Weetangera Primary School Newsletter | Week 1, Term 2 2023
From Julie
Dear Families
An exhilarating beginning to Term 2 on Monday of this week concluding with an outstanding ANZAC assembly organised by Ms Louise Tominich and the school leaders; Joss, Carla, Blake and Elliot.
We managed to fit the whole school, K-6 components, into the hall and all of the students were very interested, respectful and for our younger students intrigued by the information, the last post and reveille and the minutes silence.
I was asked to speak to the students and I considered how I would connect the ANZAC commemoration from 108 years ago to their lives in the 21st Century.
I spoke to the students about the origin of the word ANZAC (ask them to see if they can remember) and also through the ideas of the ANZAC Spirit.
I asked them this question: What does the ANZAC spirit actually mean to kids at school, to our students and to me? So, I connected it like this:
I believe it is a short word for a number of qualities which all of us can use in our everyday lives, not just men and women serving in the Navy, Army and Air Force
The ANZAC spirit represents a sense of purpose and direction. The original ANZACs knew what they had to do, they knew that it would be dangerous and difficult but they followed the rules and obeyed their orders.
You can apply this to your everyday life. Think about this….
You know what learning work you have to do at school, you know what jobs your parents ask you to do about the house. No matter what difficulties you think are in the way, think of the ANZACs and push the difficulties to one side and accomplish your task.
Secondly, the ANZAC spirit represents responsibility. This is another quality we can all apply in our everyday lives. Take responsibility for everything that you do. It is easy to say 'I did that' or 'that's my work' when everything goes right. But.. we all know that sometimes things do not go right. Sometimes you do something which you know is not right, is not helpful, is against the wishes of your parents and the way we do things at school. Remember the ANZAC spirit and take responsibility for what you are doing.
The ANZAC spirit also includes a sense of compassion, being kind and considerate. You might have heard the word mateship, being kind, a good friend, caring for others, watching out for your buddies, helping them. It is not teasing or poking fun at other people, interfering with games, being mean or not including others. Being compassionate is about understanding, kindness and consideration.
I think these three very simple things are what we mean when we talk about the ANZAC spirit. You can use these things I have talked about – purpose and direction, being responsible and having a sense of compassion, not only while you are at school, but in whatever you do. If you do this, you will be keeping the ANZAC Spirit strong.
Remember:
Purpose and direction – Setting goals, taking the steps and working towards an outcome. Doing things even when they might be hard.
Responsibility – Doing what you say you’ll do, doing what you know you need to do. When things go wrong, or you make up stories to get someone into trouble be responsible and say: It was me! I’m sorry!
Compassion – being kind and considerate. A good mate, a great friend, watching out for others, not unkind, not interfering in games, not misinterpreting actions.
This is what it means to me, I wonder what ANZAC Spirit means to you?
The thought for the week shared with all staff was this:
All students can learn and succeed, but not in the same way and not on the same day.
W G Spady.
Regards
Julie
ACT School Futsal Titles
On the last day of term one, twenty-four students from Year 5/6 represented Weetangera at the 2023 ACT School Futsal Titles at the MPowerdome in Fadden. All students are congratulated on the way they represented our school, always being good sports and for their enthusiastic participation on the day!
The Boys Gold team acquitted themselves extremely well, winning three games and only losing one game which was to one of the teams that qualified for the grand final. Our team were unfortunate not to qualify for the quarter-finals and showed good individual skills and teamwork in all games. The team comprised of: Isaac S, Henry K, Ejay O, Siddhik P, Ahan M, Druvis M, Jack D and Paul R. Great effort team!
The Girls team had three wins and one draw in the qualifying round to advance to the quarter finals. They won this game to advance to the semi-final, in the semi-final they were trailing one-nil until Carla scored a last-minute equaliser to take the game to a penalty shoot-out. Well done to our goalie Amalie for her role in the penalties and to Evie D, Io and Ella for successfully taking penalties to help the team advance to the final in dramatic circumstances! In the final they played with determination but lost in a tough encounter 1-0 to Radford. Well done to the whole team on a fantastic performance! The team was: Amalie H, Carla B, Ella G, Evie M, Evie D, Basma D, Io T and Fatimatu B. Thank you to Antony Thompson for coaching the team on the day, your experience and positive manner with the team was greatly appreciated!
The Boys Blue Team won all their group games with excellent Futsal skills to qualify for the knock-out round. They then won their quarter-final and semi-final without conceding a goal to qualify for the final. In the final against Telopea Park, they played with flair and brilliance in attack to take a decisive 2-0 lead before their opponents scored to set-up a nail-biting finish! Well done to the team for standing firm and showing resilience to withstand a tense final few minutes to run out 2-1 winners. The players were: Marley B, Aaron G, Elliot R, Ian M, MJ J, Kai M, Vin B and Krish V. Thanks to our LSA, Nate for coaching the team. The boys were inspired by your coaching and your calm demeanour was an asset to the team!
Erwin McRae
Chief Minister's Reading Challenge
Staying Up to Date With What's Happening
We are so glad that things are getting back to normal and we can do lots of things like assemblies, excursions and community events. Here's how to make sure you know what's happening:
Weetangera Primary Calendar
We put all of our events and excursions into the school calendar. You can view it on the left hand side of the newsletter each week, or find it any time using this link.
Weetangera Primary Newsletter
The Weetangera Primary School newsletter includes information about student learning, school administration, school events, P&C and community information, including holiday activities and sports clubs. It is the school’s main source of information to the school community.
The newsletter is available through a link sent via email every second Friday (odd weeks). Older versions of the newsletter are available through the archive linked to our school website.
The good thing about our newsletter is that you can jump to the content that you want to read about, by clicking the item in the contents menu at the top. You can also read our newsletter in one of many different languages, available through the translate button at the top.
SeeSaw
We sometimes send information through Seesaw, but it's main purpose is to share the learning that is going on in the classroom. The best way to keep up with everything is through the newsletter.
For more information about communicating with our school, please see our Communication Guidelines.
P&C News
Mother’s Day, Second Hand Uniforms and More!
Mother’s Day
After four long years of COVID restrictions, we are so excited that the Mother’s Day stall is back! This year’s stall will be held during school hours on Friday 12 May.
The team has worked so hard to prepare a beautiful range of gifts, with prices ranging from $1 to $10, and our fabulous volunteers are excited to help your child choose that perfect something for the Mum, Stepmum, grandmother or other maternal figure in their life. The stall is cash only, and to help our Mother’s Day Stall fairies on the day, we would really appreciate if you could send small notes and coins.
Second Hand Uniforms
The cooler weather is upon us and now is the time to sort out winter weather uniforms. The Second Hand Uniforms store is bursting with long pants, jackets and tops to keep your little ones warm. To enquire about what we have in stock, or to place an order, email the team at weetangera.uniforms@gmail.com. Our uniform helpers will package up your order and let you know when it is ready for you to pay (cash only) and collect at the front office.
Prices for second hand uniform items in 2023 are:
- Yellow WPS logo tops $3
- Navy shorts and skirts $3
- Navy long pants $3
- School jumpers and jackets $5
- School dresses $5
- School bags $5
- School hats $2
The uniform shop also gratefully accepts donations of second hand uniforms in good condition. Donations of clean, stain free uniforms with working zips and no rips or tears can be dropped off to the school front office, and the uniforms team will gladly find them a new home. Please help our uniform team out by only giving items you would be happy to buy.
P&C Meeting
The next P&C meeting is on Tuesday 9 May at 6:30pm in the staff room. We’ll be starting to plan our trivia night for term 3, the lap-a-thon in term 4, and hearing the latest from Julie about plans for the school playground.
All parents, carers and members of the school community are invited to come along and share ideas, find out more about all the big and small ways you can get involved, or to just come and learn a bit more about what it is that a P&C does.
Let’s stay in touch!
To keep up with P&C activities please like and follow our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/WeetangeraPandC. We’d also love to hear from you with any suggestions for things you’d like the P&C to do more (or less!) of. Send an email any time to weetangera.pc.secretary@gmail.com and we’ll be sure to get back to you.