Wesburn Primary School

Thank You:

This morning, as I write the newsletter, we have a very dedicated group of parents at the school once again doing some amazing ground and other maintenance work.  In spite of trees being removed and the school being somewhat messy as we await further action on our building projects, Wessie is really a lovely place to teach, learn and play.  Visitors always comment on our beautiful grounds and I must compliment Leigh, Anita, Allison, Assi, and Peter who make it this way.  We really appreciate your efforts. 

Thank you also to Rebecca, Liam and Callum’s mum, who gave us a $27 donation to our chook pen fund.   We now have over $1,100 and building should hopefully occur around second term 2010. 

Science Night:

Last night’s Science Night was a great success thanks to Ms Beale.  With 16 different experiments/activities to try, students and their parents had an interesting and relaxing afternoon.  I particularly enjoyed the activity called ‘Making Gravity’ as I saw a number of people, including Mrs Walsh, who ended up quite wet after it!  It was fun talking on the telephones that we made and working out how old we would be on different planets. It was lovely watching children and their parents discussing experiments and seeing groups of students making and then ‘lifting off’ their rockets. 

Coming up shortly are two great evenings for parents: 

Dads’ Night Out will be held on Tuesday November 10 between 6.30 and 8.30.  It promises to be a very relaxing evening for fathers or father-figures with a barbie tea and a couple of drinks while we enjoy each others’ company and listen to some interesting guest speakers.  It is vital that you advise the school that you will be attending to enable sufficient catering.  Please see further in the newsletter and your personal invitation which will be sent home this week.

Our Trivia Night this year will be held at the Sam Knott Hotel at 7pm on Tuesday November 17.  Let me assure you that it will be a fun night that anyone can win.  The cost is $5 only and you can purchase drinks at bar prices at the hotel.  You might like to make up a group of 8 or so people or just join in with others when you arrive.  Heather and Michael are once again very organised, so hopefully I will see you there. 

Stranger Danger:

Recently I was asked for information about the policies and processes we have at Wesburn to ensure that students are educated about Stranger Danger and how we go about protecting all students in a variety of situations.  At Monday night’s School Council meeting I presented detailed information on all that we do  -  far too much to present in this newsletter.  Should you want to find out more, please speak to a school councillor or come and see me directly so that we can give you a run down.     

Until next week …

Anne

Lunches

Have your children come home recently and told you about our fabulous lunches?  If not, let me tell you.  The Super Salad Rolls are so full of delicious ingredients, and you get to choose everything that goes in them.  The FYT (Fill Your Tummy) lunches are also made from fresh ingredients and are cooked in our kitchen.  Some of the yummy meals we have had include homemade chicko rolls, chicken wraps, pasta, baked potatoes, pinwheels, and much more.  We are so lucky to have parents who willingly prepare these nutritious meals for us.  Thank you. 

Farewell

It is with regret that Mrs Conway will be leaving us at the end of this week.  She has really enjoyed working with the grade 4 students and will miss them terribly however she needs to spend some well-earned time with her family.  We all wish her well in the future.  The new teacher will commence in grade 4 on Monday. 

Orienteering

At the time of writing, our grades 3 to 6 students have headed off to Maroondah Dam for orienteering today.  They have been practising their orienteering skills during P.E. lessons each week so I think they will have a very enjoyable day. 

Bushfires

I have recently received a media release from the Premier of Victoria which explains that Government schools in high-risk bushfire areas will close on a day declared a Code Red (Catastrophic) Fire Danger Rating this fire season.  A register of schools that would need to close on these days will be finalised in the next two weeks.  Ahead of these days, the DEECD will issue immediate warnings to these schools who will then notify all families.  I will advise everyone should we be included on the register. 

Front Gates

As a matter of safety I ask that all parents who enter and leave the school please ensure that they always close the main gate tightly (i.e.  that it clicks into place).  It is also important that all students enter and leave the school through this gate  -  not through the emergency gate at the oval.  Thank you for your cooperation. 

Until next week …

Anne

Term 4 is the ‘business end’ of the year.  It is the time for all students, especially grade 6 children, to gather that burst of energy and put in a final big effort to ensure they achieve the best possible results in all areas of their school year.  I cannot wait to read reports that show how much growth in learning and social abilities has occurred. 

You will have noticed the work that happened around the school grounds during the holidays.  My first reaction was devastation!  However, I got over that and recognised the importance of keeping everyone safe.  I must thank the many people who came up through the holidays to clean up the mess, to mow, to move garden beds, to generally tidy up around the school, and to fluff up the playground undersurfacing:  Leigh, Anita, Sharon, Glen, Peter, Ben, Alison and her mum (if I have missed anyone please forgive me).  We greatly appreciate your time and effort.  (The tree removal was actually helpful in some areas as it has partly cleared the new building area). 

The swimming programme is fast approaching.  A reminder note will be sent home this week just to let people know if they have any money owing for the programme.  Please make sure that this is paid by the due date. 

Recently the school received two cheques from local businesses to help us build a chook pen.  I would like to acknowledge:

• Tigeroo Maintenance & Cabinets in Warburton (5966 62413 or  0488 564 000)
• Warburton Newsagency (5966 2014) 

If you are in need of cabinets or anything from a newsagency, please try them out. 

An invitation will be sent home to all our dads to attend our ‘Dads Night Out’, tentatively planned from Tuesday November 10.  Please look out for this  -  it promises to be a great night. 

Until next week …

Anne

In the kitchen

Last week the grades 3 and 4 children combined to do the cooking class due to lower numbers resulting from the production the previous night. The grade 5/6 class only had 24 children, instead of 29 which made it more manageable also. The recipes prepared by children last Friday include:

• Chicken and Leek Risotto with garlic chives
• Spicy Pumpkin, Thyme and Ricotta Tortellini with crunchy herbs
• Minestrone soup
• Mini Quiche Lorraine
• Silver Beet Torte
• Green Salad with Orange, Snow Peas and Toasted  Sunflower Seeds
• Stewed Rhubarb or Blood Plums with Rice Pudding and Buttery Crumble

The food which was harvested from the school garden and included the silver beet, herbs, including sage, parsley, oregano, coriander and thyme, and the potatoes and spring onions. There was a star of the kitchen from each group who got to choose one of the recipes to take home.

The following grade 5/6 children were stars of the kitchen last week:  Samantha, Jacob, Matthew, Megan, Malcom, Jayden, and Jesse.

Free plants/vegetables

As a result of the new building works to provide our school with a  new modular set of rooms, the ‘U-shaped’ garden and the garden around the ramp will need to be removed. We plan on setting up a new ‘U-shaped’ garden in the area between the art room and the toilet block, near the weeping cherry tree.

Whilst we have tried to rescue most of the plants growing in our ‘U-shaped’ bed there are some remaining. These are being made available to families to pick or dig out. The vegetables remaining include silver beet, Asian greens, Tuscan Kale, and Strawberries. If you would like any of these plants, please bring along your own containers/pots and tools to remove the plants as soon as possible. There will be some tree removal at some stage during the school holidays and the sleepers from the ‘U-shaped’ bed will need to be removed before this takes place, so if you leave it too long, it may be too late.  First In — Best Dressed.

Great Southern Land 

What a fantastic evening of entertainment we saw last Thursday.  We certainly celebrated all things Australian, and I was so proud of all the performances.  One of the unique aspects of Wessie’s school performances is that every single student participates, there are no stars, and they work as a team.  Feedback from the evening has been wonderful, and I would like to include below a couple of these responses. 

I have just arrived home from a wonderful evening’s entertainment and wanted to congratulate you and all the staff, students and parents involved.  I laughed at the jokes  -  oldies and goodies  -  mouthed the songs and teared up at the finale.  Your school demonstrates inclusivity  -  of cultures, of abilities, of ages  -  in a real, concrete and moving way.

Marj (Nan)

 Last night whilst watching the end song of the concert I have never been more proud of all my four kids attending Wesburn Primary School.

It made me remember how lucky and proud I am to be Australian.

I would also like to congratulate Sandra Walsh.  She is a very talented and passionate lady, without her drive the children would not be so lucky to know Auslan.

Congratulations on such a moving tribute to our country.

The Macdonald Family 

Thanks very much to the people who have taken the time to share their thoughts with us. 

As you will all know, this is the last week of term 3.  During the holidays there will be a lot of work happening in the grounds at school.  Several trees within 15 metres of our fire refuge will be removed and all the drains will be jet blasted.  Further work will take place during term 4 to make our fire refuge an even safer place to be should we need to use it. 

Talking of holidays, I hope you all have a good one.  Remember that we return to school on Monday October 5, and, being a Sunsmart school, we need to be wearing our school hats. 

 Enjoy the break.

Anne

Casey ready for action!

Wesburn Primary School Playgroup had an exciting excursion to the Wesburn-Millgrove CFA this week.  For most of the pre-schoolers it was their first opportunity to meet real fire-fighters and have hands-on experience dressing up, sitting in the fire truck and holding fire hoses.

CFA Volunteers Andy Bennett & Tony Lewis used the opportunity to remind the parents that children are never too young to learn to call 000 and to be aware of their family’s fire plan. Andy Bennett said to make “get down low and go go go” a game to prepare children without scaring them.
Parents commented later that the briefing had been really valuable and helpful, while the kids had a great time seeing all the equipment. A real highlight was dressing up in their uniforms, and the live demonstration of the firehoses. Continue reading ‘Playgroup visits the CFA’

Policies:

I would like to invite interested parents to view and comment on current school policies.  These are subject to a three year review cycle, while at the same time new policies may be introduced and old policies deleted as a result of the many changes in the direction of education.  School Council this week ratified a large number of policies that were reviewed or introduced.   Some of these included Acceptable Use of Internet & Email. Bus Travellers, Civics & Citizenship, Dangerous, Expensive & Inappropriate Equipment, Drug Education, Equal Opportunity, Gifted/Talented Students, Homework, Literacy, Maths, Personal Learning, Sexual Harassment, Student Welfare, and Thinking Curriculum.  As you can imagine, it is impossible to photocopy and send home each of these policies to every family, but they are available for people to view at school.  Please feel free to ask.

Swimming:

This is the last reminder for parents to include their children in the swimming programme.  Continue reading ‘Wesburn Weekly September 2′

What a great ‘meeting of the minds’ we had yesterday at the Captain’s Table!  Ten wonderful parents shared a yummy morning tea as we discussed aspects of Student Motivation.  The following were key elements of the discussion: 

• Children love to be at Wesburn school (from the Attitudes to School Survey results)
• Although the students think that they are doing as much as they can, parents and teachers recognise that there is the potential to be further motivated
• Parents, especially fathers or father figures, have a strong influence over student attitudes and therefore motivation to learn and do well
• Student self-motivation should be encouraged by the whole school community (students, parents, teachers, volunteers, etc.)
• We should not accept mediocrity:  don’t accept a job done at any standard, expect a job to be done to the best of a child’s ability 

As a group, we decided that we would endeavour to produce a small booklet which would include Continue reading ‘Wesburn Weekly August 26′

School Performance

So far our students have had two lessons, and lots of practice, of their parts in our whole school performance to be held on Thursday September 10.  Having seen some of the rehearsals, I am in awe of how much they have already learnt and how entertaining they are.  In two classes I was reduced to tears because what they were performing was so moving!  Please make sure that you order your tickets early as, in previous years, they have been sold out and some people miss out.  Continue reading ‘Wesburn Weekly August 19′

Students yesterday participated in a free Water Safety Incursion.  This was an opportunity to promote and teach students at all levels the importance of keeping safe around water as well as showing them what to do in various situations.  It was also a great lead into our swimming programme in term 4.   This reminds me, swimming programme deposits were due last Friday.  If you want your child to participate and you haven’t yet returned the reply slip you will need to send it and the deposit of $40 per student back to school as soon as possible. 

At the same time as the Water Safety Incursion, our Playgroup families went on an excursion to the C.F.A.  Having already seen many of the photos and talked to some of the tiny tots who attended, I can tell you that they had a wonderful time.  Imagine sitting in the driver’s seat of a fire truck! 

Did you know that we have a playgroup that meets every Tuesday morning from 9.15 to 11 am?  Not only do the children get to do fun things and socialise with other young children, but mums also get a chance to have a cuppa and a chat as well.  Continue reading ‘Wesburn Weekly August 12′