Willoughby Public School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers

Welcome back to Willoughby PS for Term 2. What a fabulous start we have had with the return of some of our favourite school events. The students and teachers have settled well into our Term 2 routines with everyone displaying safe, respectful, responsible learning mindset.

On Monday Mrs Blake, Mrs Davidson, Mr Michaeil and I had an introductory/ welcome coffee with Ms Adrienne Scalese and Mrs Watts from Willoughby Girls High School. Ms Scalese is the newly appointed principal of Willoughby Girls. We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with Willoughby Girls. It was great to be able to meet at GreenWillo Cafe to purchase our coffees.

New Mural

A big thank you to the P&C for organising our amazing new mural. Local artist Huges Sineux spent the Easter school holidays transforming the once drab and dreary staircase into a bright, colourful masterpiece. We love it! Stay tuned ... there are more murals in the pipeline. 

Fun Day Sunday!

Willoughby PS had the best weather forecast possible on Sunday for our P&C Family Fun Day. It was our first major community event since the beginning of Covid in 2020. The school was filled with such a positive buzz, overflowing with families out to enjoy the sunshine and reconnect with their friends across the school. A huge thank you to Kris B and her team of volunteers who made the day such a success. We look forward to the other events the P&C has planned for the year.

Mother's & Other's Day Breakfast

I had the best morning interacting and chatting with our many mums, grandmothers and special others celebrating Mother’s Day this morning. I’d like to wish every mother and special person a wonderful day on Sunday as you celebrate together. I would like to think that every day is Mother’s Day but it is nice to celebrate and acknowledge all the wonderful things that our mum’s do every day. Thank you to everyone who was happy to have your photo taken this morning, please see the attached galleries.

Don’t forget to get your walking shoes on and join in celebrating National Walk Safely to school day on Friday 13 May. I know many families walk to cycle to and from school each day as their normal routine. We encourage everyone to join in, especially a great way to reduce the traffic around the school.

Children and parents must wait for the direction from the crossing supervisor before crossing the road. The crossing supervisor ensures the cars have stopped and it is safe. Another important road rule for bike riders; you must dismount and wheel your bike across the crossing. This is for everyone’s safety, so please remember to walk your bike across at the pedestrian crossings in our local community.

Congratulations and thank you to our students from Year 2 – 6 for your fabulous participation in our school cross country today. A huge thank you to Miss Tonks and her team for the great organisation, also thank you to WGHS for the use of the oval for our track. Thank you to the many parents that helped out as track controllers and the parents who cheered on the children as they participated. I admire the way the students display such determination to complete the track. Well done everyone.

Kind regards,

Jennifer Simmonds

Principal 

Willoughby Public School is involved in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD), an annual collection that counts the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to disability and the level of adjustment they are receiving. Each of the included students has been identified by the learning and support team as receiving a reasonable adjustment to address a disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. For the purposes of the national data collection, students with learning difficulties or chronic health conditions that require monitoring and the provision of adjustments by the school may be included. 

If you require further information, please contact the school or you can also visit the Department of Education and Training’s national data collection webpage Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability Public Information Notice - Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government (dese.gov.au)​

Welcome to Term 2!

It’s been wonderful to be able to welcome parents back into the Library in recent times! We are open every morning except Tuesday mornings from 8.35-8.55am, if you would like to pop in to ask a question or spend a few minutes with us as your child proudly shows you around our lovely spaces.  

Student Borrowing 

Students can return and borrow before school, at lunchtimes and during their weekly Library lesson. Kindergarten can have 2 books out at any one time, and Yr 1-6 can have 3, for a 2 week period. If kept longer than this, the book falls overdue, and no more books can be borrowed until it is returned. Despite your child’s best efforts, occasionally a book may become lost or damaged. In the event this happens you will receive a note from us with the name of the book and the replacement cost. You then have the choice to either send the money in a labelled envelope to the Library so we can buy another, or you can buy a replacement copy of the book yourself and send it in to us. If the lost book turns up, we will happily refund the money to you. Any overdue books that eventually find their way back to us are always received with a smile and a big thank you! We speak with students and really encourage the value of taking responsibility for the issue and seeing it through to its conclusion, whatever that may be. 

E-Books 

Did you know that all students have access to e-books through our subscription to E-Platform. We have our own website HERE. Use the ‘Look Inside’ link to decide if the book is for you, then students use their normal school login to borrow. To read offline, download the free ePlatform app, find our Library, then sign in to access your account. See flyer in this newsletter for more information. 

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2022 

This continues right through until August! Students can come into the Library when we are open and receive assistance with logging books, or access one of the laptops or iPads to do this on their own. All K-2 read a PRC book together with us as part of their Library lessons each week, and we take care of logging the list of books for them at the conclusion of the Challenge. 3-6 students complete the reading and logging in their own time, with assistance from us as required. If you are looking for some quality reading choices for your child, don’t forget to browse through the PRC Booklists for ideas at your child’s reading level. No special login needed. 

WPS Library Instagram 

We have a Willoughby Library Instagram! Look us up at @wpslibrary for great reading ideas and also to see what we have been up to! 

Mrs Debbie de Silva 

Teacher Librarian 

Please see link below for the delicious new Winter Menu available now! Order via Flexischools for recess and lunch.