A Word from the Principal 

A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

I would like to thank all of our families for their continued and ongoing support for our school. We have been most fortunate to only have had a few families affected by the virus.  My colleagues in other schools have had staff absent and up to a third of each class in isolation.  We have been working well together to ensure the students are being screened with RATs twice a week which has really helped. 

I would also like to acknowledge my staff who have virtually stayed in isolation so they can come to work and do what they love…teaching children. 

It has been terrific to see a couple of parents at assemblies on Mondays.  Don’t forget you are able to attend as long as you stand at the back of the assembly and away from staff and students. 

There will be some announcements this week about relaxing some of the restrictions.  Not much will change for  primary schools though.  Staff and students will continue to wear masks, socially distance and hand cleanliness will continue to be important.  We still can’t share food so birthday treats to share with the class need to be individual rather than a whole cake. 

We do expect deliveries of more air purifiers to all schools so that we can close the classroom doors and windows during Winter.  It is very cold during Winter so this will be a welcomed decision. 

School Council Elections

We have now completed our final School Council meeting with our current school council.  Our last meeting was on Monday 21 February.  Councillors take up a two year term on council and each year we go through a process of re-election to establish the composition of school council for the current year. 

I have sent you an email calling for nominations to fill the 2022 council positions that have become vacant.  Please consider if you are interested in making a difference for the school and our students.  Nominations close on Monday 8 March and nomination forms were attached to the email that was sent.  Paper versions for parent nominations are also available at the main office

The following positions will be advertised as vacant:

•  Parent Category for School Council for 2022: 4 positions (2-year term), 
•  Department of Education and Training (DET) Member Category on School Council: 2 (2-year term) 

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 exciting 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: Karen Jansen, Shivani Ghosh, Simon Billingham and Mayur Deivasigamani.

They should all be very proud of the work completed on council and in the sub committees along with their generous commitment of time, advice and expertise.  Their school council term was the two years over the pandemic, and they still managed to: approve the shade sails, ensured the school kept the wellbeing officer, endorsed the new all weather play area, contributed to the amazing line marking around the school, new basketball court marking and repairs and most recently they have supported the new capital works project. 

We achieved so much during lockdown….Thank you from the whole community!

Capital Works…. Update!

The team is very close to completing the Master Plan.  The Master Plan will embrace three different phases.  The first phase we will go through is nearly finalised and I will be looking at colour schemes next week.  We have received funding for only the first phase. 

The key focus of the first phase is to make our school watertight.  Our flat roof, box gutters and gumtrees are a nightmare to maintain and have caused most of our major flooding.  A block (front of the school classrooms and administration area) will get a new elevated roof and the back of the school will be patched with internal gutters becoming more functional.

Other key areas that will be touched in phase one:

• Reconfiguration of the administration block to make it functional.  Our office staff can not wait to be able to be warm in Winter and cool in summer as open offices do not work!
• All classrooms in the school and the corridors will be repainted
• Removal of the gas heaters and the failing evaporative coolers in rooms 1 – 4.  They will be replaced with split systems
• Services will be relocated and this is expensive – electrical board, the two server rooms will merge as one with all other telecommunications
• Removal of trees obstructing the building and blocking gutters 
• Creation of an officer for the wellbeing officer
• An extra room to support parents with enrolments and confidential conversations
• A new entrance to the school so that when you walk through the doors you will be greeted by our office staff
• Junior School and Senior School toilets will have an upgrade – new toilets, flooring and removal of urinals
• Removal of the leaking portable that was built into the senior corridor.  The OSHC room will be demolished along with the canteen due to the extensive leaking. 
• The development of a very exciting outdoor learning space (this should look incredible!) and it will be located where the GP/OSHC room is and the old portable.  The area will have grassed spaces, gardens and an outdoor auditorium which is so needed as we are encouraged to teach more outside with the current conditions with the virus. 

To start the cleaning up and moving process, OSHC is going to relocate to the hall soon.  There is a beautiful, nearly unused kitchen up in the hall and parents will be able to park closer to the building to pick up their children.  This space should work very well for OSHC. 

Works should begin in term 3 but I will give you more details and provide some designs and pictures as I get more information. 

. 

Sunsmart Hats

Students must wear a school uniform brimmed hat until the end of April.  Please assist 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.  We do have ‘a no hat, no play’ rule at Weeden Heights PS so it should be a great encouragement for your child to remember.

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: 

• 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
• NO SMART WATCHES OR DEVICES THAT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET (or can take video or photos)

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.  Nor should students were coloured socks other than white (or navy with track pants).   

Please support the School Council's uniform policy and ensure that your children are in the correct uniform.

Reminder: 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. 

Now we have returned to school, I thank you for staggering start times and maintaining distances while at school.  There are a few children coming to school late each day. It is really important to have the children in a routine back at school so please remember that learning begins at 9am in the classrooms.  If you arrive late then your child will be unsettled for the day.  They will not know  the outline for the day or session and it puts them behind right from the start of the day. 

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.

Reminder: 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 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.  Parents using OSHC are also not to use the staff car park. Please park on the street and walk up to the program to collect your child.  Thank you.

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

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 2022 are:

• Junior School (Prep – Year 2) – Melinda Michalski
• Senior School (Year 3 – 6) – Aarti Arya

Aarti is also our Learning Specialist and she can support you with any information about our curriculum or programs. 

Information Nights 2022

At the beginning of every year, we conduct information nights and the 2022 sessions were made available for you through the Google Classroom on Monday night.   If you have not seen the presentation, then please log onto your child’s Google Classroom and watch.  Ask any questions through the chat or contact the classroom teacher.

The information that is relevant and critical to your child’s year level was delivered through a PowerPoint presentation.  The teachers are currently completing the grade information books for each year level and these will be available for you via School Stream and on our website soon. 

Facebook and School Stream!

Please like us on Facebook as we post many of our activities up there and you can keep in touch with what is happening.  The posts also make great conversation starters at the dinner table. Search for us at Weeden Heights Primary School (Vermont South).

We are always adding posts and updates to our social media exposure to keep you up to date and so that you can see the exciting things happening at our school.  Share our page with family as well and they can also see what we are up to at school.

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, School Stream.  Every family by now should be using School Stream and it also includes a translator so there is no excuse for anyone not getting information. School information does go out to families through the app so it is vital that you download it to your phone. 

Stay safe everyone.

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

From the Department of Education – DET

COVID Safe measures extension 17 February 2022

We want to thank parents and students for the great job they have done in keeping our school as safe as possible by following important COVID Safe measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing, ventilation, getting vaccinated and rapid antigen testing.

This has meant that our school has remained open and our students in class. This is a fantastic outcome and a testament to the hard work of parents, carers, students and school staff.

Rapid antigen tests

To keep schools as safe as possible, the Victorian Government has extended the COVID Safe measures introduced for the beginning of Term 1. This includes extending the availability of free rapid antigen tests (RAT) for screening until the end of term. It is anticipated an additional 24 million RATs will be provided to schools and early childhood settings to continue to support early detection and prevent infection, for use at home.

The need for this program will continue to be monitored, and may end earlier based on health advice. This is great news and will mean we’re able to continue identifying COVID-19 cases as early as possible, reducing the impact on our school and individuals.

Department of Health modelling indicates that in the first two weeks of school returning, the program has already prevented more than 21,000 cases in schools alone. Their modelling indicates, assuming a 75 per cent compliance rate with screening of students, that by continuing RAT screening in schools for the full 10 weeks of Term 1, we will prevent:

            * 61,000 COVID-19 infections in children aged 5 to 17

            * more than 150,000 COVID-19 infections in the overall community (on average                         15,000 per week over 10 weeks, or more than 2,100 per day)

           * around 400 hospital admissions.

The department will continue to supply RATs to our school for your use and these have already been sent home on Monday.

Twice-a-week testing continues to be strongly recommended for both students and staff.

Testing will be conducted at home, and students and staff must report any positive result. There is no requirement to report a negative result.

Vaccination

Vaccination is another key component to protect students and staff in school settings.

Vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 are open and third dose vaccinations for 16 to 17 year olds are now available.

There are lots of convenient options to access vaccinations. These include state-wide vaccination hubs, your local GP or pharmacy.

You can book your appointment in a few different ways, including: * online: coronavirus.vic.gov.au/vaccine

                   * by phone: 1800 675 398 (Coronavirus Hotline)

                   * In person: talk to your local pharmacy, doctor, or attend a state-wide                                           vaccination hub. 

                   * using the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder - COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Finder |                           Australian Government Department of Health

In addition, schools provide a trusted place among the community to access vaccination, particularly for families who may experience language or social barriers.

Following successful implementation of school pop-up clinics at the commencement of Term 1, more than 230 schools across Victoria are currently hosting mini-vaccination clinics led by GPs and pharmacists. Many of these clinics will also make vaccinations available the broader school community, inclusive of families of students and school staff.

Ventilation

Improving ventilation is one of the most effective measures to keep education settings safe. 51,000 air purifiers were delivered to schools by Term 1, 2022 to support COVID Safe settings in schools.

Up to an additional 60,000 air purifiers will be rolled out to schools ahead of winter to supplement natural and mechanical ventilation during the cooler months.

The winter allocation will provide enough purifiers to cover all classrooms, in government schools and low-fee non-government schools based on current enrolments. This includes general purpose classrooms and other specialist classrooms such as art and science rooms.

Mask rules will remain the same, with students in Grade 3 and above required to wear masks – although they will not be required outdoors.

On behalf of the school, we would like to thank you again for your continued support in helping your child to complete the rapid antigen tests and other COVID Safe measures. As a result of these efforts our school can continue providing a safe environment for students and staff.

Please stay safe everyone!  Until next time ……

Kylie Campbell

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!