Willunga Primary School Newsletter

Term 4 Week 9

From the Principal

I can hardly believe it is time to wrap up another busy year.  This year has been an exciting one at the school as we have seen the impact of our oral language strategies in creating thinking and collaborating classrooms.  Our staff have undertaken significant reflection of and planning for our Site Improvement Plan to grow this work even further in 2020.  Our aim to build a community of learners all involved in the construction of their knowledge, is well underway.

Already we have set our whole school focus for each term next year.  We stick with these over a number of years as we build a collective and deeper understanding around the themes.

term 1: SUSTAINABILITY; term 2: DIVERSITY; term 3: ANTI-BULLYING; term 4: COMMUNITY.

Our term of 'Community' successfully wound up with our Twilight Picnic.  The changes we made this year were definitely effective and there are a few more tweaks planned for 2020.  We were so fortunate to have such amazing weather and to have so many people join us.  The kids absolutely love the opportunity to be at school out of hours, out of uniform and with their friends!  


Have a great holiday season with your families and friends and stay safe - we will see you next year!

Twilight Picnic Photos

Staffing 2020

We are moving into 2020 with very few changes to staff.  A few people are leaving us and we wish them well with their next venture.

Lauren Langley - has been working with Bianca Lally in a 1/2 class 1 day a week.  She has loved working with the students and learnt a lot in this role.  She may return in 2020 in a short term or TRT position

Cheree Gordon - has been working at Willunga for 5 years.  She has successfully won a contract position at McLaren Vale in a 6/7 class in 2020.  Cheree is looking forward to taking her Willunga skills and learning new skills at another site.

Paul Crate - is taking leave until retirement in 2020.  Paul has been a teacher at Willunga Primary for 23 years, the majority of these in a sports / PE role.  During that time he has championed the role of health and fitness for the young people in our community, both in school through Sports Days, Expos, SAPSASA events and out of school as a founding member of the Rugby Tag.  Paul's commitment to sport has seen our school ranking first in many external events over the years.  He has played a huge role in the lives of students at Willunga and I know he will be missed.


Student Free Days and School Closure 2020

As part of our Site Improvement Planning, we considered our student free days in 2020 to ensure they will continue to move our learning ahead.  At our final Governing Council meeting for 2019 these were approved.

Student Free Days

Term 1 week 3: FRIDAY 14th February – Math and Reading data day

Term 1 week 10: WEDNESDAY 1st April– Reading Comprehension with Sheena Cameron

Term 2 week 6: FRIDAY 5th June – SIP focus: High Impact Teaching

Term 3 week 8: MONDAY 7th September – Writing focus

School Closure day 2020

Term 4 week 7 FRIDAY 27th November – after Twilight Picnic 

Important Dates Term 4

  • 12th December - Yr 7 Graduation
  • 13th December - Final Assembly, 9.05am AND
  • Last Day Term 4, 2:05pm Dismissal


  • Tuesday 28th January 2020 - First Day of Term 1 

Office open hours week 0 2020

The Front Office and Uniform Shop will be open in the lead up to school returning in 2020.  Remember, invoices can be paid through the QkR app.

The Front Office re-opens Monday January 20 at 8.30am.

The Uniform Shop, located in the canteen, will be open Wednesday 22nd January to Friday 24th January from 8:30am to 1pm.

We appreciate families enjoy dropping in to meet teachers and see the classrooms in week 0, but remind you that this is a very busy time for teachers at the school as we set directions, hold meetings and set up classrooms.  If you do drop in, please make sure that you are only staying for a few minutes.  If you have more to discuss it is best to make a time with the class teacher in week 1 or 2.

All teachers have taken home a pack of information about all students to read during the holidays.  This includes information from the previous year's teacher to ensure all students are set-up for success. 

Sue Camac's News

This term the school has had a focus around ‘Community’.  I would like then to give a big thank you to our parents Deb & Dale Saunders, Lisa Roberts, Janet & Lyel Steegh, Airlie Waller, Emily & Peter Mir, Nathan Little, Tiana & Matthew Little, Andrew Milin, Nicolle Davenport, Karen Martin & Crystal Thiel who volunteered their time and participated in our ‘Community Living Library’.  Our students had a taste of a whole variety of occupations that require different levels of study and some occupations that they had never heard of before or knew existed!  Here we have a photo of Karen Martin showing a class an ultrasound and what she does when she performs ultrasounds on babies. 

If you’re looking to keep your children busy in the holidays one of our mums from school passed on this easy recipe for Banana Oat Bars to try.

INGREDIENTS

2 mashed bananas 100g melted butter 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. cinnamon 3 Tbsp. honey 2 cups whole oats

 METHOD

Mix ingredients up in order listed. Press mixture into greased pan, (I use a 23cm x 23cm pan) and bake at 180°C for approximately 45 minutes.

 Enjoy a wonderful holiday break and we will see you in 2020!

Casual Clothes Day Donations

Last Friday for our casual clothes day we collected non-perishable food donations for Anglicare. We had an overwhelming response and the generosity of our school community is amazing at this time of year, and will  help many families in need.

Thank you to those who donated goods or money for this worthy cause.

Willunga Christmas Tree Festival 2019

During week 7 many children across the school made a decoration for Willunga Primary’s entry in the Willunga Christmas Tree Festival at the Uniting Church. The theme of this year’s festival was ‘Your Christmas Story’ and children made little books about their families' Christmas traditions, as well as colourful stars and baubles. We had a lot of creative fun making the decorations along with conversation about what Christmas means to us. We hope many families were able to go along to the festival and share in some of the magic of Christmas!

Our tree won first prize in the children's category! We won a $60 Officeworks voucher. Well done to everyone who helped decorate our tree.

Alyse Miller, SSO



Do you have our apps? Skoolbag, Seesaw and Qkr

Jungle Rock

Congratulations to the Willunga Primary Musical Theatre Team on their performance of 'Jungle Rock' last Thursday afternoon. They worked hard to prepare for the performance, giving up many recess and lunch times to rehearse, learn lines and paint props. They should be incredibly proud of their efforts and the outcome of a great performance. Well done!

OSHC News

The Vacation Care program is out now! Please make sure you book in as soon as possible to avoid missing out, especially on excursion days. Children attending Vacation Care, are to bring a sun safe hat, wear sun safe clothes (shoulders covered) and sensible shoes; bring recess and lunch plus a water bottle every day.

Another reminder that we have a Nutrition Policy to adhere by. Please make sure you provide healthy snacks and lunch for your child. Please no unhealthy snacks, junk food, chocolates and lollies. We are also a Nut Free Zone.

 

From everyone at Willunga OSHC, we wish you all a happy and safe holidays.

Vacation Care Program

2020 bookings

2020 Year 6/7 Senior Windcheaters

We are currently taking orders for Year 6/7 Senior Windcheaters for 2020.  If your child is going into these years levels in 2020, they will have ordering information with them and had the opportunity to try on sizes.  These sizes are a guide so you can alter the estimated size if you wish. 

Year 6 Jumpers are priced at $52.00 ea and Year 7 Jumpers at $63.00.  Year 7 students who purchased a jumper in 2019 have the opportunity to pay $12.00 for the Year 7 names to be printed on the back.

All orders must be made by Friday, 13th December 2019 to ensure delivery of the jumpers in Term 1, 2020.  As these are made-to-order, we are unable to take late orders after this date.

From the Library

All school resources need to be returned during the last week of school - library books, readers, text books, and anything else that has made its way home!  If you do happen to discover any school resources at home during the break, then please drop them back to the Front Office or the school library next year - no questions asked!

 A huge thank you to Shirley Whittlesea, a grandmother of one of our students who once again did our book covering this year. Her tally? Over 800 items!

 Congratulations to the 380 students who successfully completed the Premier's Reading Challenge this year and have received their award. If there are any queries regarding the awards, please speak to Ms James in the library.

 We also celebrate the achievement of the 23 students who made it into Millionaires' Club this year - Charli R, Zac W, Jaxon M, Maibelle R, Matthew L, Ruben N, Sam P, Max S, Christopher P, Eddie L, Cleo D, Amara C, Sahara B, Oscar A, Kaitlyn M, Makayla C, Lewis P, Dylan J, Clara M and Gabor T. Special mention to Alice P, Isobel R and Alex G for making Double Millionaires!

 Judy James

Teacher Librarian

Willunga Primary School

Playgroup

Each Wednesday morning Playgroup is held in the OSHC building.  We have a range of activities for babies right up until kindy age children. Many of the parents from our school community attend, as well as people from the wider community.  We’ve had lots of fun connecting with our own children doing activities together as well as watching them interact with other children.  Being able to network with other parents and share the trials and triumphs of parenting is always encouraging too.  I have really enjoyed running playgroup but am finishing up as Eve starts kindy.  Janet Steegh will be taking over next year.  Playgroup will start up again in Week 2 Term 1 2020.  

Playgroup Photos

Medications

Medications for students that we hold in the sick room will be returned to students on Friday. Please check their school bags.

Term 1 2020 Planner

Community Notices

WILLUNGA PRIMARY SCHOOL