Connected

It has been another wonderful fortnight with the children and families at Wattle Grove. The weather is getting cooler, but the learning and fun is heating up!

This week we had Deb Summerhayes, Executive Director, and Dr Alex Mandel, Director, Educational Leadership, come to visit Wattle Grove to learn more about the great programs that are happening across the school. They visited a variety of classrooms and were very impressed with both the children’s engagement and behaviour. They also sat in on a Year One planning session with Miss Solo, Mrs Aronis and Mrs McDougall, who were engaged in fabulous planning using the new English Syllabus. Mrs Foreshew and Miss Herron also shared the journey Kindergarten are on this year in trialling the new English syllabus. To end the visit, my fellow Principals from Hammondville and Holsworthy Public School, and Holsworthy High School came over to discuss our defence support programs with both Deb and Alex. I was as proud as punch to share and celebrate the amazing work of all teachers and staff!

School Ambassador Program – Problem Solving at its Best!
This week Bobby from 5/6 Rose participated in a leadership day where 29 students from the Liverpool area listened to a variety of speakers and engaged in practical activities exploring leadership and identifying a focus area for their project. Bobby’s group are currently developing ideas around creating safe and environmentally friendly school environments. Stay tuned for updates throughout the year!

National Simultaneous Story Time
On Wednesday all students took part in the National Simultaneous Storytime, an event held annually where a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops around Australia and New Zealand. This year our book was "Family Tree" written by Josh Pyke and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh. The tree is symbolic of family life, love and growth. "It all starts with a seed!" Students loved reading and engaging in this text. It was great hearing them discuss the story with their teachers and other students at lunchtime.

Proud Principal
Last week I received an email from a community member who had fallen and one of our students went and helped her and stayed with her until she felt okay to move. This is an example of the care and respect our children have for other people.

Lost Property
As the weather gets cooler, we have an ever-increasing pile of lost property. Every few days our administrative staff sort this and return items which have names and classes clearly labelled. Unfortunately, many items have not been able to be returned as they do not have names. I please ask that names and classes are clearly labelled on school items. I appreciate the amount of money that is spent on uniforms and want to ensure all lost items are returned.

Student Reports
Teachers are currently engaging in preparing and writing student reports. A lot of time and effort is given to this process to ensure our parents/carers are presented with valuable information about their child’s progress. Reports provide detailed information about student achievements and future learning goals.  These will go home early Week 10. If you have any concerns, please make an appointment to see your child’s teacher. If you require additional copies of your child’s report, please contact the school via email.

School Facebook Page and SkoolBag App 
Our Facebook page provides information and photos relating to school events and activities. To join, search for Wattle Grove Public School in the search engine of Facebook and click to join the group. We look forward to having you as part of the Facebook community!

Our SkoolBag app has over 500 subscribers! Notes and important notices are placed on this app each week. You can also join a group specific to your children, so you receive just the information you need. Go to the Google Play or Apple Store to download this free app! If you have any questions, please come to the office and we will be more than happy to assist.

Nicole Cameron 
Principal

This week I had the pleasure of taking four of our Year 5 students to the Holsworthy High School Challenge Cup. Bria, Ella, Evaan and Austin were involved in a series of challenges over a two-hour period, where they worked collaboratively to solve many challenging maths problems. They did an outstanding job representing Wattle Grove Public School and came away as runners up against our fellow community of school groups. There was only a point in it! The students were rewarded with a yummy lunch before heading back to school. I had a wonderful time and was so proud of Bria, Ella, Evaan and Austin. 

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter and what a fortnight it has been! It has brought Miss Cameron and I immense pride to celebrate the amazing work of our teachers with our Director, Educational Leadership, Dr Alex Mandel as well as a very special visit from our Executive Director, Mrs Deb Summerhayes. The highlight was definitely our Year 1 and Year 2 students hosting the visit and talking about what makes Wattle Grove one of the best schools.

Classroom Visits
Visiting classrooms and recognising the work of our students is always a priority. This week I visited K Green who were working on the sounds in ‘frog’. Take a look at the photos of the art experience related to their sound work below. I also visited 2 Lime and 2 Emerald to work with a group of students in reading. 4 Ruby students have been working hard on their reading fluency with a focus on reading with the correct phrasing. It was a joy to listen to them read with such smoothness.

Professional Learning
Last week, the whole staff engaged in Part 2 of our Reading Professional Learning with a focus on Fluency. Teachers worked in groups to unpack different evidence based research articles on the elements of fluency and how we can enhance our teaching practices to effectively teach students to become fluent readers. Thank you to Mrs Cook who delivered another engaging session.

Masterchef Cooking Classes
Mrs Thomas, one of our amazing School Learning Support Officers has been working with a group of students on some life skills with a focus on cooking. Last week they made burgers and this week they worked together to make some fresh berry smoothies. Each week the group has a focus on the theory and practical side to preparing and making food. This program also helps the girls develop and maintain positive relationships.

The Everyday Maths Hub for Parents and Carers
Evidenced-based research shows that when teachers and schools foster respectful relationships and engage with parents and carers in mathematics and numeracy, students' attitudes, engagement and success are enhanced.

Last week, Minister Mitchell launched a new phase of the #Mathstrainsbrains campaign. An initiative of the NSW Mathematics Strategy, the campaign will feature in a number of different online channels over the coming weeks.

All campaign material encourages viewers to click through and visit the Everyday Maths Hub through the link. https://education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/everyday-maths?q=

Attendance and School refusal
After Covid and learning from home, it is not unusual for some children to find it challenging to transition back into school routines and are feeling worried or anxious. Just remember that we are here to help. I have attached a couple of documents with some valuable information to help parents and carers.
The Emerging Minds Website is full of resources and toolkits to support families. 
https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/toolkits/parents-carers-and-families-toolkit/parenting/

How to help your child who is feeling anxious.

Anxiety is more than just feeling stressed or worried.

· Anxiety is when feelings of fear or worry don’t go away. Anxiety is a problem when it gets in the way of:

· Everyday things like talking to people or going new places

· Being around friends or family

· Going to school

· Doing fun things

Types of Anxiety Disorders in Children

Separation Anxiety:
Excessive worrying that something bad will happen if the child is not with their parents, caregiver, or anyone to whom they are attached. The child may be reluctant or refuse to stay at a relative or friend’s house, sleep alone or go to school. Many children experience separation anxiety between 18 months and three years old when it is normal to feel some anxiety when a parent leaves the room or goes out of sight. Usually, children can be distracted from these feelings. However, separation anxiety may surface or resurface when the child is older and especially between ages 7 and 9.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder:
Chronic anxiety and excessive worry about everything and everyday life. A child with GAD worries about the meaning of a cancelled play date or a delayed response to a text. Children with GAD fret about bad things happening to people they love or that no one will come to the birthday party they didn’t want in the first place. The worry is overblown in relation to the events that sparked the worry. GAD is exhausting as children worry chronically and constantly and can’t control these thoughts. In addition, children with GAD often don’t trust their instincts and seek constant approval or reassurance from others.

When should I seek professional help for my anxious child?

· Disrupts the household and interferes with family activities and life

· When the child gets upset multiple times a day or week

· When the frequency and intensity of the fears escalate (may be accompanied by acting out, meltdowns, screaming, yelling, or tantrums).

· When the anxiety leads to significant avoidance behavior. The child continually and consistently makes excuses to avoid school or other situations that may provoke anxiety.

· When the disorder is making it difficult for the child to interact with, make or keep friends.

· When sleep habits are disrupted

· When you begin to see compulsive behaviors and rituals such as repeated hand washing, counting, checking things and when the child refuses or is unable to leave the house without performing these rituals.

· When your child shows a pattern of physical symptoms that are disruptive and detrimental to the child (vomiting, stomach aches, etc.)

· When your child experiences panic attacks characterized by heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, hyperventilation.

ICAS Reminder
Just a friendly reminder for those parents wishing their child to sit the ICAS tests that online payments close on 1 August. Information below outlines the sitting dates of tests and the instructions on how to make an online payment.

Cost per test: $19.25 including GST

Writing Test: $23.65 including GST

Payment Process

1. Visit the Parent Portal here: (https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps)

(use Google Chrome)

2. Enter the school’s unique access code: UIU973

3. Enter your child’s first, last name, date of birth and year and then SAVE student.

4. Next, select the assessments (add to cart) the student will participate in.

5. Follow the online instructions to make your payment.

6. Online payment closes 1 August 2022.

IMPORTANT: Please enter your child’s name accurately into the system as it will appear this way on their ICAS certificate.

Have a great fortnight everyone,

Mrs Vicky Valensise
Deputy Principal

Congratulations to Jacinta in 6 Magenta!

I thought it would be a great idea to add some Rosemary plants into the memorial area between the flag poles. Our students proudly cleaned the area to prepare the area for our new rosemary plants. The students enjoyed smelling the rosemary and learnt that this herb can be used for cooking. The students can now use the rosemary on occasions like Anzac Day.  A group of students known as the Poppies will help maintain the garden with myself each week.

Our week 4 activity included yoga. The students were able to take turns to throw the yoga dice which had all different yoga moves on each side. When it landed on the pose the students were able to copy the yoga move. 

Kind regards

Kiri Dorr
Defence School Mentor 

Reminder: Just a reminder that the Premier’s Reading Challenge is open. The challenge will close on Friday August 19, 2022. Details of the Premier’s Reading Challenge can be found on the following website along with comprehensive book titles; https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/studentExperience.html

Congratulations to the following students who have completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge so far:

Years 3 - 6 have been going well with their PRC. Mrs Farah is running a competition to see which 3-6 class has the most students complete the challenge. I wonder who will win!  

Congratulations to all our competitors at the Zone Cross Country. Our amazing success in all age divisions saw us being named the overall point scoring school. Every student helped us achieve that position, but the following students came in the top 10 for their age group. The top 8 students will be going to the regional carnival on June 15th.

8/9 Boys
1st Josh
2nd Antony
3rd Patrick
5th Kody
9th Liam
10th Braxton

8/9 Girls
1st Amilia
2nd Adelaide
4th Olivia

10yr Boys
1st Josh
3rd Emmett
4th Ryan
9th Charlie

10yr Girls
2nd Sophia
5th Ellie

11yr Boys
2nd Aiden
4th Ben

11yr Girls
2nd Abby
3rd Layla

12yr Boys
7th Jack
9th Connor

12yr Girls
1st Annabel