From the Principal
Dear Waddington families,
Welcome to Week 9!
We have got an exciting last 2 weeks of term ahead of us. Next week, we will be having the School Assessment Team from the Department of Education coming in to visit our beautiful school. We are looking forward to showing them around Waddington PS and telling them all of the wonderful things we have been doing. We will be having some students meet with them, as well as some of our board members.
Our staff have been busy working on our new vision and business plan for 2023 – 2026 and we would love your opinion on how we are doing at Waddington. Your views will help us shape our focus for the next 3 years. We would really appreciate as much feedback as we can, so we are asking parents to please take this short survey at https://www.schoolsurvey.edu.au/s/Upc8VKzY
In the lead up to the holidays, and possibly over the holidays, our undercover area and basketball court will be getting some much needed upgrades. We are extremely excited about these and cannot wait to have them happen. Our students and staff deserve to have modern facilities to use and it is part of our commitment to providing the best environment for your children.
We have some more staffing news. Ms Del Hemmingway, our fabulous Auslan teacher will be officially retiring at the end of this term. Ms Hemmingway came back from retirement two years ago, which was a huge help to the school. Ms Hemmingway now needs to look after her health, and has decided to retire permanently this time. Our staff, students and school community are extremely fond of Ms Hemmingway and we are very sad to see her leave. We all wish her well.
With Ms Hemmingway’s retirement, we have been in discussions with Balga SHS and their head of Aboriginal Education, Donelle Slater. We have discussed as a staff the way forward for Waddington PS, and as you know we have had a strong focus on bringing in Noongar language for our students over the past couple of years. We have been fortunate to have been offered by Balga SHS to be a part of their Aboriginal Education program and have their Noongar teachers deliver Noongar at our school in 2023. This will be our Language Other Than English (LOTE). We are aware our students enjoy Auslan, and it has been a wonderful part of our school for many years. We have discussed this change extensively as a staff, and with our School Board and we are all in agreeance that this is a positive opportunity for our students and school. If you would like to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to come in and see me.
On Wednesday at our assembly, 12 Buckets will be coming to introduce themselves to the school community. We are very excited that 12 Buckets will be joining our school next year and offering mentoring to our students! 12 Buckets are a not-for-profit organisation that aim to provide support and one-to-one programs to students who may be experiencing difficult times, or just in need of some confidence. You can find out more about them here https://12buckets.org/
In Term 4, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:10am we will be offering Run Club for students. Each lap will earn students a WaddyWow raffle ticket! Students can do a couple of laps and then go to breakfast club! It is open to all students in the school and part of our focus on improving the physical health of our students and getting them ready for learning at the beginning of the day.
Lastly, there are some FREE art therapy workshops available for students and their parents over the next school holidays through Natalie, our counsellor from Pharmacy 777 in Nollamara. Places are limited so if you are interested, please click on the link below:
Kind regards,
Jemima Tomlinson
Principal
From the Administration Team
The term planner is updated regularly and below are some important dates to be aware of for the last few weeks of school.
Just a reminder that Term 4 commences on Tuesday 11th October 2022 for both students and staff.
Please refer to the Term Planner page under the ‘Community’ tab for the most up-to-date events for this term and the planner for Term 4 (but this may be subject to change).
Important Dates
12th September 2022 – Veggie Week!
14th September 2022 – Assembly 9am – Room 9
19th September 2022 – Book Week – all week
22nd September 2022 – Public Holiday – National Day of Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II
23rd September 2022 – Book Week Dress up Parade
23rd September 2022 – Last day of Term 3 for Students and Staff
10th October 2022 – Staff Development Day (Students do not attend)
11th October 2022 – Term 4 Commences for Students
24th October 2022 – Interm Swimming Commences – PP to Year 6
Interm Swimming Payment Reminder
With Interm swimming commencing in week 3 of term 4 just reminding families to please ensure payments for the lessons are received by no later than Wednesday 20th October 2022. The cost is $64 per student for the 10 lessons. We still have 2 weeks left of term 3 and if families would like to organise payment plans to assist with this expense, please come into the front office to organise.
Athletics Carnival – Congratulations Meeka!
On Monday 5th September and Wednesday 7th September Waddington students had their Jumps and Throws and Athletics Faction Carnival. We were so lucky with the weather and only had a slight drizzle of rain on Wednesday mid morning before some sun came out for the remainder of the day.
Congratulations to all the winners and also to Meeka faction as the overall winners on the day. It was very close and came down to the wire with Kala on 644 points and Meeka on 648 points. The last time Meeka took out the Faction Carnival was 2018, well done Meeka!
Thank you to Mr Greer who organised both carnivals. So much time and efforts goes into organising these events and it’s especially tricky this time of year with the weather. I’m sure you’ll all agree it was a wonderful day! Thank you to everyone who assisted on both days.
The P&C had a successful day raising approximately $600 from their sausage sizzle. Thanks to our wonderful community for their support in helping raise these funds for our school.
Room 5 – Our school leaders
This year is flying by and Room 5 has had a jam-packed term. In the classroom we are reading the novel, Skellig by David Almond, continuing to build our ability to solve maths problems mentally and learning about some famous Aboriginal people in HASS.
The exciting visitors keep coming with: our amazing Science Week activities put together by Miss Hoff highlighted by the Bee Incursion. The engaging Book Week performance which had us all up and moving. The crucial First Aid Incursion which taught us how to help an unconscious person and what to do in an emergency. While Constable Care visit taught us about friendship and how to manage bullying.
Earlier this term we held our Student Councillors and Sports Captain elections for the second half of the year and the new students in these roles have settled in very nicely. They are busy preparing workshops to teach other students, starting with Thomas’ last week. I cannot wait to see what the rest of our leaders deliver.
The Sports Carnival is a huge event for the whole school and was such an exciting day, but it is a great opportunity for our class to build their leadership capacity. It was fantastic to see the students step up in the weeks leading to the carnival to help teach the younger students. On the day, the teachers in the bays noticed the great attitude Room 5 set, by encouraging their team and supporting others. We are now looking forward to our Interschool Carnival next term where we hope to continue to this attitude, showing all of the others schools the ‘Waddington Way’ and strive for success.
Community Notices
Pharmacy 777 Nollamara
Please see below some information about a Wellbeing Walk and Morning Tea organised by Pharmacy 777 in Nollamara on 10th October 2022.
Stirling Leisure Centres – Herb Graham Mirrabooka
Please click on the link below for information about school holiday programs run at the Herb Graham Mirrabooka centre for these coming holidays.
https://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/recreation/pages/school-holiday-programs
Kingsway September / October School Holiday Programs
Please see the timetable below for upcoming school holiday programs running at Kingsway Indoor Stadium.
Balga SHS Art Week
Balga Senior High School invites Waddington families and staff to attend our 2022 Arts Week event on campus on Thursday, 15 September.
Starting at 5 pm, we will showcase the extraordinary talent of our students through an exhibition of media and visual arts, plus live music and drama performances.
During the Visual Arts Exhibition opening between 5.00pm and 5.45pm, there will be light snacks served by hospitality students and self-service tea and coffee.
This is a FREE event, and all are welcome.
Kingsway Indoor Stadium – Junior Futsal Competition Term 4 2022
Please see the flyer below for information about the Junior Futsal Competition running at Kingsway Indoor Stadium next term
Athena Calisthenics Club
Please see below some details for the above club seeking registrations for Term 4 2022.
