Principals Report

WELCOME TO THE 2023 SCHOOL YEAR
Welcome back to another new year at Wales Street PS and a special welcome to our new students and their families from Foundation and across the school and to our new staff members. We have had an incredibly positive and smooth start to the year with the students settling in quickly to the routine of being back at school in their new classes.
STAFF
This year we welcome the following new staff members:
Abbie Melchior: Foundation C
Samim Kashani: Grade 5B
Natalie Rambaldi: Grade 4C
Andrew Lyster: Grade 5A
Carmen Caruso: Italian (Fridays)
Megan Urban: Grade 5B Tuesdays & Grade 1C Wednesdays
Amaya Laucirica: Integration Aide
Curriculum day Monday 27th February: NUMERACY
I would like to introduce Dr Nathaniel Swain to our school community. Nathaniel is a passionate educator and has had many roles including class teacher, learning specialist, instructional coach, researcher, and his latest ventures are writing a book to be released this year, and a Latrobe University lecturer & researcher on the ‘Science of Learning.’ Wales Street Primary has been focused on the Science of Reading for a number of years now and have seen great results and confidence in our students. All schools in Victoria have numeracy as a focus for 2023. Nathaniel is working with our school to support us in refining strengthening teacher knowledge and understanding and refining our classroom practices across the school. The staff are excited to embark on this journey. We are fortunate that Nathaniel has been able to work around his University commitments to support us in our curriculum day on Monday 27th February. We are so fortunate that he is working with our school and look forward to a long partnership with Nathaniel over the coming years and he will be a parent at our school in 2024. We feel privileged that he thinks our school is wonderful.
Communication
Now that we are back into the swing of the school year please keep an eye out on Compass communication and Newsfeeds. Over the next week there will start to be events and activities that may need parent approval or payments.
Year level Information Nights for Parents
This year, we will be having our year level information nights on:
Tuesday 14th of February
5:00 – 5:45 Grade 1 Clyde Street Building Shared Space
5:45 – 6:30 Grade 2 Staffroom
6:30 – 7:15 Grade 3 Clyde Street Building Shared Space
Wednesday 15th of February
5:00 – 5:45 Grade 4 Clyde Street Building Shared Space
5:45 – 6:30 Grade 5 Clyde Street Building Shared Space
6:30 – 7:15 Grade 6 Staffroom
4:45 – 5:45 Specialist
Italian room
Art room
STEAM room
Performing Arts room
Thursday 16th of February
5:00 -5:45 Foundation Clyde Street Building Shared Space
Parent information nights are a great opportunity to learn about our learning programs and the important ways you can support the class teachers with your child's education.
Information will be shared collectively for the first 30 minutes, then staff will spend some time answering questions about year ahead. Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in week 7(week of March 13th) where individual discussions on student’s progression take place.
Privacy Policy
The Department of Education has provided
all schools with their Privacy policy to be
circulated annually to the parent
community. Please find the policy as an
attachment and in School
Documentation/Policies folder on Compass.
Mobile Phone Policy
All Victorian government schools are required to implement a local Mobile Phone
policy. There are DET and government guidelines regarding mobile phones and
messaging devices that we have included in the revised version of our Wales
Street Primary School Mobile Phone policy to reflect these changes. This revised
policy can be found on Compass under School Documentation.
All students who bring a mobile phone to school for safety reasons, will need to
collect and return a signed pink permission form to the office to register their
phone and it will be locked away during the school day. Please read the WSPS
Mobile phone policy and the WSPS Personal Property Policy so you are familiar
with the policy. Students can come to the office to collect a form to update our
records.
School Council
School Council Vacancies & Elections 2023 – Call for Nominations
Each year approximately half the members on School Council face election as
part of a process to ensure mentoring and renewal of this body. We have 4 parent
and 2 staff vacancies.
The role of School Council, the various categories of membership election and
calls for nominations for the 2023 election are detailed below. If you choose to
nominate, please attach a written paragraph about yourself that can be
published in the event of an election and for entry into the newsletter.
If the number of nominations exceeds the vacancies, then an election is
conducted for members of the School Council of Wales Street.
PS. Before considering standing for School Council, please consider the time
commitment, as it is an expectation that as a School Council member, you may
also be a member of one of the sub committees. Election Time Frame 2023:
Monday February 13th | Notice of School Council vacancies and calls for nominations Nomination forms on the website or copies at the front desk and attached to this newsletter |
Friday February 24th | Closing Date for School Council Nominations at 4pm |
Tuesday February 28th | Notification of School Council Elections if required |
Wednesday March 1st | Display a list of Candidates, nominators, and seconder in the Office Foyer |
Distribution of ballot papers by mail if necessary | |
Wednesday March 8th | Close of Ballot at 4:00pm |
Friday March 10th | Counting of Votes and Declaration of the Poll |
Wednesday March 29th | School Council AGM |
Membership Category | Term of Office | No. of Positions |
Parent Member | From after the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2023 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2025 |
4 |
Department of Education and Training (DET) Employee | From after the day after the date of the declaration of the poll in 2023 to and inclusive of the date of the declaration of the poll in 2025 |
1 |
What is a School Council and What Does It Do?
All government schools in Victoria have a school council. They are legally formed
bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within centrally
provided guidelines. In doing this, a school council is able to directly influence the
quality of education that the school provides for its students.
Who Is on the School Council?
• A Mandated Elected Parent Category
More than one third of the total members must be from this category.
Department of Education and Training (DET) employees can be Parent members
at their child’s school, as long as they are not employed at the school.
• A Mandated Elected DET Employee Category
Members of this category may make up no more than one third of the total
membership of school council. The principal of the school is automatically one of
these members
SunSmart - BRING YOUR HAT TO SCHOOL
Finally, we are a registered Sunsmart school which mean students need to wear a sunsmart from the start of term 1 into Term 2 (1st May) and again towards the end of Term 3 (1st Sept) until the end of the year. Please ensure hats are named so we can help lost hats return to their owner.
Children without hats will be directed to the shaded deck area behind the hall or the deck beside the oval. Hats are required for Physical Education classes and Sport.
Please note that all Lost Property can now be found in the hall. The tub is checked a couple of times a week and lost property returned to the owner if named.
School Values
Our school values are Respect, Responsibility and Kindness. Next week we will be focusing on ‘Kindness’ and it is ‘Random acts of Kindness week. Students will spend time during the week in reflecting on what it is to be kind and how they can show kindness. We have set up a kindness station at the front office where students are able to write on note to a friend and post in the box post box provided. I have a small team of grade 2 students who are passionate about being kind and caring and they will be emptying the post box on a Friday and deliver the messages to students in their classrooms. Hopefully spreading kindness across the school will become contagious.