August 21st, 2024

'The Puggle Post'

OUR SCHOOL VISION:

"Wandong Primary School...Making a difference by developing confident, independent and resilient learners who strive for personal excellence."

What's on What's Due

AUGUST 2024
Monday 19th - 23rd Book Week 2024 - Reading is Magic
Wednesday 21st Scholastic Book Club open for orders
Thursday 22nd Celebrating Writing: 8:40am - 9:10am (Classrooms)
Thursday 22nd Book Character Dress Up Parade: 9:30am - 10:00am (Basketball court)
Thursday 22nd - Monday 26th Book Fair: 8:30am - 9:00am & 3:30pm - 4:00pm (Library)
Friday 23rd Wandong Mini Sports Festival - Stronger, Higher, Faster, Together - All day
Friday 23rd Grade 5/6 Interschool Sport - Term 3 Tournament - Consent and Payment Due
Friday 23rd Billie G's Cookie Dough DRIVE orders closes today
Monday 26th CERES - 5/6 Incursion - Consent/Payment due
Monday 26th 2024 Mitchell District Athletics Championships - selected students only - consent & payment due
Tuesday 27th Community Connections Yoga Free Event for our School Community 9am -10am
Wednesday 28th Father's Day Stall
Thursday 29th Father's Day Stall - Catch up day
Thursday 29th NAPLAN Award Ceremony for 3-6 Students in the Hall 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Friday 30th 2024 Mitchell District Athletics Championships - selected students only
SEPTEMBER 2024
Sunday 1st Pizza Day orders close today
Tuesday 3rd Foundation Excursion - Animal Land
Tuesday 3rd CERES - 5/6 Incursion - Session 1
Wednesday 4th Foundation Water Safety Program - Consent due
Thursday 5th Pizza Day
Thursday 5th Scholastic Book Club - Issue 6 - Orders Close
Friday 6th Grade 5/6 Interschool Sport - Term 3 Tournament
Friday 6th Billie G's Cookie Dough pick up from AUSLAN room
Thursday 12th R U OK? Day
Monday 9th - Friday 13th Foundation Water Safety Program
Tuesday 10th Community Connections Yoga Free Event for our School Community 9am -10am
Wednesday 11th CERES - 5/6 Incursion - Session 2
Friday 13th Working Bee - FA, 1/2G, 5/6E 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome
Friday 20th FOOTY COLOURS DAY - Wear your footy colours today, all codes allowed, AFL, NRL, Soccer, Local leagues
Friday 20th Last Day Term 3
Saturday 21st World Gratitude Day
OCTOBER 2024
Monday 7th First Day Term 4
NOVEMBER 2024
Friday 1st Foundation Day Camp - Consent and payment due today
Friday 1st Grade 1/2 Camp - Consent and payment due today
Friday 1st Grade 3/4 Camp - Consent and payment due today
Friday 1st Grade 5/6 Camp - Consent and payment due today
Monday 4th Curriculum Day - No Students โ€“ If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/
Friday 8th Foundation transition #1
Friday 8th Working Bee - FC, 1/2W & 5/6B 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome
Friday 15th Foundation transition #2
Monday 18th Foundation 2025 Information Session - Webex 5pm - 6pm
Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th Grade 3/4 Camp - Log Cabin Camp
Friday 22nd Foundation Day Camp
Monday 25th -Tuesday 26th Grade 1/2 Camp - Overnight Camp "Camp Weekaway"
Friday 29th Foundation transition #3
Wednesday 27th - Friday 29th Grade 5/6 Camp - The Ranch
DECEMBER 2024
Monday 2nd Professional Practice Day (Student Free) - If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/
Monday 2nd Foundation 2025 Meet the Teacher BBQ - 5pm - 6pm
Tuesday 3rd Whole School Colour Run Day @ L B Davern
Friday 6th Foundation Transition #4
Friday 6th Funfields - End of Year Pool Party - Consent and payment due today
Friday 6th Working Bee - 1/2L, 3/4G & 3/4B 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome
Tuesday 10th State Wide Transition Day
Tuesday 10th Foundation 2025 Teddy Bear's Picnic
Thursday 19th Funfields - End of Year Pool Party
Friday 20th Last Day Term 4

PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Foundation 2025

We continue to have unprecedented enrolments and this year we have had to enact a very strict Enrolment Policy, sadly having to decline a significant number of families wanting to enroll for 2025. We currently have a confirmed Foundation enrolment of 70. Same time last year we accepted 90. In 2021 = 79, 2020 = 47, 2019 = 54, 2018 = 64, 2017 = 38, 2016 = 43, 2015 =40.

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We continue to be blown away by the feedback we are receiving about our Launchpad Learning sessions. It is absolutely heartwarming, a personal dream come true, seeing our families engaging and starting the education journey with us early. It is a wonderful partnership that will positively impact our students as they start and continue their schooling.

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Parent Payments โ€“ Curriculum Items – IMPORTANT

As we come hurtling towards the end of Term Three and Term Four is fast approaching, the budget requirements of 2025 are looming. Thank you to those who have finalised their payments for 2024, whether that be though small instalments or a bulk payment, thank you.

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Unfortunately, we are only at 47% payment, which significantly impacts our budgeting for 2025.

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Please note that the important Curriculum payment, like our fruit and veg should be paid as priority over the Optional Education Items, the nice to have items like chocolate and chips, items such as camps and excursions.

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The ongoing support of our families ensures that our school can offer the best possible education and support for our students.ย  We want to thank you for all your $160 parent payment and your support.ย  This has made a huge difference to our school and the programs we can offer. Within our school this support has allowed us to offer special curriculum experiences, enhanced digital learning opportunities, provision of computers (including laptops/iPads โ€“ when some schools have a Bring Your Own Device program), high quality school resources, extra sports equipment, library/ICT equipment, quality art and science supplies and consumables, along with the provision of new initiatives.

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Please phone the office or action this small contribution asap, as 2025 payments will soon be loaded onto compass.

School is usually the first place where children are made aware of the importance of regular timekeeping. Arriving early will boost your child’s confidence for the day and set them in the right frame of mind for learning and achievement. If a child arrives late the whole class is disrupted, and the teacher must repeat the same things over and over again-losing valuable teaching time.

8.50am โ€“ your child should be walking into the classroom

Finally, please endeavour to have children at school on time for a 9 am start! It is really important that students make it to their rooms on time for roll marking in the morning and to receive vital pieces of information on the day ahead and on various activities and events. Children who arrive after the teacher has taken the roll; their attendance will be marked as late. It is very embarrassing for children to walk into class late when their entire grade is sitting ready for learning.

School is usually the first place where children are made aware of the importance of regular timekeeping. Arriving early will boost your child’s confidence for the day and set them in the right frame of mind for learning and achievement. If a child arrives late the whole class is disrupted, and the teacher must repeat the same things over and over again-losing valuable teaching time.

Please remember that if you drop your child off after 9.00am they MUST go past the office to log their arrival into Compass.

Punctuality and good attendance will always be importantโ€”at school now and later at work.

Consents and Payments

Please ensure you are reading all communication through the newsletter and also being pushed out directly on compass. It is critical that all events are consented to and paid on time. Our teams invest significantly into planning and preparing our events and the timelines are so important to their schedule. All events have significant preparation, as Iโ€™m sure you can appreciate, and by actioning these promptly, it helps our teachers ensure an organised and successful event for our children.

LOLLYPOPS and CHEWING GUM

Lollypops are not allowed at school. The plastic stick of the lollypop could cause a serious injury if a child swallows it or if they fall over causing the stick to puncture the back of a childโ€™s mouth. Furthermore, please do not allow your children to bring or eat chewing gum at school.

GRADE PLACEMENT FOR 2025

At this stage, we have not assigned teachers to grade levels for next year and, in fact; still need to select a few teachers to fill those roles. There are no guarantees that teachers currently teaching at certain grade levels will be teaching there next year, as leadership needs to take into consideration a range of factors including the differing experience of our teaching staff and teacher preferences before this allocation is completed.

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The school always sets out to create classes that have:

  • A balance of academic levels (children at, above and below the level)
  • A balanced social and behavioural mix (children who will get on well together with as little interruption as possible)

As you can imagine the process of grade placement is extremely tricky and time consuming. What is in the best interests of the school and all our children and families is paramount.

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Process:

  • Children will be asked by their teachers to nominate children they would like to be with in 2025. During the process the teachers will ensure that every child is with at least one of these preferences.
  • Classroom teachers will rank children according to ability and highlight behavioural/social concerns along with any relevant information they have gathered throughout the year. All this information will then be used to develop the 2025 classes.
  • Specialists will check the lists for any anomalies and then the leadership team will then confirm grade placements.
  • In the last weeks of term, children and their new teacher will visit their 2025 classroom. The children and new teacher will complete an activity in this session notifying parents of their new grade.

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Parent Considerations:

  • Obviously, the classroom teacher has the most information regarding individual children. As a first port of call, please speak to your childโ€™s classroom teacher if you wish to discuss anything about your childโ€™s placement.
  • Occasionally we may not be aware of special circumstances that need to be considered during the class selection process. Such special circumstances might include, but are not limited to; health, emotional or learning matters, peer or sibling relationships or changes in the home situation. Selecting a particular teacher does not fit within the realm of special circumstances. If parents want to provide extra personal information to be considered in the process you will need to email the school office. Letters should be addressed to โ€œThe Principalโ€ and reach the office no later than Friday September 20th. Please note this is not about requesting or selecting your childโ€™s teacher for next year. Please note that letters received after this date will NOT be accepted.
  • This will exclude the friends the children will want to be with which has already been gathered by the teacher.

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Finally, if you consider you have special circumstances, please make the request in writing EVEN if it has been made before โ€“ as much as we would like to think so, we canโ€™t remember everything from years gone by! We do appreciate your trust in our professionalism in these regards. Once our grades are finalised there is no negotiation and no changes will be made unless there has been an error in our process. Changes, after we have finalised the complex task of allocating classes, is incredibly difficult. It is a complex process with many changing scenarios, and when a request is made after the fact, it requires more than one combination of students to be moved to accommodate it. This then creates a chess game of up to seven other moves. The hard truth about accommodating all requests is that helping one, comes often at the expense of someone elseโ€™s child.

WELLBEING

This week in SEW!

12N have been learning how to express ourselves using positive language.

We looked at the emotions chart and how we might feel during different kinds of problems.

We looked at how gratitude can help us to respond to problems appropriately. If we are practicing gratitude the small problems may not overwhelm us as much.

We used sentence stems to help us remember what we are grateful for such as:

โ€œThank you for everything you do for me.ย 

I love you.ย 

You make me so happy.ย 

Youโ€™re the best.

I appreciate you.โ€ย 

Students then created a card dedicated to someone they loved using positive language.

BOOK WEEK

PAFA

Next Meeting: September 11th, 2024 @ 9.15am

Billie Gโ€™s Cookie Dough Drive OPEN NOW

Order online at www.australianfundraising.com.au

Orders close 23rd August

Fatherโ€™s Day volunteers needed. If you have a few hours on Wednesday August 28th to spare, please let us know!

Pizza Orders now open on Compass Canteen by selecting the date 5/9. Order early so you donโ€™t forget!

OFFICE NOTICES

Office Hours :- 8:30am until 3:55pm

Picking Up Children โ€“ Please help our admin team!

In exceptional circumstances and emergencies, at times children need to be collected from school early. Please help our wonderful administration team by ensuring that this is not done during the break times of 11:00-11:30am and 1:45-2:30pm. When children are outside playing with their friends, they do not hear the announcements and it is difficult to have a staff member unlock classrooms to collect bags and belongings. Please help support our classroom programs by waiting until 3:30pm to collect children. The admin area is growing quite hectic in the afternoons with families collecting children early Thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

IMPORTANT โ€“ Mobile Phone/Watch/Device Policy

In 2020, DET introduced strict restrictions on the use of any device with access to a cellular system, with or without a physical connection to a network. Where students bring a device of this type to school, it MUST be placed in secure storage at the office.

IMPORTANT โ€“ Student Information

It is very important we have up-to-date information for all students. Please check Compass and update current home & email address, phone numbers & medical details.

Wet Weather

We would like to request parents/guardians of students to pack a set of spare uniform items in their childโ€™s bag, including a waterproof bag. We have limited spare uniform at the office. If your child has recently needed to borrow items from our sick bay, please wash and return them to the office as soon as possible.

Thanks Administration Team

UNIFORM

IMPORTANT

**Please remember to put your child’s full name on their uniform. Please don’t use initials, as this makes it harder for us to find the owner.

If you order a bag, the order can be placed in your child’s or siblings’ tub for convenience. If not, you will need to supply a bag or make arrangements to collect your order.

COMPASS – CANTEENย  UNIFORM ORDERING

When ordering uniforms through Compass, use Canteen. See below for how to order

Going paperless will reduce waste & conserve our natural resources.

Please Note:

Select the following day as your order date if the current date is closed, even if it’s a weekend!

Log into the Compass App.

Select more at bottom of screen.ย 

Click on the Canteen button.

COMPASS CANTEEN ORDERING

Log into the Compass App.

On home screen select Canteen or select the more button and then Canteen.

Click on the Canteen button.

Select Get started.

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Select Student and then next.

Select Sittingโ€”Select next date ifย  current date is cut off for uniform or select date given for orderingย  e.g. Pizza Day.

Select sitting e.g. Uniform, Team shirt, Pizza Day etc.

Select next.

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Click on item you require e.g. Bomber Jacket, pizza etc.

Add item.

Repeat for other items e.g. Short sleeve polo, drink.

Proceed to review order.

Select Customise when ordering Uniform or Team shirt.

Select Sizes.

Select Add to order button.

Note: If ordering Team shirt put Number in Special instructions.

Select Add order.

Add another order or select Confirm and Pay and follow the steps for payment.

CHURCH CARPARK MAP

AFTER SCHOOL CARE

About the program

TheirCare provides adventurous and stimulating Before & After School Care Programs in a safe environment for all children. During sessions children develop life skills, friendships, confidence and creativity through play.

Wandong Primary School has partnered with TheirCare to provide this service to your school which includes quality care, booking flexibility, amazing programming for your children and commitment to deliver on our promise to your school community.

Operation Times Fees* Out of Pocket Average^
Before School Care 6:30am - 8:45am $21.00 $3.15 - $21.00 $4.83
After School Care 3:30pm - 6:30pm $23.00 $3.45 - $23.00 $5.29
Pupil Free Day 6:30am - 6.30pm $103.00 $15.45 - $103.00 $23.69
Holiday Program 6:30am - 6.30pm $103.00 $15.45 - $103.00 $23.69
Late Booking Cancellation Fee Within 48 hours $5.00
Cancellation Fee Same Day Full Fee See BSC/ASC

Service Phone Number: 0497 877 771ย  Your Service coordinator will be available during sessions times.ย  TheirCare support is available during office hours if required on 1300 072 410

How to Enrol

Visit Theircare website: www.theircare.com.au and click on ‘Book Now’ in the top right hand corner to register your child’s details.

*Standard fees excluding incursions/excursion costs

^Based on ABS published average family income for the suburb the school is located

MUSIC

Wandong Primary is pleased to offer instrumental lessons for students from Foundation to grade 6.

Thank you for your interest in the Instrumental Music Program at Wandong
Primary School.
Our program provides students with the opportunity to develop musicianship
skills, build confidence and collaborate with others to deliver performances.
Above all, we aim to foster peoples love of music, have fun and stay creative!

Students may choose from the following 

Please find below, the conditions of our program and Enrolment form.

Please read carefully to ensure your childโ€™s maximum involvement and development.

In order to continue and develop their skills, students are encouraged to
show evidence of regular practice. Below is a recommended guide for weekly
practice times:

Beginners: 15-20 minutes, 3 days a week
After one year: 30 minutes, 4 days a week
After two years: 40 minutes, 5-6 days a week

Payment Terms & Withdrawal from the Instrumental Music Program

1. An invoice will be sent at the beginning of each term and is to be paid,
in full, via Direct Deposit.
2. Fees must be paid by the due date. Failure to do so will result in lessons
being stooped until payment has been made.
3. Unless notified, the instrumental teacher assumes all students in the
program will automatically continue lessons each term. A verbal or written
notification to the instrumental teacher is required to withdraw students
from the program. Notice needs to be received 2 weeks prior to the end
of the term, to avoid incurring the next termโ€™s fees.

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