May 29th, 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
| May | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Monday 27th | Scholastic Book Club is now open for orders |
| Monday 27th - Friday 31st | Reconciliation Week |
| Thursday 30th | 2024 Foundation Cook book - Ordering closes today |
| Friday 31st | 2024 Foundation Cook book - Order using this date. |
| Friday 31st | Foundation Excursion - VEG Education - Consent due today |
| JUNE | 2024 |
| Monday 3rd | Curriculum Day - No Students – If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/ |
| Tuesday 4th | Professional Practice Day - If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/ |
| Tuesday 4th | Whittlesea Division Cross Country - Selected Students - Consent due |
| Wednesday 5th | Grade 3/4 Wellbeing Incursion - Consent and payment due today |
| Wednesday 5th | Whittlesea Division Cross Country - Selected students |
| Thursday 6th | Pizza Day |
| Monday 10th | Kings Birthday Holiday |
| Wednesday 12th | Foundation C & M Excursion - VEG Education |
| Wednesday 12th | Scholastic Book Club orders close today |
| Friday 14th | Working Bee - FM, 1/2M & 5/6F 2.30pm - 3.30pm Parents welcome |
| Friday 14th | Foundation A & S Excursion - VEG Education |
| Wednesday 19th | NMR Cross Country - Selected students only |
| Thursday 20th | Grade 3/4 Wellbeing Incursion |
| Wednesday 26th | Three Way Conferences - Alternate Day - If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/ |
| Friday 28th | Community connections - breakfast morning (pancakes on bbq and coffee van) 9:00 am - 10:00am |
| Friday 28th | Last Day Term 2 |
| JULY | 2024 |
| Monday 15th | First Day Term 3 |
| Monday 15th - Friday 19th | NAIDOC Week |
| AUGUST | 2024 |
| Monday 12th - Friday 16th | National Science Week in 2024 |
| Thursday 15th | Working Bee - FS, 1/2H & 5/6C 2.30pm - 3.30pm Parents welcome |
| Monday 19th | Launch Pad Program For Parents - Special evening for those with a submitted application 6pm - 7pm |
| Monday 19th - 23rd August | Book Week 2024 - Reading is Magic |
| Wednesday 28th | Father's Day Stall |
| Thursday 29th | Father's Day Stall - Catch up day |
| SEPTEMBER | 2024 |
| Wednesday 4th | Foundation Water Safety Program - Consent due |
| Monday 9th - Friday 13th | Foundation Water Safety Program |
| Friday 13th | Working Bee - FA, 1/2G, 5/6E 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome |
| Friday 20th | Last Day Term 3 |
| 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 – If your child requires care, please book in at https://theircare.com.au/ |
| Friday 8th | Working Bee - FC, 1/2W & 5/6B 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome |
| 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" |
| 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/ |
| Tuesday 3rd | Whole School Colour Run Day @ L B Davern |
| Friday 6th | Working Bee - 1/2L, 3/4G & 3/4B 2.30pm- 3.30pm Parents welcome |
| Friday 20th | Last Day Term 4 |
PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE
Staffing Shortages Continue…
I want to send out a massive gratitude word vomit to all our children, families and staff as we continue to battle workforce problems across the nation. This issue only continues to get worse. I’ve watched the news, seen on social media and witnessed the stress on colleagues as they face staffing shortages to the point of class and school closure. Teach position after teaching position have very few if ANY APPLICANTS.
This story is one shared from school to school, network to network and beyond. I’m saddened to hear of other network schools with a staffing shortage of anywhere up from 10 and some nearly 20 staff short. I’m forever thankful that we haven’t moved to the dirty words of Remote and Flexible Learning and so thankful for our children who have rolled into their split rooms seamlessly with positivity, our staff who continue to take on extra, above extra to support and accommodate, then to our families who have been a massive encouragement day in and day out. THANK YOU!
Enrolments and Planning for 2025
This year we have again unprecedented number of Foundation enrolments and enrolments at other year levels with those wishing to move schools. As we head into Term 3, the Leadership Team will commence planning for 2025. We are looking at the number of students enrolled and considering our structure and the number of classes we will need to best support the learning programs that are provided for students. This planning takes into account the budget that will be available for staffing. This budget is determined by student numbers; therefore it is important to have the best possible information when we are making our decisions.
Any parents who know their children will not be continuing at Wandong in 2025, could you please let me know in writing to wandong.ps@education.vic.gov.au as soon as possible. Even if you are not sure at this moment, a note about the possibility that this may occur is always helpful. As enrolment numbers affect our staffing decisions and the number of classes we have, it is important that we are able to predict as closely as possible what our expected enrolment will be in 2025.
BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL SUPERVISION PARENT NOTIFICATION
Student safety at Wandong Primary School is our highest priority and the safe and appropriate supervision of students is an important element of our duty of care to students. Part of this duty is ensuring parents and students are aware of our student supervision arrangements before and after school.
Before school: School grounds are supervised by school staff from 8.40am.
After school: School grounds are supervised by school staff from 3.30pm until 3.40pm.
Students on school grounds outside these times will not be supervised (unless they are attending a before or after school care program or supervised extracurricular activity).
Parents/carers are requested to ensure that students do not attend school outside of these supervised times unless they are attending before or after school care.
Families are encouraged to contact TheirCare for our Outside School Hours Care provider: Visit their website at www.theircare.com.au for more information about the before and after school care facilities available to our school community.
A full copy of our school’s Yard Duty and Supervision Policy is available on the school website, or from the school office. This policy includes Wandong Primary School’s student supervision arrangements across the school day, including before and after school.
IMPORTANT: Communication
We are proud of the many forms of communication we have at Wandong. From our daily informal Facebook group posts and reminders to our more formal platforms with Seesaw, Compass and the newsletter. We plan well in advance of any event and all events and due dates can be found above in our newsletter ‘What’s On What’s Due’. All event organisation and relevant payment information is pushed out on compass, often several times prior to the event due date. When staff push this information out, all families are sent an email and receive a compass alert. This information is also at the top of the student’s dashboard waiting for it to be actioned whenever the platform/app is opened. If you are NOT receiving these alerts and communication, please phone the office as soon as possible.
Please ensure you are reading all communication through the newsletter and 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 I’m sure you can appreciate, and by actioning these promptly, it helps our teachers ensure an organised and successful event for our children.
Compass is our main communication platform, and it is absolutely paramount that any information sent out is read and actioned. Being informed is important for our families and our children. All newsletters, alerts, event consents/payments and information will only be sent out through this platform.
Communication Overview Reminder
Successful communication strategies are an integral part of building Wandong Primary’s reputation and image, both within the school community and with the general public. We have a number of communication pathways for different stakeholders. Good communication is very important in any organisation and WPS highly values the loop of communication between home, school and child.
Parent/carers are provided general school operational information via:
- Newsletter – available weekly through compass and email
- School website –contains school policies, School Strategic Plan and AIP.
- Assemblies – weekly on Friday afternoon.
- Compass – Incursion/excursion/camp permissions, special events, information sessions, real time alerts as required, etc. This also has access to our progress reports which communicate each student’s achievement in real time.
- SeeSaw – Learning celebrations, curriculum achievement and reporting. Please note that this platform should not be used to send important messages to the teacher. This must be done via email, phone or face to face.
- Emails – Important timely school information, two-way communication to parent/teacher, etc.
- Face to face – meet the teacher, three-way conferences, formal and informal meetings as required, feedback etc, as well as options within our Inclusion Policy e.g., Student Support Group meetings.
- Reports – formal reports Semesters 2 and 4
- WPS Facebook Page – specific promotion to our wider community about programs and events, as well as highlighting achievements and successes. https://www.facebook.com/WandongPS/
- WPS Facebook Group – day to day conversation, event promotion and reminders within our school community. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3619617971385556/
Please also remember that you are able to make an appointment with any staff member to get the most accurate information for any question that you might have.
Wandong has very much an ‘Open Door’ policy, but it’s important that the Communication procedures are followed. I urge you to please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child that need addressing. Your child’s teacher should be your first port of call, as they will often have all the relevant information to resolve the situation or provide the correct information.
Each grade level has a unit leader, and you are welcome to also seek clarification with the below staff:
Foundation – Katrina Smith
Junior School – D’Arne Hoy
Middle School – Emily Calandra
Senior School – Kaitlyn Hall
Specialists – Cal Fearn
Furthermore, our point of contact for specific curriculum questions can be directed to the below Strategic Leaders:
English – Jodie Hempel/Nikki Potesta/Krystal Clappison
Mathematics – Emma White/Steph Pollock
Wellbeing – Isabel Munoz/Jessica Woods
If you require further clarification around any issue, please make an appointment with any of our below leadership staff:
Learning Specialist/ Teaching & Learning Coaches – Nikki Potesta and Krystal Clappison
Assistant Principals – Stephanie Pollock (Curriculum) and Jess Woods (Wellbeing)
If all these steps have been taken and you still require further information, or your matter is of a serious nature, please make an appointment to see Steph, Jess, or myself.
Pupil Free Reminder
We are quickly approaching the pointy and very cold end to the term and it’s a good opportunity for our little people to take a breath, while our staff delve deep into the teaching of maths and rigorously moderate our student’s achievement this semester. Please ensure your child is booked into TheirCare if you require supervision on Monday and/or Tuesday next week.
WELLBEING
Social Emotional Wellbeing in 34E!
In 34E we worked together to develop an understanding for the importance of staying safe online and making sensible choices, including the responsibility of keeping personal information to ourselves.
Students discussed the types of interactions which can occur online, which platforms children socialise on and reasons they may socialise online with others.
During our session, the class was given an opportunity to create their own online avatar.
National Simultaneous Storytime 2024
On Wednesday 22 May, Wandong Primary School was one of 21,969 locations across Australia and the world to join the National Simultaneous Storytime 2024. 2, 359, 147 participants listened to Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.
Thanks for your participation Wandong!
The Single Mother's Club
NOTICES
Office Hours :- 8:30am until 3:55pm
Picking Up Children – Please help our admin team!
IMPORTANT – 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 – Student Information
It is very important we have up-to-date information for all students. Please check Compass and update current home & email addresses, 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 child’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 Orders
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.
**Please remember to order a bag for smaller orders & for larger orders select two.
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 – CANTEEN 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.
Click on the Canteen button.
Select Place Order at bottom of screen.
Select Student.
Select Date. (Will have to select next date if current date is cut off)
Select sitting e.g. Uniform
Click on item you require e.g Short Sleeve Polo.
Select how many you want and then select the size.
Add to cart.
Repeat for other items e.g. Bomber Jacket.
View Cart
Proceed to Checkout or create another order.
Parking in the church carpark
Uniform Orders
****Please Note: Select the following day as your order date if the current date has closed, even if it’s a weekend!
****Please remember to select a bag on the form for your purchase, as we are now plastic free. If you don’t select a bag, you will need to make arrangements to collect your order from the office.
PAFA
Next Meeting: 12th June 2024
AFTER SCHOOL CARE
WANDONG PRIMARY SCHOOL FETE SPONSORS
