Welcome to our community

It is unfortunate that the week has started with the bushfires through Gippsland. Our thoughts go out to the people, domestic animals and wildlife who live in those areas. We did speak about this briefly at assembly on Monday and all students were reassured that we were safe and have a plan in place should a fire ever come our way. I did remind students that they do need to go over their own evacuation plans at home should anything ever happen. It is important to have conversations with your children but monitor the vision that they watch on the news as media today is extremely graphic. Please reassure them at home about their safety during this challenging time.

Congratulations to our New School Council

The School Council election process is now declared closed. The call for nominations for School Council closed last week and I did announce positions via Flexibuzz on Monday.

We can now officially declare that following parents are now elected school councillors that represent the parents:

Kirsty White (Parent Representative 2 year term)
Daniel Roger (Parent Representative 2 year term)
Gerry Mulholland (Parent Representative 2 year term)
Gavin Hodgins (Parent Representative 1 year casual vacancy)
Karen Jansen (Parent Representative 1 year casual vacancy)

Congratulations to Paul Keeghan who was also nominated for one of the DET representative positions on council. Well done!

There were four parent vacancies, one parent co-opt for one year and four Department representative for a two year tenure. We received two parent nominations and unfortunately two department nominations.

The new council will meet for the first time on 18 March 2018. Please remember that if you would like to ever be a part of the meeting you are more than welcome or please speak with your parent representatives.

If you are interested in being on School Council then there are actually three vacancies that I would like to co-opt parents into. There are also two DET vacancies that staff can be co-opted into as well. Please let me know or one of the councillors know if you are interested. The following positions remain vacant and I am looking for further nominations. I will open the polls for one more week and the closing time will be 4pm Friday 8 March.

DET - 1 year Casual Vacancy
DET - 2 year position
Parent - 1 year Casual Vacancy
Parent - 1 year Casual Vacancy
Parent - 1 year Casual Vacancy

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)

A team of staff from Weeden Heights PS have been selected to be a part of the Department of Educations, PLC initiative. I am very excited that we have been offered a position in the final intake of schools (there are limited schools trained) which is an honour and I plan for it to set the tone in the new Strategic Plan that will be developed after our school review in term 3. The PLC is an effective approach for teams to implement action research. They will function in a manner to ensure that schools lead change based on the professional learning needs of staff and the evidence provided through student data. This is my vision for Weeden Heights and the amazing staff who support the learning of your children.

District Swimming

I am very excited that we had a team go off and represent Weeden Heights and the WESA district on Tuesday in the pool. Please read the specialist page for results but we are proud of their efforts and achievements. A massive thank you to our wonderful parents who support our students at these events.

Exiting and Entering the School Grounds

This is a friendly reminder that when you enter or exit school, please use the pedestrian gates which are located at the front and the back of the school. It is unsafe and not appropriate for parents and students to be using the front and back car park driveways. I have received a few complaints about parent’s cars in the staff carparks and concerned about the amount of people walking on the driveways. Please keep our school a safe place.

Also, parents/guardians are not to park in the staff carpark at the back or front of the school. This is extremely dangerous areas at pick up and drop off times.

School Attendance

As it is term 1, I wanted to remind parents of the importance of attending school every day and on time. I have noticed several students arriving late regularly and we reported to you on the end of year student reports in 2018 about your child’s late arrivals to school along with absences.

One interesting fact relating to student attendance is around that the alignment of students’ attendance with Naplan results and student achievement. It is simple….. learning happens at school and if students are not here at school, it directly impacts on their learning achievements.

Last year our data indicated that there were year levels with high average absent days. The year 1 class in 2017 (so this year’s year 2’s) had an average of 13 days absent but in prep those same students only had an average of 6 days absent. Well done to our current year 6 students (last year 5’s) as they were absent for the least amount of days.

Arriving late to school also creates an issue for students as they miss vital information and then disrupt the learning zone when they enter the classroom, distracting other learners. Classroom doors open at 8.50am to allow students to settle and start work straight away at 9am.

The data for student attendance is collected by the department. You will continue to receive this information on your school reports as attendance will affect the results your child achieves.

Here’s a guide Weeden Heights used to highlight absences & punctuality and was included in the final report for your child:

We do not expect students to come to school when they are ill and all of our parents appreciate students being kept home until they are well enough so that nothing is passed onto other students. However, I’m sure that we can all be organised, arrive on time and be ready to learn for 9am. Family holidays need to be planned for during school holiday times so that children do not miss out on vital and essential learning. I’m hoping that this is an area the students will all show improvement for 2019.

Prep 2020 and Enrolments

We have had many calls and visits already for information regarding enrolments at Weeden Heights Primary School for 2020. We have several students enrolled for next year, and some already for 2021! Our tours have just started and enrolment information is available now.

If you have a child starting at Weeden next year or know anyone who requires assistance with 2020 placements, please direct them to call our office to book a tour date and time. Tours are conducted on a Wednesday at 9.30am. Thank you for helping us with this process.

Social Media

Please remember to check out our Facebook page and Instagram account as we have been posting many photos and information up so that you are of what our talented students and staff are up to. You are also welcome to leave a positive comment as students do like to read what you have written to them

Until next time,

Ms Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!

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