Tuesday 2nd December, 2025

A message from Chase, Principal for the Day!

Principal for the Day

A huge thank you to Principal for the Day, Chase, for writing the principal report in the last newsletter. Chase spent quite a few of his tokens to be Principal for the Day and earnt these by displaying the values of the school and always displaying positive behaviours and putting in his best efforts.

It’s been wonderful to see our students spending their tokens on lots of experiences across the school. I have thoroughly enjoyed having lunch with a number of students over the past term as they’ve spent their tokens on this experience.

Welcomes and Farewells

To begin our farewells, I sadly announce that Kim Dugan will not be with the team at Wangala Primary School in 2026 as she explores new opportunities in administration at Belmont High School. Kim has been an integral part of our school community since Wangala’s inception and is often the first face or voice our families encounter. Belmont High School is incredibly fortunate to have her, and I wish her the absolute best in her new endeavours.

We will also be farewelling Andrea Ramsey, who joined our teaching team this term. Andrea will finish up at the end of the year to focus on her family. Although her time with us has been short, she has made a significant contribution to the lives of our youngest students, and we are grateful for her impact.

At the end of the school year, we will be saying goodbye (hopefully only for now!) to several of our exceptional Education Support Staff — Tahnaya Stevenson, Jai Rogers, and Tayla Reid. Schools simply cannot operate without the dedication and expertise of such extraordinary support staff, and we deeply appreciate all they have brought to Wangala Primary School.

Finally, we farewell Rachael Hibbert, who has been with us throughout 2025. Rachael and her family will be hitching up the caravan in 2026 and travelling around Australia for the year. Have an amazing adventure, Hibberts!

Finally, we welcome a new classroom teacher, Amanda Wright in 2026. Amanda comes to us from Newcomb Primary School bringing vast teaching experience. We also welcome back Bec Longley and Hannah Beaumont who will be coming back to us part-time in the new year.

Final Weeks

The final few weeks of school are jam-packed with events and happenings! Make sure you keep an eye on the calendar.

Transition

Next week our students will find out who their 2026 classroom teacher will be as we enjoy our ‘Step Up Day’ on Tuesday, 9th December.

Regards,

Steven King

Principal

Event Reminders

Market Day Special Lunch – Hot Dogs – $3ea Payment and Order Forms Due 9/12/25

Adventure Park years 3-6 – $47 Consent and Payment Due 4/12/25
Thursday 18^th December

Bounce Excursion prep-year 2 – $20 Consent and Payment Due 8/12/25
Thursday 18th December

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.

Thursday, 4th December
Prep 2026 Transition Session 4 (Parent and Carer Session)
Gymnastics Incursion Session 2
All Students

Friday, 5th December
1.00 – 1.45pm Community BBQ lunch
1.45 – 2.15pm Open Classrooms
2.15 – 3.15pm Colour Run!

Tuesday, 9th December
Whole School Step Up Day
Final Prep 2026 Transition

Friday, 12th December
Special Hotdog Lunch
2 – 3pm Wangala Market Day

Tuesday, 16th December
1.45 – 3.15pm Wangala’s Got Talent Showcase in the Gym

Wednesday, 17th December
2.15pm Final Assembly

Thursday, 18th December
Adventure Park Year 3-6
Bounce Excursion Prep-2
Last OSHC Sessions for 2025

Friday, 19th December
Last Day of Term 4
1.30pm Finish

OSHC

As we reach the pointy end of the year, it is extremely important that you are consistently checking your outstanding OSHC fees and making frequent payments towards any arrears.

Please be reminded that your outstanding payments should not exceed $200 per child. Arrears can be checked and fees paid via the Kidsoft app. If you do not have access to Kidsoft, please reach out as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing any financial hardships, or feeling unsure about your ability to commit to making frequent payments, please get in contact for a confidential conversation where we can explore all the avenues available. We understand the sensitive nature of these matters and please know you will only be met with support and assistance.

Unless stated otherwise in agreement with us, your OSHC fees must be paid in full by the end of the 2025 school year to ensure your continued use of the service in 2026. It is through these fees that we are able to run our sessions, and I am so deeply proud of our OSHC program here at Wangala – so thank you for continuing to support us and allowing our program to run!

2026 Back to school packs with WINC

Please see Compass for information relating to 2026 Back to School packs:

Free Delivery: for orders placed on or before 5th December 2025;

$12.95 delivery: for orders placed after 5th December 2025.

Ordering made simple.

Visit wincschools.com.au and follow these four steps.

Search for your school, Wangala Primary School, Belmont, VIC and enter your school access key 6JE3E if required.
Complete the student’s details and select Prep.
Review your requirements list and make changes if required. Please note: some list items have been denoted by your school as a prerequisite for the subject or year.
Proceed to checkout.

Please note: For home deliveries only, if you have more than one student at the same school, please repeat the above steps.

Once completed, an order confirmation will be sent to your email address.

Camp Wilkin Day Camp

On Friday the 21st of November, our Year 3–6 students attended an action packed day camp at Camp Wilkin in Anglesea. Students took part in a wide range of activities including low ropes, obstacle courses, archery, bike riding, and rock wall climbing, just to name a few. It was a fantastic day filled with teamwork, confidence-building, and plenty of smiles, and was enjoyed by all who attended.

A big thank you to Kelly Wise for supervising the day, along with our wonderful Education Support staff — Chris, Ella, Holly, and Tayla, for their support and enthusiasm.

Prep/One R Classroom

Our Prep/One students have continued to be immersed in rich mentor texts over the past few weeks.

We have explored Feathers for Phoebe, learning about characters, emotions and being happy with who we are. Students then enjoyed creating their own marvellous masks just like Phoebe and used sentence stems and fragments to support their early writing skills.

We have then moved on to The Potato People, where we have discussed the special things we like to do with our very own grandparents. Students then created their very own Potato People and wrote from their characters’ perspectives, using imagination and developing their sentence skills to bring their creations to life. It really has been a joyful and creative few weeks in our classroom!

STEAM

This week during STEAM, our senior students had the opportunity to take part in The Brainary – Arckit Mini Architects Workshop with Kevin. Students loved the hands-on experience, using Arckit tiles and modular pieces to design and build their own model buildings while following the steps real architects use. As always, our creative students impressed us with their imaginative designs and out-of-the-box thinking. A big thank you to Kim for organising this fantastic incursion for us!

Ambulance Visit

On Friday the 21st of November, our Prep–Year 2 students were lucky enough to explore and experience an exciting ambulance visit. They had the opportunity to lie on the stretcher, look inside the ambulance, learn about the equipment, and even listen to the sirens. Our students absolutely loved the hands-on experience and were fully engaged from start to finish.

A big thank you to Tash and Adrian, both parents at Wangala Primary School, for making this wonderful learning opportunity possible.

School Wide Positive Behaviour

This fortnight, our School Wide Positive Behaviour focus is ‘We Are Sun Smart’. With the warmer weather upon us and UV levels rising, it’s important that all students understand how to keep themselves safe in the sun.

A reminder that our Sun Smart Policy is available on our school website. As per the Department of Education requirements, broadbrimmed school hats must be worn from September through to April whenever students are outside.

We also strongly recommend that sunscreen is applied at home each morning, particularly on days with high UV levels.

Thank you for your support in promoting sun smart habits.

BioLAB

On Monday 17th November 4-6KD went to BioLABS in Belmont to explore the connection between STEM and health. We learnt about the different body systems and explored the skeletal system and structures by trying to correctly put together the bones of a human body. Next, we extracted the DNA of a strawberry and dressed as scientists in a laboratory. Our final activity involved using heart rate monitors and technology to record our heartbeat during times of rest and activity.

‘My favourite activity was the Beat That session. It got me relaxed and my heart racing too.’ Chavelle

‘My favourite activity was the reaction text because it was fun.’ Paxton

‘My favourite activity was Beat That because we had to do exercise and learn about heart rate.’ Tanny

‘My favourite activity was the DNA because I felt like a scientist.’ Darcy

‘My favourite activity was science because I got to learn how to extract strawberry DNA.’ Mark

‘My favourite activity was putting the bones in the correct place because it was fun and we got to work together.’ Leo

‘My favourite activity was the strawberry DNA because it was fun.’ Kaylea

Prep to Year 2 Gymnastics

Our Prep to Year 2 students had their first gymnastics session on Thursday, and we were blown away by their talent! The YMCA instructors were equally impressed, commenting on how well-mannered and polite the children were throughout the session.

Students gave it their best effort, especially those trying something completely new. Great core strength was needed to work through the various activity stations, and everyone rose to the challenge.

A few favourites of the first session included bouncing on the trampoline and landing in the “motorbike” pose, as well as parkouring over the vaults! We can’t wait to see what next week’s session brings. If this week is anything to go by, it’s sure to be just as fun and engaging. Lucky Kids that’s for sure!