From the Principal
Dear Waddington Families
Last week we said farewell to Mrs Kylie Jones who has taken a six month placement at Bullsbrook District High School. This is much closer to her home, and is two levels up from her Waddington position. We are sad to see her go and wish her all the best. Ms Kortnee Evans has joined us from Ballajura Community College as our new MCS. She brings with her a deep understanding of school finances and systems. Welcome to Waddington, Kortnee!
It has been a very busy term so far, with many more exciting events still to come. Thank you so much to our wonderful P&C who ran the Mother’s Day stall so that our students could purchase a special gift to take home. Staff and students showed their gratitude by commemorating P&C WA Day a week early with an afternoon tea and presentations from students on Friday afternoon.
On Wednesday of this week, at 1:45pm, we invite all families to our Waddington afternoon tea. We have invited Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Services, WANSLEA, Communicare, Roseworth Child and Parent Centre, along with 12 Buckets and Their Care who are providing some afternoon tea. Interpreters will also be attending. We welcome any dishes that you would also like to bring for us to share. All are welcome, bring your small children to play and meet some new friends.
The preliminary NAPLAN results have been released to schools. It is clear from the positive trends in the Waddington results that our programs and focus on Explicit Instruction are creating long term change in the outcomes for our students. As always, we will study the data and use this to inform how we can continue to build on this success, and strengthen the support we have in place for students who need more specific instruction.
On Wednesday morning, all of our students will be participating in National Simultaneous Storytime at 10am. We will be meeting in the library to hop online and read the book ‘Bowerbird Blues’, along with over two million other children from Australia, New Zealand and around the world.
Please look at our website for the Calendar Events coming up, and follow us on Facebook.
With warm wishes from us all at Waddington.
Kind regards,
Katherine Chivers
Principal
From the Administration Team
Term 2 Planner
The term planner is updated regularly and below are some important dates to be aware of for term 2.
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
20th May 2024 – Kindness Day
20th May 2024 – Newsletter – Week 6
22nd May 2024 – National Simultaneous Story Time – whole school
22nd May 2024 – Multicultural Afternoon Tea – Staff Room 1.45pm – 2.30pm
27th May 2024 – National Reconciliation Week
30th May 2024 – Science Incursion – Years 3 – 6
31st May 2024 – Staff Development Day – Students do not attend
3rd June 2024 – Public Holiday – WA Day
6th June 2024 – Science Incursion – All About Bees – Years 1 – 2
7th June 2024 – Assembly – Room 5
12th June 2024 – Multicultural Afternoon Tea – Staff Room 1.45pm – 2.30pm
14th June 2024 – Interschool Lightning Carnival
28th June 2024 – Term 2 2024 ends
From the Student Wellbeing Officer
Hi, my name is Aimee, and I am the new Student Wellbeing Officer for Waddington primary school on Mondays and Wednesdays. I am excited to be working the children, families, and staff.
My hobbies are painting, cooking, and taking my dog Sparrow for a walk. The children at Waddington are an amazing bunch and I look forward to getting to know everyone.
If you ever see me around the school come and say “Hi”!
WA Student Assistance Payment (WASAP)
The WA Student Assistance Payment (WASAP) is from the state government. Parents and carers of eligible students can claim the payment to help with the cost of schooling.
The payment for a:
- primary school student, including Kindergarten, is $150
- secondary school student is $250.
Claims are open. The last date to receive claims is 28 June 2024.
Claim process
The preferred method for claims is through the ServiceWA app. If parents and carers are unable to claim through ServiceWA, there are alternative ways to submit a claim.
In order of preference, a claimant can use the:
Claimants must send the printable claim form to:
Department of Education
Reply Paid 85719
East Perth WA 6892
Everyday counts!
Multicultural Afternoon Tea – 22nd May 2024
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.
Breakfast Club – Thank you Woolworths Mirrabooka!
We would like to acknowledge with thanks Woolworths Mirrabooka for supporting our schools breakfast club, our students appreciate your support!
From the School Nurse
Anxiety – How To Help Your Child
All children experience anxious feelings as part of their normal childhood development. Some anxious feelings include fear, agitation, nervousness, worry and apprehension. Some children find it harder to get these feelings under control and may experience anxiety more intensely and more often than others.
Anxiety is when the level of fear or worry about something is out of proportion to the level of risk or danger. Thinking about the situation makes them more worried and tense.
If your child is experiencing anxiety try to:
- Acknowledge your child’s fear – don’t dismiss or ignore it.
- Gently encourage them to do things they’re anxious about, but don’t push them to face situations they’re not yet ready to face.
- Wait until they actually get anxious before you step in to help
- Praise him for doing something they’re anxious about, rather than criticising them for being afraid.
- Avoid labelling your child as ‘shy’ or ‘anxious’.
Your child might need some extra support if their anxiety stops them from doing the things they want to do or interferes with their friendships, school work or family life.
If you are worried about your child, contact your local Community Health Nurse, School Psychologist or General Practitioner. For more information about anxiety in children go to www.raisingchildren.net.au or https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/parenting#{2B2A2035-717C-4536-B6DF-BE5D9EFA3AF5}
Room 8 – Our busy Year 3’s and 4’s
Wow! Halfway through Term 2 already!
I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother’s Day the other week and managed to spend some time with their loved ones. Room 8 have spent a few weeks preparing for this, making pop stick trinket boxes with flowers on them, as well as waterfall heart cards, potato print wrapping paper and yummy Honey Joys. Making the Honey Joys helped students learn about capacity and measuring, as well as sharing tasks and helping each other. The students loved working on these amazing gifts and from all accounts, they were really appreciated.
We have been learning about capacity in Mathematics this term and had the chance to experiment with different shaped containers, estimating how big the puddle would be when we emptied them. Some students are very good at this- not sure if that’s because they spill a lot or if they are really thinking about how much water a container can hold. This unseasonal warm weather made this a great activity.
In literacy, we are continuing with our novel study of Matilda by Roald Dahl. The students have been very excited to have Mr Josh in our class some days, as he uses the voices when he reads which is very entertaining. We are writing our own narratives and improving our sentences as well as learning how to punctuate speech properly. The students use of difficult vocabulary continues to amaze me. Every time I introduce new words, the class immediately experiment with using them in both their writing and their conversations. I would love anyone in the school to let me know if they are bamboozled by some precocious 8-year-olds (the room 8 students know what this means!).
We have just completed our HASS unit on the First Fleet, and the students where very engaged researching some convicts who arrived in Australia back in 1788. We have also identified different types of data in Digital Technologies and students had fun sending messages to each other in morse code (dots and dashes), semaphore (flags) and Braille (raised bumps that blind people use to read).
We are looking forward to continuing this learning journey.
Community Notices
Dianella Secondary College – Girls in STEM Day (Years 4 – 6)
Dianella Secondary College is proud to announce our Girls In STEM Day, scheduled for Thursday, 20th June (Week 10) from 9:00am to 2:30pm.
Parents will be required to arrange transport for their child to and from Dianella Secondary College.
If you have any questions or require further information about the Girls In STEM Day, please do not hesitate to contact Kat Salisbury at (08) 9345 9200.
Please see the flyer below with information on how to register for this event.
Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) information
Please click on the link below for information about the AEDC. You can obtain more information by visiting http://www.aedc.gov.au or contact Ms Chivers or Mrs Fairhead.
Naala Djookan Healing Centre – Wellness activities May – August 2024
Please see the link below to obtain more information about the wellness activities on offer by the Naala Djookan Centre
Free online parent workshops – Term 2 2024
Please click on the download button below for further information about various workshops that are being facilitated by school psychologist consultants with Triple P and Child and Parent Centre teams.
Roseworth Child and Parent Centre – Free Parent workshops May/June 2024
