Willoughby Public School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers 

Harmony Week was an outstanding success, all students contributing in so many ways to celebrate the cultural diversity within our school. I was impressed by the speeches presented by Milly and Kaiden a great combination of thoughtful observations and passion. Good luck to our Stage 3 and Stage 2 finalists in the Multicultural Speaking Competition as they represent Willoughby. Thank you, Ms Mavromatis, Mrs Andrews, Miss Lee, and Mrs Lyons for co-ordinating our Harmony Week activities and assembly. Thank you, Kai, and Aleine for leading our Harmony Day assembly. 

National Ride2School Day success saw our bike rack area overflowing! Well over 100 bikes and riders joining with walkers and scooter riders. The Willoughby Council – Active Travel Project team were inspired by the enthusiasm across the school. We are looking forward to the launch of the active school pathways rollout for safe travel to school. 

A huge thank you to the many students and families for providing the cupcakes, and biscuits for our SRC (Student Representative Council) Bake Sale fundraiser. So many delicious treats to choose for morning tea and afternoon tea. The Bake Sale continued after school with parents attending parent / teacher interviews. The proceeds will be sent to Assistant Dogs to support the dog training program. 

The connection between Willoughby Public School and Cromehurst School; a long-standing partnership between the two-schools received fabulous praise and feedback this week from Lee Sharpe 

Restrictive Practices Coordinator Delivery Support | Student Wellbeing Support Department of Education.  

“I just wanted to share something special I witnessed yesterday at a Restrictive Practices SSP (Schools for Specific Purposes) visit. 

The school I visited was Cromehurst School in Northern Sydney which supports students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. 

One day per week a cohort of students from Willoughby PS visit Cromehurst school and participate in a range of activities. Each student is assigned a similar aged buddy who they work with.  

Every term, visits are rotated so Cromehurst students will visit Willoughby PS next term.   

During my visit, students from both schools were singing a welcome song using sign language and it was lovely to see the huge smiles on each student as they reunited with their buddy.  

This is such a wonderful example of inclusion.  

When we refer to the definition of inclusive education in NSW, it is defined as ‘all students, regardless of disability, ethnicity, socio-economic status, nationality, language, gender, sexual orientation or faith, can access and fully participate in learning alongside their similar aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs.’ Both schools are displaying this definition in a wonderful way where students can learn from one another, grow, and learn to their fullest capability and build lasting relationships.” 

Mrs Leslie has been instrumental in ensuring the success of the Cromhurst program, a passionate advocate for inclusion. It is through her ongoing commitment that our students and teachers enthusiastically participate each year. Thank you and congratulations to everyone involved. 

Thank you to our WPS teachers for your preparation and dedication to the students in your class with your preparation for our parent/teacher interviews. We had 2 long days but the connection with families attending the interviews was outstanding. I appreciate the time everyone put aside to attend, the school was buzzing with positivity. 

Willoughby Public School Stage 2 and Stage 3 girls represented our school at the Skellern Cup Girls’ Soccer Gala Day. Our students were wonderful ambassadors for our school displaying great sportsmanship on and off the field. The weather held on Wednesday and Thursday was lovely and sunny. Everyone returned to school feeling a bit tired but very satisfied with their overall performance on the day. Thank you to Miss Chen, Mr Goodwin, Mrs Dixon, and Miss Yan for supervising the teams. 

 A huge congratulations to 2/6R on your outstanding participation at the inclusion Athletics Carnival on Thursday. Bilal, Moon, and Sabah reported back to me how hard they tried hard and participated in every event. Mrs Rodgers, Liz, and Emily had a wonderful day and returned to school beaming with pride. Thank you 2/6R for being great ambassadors of Willoughby Public School. 

I had the best start to my day this morning; watching our students in our bands and string ensemble perform. I am impressed by the hard work, dedication and commitment displayed by our musicians. Congratulations Mr Marsden, Mr Brinsmead, Mr Scarbrough and Ms Tesoriero for your leadership of the band and ensemble program. Thank you to the Band Committee and parents for your ongoing support.  

Our playground area between the basketball court and the high school fence will be upgraded in Term 2, giving our students a sandpit, climbing and balance beams and some sandstone rocks to sit on in an outdoor learning setting. The astro-turf on the mini oval will also be replaced. We will continue to use the Willoughby Girls High School oval as a play space during these works. 

I would to take this opportunity to say thank you to our students, teachers, admin and support officers, and WPS families for the ongoing dedication to learning throughout Term 1. I wish everyone a safe and relaxing Easter Holiday. Students return Wednesday 26 April. 

Kind regards 

Jennifer Simmonds  

Principal 

Mountain Biking- Adam P

In Week 5 Adam competed in the Australian Interschools Mountain Biking Competion in Thredbo. Adam competed in a timed event down the steep hills of Thredbo against the best mountain bikers in the country. Adam did Willoughby proud by finishing 71st out of 101 students in the event. We look forward to sending more students next year!  

Basketball 

Well done to Charlotte Bird, Isabelle Salz and Eliie Tucker-Downs for doing well at the very competitive Sydney North trials on 29th March. Congratulations to Ellie who made it to top 20 athletes on the day.  

Rugby League trials 

Congratulations to Joe D and Samson in Year 6 from competing at the Combined Zone trials for North Shore/Ryde/Hornsby. Well done to Joe for making it through to the Sydney North trials.  

Sydney North Swimming Carnival 

A huge congratulations to James Lyle, Sarah Couroumah, Harvey Ekas, Vivienne Mcnaughton, Georgie Hill and Yue Teng Soon for doing Willoughby extremely proud at the Sydney North Swimming Carnival at Homebush. It is a huge achievement to be able to compete against the very best swimmers in the Sydney North Zone.  

Skellern Cup

This week, girls in Stage 2 and Stage 3 represented Willoughby PS at the Skellern Cup.  The Skellern Cup intends to promote the continued growth of primary school aged girls participating in weekly competitions. The event aspires to celebrate girls playing football, bringing together regular players and non-players to showcase the inclusiveness, enjoyment and camaraderie football as a sport provides.

See below for photo gallery from both days. 

2/6R attended an Inclusion Sports Athletics Competition Day on Thursday 30 March. Students competed in running, shot put, javelin, discuss and long jump events.

Everyone had a fabulous day cheering each other on and also supporting other schools, too. 

A gallery of photos from the day is below.

Some of the students rushed in to share news of the day with Ms Simmonds on arrival back at school yesterday afternoon. 

Year 6 created paper skeletons and used our mathematical skills to create accurate skeletons 1/3 of our size. We had to measure each other and divide to get the measurements right. We then cut up the pieces of coloured paper and assembled our skeletons. We hung them up in the Year 6 homebase in different poses. We had fun!

By Kai and Raf, Year 6

Responsible Learners in the Library 

I would really like to commend those students across all year groups who have made a concerted this term to come to the Library with their Library Bag each week, and have also endeavoured to return their books on time, or renew them when needed. This shows a great deal of responsibility and care for the books that the Library lends out to them and contributes to their growth in becoming a responsible citizen. Taking responsibility for their Library books and reading is one of the ways our students learn to be actively involved in their own learning.  

Lost or damaged books 

If a book accidentally becomes lost or damaged, we teach students the right ways to approach that and what needs to be done to put things right and to avoid this happening again. Lost books are paid for via the School Bytes Portal. There is provision there to indicate payment is for this purpose. All monies received are put towards buying replacements. If you like you can also buy your own copy of the lost book and send that to us as a replacement. The lost item is then removed from your child’s Borrowing record and borrowing can recommence. 

Reading in the Term 1 School Holidays 

Students who have no overdue books next week are strongly encouraged to borrow books over the holidays, to enjoy in their increased leisure time. We ask that they do not travel away with you in case they are lost or left behind on holidays but can certainly be enjoyed at home.  

A great option for those travelling these holidays is to access our e-book collection via the ePlatform app. They have an ever-increasing selection including the new CBCA short-listed winners announced this week. Lots of good quality reads available, including ones for the PRC too. See the flyer in this newsletter for download and access instructions. 

Wishing all our school community a wonderful school holiday break together! 

Mrs Debbie de Silva 

Teacher Librarian 

Hello Parents/Carers,

We just want to thank you for all the cakes and cookies and jelly you helped make for our charity sale to fundraise for Assistance Dogs Australia. 

We raised $3027.00 for the dogs. 

Thank you again for the people who participated in buying a cake, jelly or cookie.

From the SRC 

Calling all WPS parents and carers: Roll up your sleeves and get involved!

Events are the most significant part of what we do at the P&C, and let’s not beat around the bush: WE NEED YOUR HELP! 😊

The P&C is run by volunteers, and while we find our roles incredibly rewarding and an absolute privilege, we also have paid jobs (that ol’ chestnut!) that demand our time and focus. So this year, we’re encouraging help more proactively from you – our community of engaged parents and carers who we know aren’t afraid of a bit of hard work – especially if it’s in the best interests of our school and our kids.

To ensure diversity of thought at the planning stage, we’re currently looking for dads in particular to join us in the following roles:

• The WPS Family Fun Day planning committee: The FFD is the school’s flagship event, which attracts more than 2,000 people every year. It will be held on Saturday 27 May this year – however we need a committee to put in the hard yards well before that. We are looking for leaders to manage areas like ticketing, entertainment, suppliers, audio visual, insurance, ambulance & first aid. If you fancy yourself a decent project manager, we want you!
• Mothers and Others Breakfast: We’re calling all dads for this one – as us mums will be busy! 😉 We need a committee of 3 or 4 to manage this event, which is on Friday 12 May from 7:30am – 9am, in the school hall. We’re expecting about 400 attendees for coffee, morning tea and a surprise gift.

If you’re keen to get involved, please contact our marvellous Master of Events, Radhika, on vicepresidentevents@wpspandc.com.au.

https://libraries.willoughby.nsw.gov.au/Events-Programs

In Term 4 last year WPS partnered with Return & Earn Lane Cove and the Little Wings charity to raise money to assist sick children and their families access flights to hospitals in Sydney and Newcastle.  

Little Wings have reported that together with the 9 other schools involved, we recycled over 50,000 units which funded transport for 5 families from regional NSW.  

This year the goal is to recycle 100,000 units.  Please continue to bring in any recyclable cans, bottles or cartons (10c refund eligible) and place into the yellow bins at the front of the school. 

Thank you for your continued support.