14 March 2023

• Principal's Report
• Citizenship of the Month Awards
  
• Year 6 Fundraising
  

• Moments in Maths

• Unlocking the Code Parent Reading Evening

• Environmental & Gardening Club Is BACK!

• Aboriginal Cultural Immersion Day
  

• Year 6 Visit Woonona High School
  

• SRC Report
  

• Library News - Book Club
  
• Great photos from sport & Halogen
• Attendance Matters
• WHSPA Year 7 Audition Applications OPEN now for 2024
  
• 2022/2023 NSW term and vacation dates
  
• Canteen and uniform shop
  
• Community News
• Contact Us

NAPLAN commences tomorrow for students in Years 3 and 5. These tests run through to Monday 27 March. All students will complete the writing assessment tomorrow. They will then sit the reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy assessments in the eight days that follow. All assessments will be conducted online in our two computer labs, except for Year 3 writing which will be paper-based and conducted in classrooms.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of our school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ progress.

You can support your child by reiterating the message we are giving at school; that students are just expected to do their best and that this test is only one tool, amongst many others, that teachers use to make decisions regarding the next steps in learning.

Last Friday, a huge team of our school’s finest swimmers travelled to Dapto Pool to compete against the best swimmers in the whole South Coast Region. I want to congratulate these swimmers who were outstanding representatives of our school and district.

We had some amazing results that have not fully flowed through from the carnival. Having said that, it is clear that many of our students will now represent South Coast at the NSW PSSA Swimming Championships in Sydney later this term. A more in-depth report will follow in the upcoming newsletter.

Our Stage 2 and Stage 3 choirs are off and running for 2023. It has been very pleasing to see such large numbers of keen and excited students, willing and wanting to be involved in choir. Notes for our Stage 3 choir will be going home this week asking for a commitment for Choral Festival, which will occur in Term 3. Thank you to Mrs Ney for taking the lead for choir in 2023, a program that is clearly valued by many of our students.

Last Monday, Mrs Brown, Mrs Banzon and Mrs McLerie presented to a keen, though a little hot, crowd of over 70 parents, who attended our literacy session on ‘Unlocking the Code’. It was wonderful to see so many parents attend, wanting to learn more about how things are changing at WPS. More information can be found later in this newsletter for those families unable to attend. A final big thanks to the presenting staff for bringing together such an important evening.

Last Friday, our 21 Aboriginal students participated in a Cultural Immersion Day. It was fantastic to see these students have the opportunity to connect to their culture on a deeper level under the guidance of Sharon Hanlon. A report has been written later in this newsletter by Mrs Carroll, reflecting what a truly enlightening day our students were a part of.

Unfortunately, we had to make the decision to postpone the Cross Country carnival today. It was with great disappointment that the decision was made, though clearly the correct one. The competitors' only carnival, on school grounds, will now occur later in the term. More information will be sent home in the coming days in regards to the times and dates for this carnival. We may have to make a change, to the date previously published, due to a clash with NSW PSSA Swimming. A Fun Run will be organised for all students 2-6 for early next term, with more information to be shared at a later date. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

On Tuesday of Week 10 (Tuesday 28 March), our whole school will travel to Kerryn McCann Athletics Track at Beaton Park to participate in a day of competition at our annual Athletics Carnival. It is always a highlight to bring the whole school together at another venue, with lots to look forward to for all involved. We look forward to the day and seeing lots of cheering families there to offer their support to the students.

Last Tuesday, 12 school leaders and I travelled to Sydney for the Halogen Young Leaders Conference. It was an amazing day of fun, lots of dancing, and listening to inspiring speakers who spoke about their lives and how they have achieved success as a leader.

I want to thank and congratulate our leaders for their maturity, fun and enthusiastic attitudes and willingness to give things a go. I look forward to seeing how these young leaders implement the things they have learnt, into their 2023 roles. I have great confidence in what they all offer and know that last Tuesday was a positive step in their leadership journey.

Please see more Halogen photos further down in this newsletter.

Last Wednesday, was meant to be our 2022-2023 P&C Annual General Meeting. Unfortunately, we had to postpone at late notice. We apologise to those families impacted. We are awaiting confirmation of a rescheduled date and will communicate this as soon as it is confirmed.

We will again be conducting parent/teacher interviews at the conclusion of Term 1, 2023. These important meetings ensure the lines of communication between school and home are opened early and are spread more consistently across the whole school year.

More information, regarding interview times, will become available in the coming weeks, with interviews planned for Tuesday 4 April 2023.

Mr Tim Fisher

Principal

These amazing students were awarded the 'Citizenship of the Month Award' for February, in recognition of their exemplary standards of conduct and service to others.

Congratulations to: Lucas from KB, Sienna from 2L, Isla from 3-4A and Maya from 5-6P.

Each year, the Year 6 cohort of students and teachers create and run a number of fundraising events. The money raised from these events fund end of year farewell activities for Year 6. This includes the Year 6 social evening, purchasing a gift for the school and assisting with funding transport to Jamberoo. Each year, Year 6 look forward to and greatly enjoy the exciting opportunities that they are provided with when finishing primary school. We thank you in advance for supporting our Year 6 2023 students.

Easter Raffle

Year 6 are holding an Easter raffle. Students will be selling tickets at school during recess across Weeks 9, 10 and 11. We will also be selling tickets on the afternoon of parent teacher interviews. Tickets are 50c each or 3 for $1.00. The raffle will be drawn at the Easter Hat Parade.

School Disco

We are holding a school disco on Thursday 30 March.

Where: School Hall

When:

• K-2 disco 5:15pm - 6:15pm
• 3-6 disco 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Cost: $5.00 per entry or $10 per family group (of children)

Entry to the event is via the top gate on Gray street.

Exit from the event is via the gate on Stewart Street.

Supervision: Discos at Woonona PS are supervised by teaching staff from the school. Due to safety precautions, parents are asked not to enter the hall area until the specified collection time.

Collection at the end of the night: All children must be collected from the school collection points by an adult in order to leave the venue.

K-2 collection: K-2 parents will collect their child/children from the astro turf area behind the Stage 1 building

3-6 collection: 3-6 parents will collect their child/children from the school hall.

Lollies, popcorn, chips and drinks will be for sale on the night from 20c - $2.00

See you there!

As always, everyone at Woonona Public School has been working with high levels of enthusiasm and persistence as they continue their maths learning journey. Kindergarten have been building on their number knowledge by forming groups. Stage One have been working hard to build on their multiplication, addition and subtraction strategies. Stage Two have been getting hands-on as they explore patterns, angles and all things related to 2D shapes. Stage 3 have also been exploring angles and solving problems involving decimal fractions.

Happy International Day of Mathematics. Did you know that today is also known as ‘Pi Day’ because when you round the mathematical constant down to two decimal figures, you get 3.14? Which is today's date!

Mr Declan McMullen

It was wonderful to see so many parents at our 'Unlocking the Code' reading evening on Monday 6 March. On what was a very warm evening, parents were given the opportunity to hear about what has changed in how we teach reading and the research that has driven these changes. Here at Woonona, we are committed to ensuring all our students become proficient and skilled readers and we thank our parents for coming on this journey with us.

For those who couldn't attend, please see the PDF's below.

Many thanks,

Rachel Brown, Hayley Banzon and Rebecca McLerie.

Students worked hard to rejuvenate the vegetable gardens and planted some new flowers and seedlings. Environmental & Gardening Club is on each Thursday during lunchtime. Students are welcome to bring in their own gloves to use on the day.

On Friday 10 March, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in K-6 had the opportunity to participate in a Cultural Immersion program on our school grounds.

The program was organised as part of the school’s initiatives for Aboriginal Education this year and was designed to promote and encourage our student’s important connection to Culture and community.

The program was facilitated by Sharon Hanlon from Connect – Learn – Grow 2 Culture who was previously the Aboriginal Education Officer at Bellambi Public School. She is a Dharawal woman who has a wealth of knowledge about our local area and experience that she was happy to share with our students.

The day took place outside in the playground on Country and students had the opportunity to explore subjects such as the Acknowledgement of Country, learn about what Country is and means to them personally, learn about local Elders and local Aboriginal history. Important sites such as Sandon Point and Mount Keira and other local significant sites were discussed and we hope to visit these in the future. Students also got to learn about, touch and explore artefacts such as tools and plants. The sharing of stories and music by Aboriginal authors and artists also took place on the day.

This was an amazing learning experience for all students and teachers involved and resulted in a deeper understanding, connection, and pride in their Aboriginal culture. All students involved will now have the opportunity to share what they learnt on this day with their classmates and teachers.

Mrs Angela Carroll

Year 6 enjoyed their day at Woonona High School yesterday. The visit was part of the CoS transition program and a great way for students to feel comfortable and become familiar with a high school setting. Moving around the school, experiencing different lessons from high school teachers and exploring the different rooms were highlights for many of our students, as was meeting new people from other schools. There was also some excitement when they saw some familiar faces in the Year 7 cohort.

‘I got to make a 30 second advert in the drama lesson and I thought that was lots of fun. Then in visual arts, we got to create a pop art artwork of the prop from the drama. I enjoyed meeting students from other schools and worked with some kids from Russell Vale PS.’

Zoe 5-6A

‘Our class did science so we did a STEM challenge about working together. We had to create a strong build that could support weight using only 50 paddle pop sticks, some matches, a ball of blu-tack, a metre of tape and a rubber band. I had lots of fun and the day was really engaging. I liked the idea of the task and I liked how we met students from other schools and did group work with them.’ Myles 5-6M

‘I thought that I was lucky to have the chance to experience high school before Year 7 and I enjoyed the day. Our group did History and English and we learnt about the pharaohs of Egypt like King Tutankhamun. We also got to smell different spices and have a guess as to what they were, based on what we smelt. We did this because we had to use our senses for writing. Everyone then wrote a page of writing setting the scene for a story set in Egypt. I got to meet new friends from different schools and had a workout climbing all the steps!’

Cameron 5-6N

Hi everyone!

Mikayla and Lachlan here, two of the school leaders. We’re reporting on our first SRC meeting of 2023 which was a great success. It was led by Max and supported by the leadership team and we enjoyed the experience of leading. In our first meeting, we took time to get to know each other by playing a get to know you game. After that, we broke up into groups and brainstormed ideas for 2023. We’re looking forward to working together and achieving some goals this year.

Last week, Issue 2 of the Scholastic Book Club was sent home with interested students. Orders can be placed below and are due by Monday 20 February.

Please remember only online orders will be accepted. No CASH payments.

LOOK INSIDE EDITION 2 BOOK CLUB NEWS

Also, as we near the end of term overdue notices for books borrowed will be sent out this week. Can parents please help your children locate any overdue books and return to the Library. If books are lost, the replacement cost is listed on the overdue notice and can be paid to the office. Thank you for your cooperation.

Happy reading,

Mrs Carroll

Librarian

Congratulations to our age champion swimmers!

Seniors boys relay team.

Junior boys relay team.

There were 17 girls hitting it out for only 5 positions on the South Coast team. Chloe was placed 6th and was named as the 1st Reserve for the south coast team going into to the NSW PSSA Tennis Championships. What an incredible achievement.

Please find Academic Enrichment and CAPA Enrichment Application forms for year 7 2024 below.

All Applicants must return completed forms to the Woonona High School front office by Friday 31 March 2023.

Any questions please contact Woonona High School on 4284 1513.

Onsite uniform shop closed until further notice.

Online orders can be placed on the QuickCliq website

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.