Principal's Report

Staffing Update

Following on from last week’s staffing announcements in the Newsletter, we have further news to share this week.

Firstly, we congratulate Emilie Kaparis on her appointment to Westmeadows PS. Emilie has done a great job teaching in our Foundation area for the last 3 years and is certainly going to be missed at WNPS. Emilie lives only a stones throw away from her new school and will now gain more hours in her day as a result of not needing to navigate Melbourne’s roads! We all wish Emilie well for her new position and her bright career ahead in education.

We also congratulate Tom Drummond on his appointment to North Melbourne PS as Acting Assistant Principal for 2023. Tom has worked very hard over recent years to forge his leadership pathway and this appointment is certainly well-deserved. As one of our highly respected leaders, Tom has played a pivotal role in many school aspects of our school over the years, especially in regards to advances in our Literacy program. We extend our best wishes for Tom as his pathway into Principalship unfolds further. Pending the opportunities that emerge for Tom next year, he still retains ongoing employment at Willy North for 2024 onwards.

State wide selection processes have been finalised over the last week to confirm three new classroom teachers for 2023.

We congratulate Gael Howard, who currently works in our tutor program, on securing a full time classroom position for next year.

We will welcome a couple of new faces to Willy North, with Carolyn Watt transferring from Bayside College and Anita Colebrook beginning her career at WNPS as a graduate teacher.

The changes to our workforce planning over the last few weeks have delayed our finalisation of the teacher placements for next year. We will aim to publish our 2023 teams in next week’s Newsletter.

Retirements

As announced last week, two of our longest standing staff members, Fran McCormick and Wendy Drayton, have made the very difficult decision to retire at the end of this year. Both Fran and Wendy have nurtured and supported so many students at Willy North over the years and will certainly be missed in future years.

As Fran led the school’s Performing Arts program for many years, we were wondering if there were any past Willy North students who would like to sing a song or play an instrument at an upcoming retirement function on Tuesday 6th December. If any parents would like to know more about this special opportunity to farewell Fran & Wendy, could they please email me at jim.cahill@education.vic.gov.au. We really want to make sure that we do justice to these send offs!

Community Carols

We hope all parents have locked Tuesday 13th December in the phone calendars for our upcoming Community Carols. This is a fantastic event for celebrating the past year and for embracing the upcoming festive season. For those families coming along to join in the performance, all that is needed is a picnic rug to sit on with the show beginning at 7:00pm. For those who would like to bring along a picnic dinner beforehand, gates will be open from 6:15pm.

We look forward to another fabulous Willy North community event and have our fingers crossed for a lovely summer’s evening!

School Council

Our current School Councillors will meet tonight for the last council meeting of 2022. During the course of this year, nine parents and four teachers have met on a regular basis as school councillors to make important decisions for our school. It’s certainly been a busy year with councillors overseeing the first year of a new Strategic Plan and the appointment of a new Principal. The commitment of our councillors to their roles has indeed been commendable and we have been so grateful for their valuable time and input.

It is indeed fitting that we take a moment to sincerely thank the following parents and teachers for all of their hard work and prudent advice over during 2022:

Martin Gill (President), Elissa Gale (Vice-President), Simon Middleton (Treasurer and Facilities & Finance Convenor), Heath Venn (Community Engagement Convenor), Aaron Hunt, Mark Smith, Mel Falanga, Micheal Tracey, Rebecca Harding, Wendy Emin, Sarah Nobbs and Cathy Graham.

At the conclusion of each year, half of the councillors finish their tenure. Pending any potential renominations from existing councillors, there are always vacancies on School Council at the start of each school year. Watch out for this information in the newsletter early next year if you are interested in becoming a councillor.

Enjoy the rest of the Week,
Jim Cahill—Principal

END OF YEAR LIBRARY RETURNS

Everything needs to be back at school by next Tuesday, 6th December

As we are winding down our school year, we’ll be needing all school library books to be returned to school by Tuesday, 6th December. This is only books that have the Williamstown North Primary School Library barcode on it. You will find this on the back cover, or just inside the back cover of books, and it looks just like this:

It would be great if you could prompt/assist your child to search for any library books at home, and to ensure these are returned by the date above. Please check your child’s shelves, under your child’s bed, etc…

During the last two weeks of the school term, we always undertake a huge stocktake of the books in the library. Thank you in advance for your support.

Vivien D’Aquino—Library Coordinator

"Year 4 Spread Joy Around The World"

For many years the Year 4 as part of their Community program have donated to the World Vision Gift program. This year is no different and the Year 4 students and teachers have embraced the opportunity to give knowing this will help children from around the world live life to the fullest with basic necessities.

As part of the Year 4 financial Literacy unit, the students in their class groups, will collect and count the donations each day and look through the catalogue to purchase possible gifts . At the end of the collection period the students will present a speech about the possible gifts they could purchase and the class will vote for the gifts to purchase.

We are sure many Year 4 families are thrilled to have some extra chores being completed around the house as the students think of ways to earn some extra money to donate! Donations will close on Monday 5th December and the Year 4 team look forward to informing you of the final total collected and the gifts each class donated. Here is the link for more information https://www.worldvision.com.au/gifts

Loud Shirt & Crazy Hair Day

Willy North Primary School will be having a ‘Loud Shirt & Crazy Hair Day!’

We may even have a parade of who has the craziest hair and loudest shirt! You could even spray hair, but that’s optional.

It is essential to wear a ‘loud shirt’. This event will take place on Friday 2nd December.

Students will need to bring a gold coin donation. The donations will support NextSense who support children with hearing loss reach their full potential.

By Sam C & Patrick B—JSC Representatives.

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SPORT News

Foundation Swimming Program

On Monday the students from Foundation travelled to MAC (Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre) to start their two week Swimming program. This is a curriculum requirement and promotes water safety, confidence and fun. The Foundation students have been looking forward to this opportunity all year and from all the excitement and smiles we received, the program didn’t disappoint. Once again, a huge thank you to the parents that have volunteered to assist our foundation staff each day and of course the staff themselves for making sure these programs run so smoothly.

Years 5 and 6 Community Sports

Over the past seven weeks the students from Years 5 and 6 have be participating in a Community Sports Program where they have had a taste of seven different sports. These Sports have been, Basketball, Pilates, Lacrosse, Lawn Bowls, Cricket, Tennis and Table Tennis. Students also competed in a class V class Dodgeball round robin for the weeks that it rained. The students all participated extremely well and showed good school values as well as learning some new skills. We want to say a massive thank you to the teams from Years 5 and 6 for their support as well as our external coaches that came into our school to facilitate these sports.

Alphan from Willy Magic, Pilates with Angela from Back It Up, Lacrosse with Williamstown Lacrosse, Cricket with Luke from Cricket Victoria and Lawn Bowls with Williamstown Bowls Club.

If your child would like to continue with any of these sports, please see the flyers attached.

Year 4 Hoop Time State Finals

Last Monday the students from Year 4 competed in the State Hoop Time finals. This is a huge achievement for them to reach this level of competition, especially, being their first time competing against other schools. Unfortunately, the results didn’t go our way but as previously mentioned this is an incredible achievement as these students made it into the top twenty teams in the state.

We want to congratulate these students for showing amazing school values and great sportsmanship on the day. Thanks to all the parents and students that came out to Dandenong to cheer and support both teams. We also would like to thank Alphan from Willy Magic and Brooke's Dad Paul Lindemann for running training sessions for our teams at lunchtimes, as well as Albie's Dad Ashley Bettenay for coaching on the day.

Year 5 & 6 Basketball Hoop Time Divisional Finals

Congratulations to all Year 5 Boys & Girls who played in the Divisional Basketball Hoop Time event. Both of our teams experienced a great challenge from opposing schools where all of our team and individual performances were displayed brilliantly. There were some matches that were decided by less than 2 points and also a draw! It was a fantastic experience for everybody – well done!

Year 5 and 6 Beach Program

Last Wednesday, the students from Year 5 started our senior beach program at the Williamstown Surf Life Saving Club. This two-day program is designed to teach our students the basics of First Aid, CPR and other beach survival skills. Programs like these are so vital in preventing accidents around the water and encourage students to be safe in our beautiful beaches.

All students that have participated in the training so far have loved every minute and have learnt a lot about the risks and dangers that come with lifesaving. Thank you to the teachers and parents that have walked the students to and from the beach and we look forward to hearing how out Year 6’s go this week.

Senior Sofcrosse State Finals

This Friday, the students from Year 5 and 6 will be competing in the State finals of Sofcrosse. We want to wish them all the best for the day and to congratulate them for making it to such a high level of competition. All the best to both teams and their coaches. Go Willy North!

Bill Manoleras (Mr. M) & Nick Fitzpatrick (Mr. F)