Wambi's Wavebreaker

We look forward to parents joining our open class sessions next Friday morning (26 August) to meet staff and see the great work happening across our school. As this event is held predominantly indoors, please note the following organisation to keep everyone safe:

• Each session is 20 minutes in length.
• Parents are asked to only attend only one session for each child.
• Maximum of 2 visitors per family.
• Only attend if in good health with no COVID or flu-like symptoms.
• All visitors to pre-register online.
• Entry and exit via Lea Avenue entrance.
• All rooms will be well ventilated.
• We strongly encourage the wearing of masks whilst indoors.
• Hand sanitiser is available in all rooms.
• Socially distance wherever possible.

We look forward to honouring our fathers with a special Father’s Day Breakfast on Friday 2 September, 2022. There will be a live guest performance by local artist Bryce Sainty in the amphitheatre and fun activities in the school hall for attending students. The event will commence at 7:15am and conclude at 8:30am (promptly to enable us to prepare for the commencement of the school day).  Pre-registration is required and we encourage you to arrive early to enjoy all the fun and the great breakfast. Please enjoy our short Father’s Day promo video.

Due to our unique school site, those parents picking up students each afternoon on foot are able to walk in via our Tumbi Road or Lea Avenue (basketball court) entrances at 3:25pm and may wait within the COLA area. For parents utilising the (car) Kiss and Ride Zone, this service now commences at 3:30pm and takes only a short time for all families to be re-united within cars. We encourage families not to arrive early for the Kiss and Ride due to the potential impact on local roads, general road safety and to ensure compliance with local parking restrictions.

On Tuesday 16 August, a ceremony was held in the amphitheatre to acknowledge the efforts and achievements of our Athletics Carnival winners. Students will progress to the Tuggerah Lakes Zone Athletics carnival being held at Mingara Regional Athletics Centre on Friday 19 August

Next Wednesday evening (24 August) from 6–7pm we have a special information session for parents considering enrolling children in Kindergarten 2023. The event will be held in our Kindergarten ‘MakerSpace’ with access via our Lea Avenue entrance. 

Have a great week,

Paul Miller

Principal

It has been a rewarding start to the term with many opportunities to celebrate with our community. This week’s Book Parade had a really festive feel and it was lovely to see so many friends and families join us at school for the parade. The costumes were amazing and certainly displayed a creative flair. This week our students also enjoyed the ‘Tie Dye Mufti Day’, raising funds to support the end of year farewell for their Year 6 peers. Next week we are all looking forward to further opportunities to share with our community in the upcoming Open Day on Friday 26 August, and of course our Fathers’ Day Breakfast on Friday 2 September.

Parents and carers are reminded that the school offers a broad range of volunteering opportunities including canteen, classroom and excursion helpers. Please visit our school website for more details about volunteering in our school.

Kindergarten 2023 enrolment interviews are well underway and it has been lovely meeting with our newest Wamberal PS students and their families. Starting school is a significant event in the life of children and their families, and strong relationships between families and schools help support a successful transition process. If you, or someone you know, has a child who is beginning kindergarten next year, please visit our website for enrolment details.

Our next Parent Information Session is Wednesday 24 August 2022 at 6pm and School Tours for Kindergarten 2023 students start the following week.

What a glorious sunny morning we had for our Book Week book character parade. After the restrictions we have experienced over the past two years, we enjoyed this special event with a proud audience of parents and grandparents. See FaceBook and SeeSaw for highlights.

Wambie students are currently completing their 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC) — although student access will close this Friday, I will help students finish over the next 2 weeks. All students are encouraged to continue reading for fun and interest as well as for the 2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge. 

Book Club Issue 5 orders continue to arrive and will be delivered shortly. Thank you for supporting this program.

Please see the Skoolbag app for important Library updates.

Please feel free to contact the Library through the school office if I can help in any way.

Happy reading,

Nell Knight    👱‍♀️📚

Teacher Librarian

Currently reading from this Year’s Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Lists — Inheritance by Armin Greder (PICTURE BOOK AWARD) and When the Whales Walked by Nick Bland (EARLY CHILDHOOD AWARD).

It is interesting to compare Greder’s book with Saxby’s Iceberg from last week. Both titles raise questions about the future of our environment. However, the strategies and techniques for delivering their messages, and the mood and intensity of their content differ starkly, along with the colour schemes. What do you think? Recommended for middle primary up to high school readers.

In When the Whales Walked, Bland presents a comical scenario with whales leaving their oceans to enter our human world, riding bikes and trains, eating fish and chips, and ruining the pavements with their skipping. Recommended for readers aged 5+.

Each award category has six titles. We will explore these over the coming term. Winners will be announced in Week 6.

Last week our Aboriginal students created artworks on canvases to be entered into the GulangFest Art Competition. The students showed amazing creativity and told stories through their paintings.

Ethics classes continue in term 3. For now, we have one volunteering teacher delivering the program this term who is teaching a class for the students in Years 3 and 4.

So far this year, we have not been able to offer the program to all the students who opted into ethics. Unfortunately, there are not enough teachers to form the requisite number of classes. To comfortably accommodate everyone, we are looking for 4 additional volunteering teachers.

Our Stage 2 Ethics class discussed selfishness, disagreements and how to approach them respectfully, whether we should keep animals in captivity, and differences between excuses and reasons.

Coming up later this term, the students will practice and discuss inferential reasoning. The topic is a perennial favourite for students and teachers alike. Instead of focusing on any ethical question, this is a skills topic where students are thinking about thinking – learning to recognise the unstated assumptions often used to make decisions.

Can you help facilitate ethics classes at your school?

We are looking for volunteers. We would love to be able to offer classes to all students enrolled in ethics and keep the classes comfortably small to allow everyone time to participate.

Ethics classes run for 30 minutes midday on Wednesday. Please consider whether you are available to help. Grandparents and the wider community are welcome to apply.

Primary Ethics provides teacher training. The training consists of online self-study modules and a comprehensive 2-day workshop (in-person or via Zoom). Detailed lesson plans are provided by Primary Ethics and have been approved by the Department of Education.

For more information about the program and to apply, please visit https://primaryethics.com.au/volunteer/ethics-teacher/

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Julia on 0402 414 041 or julia.kosheleva@primaryethics.com.au or use the contacts provided on the website.