Hello everyone,

As we settle into a more 'normal' school routine and we take a breath we ask ourselves, how are you doing? As a team and as a community we have endured history in the making, a worldwide pandemic that has changed the way we live our lives and how we interact with each other. This change cannot be ignored. As we move out of survival mode (hopefully) and into a recovery mode we actually need to slow down so that we have the resilience to speed up. Using an analogy of deep water diving, we are ascending from the oceans floor but in order to do it safely we must ascend slowly so as not to be caught by pressure build up. It is not business as usual and we want to consider what can we actually achieve as we transition and heal. Teachers have been amazing but they have had to dip into their bucket or personal reserves to continue the work, as have our students. The challenge being that as a community we need to acknowledge the healing that needs to take place in order for us to thrive. As part of that we also need to predict our challenges ahead. If we do this we can navigate around this and lean in towards the challenge rather than away from it.

For me as the Acting Principal the challenge in term 4 is planning for the following school year. In order for the process to positive, I believe an open and transparent process is always the best way forward. We do not seek to hide information or the outcomes of our planning to our community. As part of the mutual respect a school community has, I want to assure you that I have been meeting with the staff throughout the first half of the term towards formulating a 2022 class structure. At the heart of these discussions, we are focused on recovery from 2 years of a worldwide pandemic and how can we focus on our students continuity of learning and wellbeing from day 1 of the beginning of term 1, 2022.

As we have finalised recruitment for 2022, I can tell you which teachers will be working with us next year. At this stage we have not finalised teacher allocation to classes, simply because we are still in planning stages.

Next year we will have :

Eliza Campanaro Cherise Hird (Office Manager)

Stephanie Chivell Penny Macdonald (Education Support Staff)

Greg Edwards Elisha McPhedran (Business Manager)

Jo Fecondo

Sally Freemantle

Rick Griffiths

Claire Lambert (as our Tutor for 2022)

Kylie Lewis (returning part time from family leave)

Nieta Manser (Acting Principal)

Nikki McInerney

Katie Penhalluriack

Kirsty Wolters

We also welcome a new teacher to our team, Davide Colombo. Davide is looking forward to working in our school and specifically applied for WPS as he wanted to work in a school that had a thriving school community and was passionate about their students wellbeing and learning.

We say goodbye to Natasha Satler as she completes her 12 months with us. We wish her all the best for her future teaching journey and thank her for the many contributions she has made to the school this year, including expanding our lunchtime club activities and organisation of whole school events.

As previously mentioned, we have Cathie Brooks, Jenny McDonell, Cathy Lucas & Wendy Farr all retiring after many years of significant contributions to WPS.

Next week we will be finalising a 2022 class structure that will support our students toward that objective and we will communicate that information as soon as we can. Just as this year has been a mixture of composites and straight grades, I can say the numbers indicate that we will have a similar combination of the two class types. I know that most families at WPS understand how composites work and are comfortable knowing our teachers expertise caters for their child's learning. I would like to stress for any parents who are anxious about the possibility of a composite, that composites do not impede a child's learning journey. WPS does not teach to the one level, based on age. Research shows us that in one classroom there is up to 6 years breadth of abilities across a cohort, and whether straight or composite the challenge remains the same for both teachers. That is, finding the point of need for students and using the continuum of the Victorian Curriculum to set personal learning goals and stretch or scaffold support for students accordingly.

The students may participate in similar open ended style tasks or activities but their independent learning and small group learning is targeting their specific learning needs and always working towards building their skills and knowledge. If you do want to talk further about how composites operate in a school, please contact me and I am happy to meet and have a chat about it.

Have a great weekend and take care,

Nieta

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