From the Principal's Desk

Dear Parents and Carers,

Fred Hollows Award Recipient - Jakai Smith

Congratulationsto our amazing Jakai who was the Fred Hollows 2021 award recipient. Jakai was one of 90 nominations across Australia for the Fred Hollows award that recognises Australians who show outstanding care and compassion for others. Jakai is absolutely deserving of this award for his kind, caring and thoughtfulness for others. He is highly regarded by his peers and teachers and is positive role model for all students. 

This is the second consecutive year that a student from Windang PS has been an award recipient from the Fred Hollows Foundation. We're extremely proud of our strong partnership with our families as we believe it 'takes a village to raise a child'.  

Certificate of Excellence for Windang PS

Yesterday on behalf of our school, I accepted the "Certificate of Excellence" award from Kathy Powzun, R/Executive Director, School Performance. 

The global pandemic of 2020-2021 along with fires and floods have changed the world as we knew forever. This award is in recognition of our school's unwavering spirit and resilience shown by students, staff, parents and our community during 2021. It's an acknowledgment of our ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of the challenges of 2021. 

Goodbye to Miss A McDonald 

Miss Mac has made the decision to move to the country thus will be leaving our school at the end of the year. Miss Mac has been instrumental in the leadership of our school as Assistant Principal and as Relieving Principal for six years. I would like to express my gratitude to Miss Mac for dedicating over 10 years of her career to our students, school and community. Miss Mac is a highly skilled educator who will be missed immensely. I consider myself fortunate to have had Miss Mac on my leadership team and wish her well in all her future endeavours. 

Goodbye to Mr R Ellis

At the beginning of 2020, Mr Ellis accepted a classroom teacher position as part of the department's Rural & Remote program at Buronga PS. Earlier this term, Mr Ellis was successful through merit selection in securing the permanent Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction position at Buronga PS. I would like to take this opportunity to wish Mr Ellis enormous success in his new position and thank him for the years of service to our students, school and community. 

Welcome to Mrs A Davies & Mrs C Barkley

The NSW Department of Education recently advised Windang PS to permanently recruit:

• an Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction full-time
• an Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction part-time. 

As a result through an extensive merit selection process that involved an application, referee checks and a 5 panel interview I am extremely pleased to welcome Mrs Davies to the full-time position and Mrs Barkley to the part-time position. As a result of Miss Mac leaving, Mrs Barkley will have the dual role of Assistant Principal Curriculum & Instruction and Miss Mac's position as Assistant Principal for 2022. 

Please see "Hello from New Staff" in this newsletter to learn a little about Mrs Davies and Mrs Barkley. 

Mrs Davies and Mrs Barkley will bring a wealth of knowledge, skills and capacity to the school's leadership team along with enthusiasm and inspiration as we work towards all our student's achieving their personal best. 

PROPOSED NEW SCHOOL MERIT AWARD SYSTEM 

The current school award system has been raised by many parents and staff over the years. As a result, Miss Ferguson investigated various options in relation to updating and streamlining our school's K-6 merit award system to ensure transparency and clear links between the playground and classroom. 

Miss Ferguson presented the proposed new merit reward system at the P&C meeting last week. All parents unanimously were in favour of the new merit system. The proposed new reward system will operate in one calendar year and will not overlap into future years. The new reward system will be aligned to the school's high expectations for behaviour and uniform. 

Please see the "New Merit Award System" section in this newsletter for an outline of the new proposed award system.

END-OF-YEAR EVENTS 

The end of of year is fast approaching and staff continue to adjust plans for various events based on the latest advice from the NSW Department of Education. We are bound by the department guidelines thus the following will be in place for Windang Public School:

Year 6 Graduation 

- Year 6 students can invite 2 fully vaccinated adults (parents and/or carers) to attend the

graduation.

- All adults on-site must be fully vaccinated, check-in using the NSW Services app and follow the social distancing guidelines. 

Excellence Assembly 

The details associated with the school's Excellence Assembly are yet to be finalised. These details will be share with families as soon as possible. 

Year 6 Farewell

The Year 6 Farewell will be held at Port Kembla Golf Club. A fully vaccinated parent must sign-in their child and remain on the premises.

P&C Colour Fun Run

The P&C's Colour Fun Run is scheduled for Friday 10 December. Only fully vaccinated P&C members and fully vaccinated parent volunteers with specific duties will be allowed on-site as per the NSW Department of Education guidelines. 

The last of school for students is Thursday 16 December. 

Mrs Kocovska

Principal