From the Acting Principal
Adele Brice
It's hard to believe we have reached the end of another term.
It's been lovely to welcome parent and community helpers onsite to support our programs - thank you to everyone who has supported us in SAKG, Interschool Sport, the Prep Art Program and 1/2 Reading Groups.
There have been many highlights from not only this term, but over the first semester.
Term 2 Highlights include:
-Whole School Cross Country
-Green Team Excursion – Green Team representatives
-NAPLAN – Literacy and Numeracy testing for Grade 3 and 5 students
-ANZAC assembly
-Gelantipy Camp – Grades 5 and 6
-Challenge Based Learning – Big Idea - Connections
-Eastern Region swimming – selected students
-District and Regional Cross Country – selected students
-AFL clinics held during PE sessions
-VHAP (Victorian High Ability Program) sessions for selected Grade 5 and 6 students in
English and Mathematics
Wellbeing highlights include:
-Whole school TRIBES sessions - fortnightly
-Friendology Program
-National Reconciliation Week
-Small group sessions commencing with our Wellbeing Support Person
-Respectful Relationship sessions
-Ongoing Cyber Safety sessions run by class teachers (Cyber Safety Project)
-The DET School Nurse was onsite during Week 7 seeing our Prep students
Annual Report to the School Community is now available
Our Annual Report is now available and can be viewed on our website. We encourage you to access the report via this link.
The annual report provides an opportunity to share the year’s achievements and progress with the school community. This includes reflecting on the school’s performance and explaining the impact of school improvement efforts on student outcomes.
Mid year Reports
Our students are to be congratulated for the hard work and dedication that they have directed to their learning during first semester. I am always so proud to read their reports and celebrate their social and learning achievements. Mid Year reports will be available via the Sentral portal later in the week.
There will be an opportunity to meet with your child and their teacher for a Three Way Conference in Week 5 of Term 3.
As you are no doubt aware from Julie's previous correspondence, Assessment and Reporting procedures at Wonga Park were was reviewed and updated post COVID in response to parent feedback from surveys and forums. Remote Learning provided parents/carers with the opportunity to be more aware of the learning.
Assessment and Reporting now includes the following opportunites to learn about student progress:Parent/Teacher conference - beginning of the school year
- Wonga Weekly shared to inform parents about the learning taking place in the classroom each week to enable conversations at home
- Learning Snapshots (via Showbie) for all subjects throughout the year
- Learning Updates at the end of Term 1, accompanied by a Parent/Teacher interview
- Mid year Reports - June
- Three Way Conferences - mid Term 3
- Learning Update end of Term 3
- End of Year Reports - December
End of Term information
The final day for Term 2 will be Thursday 22nd June.
Learning blocks and bell times will run as normal however dismissal times will be as follows:
2.10pm A-K students
2.20pm L-Z students
Friday 23rd June will be a Curriculum Day for Wonga Park staff.
The focus of Curriculum Day will be Mathematics – we will be exploring and unpacking the ‘why’ and developing sequencing and creation of Challenging Tasks.
Should you required care for your child/ren on this day, please visit Their Care website to make a booking.
Parent Sentral Calendar
Communication is important to us. We endeavour for you to receive information about events and various happenings around the school with as much notice as possible.
Our staff use the parent calendar on Sentral to alert families to the various events that are on. You can access the Sentral calendar via the app on the Sentral website. Please contact your child's teacher or the office if you ever require further information.
Transition
Our thanks are extended to Warrandyte High for the invitation our Grade 5 students received to see the school's production, Matilda. Warrandyte High sponsored the cost of the buses for our students to attend the performance.
Warrandyte High School are also offering How to Cook sessions for Grades 4 and 5 students during Term 3. Please refer to the School Community News section of the newsletter for more information regarding this opportunity.
Our staff were complimentary regarding the behaviour of our students at the performance, they said it was exemplary.
Performing Arts Room
Julie's vision for a new Performing Arts space has been a project for the past few years.
Julie has been keeping the community updated regarding the progress of this room - we are excited to announce the fencing around the area has been erected and initial digging of the area started on Saturday. The building will commence in the holidays, and we anticipate the room will be operational by Term 4. It's exciting to see this hard work become a reality.
Road Safety
From time to time, parents contact us regarding concerns about student behaviour around roads. Whilst on the whole our students exercise excellent road safety awareness, occasionally we do need to discuss road safety with our students. Please help us and chat to your child/ren about safety around the roads. Reinforce that unsafe behaviours like running across the road and not using the crossing are not acceptable behaviours.
Drop off/Pick up around the school
We understand that parking around the school at drop off and pick up times can be tricky to find somewhere to park the car, however we respectfully ask that parents/carers are respectful of residents.
Recently we have received reports of cars being parked over footpaths. We have even had reports of cars using private circular driveways. The Wonga Park community is important to us, so please help us to ensure the rights of our residents are respected.
Education Sub Committee
The Afterschool Basketball policy was ratified at School Council on Monday night, and it is now available for you to view on our website.
The Visitor Policy was reviewed and is now being shared for community consultation. Please let me know if you have any feedback regarding this policy.
The Medication Policy and Health Care Needs policies have also been updated and are available to be viewed on our website.
Child Safe Volunteer Training
Many parents and members of our community have participated in the Child Safe Volunteer training. Anyone wanting to volunteer at our school must participate in our Child Safe Volunteer training. Training is required on an annual basis.
For the remainder of the year, opportunities to train will not be as frequent, but they will be offered. Please check the Parent Sentral Calendar regularly, as training opportunities will be posted on this calendar.
Cyber Safety
The Cyber Safety Project has another upcoming parent webinar. The focus of the webinar will be Gaming and your Family on Wednesday 26th July at 7.30pm. You can register for the session here: www.cybersafetyproject.com.au/webinars
Wishing you all a restful holiday break. We look forward to seeing you back at school on Monday 11th July.
Adele Brice
Acting Principal