WPS Community eNewsletter

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KA- Tyson P, Tilly W, Olivia A.  KB- Brayden S, Amelia S, Tishara T.  KS- Faith B, Delta M, Kelsey D-L. 1B- David K, Lucas Q, Amber O`D.  1D- Brodie F, Ashley A, Kyah D-L.  1/2K- Keegan H-P, Kiah B.  2L- Ashley McP, Kortina J, Taleah H.  2P-  Amabelle D, Kaylee D, Tobias J.    3SL-  Maddy R Christina H, Tyson W, Jack  W, Elias M.   34S-  Tyenan R. 4C- Chloe T, Callum S, Penny C, Cadel C.  4N- Kiarrah D-L, D.J.T, Holly S, Liam  K, Taylah L.  5C- Emma D, Maddy B, Vance o`S.  5G-Kelisha N, Archie S, Craig S. 5M- Tommy F.  6F- Zoe K, Jaidan D-H, Katie M.   6S- Vaughn K, Dreyton A, Aditya B, Seth McN.   6W- Ryan S, Jack M, Riley N, Ella M.  K6O- Kyarah B, Eli M, Dominic B.  K6B- Dante E.

 KA-  Samuel F.  KS-  Conan K.  12K-  Peyton F. 

6S- Azure N, Zharlea P, Ella S, Kyden H, Jacob J.  6F- Myah A, Mackenzie H-B, Aleeyah J, Abbey H.

4N- Mykajane B.  6F- Gabriel S.

NAPLAN

As a school we have received our National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results for 2019. We received some extremely pleasing results overall, and I wish to acknowledge the children for their tremendous hard work and effort. These results are one ‘snapshot’ of where we are at, as a school and our students individually.

Our Year 3 results in Reading, Numeracy and Spelling were at or above the state average which is a terrific result. Our results in 2018 were pleasing, but this year our trend data improved again, and this is a wonderful achievement by our students and staff.

As a school we have allocated extra resources in all years to support your children and this has included extra support teachers and teachers’ aides (SLSO’s) to provide assistance to children and class teachers. Our results from K-2 have also flowed on through to Year 3 and above emphasising that clear and explicit teaching and a strong focus on literacy and numeracy leads to significant improvement in outcomes for students. We have had an Instructional Leader working throughout K-2 since 2017 (Mrs Bacon) and her work has involved working alongside teachers and students supporting teaching and learning and this has positively impacted on your children’s capacity to read and write in the early years. This has also included a lot of professional learning in literacy for staff across K-2 which has provided them with increased skills in teaching literacy and planning lessons.

Children have been taught strands of mathematics specifically in teacher release time by Miss Garland over the last two years and this is bearing fruit now. It has allowed Miss Garland to teach a specific strand of Numeracy in RFF time to ensure the children have the necessary mathematical knowledge, skills and strategies.

We do have areas to address and are currently focusing on writing strategies (sentence structure) across the school to further develop teachers’ skills in consistently interpreting and assessing your children’s work. This is a focus that needs to be embedded over several years and Mrs Whitehouse has been leading this process with the executive team.

We also noted some aspects of NAPLAN that as a staff we need to give more focus to and these will be  included in the strategic directions in the School Plan  for 2020/21. These results overall need to be celebrated as a school and community.

Obstacool

Obstacool Reminder - this is a P and C fundraiser and is on this Friday. All children are invited to be involved and must have returned their permission note and money to participate. Obsatcool has been here at school for a few years now and the children enjoy participating in and challenging themselves with this obstacle course. As this is a P and C fundraiser, students can obtain prizes through their sponsorship and I ask that you check the details on the notes handed out or check the school application for further information.

Despite a very wet morning we had a fantastic turn out for our annual Father's Day Breakfast. Thank you to all our families who attended and a big thank you to our wonderful staff for coming in early to get the barbie going! We also had some early bird Year 6 students in to help greet our families and serve up the mountains of eggs, sausages and bacon!

A huge thank you to our hardworking P&C members and other volunteers who put on a great stall for Father's Day, enabling our students to purchase a great variety of gifts for their loved ones. The Father's Day Raffle was also a big success, combined with the stall, raising a whopping $2067 in funds for the school.

Thank you to Jacqui, Jessika, Princess, Kirsty, Jarrod, Thelma, Rene, Shanyn and Danilyn. Giving up your time to support the P&C, the school and our students is greatly appreciated.​

The P&C also put on a bbq at our recent Art Show and raised an additional $329. Thank you to Kirsty, Leonard, Jacqui, Suzie, Nikki-lee and Brody for running this.

The P&C have voted to use some of these funds to purchase a 3D printer for the iCentre which will be a great educational investment for our students to promote creative/design thinking, problem solving and solutions to real world problems.

The Wyong Public School Key Choir recently performed at Central Coast Schools Showcase at Laycock St Theatre. Our choir joined a small selection of other local school choirs to perform Wildlife Warrior and Lullaby for Mali. We are exceptionally proud of Year 6 student Eva B who performed a stunning solo in Wildlife Warrior. The choir sounded superb and the students loved having the opportunity to perform in a professional venue. Well done, Key Choir! We are very proud of your achievements!

Last week 132 students from Stage 3 travelled to Canberra for an exciting 3 day adventure. The students were extremely busy and visited many venues throughout their time in Canberra. Parliament House, The War Memorial, The Australian Institute of Sport, Questacon and Telstra Tower just to name a few.

The knowledge the children had gained from lessons in class on Government was further enhanced through role plays, questioning time and tours through Parliament House and Old Parliament House.

All students were very well behaved and demonstrated respect especially in the War Memorial and Parliament House tours. Tour guides from these venues commented positively on our students and their excellent behaviour. Congratulations Wyong!

The students loved Questacon and The Australian Institute of Sport and enjoyed the thrill of being able to purchase something intriguing from the gift shop.

The bus trip was full of fun and loads of laughs. Card games, board games and movies kept the students entertained with treats along the way.  The journey home proved to be beneficial for some students to catch up on some much needed sleep.

I would like to thank the teachers Mr Mac, Ms Davies, Mrs Calverley, Mrs Arnot, Mrs Stevens and Mrs Kroemer that attended for all their help and support on the three day trip. Thanks also to Terry and Kim for coming along to support their children. Without the work of the teachers these trips cannot be possible so I sincerely thank everyone for making the trip very memorable for the students.

 Mrs Freers 

This term, we have launched the ‘Reader Leader Program’. Students from Stage 2 and Stage 3 volunteer their time and reading skills to assist students in Kindergarten each day with their familiar reading books.

Kindergarten students follow many literacy programs that involve reading, writing and spelling every day. However, the ‘Reader Leader Program’ has given an additional daily reading opportunity to our younger students, whilst giving our older students the opportunity to take on responsibilities and leadership roles within the school.

In Term 4 we are hoping to extend the ‘Reader Leader Program’ to include students in Year 1 to also receive Reader Leaders and build positive relationships between the Infants and Primary students.

If any Stage 2 or Stage 3 students are interested in signing up to be Reader Leaders for Term 4, please see Mrs Brechney. We would love to have more Reader Leaders and positive role models around our younger students to inspire good reading in a friendly small group setting.

Mrs Carissa Brechney

The School Swimming and Water Safety Program will run from Monday 25 November to Friday December 12 2019 and will be open for students in Years 2, 3 and 4 students who may wish to attend. This year the school is subsidizing the cost of participating and will cover the pool entry fee for all students attending. This initiative is in support of the importance the school places on all children being able to swim and therefore it will continue to subsidize the Swimming Scheme for the foreseeable future.

Permission notes will be sent home during Week 1 in term 4 as the program is being held in Weeks 7 and 8 next term. The session allocated to our school is the first session each day and will require students to depart school at 9 am for the duration of the program.

If you would like your child to attend please watch out for the notes at the beginning of Term 4. Teachers attending the program will be Mrs Pass and Ms Norman.

Georgina Bacon

Organising Teacher

One of our most exciting days of the year at WPS! Careers Day is always a big hit with the students, staff and our guests who have a fantastic morning talking to each other about the different jobs that exist, what they involve and what education and training is required. It is a fun event for all involved but the educational opportunities for our students is invaluable, exposing them to ideas for their future. There are plenty of nurses, firefighters and vets who decided at age 5 that is the career they wanted in life and we love giving our students this chance to be inspired. The feedback from our guests on the manners, respect and engagment shown by our students was a delight to hear and we congratulate them on representing our school so superbly. It is a big ask for so many members of our community to give up their mornings to attend and we thank them for their involvement and support of our school.