Connected

Congratulations to the Wattle Grove community for a fabulous term! All our children reached for the stars and achieved great things which they can be immensely proud of. I would like to acknowledge and thank the Wattle Grove staff for their amazing work and dedication and our families for their fabulous support. A special mention also goes to the P&C and volunteers for their fundraising efforts this term. Many hours have gone into organising events for our students and their families and we are extremely grateful. I am looking forward to an amazing Term 3 filled with lots of learning and opportunities.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday filled with lots of fun, love and laughter with loved ones.

Shining On Stage
Congratulations to our School Performance Dance Group who performed at the Seymour Centre last Friday. They did an amazing job, showing great finesse, talent and professionalism. I felt very proud watching them shine on stage and hearing all the other principals congratulate our school! A huge thank you to our dance teachers and coordinators Mrs Farah and Miss Cascio. Thank you also to our parents who supported their children with costumes and transport. It takes many people and hours to make this happen and I acknowledge everyone involved!

Base 5 Action
Monday Week 9, Mrs Casdas and Mrs Brook took a group of students to the very first Australian inter-school Base 5 Gala Day. The students had a great time showing great skill and sportsmanship. Our Yellow Team won their competition, and our Green Team were Runners up in their section. Well done to all the students and a big thank you to Mrs Casdas and Mrs Brooks for taking the groups.

Book Week – Read, Grow, Inspire!
What a blast we all had at our annual Book Parade and Fair last week. I had so much fun dressing up as Cat in the Hat and joining all the classes for the parade. My heart was filled with joy seeing all the students dressed up, celebrating all things books! Thank you to all families for arranging, making, or purchasing a costume for your child/ren.

I must say it was very hard judging the winning items of the Vertical Garden competition. Every entry was deserving. Mrs Farah and I, acknowledge and appreciate all the time and effort that went into making these features. Over the holidays, these will be displayed in the library to make a vertical garden. I will share photos next term.

I also appreciate the support of the book fair purchases, where all funds raised will be put back into the school library. We will share our profits once finalised. I hope the children have enjoyed their purchases.

 Thank to Mrs Farah for her leadership of the day and to all our Wattle Grove families for your awesome support.

P&C Vege Patch
We are looking for volunteers to help with our school vege patch. If you have some time to spare to help that would be great. If you can help in some way, please contact the office and I will be in touch. This is a great learning resource for the children. Last weekend, Bobbi, one of our mums, did some great work to get the patch started again. If we could get some regular helpers, this would reduce the time needed by volunteers. I am not much of gardener myself so support and advice would be greatly welcomed!

External Validation – Congratulations Wattle Grove!
As mentioned in the previous newsletter our school has been involved in an External Validation process. This week, saw the final phase which was a panel meeting. The panel meeting for external validation is a collaborative gathering where the school shares their programs and practices with two independent Department Representatives. I am proud to say the panel were super impressed with all aspects of Wattle Grove. Particular areas for recognition were, Learning Culture, Wellbeing, Classroom Practices, Data Use, Educational Leadership, School Resources and Management Practices and Processes.  Our fabulous feedback is recognition of the brilliant work done by staff, students and community, keeping students at the forefront of all we do!

Student Reports
You should have received your child’s report this week. Our format provides detailed information in relation to your child’s grade and achievements in English and Mathematics, and their future learning goals. Grade allocation and levels of achievement in specific areas is also provided for the other four Key Learning areas. A note was included in the report envelope, providing the opportunity for you to request a parent-teacher meeting. Please return this as soon as possible, if required. The class teacher will contact you to arrange a suitable time.

Save the Date
Education Week will be held from 31 July – 4 August with the theme being ‘175 years of Public Education – Learning, Celebrating Embracing.’ There are several items planned, which include our open day on Tuesday 1 August. More details will be released closer to the day.

We have many events planned for the term. These dates have also been published on Audiri and can be seen in this newsletter.

NAIDOC Week – ‘For Our Elders’
NAIDOC Week in NSW holds immense significance as it honours and celebrates the rich history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, fostering greater understanding and appreciation within the community. It provides a platform to recognise their contributions and challenges, promoting reconciliation, and advocating for the rights and equality of Indigenous Australians.

Today at Wattle Grove we celebrated NAIDOC week, although this week officially commences on Sunday. Led and organised by Mrs Robinson, the students were involved in an array of activities to learn and celebrate the Aboriginal culture. The students played Indigenous themed games, studied Aboriginal Artwork and listened to Uncle Darrell our guest speaker for the day. Uncle Darrell brought in many artefacts for the children to see and learn about, he spoke about the Aboriginal traditional way of life and the importance of respecting our environment and the animals in it. It was a beautiful day of celebration and learning for all. 

Enjoy the holidays!

Nicole Cameron
Principal

This week I zoomed into 2 Mint and read one of my favourite story books, What to do you do with a chance? The students were attentive listeners and engaged in great discussion about the theme of the book and the message the author was attempting to give the reader. I loved my time in 2 Mint and can’t wait for more class visits next term! 

Welcome to the last newsletter of an extremely busy Term 2. This week you would have received your child’s Semester One report with an opportunity for you to request an interview should you want to follow up any matters with your child’s teacher. Teachers have also requested an interview for some students so please be sure to check out the letter that went home with the reports.

Beanie Day
Thank you to our parents and carers who support our school initiatives. This week the SRC raised funds for Brain Cancer with a Beanie Day. Miss Jones and Miss Watts facilitated the SRC members to run this whole school event. Many of our students talked about someone they knew who had been affected by this illness. Georgia from 2 Olive read a poem as a tribute to her uncle. We would like to thank Georgia’s aunt, who matched our student donations, making it a total of $1077. Well done to our Wattle Grove community!

NAIDOC Day at Wattle Grove!
NAIDOC week occurs in the school holidays but we have celebrated during the last week of Term 2. This year’s theme is ‘For Our Elders’ and today many activities were planned by class teachers to engage students in respectful and authentic ways of learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ rich and ongoing contribution to our education system and nation.

Special mention to Mrs Donna Robinson who has steered the ship, providing teachers with resources, working with our Aboriginal students on their cultural goals and engaging an Aboriginal elder, Uncle Darrell, to speak to our students. At yesterday’s Infants assembly, K Green gave a beautiful acknowledgement recognising the Dharug land on which we learn and play. In addition, the choir sang a welcome song in Dharug to recognise this important week on our calendar.  What a wonderful way to end the term.

Child Protection and  Respectful Relationships
During Term 3, students will engage in Child Protection and Respectful Relationships lessons delivered by their class teacher. Some of the content taught in Child Protection deals with sensitive issues. Your child's teacher will teach the content in an age appropriate way. All of our staff have participated in an induction or child protection awareness training annually.

Child Protection education is required to be taught in every stage of learning from Kindergarten to Year 10 as part of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education and involves teaching and learning about three themes:

Theme 1 Recognising abuse

Theme 2 Power in relationships

Theme 3 Protective strategies.

If you have any questions or would like to withdraw your child from this component of the curriculum, please contact your child's class teacher or Mrs Valensise via the front office.

Spelling Bee
A component of Wattle Grove Public School’s High Potential and Gifted Education Program in Stages Two and Three is participation in the 2023 Premier’s Spelling Bee. 

After an initial written assessment, super spellers were selected to compete in their stage final.

The Stage Three finalists were Aralia, Kai, Fawzan, Audrey, Ethan H, Georgie, Bria, Tahliah, Evaan, Ajisth, Aadi and Lucas.

The Stage Two finalists were Grayson, Aahnik, Tyson, Chloe, Bodhi, Amelia T, Amelia H, Noah, Jay and Patrick.

Congratulations Evaan, who after ten gruelling rounds in the Stage Three Final achieved a perfect score and is our Senior School Spelling Bee Champion. Congratulations also to Chloe who is our Junior School Spelling Bee Champion. These students will go on to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee Final in Term Three.

Planning Week
This week, all stage teams worked together for a full day to collaboratively plan Term 3’s learning. There is always rich discussion around what students are expected to learn at each stage of learning and how we are going to get them there. Collaborative planning weeks are possible because of the support staff who collapse their programs for the week and take classes so that teachers can work with their team to design authentic teaching and learning experiences.

Social Media Day
June 30 marks Social Media Day globally. It is a day to remind ourselves and our children how to be good digital citizens and how to keep safe online.

Did you know:

·         12–17 year-olds spend an average of 14.4 hours on YouTube, Snapchat or Instagram and the use of TikTok had increased by 26% over three years

·         The eSafety Commissioner has released a series of modules that students 10-14 years of age can use to learn how to navigate safely in the online world using simulated social media environments. Follow the link:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Final ICAS Reminder
Just a friendly reminder that if you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please visit the online Parent Payment System to make a direct payment to UNSW Global. The Parent Payment System is a simple and secure online payment service specifically for parents to purchase ICAS Assessments. 

Payment Process

Visit the Parent Portal here:  https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

(use Google Chrome)

1.       Enter the school’s unique access code: BQW671

2.       Enter your child’s first, last name, date of birth and year and then SAVE student.

3.       Next, select the assessments (add to cart) the student will participate in.

4.       Follow the online instructions to make your payment.

5.       Online payment closes 31 July 2023

IMPORTANT:  Please enter your child’s name accurately into the system as it will appear this way on their ICAS certificate.

In 2023 students have the opportunity to participate in the following subjects:

Communicating with your Child’s Teacher
If you have a matter you wish to discuss with your child’s teacher, it is best to ring the front office where the ladies will get the message to the teacher during the course of the day. Alternatively, you may wish to email your child’s teacher directly. However, please keep in mind that our teachers are teaching their class, or at PSSA training, or out on playground duty, or in a stage, whole school or Learning Support Meeting, meaning they cannot always get back to you promptly. Teachers may also find it difficult to respond after 5:30pm due to outside work commitments.

Have a great holiday everyone and may you enjoy some family time. I know I am looking forward to some wind down time. 

Vicky Valensise
Deputy Principal

Number Bonds: The new syllabus talks about Number Bonds which is essentially about combining and separating quantities. Try the activity below with different numbers during the holidays to deepen your child’s Number Sense.

Ask your child to share 2 numbers that combine to make 18 and then 3 numbers that combine to make 18. 

Last Friday, K-2 students engaged in a Responsible Pet Ownership Incursion as part of their ‘Safe Living’ PDHPE unit of work.

They met Yvonne and her well-trained German Shepherd, Tana.

Students listened to a presentation, participated in role plays and sang songs to learn important safety strategies when interacting with dogs who are scared, angry and happy.

They learnt how to use the stop, ask, smell, pat strategy when approaching a stranger and their dog. Some students even got to practise this strategy when they pat Tana.

Students had a great time, and all received a take home activity sheet with stickers. For further learning opportunities, you can download and explore the app ‘Pet Town.’

We welcomed the Defence Member & Family Services to our school to run a workshop for some of our Year 4-6 Defence students. The ADF Equip program enables students to better manage complexities faced by students due a parental absence and/or relocation. We are looking to hold more programs for our students later in the year.

Well done Abby, Aria, Layla and Mackenzy for representing Liverpool Zone Girls Soccer. The team played three games, winning one game. Special mention also to Miss Jones and Miss Watts who stepped up to select and train the Zone team. 

We are very proud to announce that the Liverpool Zone Boys Softball Team took out the SSW Championship undefeated.

On a super windy day in Camden, each member of the team (below) put in 100% to come away with this rare achievement. 

Congratulations to Charlie and Joel who will represent SSW at the PSSA State Softball Championships and will play at Woolooware in September. 

Even though the Liverpool Zone Girls team came 5th out of the 7 teams, they managed to have fun despite the tough draw (no bye), very tough competition from some of the other zone teams and the very windy, cold, dry weather. The stats were as follows;

Round 1) The Fields defeated Liverpool 7-4

Round 2) Liverpool defeated Razorback 13-4

Round 3) East Hills defeated Liverpool 7-0

Round 4) Liverpool and Macarthur drew 7-7 and 

Round 5) Campbelltown defeated Liverpool 9-0. 

Well done to Heba, Abby and Kaitlyn and congratulations to Heba who will represent SSW at the PSSA State Softball Championships later this year.

On Monday 19 June the Liverpool Zone Boys Soccer team played the Sydney Southwest carnival at Harrington Park Sporting Fields. The Wattle Grove boys who competed in this team were Marcus, Antony, Josh L, and Ryder.

The day started out cold with frost covered grass. The team played Campbelltown, Lansdowne, The Fields and Bankstown and were undefeated in their pool, only conceding one goal. 

With this amazing effort, the team found themselves in the final against a very strong and skilful Horsley Zone. The boys played their best and gave it their all, but unfortunately losing to Horsley in the end.

On Tuesday, the Liverpool Rugby Union team competed at the SSW Rugby Championships. 6 zones competed this year, making it our biggest competition in over 10 years.

Our team of 13 were reduced to 9, however we filled out the team with some reserves from Campbelltown. 

We won our Pool Games against East Hills: 21-7 and against The Fields 26-0, before winning the Semi Final against Campbelltown 24-7. In the Grand Final we were narrowly beat 22-20 against Bankstown/Barbarians (despite our zone making a huge comeback after being down 22-5).

A great effort and congratulations to all students from our zone and the Campbelltown reserves who joined us. Well done Josh!