2023 Fete

At our last School Council meeting, it was very exciting to endorse a ‘Willy North Fete’ for November next year. In scheduling for later in the year, as opposed to March which has historically been the case, we aim to ensure a comfortable timeline for all of the necessary planning.

The Willy North Fete has long been considered a premier event in the west, drawing many thousands of people on the day. Whilst we anticipate some ‘scaling back’ in the overall scope of the event, we do certainly want to ensure that it remains a highly anticipated event for our students and school community. Can you believe that our last Fete was in 2019!

Past Fetes have been an amazing collaboration of Willy North parents, who have kindly volunteered their time to assist in both the planning leading up to the Fete, as well as it being an ‘all hands on deck’ event on the day. Stacy Szalay (parent) did a brilliant job leading a core group of parents on the organising committee as the overall coordinator of the Fete in 2019. Stacy has very kindly agreed to co-lead the Fete again in 2023, however as next year will be Stacy’s last year with a child at the school, she desperately needs a joint coordinator to work alongside her. The co-leading of the Fete will importantly help to lighten the load, but also help to ensure a succession plan for the school beyond next year. If you would like to know a little bit more about the coordination of the Fete and what this role entails (or indeed any other key organising roles), please feel very welcome to email Jim.cahill@education.vic.gov.au

We look forward to sharing more Fete news over the coming months as the planning unfolds!

2023 Grade Structure

In working through our consultative processes with staff, we are currently planning for 28 grades at Willy North next year to support an overall school enrolment of approximately 660 students. This current planning (pending further enrolment fluctuations), will see an average class size across the school of just under 24 students, with all junior classes having no more than 22 students.

In facilitating even numbers across the Years 1 and 2 classes, you will notice that a multi-age class will be needed with a combination of Year 1 and 2 students. From the school’s perspective, this will present very few additional considerations or challenges as both of these levels are part of the same stage of schooling – being the junior years. Also, as our learning programs are carefully differentiated based on learning needs of each student, the learning in a multi-age class will be no different to that of a single level class. We do recognise however, that a multi-age class may potentially have a broader range of social capabilities and maturity levels amongst its cohort. To this end, the selection of students for this class will be carefully considered to include those students who may typically display broad social connectedness, confidence and positive engagement, as well as an ability to navigate occasional changes to routines whereby all Year 1 or Year 2 students would join their respective year levels for incursions, excursions and any other major events. One of the school’s highly experienced members of staff will also be placed in this class to ensure our usual high standard of academic provision and wellbeing support for all students.

Please be assured that if your child is selected to be in this multi-age class, they will certainly be well placed for a successful year ahead. For any parents who may however feel that there are extenuating circumstances that the school may need to consider for their child on this matter, please feel welcome to email the details to me at jim.cahill@education.vic.gov.au by 4:00pm on Tuesday 15^th November.

Aladdin

Our school’s Semester Two performance of ‘Aladdin’ is now just over a week away!

The school will certainly be a buzz tomorrow as we undertake a full dress rehearsal for the eight Semester Two classes involved.

To date, we have sold almost 600 tickets for the performance next Thursday 17^th November.

The classes involved in this production include: Year 6P, 6J, 6K, 5C, 5H, 4S, 4R, 3Mc

If you have not yet purchased your tickets, please jump onto one of the links below to ensure you don’t miss out:

https://www.trybooking.com/CAOGB

https://www.trybooking.com/923573

Loading Zone Parking

A quick reminder in regards to the loading zone parking at the front of the school (near the main traffic lights on Melbourne Road), as we seek the support of parents to not park in this spot for regular drop offs or pickups during the school day. We have needed this space several times recently for important wheelchair access and sadly it has been unavailable. We thank you in anticipation of your support on this matter.

Enjoy the rest of the Week

Jim Cahill—Principal

Regional Athletics:

Congratulations to all students who recently competed in the Regional Athletics event. It is an outstanding achievement to reach this level of competition and all students represented themselves individually and the school very proudly! This recognition also extends to the students who participated in the previous District and Divisional events prior.

Students who participated in the Regional Team:

Matthew C, Sam C, Samuel D, Cooper D, Skyla I, Pippa K, Levi M, Bonnie M, Vivienne M, Tomasz P, Lucinda R, Axel S & Chloe S.

State Athletics:

Another big Congratulations to all students who also recently competed in the State Athletics event. To reach this level of competition is an amazing result overall. Students again represented themselves and the school very proudly on the day!

Students who participated in the State Team:

Matthew C, Bonnie M & Cooper D

SOFCROSSE

Last Thursday our students from Year's 5 and 6 competed in a Sofcrosse (modified Lacrosse) district tournament. All 28 students and their teachers braved the harsh wet and raining conditions to successfully complete a full day tournament. All four of our teams showed great school values and represented the school with pride. A big congratulations to the Willy North 1 Boys and Willy North 2 Girls teams that have made it straight through to States to be played on 2 December. A big thank you to Doug Wright for coaching one of our teams on the day—Nick PE Teacher.

Loud Shirt 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 the Shepherd Centre. It is a specialist facility in helping children with hearing loss and learning to listen and speak.

By Sam C & Patrick B—JSC Representatives.

White Ribbon Day 2022 is on Friday, 18 November. Prevent Men's Violence against Women

This year’s White Ribbon Day theme is “Let’s Be the Change.”

The focus is to create meaningful change through conversations and education in communities right across Australia.

We invite all Australians to come together in their workplaces, schools, and communities to participate in White Ribbon Day.

With the amazing support of community members like you, we can host events in every State and Territory in our collective ambition to end all forms of men’s violence and abuse against women.

“Let’s Be the Change” by being part of the solution.

You can help be the change by:

Learning about topics like respectful relationships, stopping violence, and calling other men in through our Barbershop resources.

· Connecting and talking about these ideas with your friends, family, and colleagues to encourage change.

· Hosting an event or activity that brings attention to the issue. Use our White Ribbon Australia resources to learn what immediate steps you can take to be part of the solution that ends gendered violence. We have designed this Host Kit to help you get started.

· Supporting everyone, including yourself, to practice being caring, vulnerable, and emotionally expressive.

To find out more about how you can get involved, visit our White Ribbon Day website.

Hay fever is an Allergic Reaction

Your nose acts as a filter. The tiny hairs and mucous that line the nasal passages trap dust, pollens and other microscopic particles. A person with hay fever is allergic to some of the particles trapped in the nose when you breathe in, such as pollen.

An allergic reaction means the immune system treats a harmless substance as if it is dangerous and launches an ‘attack’. The nasal passages become inflamed producing excess mucous. This causes extremely itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing and headaches. It also exacerbates asthma and eczema.

You should take your child to the GP if they are experiencing frequent hay fever symptoms or needing antihistamines regularly.

Download The Melbourne Pollen Count App.

The School of Bio-Sciences at the University of Melbourne provides a daily pollen count and forecast of grass pollen levels in the air around Melbourne for the week ahead.

If forewarned, hay fever and asthma sufferers can take preventative measures such as avoiding high pollen areas or taking appropriate medication before venturing outside. The app will also alert you to any risk of Thunderstorm Asthma.