Friday 8th November, 2024

From the Principal

Yesterday we held our very first, ‘Talk-and-Walk-a-thon’; an event designed to boost connections between our students and support student wellbeing. With amazing weather, our students began at starting points around our school walking track, and picked up cards with prompt questions on them. They then strolled around the track with their buddies and shared their thoughts and answers. It was great to see our senior students stepping up to help out their junior buddies, and to see much laughter and enjoyment in the session. This will most definitely be a new annual on our calendar!

I thank our Wellbeing Officer, Holly Peterson for organising this amazing event. As my recent Compass post noted, we are sadly losing Holly from our team as she expands her counselling business next year. Holly will finish up with us at the end of November. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Holly for everything she has done for the Wangala Primary School community over the past two years. Holly is incredibly passionate about student wellbeing and will be sadly missed by everyone in our community.

The department recently provided schools with a revised ‘School Performance’ report which focuses on the areas of learning and wellbeing, utilising measures such as NAPLAN results, teacher judgement, student ‘Attitudes to School Survey’, and attendance data. Schools are allocated to one of four different performance categories; high, improving, medium and developing. While Wangala Primary School is not yet grouped in the learning component due to low numbers of students participating in the NAPLAN, I’m incredibly proud to announce that we have been grouped as ‘High’ in the Wellbeing domain. This is cause for absolute celebration, and something that reflects the hard graft our team of educators and supporters have put in place to ensure our students feel connected, engaged, emotionally aware and heard. Well done Wangala Primary School!

Regards,

Steven King

Principal

Dates to Remember

Monday, 11th November – Friday 17th November
Whole School Swimming program

Wednesday, 20th November
Prep 2025 – Transition Session 4

Friday, 22nd November
2.45pm Assembly in the Gym

Monday, 25th November
Professional Practice Day – Student Free Day

Wednesday, 27th November
Prep 2025 – Transition Session 5

Thursday, 28th November
MARC Program at WPS

Friday, 6th December
2.45pm Assembly in the Gym

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

Thursday, 12th December
MARC Program at WPS

Friday, 13th December
Colour Run and BBQ

Monday, 16th December
Year 6 Graduation

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

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

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.

Student Star Awards

Congratulations to all of our award receivers last fortnight!

Reminders

Swimming Program: A reminder that our Whole School Swimming Program begins this coming Monday, 11th November, and will run through to Friday, 17th November.
Students are encouraged to come to school with their bathers under their school uniform for easy and quick transitioning into the pool.
If your child is not participating in the swimming program, they are still required to attend school as usual and will be supervised during this time.
Please ensure your child comes prepared, and we look forward to a fun and safe week of swimming!

Professional Practice Day: We will be having a Professional Practice day on Monday 25th November, this will be a student free day. For expressions of interest for OSHC, please see bellow.

Wangala’s Got Talent Show – Call for Entries!
We are excited to announce our annual Wangala’s Got Talent show! This is a fantastic opportunity for students to showcase their unique talents, whether it’s playing an instrument, dancing, singing, performing skits, telling jokes, performing magic tricks, or anything else you’d like to share!
Details:
Date: Wednesday, 11th December
Performance Duration: 2 minutes (maximum)
Music/Backing Track: You are welcome to provide your own music or backing track.
If you’d like to participate, please collect an entry form from the office. Be sure to submit your completed form by the 7th of December. Don’t miss out on the chance to shine on stage!

Community Feedback: Geelong council are looking for community feedback for the new playground being built next year, at Winter Reserve (over the road from our school). Families have mentioned the need for a fence to run along the kindergarten carpark, this too could be incorporated in any responses. Please refer to the link below for more details.

https://yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/winter-reserve-playground

Outside of Hours Care (OSHC)

The past fortnight in OSHC we have enjoyed playing outside in the beautiful weather we’ve had recently and playing lots and lots of Bop It! Our Bop-It champion remains Hugo, with a staggering high score of 100.

Monday the 25th of November is Professional Practice Day for staff, however we are looking into running OSHC All-Day care on the day. Please submit your expression of interest in the OSHC All-Day program to Steph. As these days are dependant on numbers, we will let you know as soon as possible if the program will run on the day.

If you require this service but have not yet enrolled your child, please contact us on wangala.ps@education.vic.gov.au or pop into the office for an enrolment form.

Positive Behaviour Matrix Fortnightly Campaign

The positive behaviour for this fortnight was focused on, ‘We listen to and follow instructions’, but why is this important at school?

While many instructions are given to ensure students are safe, we also know that listening to and following to instructions helps us with our learning and development; learning the important steps to gain new skills and strategies. It helps to build responsibility; understanding that choices have consequences that need to be accountable. It promotes respect, building positive relationships and encouraging cooperation. It improves focus and attention, an important part of learning how to be successful at school. It builds and encourages independence, gradually understanding how to manage tasks on their own, building confidence and self-sufficiency. It teachers problem solving and critical thinking. It builds social skills; important in being a good listener and communicator when working with others. It also establishes structure and routine.

TALK-AND-WALK-A-THON

Yesterday, students took part in our first Walk-and-Talk-a-Thon, and what a fantastic event it was!

Students had the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with peers they might not usually cross paths with. The day was perfect, with blue skies and sunshine, and the icy poles at the end were a well-deserved treat!

A huge thank you to everyone involved for making this a memorable and enjoyable experience, especially our Wellbeing Officer, Holly Peterson, who did a brilliant job organizing the event!

STEAM

In our recent STEAM lessons, we’ve been exploring the design process, with a focus on shape stability and experimenting with different construction materials. Students have been researching and testing various approaches to understand how materials and shapes affect the strength and stability of their structures.

Year 5-6: Students have been experimenting with paper cup towers, investigating how the arrangement of cups and materials impact stability. Next, they will apply the design process to construct their own medieval towers and catapults, refining their designs through research, experimentation, and testing to create stable and functional models.
Year 2-3: These students are focusing on bridge construction, experimenting with different materials and designs to understand how to distribute weight and create stable structures. After researching various types of bridges, they will use the design process to plan and build their own bridges, optimising for strength and stability.
Prep-1: Inspired by The Three Little Pigs, students are researching and experimenting with building materials to create houses that can withstand different forces. After testing materials like plastic straws, sticks, hay, and LEGO bricks, they will apply the design process to plan and construct their own houses, evaluating which materials provide the best stability.

This hands-on approach has been a big hit with the students, who are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to experiment, create, and refine their designs through each stage of the process.

November in the Kitchen Garden

As we dive into November, the Kitchen Garden Program is buzzing with activity! With spring in full swing, our students are enjoying the vibrant colours and fresh aromas of blooming flowers and thriving vegetables. It’s the perfect time to witness the fruits of our labour as we transition into summer veggie crops.

We thought we’d get in early this year and put a call out for chicken and garden carers for the upcoming summer shutdown period. Volunteers will be required to visit the school once a day for a week to either let the chickens out in the morning or put them back in the evening. Additionally, we ask if carers could please water the garden to keep our plants healthy and thriving during the warmer months! To thank you for your time, our lovely lady hens will provide you with fresh eggs and you are welcome to take any ripe produce from the garden!

If you’re able to help out, please express your interest at reception. Your support is invaluable in keeping our garden flourishing and our chickens happy! Thank you for being a vital part of our school community!

Biodiversity at Wangala!

This term we have begun to explore Biodiversity and it’s reflection in our school space. In partnership with Resource Smart Schools, a Sustainability Victoria initiative, we are currently completing an audit of the Wangala P.S. grounds. The students took part in a mini lesson about Habitat Features, Layers of Vegetation (ground cover, understory and canopy) and how to complete an audit of indigenous and non-indigenous plants. Our grade 4-6S have been busy collating this data and taking photos of the different species of plants around the school that will be identified over the upcoming weeks.

This data married with a count of wildlife will enable us to receive a Habitat Quality Assessment Score, with this score we will construct a Biodiversity Improvement Annual Action Plant to articulate our biodiversity goals. Our goal is to continue to make improvements to our school, encouraging the growth of safe habitats, attracting more native wildlife and creating a beautiful space for our community to learn and play.

Year 2/3/4 Classroom News

It’s been a busy start to term 4 in year 2/3/4 room. Some highlights of our learning so far this term have been:

Literacy
The students have been enjoying reading and learning all about the wonderful word of Wasps though exploring the book Wonderful Wasps written by Katrina Germein and Illustrated by Suzanne Houghton.

Interesting Wasp Facts

Did you know that:
Wasps live absolutely everywhere – except Antarctica.
Not all wasps have a sting.
Wasps come in a variety of different colours

Students have also been investigating the way in which authors change the way that they write according to their audience. They have been enjoying the humorous way that author Philip Bunting has chosen to write about animals in his book The World’s most Atrocious Animals. The students enjoyed using the book end pages to sort the animals that appeared in the book into different categories.

Mathematics
In mathematics the students have been enjoying learning and extending their knowledge of two and three dimensional shapes through looking for shapes in the world around them and also creating posters and shapes.

The students have also learnt about Tangrams and enjoyed exploring all the different ways that you can use the shapes within a tangram to create pictures using all of the seven shapes.

Did you know that: The tangram is a puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The idea is to use the puzzle pieces to form specific shapes using all seven pieces.

It is believed that the puzzle originated from China during the Song Dynasty, and then brought to Europe in the early 19th century.

The shapes that make up a tangram are:

5 triangles , two built with the main diagonal of the same size, the two small ones of the central strip are also of the same size.
1 square
1 parallelogram or rhomboid

Parent Week Free Webinars – Allay Occupational Therapy

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