Dear Families,
What an outstanding Christmas Concert we had last week!
It was a perfect, warm and sunny evening to celebrate the ‘End of Year’ as a community! What a fabulous way to showcase the singing, dancing and performing skills of the classes from each unit. I was extremely impressed with the effort and commitment of all students to do their best. A big thanks to Ms Sammy, who stepped in to organise and lead the whole-school event, and staff for their continued commitment to practising and ensuring all children were well prepared for their roles. A huge thank you to families for your support with costumes and coming along to help us celebrate. From our youngest students singing ‘Santa Claus is Coming' to our Year 3 Octopus Unit medley of the 2019 Connected Curriculum, it truly was an amazing evening.
As we end 2019 and my first complete full year as Principal at West Lakes Shore School, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge how much the community contributions and improvement ideas are impacting on our decisions now, and our goals and targets as a school in 2020 onwards. A summary of the Year in Review and our successes as a school is included below and I wish to congratulate everyone for their input to our improvements. Together, we can support every child; it is through a strong partnership with you as families that we can make the biggest difference.
Governing Council AGM 2020
Our Annual General Meeting will take place in Term 1 2020. The school has a number of continuing members but will also be seeking nominations for new members. If you are interested in finding out more about the role of a Governing Council member please email michelle.fearne570@schools.sa.edu.au or come along and collect a volunteer pack. Other roles you may want to support in 2020 include classroom helpers, trips and excursions, sports programs and canteen. We truly value the work that volunteers do and the difference you make. All 2020 volunteers will need to ensure they have completed the appropriate forms to be compliant with the new Volunteer Policy and Processes ratified by Governing Council this year. Online access to complete these forms is available through the following link - VOLUNTEER ONLINE FORMS
Class Structure and Class Placements
In 2020 we will have 24 classes. This includes a R/1, 2/3 and SD6 5,6,7 class and 20 straight classes across R-7. Children have visited their new class and teachers on Wednesday morning and and reports and class placement letters were also sent home yesterday. Please share with your child their successes and celebrate their achievement and effort. A big message to support is that mistakes help us to grow as this supports students to persist and strive to improve themselves.
Staffing Goodbyes
West Lakes Shore School has a range of outstanding staff with a vast range of skills and qualities. At the end of 2019 we say goodbye to some contract and long-serving permanent staff. We say goodbye to Aileen Clancy who takes up an Assistant Principal leadership position at Henley Beach Primary School. Aileen is a highly organised, rigorous teacher who provides challenge for every child to develop as individuals. Lucas Brennan will return to his permanent full-time Japanese position at his own school and we thank him for seamlessly supporting and teaching the students who have attended his lessons on Fridays. Immersion students will thanks him at the Friday assembly. Ms Wilson, our site ACEO, took up a position earlier in the year at the SA Museum, and the ATSI students will say their farewells to her at assembly on Friday am. Please join us at 9.10 if you wish to say your goodbyes. We wish all staff leaving our school the best for their future careers and thank them for the hard work and commitment to making a difference for each and every child. Ms Christina will commence her maternity leave and we wish her and her husband all the best and good luck for the imminent arrival of baby Savas.
Staffing News
We congratulate Ms Wendy Banks and family on the safe arrival of baby Eli. Baby Eli was born 6th December and was a healthy 3.99kg. He is a beautiful baby brother for Evelyn and Lavinia.
Staffing 2020
We congratulate a number of staff who have won one year leadership positions and will work as part of the leadership team for 2020. Fay Anderson will continue as Assistant Principal leading Student progress and Student needs. Rozika Pratap will continue in her position as Wellbeing Leader for two days and a Year 4 classroom teacher for 2 days a week. We are currently working to ensure the Year 2/3 vacancy has a highly-skilled and experienced teacher for 2020. Helen Grant will commence her 5 year Deputy Principal role and is currently busy moving offices and classrooms; Helen will be based in the front Deputy Principal office and will support teachers in classes in the Numeracy Coach role. We congratulate all of the staff winning Leadership roles and look forward to the consistency the team will continue to provide to support ongoing improvement across the school in 2020.
Year 7 Graduation
The time at Primary School is coming to an end for our Year 7 students. This time can be a mixture of happiness, anxiety, joy and fear as students reflect, look forward and consider their next pathway of learning. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Year 7s good luck. The graduation ceremony to recognise each of our students takes place tonight on Thursday, 12th December from 6.30pm at the Christian Family Centre, Fredrick Road, Seaton.
Students and Families leaving the West Lakes Shore School Community
To all of our Year 6 student leavers heading off to High School and other children leaving our school - Zoe Menzel, Stanley Caporn, Liliana Walsh, Patrick Hennessy, Ava Pelazarri, Lucas Hicks, Mollie Noone, Naomi Gagnon, Anabel Haravitsidis, Emily Davison, Caleb Guinane, Sahara Organ, Jenny Lee, Brodie Grant, Harper Plummer , Blake Keller, Indigo Hamblin, Lucas Woods, Celine Soliman and Alex and Lila Lewitt. We wish you the very best at your new school in 2020 and beyond. To the families, thank you for being a part of our school community and we hope your children continue to grow at their new school.
Adventure Seekers
In Term 1 our whole-school Connected Curriculum will be titled ‘Adventure Seekers' and will focus on supporting children to develop skills in being adaptable and resilient to change. Change is a constant and we need to ensure students have the strong foundational skill of adaptability so they can be successful. Our termly values focus will look at building resilience and supporting students to see change in a positive way. As an inclusive school we work with children with a wide range of needs and endeavour to support every child’s social, emotional and academic needs. Please do not hesitate to pop in and let your child's class teacher know any information that can help us support them with a great start in 2020.
Have a great holiday and enjoy the festivities.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all in the community who will celebrate this.
We look forward to working together in partnership with you all in 2020!
Kind regards,
Carol Press
Principal
