Wassup Woonona
Newsletter 26 July 2022
In this Issue
- Principal's Report
- P&C Fundraiser - Comedy for a Cause
- Library News
- Book Week
- Book club Issue 5
- Canteen and uniform shop
- Community News
- Contact Us
Principal's Report
Tim Fisher
Principal
SEMESTER 2 BEGINS
Welcome back to Term 3. I hope you had a safe and happy holiday break and enjoyed the opportunity to spend some time with your family. We have had a fantastic start to Term 3, with all students and staff settling back into their class routines. It has been a pleasure to spend time in classes in the first week and to see the smiling faces of students who are genuinely excited to be back at school and learning. This enthusiasm is certainly infectious and I know that staff are also very happy to be back at work as we head into what we hope will be a settled and successful second half of the school year.
DEPUTY SECRETARY VISIT
To begin the term, we had the pleasure of hosting a very special group of visitors. With the wonderful work we have been doing across our school, especially in the area of Numeracy, our school was put forward for a visit from Executive Director Regional South – Kathy Powzun and Group Deputy Secretary School Improvement and Educational Reform - Simone Walker.
Our visitors were presented with information on our journey this year, had the opportunity to visit a class and see quality teaching in action, and then ask questions and take away recommendations for other schools. It was a truly enjoyable experience, sharing the positive journey we have taken, and we felt very privileged to be chosen for such a visit.
UNIFORM
Now that Term 3 has settled and we are through the unpredictable weather, we are having a renewed focus on ensuring our students are wearing school uniform correctly. This includes ensuring that students are wearing the correct school hat, appropriate socks and shoes and everything between. In recent times, we have noticed a range of uniforms being worn, and whilst the change in weather certainly got many by surprise, now is the time to ensure our students are correctly dressed. Should you have any concerns with uniform purchase, please contact the school as we are in a position to support families that are in need.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY
Monday of Week 1 was our fourth staff development day and once again our agenda had a strong focus on professional learning in numeracy. Alex McDonald, Lead Specialist Numeracy from the Teacher Quality and Impact Directorate, joined us for the day and shared her knowledge and skills with staff. Lots of collaborative work ensued, with staff coming away with increased knowledge and improved school processes to refine planning and monitoring within each class
CoS PUBLIC SPEAKING
Congratulations to all of our students who presented their CoS Public Speaking Competition speeches late last term and early this term. All our school representatives K-4 have now presented their speeches at either our school, Woonona East or Russell Vale. I have been lucky enough to attend all of these events and seen and heard the quality of our student speeches. Congratulations to all our representatives. Our Stage 3 representatives will have their opportunity to present their speeches at Woonona High School in the next couple of weeks.
STATE CROSS COUNTRY
What a result! Last Friday, Archie, Jimmy and Reg represented South Coast at the State Cross Country Carnival. The boys all ran in the 8/9 year race and produced outstanding results. Reg, who is still only eight, finished 22nd, Jimmy finished 10th and Archie finished an outstanding 2nd – what an effort!!!
To cap these amazing results off, at the state cross country they have a team award for the region that has the best team result, in each age group. I am proud to say that the South Coast 8/9 Year Boys won the gold medal – an amazing achievement and something that these boys will remember for life. Great job Reg, Jimmy and Archie.
DATA DAYS
This Wednesday (Stage 2 and 3) and Friday (Kindergarten and Stage 1), our staff will be involved in Data Days. Each term, teachers participate in two Data Days. Teachers spend time with their colleagues, under the guidance of Ms Strinic, Mrs Brown and their Stage Supervisor, looking at their student and class data and making plans to ensure that every student in
their class is being catered for. These days are highly valued by our teachers and are a valued process within our school. Teachers will be off class during this time.
DISTRICT ATHLETICS
Thursday and Friday we have a large team of athletes heading off to the district athletics carnival at Beaton Park. We wish these students all the best, knowing that they will be outstanding representatives of our school – good luck to everyone attending! Mr McMullen and Mr Argaet will be accompanying the team and have done a lot behind the scenes – thank you to these teachers for all that you have done to ensure all is prepared for a successful day.
EDUCATION WEEK 2022
As was outlined in correspondence sent home yesterday, due to the “blitz” aimed at minimising the impact of the current wave of COVID on our school, we have made the decision to postpone our Education Week Open Day. Our Education Week Open Day will now occur on Tuesday 13 September. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but we are confident that by delaying the day, we should be in a position to host this event as we had planned.
P&C MEETING REMINDER
Our next P&C meeting will be on Wednesday 10 August at 6:30pm (that’s in Week 4). The meeting will be held in Ms Phillips’ room. We hope to see you there!
KINDER 2023
Our school has already had a number of students enrol for Kindergarten 2023. This is great news! 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, please complete the enrolment online, by visiting our school website for more information.
Mr Tim Fisher
Principal
P&C FUNDRAISER
Dust off your going out attire, grab your mates, book a babysitter and get ready to laugh out loud as the Woonona Public School P&C invites you to join us for a night of comedy at Woonona Bulli RSL on Saturday, 15 October.
Four of the Sydney and Melbourne International Comedy Festivals finest comedians will entertain us, while helping raise funds to purchase resources to enrich the learning experience of students now and into the future.
This is one event you won’t get sent to the principal's office for laughing inappropriately, because chances are the teachers and principal will be laughing with you!
Book now to avoid disappointment by following the link: www.comedyforacause.net/WPS
Library News
At the end of last term as part of our NAIDOC celebrations, we hosted Woonona Public School’s Great Book Swap to raise money for the Indigenous Literacy foundation. We had a fantastic response from our school community with over 600 books donated for this event. Students enjoyed having the opportunity to swap a gold coin for a book with many popular titles to choose from. The school raised $544 on the day and The Indigenous Literacy Foundation will use all funds raised to purchase culturally appropriate reading resources for remote Indigenous communities.
Thank you to everyone for helping to support such a worthwhile cause.
Book Week
This year, Book Week will be celebrated in Week 6, Term 3, 20-26 August. As part of the school’s celebration of Book Week we will be running several events that week including a Book Week dress up day, parade, Wollongong Library performance, a colouring competition for K-2 students and a poster competition for 3-6 students.
This week students in K-6 will receive a note and resources about the colouring and poster competition. Students are asked to complete their entries and return to school by Wednesday, Week 5, Term 3.
The best design from each grade will receive a certificate and prize and highly commended certificates will also be awarded. Winning and Highly Commended posters will be displayed in the library.
All awards and prizes will be handed out during Book Week in Term 3, Week 6.
I look forward to seeing all the wonderful creative designs the students come up with.
Book club
Issue 5 of the Scholastic Book Club catalogue is available to view online. Orders can be placed online ONLY using the LOOP app.
Please do not send orders or cash to the office as they will be sent home with your child.
Click image below to make an order
Happy Reading,
Mrs Carroll
Librarian
Canteen and uniform shop
Onsite uniform shop closed until further notice.
Online orders can be placed on the QuickCliq website
Uniform Shop
- Download the uniform price list and order form (PDF 204.7KB)
- Online orders can be placed on the QuickCliq website