A Warm Welcome to our Weeden Heights Community

Well, it is not long now until the end of the term and there is still so much to do! I’m sure that you are all feeling it at home as well. The capital works has finally started and we are well into organising ‘everything’ for next year.

As I am planning for next year, we will be saying a sad farewell to Mrs Watts. With tears in her eyes, she handed me her resignation letter and announced she has finally decided that it is time to retire. Jenny has worked for the Department of Education for 44 years and 23 of those years have been here at Weeden Heights Primary School. That is an amazing commitment to the teaching service and we thank her for everything she has achieved and supported at our school. We wish her all the best with her travels, house renovations and having the time to be a grandmother while starting to do some things that make her happy. She has had an impact on thousands of students over those years and still loves teaching. Jenny’s amazing displays across the school, passion for the kitchen, garden program, extremely high standards and expectations and the school production last year will be her legacy. We plan to have a function for Jenny after school one night to celebrate her career and next stage of her life.

Staying safe from mosquitoes

After floods and heavy rainfall, mosquitoes can grow and spread in the pools of water left behind.

While the overall risk is low, some mosquitoes carry diseases that are spread through mosquito bites. Mosquitoes are more active at dusk and dawn, but some will also bite during the day.

The best way to prevent mosquito-borne diseases is to avoid mosquito bites.

Families can protect against mosquito bites by:

covering up as much as possible with long, loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing
applying insect repellent that contains picaridin or DEET on exposed skin when leaving home
limiting outdoor activity if lots of mosquitoes are active

Further information

Better Health Channel information about preventing mosquito-borne diseases
A handy checklist for at home to help reduce mosquito breeding sites
Department of Health safety advice for flood-affected areas in a range of languages.

Prep Information Night

Thank you to those community members who attended our Prep information night. It was terrific to welcome fresh faces to our wonderful community. Liam and Aryan, our school captains, shared their school experiences and spoke amazingly about our school. Thank you, captains! Our School Council President, Karen Jansen, encouraged involvement in our school and highlighted the role of council in supporting the school. It really does help to make a difference to welcome the new preps to our school and their families.

The orientation day for our future preps was held on Tuesday. They met their grade 4 buddies and spent time with their teacher, Mrs Michalski. It looks like we have a fantastic group starting with us next year.

You will see many new faces around next year and I am confident that you will be most welcoming. Our PFA will run their regular welcome morning tea on the very first day for the preps and be there to support our new families.

2023 Fees and Parent Contributions

The parent contribution documents will be distributed to all of our families early next year. To support families, School Council has decided that 2023 fees and parent contributions will remain unchanged from 2022.

Booklists will be distributed to families next week. The option to independently source your own materials and supplies is still available and for your convenience, there is a supplier that has our booklist and can stock it for you. The option is yours, but students need all of the items from their book list and these need to be bought into school on the very first day.

We did have quite a few issues with parents sourcing their own material and books this year. It is absolutely critical that you purchase the correct size lines (which are actually dotted thirds) for each of the grade levels. The maths grid books must also correlate to the size given on the book lists. We will need to return the student supplies back to you if they are incorrect and you will have to then source the correct item. The student exercise books are not available at shops like Kmart and you will need to search for them. The booklist can be easier in that respect as they supply exactly the correct size lines.

Also, make sure you name all of the items and we will store them for you. On the first few days teachers will set up all the workbooks with their class and label them for each subject. Students work out of many books at once so please don’t send just one of each type as we do require them all. I really need the teachers to focus on establishing sound relationships with the students and teaching, rather than following up with the incorrect supplies.

Whole School Transition Sessions

The school year is ending soon and one of the wonderful things that Weeden does is allow students to work in their class, classroom and potentially with their new teacher for a couple of sessions. This allows for the teacher to begin some of the work for next year and establishing the new learning environment and connecting with new peers is the goal. The number one priority is to create a productive and positive learning community!

These transition sessions days are critical for students to be involved in. Our sessions are being held during the last 2 weeks of school on December 8 and 13 from 11.30 to 1.10pm. Students will also have an opportunity to have lunch with their 2023 class which will further strengthen their relationships. As we are a great size school and know each other well, it can also be about reconnecting with students who have previously been in the same class in a past year.

Christmas Concert

Hopefully you are maybe hearing your children rehearsing at home for the up-coming Christmas Concert. We will be back on site behind the hall on the grass (if our oval dries out!). There will be the

Please join us with your family to get into the ‘Christmas spirit’ and to celebrate the achievements of the school and individuals. The 2022 student leadership team will be announced as well and we also acknowledge our exiting families through the ‘honor roll’. It is always an exciting night and a great way for our community to come together once again!

Until next time……

Kylie Campbell

Principal

Futures are Bright at Weeden Heights!

Community

Australian Youth Choir