Wangi Wangi Public School

What another terrific Tea Time Concert we enjoyed last night. All our students were able to enjoy their moments of fame on the stage to entertain their family and friends. Thank you to Louise Pavey and to all our great staff who helped put together another night of performance opportunities for our kids. We really are a BIG little school!

Thank you to parents who have popped in to ask about multi-age classes and who have all remained so positive about our great school. I have included some information for parents and carers about multi-age classes further in this newsletter.

2009 will be a year of change but our professional and dedicated staff are very capable of meeting these changes as challenges. Mrs Lesley Chaseling will be on 12 months leave via the Deferred Salary Scheme for 2009. Ms Lauren Peter will teach 5/6. Ms Peter is a young, vibrant teacher with experience teaching senior grades across different states of Australia. She comes highly recommended and will bring with her a wealth of skills. Mrs Judy Lovell will be on Long Service Leave and may accept a transfer to another school later in 2009. Mrs Lovell has been an outstanding and extremely caring teacher at Wangi over many years and has volunteered to be our ‘nominated transfer’. Our five classes for 2009 will be optimum in size ensuring the very best attention is able to be given to catering for the individual needs of all our students.

More changes:
•Towards the end of this term we will be transferring the school Library back to its designated location in the large demountable. This should be a facility for all students to access and enjoy and be the heart of the school. The current library room will be converted to a classroom for 5/6 giving access to the computer lab.
•We are installing a second electronic whiteboard for use in class 2/3 for 2009. This has been funded using $3000 from fund raising events (thank you everyone) and $3000 from school funds. Staff will be undertaking training in use of these modern teaching devices. We are planning to run a parent information session too.
•Our staff are currently trialling an innovative maths learning program with an aim to improve our students understanding of mathematical concepts and their abilities to problem solve. It is an exciting approach to learning maths, and if we decide to take on this program in 2009 we will be asking parents to buy student journals to support it. I will confirm this before Christmas with prices so parents can put aside money to pay in the new school year.
 
Congratulation to Mikey and Kimberley in Year 4 who were both successful in their applications for the OC class. They have been offered a place in the class at Biraban PS in 2009. Well done!

I was very impressed with the Year 5 Buddies at Kinder Orientation – even though the new Kindy group was very small in number, they all shared responsibilities and met and greeted families in a friendly and positive manner – great work! I am confident this group will continue the traditions of excellence in student leadership that has gone before them.

We have a number of budding artists that William Dobell would be impressed with today – one of these is Isabelle in Year 5 who has painted an outstanding landscape of Wangi with the Power Station and the Workers Club set in against a background of interesting cloud formations with wonderful reflections in the lake. You can see it hanging in our school foyer! Stunning Aboriginal art work can now be seen as our new tiled wall is almost completed outside the toilet block. We will invite parents and carers to school for a special ‘opening ceremony’ assembly later this year.

Our school has been recognised for the good work we have been doing with our ‘Anti-Bullying’ programmes and we have been asked to write a ‘Best Practise” paper to share among all NSW DET schools. This is quite an honour! Thank you to the parents who gave us feedback this year so we could make our school even safer.

You will be aware of the tragic drowning in 2006 of a Year 2 student at another school. We are revisiting our Risk Management plans and making extension efforts to ensure the safety of ALL our students at the end of year Celebration Day.  It is vital parents let us know the level of swimming ability on the notes to be returned to school. Please be aware that all non-swimmers and weak swimmers will be identified with a red wrist band and will only be allowed in the shallow end of the pool. Any student who has not had their parent/carer indicate their swimming ability will automatically be given a red wrist band and be restricted to the shallow end.

What a great day we all had at Taronga Zoo last week despite the rain. Congratulations to our students who displayed great behaviour that made us proud of Wangi students. HUGE thanks to the tremendous turn out of parents who met us there and took groups around the zoo – we couldn’t do it without you…what an adventure! The zoo was tigeriffic!

Wangi staff will NOT be taking part in the next NSW Teachers Federation 2 Hour Stop Work meeting on 19^th November. We are exempt due to our prior booking at Wangi Workers Club for a whole school rehearsal to our Tea Time Concert for Semester 2.

We are really looking forward to the Tea Time Concert as this is where all our students are given another opportunity to shine. This is one of the benefits of a small school where children can be ‘a large fish in a small pond’ and not lost among the numbers.

Most parents understand our school has been getting smaller and has been ‘under review’ for the last two years. In 2009 we will most likely be forming 5 multi-age classes, but need to wait until Kindergarten Orientation Day next Tuesday to confirm the Kinder numbers for 2009. We also URGENTLY need any families who will be moving house and/or transferring their children to another school in 2009 to let us know by next Tuesday as we will be contacting staffing at DET to confirm numbers and to start planning classes for next year. I will update you all regarding this with further details in the next newsletter.

Congratulations to our Year 5 students who completed their ‘Buddy Training’ this week. Their first roles as Student Leaders will start with taking on the big responsibility of Kinder Buddies – we are confident they will to do a terrific job!

Our Captain and Counsellor Speeches for 2009 will soon be upon us – Friday 28^th Nov after assembly. Please encourage your child to ‘have a go’ for these important roles as a student leader. Parents can help by ensuring their child is prepared and rehearsed as this will boost their confidence.

Best of luck and have great fun to our 8 fab flag bearers this Saturday night at Energy Australia stadium for the NZ Vs England RL match… Sarah, Scott, Brodie P., Jai J, Brodie H., Liam C., Caitlyn R., & Toby.  Whoo-hoo!

It’s great to be back at Wangi with friendly welcoming students and staff. It is also a pleasure to discover new faces, so I would like to extend a special warm welcome to all the new families that have joined us either late last term, or this term! Thanks to Mrs Chaseling who did a marvellous job as Relieving Principal while I was on LSL.

Last term surveys were sent to all families in relation to a new supplier for our school tops which would result in a different style (still red & black) and a different fabric. The result of this survey is that 90% of families who responded indicated “YES” they would support the new style. Bernadette is now organising

for the order. However, due to the supplies of the old style being at an all time low, the order will be large and expensive. We will need parents to place orders with payment in advance. Bernadette will be sending out order forms with details in the very near future – please look out for these.

‘Fruit break’ at school not only helps improve our students’ concentration but the scraps have made for fantastic compost. The school vege garden is being improved by this rich new soil which is full of worms – we are looking forward to even better crops this season! Thanks to the parents who support the ‘fruit break’ every day.

Our School Band participated in ‘Bandfest’ at Warners Bay Community Arts Centre on Tuesday and received a ‘commended’ for their efforts – well done to all in the Band! Thank you to Suzanne who organised this opportunity and to all the parents and grandparents who helped with transport.

We are proud to announce that we have been officially recognised as “An Asthma Friendly School”. This is largely due to the good work of our School Parliament earlier this year when they raised funds for emergency asthma kits. Minister for Health, Tom also raised awareness of Asthma at school assembly and by posting asthma first aid charts around our school. Well done everyone!

Thank you to Dean Plows who worked with Mr O’Brien on setting up a new fantastic school website while I was away.  The web address should be found further in this newsletter.

A special mention must go to Emily E in 2/3 who has been a wonderful Wangi citizen AGAIN. Emily found a flute on the home time bus with ‘Wangi’ on the case, took it home and  bought it back to school the very next day and handed it to it’s worried owner – what a hero!

Breaking News! We have just received some very exciting news. Our school recently entered a competition run by the Newcastle Knights Development Team to be a flagbearer for the World Cup Game between New Zealand and England on the 8th November this year. Out of 300 entries, 35 students were to be chosen. Eight of our students have been selected for this privilege. CONGRATULATIONS to:
Sarah B
Scott J
Brodie P
Jai J
Brodie H
Liam C
Caitlyn R
Toby G

The disco was a fun night this week with the pyjama theme. Thankyou to the helpers. This is the last for the year.
Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Trivia Night Saturday 25th October- available from the office. Groups of  8 or 10. Come and join the fun while raising money for our school.

Please be mindful that school resumes for term 4 on Monday 13th October, and the Life Education van is here on the Tuesday and Wednesday. Thankyou for the late response- only a few students left to pay.

As the term comes to the end, we wish all families a safe and enjoyable vacation.