Weetangera Primary School eNewsletter

From Julie

Dear Families

I hope everyone made the most of an extra day on the weekend. The sunshine and activities provided an excellent opportunity to be out and about and the rain at the end of Monday a good refresh for gardens and lawns.

We started this week with the annual Weetangera Balloon Fest. An opportunity that only comes about because our ‘balloonist in training, Emma Cottam has great connections and is able to bring to our community the very colourful ‘Lance’. The pictures below illustrate parts of the process in inflating such a huge structure and I am pleased to announce none of the teachers disappeared into the clouds in the balloon’s basket and Emma’s class proved to be willing helpers and excellent listeners to enable the balloon to be deflated, rolled up and stashed away ready for its’ next adventure. Thank you Emma, a great morning.

This week is the first week of NAPLAN – The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

NAPLAN is a nationwide measure through which parents/carers, teachers, schools, education authorities, governments and the broader community can determine whether young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

NAPLAN results allow parents/carers and educators to see how students are progressing in literacy and numeracy over time – individually, as part of their school community, and against national standards.

The results are used to assist teachers by providing additional information to support their professional judgement about students’ levels of literacy and numeracy attainment and progress.

NAPLAN tests are just one aspect of the Weetangera PS assessment and reporting process, there are many tools and processes used to develop a deep understanding of each of our student’s learning progress.

NAPLAN is made up of tests in the 4 areas (or ‘domains’) of:

reading
writing
conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation)
numeracy.

My thought for the week embraces one of our school values, RESILIENCE.

Building in resilience is also includes the following key features:

Optimism
Self-belief
Control of self
Willingness to adapt
Willingness to be flexible
Ability to solve problems
Emotional awareness
Social support and
A sense of humour.

Have an excellent week, keep an eye out for balloons.

Regards

Julie

Julie.cooper@ed.act.edu.au

Supporting Student Safety

As school re-commences for term 1, we are reminding parents and carers to please drive and park safely and legally, at and around school grounds.

We all have an important role to play in supporting road safety. Access Canberra has notified us that mobile speed and parking vans will be in operation to support our students’ safety.

These enforcement teams play a critical role in supporting our students get to and from school safely and we thank them for their ongoing support.

In addition to sticking to the speed limit, please remember to park safely – including not parking across pedestrian crossings, in no stopping zones, on corners, verges and double parking.

Unsafe and illegal parking can reduce visibility of our students and motorists to see each other, creating a significant hazard when students cross the road. Let’s work together to keep our kids safe.

The WPS carpark has spaces marked specifically for cars displaying mobility parking permits. To ensure that all members of our community can access our school as they need to, please do not stop or park in these spaces. We thank you for your help in maintaining a respectful and inclusive space.

2025 Uniform Price List

Weetangera_2025_Price_list_new_uniforms.pdf

Workin' Gear Schools is the new uniform supplier for Weetangera Primary School. New uniforms with the new SPW logo can be ordered using the link above. Students are still able to wear uniforms with the old WPS logo. There are still limited sizes available for sale at the front office. Please contact the school after 22 January to organise a time to purchase these.

School Photos

Given below are the dates for upcoming School Photography Day for 2025

Friday 28 March 2025 (Term 1/Week 8) – Preschool Photo Day, End of the Week Preschool Group (Sibling photos will be taken between 8:45am and 9:00am Location - Preschool)

Tuesday 1April 2025 (Term 1/Week 9) – Main School Photo Day & Beginning of the Week Preschool Group (Sibling photos will be taken between 8:30am and 9:00am Location – New Hall Unit 7 & Preschool)

Please note Preschool beginning of the week date has been moved from 7 April 25 to 1 April 25

Students will not receive individual envelopes. Parents are encouraged to use the online school order code to order student photos and sibling photos.

Online Payments - We encourage parents to pay online before the School Photography Day. An online school order code is located on the flyer attached orders are mail via www.theschoolphotographer.com.au.
There are no individual student order codes.

Sibling Photos – In order for The School Photographer to provide the school with a list of sibling orders, the online ordering of sibling photos will be temporarily disabled one working day prior to photo day and re-open after all photo days are finalised. All students & families (if presented) will be photographed regardless of payment.
Sibling Photos are taken of siblings who attend the school only. Time and location for sibling photos are given above.
Cash Orders – via envelope. Please see Front Office
ALL STUDENT PHOTO ENQUIRIES – Parents to contact The School Photographer.

Email enquiries@theschoolphotographer.com.au or call: 02 9674 9824

Weetangera_School_Elite_Flyer.pdf

What's Happening in the Frilled Neck Lizards

The Frilled Neck Lizards of KJY have had a wonderful start to full time school! We have been getting to know one another and all the ins and outs of being in kindergarten. We’ve explored different playgrounds and can navigate the school with confidence.

In maths we are exploring numbers 0-10. We are creating a wall of maths posters that show our understanding of each number and even throwing around words like decapods (10 legged animals) and why we use the word pair for jeans, glasses, socks and gloves. It’s a great way for us to explore ten frames, tally marks, making sure we are writing the number the right way around and where we see the number in real life like on notes and coins.

We have started our Harmony Global Concept and are learning about our “Zones of Regulation”. In Kindergarten we can experience a thousand emotions in one day (which is OK! Totally normal!) but we are learning how to regulate our emotions so that we can stay in our “green zone” for learning. It’s a great opportunity for students to showcase their drawing skills and we explore big emotions and the impact they have on us and those around us. The drawings skills in the Frilled Neck Lizards are VERY impressive.

Our Harmony Global concept is also exploring different celebrations within our community. We enjoyed learning about Luna New Year, celebrated the end of summer and have spent this week learning about Canberra’s Enlighten Festival. We can’t wait for the hot air balloon to visit us on Tuesday and as the term continues we will explore Harmony Week, Ramadan, Easter and Sky Fire!

In literacy we have started our phonics program and are setting ourselves up to be successful readers and spellers. We are enjoying lots of lovely books that are related to celebrations and the letters we are learning about. As the term continues we can’t wait to start reading independently!

Jess Yeo

What's Happening in the Red Kangaroos

Welcome to Term 1, Year 1, in the Red Kangaroos classroom!

We have had a wonderful start to the year with lots of getting-to-know-you activities and classroom setup.

Each week in the Red Kangaroos, we complete the Writing Cycle. The parts of the writing cycle are draw/talk/write/edit/publish. On the first day of the writing cycle, we spend some time organising our ideas with the help of a seed (often in the form of a picture book), have a chat about our ideas and finally, draw our ideas in the form of a 5-star picture. We look at our grammar focus the following day and complete our writing. The second last stage is editing, where we have a chance to edit our spelling using corrected words in an alphabox and highlight our capital letters and full stops. The final stage is publishing, where we publish our first draft and display it on our writing wall in the classroom.

We would like to share some of our writing and a hot air-balloon inspired artwork we completed, inspired by the book ‘The world needs who you were meant to be’ written by Joanna Gains. First, we read the book and then discussed the following questions:

Who are you?
What do you enjoy doing at school?
What school value do you show?

We hope you enjoy reading about us and seeing some of our artwork!

Tarnii Boland

The Dolphins have had a wonderful start to 2025. We have been working hard, staying focused on our learning and following our PBL school values of Respect, Responsible, Inclusion and Resilience. We met our class goal of 400 Dojo points which meant that we earned a class reward! Great work Dolphins!

Congratulations to Liam on being voted in as our Term 1 SRC representative! Liam will advocate for student voice within the school, communicating with Glen and the leadership team about any concerns or ideas he or the Dolphins have.

In Maths, we have been learning all about angles and finding right angles around the classroom, such as the corner of the whiteboard, a Chromebook screen or a piece of paper. We have been comparing angles as smaller or larger than a right angle and having a go at using the language acute and obtuse. The next Maths topic we will be focusing on is time. If you have an opportunity to explore a clock at home with your child, see if you can identify hours and minutes, as time can be a tricky topic to understand.

In Literacy we have started working in reading groups across year 3. These reading groups involve a range of different activities such as practising a reading strategy (Connecting is our current focus), reading with a teacher, listening to a read aloud and working on our comprehension skills. In writing, we have been working on persuading others to agree with our point of view.

In P.E, we have been playing lots of fun games. This week we used cones to create a circle for our group to stand around. One person in the middle of the circle had to try their hardest to escape without being tagged by someone on the outside.

Gabe Kearins

What's Happening in the Otters

4TB ‘The Otters’ has had a fantastic start to Year 4! Our term has been filled with lots of fun learning. Our class is named after one of the animals in the book The Wild Robot. We created Pete Cromer-inspired artwork of our class animal, the otter. In the process, we explored the artist's style, use of colour, and shapes.

Our ‘Belonging’ unit focused on setting expectations, developing our mission statement, and understanding the zones of regulation. We connected our understanding of belonging with our writing program by crafting small-moment narratives. In these, students chose one moment in their life where they felt a strong sense of belonging and turned it into a narrative.

In Maths, we’ve been reviewing our place value skills and have enjoyed applying them in various Maths games, including ‘Bull, Cow, Miss’ and ‘The Nasty Game’. We’ve also begun exploring efficient addition strategies, using a combination of mental computation and written methods.

We’ve started our ‘harmony’ global concept, focusing on how Indigenous Australians lived in harmony with their environment prior to 1788 and how this changed after colonisation. We began by exploring archaeological sites around Australia to gain a deeper understanding of the long and continuous connection Indigenous Australians have to Country. We investigated Mungo Man, Devil’s Lair, Birrigai Rock Shelter and Warratyi Rock Shelter.

Tricia Butters

What's Happening in Category 5/6

In Category 5/6, we have been looking at Jackie French Natural disaster books and having a lot of fun with word types an identifying author techniques. We have been looking at:

Punctuation (. , ! ?)

Rhymes (same sound at the end of a word)

Pronouns (he/her/ours/we)

Adjectives (describing words)

Nouns (things we can touch, names of people, places, things)

Verbs (doing words)

Contractions (can not = can’t)

Personification (giving an inanimate object human feelings)

Onomatopoeia (words that are said how they sound, zip, crash, boom)

Metaphors (comparisons)

Similes (comparisons using ‘like’ or ‘as’)

Can you identify any of the following in the below passage?

“I remember when rain stopped,

When day by day the water dropped,

In our creek and in our tank.

Hills turned skulls as the grass shrank.”

Emma Cottam

Clean up Australia Day

On Wednesday the 5^th of March, Weetangera celebrated Clean Up Australia Day by cleaning up our school community. We collected and weighed all our rubbish, which weighed a total of 6.8Kgs! In our classes, we reflected on the types of rubbish we collected and the bins in which they should have been placed in.

A tip for families to help reduce waste, is to avoid buying single serving packaged foods. Rather, buy foods such as carrots, yoghurt and snack items in bulk and send them to school in re-usable containers.

Christian Education in Schools

Christian Education in Schools volunteers will provide a session on Weetangera PS on Monday 7 April. 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.

Book Club

Scholastic Book Club Issue 2 is available and all online orders are due by 28 March 2025.

ISSUE PREVIEW | Scholastic Australia

Volunteering

If you have an hour or so spare to assist in the library at Weetangera Primary School please contact the front office and our librarian, Stephen James, will get in contact with you.

Parent Portal at Weetangera

Parent Portal is a secure online platform to share information between parents and carers and their student’s teachers. It’s available via a web browser and a mobile app.

Parent Portal has been rolled out across all ACT public schools and allows parents to:

notify the school when their child is sick or to explain an absence
book parent-teacher interviews (coming soon to WPS)
receive academic reports
receive the school newsletter
make payments
access the school calendar and their child’s student timetable (coming soon to WPS)
update their contact details.

One of the many benefits of the Parent Portal is that it is used by all ACT public schools from preschool through to year 12, so there will be no need to use a different system as children change schools during their public-school journey.

If you have children attending other public schools, you don’t need to sign up to the system twice.

Parent Portal is linked to the Student Administration System (SAS) used by the ACT Education Directorate for administering student data at ACT public schools.

How to register for Parent Portal

Sign up for an ACT Digital Account if you do not already have one. This is an important step in securely verifying the identity of parents and carers. It will not be possible to set up an account without undertaking this step. Detailed instructions including identification documents required to verify your account are listed on the Education Directorate's website in the Frequently Asked Questions.
You will be sent an access key (code) and a Parent Portal registration link specific to Weetangera Primary School via email to enable you to link your ACT Digital Account to your child’s records.

Sentral for Parents app

The Sentral for Parents app is the mobile app version of Parent Portal. You can access Parent Portal through the Sentral for Parents app, or using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet.

You can download the Sentral for Parents app for free from the App Store or Google Play Store.

Communication at Weetangera

P&C Update

Get Ready to Blast Off at the OUTER SPACE Disco!

Calling all young astronauts, dancers, and partygoers! 🚀 It's time to prepare for an unforgettable evening under the stars at the OUTER SPACE Disco at Weetangera Primary School. Whether you're a Junior or Senior School student, we've got a galactic dance party just for you!

🪐 When:
Friday 4 April, 2025

Junior School (P-2): 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Senior School (3-6): 7:00pm – 8:30pm

💥 Where:
Weetangera School Hall – Entry via the rear doors (playground side)

🎉 What to Expect:

Groovy tunes and space-themed fun all night long.
A chance to show off your best dance moves in the ultimate space party atmosphere.

🚨 Ticket Info:

Early Bird Tickets: $10 (available from Monday 3 March – Sunday 30 March)
Late Tickets: $15 (available from Monday 31 March – Thursday 3 April)
Tickets are only available via Flexischools, so be sure to grab yours early!

🛸 Important Notes:

Junior School parents – please stay to supervise your little ones.
Senior School parents – you’re welcome to drop your kids off, but please make sure to return by 8:30pm for pick-up.
No ticket sales after Thursday 3 April, and wristbands will be handed out via your child’s classroom after Monday 31 March.

🌌 Get your tickets soon and join us for an out-of-this-world disco experience!
Don’t miss the chance to be part of the OUTER SPACE Disco – it’s going to be one small step for your child, one giant leap for party-kind!

BOOK NOW via the Flexischools App. See you there! 💫

Event FAQs

All entry to the disco is via the rear doors to the school hall (playground side)
Junior School parents are required to stay to supervise their children
Senior School parents are encouraged, but can choose to leave if they wish, as long as they return to collect their children by 8:30pm
Disco tickets can be purchased exclusively via Flexischools
Tickets go on sale Monday 3 March and close Thursday 3 April. No ticket sales can be processed after Thursday 3 April.
Wristbands for entry will be distributed via the classroom after Monday 31 March
Food and drink, including BBQ, available to purchase on the night
Please bring cash as no card facilities are available
Parent and Community Volunteers are warmly welcomed. Please sign up here to lend a hand on the night: https://form.jotform.com/250501554174854
Event enquiries can be made to Gab on 0435 624272 or gabaffleck@gmail.com

Weetangera Public School P&C – 2025 Office Bearers

We are pleased to announce the newly elected office bearers for the Weetangera Public School P&C for 2025. Congratulations to:

President: Gabby Affleck
Vice President: Belinda Ryan
Secretary: Jonathan Sheahan
Assistant Secretary: Ben Morrison
Treasurer: Paul Zagami
Assistant Treasurer: Georgia Quinn
Public Officer: Akshay Gupta

A heartfelt thank you to all our parent volunteers for dedicating their time and energy to supporting the WPSl community. Your contributions make a real difference, and we look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

If you’d like to get involved or learn more about what the P&C does, we’d love to hear from you. Keep an eye on the Weetangera School P&C Facebook Group or the Newsletter for info on upcoming meetings and events!