WERRIBEE PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 649

The Owl Owl No. 32 | 1st November 2012

Werribee Primary School is … A supportive and diverse learning community pursuing excellence in the development of skills,

behaviours and attitudes in education, so that students are empowered to interact positively throughout their lifetime, with confidence, creativity and enjoyment

Our shared values are ♦ Courtesy ♦ Cooperation ♦ Respect ♦ Responsibility

Our education priorities are ♦ Literacy ♦ Numeracy ♦ Social Competency

Dates to remember

November Monday 5th

Whole School Transition Program – Multi age day

November Tuesday 6th

Melbourne Cup Public Holiday – NO SCHOOL TODAY November Wed 7th – Tue 20th Year Prep – 2 Swimming Programme

November Thursday 15th 2013 Prep Parent Forum – 7:00-8:30pm - Gymnasium

November Wed 21st – Tue 4

th Dec Year 3 – 6 Swimming Programme

November Wednesday 21st Yearbook orders and money due back today

December Tuesday 11th Year 6 Orientation Day f or 2013 at Government Schools

December Thursday 13th Year 5/6 Adventure Park Excursion

December Tuesday 18th Year 6 Graduation Evening

CANTEEN ROSTER – TERM 4

Wed 7th

November Tammy Brennan, Karen McEachran, Kim Tunstall, Vanessa Costa

Wed 14th November Deb Cowton, Emily Dunn, Kate Pugliese, Fadia Othman

Wed 21st November Tammy Brennan, Karen McEachran, Jane Puli, Ef f ie Coates

Wed 28th November Deb Cowton, Kim Tunstall, Kate Pugliese, Karyn McEachran

Wed 5th

December Tammy Brennan, Karen McEachran, Vanessa Costa, Emily Dunn,

Wed 12th December Deb Cowton, Kate Pugliese, Judy Puli, Pauline Oakes,

Further to last week’s edition of the newsletter – Uniform Policy, please note that although we will be

phasing out white polos, we will still be selling what we have in stock.

Contact the school

Need to contact your child’s teacher or pass on feedback or suggestions to the school?

Address: 2 Deutgam Street, Werribee 3030 Phone: 9742 6659

Web: www.werribeeps.v ic.edu.au Email: werribee.ps@edumail.v ic.gov .au

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Principal’s Report BIKE RIDING It has been wonderful to see our years 3-6 children participating in Bike Ed in glorious sunshine throughout the week. This program will be running until the end of the week. Thank you to our Phys Ed teachers, Mrs Tanya Staehr and Mrs Sarah Sherratt for all their efforts in organising this very important program. Thanks also are extended to the parents who have volunteered their time to allow road rides around the neighbourhood to take place. We were reminded recently of just how important bike education and road safety is when a parent reported a ‘near m iss’ on the road involving a car and one of our students on a bike. This parent reported that the child ‘darted’ out onto the road and the car narrowly missed hitting the child on their way home from school. Mrs Staehr and Mrs Sherratt have been reinforcing the bike safety message throughout their program (particularly since receiving this report about the ‘near m iss’) but it seems the message is still not getting through to some of our

children. Parents and care givers, please take some time to read this to your child and remind them of the importance of being safe on our roads.

SWIMMING PROGRAM A reminder that the Prep- 2 swimming program begins next Wednesday 7

th November and the Year

3-6 follows on 21st November. Like Bike Ed, Swimming is a vital skill that all children must learn and

practice from an early age. Much has been written and said in the media in recent times about the fact that swimming should be compulsory in all primary schools in order to address drowning in young people (particularly teenage and young adults). At Werribee PS it is an expectation that all children

participate in the swimming program to address this need, however, we do rely on the support of families for this to happen. I therefore request that parents and guardians please return the appropriate perm ission forms and fees as soon as possible in order for our Phys Ed teachers to ensure this program runs effectively and efficiently. The swimming program cannot operate without the support of our fam ilies and I encourage parents or guardians to please contact the school if they are experiencing difficulties in meeting the costs of the swimming program.

FENCE Rectification works have begun on our fence along the Deutgam St and Wedge St boundaries. Please

be aware of this, as some of our pedestrian pathways may be limited during these works. This work will continue around the perimeter of the whole school over the coming days and weeks and we apologise for the inconvenience that this may cause. In the meantime, please rem ind your children to keep a safe

distance from these works on their way to and from school. TRANSITION DAY NEXT MONDAY A reminder that the school will be open on Monday 3rd November (the day before the Melbourne Cup Day holiday) and will be holding a transition day, whereby all students will be placed in m ixed age groups for the day and will participate in an organised program designed to give them the opportunity

to experience their school day (possibly) in a different classroom with different teachers. Similar arrangements were made last year and formed part of our formal transition program from year level to year level. Feedback from last year’s program indicated that the day was a great success, allowing children (and teachers) to ‘have a go’ at experiencing change in preparation for the following year’s transition. Additional transition experiences will be arranged later on in the term as well. BELMONT PRIMARY SCHOOL VISIT

Last Tuesday, four teachers from Belmont PS visited Werribee PS to view our writer’s notebook program across the school. They observed three lessons (one each in the 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 areas) and

had opportunities to speak with groups of WPS teachers to learn about how we are implementing the writer’s notebook across the school. Jenny Lane, Literacy Co-ordinator and year 5/6 teacher from

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Belmont PS reported that their visit far exceeded any expectation they had of the day. Jenny said the team from Belmont were ‘blown away’ by the professionalism of the WPS staff; the high standard of the children’s writing and; the engagement and enthusiasm of all children. She reported that the Belmont

team drove back to Geelong ‘buzzing’ about their new learning; enthusiastic to put some of the strategies into place there. Congratulations and thank you to the staff involved in modelling these lessons: M ina Spiteri, Jo-anne Wembridge and Beth Helmore and to our literacy coach, Cathy Millar for organising the day.

BUSY WEEKEND – THANK YOU

1 / 2 SLEEPOVER I had the absolute pleasure of attending the year 1/2 disco and sleepover last Friday night and am

pleased to report that it was a great success. The children certainly impressed us all with their dance moves, as well as their behaviour and enthusiasm, both at the dinner/disco and the sleepover itself. There were no complaints when it was lights out and sleep time. Quite a lot of snoring was heard a

short time after ‘lights out’ and only a couple of children awoke briefly overnight. Thank you to the Year 1/2 staff team for their dedication and enthusiasm in organising this event for these children. Events like these certainly take much preparation and organisation but the rewards are so very obvious when the children participate and respond so well.

WORKING BEE A big thank you is also extended to the small but dedicated band of parents and staff who returned to school on Sunday morning for the working bee. Lots of weeding and clearing of grounds was completed as well as significant improvements made to the garden area on the Werribee & Pyke Street corner of the school (opposite Centrelink). Our school cannot look as good as it does without this support on our Working Bee days. I chatted with Joanne Weeku, mother of Sherlock on Sunday as we weeded a garden bed. Joanne ALWAYS attends our working bees and ALWAYS musters up support from our Karen community of parents to attend and work tirelessly at these events. However, Joanne

reminded me that this is her last year at the school, as her son Sherlock is in year 6 and will be moving on to secondary school next year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Joanne for her tireless support of Werribee PS throughout her years of involvement with the school, especially for her

contributions in supporting our working bees. Joanne really has made a difference to our school community and her support will be sorely missed next year.

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BOOK FAIR NEWS This year’s book fair was a huge success, raising $700 for new books in the library. A special thank you must be extended to our tireless helpers who assisted or offered to help with the Book Fair, and were a wonderful support to the library staff. An enormous thank you must also go to the children,

parents & friends who visited the book fair; your support was greatly appreciated. The raffle winners who won a book & poster each night were as follows: Elija McEachran 00C, Zahra Abela 3/4R, Arlequin Hickey Sorbello 1/2S, Kiarno Gourley 5/6E and Jack Crosher 00M.

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Members of the Werribee Primary School Community,

I wish to inform you of my decision to retire as of the first school day for 2013 – the 29th January 2013. While I thoroughly enjoy the job I do and enjoy working in the educational field it is time for me to move to the next stage of my life. I am going to take the opportunity to enjoy more time with my fam ily, travel and do the many other things that it is not possible to do when in full time employment. My 42 years of involvement in education has provided me with many wonderful experiences and I have been fortunate to be able to continually learn and improve and have enjoyed sharing my learning with and learning from so many wonderful people. My last 11 years as Principal of Werribee Primary has been the icing on the cake – it is a sensational school that has over many years catered for the whole community and adjusted and cared for a diverse range of fam ilies. I am very proud and honoured to have led the school that has meant so much to me

and my fam ily over the past 160 years. My connection with the school began in the 1850’s when my Great Grandmother attended and each generation of our family has been students there in the following decades – a total of six generations.

Werribee Primary School is well placed to continue its journey of improvement. The staff are ready, willing and able to continue to move forward. I am extremely proud of their continued improvement over recent years and know that they will continue to do a great job for the kids. I have great faith in the current leaders to be able to take the school to the next level of improvement.

The current staff are eager to continue to improve their capacity to learn and together I am sure that Werribee Primary will continue to be a great school on a continuing journey of improvement. Our students are eager learners and I have enjoyed immensely working with them on their lifelong learning.

I have met many sensational youngsters and it is them that I will miss the most. In particular I have loved working with the student leaders, watching them grow and develop into fine role models, not only for the other students, but for the school community. I am most grateful to have had the experience that being a teacher has offered and am sure that no other career provides such challenges and wonderful successes. I retire, not with any regrets, but with eager anticipation of new experiences and learning opportunities that wait in a different life style.

I wish the school ever success in the coming years and know that it will continue to service the community of Wyndham well.

Yours sincerely,

Lyn Tout Principal Werribee Primary School

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STATE ATHLETICS TITLES Congratulations to Rachel Evans who competed at the State Athletics Titles on Monday. Rachel competed in the 800m and finished tenth overall. Well done on a sensational effort.

5/6 LIGHTNING PREMIERSHIP

The 5/6 Lightning Premiership was held on Friday 26th October. All students involved had a fantastic day and displayed outstanding sportsmanship. Congratulations to the Netball team who were undefeated throughout the day. They defeated Bethany in the Grand Final 16-7. Our Soccer team was also successful in making it through to the Grand Final where they faced Wyndham Park. The score was 0-0. Our Basketballers won 3 games and lost 3. At football our team won 2 and lost 2, whilst the teeballers drew 1 match and lost 2.

10 DAY INTENSIVE SWIMMING PROGRAM The Prep-2 intensive Swimming Program commences on Wednesday 7th November and concludes on Tuesday 20th November. Payment should have been made. If you have not returned the money and form and you would like your child to participate, please contact the school immediately as the

timetable for swimming classes needs to be finalised.

BIKE ED PROGRAM The Bike Education Program has now concluded. Thank you to the many parents who assisted with the program; Penny Hendricksen, Gillian Perry, Naomi Cochrane, Sandra Savory, Christy Salvo, Libby

Spinks and Vanessa Costa. Without your support the program could not have run. A huge thank you also to Terri Walker and Leanne Crameri for their assistance.

WORKING BEE Grade 3/4J were studying the environment last term and we were interested in improving the garden area which used to be the Multicultural garden. We spent time last term and this term weeding the area but we felt it still wasn't a nice area to be in. So we came up several garden designs. We put all the best designs together to come up final design. We then wrote a letter to Mrs Doherty and Mrs Osborne to ask their permission to transform this area. We wanted to add concrete steps and stones. Some of us, with our parents, were able to come to the working bee on Sunday to help to bring our design to

life. The sustainability group will also be working in this area with one of our parents, Julie Edwards, to create a "river scene" mural.

The students are very excited about this area and how different it looks.

Sustainability Co-ordinator and Gr 3/4 teacher

Jo-Anne Wembridge

A big thank-you to the following families and staff who turned up on Saturday morning to assist with the working bee. Jo & Rob Wembridge, Janeane Davidson, Tha Blay Kunoo, Tu Na Pa Koo, Julie &

Andrew Edwards & Family, Lah Bwe Htee Ku Weeku, Hla Lin, Joanna Weeku, Sam Reynolds, Phil Morley, Pa Boe Kwalar, Sue Osborne, Thin Thin, Penny Hendricksen, Ailao Robertson, Beh Reh, Lah Shwe, Saw Nay Maw, Libby, Selina & Garrett Spinks, Andrew & Zac Caserta. The yard looks

tremendous! Many, many jobs were completed: sweeping, raking, rubbish removal, tidying around the play stations on the oval, weeding and pruning to name a few. The whole school community greatly appreciates the efforts of everyone who attended. The school yard looks fantastic!

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Werribee Library Visit Grade 3/4J has been visiting the Werribee Library every month this year. The library is a great resource and very easy to get to. The students in my grade enjoy this opportunity to have access to the wide variety of reading material often borrowing books, magazines or audio books.

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Parents of students enrolled at Werribee Secondary College, please be advised that there is a Parent information session scheduled for 7pm on Wednesday 14th November in the College Auditorium. Students are not

required at this meeting.

COMMUNITY NOTICES

Summer Hook in2 Hockey for U10s Werribee Hockey Club will be conducting a weekly “Hook in2 Hockey " program at the Werribee Hockey Grounds, McGraths Rd, Werribee. Skills sessions will be conducted by coaches at the commencement of every session f ollowed by the inter team competition games.

Weekly on Thursdays from 8/11/12 until 13/12/12 then recommencing 31/1/13 to 14/2/13. Cost $20 All enquires: Lynda 0411124216 or email lctivendale@optusnet.com.au

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• Assist your child to: • Advance beyond the level of their

school curriculum

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• Form solid study habits and self-

confidence WERRIBEE EDUCATION CENTRE

Contact: Janette Biasi on 9742 4936