Our 2022 School Council met for the first time this week. It was great to have so many talented members on board that are going to be able to use their wide range of expertise to support our school as we drive our Key Improvement Strategies outlined in the Strategic Plan. The following members are your council representatives for 2022 :

Emma Gratton – School Council President

Sam McKellar – School Council Vice President & Buildings and Grounds Committee

Katie Penhalluriack – DET representative, Minutes Secretary

Carmen Greenhill – Treasurer and Finance committee member

Michelle Chan - Communication Committee

Stephanie Chivell – DET representative, Communication Committee

Finance Committee – Carmen Greenhill, Emma Gratton, Nieta Manser

Stephanie Chivell – Communications Committee

Mike Flavel – Buildings and Grounds Committee

Erin Barlow – FOWPS

I welcome the new School Council members and thank them in advance for being willing to contribute to the school and give up their personal time to support us. Thank you also to Carmen Greenhill and Sam McKellar for re nominating and continuing their work on School Council. Stephanie and Katie continue on as our DET employee Council members and I appreciate their willingness to contribute and give their personal time to attend the meetings. Our outgoing Council members were acknowledged at the meeting and our gratitude for their service and time was expressed.

It has been a very busy term in 2022 and the students and staff have settled back into a ‘traditional’ format of teaching and learning routines as the school has been able to remain open for the entire term. The students have not had an uninterrupted school term since 2019 and so we work towards rebuilding classroom structures and expectations. This cannot be underestimated as a crucial component of a successful learning community. Our students seemed to have transitioned smoothly and are enjoying the interaction with their peers and teachers.

That is not to say that some students haven’t struggled with the return to onsite learning. After two years of remote learning some of our students have presented with anxiety issues related to separation from their parents, fatigue and the general mental health impact of two years of uncertainty and social isolation. We are working through many of these complexities through the development of return to school plans, one-on-one intervention, meeting with parents and working with the regional offices Student Support Services. Across the state there has been a sharp increase in the demand for these services so as a school we seek to work with each student and their families to help them. A positive relationship between the school and parents is key to ensuring all wellbeing issues are being addressed in an open and transparent manner.

If you do have concerns in Term 2 for your child’s wellbeing, please do not hesitate to contact your teacher or myself to discuss further. We take very seriously the wellbeing of our students and recognise the importance of having a strong focus on wellbeing and the connection to student outcomes being positive. While we cannot always solve problems for our students, we can support them through their worries and anxiety and give them a toolbox of strategies to develop resilience and problem solving skills.

This term our grade 6 students have been working incredibly hard to establish their leadership roles as part of the student leadership program. The ideas they are putting into actions have demonstrated that they are mature, capable and very passionate leaders and role models to our younger students.

Greg has been working with them to develop their roles and give them a voice in how they drive their agenda in their portfolios. Our sustainability leaders have introduced Nude Food and found ways to promote this and encourage our students to participate.

Our Sports Captains have been assisting Sally in Interschool Sports and from Term 2 will be helping to run a sports equipment program at lunchtime to allow students to sign equipment in and out so that our students have variety in the games they can play with their friends.

Our IT Captains have really risen to the challenge of sorting our IT equipment and thinking on their feet during school assemblies when the equipment plays up.

Hunter and Sadie have settled into their School Captain roles and confidently present and run our assemblies each week. This is no small accomplishment as speaking to over 150 people can be overwhelming and all of our student leaders have pushed themselves outside their comfort zone to speak at assemblies.

Our Arts Captains are also incredibly passionate and last week they were thrilled to be able to reveal our 2022 Musical, Aladdin Jr. As they now begin their audition journey, we wish our Arts Captains and all our Grade 5/6 students the best of luck in their auditions.

Our Preps have settled into school life well as they continue to build their skills and routines in the classroom. Remembering that they have had a very limited kinder experience, they are doing a fantastic job and I know that Steph is incredibly impressed with the work they are doing. Our new Little Learners Love Literacy phonics program is proving to be every bit as positive as we believed it would be. In searching for best practice, Steph and Katie researched many approaches to teaching decoding in reading and found that this Melbourne based company has developed a program for early years students that provides explicit instruction and engaging lessons to build the preps ability to recognise and articulate letter sounds, blends and build vocabulary.

Today was our 2022 Cross Country and Fun Run. Due to Sally’s great organisational skills, the whole event went off without a hitch. I went down to help with the Cross Country and I have to say, there were much worse things I could be doing than sitting along the river in the sun watching our students cheer each other on and enjoy the experience. Thanks to the parents that helped and congratulations to all our students for participating. I heard the Fun Run was also a huge success and our younger students were very proud of their achievements.

As we finish the term off, I would like to thank all the families and students who have been so supportive of me receiving the substantive principal role at WPS. I have been made to feel very welcome and appreciated.

I hope you all enjoy the school holidays and get a chance to spend quality time together a family. A reminder that the students return to school on Wednesday 27th April.

Take care,

Nieta

OHSC