Principal's Message
Julie Crawford
It has been a very busy first five weeks of Term 2! The amazing sense of community we have at WP is a strength of our school and it has been great to see so many of our community come together at the ANZAC day assembly the Whole School Cross Country, the Mother’s Day Breakfast and our Fathers of the Oak Dad’s Pizza Night. So many of our programs also depend on the support from our parents, extended family and the wider community. We greatly appreciate your support to help make valuable programs including SAKGP, interschool sport, the classroom helpers program and extra curricula programs such as After School Basketball all possible for our students. Thank you!
We hope that many of our families can come along to the ‘Open Afternoon’, tomorrow, Tuesday, May 30th from 3:15 – 4:30pm. Although slightly different to our usual open night format, it will still be a wonderful chance for families to share in some active learning experiences with their children! The classrooms and specialist spaces will be alive with activities, our junior and senior choir are combining to perform, there will be a sausage sizzle under the oak tree and you can drop into the SAKG space for a Greek biscuit and cuppa. We hope you can make it and join in the fun!
Partnering With Our Families - Learning Snapshots, Learning Updates and Interviews
Partnering with our families and building that connection between home and school is a priority. Term 1 saw the introduction of the regular Learning Snapshots so that students can share and discuss their learning with their parents. We also introduced Learning Updates and a Term 1 parent-teacher interview to ensure parents had the opportunity to discuss the learning progress of their child at an earlier point in the year. We are keen to seek feedback from parents about these new communications as well as the Wonga Weekly and to determine if they have been effective in strengthening the home-school learning partnership. Parents will receive a link shortly to a quick survey and we would greatly appreciate your feedback so that we can continue to improve how we communicate student progress and strengthen these important partnerships.
Introducing ‘Friendology’
We are very pleased that our new Friendology program has begun to be rolled out across the school and already we are hearing a common language developing amongst our students. Through regular explicit Friendology sessions in the classroom, students have the chance to learn and practice strategies to build and maintain healthy friendships – a skill they need for life. More information for parents will come home via the newsletter and Wonga Weekly so that you can have conversations with your children about the Friendology strategies.
Grade 6 and Grade 5 Camp to Karoonda Park at Gelantipy
What an amazing time our Grade 5 and 6 students had on their camps to Karoonda Park at Gelantipy. A week of fun and adventure with their friends and teachers, building independence and resilience as they had a go at abseiling, the flying fox, horse riding, the initiative course, climbing the rock wall, rafting on the Snowy River, walking to Dingo Hill and more! A huge thank you to the teachers and support staff for making this experience so amazing for our students. At a time when many schools have needed to cancel or reduce their school camp program, I know parents and students are extremely appreciative that we were able to continue to offer such a wonderful camp experience.
Thank You Community Bank Warrandyte - $45,000 Grant for our new Creative Play Space
We are extremely grateful to receive yet another amazing grant from the Community Bank Warrandyte as part of their 20th Anniversary of giving back to the local community. Their Community Investment process sees 80% of the bank’s profit returned to community groups. Their generous grant of $45,000, together with funds we hope to raise locally, will be used to develop the courtyard area beneath the new shade sails into a creative learning and play space. We look forward to involving our students in the design process and can’t wait to see students and families having the opportunity to enjoy this exciting new space. See below some exciting initial ideas!
Building and Grounds Update
There are always lots of improvements happening around the school! The creation of our Welcome To Country Garden at the front of the school has begun with the fence replaced with large rocks and a new water pump installed to enable water to run along the rainbow serpent. A huge thank you to parents Clare and Bryan Colson and Stu McKenzie for the generous donation of their time and expertise in the holidays to expertly place the rocks that form the perimeter of the new garden space. We would also like to thank local business, Trans Rock for their support with the project. We look forward to Kira Peters, our Koorie Engagement Support Officer for North East Region, coming along to officially open our Welcome To Country Garden once the planting and information trail is completed.
Our new shade sails were installed last week in the central courtyard area as part of the DET initiative to encourage schools to create more shaded outdoor learning spaces. We look forward to developing this area into a special space for students to play and learn.
The accessible building works, that were funded by DET have been completed with two automatic doors installed (BER and art room) and new ramps and covered decking to the art room.
After many hurdles to jump, we are very pleased that the we have finally received the building permit to begin the construction of the Performing Arts Room Project! We look forward to construction beginning in the shortly and having our new Performing Arts room operational by Term 3.
2024 Prep Enrolments
We are currently taking enrolments for 2024 Preps. If you have a sibling starting next year, please see Kerry or Lesley in the office for an enrolment form.
The new state-wide enrolment process and timeline is now in place for all government schools, and families who wish to enrol a prep for 2024 are encouraged to submit their enrolment forms as soon as possible to the office or via email: wonga.park.ps@education.vic.gov.au Enrolments across the state close on Friday 28th July 2023. Families will be notified of the outcome of their application by Friday 11th August 2023. Enrolment offers should accept the offer by Friday 25th August 2023.
Prospective families are warmly welcome to come along to our ‘Open Afternoon’ tomorrow, Tuesday, May 30th from 3:15pm – 4:30pm. This year’s Education Week theme will be ‘Active Learners: Move, Make, Motivate’, which celebrates physical activity, hands-on learning and student voice in education. There will be lots of activities in our classrooms, specialist spaces and outdoors for students and their families to enjoy together.
Prospective families are also warmly invited to the Prep 2024 Parent Information Evening on Wednesday, May 31st from 7:00pm – 8:30pm in the BER building. It is an opportunity to meet the Principal, Prep Teachers, Burch Memorial Pre-school Teacher, Student Leaders and Parent Representatives and find out more about our wonderful school at Wonga Park.
Keep warm!
Julie
