is the first time since 2018 our students will have an opportunity to perform a live concert. Tickets are still available. Please check Compass for information about how to book tickets via TryBooking. Our junior students in Year Prep-3 have just started rehearsing for their Disney themed concert. We look forward to their performance in early Term 4. 

Scooters and Bikes - No Riding on School Grounds

Just a reminder, scooters and bikes are NOT to ridden on school grounds for safety reasons. Our students have been reminded to not ride while at school and will walk their bike or scooter through the grounds. It would be appreciated if parents who have younger children with them while waiting for pick up, do not allow them to ride a bike or scooter at school. Thanks for your co-operation. 

Oval Update 

The end of the oval redevelopment project is not far and anticipation and excitement about its completion is building. We are hoping it will be finished by the end of next week. The asphalt edging around the oval was completed earlier this week, as well as the installation of a new cubby house and storage shed. We will keep you up to date with any further developments and opening date. 

Michael Ramsey

Principal