Welcome Back
Welcome back to everyone in the Wangala Primary School community! I hope you all had a restful break and are ready for the busy term ahead.

A special welcome to our two new staff members, Andrea Ramsey and Chris Lipiarski, who both began with us on Monday. Andrea joins us as a much-experienced classroom teacher and will be leading our P/1A classroom. Chris comes to us as a equally experienced education support staff member and will be working across classrooms as well as in our Outside School Hours Care program.

Emergency Drills
Late last term, we practiced our emergency evacuation procedures. I’m pleased to share that all students and staff responded calmly, followed instructions carefully, and demonstrated an excellent understanding of what to do. While we hope never to use these procedures in a real situation, it’s reassuring to know that our community is well prepared.

In the event of a real emergency, we would communicate with parents and carers as soon as it is safe and reasonable to do so. Every day, you entrust us with your children’s care and education, and please be assured that their safety is our highest priority. While it’s natural to want to reach your child quickly in an emergency, we ask that you wait for instruction from the school so that our procedures can operate effectively and safely.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be practicing an offsite evacuation to Winter Reserve. This would be our evacuation point in the event of a severe incident requiring us to leave the school grounds.

Student Survey
Recently, I shared with staff the results from the Department of Education’s ‘Attitudes to School Survey’ (AtoSS). This annual survey gathers feedback from students in Years 4, 5 and 6 (and all levels of secondary school) about their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

We use this valuable data to guide school improvement and support student learning and wellbeing. Results are compared to “like schools”, those with similar demographics and characteristics, including enrolments, cultural diversity, and the ‘Student Family Occupation Education’ index. It is also compared to our network of schools, and statewide averages.

It’s very pleasing to note that the majority of Wangala’s results remain highly positive, with many areas rated significantly above like, network, and state data.

This is an absolute testament to you as parents and carers, but importantly, our staff who strive to provide the best for our students.  A few interesting lower factors were those of student perseverance, effort and confidence.

As parents and carers, and our partners in your child’s learning, I would encourage you to model a growth mindset with your children, showing that effort leads to improvement by sharing your own learning journeys, setting realistic but challenging goals, and celebrating progress along the way. Encourage children to see mistakes as part of learning, and support them to problem-solve and persist through challenges. Trying new activities and recognising their strengths can also build confidence and perseverance.

Finally, communicating positively about school makes a big difference. Share your child’s excitement about what they’re learning, and frame challenges as opportunities to grow.

Much like the AtoSS, we also use feedback from the Parent/Carer Survey to reflect on our practices and celebrate successes. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete it, your input helps us continue to make Wangala the best it can be.

Regards, 

Steven King

Principal