Principal  Message

Hello everyone,

The last 3 weeks have been very difficult time for our school after learning about the death of Nikki’s husband, Scott Tenberge.  When things like this happen in a school, the staff and students are deeply impacted. As a small close-knit school the line between school and personal life do spill over and we get to know each other’s spouses and family. This was certainly true for Scott, who was often around over the last 18 months at WPS staff functions, onsite during school days to work on the sensory garden and even picking up loads of rocks and other items from the hardware store for us. He always was thinking of ways he could improve our grounds, and nothing was too much trouble.  He attended our Working Bees with Nikki, often staying for several hours to complete tasks such as the sandpit. In the time I spent with Scott I admired his strong work ethic, his kind, generous spirit and the dedication and respect he displayed for Nikki.

Thank you to our parents who attended the funeral on behalf of the WPS community. It was greatly appreciated by the teachers and Nikki to see our community supporting her.  Nikki will be taking the remainder of Term 3 off and we are very fortunate to have been able to place highly experienced and passionate teachers, Andrew Russell for the term, 4 days a week and Claire covering the 5th day.  

Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Program  (SWPBS)

WPS  continues its Stage 1 implementation of SWPBS.  This Term we have introduced our School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) Matrix that will support our students and wider community to create a learning environment that is positive, safe and happy. The students will be introduced this term to the SWPBS language, whilst unpacking our school values weekly.  In the coming weeks you will begin to see signage and posters going up in our classrooms and other areas of the school. These displays will trigger reminders for the positive behaviours we display at WPS. 

SWPBS Junior school focus: 

Each day our Prep – 3’s have focused on a specific school value and how that looks in different areas of the school. Students have applied their understanding of these expected behaviours in role play scenarios and have created goals to see if they are exhibiting specific behaviours throughout the day. Teachers have been giving explicit positive feedback to students when they are showing expected behaviours during the school day.

SWPBS Senior School focus

Over the course of Term 3 the students in 4-6 have been focusing and unpacking our School Values – Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Kindness.  The students looked at all areas of the school and community and identified how certain behaviours could be used positively using the language centred around our MATRIX.  

Science Week

Next week we will be running a program that is heavily focused on Science. On Monday,  we will form multi age groups and the students will participate in a series of rotating workshops. We will run Sinema special screenings for students and there will also be guest presenters from Warrandyte High as well as our very own Dr. Jillian.  We are very excited to be running this special week of activities.  Science is an area that was significantly impacted during the last two years of lockdowns.  We aim  to raise the profile of science and let our students experience the wonders and importance of science in their lives and the world around them.  A special thanks to Claire and Jo for putting together the weeks program and driving the initiative.

Book Week

I’m not sure who determines the calendar of special curriculum ‘weeks’ but somehow Science Week and Book Week have come to run consecutively.  Book Week will run from 20th – 26th August and is a much-loved school event. We recognise that there are two weeks running where we are offering dress-up days. If your family is anything like mine, it might be a bit much to manage two dress up outfits.  You are welcome to just choose one of the dress-up themes (science concept or your favourite book character) to participate in. All families are welcome to join us for the Book Week parade after the morning bell on Thursday 25th August. We usually do the parade 1st so the costumes look their best.

A Book Swap has also been organised by our Grade 6 leaders so take a look on your shelves and see if there is anything that your child/ren can bring along. 

I hope you have a great weekend.

Take care,

Nieta