Weetangera Primary School Newsletter | Week 3, Term 2 2023

From Julie

Dear Families

Welcome to the end of Week 3, Term 2.

I’ll start with the tricky bits: Staffing continues to be a daily game of jigsaw puzzles and a huge THANK YOU to Kate Harvey-Sutton who, on a daily basis reorganises the jigsaw to ensure that classes have teachers, teachers get to have lunch, students are able to access learning and sick members of staff can stay at home and keep their germs company. Kate manages to ensure all classes have a teacher and our students continue with the work of learning as she creatively applies her knowledge of classes, scheduling, which classes can be combined and how to address the shortfall when it occurs.

And all of this is occurring prior to the onslaught of Winter! It is during this time that there is a huge increase in absences and illnesses. As a school we need to be prepared for the occasional days or times of cohorting, split classes or many classes together while staff are sick. One of the best things to do to ensure everyone’s good health is to keep students away from school when they are ill, coughing, feverish etc and PLEASE come to school to collect your child if we ring to inform you that they are not feeling ‘well’.

While between us we have quite a few different academic degrees across the school none of us are doctors so we do request that you take your children to your own medical practitioner to check in on issues. In this way we can put in place measures to ensure learning at school continues and everyone remains (relatively) healthy.

We have had two of our staff members leave:

• Emily Small, year 5/6 has decided to take up other opportunities and is replaced by Erwin McRae and Kate North
• Nicole Mengel – Kindergarten, has a new position in the office and leaves at the end of this week. Nicole will be replaced by Lauren Domio and Michelle Robinson.

As in all professions the opportunities for leave, career progression and other opportunities for career variety arises and staff take up these positions. We wish both Emily and Nicole all the best in their new roles.

The year one students and staff conducted an excellent assembly today including much singing, beautiful written reflections on the impact of ANZAC Day written through the lens of the 5 senses, and the technology challenge of creating a home for pet rocks looked like the best fun.

At the assemblies both Mel Bezear and I hand out the Inspired Learner Awards. It is very heartening to see how all the students support their peers so very enthusiastically, when the awards are handed out. The joy on the faces of the recipients is also reflected in the faces of their peers as they zealously clap the efforts of their classmates. A true reflection of the spirit of our learners at Weetangera Primary School.

The playground master plan is in final draft form and as it was developed in consultation with students, staff and families ASAP the (almost) final draft will be shared too.  The next part of the process is the detailed planning, staging and cost analysis. By the end of the term we anticipate having a THERMOMETER to share indicating the money we have and the target we aim to reach. An especially BIG thank you to our school community, and especially the P&C whose fundraising efforts for the past year and a half has been focused on raising funds to support playground improvements.

Thought for the week, shared with staff; a little self-indulgent but thoughtful too:

Have an excellent week

Regards

Julie

Julie.cooper@ed.act.edu.au

We need your input! WPS 50th Birthday

Weetangera Primary School is turning 50!

To celebrate this milestone, and in conjunction with our Positive Behaviours for Learning journey, we would like input from the wider school community about what Weetangera means to them.

Please find time to answer the questions in the survey below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScxRBcnN_YOPKYtfabeBE8GTc-D6rDa60X1LVk0FmBrklkb1g/viewform

Our aim is to collate the information gathered and use it to revamp some of the, shall we say… outdated, aspects of the school.

You know what they say – a change is as good as a holiday – and at 50 we are feeling ready for a change.

We are also on the lookout for ex-students and previous members of the Weetangera Primary School community for some events and activities we are planning for later in the year. If you can help us with this, please email info@weetangeraps.act.edu.au. 

Weetangera Preschool Fundraising

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge

What's Happening in the Alpacas

This term in literacy the KNM Alpacas have been focusing on our letter/sound investigations. We have been using the book ‘Room on the Broom’ as our mentor text this week and have used it as inspiration for our design challenges. We used newspaper and masking tape to build bridges and tested their strength then made some of our own paddle pop stick puppets, created our own verbal stories and learnt about being a puppeteer. The students were then challenged to make their own broom using the materials provided and then presented their puppet show stories to the class.

In maths we have been focussing on consolidating our knowledge of the days of the week and events that happen in our lives on days i.e Library is on Friday; I go to after school care on Thursdays. We have talked about the importance of a calendar and have been counting down to the students upcoming birthdays.

As some of you might know I am leaving Weetangera today to take up a position in the ACT Education Directorate as a Home Education Liaison Officer. I have enjoyed teaching the Alpacas class over the past term, we have had a lot of fun learning together. I have always told my students that they are to be risk takers and always challenge themselves, so I am going to follow my own advice. 😊 I would like to thank my amazing kindergarten team for their support over the past term and hope to keep in contact with the class throughout the year, maybe some online singing could be on the cards!

Nicole Mengel

What's Happening in the Kookaburras

This week I’d like to share something special that the Kookaburras, and in fact all of Year 1, participates in every Friday afternoon. Something we like to call ‘Community Service’.

Each term we gather the students together and provide them with some job options. These include sorting, emptying and cleaning our classroom recycle station, weeding in the garden, picking up rubbish in the playground, sharpening pencils in the classroom, and tidying/organising different spaces in our unit.

We place an important responsibility on the students in Year 1 to feel they are making a difference in their learning space. When we go out to do our jobs, we feel useful! We feel like we are giving back to the school that gives so much to us! We believe this is an important philosophy to impart on children. That their actions can make a difference, and that giving back in some way can make you feel good. It can also make other people feel good. For example, everyone feels good when they come to school on Monday morning and all their coloured pencils are sharp!

We hope to continue to add jobs to our list of community services and spread the word about how happiness doesn’t result from what we get, but from what we give.

Izzy and the Kookaburras

What's Happening in the Butterflies

Term 2 for Butterflies has gotten off to a flying start. These little beauties are really starting to break out of their cocoons and spread their colourful wings.

Maths has been a flurry of 2D shapes, rainbows to friends of ten and transformations (just like the caterpillar transitioning into a butterfly).

We have been finishing off our literacy unit with retelling and comparing texts from the brilliant Julia Donaldson. We have also been taking the opportunity to share some of our writing with our classmates with some ‘public speaking’.

Travelling to the seven continents with our very own passport is keeping us occupied in Inquiry AND Technology where we are creating a diorama of the 7 continents and 5 oceans. So much planning, cutting and gluing oh, and singing. Can’t wait to see the final results.

French artist Henri Matisse and his method for ‘drawing with scissors’ has been keeping us busy in the arts. We have had a chance to investigate the use of line and colour in our (and Henri’s) work. We have considered and written reviews of our own and one another’s artworks.

PE has seen us practising vertical jumps on these foggy mornings, jumping up and jumping down and of course we had the cross country carnival with 5 Butterflies making it to the Zone level well done to Olive, Grace, Amina, Ava and Teddy! Looks like the morning runs are paying off.

Looking forward to seeing what the Butterflies are going to achieve by the end of our first semester.

Rhonda King

What's Happening in Year 3

Year 3 have been very busy this term.  We are studying the history of our local area.  We examined how Belconnen Mall has changed over time and sorted images of the mall to show a timeline of its past. 

In art, we are exploring how artists use line, colour and shape to communicate ideas and feelings.  We studied this artwork by Bronwyn Bancroft.

Some of our observations included that the curving lines reminded us of the sea or waves breaking, and that the cool colours made it a peaceful picture that would be good to look at if we needed to calm down.

As part of our literacy studies, we have been writing similes.  Here are some examples we wanted to share:

I jumped down from the pole like a frightened frog.  -Willa

My eyes are as blue as a sunny sky.  -Amber

I am as happy as a quokka. -Sachi

He was working as hard as he could, he was busy like a bee.  -Jack G

She was as sleepy as a pug after rock climbing.  -Eve

He is as sweet as honey.  -Sarah T

Joanne Lawson, Teagan Lovett, Jess Yeo and Megan Ferdinand

What's Happening in Year 4

Last week Year 4 went on an excursion to Lanyon Homestead. The excursion was a celebration of our learning from the term one inquiry unit based on Australian Colonisation. Throughout the unit we’ve learned about different perspectives of colonisation from an Indigenous Australian view, Government view and a Convict view. We investigated how each group had vastly different outcomes and experiences through colonisation.

There were two parts to the excursion:

The first part allowed students to explore the homestead buildings and artefacts from the 19^th century. Students also analysed various objects used by convicts and free settlers, including toys, stationery items, tools, sewing equipment and various kitchen items from that era. It was interesting listening to students discuss the features of these items and what they were made from, before attempting to work out what the object was, how it was used and who would have used it.

The second part of the excursion offered an opportunity for students to experience the life of a convict in a ‘role play’ situation whereby they were given a convict identity from the historical records at Lanyon Homestead. Students were given convict clothing to wear and treated like a convict, this meant they marched in a straight line to get to different places around the farm, had to be silent – no silliness!, and they tried their hand at the different labour-intensive jobs that convicts would have been responsible for. This meant working hard building wooden fences to enclose sheep, collecting water using over the shoulder bucket carriers, gardening with hoes/mattocks, shovels and rakes, and learning hand sewing techniques required for mending clothing and hessian sacks. 

The day was lots of fun and helped students have a greater appreciation of life today!

Alex Nicholls, Gabe Kearins and Louise Tominich

What's Happening in the Groundbreakers

The Groundbreakers have launched straight back into Term 2 with a focus on words and vocabulary! We are beginning the book ‘Storm Boy’ by Colin Thiele. We started with a list of some words from the book. Some were familiar, some were brand new to us!

• pelican
• Coorong
• humpy
• tussocky
• education
• isolation
• sanctuary
• sandhill

We started by defining each word, and saying what we thought it meant. For some words, like ‘sandhill’, this was easy! For others, like ‘tussocky’, this was a little harder. We wrote down what we thought they could mean to start with. Some of our definitions before we knew the real definition for tussocky were:

• a type of bird
• a way of throwing something
• a texture
• something to do with a sock

The actual definition of tussock is a small piece of grass which is much longer and thicker than the grass around it. If something is tussocky, it means covered in small pieces of thick grass!

Finding out all the words real meanings was quite funny, especially hearing what we thought some of the words could have meant! Once we knew the real definitions and had them all in our own words, we created connection maps. We drew dots next to each word and connected them with some sort of real life knowledge or experience. Have a look at some of our connections below!

Emma Cottam

Education Legislation Reform - Your Say

As our education system continues to grow and evolve the ACT Government is considering a range of legislation improvements to ensure our systems and supports remain contemporary, and reflect the needs of students, families and teaching staff now and into the future.

Reforms are being considered to:

• clarify school enrolment requirements
• modernise participation and attendance requirements to reflect the different methods of education delivery
• strengthen enrolment, attendance, and participation provisions to minimise the risk of children and young people disappearing from the education system, and
• outline requirements for distance education.

To have your say, head to the Your Say conversations website to read the discussion papers, take the survey, leave a comment or make a submission: http://www.yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/education-legislation-reform

Feedback will close at 11:59pm on 6 June 2023.

P&C News

Mother’s Day, Disco and Canteen Update

Mother’s Day

We hope all the mothers and maternal figures in our school community have a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. The children were all so excited to carefully choose gifts at our stall this morning, and are sure that you will all love them. 

A special thank you to Angelina, who spent many hours in the lead up buying and wrapping gifts, and her wonderful team of helpers in the lead up and on the day. Watch out for an update on the money raised.

Disco Update

We’ve counted the money from ticket and food sales at our disco last term and are thrilled to share with everyone that the event raised almost $2,300! This money will go towards keeping our canteen running. Thank you to everyone for showing such support for the disco, it will be back for sure in 2024.

Canteen News

Our canteen manager Martina will be back on deck next week. Thanks so much to Belinda for keeping things running in Martina’s absence, and thank you to the crew of volunteers who’ve joined Belinda over the past few weeks – Joanne, Angela, Zoe, Katrina and Lidia, the canteen could not have run without you.

We’re always happy to have an extra set of hands in the canteen to help out with packing the lunch orders and doing counter sales. If you’d like to help in the canteen once a week, month or term, Martina would love to hear from you at wpscanteen@hotmail.com  

Save the Date – Trivia Night

Why let the kids have all the fun? The P&C will be hosting a trivia night in term 3. Mark the evening of Friday 11 August in your diary now and stay tuned for more details.

Stay in Touch

Don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook to stay in touch with what’s happening. Our messenger is always open, too, and we’d love to hear from you:  www.facebook.com/weetangerapandc

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