Willoughby Public School Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers

A huge thank you to our Willoughby Community members for the wonderful support you provide, for our school. Volunteers help and support in so many ways – at various sport carnivals throughout the year, training and managing the various sport teams, helping in classrooms, supporting the P&C as they host events for our school community. A heartfelt thank you from everyone at WPS.

URSTRONG is a whole-school friendship strategy that has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids. Parents and teacher with a common language of friendship.  You are invited to attend an online Language of Friendship workshop on Thursday 23 June at 6pm. From the comfort of your own home. Tyson Greenwood (Director of URSTRONG Schools) will teach you and your children skills +language to foster healthy, feel-good friendships. This online presentation supports our current school programs. We believe that empowering our students with these skills will help create a culture of kindness at our school.

Please register via the link provided in the Skoolbag link sent earlier in the week.

Over the last few weeks we have had a number of students try out for rep teams in various sporting codes, with great success. Well done and we wish you every success with the tryout and team selection.

Staffing Update

Welcome to Miss Trisha Dixon who will be job-sharing with Mrs Debbie Dixon on 6D. Trisha works on Mondays and Tuesdays. I would like to thank Mrs Sarah Smit for the great work she has put into the class.  

We have a very talented and enthusiastic group of teachers working in our school. They espouse the traits of being life-long learners and are wonderful role model for our students. On Tuesday, our teachers were leading professional learning. Teachers teaching teachers personalising professional learning to support our students with their learning. 

Kindergarten 2023

We are currently accepting Kindergarten enrolments for 2023. If you know of families with school age children, please direct them to our online enrolment tab or ask them to contact the school office for information regarding enrolment. Our school tours are booked in every Tuesday and Thursday with our Deputy Principals, phone the office to book in a tour.

Our Willoughby Public School Kindergarten transition days are scheduled for Monday November 14, 21 and 28 and Thursday 17, 24 and December 1, 9:30am – 11:00am. We will be hosting parent’s information sessions during this time, as well as morning tea. The children will be grouped by alphabet order of surname for the Monday and Thursday sessions.

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)​

Books are wonderful! They entertain us, surprise us, challenge and enlighten us. They really do enrich our minds.  Reading expands your child’s world, it helps build empathy and perception as they explore the world from another viewpoint. In fact Australian author Jackie French takes this a step further when she says “Every book, no matter how trivial, is a record of the way the author sees the world, a map of their values. I believe that if you give a child 1,000 books, you are giving them 1,000 different world views. Expose a child to enough good books, and they’ll learn to think.”   

You’ve been reading to your child since they were little, but how can you make sure you are raising a reader? I think one of the key factors in this is to continue to make sure that reading books remains an enjoyable pastime in your child’s life, above all other things. Letting them be in charge of their reading choices also helps ignite that fire and keep it on a slow burn throughout the week. Another vital factor I have found is to keep exposing them to new reading choices, so they continue to grow and challenge themselves as readers. Libraries are wonderful ways to do this, as are visits to bookstores where you can let them browse.  

National Simultaneous Storytime 

In the coming week we are taking part in a nationwide reading event called National Simultaneous Storytime! This is an event that is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. It is a community event – so you can take part too if you wish – at the official time of 11am, or at any time between Monday 23rd and Friday 27th May. If so, you will be taking part in an event with millions of others right across the country. Registration is free and can be completed on the official website here ALIA National Simultaneous Storytime - 2022 . The title of this year’s book is called Family Tree by Josh Pyke and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh. The story is narrated by a seed which grows. We see the gum tree twig taking root in a glass jar: as a house is built, and foundations are being laid, roots are growing. The roots grow deeper as a child learns to laugh and walk, family roots and communities grow as children climb and cockatoos make the tree their home. Through changes of season and life, the children grow and change - then the tree becomes outgrown and ‘for a time they were gone, to grow their own trees, in their own gardens. A beautiful story about life, growth and family change – it will certainly provide many opportunities for you to talk together about your own family tree and what that means. Hope you can join in this special event. 

Mrs de Silva 

Teacher Librarian 

Dear Parents/Carers

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship.

You are invited to attend an online Language of Friendship workshop on Thursday 23 June at 6pm. From the comfort of your home, Tyson Greenwood (Director of URSTRONG Schools) will teach you and your children skills + language to foster healthy, feel-good friendships.

Registration Required: CLICK HERE to register

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope you can attend.

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

WPS Newsletter: Term 2, Week 4

The Netball Club has had a fantastic start to Term 2 with most games being able to go ahead, despite some continued inclement weather. We also joined other clubs in the Northern Suburbs competition to celebrate Pink Round on the Mother’s Day weekend, raising awareness and much-needed funds for Breast Cancer Network Australia and their vital work.

Our Term 2 Committee Meeting was held earlier this week where it was reported that we have two Netball teams sitting at the top of their divisions’ ladders, with more teams within the top 3 and others in the top half. Well done to all of our players, coaches, managers, umpires and parents on your efforts so far this season!

Our newest Club members – our Yr 2 and Yr 3 students playing in the NetSetGo competition – have enjoyed an uninterrupted season playing a total of four rounds to date. All eight teams have recorded at least one win and, most importantly, we’re seeing our youngest players growing their understanding and love of netball, week on week!

Our tireless Coaching and Umpires Convener, Mel Fisher, is supporting and guiding all WPS coaches on how to coach in an effective and positive way from the sidelines. We’re grateful to our Team Managers who are supporting our younger student coaches with the smooth running of games and encouragement of players, on game days. We’ve already had three WPS students receive their first umpiring award and are looking forward to continuing our Yr 6 Umpire Mentor Program which is focused on helping these new umpires build their confidence and capability.

We’re pleased to announce the Netball Club recently secured a grassroots sports grant of $1,000. Soon, we’ll be using some of this money to re-mark the school astro court which is used for training. Keep an eye out for the re-vitalisation of this space!

And, finally, a big thank you to our parent volunteers who are supporting our coaches and players during grade training – you play a vital role in ensuring the safety and smooth running of training sessions, and your support and commitment is not only appreciated, but essential.

A few reminders:

·                Wet-weather make-up games - For Netball divisions with six teams that didn't play in Round 2 due to wet weather, a make-up match will be played in Round 7 (Friday 27 May / Sat 28 May). More information will be shared by Team Managers.

·                Fixtures & results - You can access all team fixtures here on PlayHQ by selecting the NetSetGo or Netball competition, then your team.

·                Re-grading - This week is Round 6 for Netball and Round 5 for NetSetGo. The Committee will be reviewing results and submitting any necessary regrading requests to the Association following this weekend’s matches, and teams will be advised of any changes after Round 7 (Netball) and Round 6 (NetSetGo).

·                NetSetGo Grounds Duty - please sign up for Grounds Duty on Sunday 29 May.

·                June long weekend - There will be NO Netball or NetSetGo played on the June long weekend. 12s training is also off on the holiday Monday, 13 June.

·                No dogs allowed - Please be aware that dogs are NOT allowed at the netball courts on game days and owners will be asked to leave by officials.

·                Wet weather advice - In the event of non-friendly netball weather on match days, be sure to keep an eye on both the NSNA website and WPSNC socials (Facebook and Insta) for any updates which are generally posted after 3pm on Fridays, 7am on Saturdays and 7:30am on Sundays. No message generally means games are ON.

·                Next Committee meeting - Our Term 3 Committee Meeting is scheduled for 7pm on Monday 1 August. Please mark it in your diary as we’re keen to see you there!