Weetangera Primary School eNewsletter

From Mel

Dear Weetangera Families

What a wonderful school we have here together. As always, it’s been a fun few weeks, with the usual busy buzz and eager enthusiasm from all of our students and teachers. An absolute highlight this week was our kindergarten students showcasing their learning in their very first assembly. The assembly is such a fantastic way for students to practice public speaking, share what they have been doing, entertain the crowd, and (in this case) just be absolutely adorable! Well done kindergarten!

Playground – Stage 1 Complete!

You will have noticed a new addition to our playground. This is the first stage of our Playground Masterplan.

With procurement and availability delays it took a long time to get started but once it started it happened quickly! The Nature Play Zone opened this week, and the kids have been enjoying it in lots of different ways; from balancing and hopping along the logs, to sitting and chatting, to digging enthusiastically in the dirt.

While it doesn’t look exactly like the masterplan, it is nice to have something new there for our students. This will be the same for each stage, as the landscapers and construction companies that complete the work will work towards the best and most possible interpretation of the plan.

Thank you to the P&C for supporting this first stage of the plan. We appreciate your contribution. And thank you to all of you who have helped us raise funds along the way.

We are now looking to stage 2. We will be talking to staff, students, the P&C and our community to work out what will be our next best step. If you would like to have a say, please complete this survey.

Looking after our community

Through our work around values and PBL our students learn a lot about being responsible, respectful, resilient and inclusive. On of our key areas of focus is showing respect for our school buildings and grounds, and (as a part of being inclusive) caring for plants and animals. We have a dedicated team of students (the sustainability team) that work hard to maintain and promote sustainable practices, a hardworking team of ‘worm feeders’, as well as many students that work every day to clean up and improve our school environment.

This is why it is sad when we come to school after a weekend and there is rubbish all around the place, and sometimes also vandalism. On Tuesday this week we were very sad to see that some of our young trees had been snapped off, and even before the construction fences had come down around our new playground area, someone had gone in and pulled bark off the bark huts. Luckily the company was still here and fixed it up for us.

It really does help when the members of our community are at the school regularly and keeping an eye out. Just being here can be a deterrent for the people that are intent on causing damage. If you do see things that aren’t respectful to our school property, please don’t hesitate to ask them to move on (where appropriate) or contact the police as needed.

Fun times ahead!

We have lots of fun times coming up. Next week our year 6 students are running sports clinics for some of our younget students and the P&C is holding their first movie night. In week 9, we are holding our athletics carnival (weather permitting) and school reports will be sent out on Friday (28 June). You'll hear more about that soon.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mel

Melanie.Bezear@ed.act.edu.au

Parking Safely at Weetangera

A message from the ACT Government:

Parents and carers – please keep our kids safe by parking safely and legally around our school, especially at school drop offs and pick ups.

It’s illegal and not OK to double park or park across pedestrian crossings, corners or nature strips as this reduces pedestrian visibility and blocks the ability for kids to see the road clearly. The consequences can be fatal.

You can also expect to be fined for parking in no stopping zones, bus zones, or in front of driveways.

For drop offs in the morning, why not park a little further away from the school and walk with your kids the rest of the way?

For pick ups at the end of the school day, have a pre-determined meeting spot that’s nearby. This helps if you’re running late so your kids know where to wait and you don’t need to rush.

Walking part of the way to school is also a simple way to reduce congestion and increase safety around schools. Part way points help make the school drop off and collection run easier and faster for parents and reduces congestion at the school gate. For more options on getting your kids to and from school visit https://www.transport.act.gov.au/about-us/schools/active-travel-toolkit.

Access Canberra inspectors including License Plate Recognition vans are regulary on patrol, so let’s work together to keep our kids safe.

Parent Portal at Weetangera

Parent Portal is now available. It is a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.

Some reminders about Parent Portal:

If you already have a Parent Portal account, use this Parent Portal access link to start using the great features.
You can’t access Parent Portal directly through the ACT Digital Account website, you need to use the link above.
When you are logged into Parent Portal, we recommend saving the browser as a favourite or to the homepage on your mobile phone for quick access in the future.
The website can only be viewed using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. An app is not available at this time.
If you still need to register, you will need an access key and a Parent Portal registration link via email to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you haven’t received this, please contact the school’s front office team for assistance.

Head to our website for all the details:

https://www.weetangeraps.act.edu.au/For_Parents/parent_portal

School Photos

School photos were sent home last week. There are extra photos available for students that participated in the following activities: School Leaders, House Captains, Year 5 Band, Year 6 Band. For information on how to order these photos, please see the flyer below.

scan_camilla_brown_2024_05_31_10_11_55.pdf

What's Happening in the Creative Kookaburras and the Curious Cockatoos

It has certainly been a very busy term in both the Creative Kookaburras and the Curious Cockatoos. Our focus this term has been on the global concept ‘Community’. In preschool we have been examining this through the following questions:

“What is a community?”
“What is a connection and who do you have connections with?”
“What makes you a good member of a community?”
“What makes you a good friend?”

It has been an exciting journey for the children and for the educators as we have had parents come in to share information with us about their role in the community. We have visited with and been visited by members of the school community. Glen came to plant some trees in our preschool space, and we were able to watch him at work and ask questions about what he does for us. We visited Belinda and Martina in the canteen, and they shared with us how they help the school community by making delicious, healthy food for staff and students. We were even able to buy something from a very special preschool menu. We are hoping to visit with Stephen in the library before the term is finished!

To compliment our work on communities the children have also been interested in exploring the insect life at preschool. They have been learning about the parts of an insect and have done some directed drawings of bees and dragonflies.

They have spent time in the Bug Emporium engaging in dramatic play.

But the most exciting part for me, was drawing all our learning together by exploring how insects can work together as a ‘community’. Nicole shared her knowledge and love of bees with us. The children enjoyed learning about how the queen bees, drone bees and worker bees all work together in the colony. We even made our own preschool beehive.

We cannot wait for term 3 and the adventures we will continue to have,

Kate, Michelle, Nicole, Morgan, Jude, Grace

This term the Clever Crocodiles have been busy learning about Celestial Objects in Science, Fractions and Mapping in Maths and have also been busy planting tulip bulbs for our school’s involvement in Floriade!

Fractions

We have been learning about fractions and parts of a whole. While parts of a cake and a pizza were definitely our favourite fractions, we have been exploring fractions of collections with rubber ducks, kinetic sand, water and folded paper.

Positions and Pathways

In our mapping unit, we have been focusing on giving clear and effective directions for moving our friends around the classroom. We had to imagine that our friends were robots who couldn’t move unless they had been programmed to do so. This meant that we had to design a pathway for them and give directions using specific language that they could follow.

Floriade

This week we received over 300 bulbs for our school’s part in Floriade in the Community. We had a gigantic pile of mulch delivered to our school which we had to spread out into the garden. Once the pile was spread out properly, we planted the bulbs and now we wait… We can’t wait to see how the garden turns out once the tulips bloom!

Celestial Objects

As part of our science investigation into celestial objects and patterns we can see in the sky we have been exploring constellations and the stories that go with them. We have been reading about Orion, Leo and Scorpio as well as Indigenous Sky Stories and their connection with the stars. To extend our own learning and apply our knowledge we have started creating our own constellations and writing our own stories to go with them.

Teagan Lovett

What's Happening in the Froggies

4TB Froggies have had a busy term with lots of fun and engaging learning happening in the class.

We have just finished our ‘Community’ global concept unit. During the unit, we investigated what we can learn from the First Nations Australians and their connections to culture and country. We explored the diversity of First Nations Australians’ language groups, even learning to say some words. The students used Bloom’s Taxonomy grid to select an activity to show their learning from the unit. They were highly engaged in creating posters, dioramas and writing new dreaming stories.

In Visual Art, we have explored First Nations Australians artwork. We took a virtual online tour of the National Gallery of Victoria and got to see a range of artworks and identify the themes and connection to Country present in them. Next, we chose an artist and one of their artworks and used this to inspire our own creative artworks. Some of the artists that we focused on were Albert Namatjira, Badger Bates, Judy Watson, Nongirrna Marawila, Sonja and Elisa Carmicheal.

Year 4 had fun participating in sporting clinics taught by students from Lake Ginninderra College. Over three weeks, the students learnt skills and played mini-games in a range of sports including basketball, soccer, Gaelic football, cricket and oz tag.

Tricia Butters

What's Happening in the Shadows

5_6ED_Newsletter_week_7_Google_Docs.pdf

Emily Dziubinski

Library News

SORA e-books

Sora Sweet Reads free promotion has just reached us again for this year. Students will have access to a range of e-books and select audiobooks – available for free and simultaneous use until August 26. There is no limit to the number of times a title can be borrowed during the SORA Sweet Read promotion. Students can borrow up to 10 titles at one time and the loan period is for two weeks.

To borrow e-books and audio books, visit https://soraapp.com or download the free Sora app for android or IOS. To access click on Find My School and select ACT Education and Training Directorate, then sign in using your school credentials. Once logged in you can access 1000s of e-books and audiobooks on almost any device. Sora is also available through the digital backpack.

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 4 catalogues have been distributed and orders are due by 20 June 2024. Spare catalogues are available on the counter in the library and front office, or you can view at:

https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/book-club/

Happy Reading,

Stephen

Christian Education in Schools

Christian Education in Schools volunteers will provide a session at Weetangera PS on Monday 24 June, 1.45-2.45pm. This session will be provided only to students that have opted in via the permission note. Please visit the school front office to get a copy of the permission form.

Communication at Weetangera

PBL

Newsletter_Communication_PBL_single_focus.pdf

P&C Update

Movie Night

The team has done an amazing job organising the first Movie Night and Tickets are almost sold out!! You only have until Monday to secure your tickets through Fleischools before they are all gone!!

We’re also on the hunt for volunteers on the night so if you’re coming along with your little ones, please follow the link below if you’re able to help out on the night.

It’s going to be a great nigh for sure!

https://signup.zone/TWz5S9JsevkyrcQfi

Trivia Night

Keep an eye out as tickets will be going on sale very soon for this years trivia night. Last year we had close to 160 attendees and was a fantastic night. So start getting your team ready and coming up with some funky names. Last year we had 3 ‘Wee-tang-clans’ so maybe steer clear of this one…..

If you’re interested in helping to organise, donate a prize or help out on the night, please get in touch with Ben via weetangera.pc.secretary@gmail.com .

Next Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 25 June @ 6pm in the staff room. Be sure to clear the calendar and come along and share your ideas or just listen in to whats happening around the traps.

Key Dates

Movie Night – Friday 21 June

Trivia Night – Friday 9 August

Lap a thon – Thursday 26 September

Fete – Sunday 17 November

Stay Connected

Stay up to date with what is happening with the P&C and the canteen by following us at:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/WeetangeraPandC

Instagram: www.instagram.com/WeetangeraSchoolPandC

Canteen News

HELLO BUDDIES, 👋

As you are all aware I started this role as manager last year and it was an interesting transition for me.

I have never held a position like this and the role had many unexpected challenges that I didn't foresee when I accepted the position.

There was an expectation place of me to ensure our canteen could continue to stay open for service, behind the scenes the canteen wasn't doing so well.

If there's one thing I am surely known for is 'accepting challenges'.

Here we are 18months later, I personally feel really proud of where our canteen is at.

My accomplishments I'd like to celebrate with you are

-Our senior helpers, they're such responsible individuals and exceptional co-workers. I Value them all and having year 5s join our team has been incredible, they each carry themselves with such professionalism while at 'work'.

-My new group of reliable, fun, awesome canteen helpers. These mamas & papas are just exceptional, reliable and just a pleasure to have in our kitchen. It took about a year to find them but now we have these buddies, life's a breeze when events or emergencies roll around.

-The canteen rapport with our WPS little ones. I've been working hard on building trust within the younger community of WPS.

Upon starting last year, there was a fear for our juniors to approach us when issues would occur with their orders. This year I have found they can confidently chat, raise their concerns and even provide feedback.

When I visit our Preschoolers, I ensure I stop for a chat, share in their environment and try to provide them with a positive impression of their canteen lady Martina.

- Next Huge Achievement -

Our financial situation as a whole has improved greatly, we are thriving and will be sure to keep our canteen window open for a few more seasons I am sure.

Every lunch special raises money that we can save for our canteen. This time year we were struggling but I am so proud to say we're a thriving P&C canteen now :)

I also wanted to share with my families some feedback I've been provided this year from families, kiddos/my customers and our P&C.

Menu & Special event pricing, I have heard that it's excessive and unjust for what I am providing.

First off thank you for your feedback, I believe I can not better our service if I don't know how you all feel.

This term I lowered our special event prices and this week I reflected on our menu prices as well.

I too have two kiddos that order lunches and I do agree, I need to have them budget or else one Friday fun food day will turn out to be a $21 lunch. That's insane.

We are all feeling the cost of living cost and I don't want to be that individual that contributes to the high cost of living.

My values are not being reflected if our families are feeling this way towards our school service.

I have now given one of my canteen helpers the responsibility to oversee my pricing with the perspective of a parent and she feels confident to be the voice of our community when pricing is unreasonable.

I appreciate her greatly but also would love to have more voices supporting us in advocating for the WPS Families perspectives on our Canteen Service.

You may have noticed my Feedback Box located at the canteen.

Please pop a message in there if you have guidance for me.

Reflective Practice is a part of my professionalism, so I value your ideas, contributions, comments even complaints.

Everything I do is with intentions in providing our kiddos a better canteen experience at school.

Thank you everyone who supports our canteen either with volunteering, ordering lunches, providing feedback, contributing to our P&C, everyone including our WPS Staffing team & a huge thank you to my favourite little people our WPS students.

I see you, I value you and most of all I appreciate YOU.

Please drop in and have a chat with me, send any email, leave comments, provide me you perspective & opinions on how you'd like our canteen service to operate.

I am here for your kiddos and that's always going to be my main priority.

As I love to sign off with, thank you families and remember every lunch order continues to keep your school P&C canteen operating.

Martina aka Cantina

WPS Canteen Manager