From Thursday 28 November, until the end of the school year, I will be on planned extended leave. During this time, Ms Alison Strinic will relieve in my role. With Ms Strinic fulfilling the Principal role, Mrs Rebecca McLerie will step into the role of relieving Deputy Principal during my absence.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our community for your support in 2024. While there is still some time to go in the year, and a huge amount to get through, I am certainly reflecting on 2024 as another highly successful year where our school has continued to make positive growth, for the benefit of our students.

I am immensely proud to have led the wonderful team of teachers who work extremely hard, the beautiful students who come in each day with smiles and a willingness to learn, and the community that constantly backs us to be the best that we can be for the benefit of their children.

While I am still here for some time, this is officially my farewell for 2024. I look forward to seeing most of you back at the beginning of the school year in 2025.

We have now finished our Kinder Orientation program, with everything going very smoothly throughout the transition. Thanks to those parents who were involved, from the helpers on the first session to those who helped at our final session. Well done also to the many staff who were involved in ensuring the program was a success. Our 2025 Kindergarten students look like a lovely group and we are all looking forward to working with this next generation of Woonona Public School students.

In order to have accurate numbers for next year, it is important to notify the school office if you know your child will not be returning to Woonona Public School next year (other than Year 6). This information helps us to plan for 2025.

Alternatively, if you know of friends or family members who intend to enrol their children in Woonona Public School in 2025, please ask them to contact the school office to fill in the necessary documentation.

I would like to congratulate the students who attended Swimming Scheme during this term. This is a valuable program and it has been wonderful to hear about the fantastic progress of our students with their swimming. I would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Loosemore for coordinating the program.

Monday of Week 5 marked our School Remembrance Day Ceremony and I wanted to say how proud I was of how respectful, well behaved and reflective our students were throughout our service. Thanks to Ms Gibson and our school leaders for bringing together such an important event.

Last Wednesday Ms Strinic, Ms Phillips and I were invited to the High Potential Academically Gifted class at Tarrawanna Public School to see what the attending students had been learning throughout the year. Families and staff were able to meet with the Year 5 students as they spoke about the great experience of the class. Students beautifully presented poetry they had written, followed by sharing their research on a wide range of content. Feedback from families and students has been resoundingly positive and we look forward to again providing students with the opportunity to apply for this class in 2025.

Last Wednesday was our final official P&C meeting for 2024. I want to thank our P&C for their ongoing hard work and dedication in working with our school for the benefit of students and our community. It has been very successful, with the P&C again finding ways to enhance the things we are doing, while providing many valuable experiences and opportunities. Thank you to everyone involved.

We still have one more date allocated for our P&C to meet, which is Wednesday 11 December. As mentioned though, this is not a meeting as such but a celebratory Christmas dinner. Headlands Hotel has been booked for 6:30pm and we encourage those wishing to attend to come along for what is always a relaxing and enjoyable night. If you are wishing to attend, please email enquiries@wppc.com.au

Last week was a huge week for our Library, with the Book Fair taking place. Led by Mrs Carroll and ably supported by Ms Hodson, over $11 000 worth of book sales took place. What a wonderful fundraiser, but even more importantly, what a great way to create excitement about books and reading, for all of our students. The money that was raised will go directly back into our Library for the purchase of new and exciting texts. Thank you to our community for supporting this important event and to Mrs Carroll and Ms Hodson for their huge efforts throughout the Book Fair.

Online applications for Year 7 Selective Schools – 2026 – have now opened. Parents whose children will be in Year 6 in 2025, who are interested in their child sitting the selective high school placement test, are required to complete this process by Friday 21 February 2025 - Selective high school and opportunity class placement

This Wednesday marks our Year 6 Fundraising Disco. I am sure all the students are excited about the prospect of enjoying a fun celebration with their friends. I look forward to seeing lots of smiling faces throughout the afternoon. Thank you to the staff and students, especially Ms Phillips and her Stage 3 team, who have helped to make this event a reality.

Mr Tim Fisher

Principal

• Dental Health Program running this week
• Year 6 Fundraiser Disco Wed 20 November - payment due now
• Year 2 NRL Dragon Tag Day - permission & payment due Friday 22 November
• Year 6 Jamberoo Action Park excursion - payment & permission due by Friday 29 November

We have the results for our 2024 Maths Olympiad team and we have again had some great success in this prestigious competition. The 2024 competition papers were extremely challenging and all participants are to be commended on their excellent persistence and clear passion for mathematics, as they pushed themselves and improved their problem solving and reasoning skills against the best primary school mathematicians around Australia and New Zealand. We are extremely proud of their hard work throughout the year and their willingness to always implement feedback to strive for constant improvement and success.

This year, we once again had some extremely pleasing individual results. A huge congratulations to James C who achieved our school's highest score and finished in the 10% of all competitors who took part. We also had 3 students who had stellar results by finishing in the top 25% of all competitors, Lewis M, Ranajay R and Jasper F. Two of these results are particularly extraordinary , as Ranajay missed one contest due to being on holidays and Jasper achieved this incredible result when only in Year 4!

These top performers will all soon receive an award from APSMO, while all students who competed will receive a certificate to commemorate their efforts.

In 2024, we also had a team who took part in the Stage 2 Maths Explorer competitions. These students tested themselves against their peers by solving logic puzzles and challenging problems, with their problem solving skills coming along in leaps and bounds. Congratulations to our top performer in this competition, Dallas, who scored an epic 19 out of a possible 20 for his combined score. A huge shoutout goes out to our other top 5 place getters, Bodhi I, Rheon P, Sonny O, and Hugo W, who will all receive a prize from APSMO. Just like the Olympiad, all students who took part will receive a certificate to celebrate their efforts at an upcoming assembly.

Mr McMullen

What an exciting two weeks we had for our Scholastic Book Fair. Last week we sold an amazing $11,116 worth of books which is an outstanding effort for our school. I would like to thank everyone for supporting this event. The school will receive $3,334 in commission to buy books for our school. Most children received their book orders last week. However, there are a few books still on back order and these will hopefully arrive this week. I will sort and deliver orders to students as soon as they arrive.

Issue 8 of the Scholastic Book Club will be handed out this week and the catalogue is available to view online. Orders can be placed online ONLY using the LOOP app. All orders are due by Sunday 1 December 2024.

The Library will be closed from Monday 9 Dec - Wednesday 18 Dec for stock-take so all student loans will need to be returned by Friday 6 December. Overdue notices will be emailed out this week and an additional reminder will be sent out on Wednesday 4 December. Please take the time to help your child locate and return their books this week.

If you received an overdue loan notice and the book is lost, please let us know so it can be wiped from our system. Notices will also list the book price which parents can pay to the office for purchase of a replacement copy. If you receive an overdue notice and the book has already been paid for previously or has already been returned, please send the slip back in with this noted down. Our Library computer system will automatically create notices for any overdue books from this year. Thank you to those students who have already returned books or notified me about lost books.

Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Happy reading,

Mrs Carroll

Librarian

Recently, four teams from Woonona Public School participated in the NSW South Coast Oz Tag Gala Day, the largest tournament yet, with teams traveling from areas as distant as Sussex Inlet and Campbelltown. Each team represented our school with pride, showcasing exceptional sportsmanship, teamwork, and skill throughout the event. It was heartwarming to see so many parents in attendance, enthusiastically supporting the players with cheers and encouragement. A special congratulations to our senior boys and girls teams, who both advanced to the finals and proudly brought home silver medals. Our junior teams also performed admirably, with many players experiencing their first tournament.

Stage 2 Junior Boys Team- Thomas P, Talon, Riley B, Reg, Lewis, Kai H, Kai T, Cameron M, Lachlan J, Archer, Isaac F, Brodhi

Stage 2 Junior Girls Team- Rheon, Milla H, Zara E, Ivy H, Jessie R, Olivia L, Lainey, Grace, Morgan, Audrey S, Frankie, Chloe

Stage 3 Senior Boys Team - Jimmy, Hudson H, Jed, Sonny, Darcy, Matthew S, Jethro, Lewis, Archie, Toby, Hudson P, Ethan D

Stage 3 Senior Girls Team - Indie, Remi, Harper E, Arabella, Keira, Lexie, Tayla, Lily, Evie, Ella, Annabelle, Kaida

Every player's effort and determination was commendable, and they all should be very proud of their achievements.

Mr Heffernan and Mrs Bleeker

Applications are now open for 2025 School Student Transport Scheme (SSTS) travel

Students in the Opal network applying for an Opal card (including a Term Bus Pass) for the first time will receive their School Opal card at their nominated postal address from mid-January 2025.

Students progressing from year 2 to year 3 and from year 6 to year 7 do not need to re-apply if they:

• are continuing at the same school, and
• are residing at the same address, and
• have not been sent an expiry notification from Transport for NSW.

Where a student meets the new distance eligibility, the system will automatically update their entitlement. If they do not meet the new eligibility, they will receive an expiry notification.

Students who change address, school, campus location, have repeated a year or received an expiry notification for their school travel entitlement need to renew or update their details before the end of term 4. This will ensure that schools can endorse applications, so their travel entitlement can remain valid for the start of the 2025 school year.

Students who have an entitlement approved under a medical condition that is due to expire will receive a notification advising them to re-apply.

Term Bus Pass holders will receive a notification to re-apply.

If you were unable to attend the Open night at Woonona High School and have an interest in the HPGE Experience in year 6 next year, please find information and the application in the attached link.

Applications are to be handed into Woonona High School office by Friday 29 November 2024.

https://sites.google.com/educa...

Onsite uniform shop closed until further notice.

Place an Online Order.

Please be aware that there are students in our school with allergies to nuts. We ask that you give consideration to voluntarily agreeing not to send nut products, in particular peanuts and peanut butter to school.

The World Education Program (WEP) are looking for a host family to host a French student currently studying at Bulli High School next semester. The student is on an exchange program for 2 semesters, but the family she is currently staying with are only able to host for one semester. WEP are now trying to find a family in the area to enable the student to maintain the friendships she's already established.

A student profile is included below with details about the program.

Any support would be appreciated.