Principal's Report

Our school is growing

As we near the end of our first year of Wollert we continue to welcome a steady flow of enrolments for our 2023 school year. We began our story with 190 students back in February and now have a confirmed 385 students joining us to begin the year, with 115 of these students making up our Prep Cohort. 

This is both exciting but also challenging, in a work environment that currently has a shortage of teachers to fill the classrooms or staff absences schools require. Many reasons are causing these teacher shortages, with all schools in Victoria challenged within their recruitment plan. It is feasible that some schools will not be able to offer particular classes in 2023, not through lack of desire but the inability to place a teacher in front of a class.

Here at Wollert we feel exceptionally grateful to have the staff and teaching team we have created. We are buzzing with the anticipation of the many new staff who are joining our team next year also. We are still currently recruiting and working on the 2023 class jigsaw that we know will best suit our student needs. I will share our 2023 learning structure with you in our final December Newsletter.  

HATS PREVENT SUN DAMAGE

A reminder thatall students need to be wearing our school hat every day when they are outside. We understand that many hats have gone missing, either mistakenly taken or lost, throughout the course of this year. Making sure your child's name is on every piece of clothing, especially hats, helps us return items to them when they are found. While we know replacing uniform and hats is expensive to do, keeping your child safe with a hat when out in this harsh Australian sun is important. If a child has not got a hat on they will not be able to play outside as freely so please remind them to have their hat in their bag every day.

SCHOOL TRAFFIC UPDATE

With our growing enrolments and the building of Wollert Secondary School causing excessive traffic challenges on High Park Drive, safety of our students and families has been a concern, raised as a staff but also at our School Council Meeting. We anticipate that 2023 will look a little more settled once the construction is complete and the trucks and trade vehicles have gone. However the built up congestion and traffic flow on De Rossi Boulevard remains a concern.

Our local council have informed us that within the coming weeks a second school crossing supervisor will be added to the De Rossi Boulevard crossing. This will in some way assist the safety concerns of children and families attempting to cross this very busy road. Can I please ask our families to continue to discuss road safety with our children, ensuring they understand the need to cross at the crossings or with an adult if able. It is also a timely reminder for the need for all drivers to ensure they have reduced their speed when moving around our school. Safety of all remains the responsibility of all.

NO HELMET means NO RIDING TO SCHOOL

We have noticed a number of our students have been riding to school without a suitable helmet. We love the fact that we have a growing number of students riding to school to support their independence and fitness. However safety is a priority and a legal requirement which some students have not been taking notice of. We ask all students who are riding their bikes to school to have a helmet on. If we find that a child has no helmet on any given day we will not let them ride home until a helmet is at school. We have an obligation and duty of care for the safety of every child to make sure every child arrives to school and back home safely every day.

CELEBRATING OUR FIRST YEAR TOGETHER - Be KIND Be JOY!

Wollert Primary School will never again experience a FIRST YEAR of opening a new school and coming together as a community in the way that we have. It has been an amazing time, so to end our first year in celebration and gratitude we want our students to experience our values of Be KIND and Be JOY together. 

Monday 19th December will be our first whole school excursion with our Prep to Year 2 students (The POD Building) invited to attend Inflatable World in Bundoora and our Year 3 to Year 6 students (The GUMNUT Building) invited to attend Funfields in Whittlesea. For this year only, there is no cost for these events as we really want every child to experience this celebration of Wollert Primary School if they choose to.  Details and permission requests have been shared through our COMPASS platform so please look for this if you haven't already seen it. We need to know if your child will be attending or not so that we can plan effectively in cost and supervision needs. If you have availability to volunteer attendance to support supervision on this day please also let our Reception Team or teachers know via email or calling. We may not need everyone, however we appreciate any support should this be required. More details are to come but if you do have any questions please reach out to your child's Homeroom Teacher.