05 Feb 2023
Welcome back to a new school year! We trust that you had an amazing Christmas and an enjoyable summer break.
We have had an amazing start to 2023, with students settling into classes and learning, which is a direct result of the splendid work done by our teachers, in conjunction with the early support we have received from parents and carers as partners in learning. We look forward to developing, sharing, and building upon a positive and productive relationship with our families to assist us all in having an amazing school year.
In 2023 our school is funding an additional class and additional library hours, above our regular funding entitlement, as well as utilising equity loadings to increase learning intervention for our students. This allows us to best support our kids by maximising the amount of teacher time we can dedicate to each student to best meet their needs. Furthermore, each stage has an intervention teacher specifically assigned to that group of students. We are already seeing the benefits of the smaller classes with students settling into school and quality learning routines so quickly. Please be advised that the current class structures are only temporary at this stage and are dependent on final student numbers. We hope that any changes we are forced to make will be minor.
Connecting Families and Teachers through Sentral:
Sentral for parents and carers will soon be up and running and will replace the Dojo communication channel. Please be advised that we are taking this action based upon the recommendation, and approved communication channels, of the DoE (Department of Education). Sentral will be used for families to connect with what is happening in their child’s / children’s learning and is a wonderful way to stay connected with the classroom teacher. Whilst parents and carers can use Sentral to message teachers directly, please be advised that, whilst we are committed to connecting strongly with our families through this platform, we thank parents and carers for their understanding in knowing that staff will not be expected to reply to messages after 5pm. Staff will be advised that messages sent to teachers after 4pm should, and will likely be, responded to within 24-48 hours.
SAVE the DATE- Come in in Meet Your Child’s Teachers on Tuesday 14th February 3-5PM:
We are extremely excited to invite parents and carers into the school for a “Meet the Teacher” evening and welcome sausage sizzle. Further details will follow in relation to structure of the afternoon, but we ask that you please do your best to free up this time on this day to connect/re-connect with beautiful Wyong PS. Current plans are for a timetabled half hour session per class to occur on this day. We are aware that there are families with multiple students at our school and will do our best to cater for this by ensuring that teachers are available for consultation up until 5pm. Therefore, if your children’s teachers are presenting at the same time, you will still get the opportunity to chat informally with one or more of their teachers outside the presentation itself. Whilst on the topic of meeting teachers, we wish to welcome several new staff members to Wyong Public School and ask that you do the same. We are sure that each of them will be a great acquisition for our school and look forward to the positive impact they will have upon our students and families:
Mrs Lee Magri: Mrs Magri was successful in being appointed to the vacant Assistant Principal position in the latter part of 2022. Mrs Magri will teach 5/6 Blue and will supervise Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6).
Mrs Kirsten Shearer: Mrs Shearer, an experienced teacher, has arrived to us as a transfer from Woy Woy South. Mrs Shearer will be working with Stage 1 and will teach 1 Blue.
Miss Keira Katen: Miss Katen has joined us from Coonamble and has returned to the coast to teach in our support unit.
Miss Renee Garney: Miss Garney is an experienced School Learning Support Officer, who will work closely with our OC and Support Unit students and teachers.
What If…?
Our P&C are the drivers of fundraising, grants, and fun opportunities for our students. The work they do value-adds to our school and the wellbeing of our students. Our P&C have achieved amazing things in collaboration with the school, and this has mostly been achieved by a core group of about 5-10 people. What if more of our families in the school contributed something to the P and C? More families bring more load-sharing; please do not underestimate your power to do good for our school as a member of our P&C. I encourage our parents and carers to answer the ‘what if’ call and join our P&C for 2023. If you see our P and C volunteers on ‘Meet the Teacher’ day, please make contact. Many hands make light work.
Celebrating Success:
Keep an eye on our website and Facebook page as they continue to develop throughout 2023. Community members will be well-informed in relation to school activities and will also be able to see the wonderful programs and initiatives we run at our school.
Damien Borrow
Relieving Principal