Newsletter
Friday 5th June, 2026
A Message from our Principal!
To the Wangala Primary School Community,
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our students, staff, families, and wider school community for the support and well wishes I have received over the past week since being appointed as the substantive principal. Your kind words have been incredibly humbling and are greatly appreciated. Since joining the Wangala at the beginning of the year, I have felt welcomed, supported, and proud to be part of such a positive school community. I am excited to continue leading the school and building on its existing strengths. As we look towards the future, an important focus will be the development of our new four-year strategic plan later this year. This will provide an opportunity to help shape the next chapter of Wangala Primary School and ensure we continue delivering the best possible outcomes for all students. I look forward to leading this work and continuing our shared commitment to making Wangala Primary School a place where every student can thrive.
Principal’s Conference
Last Thursday and Friday, I attended the Victorian Government Schools Principals’ Conference, joining school leaders from across the state to explore current educational priorities, leadership practices, and future directions for Victorian schools. The conference involved keynote presentations, workshops, and discussions with colleagues, providing valuable insights into improving student learning outcomes, fostering inclusive learning environments, and leading effective school improvement. One of the highlights was the opportunity to connect with fellow principals and education leaders, sharing experiences and learning from successful initiatives being implemented in other schools. The conference also reinforced to me the strong work already taking place in our school, highlighting how closely our practices align with current evidence-informed approaches and the key priorities for Victorian government schools.
Student Voice Council
We are excited to announce the establishment of our Student Voice Council, an important initiative that will provide students with meaningful opportunities to contribute to decision-making and help shape the future of our school. It brings together student representatives from different year levels who meet regularly to share ideas, provide feedback, and work collaboratively with staff on matters that affect them, whilst representing the views of their peers. Developing authentic student voice is a key priority for our school. Research shows that when students are empowered to participate in decisions that affect them, they develop a stronger sense of belonging and engagement with their learning. Congratulations to our following Student Voice Council members:
1/2HB: Ayla Rhodes & Amity Webber
2/3K: Teddy Sluggett & Isabelle Tumini
3/4A: Sally Lawry & Harry Hengstberger
5/6DA: Harry Stevens & Georgia Parkinson
Kinder Visits
Over the past few weeks, students from 5/6DA have enjoyed several visits to Belmont Community Kinder. The focus of these visits has been on building connections and mentoring the kinder children through play-based activities. It provided an excellent opportunity for our students to develop their leadership and communication skills in a fun and supportive environment. They represented our school with pride, and it was a great demonstration of our community-minded values in action. We thank the staff and children at Belmont Community Kinder for their warm welcome and look forward to continuing this valuable partnership.
Finally, I wish everyone a safe and happy long weekend. Enjoy the extra day off before we head into the last three weeks of term.
Regards,
Joe Doyle
Principal
Wangala Beanies are coming to Noone!! They will be available for purchase in a couple of weeks!
Dates to Remember
Wangala Primary School acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we are on, the Wadawurrung people, and thank them for sharing their long lasting culture with us as we learn and grow together.
Monday, 8th June Kings Birthday Public Holiday
Friday, 12th June 2:30pm Assembly
Monday, 22nd June P/1S & 3/4A Excursion to the Botanical Gardens
Thursday, 24th June Seussical the Musical
Friday, 26th June Last Day of Term 2 Open Classrooms & Assembly from 1:30pm
Monday, 13th July First Day of Term 3
Thursday, 6th August District Athletics @ Landry Fields
Classroom Spotlight: 5/6AD
Grade 5/6 students have had a busy few weeks, taking part in Kinder visits, buddy sessions, PE soccer clinics run by Cam from Football Australia (funded through the Sporting Schools grant), and the Winter Lightning Premiership held last Friday.
Across these experiences, students have had valuable opportunities to demonstrate leadership by supporting younger students, representing the school in sport, and taking on classroom responsibilities. They continue to lead by example and proudly represent Wangala.
During Kinder visits, students enjoyed play-based activities with the children, helping to build positive connections. Staff provided positive feedback about student engagement, with a highlight being students listening attentively as Grace read a story for over 15 minutes.
Buddy sessions remain a weekly highlight, involving games, reading, writing and craft activities. On alternate weeks, senior students support fundamental motor skills sessions, assisting small groups and facilitating rotations.
Across all activities, students have consistently demonstrated maturity, enthusiasm and a strong commitment to their school community. Well done Grade 5/6 students!
Winter Lightning Premiership
The Winter Lightning Premiership is always a highlight for students and certainly did not disappoint this year.
We entered one netball team, which played at Kardinia Park and was coached on the day by the wonderful Katherine. It was a very successful day for the girls, finishing with two wins and two losses. Thank you to Grade 4 students Darcie, Eloise and Kayla for stepping up to the challenge and helping complete the netball team. The Grade 4 girls fitted in seamlessly and provided excellent support to the team.
The boys played soccer at Barwon South Reserve, also taking part in four games and finishing with two wins and two losses. Grade 4 students Seb P, Luke and Van also stepped in and contributed strongly, rising to the challenge and supporting the team brilliantly. It was an excellent effort from both teams considering the injuries and illnesses leading up to the event, with teams being changed right up until the day before. Those students who participated really gave it their all.
Thank you to the parents and carers who came along on the day to support the students, it’s always greatly appreciated. A special thank you also to Liz for assisting me with soccer; it is always one of my favourite days on the calendar.
We now turn our focus to athletics, with the Grade 3–6 Athletics Day approaching in Term 3.
PE with Andy
Grade 1/2 HB
Grade 1/2 HB have been enjoying PE sessions focused on developing their throwing, catching, and striking skills through the game of rounders. It has been impressive to see how quickly students have picked up the skills and applied them during gameplay.
Grade 2/3 K
In PE, Grade 2/3 K have been actively developing their fundamental movement skills through a range of engaging activities. Students have been focusing on jumping, throwing, bouncing, balancing, striking, and running, building their coordination, confidence, and overall physical skills.
Barwon Grange Excursion with the P/1's and 1/2's
On Monday, we went on our first excursion for the year to Barwon Grange. This excursion supported our Humanities learning, where we have been exploring History.
During the visit, students experienced what life was like in the 1800s by playing traditional games such as Hot Potato, Croquet, Quoits, Skittles and What’s the Time, Mr Wolf?
Students also enjoyed a guided tour of the historic house, where they learned about the differences between homes in the past and the homes we live in today. They had the opportunity to try some traditional household chores, including washing laundry using a washboard and bucket, dusting mats and sweeping.
“My favourite part was washing the clothes” – Nina
“My favourite part was looking around the garden” – Mursil
“My favourite part was whacking the rug to clean it” – Evelyn
“We all liked doing the washing and sweeping when we were pretending to be servants, and we also liked the tour of the old house” – Adaline
“I liked the house tour and playing old games like skipping and croquet” – Matari
STEAM
There has been lots to love in our STEAM program this term, our students were excited to explore the wonders of astronomy through the Astronomy Outreach Kit hired from the Melbourne Museum in Weeks 4 & 5. Students enjoyed a mindful “Music of the Cosmos” experience featuring stunning star and galaxy projections, launched rockets into the sky, programmed a Mars rover challenge, and explored the solar system in 3D using Merge Cubes. It was a hands-on adventure that sparked curiosity, creativity, and a love of space science across all year levels. We will be hiring two more of these kits later in the year, the focus of these will be Engineering and Coding.
There is plenty of exciting learning ahead in STEAM for the remainder of the term! Our P/1S students will continue investigating the fascinating features of plants and animals, while Grade 3/4 students discover the science of colour and light through hands-on experiments. Grade 5/6 students are diving deep into States of Matter. They have been asking some incredible questions about atoms and particles and will apply this knowledge in the kitchen to further investigate solids, liquids, and gases through practical experiments. Grade 1/2HB students will be learning all about tools while preparing the garden beds and planting for the cooler winter months ahead. Grade 2/3 students will venture into the kitchen to explore kitchen safety, hygiene, and create delicious seasonal meals. The classes are rotating every 5 weeks through the Kitchen Garden program as part of their STEAM curriculum this year, if you are keen to help out when your students are in the Kitchen or Garden please let your classroom teacher, office or myself know. We love to share this experience with our community and many hands make light work with our practical subjects.
Kitchen Garden
Last week in the Kitchen we had a competition to design our very own soup. The most creative recipe was……. PARKA! Please find her special, delicious and slightly too sweet creation in our photos. Well done, Parka!
Kitchen/Garden Schedule for the rest of 2026!
Kitchen
Term 2, Week 6 -10 2/3 K
Term 3, Week 1 -5 P/1S
Term 3, Week 6-10 5/6DA
Term 4, Week 1 -5 3/4A
Term 4, Week 6-10 5/6DA
Garden
Term 2, Week 6-10 1/2HB
Term 3, Week 1-5 5/6DA
Term 3, Week 6-10 3/4A
Term 4, Week 1 – 5 2/3K
Term 4, Week 6-10 P/1S
New staff member announcement....
Hello families of the Wangala community,
My name is Alanna Murray, and I am excited to introduce myself as the new Wellbeing Officer at Wangala.
With a background in Education Support, Youth Work, and Counselling, I have spent the past six years supporting young people in schools through a variety of wellbeing-focused roles. At Wangala, I will be providing individual support for students where necessary, promoting positive wellbeing programs, social skills groups and working closely with Rashelle to ensure every child has a safe and supportive space when they need it most.
A few fun facts about me: I’m a proud Richmond Tigers supporter, my favourite colour is purple, and I have two staffies named Pepper and Thunder!
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s wellbeing, please feel welcome to reach out.
I look forward to supporting the Wangala community throughout the year!
-Alanna
Activity from Reconciliation Week - P/1S
Prep Enrolments for 2027...
Do you know someone starting prep in 2027?
Tell them to come and have a look around our beautiful school!
Enquire with the office to hear about upcoming tours and the amazing programs we offer here at Wangala Primary school.
Do you have a sibling starting prep in 2027? let us know so we can plan accordingly!
OSHC
What a busy start to the year it’s been for our Outside School Hours Care program! As our wonderful school community continues to grow, our OSHC program grows with it, and we are currently seeing the highest number of session booking requests we have ever received. This does mean that we are reaching capacity faster than in previous years, so we ask that any casual bookings are made in advance when possible.
Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.
If you have a valid means-tested concession card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. Means-tested concession cards must be valid on the first day of Term 1, 2025 (Wednesday 28th January 2025) or Term 2, 2025 (Monday 20 April 2025).
Eligible families will receive a payment of $400 per year for primary school students, which is an increase from previous years. The funds will be paid directly to the school to be used towards camps, sports and excursion costs for the benefit of your child. If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year, unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.
If you would like to apply for the first time, forms are available from the office.
Please return completed application forms to the school office as soon as possible.
To check eligibility or for further information, please refer to Camps, Sports and Excursion Fund | vic.gov.au
Please note that Applications for the 2025 Prep CSEF Uniform Package are also now open, forms available from the office.
Applications for both CSEF and the CSEF Uniform Packages close on 3rd July 2025.
Auskick - Tuesdays after school!
A reminder that Auskick will be offered again this year after school on Tuesdays at Wangala Primary School. This program is run independently from the school and provides a great opportunity for students who may enjoy developing their AFL skills in a fun and supportive environment.
Information has been shared with families via flyers, Compass, and again in this newsletter. Please note that participation is optional (not compulsory), however there is a cost involved and only students who have paid will be able to attend.
The program focuses on fundamental motor skills and will commence this Tuesday, running for four weeks from 3:20pm to 4:20pm.
Further details are available in the brochure attached.
Reconciliation Action Plan
Our Positive Behaviour Matrix
