Friday 6th December, 2024

From the Principal

The final School Council meeting for 2024 was held last Wednesday. Our current council members are scheduled to meet on Wednesday, 12^th February before the election process commences for the 2025 members of the School Council. I thank the current School Council members for their hard work, cooperation and support throughout 2024.

At our School Council meeting we discussed the 2025 ‘Annual Implementation Plan’ (AIP) goals and actions as part of the fourth and final year of our ‘School Strategic Plan’ (SSP). Our AIP will focus on three goals from our SSP; review and strengthen the school’s instructional model; build teachers’ use of assessment to inform differentiation; and embed and strengthen the school’s wellbeing strategies. In previous newsletters I have shared our focus on English with the remodelling of our instructional models to build greater structure and explicit teaching. This will be of particular focus through the 2025 AIP. This focus will be supported through our Learning Specialist in the classroom, coaching our teachers and supporting the teaching and learning program, as well as through external supports from the department and educational consultants.

There are many end of year activities in our last weeks of term, most importantly our Grade Six Graduation Ceremony. The graduation ceremony is scheduled for Monday, 16^th December beginning at 2.15pm in the gymnasium. We invite our community along to celebrate our Grade Six students time at Wangala Primary School.

Over the past months all students have had the opportunity to create some amazing treats though the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Program in preparation for our ‘Thank You Morning Tea’ to celebrate and thank our wonderful volunteers, parents and carers, and other special people who have contributed to our community throughout 2024. The students at Wangala Primary School are incredibly fortunate to have such a committed group of adults who take the time to help and support them. Our morning tea is a very small way of saying a very big thank you for everything you do to make our school community the amazing place it is.

Teachers have been busy writing reports which are expected to be published to you on Compass on Thursday, 19^th December in the morning. A notification will be sent out through Compass to let you know they’re ready to be viewed. We encourage you to take the time to look through the report with your child and celebrate the growth they’ve achieved since our mid-year report.

Regards,

Steven King

Principal

Dates to Remember

Friday, 6th December
2.30pm Open Classrooms
3.00pm Assembly on the steps

Tuesday, 10th December
Year 6 Transition Day
Prep 2025 – Transition Session 6 – Whole School Step Up Day!

Wednesday, 11th December
2pm Wangala’s got Talent in the Gym

Friday, 13th December
2.30pm Colour Run and BBQ

Monday, 16th December
2.15pm Year 6 Graduation in the Gym

Tuesday, 17th December
P-2 Movies Excursion

Wednesday, 18th December
2.15pm Final Assembly in the Gym

Thursday, 19th December
Adventure Park Excursion
Years 3-6

Friday, 20th December
Last Day of School 2024, 1.30pm Finish

Thursday, 30th January
First Day of Term 1, 2025

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.

Reminders

School Uniform Purchases:
If you’d like to order new school uniforms before the end of the year, please ensure a completed uniform order form is handed in by Tuesday, 17th December, for collection by 1:30 pm on Friday, 20th December.

Alternatively, the office will be open for uniform purchases on the following dates:

Tuesday, 28th January: 11:30 am – 3:00 pm
Wednesday, 29th January: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Families can utilise the $400 School Savings Bonus to purchase uniforms (if you have not allocated the full amount to school activities).

Final Assembly:
Our final assembly will be held on Wednesday the 18th of December, 2.15pm in the Gym.

Lost Property:
Our lost property boxes are overflowing with unlabeled school uniform items, lunch boxes and drink bottles. If you are missing items, please come and collect them from reception before the 19th of December, any remaining items will be donated.

First Day of school 2025:
School begins back on Thursday, 30th January, with the Wednesday prior an ‘assessment day’. You will be notified if your child is chosen for an assessment timeslot on this day. Please note that preps will have Wednesdays off for the whole of February, resuming a full five-day week in the first week of March.

Upcoming Excursions:

Prep-Year 2 Movies Excursion, Tuesday 17th December, consent and payment via Compass by Friday 6th December, cost is $18.
Year 3-6 Adventure Park Excursion, Thursday 19th December, consent and payment via Compass by Monday 16th December, cost $45

The Arts

Geelong Council School Christmas Trees:
Our Wangala Christmas tree is now proudly standing in Johnstone Park with decorated trees from other schools. Be sure to check out our ‘folk art’ theme! Our students have done an excellent job with this year’s design.

‘WANGALA’S GOT TALENT’ Showcase- Wednesday 11th December 2:00pm.

We are all very excited to see this year’s talented entries. Students have prepared their own individual and group items for us and have practised them at home.

There will also be whole class items and a recorder club and choir performance. This year we will have a funny sound to indicate our 2-minute time limit is up…so that we will have enough time for everyone to perform.
AUDIENCE WELCOME!

Art Smocks – There are many students who have grown out of their art smocks and some who still do not have one. Please keep your eyes open for one for 2025, to protect our fabulous Wangala School Uniform during art lessons.

Outside of Hours Care (OSHC)

This week in OSHC some of the students wrote letters to Santa persuading him to send us an Elf on the Shelf. They also decided they wanted to ask him to send us a Christmas tree. Sally and Delilah took the letters home to post in their special ‘straight to Santa’ letterbox, and returned the next morning with a christmas tree, some decorations, and an Elf – straight from The North Pole! We enjoyed decorating the tree with our handmade Christmas ornaments and singing Christmas tunes. We are very lucky at Wangala to have families who go above and beyond for us like this. From posting Christmas letters, bringing us the items, to fixing our broken toys and stitching up Jango the OSHC dog – we are so grateful for our OSHC Community.

Please be advised that OSHC will not operate on the last day of term, and please ensure you have paid off any outstanding fees. We require all OSHC fees to be paid off in full by the end of the school year. If you do not pay your arrears, you will not have access to the service in 2025 until payment is received.

Thank you!

P/1 Classrooms

Our Prep and Grade One’s have been learning about Biological Sciences in Inquiry this term. They have been investigating the question ‘What Do We Need To Survive?’. This has seen our students learning new scientific vocabulary around animal life cycles, diets and habitats. Our students tracked the hatching and growth of our school chickens and learnt how to care for them. Students have independently researched their own animal of choice and created an informative poster about an animal and created a shoe box diorama depicting exactly what that animal would need to survive and thrive in the wild. Check out their creations!

Positive Behaviour Matrix Fortnightly Campaign

This fortnight’s positive behaviour campaign is, ‘We are Sun Smart’. As a school we are part of the SunSmart Program, which aims to prevent skin cancer. The SunSmart strategy is focused on three goals to reduce skin cancer incidence, morbidity and morality:

To improve UV protection behaviours
To support early detection of skin cancer with a focus on high-risk groups
To improve policies and environments to reduce UV exposure

At Wangala Primary School students learn that whenever the UV Index hits 3 or above, to cover up and protect your skin, creating a barrier between yourself and UV. Students understand that from the beginning of September until the end of April, they must all wear a broad-brimmed hat when outside. We also encourage students to slip, slop, seek and slide.

Kitchen Garden

This week marked the final Kitchen Garden program for 2024! Students from Years 2–6 participated in a general garden tidy-up, harvested fresh apricots, strawberries, and leafy greens for our shared kitchen meal, and enjoyed cuddles with one of Kim’s friendly chickens. Unlike our resident Wangala chickens, this one is used to being handled, thanks to living with a Labrador and two children, and she loves a cuddle!

Some of our Grade 6 students also hung beautiful recycled CD creations, adding a pop of color to our garden!

Our crops are thriving, with lots of flowering fruit growing rapidly each week. A huge thank you to the families who have volunteered to care for our chickens over the summer holidays. However, we still need assistance for one week: