From the Principal
Dear Waddington Families,
Welcome back to all students and to our newly appointed permanent teacher, Mrs Jessica Mance in Room 4!
It has been fantastic to have such a positive and busy start to the final term of 2024. I would like to begin by acknowledging our students who attended the Interschool Carnival on Friday last week. The teachers were so proud of their behaviour and efforts throughout the day. A big well done and thank you to all of the staff and families who supported us and helped in organising this event.
It is that time of the year again where I will be sending out our surveys to community, staff and students. Please take a few minutes to complete the online review. It will help us to plan ahead in a way that is driven by your reviews, and enable us to provide you with a local school where you feel valued and connected.
There are many parts that contribute to our school, one of which is our amazing P&C. They work in their own time, going above and beyond to fundraise for our school. An upcoming event is a Sausage Sizzle at Bunnings Malaga on Saturday 26 October. If anyone would like to volunteer to help out, even just for an hour, please let the office know.
Another program at our school that needs your support is the Out of Hours School Care provider, Their Care. They have spaces in before and after school care, offering an educational experience and constructive play, with food at both sessions. There is a considerable subsidy for anyone with a concession card, please enquire at the front office for a TheirCare flyer if you would like to know more and book a place for your child.
I have a reminder for all families that we do not bring toys into school, unless for an organised event such as news telling. This creates unnecessary problems around sharing, not sharing/taking without permission and precious items being lost or broken. You will be advised when it is appropriate to bring an item in from home, so unless that is the case, no toys are to come in. We have had a slow start to our Wheels Wednesday lunchtimes. If your child has a bike or a scooter, and a helmet, they are welcome to bring them every Wednesday. Park them in the bike rack near Room 5. I have scheduled a text message reminder every Wednesday morning to help with this, as I am sure your mornings get pretty busy!
Please keep checking our website and Facebook page for upcoming events. This term is always busy so we will do our best to keep you all up to date with what is happening.
With warm wishes to you all,
Ms Katherine Chivers
Principal
From the Administration Team
Library News
We have a range of picture books in our library that are bilingual representing many of the languages spoken by our school community. We are continually working to expand this collection and have recently purchased more books on the recommendation of parents at our Family Afternoon Tea.
For this term, we are trialling keeping the library open from 3:00pm – 3:30pm on Thursday afternoons for families to come and borrow one of our bilingual books. Miss Smith will be in the library to assist parents to choose a book with their child. We would like to thank Miss Smith for offering this service to our families.
Please note: Children must be accompanied by an adult and this is not a session for general book borrowing.
Planning for 2025
Just a reminder for families to notify the school if they are not returning to Waddington PS next year. This assists the school with planning for 2025. If your child(ren) will not be returning to Waddington, please drop into the front office as we have copies of the forms sent out earlier this term for families to notify us in writing if they won’t be returning. Thank you in advance.
Term 4 Planner
The term planner is updated regularly and below are some important dates to be aware of for Term 4.
Please refer to the Term Planner page under the ‘Community’ tab for the most up-to-date events for the term (but this may be subject to change so please check regularly).
Important Dates
23 October 2024 – Artist in Resident
25 October 2024 – Assembly – Student Leaders
25 October 2024 – World Teachers Day
30 October 2024 – P&C Halloween Disco 4:00pm – 6:00pm
1 November 2024 – Staff Development Day – Students do not attend
4 November 2024 – Interm Swimming Lessons (PP to Year 6)
5 November 2024 – Interm Swimming Lessons (PP to Year 6)
6 November 2024 – Interm Swimming Lessons (PP to Year 6)
7 November 2024 – Interm Swimming Lessons (PP to Year 6)
8 November 2024 – Interm Swimming Lessons (PP to Year 6)
11 November 2024 – Newsletter published
12 November 2024 – School Board Meeting 1:45pm
13 November 2024 – Kindy Transition Session and Morning Tea 8:50am to 11:00am
20 November 2024 – Artist in Resident
22 November 2024 – P&C Colour Run
27 November 2024 – Art in Resident
27 November 2024 – Thank you Morning Tea
28 November 2024 – Science Incursion Room 5 and Room 8
29 November 2024 – Christmas Carols & Art Exhibition
2 December 2024 – Newsletter
6 December 2024 – Wildcats evening game
9 December 2024 – Book Awards
11 December 2024 – Graduation Dinner
12 December 2024 – Term 4 ends for students
13 December 2024 – Staff Development Day – Students do not attend
Interm Swimming – Term 4 Week 5
Just a reminder that students in Pre-Primary to Year 6 have interm swimming lessons in week 5.
If you have not already returned your consent form and made your payment please do so by Friday 25 October. This year lessons are condensed into one week and the cost for families is therefore reduced to $37 per child. Please see below details of payment options for families.
Important Reminder – School Carpark Area
We ask families to please refrain from using the disabled parking bay when dropping off or collecting children. This is not a general parking area and must only be used by those who are eligible to use it. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
Free internet for unconnected families with school-aged students
School Student Broadband Initiative provides free home internet for unconnected families with school-aged students until 31 December 2025.
The Australian Government School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) is offering free home internet for eligible families with school-aged students until 31 December 2025.
To be eligible, families must:
- have no active broadband service
- have a device capable of accessing the internet
- live in premises where they can access a standard NBN service
- have a child living at home who is enrolled in an Australian school.
The free broadband starts from the day the service is activated with a participating internet provider. Families will not be placed on a paid service by the internet provider at the end of the free service without consent.
For more information and a list of participating internet providers, visit NBN Co School Student Broadband Initiative or call 1800 626 269.
If you think you are eligible and want to self-nominate for the free broadband offer:
- call the National Referral Centre on 1800 954 610 (Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm Australian Eastern Daylight-saving Time)
- visit the School Student Broadband Initiative website.
For technical support in more than 100 regional and remote communities throughout Western Australia, contact your local Community Resource Centre.
Everyday counts!
From the P&C
We have a number of activities coming up which we would like to let families know about. Please have a read and mark these dates in your calendar!
TERM 4 2024 P&C ACTIVITIES
P&C Bunnings Sausage Sizzle – Term 4 end of Week 3
P&C will be running a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle fundraiser on Saturday the 26 October 2024 at the Malaga store. The P&C will be looking for volunteers to help out with shifts during the day. If you can spare some time to help out, please let the front office know.
P&C Halloween Disco – Term 4 Week 4
P&C will be running their annual Halloween Disco in week 4 of next term on Wednesday 30 October between 4:00pm to 6:00pm. Notes went home last week.
Just a reminder that students in Kindy to Year 2 need to have a parent present for the duration of the disco.
P&C Colour Run – Term 4 Week 7
P&C will be running A Colour Run on Friday 22 November. Please see the letter below outlining how to create an online fundraising profile and the amazing prizes students can redeem for their fundraising efforts!
From TheirCare – Before and After School Care
Look what our students have been up to with TheirCare this term.
Breakfast Club – Thank you Woolworths Mirrabooka!
We would like to acknowledge with thanks Woolworths Mirrabooka for supporting our schools breakfast club, our students appreciate you!
From the School Nurse
Chickenpox
Chickenpox is caused by the Varicella Zoster Virus. In some children the illness will start with a fever or feeling unwell, but in others the rash will appear first.
The spots usually start on the chest as red, itchy lumps. These will become fluid-filled blisters, which will burst and form a crust.
Chickenpox is very contagious and is spread when the person sneezes or coughs or when someone comes in contact with the fluid from one the blisters. Your child should have had the chickenpox vaccination at 18 months of age. Vaccination is the best way to avoid chickenpox, so make sure that your child is up-to-date with his or her vaccinations.
If your child does contract chickenpox, keep him or her home from school for at least five days after the first spots appear, and until after all blisters are dry. Give your child plenty of fluids and paracetamol or ibuprofen, if needed. If blisters are in the mouth, try a soothing mouth wash and don’t give foods high in acid or salt. Soothing lotions or oils for the bath can help the itch.
Diagnosis should be confirmed by a doctor as chickenpox is a notifiable disease (it must be reported). Please make sure the school is informed if the doctor diagnosis chickenpox.
Contact your local Community Health Nurse, (insert name here) on (insert number here) for more information or see the fact sheet at www.public.health.wa.gov.au/.
Ms Mel Arnson
School Nurse
Room 8 – Our very busy Year 3’s and 4’s!
We have had another very productive term in Room 8. The start of Term 3 included our visits with Michael and Keanu from the Perth Wildcats. The year 3 and 4 students learnt about area and perimeter, building towers out of newspaper to hold a basketball, and identifying healthy food. The students have also been working hard to reach their milestones, which are different for every student based on their goals. When they reach their milestones, the Wildcats drop over their incentive- so far a pencil-case and a cap. They are currently working towards a basketball for milestone 3.
In Maths, we have been using play-doh to work on fractions and three-dimensional shapes, and the students have been working hard to improve their recall of math facts, which makes completing mathematical problems easier.
For literacy, the class have been completing an in-depth study of the novel Kensuke’s Kingdom, an inspirational story about a boy lost at sea. He ends up on an island where he befriends an elderly man from Japan who thinks his entire family died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki in World War II. This links in with our HASS studies about the environmental impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine. It is amazing to listen to the very mature discussions that the students have had regarding nuclear power pros and cons, especially in light of current politics. I feel we are all in safe hands in the future.
We have also had the opportunity to cook some Faster Pasta in the classroom. The students chopped the vegetables and cooked the dish, then ate it at lunchtime. They then researched the cost of each ingredient and calculated how much it cost a serve for this healthy dish, which was $1.60. The students also enjoyed their excursion with Rooms 1 and 5 to Brownes Dairy, where they toured the factory, tasted yoghurt, and milked a real cow.
We have had a fantastic year so far and are looking forward to heaps more learning, including swimming and Christmas activities, in the coming weeks.
Community Notices
Free Family Tax Benefit Session 22 October 2024
Please see the flyer below for a free information session being held tomorrow at the Girrawheen Library. If you wish to attend, please make the booking via the QR Code below or call Evenbrite on (08) 9342 8844.
The Smith Family – Free ADHD Information Session
Free parent workshops (online) Term 4 2024
Please see the link to some online parent workshops for this term.
Online parent workshops Triple P and Child and Parent Centres Term 4 2024Download
Wanslea – Bringing up Great Kids (Term 4)
Please see the flyer below for term 4 free parenting workshops being held at the City of Stirling (Mirrabooka).
Please click on the link below to register if you are interested in attending.
https://events.humanitix.com/bringing-up-great-kids-workshops-term-4-2024
Better Health Program – FREE Government Funded
Please see below details of a free 10 week program for families, just register via the details in the flyer.
Saver Plus Program
What is Saver Plus?
Saver Plus is a program for people on lower incomes. It’s about enhancing financial skills, to develop (and keep) good savings habits. Since 2003, Saver Plus has supported more than 60,000 people to start saving.
Saver Plus has helped overcome the barriers around education expenses. And sets families up for a brighter future.
To be eligible You must have all of the following:
- A Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card
- an eligible Centrelink payment*
- Be studying yourself OR have a child in school (can be starting school next year)
- Have regular income from work (either yourself or your partner)* including Carers Payment / Child Support / Cash in hand
- Be 18+ years old
- Agree to join in free online financial education workshops called MoneyMinded
- Not completed Saver Plus previously
* Many types of income and Centrelink payments are eligible, see the Saver Plus terms and conditions for more information.