Welcome to our community

Family Fun Night Bush Dance & Wellbeing Day

What a sensational night! The basketball court looked amazing with hay bales, checked table cloths, games, activities and an outstanding photo backdrop. It was exciting to see that many students and parents got into the spirit of the night in their country attire. We all hope that our families had an amazing time, got an opportunity to meet some of our new families while catching up with ‘old’ friends.

The whole school student wellbeing day went very smoothly as students worked multi aged across all year levels to learn a variety of dances with the Billytea Bush Band. Loads of fun and I was so impressed with the participation of all students and their ability to follow the dance steps. We have some talented dancers at Weeden Heights PS!

A huge thank-you to all of the staff for the work they did in supporting the night. It was fabulous to see our parents involved in the dancing and activities as well. Thanks for getting involved on the night! We have received encouraging and supportive feedback from the 2019 Family Fun Night. The event was a wonderful start to the year.

Make sure you take a look at our Facebook page to see videos and photos of the night!

School Council Elections for 2019

We have now completed our final School Council meeting with our current school council. Our last meeting was on Monday 18 February. Councillors take up a term for two years and each year we go through a process of re-election to establish the current school council.

I am now calling for nominations to fill the 2019 council positions that will become vacant. We welcome existing councillors to re nominate and we definitely require new parents to join the council. During this process we will also ask for DET reps as well. Nominations for the new School Council opened Thursday 21 February 2019.

Nomination forms will made available to you on Flexibuzz, attached to this school newsletter and available in paper form at the school office.

If you have ever thought you would like to know what happens on School Council why not offer your services this year. It is very simple; all you need to do is come to the office and collect a nomination form. There are two types of nominations. One requires a person to second your nomination or you can simply nominate yourself. In order to become a school councillor, you need to have child enrolled at the school and a desire to see Weeden Heights PS continue to improve as a school community.

The following positions will be advertised as vacant:

Parent Category for School Council for 2019: 2 year term x 3 positions, 1 year term x 4 positions and 1 x 2 year community member
Department of Education and Training (DET) Member Category on School Council: 2 year term x 2 positions and 1x 1 year position

Nominations close Friday 1 March 2019 at 4.00pm. Please compete the attached form to the main office. If we require an election due to more nominations than positions then I will inform you of the process after that time.

If you have any questions around becoming a part of School Council then please speak with the current School Council members. It is an excellent opportunity to participate in your child’s school.

Thank-you to our exiting and valued School Councillors

On behalf of our school community, I would like to thank the following School Councillors for their amazing work over their two-year term: Kirsty White, Stephen Churchill, Eva Bitsikis and two parents who filled casual vacancies at the end of 2019; Gerry Mulholland and Emily Qui.

One of their highlights would have been to be involved in representing our school community and the support you have given the school. You should all be very proud of the work completed in the sub committees along with your generous commitment of time, advice and expertise.

Sunsmart Hats

Students must wear a school uniform brimmed hat until the end of April. Please help by ensuring your child has protection from the sun by having his/her hat at school, reinforcing the importance of wearing a hat and of course please apply sun cream before your child comes to school each day.

Uniform Reminder:

At assembly, we talk about school pride and in particular school pride attached to the wearing of our school uniform. As a reminder, our school council recommended school uniform is:

Uniform	Boys	Girls
Shoes	Enclosed Black shoes or White Runners	Enclosed Black shoes or White Runners
Bomber Jacket	Maroon poly/cotton with blue emblem & striped trim.	Maroon poly/cotton with blue emblem & striped trim.
Sleeveless Vest	Blue monogramed polo fleece vest worn at any time during the year.	Blue monogramed polo fleece vest worn at any time during the year.
Summer	Sky blue polo shirt with school emblem and signature trim. Maroon shorts or pants. White socks	Check poly/cotton dress in school colours or Sky blue polo shirt with school emblem and signature trim. Maroon shorts or pants. White socks
Winter	Maroon tracksuit pants. Sky blue polo shirt with school emblem and signature trim.	Blue tartan pinafore/skirt with a pale blue skivvy /or long or short sleeved WHPS monogramed t-shirt and blue tights (wool or ribbed tights but no patterns, prints or sparkles) with the WHPS monogramed bomber jacket Or maroon tracksuit pants with the WHPS monogramed bomber jacket and sky blue polo shirt with school emblem and signature trim.
Hats	Maroon and school logo legionnaires, broad brimmed hat

Hair to be tied back if below the shoulder
No jewellery except for stud/sleeper earrings and a watch
Year 6 students have their own signature school t-shirt and rugby jumper

We expect our students to take great pride in their appearance as this directly impacts on the image of the school. No one should be wearing a WHPS summer dress with coloured leggings or a different coloured long sleeved t-shirt under a WHPS short-sleeved t-shirt at any time. Unfortunately a few students have started wearing the in correct t-shirt. All t- shirts must have the school logo and the school’s unique colour and sleeve. You can not buy plain blue polo shirts from a chain store. Please support the School Council's uniform policy and ensure that your children are in the correct uniform.

Student Supervision

It is terrific to see how enthusiastic our students are to be at school. However, I would like to remind families that the school grounds are not supervised by staff until 8.45am each morning and are unsupervised after 3.45pm each afternoon.

It is inappropriate for students to be in the school grounds unsupervised before and after these times so please ensure that your child remains safe by arriving at school as close to 8.45am as possible and collecting your children at 3.30pm. Parents are welcome to supervise their children playing on the grounds after school hours. We do understand that unexpected incidents happen to cause late pickups but please call the office should this occur. Out of School Hours care is available from 7.30am – 8.45am each day and 3.30- 6.00pm should you need the service.

Safety and Parking

Please observe the parking signs around the school. Parking, walking through and using the car park as a ‘drop off’ point is forbidden due to the interest of your child’s safety. The car park at the front and back of the school is for Administration Staff and authorised vehicles and personnel only. We certainly do not want any accidents so please use our school crossings and footpaths and encourage your child to do the same.

Student Accident Insurance/Ambulance Cover Arrangements and Private Property Brought to School

This is a reminder to our community that parents/guardians of students, who do not have student accident insurance, are responsible for paying the cost of medical treatment for their injured children, including the cost of ambulance attendance/transport and any other transport costs. Parents/guardians can purchase insurance policies from commercial insurers to protect their child while at school.

Parents/guardians and DET employees should also note the Department does not hold insurance for personal property brought to schools and it has no capacity to pay for any loss or damage to such property.

Staff Leadership Team

If you have any concerns regarding anything related to your child’s schooling then please see your child’s classroom teacher. Level co-ordinators are also available to assist where necessary to help clarify the answer to any questions that you might have.

Level Coordinators who have this responsibility in 2019 are:

Junior School – Jessica Pearse
Middle School – Aarti Arya
Senior School – Allison McLaren

Information Nights Changed for 2019

At the beginning of every year we usually conduct information nights. This year we are choosing to change things so we are providing information that is relevant and critical to you. To replace the traditional information night, we are spreading out information nights around our curriculum.

We are currently planning these events and will advise you of dates asap. The following sessions will give you an understanding of what and how the students are learning:

Term 1 session will focus on reading
Term 2 session will focus on Mathematics (including number sense & subertising)
Term 3 session will highlight our writing approach
Term 4 will focus on the teaching of spelling and grammar

As there is no information night this year for your child’s grade, the teachers have information books for each year level and these will be available for you via Flexibuzz and on our website soon.

Also please look out for the upcoming workshops when the dates are confirmed.

Exciting News….. Instagram!

We are now adding to our social media exposure to keep you up to date and so that you can see the exciting things happening at our school. We have set up an Instagram account so please start to follow us on @weeden.heights.ps

Don’t forget that we are on Facebook and Flexibuzz!

Communication with and from the school is vital and it is always an area we are working on. We are making great use of the phone app, Flexibuzz. Every family by now should be using Flexibuzz (I know some aren’t as they are missing information!). School information does go out to families on FB and Flexibuzz so it is vital that you download the app to your phone and like Weeden Heights on FB! Search for us under, Weeden Heights Primary School, Vermont South.

Don’t forget that Flexibuzz allows you to send absence notes through to us, book interviews, order lunch orders etc. Your child’s absence should be sent directly through the app on the morning of the absence. This also serves as an absence note and the classroom teachers is aware straight away.

‘Getting to Know You’ Interviews – 2 Way Meetings

Thank-you to the families who participated in the interviews this week. We value the information that you give us about your child as it allows us to develop individual plans to cater for their individual learning needs.

Some of our parents will be involved in Student Support Group Meetings in coming weeks. A note will come home soon to arrange a time with you. Mrs Heatley, our assistant principal and myself look forward to meeting with you then to develop learning goals for your children.

Until next time,

Ms Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!

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