Friday 8th August, 2025

From the Principal

Prep – 100 days of school

Our prep students are celebrating their 100th day at school today with much fun had, coming to school, or should we say Wangala Aged Care, dressed as 100 year olds. It’s been great to share in their journey so far and to witness the growth they have all made since the beginning of the year. Only 2,500 more days until the end of their secondary education!

Phonics Check In

From week four, the department’s new Year One Phonics Check will be undertaken at our school. The assessment will be a one-on-one assessment conducted by a teacher with each year one student, or a student at an equivalent stage of learning, and will take around ten minutes.

This assessment involves a student reading aloud forty words which are a mix of real and non-words. Non-words are an important part of the assessment, as they are words that students have not seen before. Non-words require students to apply their phonics knowledge to decode, rather than replying on their sight memory or vocabulary.

School Council

Our School Council met this week and discussed a number of exciting things for our community. The most exciting discussion, which I’m thrilled to share with you all, is the return of our ‘Colour Run’ to be held at the end of Term Four this year. For those who joined us for last year’s colourful event, this is such a fun activity for everyone. Details will be shared at a later date.

Also discussed at our school council was our school uniform and some changes we are looking at regarding this. Keep an eye out for a Compass survey in the coming weeks which we hope everyone can complete to help us in our decision making.

Bullying No Way Week – 11th to 15th August 8, 2025

This Bullying No Way Week, we’re asking our community to be bold and say something, be kind and support someone and be proud to speak up against bullying.

At Wangala Primary School we aim to create a safe and supportive community for everyone. Parents and carers are an important part of our work to prevent bullying and to respond effectively if it happens. Stopping bullying involves everyone.

Families play an important role in helping children understand bullying and know how to respond to it. If your child tells you about things at school, or you observe something in public that involves conflict or bullying, take the opportunity to talk about what bullying is. You can learn more about what defines bullying at bullyingnoway.gov.au, you can also refer to our schools Bullying Prevention Policy.

Regards,

Steven King

Principal

Dates to Remember

Friday, 8th August
100 Days of Prep!

Wednesday, 13th August
Wangala Snack Bar

Friday, 15th August
Assembly, 2.45pm in the Gym

Monday, 18th August
MARC Van

Friday, 22nd, August
9.15am Book Week Parade,
Followed by Book Swap

Thursday, 21st August
Lightning Premiership Grade 4-6
Basketball and Volleyball – Sportshub

Friday, 29th August
Assembly, 2.45pm in the Gym

Monday, 1st September
MARC Van
BioCATS Excursion Year 5-6 Students

Monday, 8th September
Footy Sports Day

Friday, 12th September
Assembly, 2.45pm in the Gym

Monday, 15th September
MARC Van
STEAM Ocean Education Incursion
Year 4-6 Students

Wednesday, 17th September
The Wonder School’s Showcase
Whole School Performance at GAC

Friday, 19th September
Last Day of Term 3
Open Classrooms

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.

100 Days of Prep!

Exciting News: Wangala Snack Bar Launching Wednesdays!

We’re thrilled to announce that starting next week, the new Wangala Snack Bar will be open every Wednesday! Our talented students from the Kitchen Garden program will be cooking up delicious, fresh snacks available for purchase at just $1 each (cash only).

All proceeds go directly towards supporting the Kitchen Garden program, helping us grow more great food and learning opportunities for our students.

To make things easier, we will be introducing $5 snack cards that can be hole punched each week. Please keep an eye on Compass for further details and our weekly menu! In the meantime, don’t forget to bring your loose change.

This week’s special: Choc Chip Muffins, yum!

Thank you for supporting our young chefs and the Wangala community!

Bravehearts Incursion – Prep to Year 2

On Tuesday 29th July, our Prep to Year 2 students participated in the Bravehearts Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Show incursion here at Wangala Primary School.

The Bravehearts program is a fun, engaging and age-appropriate way to teach children about personal safety. Through songs, actions and interactive storytelling, Ditto the bear helped our students learn the key messages:

We all have the right to feel safe
Nothing is so yucky or so scary that you can’t tell someone about it
There are people you can talk to and trust

The session encouraged our students to think about their own personal safety network and gave them simple, practical strategies to help keep themselves safe in a range of situations. The presentation was upbeat, memorable and delivered in a way that was sensitive to the age and developmental level of our younger learners.

We thank Bravehearts for providing such an important program and giving our students the tools and confidence to speak up and stay safe.

OSHC Curriculum Day Program

Last week, on Monday the 28th of July, we ran our first OSHC Curriculum Day Program for the year. A big thank you must go to the wonderful families who made running the program possible, and to our amazing Wangala Educational Support Staff who stepped in throughout the day. It was such a great day, but don’t just take my word for it…

“If you’re going to work all day and you don’t have anywhere to put your kids, come down here to the next OSHC Curriculum Day! Your kids will be able to watch a movie, sometimes there will be trivia games, and all the toys will be out for your kids to choose what to do. Bonus! There is also food! And it is delicious and nutritious. See you next time!” – Sally 2/3K.

School Wide Positive Behaviour

This fortnight, our School Wide Positive Behaviour focus is ‘we use play equipment in the right way’.

Play equipment is there for everyone to enjoy, and when we use it correctly, we can make sure that recess and lunch times are fun, fair, and injury free!

At Wangala Primary School school, this means:

Taking turns and sharing so everyone gets a go.
Using equipment for its intended purpose (no climbing where we shouldn’t or swinging dangerously).
Looking out for each other and helping friends play safely.
Listening to teachers and following the playground rules.

By following these expectations, we keep our playground a safe, friendly, and welcoming space for all students.

Let’s work together to make sure our playground stays a place for fun, friendship, and fair play!

In the Classroom 4-6KD

It has been a fantastic start to Term 3 for 4-6KD. We creatively reflected on our holidays drawing an Open Minded Portrait and began our Inquiry unit ‘Where in the world?’ looking at how we are connected to other countries and exploring different types of maps. In Maths, we learnt how to partition numbers to correctly solve multiplication algorithms and have started exploring different types of angles. In English, we have begun reading our new Mentor Text called Kensuke’s Kingdom and practised writing persuasive paragraphs. On top of all this wonderful learning, we were amazing representatives of Wangala PS at District Athletics on Tuesday and participated in all events with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship.

District athletics day.

On Tuesday, the senior class (Grades 4/5/6) took part in the District Athletics at Landy Field. We could not be prouder of their incredible efforts and the way they represented the school, absolute superstars! It was a fantastic opportunity to compete against other schools at a high level and in a professional facility. Our students should be proud of what they achieved, competing with confidence and determination, even as a small school among much larger ones.

A big thank you to the families and supporters who came along to cheer them on, it meant a lot to the students and added to the positive spirit of the day!

Lightning Premiership!

It’s shaping up to be an action-packed term for our senior students, with the Lightning Premiership just around the corner. If you haven’t already, please save the date: Thursday, 21 August. Thank you to everyone who has completed their permission and payment! This is due by next Wednesday the 13th of August, at the latest please.

Once teams are confirmed and the match draw is released, all details will be shared via Compass. This full-day event will be held at the Geelong Sports Hub, offering a fantastic platform for our students to shine. As always parents and carers are welcome to come along and cheer them on!

Class 4–6KD visit Porrgil’s Patch

This week, Class 4–6KD rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into some important jobs at Porrgil’s Patch, our school garden.

The students attended to the chickens, planted a variety of seedlings, and turned the soil in unused garden beds to prepare them for the next round of planting. They also swept and tidied the area, leaving our garden looking fantastic!

It was wonderful to see the class’s enthusiasm and teamwork. Students remembered our previous discussions about planting and garden care, and were able to carry out the tasks with skill and confidence.

Thank you, 4–6KD, for your hard work and contribution to keeping Porrgil’s Patch thriving for our school community.

STEAM

Scratch: Our 2/3K class have continued exploring Scratch and are quickly becoming coding experts! This clever bunch can now add photos to use as characters and backgrounds, taking their projects to the next level. A big thank you to Elyas, who generously shared some of the games he has created. The class was fully engaged, inspired by his work, and had plenty of great questions to ask!

Floating and Sinking: The students have continued learning about buoyancy in STEAM this week and used their knowledge to design and build boats using a variety of materials.

They explored the key parts of a boat:

Hull – the main body of the boat that floats on water.
Mast – a tall stick or pole that supports the sail.
Sail – a piece of material that catches the wind and helps the boat move.

Each boat needed to float and carry a measured weight. Lots of fun was had as students tested and refined their designs!

Physical Education

This week in PE, the juniors have been having fun while practising their fundamental skills. Rotating through different stations, they continued to develop key skills such as throwing, shooting, striking, jumping, and rolling.

THE ARTS NEWS - by Ally

GEELONG WONDER SCHOOL’S SHOWCASE 2025

This event will take place in the last week of this term and was formerly known as the Geelong School’s Music and Movement Festival.

Wangala P.S will be performing in the afternoon in SESSION 5 on Wednesday 17th September. Tickets are on sale as of today, for families who wish to be in the audience, please refer to my Compass post for further details.

https://geelongartscentre.org.au/whats-on/all-events/wonder-schools-showcase

We need to stress that there is a limited number of audience numbers and once sessions are sold out, there is no way of extending the capacity. It is first in, best dressed.

DANCE ITEM THEMES

P/1 A & P/1 PIRATES (No weapons)

1/ 2 S, 2/ 3K & 4-6KD MAGIC (No wands)

So start thinking about what you could wear as your costume! There will be a video link soon, to use to practise at home. We are also practising in every Visual and Performing Art lesson.

BARWON WATER POSTER COMPETITION

National Water Week (October 20 – 26) is a special opportunity to reflect on the essential role water plays in our lives and the importance of protecting this vital resource for a sustainable future. This year’s theme, “Water Heroes: Save Every Drop,” encourages students to become champions of water conservation by taking action and inspiring others to protect our precious water sources. To celebrate, Victorian urban and regional water corporations are excited to once again host a poster competition for early learning and primary school students. This competition encourages creativity and engagement with water conservation through art, offering students a platform to express their ideas while vying for fantastic prizes for them- selves and their schools.

Once again, our school will be entering our artworks in this. Entries are due in the second last week of term.

BARWON WOMEN’S AND CHILDREN CENTRE- MURAL

Another exciting new thing that our Year 2/3 & 4 students will be doing is designing original artwork about “What makes you feel happy, when you are ill?” One winner from Wangala Primary School will have their design turned into a mural on the new Barwon Women’s and Children Centre.

There will be information sessions about what this new centre will offer, coming up. These sessions include children’s entertainment. Please see the attached flyer to register