22 October 2024

I hope that everyone had a very enjoyable, relaxing and safe Spring Holiday break. It is hard to believe that we only have one term of school remaining in 2024. Where has this year gone? Term 4 will be action packed and will disappear all too quickly, especially for our Year 6 who will be leaving their primary school years behind as they prepare for the whole new world of high school. Busy, but exciting times lie ahead for everyone here at WPS!

This Friday marks our long-awaited Grandparent’s Day, with staff, students and no doubt grandparents building with excitement as the day approaches. We look forward to what will be a wonderful day where generations come together to share the joy of learning. Schools are very different places to those that grandparents would have attended and I know our students are looking forward to becoming teachers, as they teach their visitors about school in 2024.

Our first Kindergarten Orientation was held today, with lots of excited faces joining our school for their first taste of “Big School”. A big few weeks are ahead with four further sessions for our newest students planned to provide these students with a thorough understanding of what awaits them in the very near future. These sessions are as follows:

• Thursday 31 October 9:30am -10:30am Optional Playgroup 1
• Tuesday 5 November 9:30am -10:30am Orientation Session 2
• Thursday 14 November 9:30am -10:30am Optional Playgroup 2
• Tuesday 19 November 9:30am - 10:30am Orientation Session 3

Our next P&C meeting will be on Wednesday 13 November at 6:30pm. The meeting will be held in the school staff room and it will be our final official P&C meeting for 2024. We hope to see you there!

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.

Our Kinder enrolments for 2025 are steadily coming in. If you are planning on enrolling your child next year, or know of someone who is thinking about it, that lives in our school drawing area, an online enrolment application needs to be filled in. These can be located on our school website.

Last Thursday, the Northern Illawarra Deadly Encouragement Awards took place at Waniora Public School. What a wonderful afternoon, where the area celebrated our Aboriginal students who are doing brilliant things within our schools. Congratulations to Matilda and Kenadee who both received awards for their community engagement at school. Many thanks to their proud mum Jayde who came along and to Tarsha and Claire from our P&C who came along to present some awards and show their support.

This Friday 25 October 2024 is World Teachers’ Day. It is a day where we thank teachers for the role they play each and every day in creating wonderful learning opportunities for their students. I can honestly say that we are very lucky to have such a dedicated staff here at WPS. I would like to thank all our staff for their commitment to their students and the fun and professional way in which they approach their role.

Year 6 hosted the annual ‘Sideshow Carnival’ last Thursday and it sure was a huge success! Students enjoyed visiting each stall where they were treated to activities such as face-painting, hair make-overs, guessing competitions, ball games, sporting quests and many more! Many thanks to Ms Phillips and all Stage 3 teachers for supporting Year 6 in their efforts for this day. It was such an exciting and festive way to start the term!

Please see photo album further down in this newsletter.

Our Changing the Conversation Program continues in the coming weeks, with all classes having now completed at least one session. The program will follow the below sequence of lessons:

• Week 1 – Emotional Regulation, Self Esteem and Resilience
• Week 2 – Friendship, Social Skills and Teamwork
• Week 3 – Cyber and Digital Safety
• Week 4 – Respectful Relationships

Feedback from staff (and students) has been very positive about the content and delivery, with many acknowledging the learning is very age appropriate. We look forward to seeing and hearing how the upcoming sessions go. I would encourage families to speak with their children about this learning and what they have taken away from each session.

Mr Tim Fisher

Principal

• Stage 3 History Excursion - permission & payment now overdue
• Dental Health Program running week of Monday 18 November - permission forms due now

It was lovely to see everyone back in the Library after our holiday break and new roof construction. Library lessons this term will focus on an Author Study unit, where students will be learning about a variety of children’s authors who write their favourite books.

We have a large selection of recently purchase books which will be available to borrow this term along with new books in series from popular titles. If students still have library books at home from last term, can they be returned to the Library this week. If the book is lost, please notify me in the Library.

The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to the Library in Weeks 4 & 5. This is a great fund-raising opportunity for the Library as Scholastic will give us 30% of all sales made to purchase books for our library. We are holding the Book Fair over a 2-week time period and all viewing and purchases will occur in your child’s usual library lesson. Week 4 library lessons have been allocated for viewing the books available for purchase and writing wish lists and Week 5 library lessons will be for book purchases.

Due to cost of living expenses, Scholastic will be sending out a selection of books for just $5 as well as having 40% of the books on sale priced at $12 or less.

An email with instructions on Book Fair procedures will go home in Week 3 and will include a digital copy of the book and price lists for parents to use to help with purchasing. Both cash and online payments will be available.

Happy reading,

Mrs Carroll

Librarian

• Grandparents Day with cake stall - Oct 25
• Bunnings Fundraising BBQ Sun Nov 3 - please sign up to help via link posted to the fb pages, at the QR code below or come along and buy a snag
• Next P&C meeting: 6:30pm Wed Nov 13 at the school office, all welcome :)

Please see attached P&C Newsletter below

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.