WHEELERS HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Principals Report

22nd February

LION DANCE ASSEMBLY

Thanks to all the families who attended our annual Lunar New Year celebration on Monday to watch the lion dance performance to bring our school luck and prosperity. Well done to our Mandarin Captains, Samantha and Isha for running the assembly and to Wendy for playing the Chinese Harp, Guzheng. Thanks to Mr Slater and Mrs Yu for their organisation and Ms Richards for taking the photos. 

 

 

 

WELCOME PICNIC

Thanks to the Parents' Assocation for organising our annual Welcome Picnic last Friday night. Our families and students enjoyed the blow up obstacle and sausage sizzle with some perfect late summer weather. A special thanks to Clare Byrne and Jess Connaughton for their last minute work with the sausage sizzle.

  

    

LOOKING FOR HOST FAMILIES - VISITING CHINESE STUDENTS

Later this term our sister school (Weijiang Experimental School) from Chengdu in China will be visiting Wheelers Hill Primary School again for a cultural exchange and study program. This visit, the sister school is requesting the students participate in a home stay program for duration of their time at Wheelers Hill Primary School. A home stay program would involve the following:

 

*Students would arrive on Wednesday 13th March and stay in homes till Tuesday 19th March for 6 nights, this would include over the weekend

*Students would need a comfortable bed and place to sleep

*Both adults (and/or anyone over 18 years) in the home would require valid Working with Children Checks. They are easy to apply and information can be found here:

 

http://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/utility/home/

 

*Lunch and snack would be provided at school for the students but breakfast, dinner, transport to and from school, weekend and after school activities would need to be provided by the host families

*A payment of $50 a child per night would be provided by the sister school

*Families can host 1-2 children

*Students are 10-11 years old

 

If you would consider being a host please email me at ramsey.michael.j@edumail.vic.gov.au 

 

 *How many students you would be willing to host

*If you have or applied for Working with Children Check

 

Thank you to the families who have already responded to me. 

 

ASSEMBLY

Just a reminder our whole school assembly is on Monday at 2:40pm, except on the first Monday back to school after the holidays. Families and friends of the school are always welcome to attend. 

 

PARKING REMINDERS

Please be reminded parking restrictions around the school changed last year. Areas along Threadbow Drive and now at the front of the school on Whites Lane are now 2 MINUTE PARKING - DRIVER STAYS WITH VEHICLE. This means children should be dropped off and you will need to move on. Please do not park in these areas and then walk into school. If you need to go into the school after dropping your child off, please park in another area further away. Staff will be in these areas over the next few weeks to remind parents of these restrictions and the council may also be present fining people if they are not following rules. 

 

TELSTRA GRANT

Last week we were fortunate enough to receive a Telstra grant for $1200 which will go towards buying a drone for the school's ICT and STEM program. Thanks to Andrew Thomas, one of our parents for suggesting the grant and for his support.    

 

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in the last week of term on Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd April in place of Get to Know You Interviews this semester. Recent feedback from parents (from the Parent Opinion Survey) has indicated parents would like more opportunities to discuss their child's academic progress with their teacher. These interviews at the end of Term 1 are a great was to find out how your child is going so far and what their next steps of learning are for the rest of the semester. 

 

SCHOOL HOURS

School hours in 2019 are listed below. Please do not drop children at the school before 8.45am in the morning as there are no staff on duty before this time.

 

The School day starts at 8.50am so students must be dropped of by this time.  This will ensure that they have time to get to class before 9am when learning starts.  If they are dropped of at, or very close to 9am,  they are late and as such  you  need to accompany your child to the office to obtain a late pass.

If you are going to be late picking up your child at the end of the day please call the office prior to 3.30pm so we may have time to inform your child. Please note that supervision of students ceases at 3.45pm.  Students must be picked up by 3.45 at the latest. If students are picked up consistently late we strongly encourage you to enrol in our excellent OSHC program.  Students involved in after school clubs are expected to be picked up at 4:35pm. 

 

Please note the office hours for 2019 are 8:30am-4:00pm. 

 

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON YARD DUTY

All teachers will be on yard duty on Wednesday afternoon this year. If you are picking up your child at this time it is a great chance to say hello and have a chat with your child's teacher. If your wish to talk to the teacher in more depth please make an appointment as outlined above. Our teachers look forward to seeing you on Wednesday afternoon. Prep teachers will continue to be out the front of the prep building every day to ensure our new students settle into school well. 

 

Michael Ramsey

Principal