Connected

Dear Parents/Carers

A warm welcome to Term 2! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break and are ready for a fabulous Term 2. I am looking forward to our continued work together for our children.

Term One Wrap Up
Week 11 saw many events for both students, staff, families and friends. On Monday and Tuesday, we came together for Learning Conversations, which provided the opportunity for the children to sit with their teacher and parents/carers to talk about their learning. We had over 80% of parents/carers attend a meeting, which was outstanding. I would like to thank the staff for their work to make these conversations authentic and meaningful and acknowledge the parent community for their commitment to working together to ensure the best learning journey for each child at Wattle Grove.

On Monday of Term 1, Week 11, our School Leaders, with Mrs Dodd, attended the RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Commemoration at Hyde Park, Sydney. Our students also played an important role as wreath presenters and handing out program guides to many VIPs. Oliver and Abby were also interviewed by Channel 7 news, with Oliver being on the news that night. All our students who attended, did so with great pride and respect. I would like to thank them and Mrs Dodd for representing Wattle Grove at this special event.  

On Wednesday we held our ANZAC Service. I would like to thank Mrs Dorr for her organisation of the service which ran smoothly, from the laying of wreaths to the preparation for the Catafalque Party. I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Robinson and the Choir for their performance and our school leaders Oliver and Abby and Mrs Finn for compering the service. Thank you to our community, our families and friends who were able to attend this service.

We rounded the term off with our annual K-2 Easter Hat Parade. The K-2 students had lots of fun parading their hats and the 3-6 students enjoyed cheering them on! The effort that went into the hats was amazing. A huge thank you to our parents for supporting this event, from helping with hats to visiting the parade. I would also like to acknowledge Miss Clarke for her organisation of this event. A big thank you also goes to the P&C who generously provided all students with a special Easter surprise. The students were very eggcited when they got back to their classrooms after the parade to find that the Easter Bunny had made a delivery! Thank you also to the P&C for selling Hot Cross Buns on the day to fill our tummies.

Staff Development Day
School development days are used by schools to build on the knowledge and skills of our teachers, school leaders and school administrative support staff through a targeted professional learning program. On Monday 24 April 2023, our school , along with all other public schools across NSW, engaged in professional learning focused on Aboriginal Education.

The professional learning was planned around the unique needs of our school community and will help to sustain positive change and improve both educational outcomes and wellbeing for all learners. Our sessions focussed on the authentic use of Yarning Circle, writing a personalised Acknowledgement of Country, embedding Aboriginal Education into the curriculum, led by Ms Premier, and  Personalised Learning Pathways led by Mrs Valensise. Mrs Cook and I also shared our learning from Coonamble in Term 1. It was a great day, and as a school we will continue to have a lens on developing our knowledge and practice in Aboriginal Education to positive impact all students.  I want to thank you for your ongoing support as we work to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and increase knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal histories and cultures.

Following on from our sessions on this day the staff engaged in a Twilight Session which focussed on Mathematics. Staff learnt more about creating and implementing rich mathematical tasks and Number Talks. Thank you to Mrs Boyes, Miss Cascio and Mrs Cook for leading this session.

Disco Dancing
Last week the P&C held our first school disco for the year. It was great night filled with fun, laughter, eating and lots of dancing. A huge thank you to the P&C and parent volunteers for making this happen. A lot of work goes into ensuring these family events are success, and I thank you all.

Healthy Harold
Over the past two weeks, classes have visited the Life Education van, where they have engaged in a variety of learning experiences focussed on various health and wellbeing topics. The Life Education Program supports students in developing the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions about their health and can help to reduce risky behaviours and improve overall health outcomes. Student feedback was positive with many students very excited to meet Harold! Thank you to Mrs Murphy and Mrs Ancell for organising this incursion. 

Cross Country
Ready, set, go! What a great time was had at the Cross Country Carnival on Tuesday. The sun was shining, the ground was dry (almost) and the students were ready to run, run, run. The students did such a great job, all trying their best to reach the finishing line. I was so proud as they pushed themselves to do their absolute best. Congratulations to all the students and those who are proceeding to the next level at Zone. A huge thank you to Mrs Bartram, Mrs McDougall and Mrs Aronis for their outstanding organisation of this event.

2023 School Ambassador
Congratulations to Aralia from 6 Pink who has been selected as our 2023 School Ambassador. Aralia will work with a team of students from schools in the Liverpool area on an area to further enhance our school. Aralia will provide updates as the project progresses. Her first Ambassador meeting is in Week 5, where she will meet her team and their leader. I will also be there as part of the organising committee and am looking forward to being involved in this project.

2024 Opportunity Class Applications – Important Information
Online applications for Year 5 placement in an opportunity class in 2024 open on Thursday 30 March 2023 and close on Monday 15 May 2023.

The Opportunity Class Placement Test will be conducted on Thursday 27 July 2023.

Students are offered placement in opportunity classes on the basis of academic merit. Academic merit is based on the results of reading, mathematical reasoning and thinking skills tests in the Opportunity Class Placement Test.

For placement in 2024, students will be ranked in order of merit with special consideration being given to maintaining equity of access on the grounds of educational disadvantage, Aboriginal background, rural and remote status, and disability.

Please click on this link for further information:

https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5/information-for-applicants

Nicole Cameron
Principal

This week I buzzed into K Green, who were working on their phonological knowledge, with the focus words being bed and ted! The children wrote the sentence, Ted is in the bed. They then got to make a Ted in the bed, using a range of special food ingredients. The students did an amazing job and are making so much progress. I loved my time in K Green this week!

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope that the Easter break was a nice time for all and a time to reflect with family for those who held Easter or Eid celebrations.

Thank you to Mrs Bartram, Mrs Aronis and Mrs McDougall for their organisation of the school’s cross country. It was really lovely to look around and see so many parents, carers and grandparents come along to show their support of their children and of our school. 

Lost Property
The weather is quite cool in the mornings, hence why so many of our students are coming to school wearing their jackets. However, as the weather warms up through the day students take off their jackets leaving them in the playground. These eventually end up in the lost property tub outside the front office and with only two weeks into the term, the tub is overflowing. I kindly ask you to label your child’s jackets, hats, lunchboxes, drink bottles as this is a guaranteed way of having these items find their owner.

Staff absences
As I look after casual teachers to cover classes when teachers are absent, I would like to communicate that there are times when finding a casual has been impossible. During these times, your child’s class will be split with grade based work to complete. As you would have seen in the media, the staff shortage is a problem across the state.

Semester One Reports
Teachers have been meeting and planning assessment opportunities to gather evidence of learning for Semester One reports. There has been a slight change to the K-2 reports to represent the changes of the new K-2 syllabus. In English, students in K-2 will receive an achievement grade for Oral Language and Communication, Reading and Creating Written Texts. In mathematics they will receive a grade for Number and Algebra, Measurement and Space and Statistics and Probability. Year 3-6 reports will remain unchanged until 2024 when the new syllabus will be implemented.

School Assemblies
 Just a friendly reminder in regards to our assemblies. Next week we kick off with primary assembly where cross country ribbons and age champion trophies will be presented as well as our usual Super Kid and Principal award certificates. Starting times of each assembly are subject to change according to what is on the agenda for the week so please look out for our Facebook posts which will indicate starting times.

3-6 Assembly: Weeks 3, 6 and 9.

K-2 Assembly: Weeks 4, 7 and 10

Winter PSSA 
Winter PSSA commences next Friday with Round One. Teachers have been busy trialling students for the various teams on offer. Whilst we understand that students play at an elite and competitive level outside school, this does not guarantee a place in the school’s  PSSA teams. Our teachers take teams voluntarily, giving up lunch times for trials and training as well as the administrative workload. Our school provides outstanding back at school sport opportunities, where Mrs Bartram has organised two hockey coaches, two AFL coaches, one basketball coach, yoga and tennis is also available. Our goal regardless of whether you child partakes in PSSA or in back at school sport, is that we promote a love of physical activity in all our students and develop skills so they can lead healthy, happy and active lives. 

ICAS
This week I sent home the ICAS note to all students in Years 2-6. This is an external  assessment run by the University of New South Wales. The ICAS parent portal allows you to select the assessments you want your child to sit. Students will sit the test here at school. If you want your child to participate, please pay following the instructions on the note. This note was also uploaded on Skoolbag.

Student Wellbeing- Screen time

e-Safety Commissioner https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/screen-time

We see more of our primary aged children with mobile devices and whilst as parents we provide phones to our children with the best intentions, it is important that we set rules and boundaries in order to protect them.

Set boundaries for digital device use in your home

Device-free zones and times can help you manage screen time. For example, your family plan could include rules like this: 

·         no devices in the bedroom for younger children

·         all screens off in bedrooms after a certain time for older children

·         all screens off at least one hour before planned bedtime

·         all family members switch off at dinner time

·         devices charged overnight in a place your child cannot access

Finally, to all our mums, grandmothers, aunts – the special females in our children’s lives; may you all have a wonderful Mothers Day next weekend. Enjoy that cup of coffee, the cooked breakfast and the hugs and kisses.

Have a wonderful fortnight and stay safe and well.

Vicky Valensise
Deputy Principal

Welcome back to Term. It was  lovely to see the students back after the Easter holiday break. We started back with a short week and then back into week 2 with Cross Country. With Mother's Day in Week 3 the students and I have started to work on some mothers day activities. Anzac Ted and Anzac Fred are back for our students to take home and record their adventures. Please let me know of any deployment, moves or if your child may need any additional support. You can contact me through the front office on these following days Tuesday- Fridays.