Principal's Report

We have the best staff, I can tell you that!

Why would you want your children to attend Wollert Primary School? Because we have the most dedicated, caring, fun and open-to-learning staff I have ever worked with.

I want to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to all my exceptional staff for their hard work, dedication and commitment to bringing our wonderful school to life. I have great pride in our team, who bring their best each and every day to make sure our students feel happy, safe and proud of their growth.  As we near the completion of our first semester together, I feel very grateful to be leading a school that promises to work together in the pursuit of brilliance and joy for every child. #wollertway

Semester 1 Achievement

We have completed the first half of our school year in what seems like a blink. As I reflect on the whirlwind of opening a new school, many emotions are felt. There have certainly been moments of feeling overwhelmed, uncertain and exhausted. However, these moments are far outweighed by the exhilaration, buzz and indescribable joy I have felt in leading this great school community.

Have we achieved all we had set out to? Not yet. In keeping with our 'Aspirations without Limitations' motto, we set some pretty big goals for our first semester together. We dream big at Wollert and continue to chip away at building the strong foundations needed to ensure long-term growth and benefit for all.

Key accomplishments to note include:

• Recruiting the right people to bring Wollert to life; passionate, kid-loving people who nurture your children just like parents would
• Creating inviting, safe and stimulating learning environments; the buildings have been complimented by carefully selected furnishings bringing a feeling of calm with it
• Purchasing and organising resources, resources and more resources; Take Home Readers and texts for our classroom libraries have been a big focus, as well as literature to explore in our literacy sessions. Maths resources, iPads and many tools have also been purchased and organised to allow for learning flow
• Staff professional learning; developing the Wollert Way has been a clear focus; uniting our minds and hearts in vision and practice
• Communication platforms and learning partnerships developed with our families and the wider community; Compass and Facebook keep our families in the loop.
• Seesaw (our digital portfolio) and our Progressive Reporting approach were developed to keep parents and students fully informed of student progress in a timely way.
• Happy kids and visible learning in all learning spaces.
• Our Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) program is up and going

Things to come:

• Our website is launching next term that will help extend our community reach
• The opening of our Red Gum Sport and Performing Arts Centre; the gym and performing art spaces 
• Sourcing a Canteen Service provider to begin as soon as possible in Term 3
• Resourcing and opening our Learning Hub - library, learning resource zone and community learning space
• Fortnightly school assemblies that families are welcome to attend

There is so much more happening at Wollert and we will be keeping you well informed along the way. Semester one has given us a positive glimpse into what to expect for the rest of this year.

A CURRICULUM DAY is Monday 11th July

In our previous newsletter, I published incorrectly that Term 3 begins on Monday 11th July. TERM 2 BEGINS ON TUESDAY 12th JULY for our students. Monday 11th July is a Curriculum Day that will support our staff in core work related to building comprehensive student profiles. We will be analysing our assessment and reporting data for every student and using this to further develop each student's personalised learning plan. 

LATE TO SCHOOL IS LATE TO LEARNING

On return for Term 3, we want to reboot our focus on learning and setting up independent routines that set our students up for success. Our learning begins at 8.50am each day. Our students need to be on our school grounds and ready to enter our learning environments by 8.50am. Every home room begins the day with an independent learning routine, which sees our students reading and/or sharing thinking for 10 minutes. This leads to our 9.00am formal literacy sessions.

Every minute your child is late counts. Being late to class impacts children in multiple ways. Increased anxiousness, worry, embarrassment and confusion are common side effects of being late to class, regardless of how nurturing and welcoming the classroom is. Teachers begin setting up learning success from the moment children enter, providing instructions and support to scaffold and schedule learning for the day. Not only does this loss of instruction and reading time add up to significant learning loss for your child, it also takes time from teachers who need to repeat instructions every time a late child enters. 

We understand occasional lateness can occur for us all so we expect this to sometimes be the case. Next term, let's work together to ensure lateness does not become a habit that impacts greatly on your child's growth and success.