A Word from the Principal

A warm welcome to our community

Welcome back to term 2! I hope that you all had a great break over Easter and got to spend some special time as a family. We have had a wonderful start to term 2 but it did feel strange starting off with only three days.

I would also like to express how saddened that it was to hear about the situation in Sri Lanka and I hope that our families are not affected. We do have several Weeden families with Sri Lankan backgrounds. Should your children need support during this time then please contact the school and we will be able to provide the appropriate supports

Congratulations

I would like to congratulate our student leaders on their presentations at the Anzac Day Ceremony that was held at our school last Wednesday. It always brings a tear to my eye but it is critical that our younger generations understand the freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia because of the sacrifice of others. Respect for our country and our flag is reinforced clearly at assemblies.

I hope that you took the opportunity on Thursday to discuss Anzac Day with your family and to reflect on our history and respect those who have served our great country. Please take a look at our lovely photos on Instagram and Facebook of the amazing wreaths made by our students in Language class.

Welcome to a New Staff Member

I would like to officially welcome a new staff member, Mrs Melinda Michalski, who will now work with our amazing 1/2 class and with Miss Davis. Thank you to our lovely parents for making her feel welcome and if you have a moment, please go and introduce yourself.

I would also like to welcome Victoria in grade 2/3 and the Yang family back to Weeden Heights after some time overseas. It is wonderful to see familiar faces.

School Review

As you will have read in a previous newsletter, this is our review year. We are in the last year of our Strategic Plan and will be working hard to achieve the goals and targets we have set in the Annual Implementation Plan for 2019 and our four year Strategic Plan. While we are still working on the current plan, we will begin to review the work achieved over the last four years.

Reviewing the school does involve you as well. It involves celebrating the work achieved over the last four years and looking forward to the future. The leadership team and I have been discussing how we will speak with you about our amazing school. We will be sending home a paper version questionnaire and will look closely at all of your responses. I also plan to meet with the School Council and PFA to expand on the information that you have provided.

Please start thinking about what Weeden Heights does very well, what you love about our school and anything you might change. The questionnaire will run along those lines for parents, students and the staff.

It is an exciting time as ‘the future is bright’ at Weeden Heights (love our motto!). We will get the opportunity to re calibrate and design the next four years around what our learners need and what the school can provide. This is very exciting for the staff and particularly myself as I can now further enhance the vision for the school.

Our School Uniform

I’m sure that you have all noticed a change in the weather! Student are now able to wear their winter uniform and they are not required to wear their hats (as of May 1). They may of course chose to wear hats. Please remember that tights or leggings are not to be worn with our summer dress. Girls are required to wear track pants or the tunic with dark blue tights.

School Oath

Respect is one of our school values and we demonstrate this in many ways. We observe Anzac Day and we also acknowledge this each week at assembly. For new parents and as a reminder to others, at assembly we have a school oath that all students pledge.

I hope this helps your child to learn the oath

Naplan

NAPLAN assessments will be held over a two week period in May due to being on line (please see the curriculum section of the newsletter for the dates). The exams are held for years 3 and year 5 students. Please advise teachers if your child is expected to be absent on any of these dates. If you have any concerns about NAPLAN, please come and see me.

Attached to this newsletter is some information from Weeden Heights about the NAPLAN exams. It will be of particular interest to the year 3 parents who will now read it with ‘a new set of eyes’ as their child will complete the exams for the first time.

Vol 1 2014 - Weeden Heights - Naplan.doc

Annual General Meeting

This year our Annual General Meeting will be held just before our school council meeting on 20 May at 6.00pm. The 2018 Annual Report will be presented to the community which highlights our great successes for the year. All of our community is invited. The School Council meeting will begin promptly at 6.30pm that night.

Tours and Enrolements for 2020

I continue to conduct school tours for families interested in attending Weeden Heights PS or have already enrolled. Please encourage your friends and neighbours to return their enrolment forms for the 2020 Foundation year students to our office because they are now due.

Our highly successful Bright Beginnings transition program commences in June this year and we don’t want you or any future families to miss out on the opportunity.

Don't forget.....

We hope to see you (and our future preps) at the Open Night next Tuesday (7 May). We would really like everyone to come and speak with our year 5 & 6 students who will be presenting their full terms work with the’ Night of the Notables’. Come and meet some extremely famous Australians….find out about our history! Mrs Arya will also be conducting a parent numeracy workshop and of course our lovely classrooms will be open for you to take a look at all of our displays and the student’s work (there will be some fun activities as well!).