From the Principal
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It is impossible to believe that we are over halfway through Term 4. This year has flown, and what a wonderful year it has been! We have achieved so much as a school and we are immensely proud at the progress students have achieved.
Last week our students in Year 1 – 6 got to experience the WA Museum organised by Mrs Reeves. They LOVED the experience! There was a huge amount of learning going on with students finding out about dinosaurs, Tasmanian tigers and getting to see a huge shark.
Looking onto next year, we are excited to announce that because of our increase in numbers, we are expanding and creating a new class. This has not happened for a number of years at Waddington, and is testament to the positive work and environment we create. Our classes next year will still be split, but will be as follows:
K / PP – Rm 9
PP / 1 – Rm 4
Year 2 / 3 – Rm 1
Year 3 / 4 – Rm 8
Year 5 / 6 – Rm 5
Things can still change as we all know, but we wanted to communicate the draft plan with you all. Book lists will be going out soon and we have changed to Officeworks this year in response to raising prices as Officeworks could provide stationery at lower prices than competitors. They are also very close to the school.
Last week, as a school we analysed the data we received from our School Opinion Surveys. We surveyed parents, staff and students PP – Year 6. The results were overwhelmingly positive with some very happy feedback from everyone. Here were some of the things parents had to say about what we do well here at Waddington PS:
“Every child is treated equally and each child is taught at their individual level”
“They give their best and make sure the kids are safe and supported in every aspect”
“You are a great school and teachers are excellent. The only thing I have to say is thank you!”
Here are some comments from our students about what they like about Waddington PS:
“That the teachers treat me with respect and I feel safe”
“I like how all the teachers respect all students opinions”
With the surveys, the closer to 5.0 the more positively the respondent feels about our school. Our average rating out of 5 for the survey was 4.4 which was even higher than last year. Our average staff rating was 4.5. For our students PP – 4 the average was 4.3 and Year 5/6 was 4.2. These scores are excellent and testament to our hard work and dedication to ensuring our students “Stive to Succeed”!
Lastly, we encourage you to help us with our survey around Mental Health and Wellbeing. Your responses will help guide our plans for students in 2024. If you could take the time to complete the survey, it would be greatly appreciated:
https://beyou.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BrqyFHxHoJ4DXv?survey_id=12103392677
Kind regards,
Jemima Tomlinson
Principal
Friendly Schools Plus
Children’s friendships can be hard to navigate as a parent! We want our children to develop the skills to get along with others and to enjoy positive friendship groups. Check out the advice below on how to teach your child to be more assertive and to get along better with others.
From the Administration Team
Term 4 Planner
The term planner is updated regularly and below are some important dates to be aware of for the next 5 weeks.
Please refer to the Term Planner page under the ‘Community’ tab for the most up-to-date events for term 4 (but this may be subject to change so please check regularly).
Important Dates
13 November 2023 – Kindness Day
14 November 2023 – School Board Meeting 2pm
21 November 2023 – High Flyers WA Excursion (Wangara) – Rooms 8 and 5
1 December 2023 – Christmas Carols
11 December 2023 – Graduation/Book Awards and Morning Tea
13 December 2023 – Graduation Dinner
14 December 2023 – Term 4 ends for students
Swap Sugary Drinks
Breakfast Club – Thank you IGA Balga!
We would like to acknowledge with thanks IGA Balga for supporting our schools breakfast club, our students appreciate your support!
Room 9 – Pirates ahoy!
ARRRGGGGH, we have had a fabulous Term in Room 9!
We have sailed the seven seas and shared some learning moments to treasure.
This term our talk for writing text has been Pirate Tom. At the start of a term a huge pirate ship appeared in our class and we have been sailing the ocean, searching for treasure, fishing and going snorkelling ever since. Our focus has been on the end of a narrative. We came up with some great new endings to our story as to why Pirate Tom could be happy; he had picnic with a mutiny of pirate friends, found an island of flowers and forgot all about looking for treasure.
In Maths we have explored capacity and mass – comparing how much a container holds and being able to share which holds more. We have compared how heavy two objects are. We learned a new technique called hefting to help us figure this out! We have also focussed on learning 3D shapes, and can now identify these in our classroom and around the school. This is a skill we are very proud of
In Science we have been learning about how things move. We have explored different types of push and pull toys and made a poster to display our findings. We are now planning a push or pull toy to put in Santa’s workshop. Lots of effort goes into this planning as we have considered what makes the toys move, the features of the toy, what materials we will use to make it. We have come up with detailed plans and cannot wait to construct them in the coming weeks.
In Geography we have been learning abouts maps. We have learned a map can direct us to a place, what features are on a map and how to read them. We created our own maps of the school, including some positional language to describe the location of buildings. We also created some fabulous treasure maps and gave detailed descriptions to create a key and instructions to find our treasure.
It is amazing to see how far our learning and skills have come throughout the year. Our Pre-Primaries are so excited to be putting those skills to use as we start reading words and writing sounds in simple words, taking every opportunity to listen out for the sounds we can hear in words and writing these all by themselves.
Community Notices
BRICKS 4 KIDZ Summer School Holiday Workshops
These holiday programs are designed for kids ages 5 -12 and there are many themes to inspire creativity and fun.
Online enrolment is at the following link:
The Summer School Holiday Workshops are located at the following locations:
- Swan Valley Anglican Community School @ Aveley
- BRICKS 4 KIDZ City West @ West Perth
Athena Calisthenics – Term 4
Telethon Kids Institute – Research Project
Please see below a flyer for a project which is helping to understand the experiences of parents who have sought support for their child when they have experienced something that has impacts on their social and emotional wellbeing.
OVIS Community Services – Feeling Safe Program
Please see below information from Naala Djookan healing centre in Mirrabooka.
