Connected

Dear Parents/Carers

As the cool weather has set in, it's exciting to see the learning heating up here at school. We are officially over the halfway mark of the term and thank you all for your ongoing support.

School Ambassador Program – Problem Solving at its Best!
Last week Aralia from 6 Pink participated in a leadership day where over 30 students from the Liverpool area listened to a variety of speakers and engaged in practical activities exploring leadership and identifying a focus area for their group project. Aralia’s group are currently developing ideas around enhancing inclusive practices in the school environment. Over the next two terms, Aralia will work with her group on writing and implementing an action plan to achieve their focus goal.  Stay tuned for updates as the project progresses.  

Holsworthy Cup Challenge
This week Miss Cascio took four of our Year 5 students to the Holsworthy High School Challenge Cup. Tahlia, Aadi, Mason and Mikayla were involved in a series of challenges over a two-hour period, where they worked collaboratively to solve many challenging maths problems. They did an outstanding job representing Wattle Grove Public School and were runners-up to Holsworthy PS.  The students were rewarded with a yummy lunch before heading back to school. Miss Cascio had a wonderful time and was so proud of our Wattle Grove team.

Paul Kelly Cup
Our Paul Kelly Cup teams had a fantastic time at the tournament on Tuesday. Both our teams played brilliantly, won several games and made the grand final. Both teams unfortunately lost their grand final, although all students had fun and represented our school with pride. Mr Wilson and Mrs Thomas were the coaches for the day and were very proud of the student efforts and sportsmanship.

Thank you, Mr Wilson, for taking our teams to this competition, providing such a wonderful opportunity to represent our school and have fun.

Cyber Safety
On Wednesday night, we hosted a parent Cyber Safety session which was presented by Senior Constable Rachel Kennedy, Youth Officer – Liverpool City Police Area Command.  This was an informative session which aimed to address online child safety issues and educate parents and carers, about what they can do to help keep their children safe online. Following on from this session, Senior Constable Kennedy, returned to Wattle Grove on Thursday to present a session to the children in Stage 3, empowering them to be safe and respectful online. Such valuable information and lessons have been delivered in supporting the safety of our children. Thank you to Mrs Cabrera, Mrs Dodd and Mrs Cook and who stayed back on Wednesday night whilst the parent forum was running.

Zone Cross Country
A huge congratulations to all our students who represented Wattle Grove at the zone cross country. Everyone did an amazing job displaying great skill and stamina! Thank you to Miss Clarke, Mrs Bartram and Mrs Dorr for supporting our students. Please see further on in the newsletter for the results.

Student Reports
Teachers are currently engaging in preparing and writing student reports. A lot of time and effort is given to this process to ensure our parents/carers are presented with valuable information about their child’s progress. Reports provide detailed information about student achievements and future learning goals.  These will go home early in Week 10. If you have any concerns, please make an appointment to see your child’s teacher. If you require additional copies of your child’s report, please contact the school via email.

Kindergarten 2024
If you have a child who will be starting school in 2024, enrolments are open and can be done online through the Wattle Grove Website. Additionally, if you know someone who has a child starting school next year, please let them know they can enrol now.

Kindergarten Orientation Dates

• Tuesday 17 October
• Tuesday 24 October
• Tuesday 31 October
  
  

School Uniform (repeat item)
Wearing a school uniform promotes a sense of belonging and unity among students, creating a positive school culture that emphasises equality and inclusivity. It is expected that students wear their full school uniform each day. This includes the school jumper or jacket on those chilly days. Families can order online from the uniform shop, or alternatively on Thursdays mornings at school. There are also second-hand options available. I ask you check that all items are labelled. We have a lot of lost property now that would add up to a fortune! 

Nicole Cameron
Principal

Last week I buzzed into 6 Pink, 5 Lavender, 3 Gold and 1 Navy who were engaging in a Number Talk. A Number Talk is a strategy that helps students develop their number sense and mathematical reasoning skills. During these lessons, students share and discuss different strategies for solving math problems with their classmates. Number Talks are a focus for teachers as part of their Professional Learning goals.

The students in all classes were actively involved in solving number problems and very articulate when sharing their strategies. The students also showed outstanding listening skills to learn from each other. Great job everyone!

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter as we recognise Reconciliation Week in our school. This year the theme  ‘Be a Voice for Generations’ urges us all as Australians to learn about our shared histories and actively be a voice for reconciliation throughout our day to day lives.

Monday 5 June is World Environment Day. Did you know that an estimated 19-23 tonnes of plastic ends up in lakes, rivers and seas annually? Days like this are reminders to be more conscious of the impact of our actions on our precious plant. This year you can join the #BeatPlasticPollution movement through the official website of World Environment Day.

Sorry Day
Thank you Mrs Robinson for organising some of our Aboriginal Stage 3 students to visit the Botanic Gardens at Mount Annan to commemorate National Sorry Day. Benjamin, Talan and Cameron experienced cultural performances, workshops, live music and witnessed the unveiling of the Stolen Generations Memorial. 

Classroom Visits
Visiting classrooms and recognising the work of our students is always a priority. This week I enjoyed sitting in on 3 Canary’s Digital Technologies lesson with Mrs Bartram. As I sat in on this lesson, I reflected on my own education, as a student in a classroom that looked vastly different to the one our students experience everyday at Wattle Grove. Our students are digital natives and the world they live in requires them to be tech savvy. In saying that, we also have a responsibility as teachers and parents to teach our students how to be able to navigate this space safely and allow them to be on social media only when they are of the recommended age.

I also sat in on Mrs Murphy’s lesson teaching three dimensional objects to 5 Lilac. This was such an engaging lesson with students focusing on mathematical language to describe the attributes of prisms and pyramids. Students were able to confirm their understanding against the success criteria showing how truly reflective they are of their learning. Thank you Mrs Murphy and 5 Lilac for allowing me to sit in on this lesson.

National Simultaneous Story Time
Every class across the nation at exactly 11am on 24 May listened to the same story being read. This year the chosen text was ‘The Speedy Sloth’ which quickly became a favoured character by our students. Thank you to our amazing teacher librarian who made this possible across the school.

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: 

  
Have a great fortnight everyone, 

Vicky Valensise
Deputy Principal

We had our first Coffee & Chat which was on Tuesday 30 of May, in our school library. Thank you to those parents who were able to attend.

Our Stage Two and Three students enjoyed jewellery making this week and were able to help some of our younger students who needed some help to thread the beads and tie knots.

Our students love the fact that our school trees are losing their leaves and did some artwork for Autumn that is featured in the hall using the leaves collected from our beautiful trees.

Congratulations to Abby and Josh who have competed for the past 3 days at the NSW PSSA State Touch Footy Championships held at St Marys. We are proud of your achievements and hope you enjoyed the experience!