2023 - September 6 Newsletter

From the Principal

This past week we have shone our light on the unsung heroes of our classrooms our incredible teacher assistants who work tirelessly to make our educational journey extraordinary. During teacher assistant appreciation week we acknowledged and appreciated the incredible impact teacher assistants have on the lives of our students, our teachers, and our families.

Every day, they lend a helping hand, a listening ear, and a warm smile. They turn ordinary moments into extraordinary learning experiences. From guiding learners through tricky math problems to encouraging students to believe in themselves, our teacher assistants presence is a beacon of support and encouragement.

Teacher assistants, don't just assist our teachers; they inspire us to reach higher, to dream bigger, and to overcome challenges. Their dedication creates an atmosphere of teamwork and unity that extends beyond the classroom walls, reaching our families and our entire school community.

We are grateful for our teacher assistants commitment to our school our student’s growth, their passion for education, and genuine care for our students.

Our teacher assistants make every day a bit brighter, they turn challenges into victories, and you remind us that we are never alone on this journey of learning. Thank you for being kind, patient, supportive and champions for some of our most vulnerable students. Your impact is immeasurable, and your presence is a gift we cherish. Thank you!

NAPLAN

The reporting of NAPLAN results coincided with Book Week.  At Waverley 65% of our Year 5 students had medium to high growth in reading and 88% of our Year 5 students had medium to high growth in numeracy above similar schools. Well done to our hard working students. 

Book Week

The theme for Book Week 2023, August 19th-25th, was "Read, Grow, Inspire” a theme to encourage engagement in reading.  Book Week was a great success.  Thank you to Mrs Zoe Marshall for her excellent organisation and planning to deliver a range of exciting activites.  Students engaged in reading activities across the week culminating in our grand Book Week parade where we were delighted to see amazing costumes reflecting students favourite characters.  Thank you to our families who embraced the week, taking considerable time required to mark the occasion with love and pride. Reading is for enjoyment and it is an opportunity for us to grow and improve!

It was very exciting to receive an email from the Office of Janie Finlay MP who spoke about Waverley Primary's book week events in Parliament this week.  The link to the video of Janie speaking positively about our school is below.  We are very proud of our students shining in their audience behaviour while Janie read There is no such book, by Jessica Dettmann. 

Yours sincerley

Katie Wightman

Principal

Our Teacher Assistants

Absent: Miss Keeley Williams

School Satisfaction Survey 2023 - Invitation

The 2023 School Satisfaction Survey

Every year the Department for Education, Children and Young People conducts a School Satisfaction Survey to find out what your child(ren)'s school does well and where it may improve.

We would be grateful if you completed our online survey about Waverley Primary School.  Your feedback is very important to help us inform our school-planning and decision-making.

The survey is open from Monday 28 August 2023 until Friday 22 September 2023 and should take about 5 minitues to complete.

Take the online survey by clicking this link or pasting it in your brower:

https://ncv.microsoft.com/paXStt3O5E

The survey is carried out on a secure website and all responses are anonymous and confidential.  All families in this school received the same survey link and no identifying information is collected.  A summary of the survey results will be provided to schools.  Responses fro individuals or small groups will NOT be disclosed to any Department for Education, Children and Young People staff.

Please contact your school if you require any assistance.

Thank you for taking the time to fill in this survey.

Lockdown Practice

Our school will be conducting its lockdown drill in the coming weeks. 

This is required by law and it is for safety – so our staff and students have an opportunity to practice what they need to do in the unlikely event of a dangerous person or animal threatening our people.  The practice will follow a similar format to a fire drill. We practice the lockdown as we do other security and emergency management procedures. Students will be guided by staff through the practice.  Afterward there will be time for a debrief and sharing our learning.  We will monitor wellbeing during the short practice.  If you have any concerns or questions about the practice please see your child’s teacher.

Important reminders for a lockdown:

Staff will:

1. Close and lock all doors (external and internal) and windows, drop blinds (if installed), lights off
2. Bring inside anyone known
3. Move people out of sight e.g. under windows, into adjacent rooms
4. Ask students to be silent, turn all mobile phones/devices to ‘silent’ and instruct others not to use them
5. Conduct a headcount and report it using our silent teams chat.

Students will:

1. Remain inside or go inside
2. Follow their teachers instruction to move out of sight e.g. under windows, into adjacent rooms.
3. Be quiet

What we will do? 

We will provide an update message after the drill has been conducted 

 What do we want you to do? 

As always if you’d like to discuss concerns, please contact our school office.

The Faraday Cup

The Faraday Cup

On Friday 8^th September our 5-6 football team is scheduled to play against Ravenswood Heights Primary School. It is the Faraday Cup round.  Our netball team have a bye.  All 5-6 students will attend the match either to play or cheer on our team. We look forward to the exciting game and demonstrating skill on the field with everyone being safe and respectful.

Note: If the game needs to be postponed due to rain we will advise via facebook and our text message system.

Hagley Farm Kindergarten Excursion

On Tuesday 29th August, Kindergarten class visited Hagley Farm Visitor Centre.  Our students represented Waverley Primary School with pride.  Mrs Salter, Mrs Ewart and Mrs Evans are very proud of our kinders.

In the lead up to our excursion, we have been learning about what a day on the farm looks like, sounds like, and feels like.  We made predictions of what animals we would see at the farm, and we were surprised to see all of them.

We had so many amazing highlights throughout the day, a few of the most memorable experiences are listed below:

• watching 10 to eight day old calves being fed with a special feeder that had a teat for each of the calves
• the opportunity for every student to feed a baby lamb by bottle
• the opportunity to go into the chicken pen to collect eggs, hold and feed the chickens; and
• riding in the trailer on the back of the tractor!

The next day, we reflected on our favourtie part of the excursion through drawing.  The drawings have been collected as part of our evidence of learning to share with familes.

Our excursion is linked to the Early Years Learning Framework:

• A child should have a strong sense of identity; and
• A child should be connected and contributing to the world.

Kindergarten at Hagley Farm School

LIFT

What's been happening in LIFT?

We have had some exciting things happening in LIFT over the last couple of weeks.  Students have been engaging with our fortnightly challenges and have been doing some amazing at home learning with Literacy and Numeracy.  Don't forget to get involved in the challenges for your child's chance to win a showbag.  Week's 7 and 8 challenge is family board game night, so get the family together to play a game and send a snap to ky.salter@decyp.tas.gov.au

Well done to Harper (Kinder) and Harvey (2/3) the winners of the LIFT showbag for weeks 3-6.

We extend our gratitude to the families who have participated in our Thursday afternoon Math game sessions alongside their children in the classroom.  We had a positive turn out in P/1 and 1/2.  I hope you enjoy playing your tongues and tails games at home.  We look forward to welcoming the 2/3 families this Thursday.  Our students have been very busy learning card games to share with you.

A personal thank you to the parents that have filled out the parent engagement survey. We are hoping for a few more responses.  All entries go into the draw for a  book pack.

Yours in partnership

Ky Salter

Early Years Teacher/LIFT Co-ordinator

LiFT Afternoon

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 12

Next

LiFT Engagement Survey

Waverley Primary Family Engagement Survey (office.com)

Win a book pack for your child by completing this survey. To help us as a school learn how we can better engage with you. Please fill out this survey by following the link above or scanning the QR Code.  

Mrs Salter

Kindergarten and LIFT Teacher

1-2 Meallin

1-2 Meallin and the entire school were very lucky to have the Terrapin Puppet Theatre Company come to Waverley Primary to perform a puppet show called The Riddle of Washpool Gully.  We were greatly inspired by the puppets and the amazing story about a brave kid discovering a secret and meeting an incredible creature that changes everything.

We had so much fun watching the different handmade puppets be used to tell their story that we wanted to create our own.  To successfully make our puppets, we needed to carefully read and follow instructions.

As a class we spoke about what 'procedure texts' are including their purpose and why learning about this text type is important in everyday life.  Procedure texts are very important when making, creating, cooking, baking, and assembling things including puppets!  It was important that we follow the steps correctly and collect the materials required to ensure our puppets were made well.

"I liked how they (the puppets) were all different" Mason, Year 1

"It was fun scrunching the paper" Zane, Year 1

"I enjoyed making/building the arms and legs" Lillian, Year 2

Miss Liv Meallin

Teacher Year 1-2

Puppets

Book Week 2023

Over the past week Waverley students participated in a number of reading activities.  We searched for Where's Wally using literal and inferential clues, and read with our buddies in the sun.

Invited special guests Janie Finlay MP, Harry and Hunter from local football clubs read with our students.  Every day in lessons students were immersed in the 2023 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) books.  The award-winning books are now available for borrowing in our library!

Our final event was Reading Hour and our 2023 Book Week Parade.  Parents, special guests, and other family members spent time in their children's classrooms reading and particiapting in exciting activities to encourage a love of reading.  Students came dressed in their favourte book characters, inspirational role models and heroes.  They represented Waverley's SHINE expectations and were a credit to our school.

We thank those who took time out of their busy day to celebrate with us.  Stay tuned for more exciting events as we celebrate all areas of learning.

Mrs Marshall

Quality Teaching Coach

Book Week Photos

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 52

Next

Ice Cream Sales

A reminder that we have ice cream sales on a Monday at lunch time.  All proceeds support our Year 6 leavers activities.  You can order your ice cream or icy pole on the Qkr! app or you can bring cash on the day.

Student Lunch Program Evaluation Parent Survey

As part of the School Lunch Project, children are receiving free cooked lunches on some days each week. To help better understand the benefits and challenges of providing cooked school lunches, researchers from the University of Tasmania are interested in hearing feedback from parents and caregivers in Term 3. You are invited to complete a short survey. Every parent who completes a survey will go in the draw to win a $20 Visa/Mastercard voucher. We are also conducting discussion groups/interviews with parents and caregivers which will be held at the school, you can express your interest in taking part in the discussion group at the link. Every person who takes part will receive a $50 voucher for participation.  

If you would like to participate, please follow this link or scan the QR Code:  

Term 3 Communicating Learning Progress

In Week 9 of Term 3 (September 18th –21st), parents and carers will have the opportunity to meet with classroom teachers to share progress of learning, student work, and an update on individual student goals. These meetings give us a chance to celebrate success and plan for next steps in your child’s learning. Students are invited to attend the meeting. 

 During the meeting your classroom teacher will share samples of student work and update you on their learning progress. In Term 3, there are no Australian Curriculum reports against the 9-point scale.  

 How to book your appointment: 

1. Click the link provided above 
2. Click “Add New Student” and “Save” 
3. Click on the student and their tile will turn green. Press “save and continue.” 
4. Select the staff member for the selected child, and press “next.” 
5. Select the available 15-minute timeslot and press “next.” 
6. Review the appointment time and check the teacher information is correct. 
7. Press next to complete the booking. This can then be repeated for another student by repeating the process. 

 If you need support to make a booking, please phone the school office. 

Please note: In Week 9 and 10, Mr Webster and Mrs Paton are both on Long Service Leave. Appointments for this class will take place in Term 4, Week 1 (October 16th-19th). Parents from 3-4 are invited to make their appointment using this link:  https://waverleyprimary.schoolzineplus.com/3-4parentconversations  

All other classes please follow the link below to make your booking 

https://waverleyprimary.schoolzineplus.com/term3parentconversations 



School Association

If you would like to make contact with the School Association you can attend a meeting or email wpschoolassociation@gmail.com

What is a School Association?

A School Association works together for the benfit of the school.  This includes parents, school staff and the community working with the school's Principal to achieve shared outcomes for learners attending the school, and for the benefit of the whole school community.

What are the functions of a School Association?

A School Association is to foster cooperation among teachers, students, parents and the school community as well as fostering the value and benefits of education generally.

Participate in:

• the development of school policies.
• the formulation and implementation of plans for the improvement of the school establishing and reviewing, from time to time, the school's objectives, priorities, strategic directions and values.
• the planning of financial arrangements necessary to fund those objectivies, priorities, strategic directions and values.
• evaluating the school's performance in achieving those objectivies, priorities, strategic directions and values.
• providing advice on the selection of the person to be the permanent Principal of the school.
• provide advice and recommendations as required on any matter relating to policy with respect to State schools.
• School Associations can raise funds for the benefit of the school and determine how those funds will be used.

Our School Association committe members are:

1. Caitlyn O - Chairperson
2. Oscar C - Vice Chairperson
3. Rebecca A - Treasurer
4. Carolyne Paton - Secretary/Staff Representative
5. Kassia I - Parent Representative
6. Kimberley L - Parent Representative
7. Michaela R - Parent Representative
8. Katie Wightman - Principal
9. Anita Price - Staff Representative
10. Toni Bland - Staff Representative
11. Andrea Dawkins - Community Representative

Thank you to our School Association for organising the Father's Day gifts.  We extend a special thanks to the volunteers and our School Chaplain Tracey who cooked with our students and wrapped the cookies ready for gifting.

Kimberley Leslie, Rebecca Ainslie and Nicole Clarke your commitment and time made the Father's Day gifting a great success.

Father's Day Cooking

Merit Certificates & Principal Awards

Congratulations to the recipients of merit certificates and principal awards at last week's assembly.

Merit Certificates:

• Lincoln B
• Savannah C
• Max A
• Oliver H
• Chase B
• Leonard L
• Charlotte M
• Liam P
• Mahalia-Rose P
• Laniyah W-D
• Hunter T
• Cruz T
• Addison K
• Grace A
• Toby W
• Carter F
• Indigo R
• Charlotte S
• Owen R

Principal Award's

• Lisa Johnstone (TA)
• Lorenzo C
• Jayda-Rose R

2024 Kindergarten Enrolments

Children born in 2019 are required to enrol in Kindergarten for 2024.  More inforamtion about Kindergarten in Tasmanian Government Schools can be found by following the link below. 

We have a pre-kinder program that takes place every Friday morning the year prior to starting Kinder.  We invite families with pre-kinder age children to our Friday program. 

Any families that are yet to enrol their child in kindergarten need to do so as soon as possible.  If you have family or friends who would like to be considered, please encourage them to contact our school.  

2024 Enrolments

If you know that your child(ren) will not be attending our school in 2024, please let the office or Principal know in writing as soon as possible.  All schools are starting to plan for 2024.  This includes configuring our staffing and determining the number of classes we will have in 2024. Every enrolment is counted toward making important decisions regarding the classes we create for our learners.  Please contact us as soon as possible. 

Working With Vulnerable People Registration

Parents and carers if you remain with your child in their classroom beyond school drop off, or volunteer for parent help, or would like to attend a school excursion we must see a copy of your registration card.  When you sign in at the office please enter your RWVP number.  

It is against the law for a person to work or volunteer at any DECYP School without a current working with vulnerable people registration. 

If you would like to volunteer at Waverley Primary School we would love to hear from you.  To apply for registration please follow the link below:

Student Wellbeing Survey

In term 3, from 28th August to the 22nd September we will provide our students from Year 4-6 the opportunity to participate in an important online survey. All students in state government schools Year 4-12 will have the opportunity to have their say and provide DECYP with important data about student wellbeing.  At Waverley the survey results inform our next steps to support positive student wellbeing and guides our school improvement targets.  More information will be sent home closer to the survey opening.  

Mrs Price

Assistant Principal

Attendance

Please contact school when your child is absent.  We have many students missing days ‘here and there’ and this is having an impact on teaching and learning.  We are required to code absences each day.  If we do not know the reason why your child is absent it will be coded unauthorised unexplained. 

The Department for Education, Children and Young people continue to prioritise and follow up absences.  One way we do this is by sending you a text reminder to explain the absence.  Please reply to our text or phone or call into the office to explain the absence.  If there are any challenges for attendance, please contact the school and we will support you with your child’s attendance. 

Going to school every day means your child has every chance to learn, and be around their friends and teachers. Every day adds up, to benefit your child now and in the future.

If you’re looking for tips on how to create better attendance habits, visit the Anything can happen website. 

Communication

Messages from you to school

To ensure your messages are received and actioned in a timely manner and without error, please use the following:

• Absentee notifications - Enter details using the SZapp by 9:00am to notify the office of student absence.
• End of day messages - Send a message using the SZapp or call 63391455 before 2:30pm.
• Queries and other messages - Send a message using the SZapp or email waverley.primary@decyp.tas.gov.au
• Uniform & icecream/icypole orders - Order and pay on the Qkr! app

We endeavour to respond to enquiries within 2 business days during school terms.

Messages from us to you

In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, we will push information out to you via the SZapp.  It is very important that all of our parents have signed up to the Schoolzine app to receive notices and information. 

If you require assistance in setting up or using the SZapp or the Qkr! app, please contact the office. 

Vaping

Did you know that vapes can contain addictive nicotine?  

Vaping addiction can make you feel irritable, anxious and make it hard to concentrate in school.   

To learn more about vaping, visit https://www.decyp.tas.gov.au/about-us/projects/child-student-wellbeing/vaping/ 

Move Well Eat Well

A reminder to everyone that we do not bring energy drinks to school.  

Term 3 Assembly Roster

5-6 Sports Roster

Important Dates

Staff Information

Teacher details:

Leadership and Support Staff:

Community Notices