Congratulations to

Thank you to Special Thanks to

Bus Travel Walking School Bus—Friday 20th May

All Grade 2/3 Students are participating in a Quantum Victoria excursion this Monday, 11th September. Students are travelling via bus and are asked to be at the bus stop at Coles Moe by 7:30am.

The Latrobe Valley Division Athletics carnival has been postponed to Wednesday, 13th September. Permission notes have been re-sent to acknowledge this date change and are due back to school by Friday the 8th September.

Gippsland Sports Camp – permission forms and money for those stu-dents selected to be part of the Gippsland Sports camp are due Friday the 8th September.

Book Club order forms and money are due back at school tomor-row, 7th September.

Save the date for our School Concert – Thursday 21st of September at 7.00pm. Ticket Sales and DVD Order forms were sent home last week. Please return these back to school no later than Friday, 15th Sep-tember. Also see our school’s Facebook page for more information.

Willow Grove Primary School is now taking enrolments for the 2018 school year – if you have a younger sibling who is coming to our school next year – please grab an enrolment form. Knowing how many students we are expecting allows us to plan appropriately for the year ahead.

HATS, HATS, HATS – our SunSmart policy states that students are re-quired to wear hats whilst outside from September to April. Please make sure that your child has a school wide-brim hat. If you need to purchase a hat, they are available at school for $10. Please see Brendan or Cindy at the office.

Parking – Please do not park in the ‘No Park-ing Zone’. The school bus is having difficulty collecting our children!

Willow Grove School and

Community Newsletter 1 9 T H A P R I L 2 0 1 7 V O L 1 7 : I S S U E 0 9

DATES FOR 2017

6th September—PA Meeting

8th September—Sports Camp

Forms & Money Due

8th September—West Gipps

Principals’ Meeting—9-12pm

11th September—Gr2/3 Quan-

tum Excursion

11th September—Lions Club

Public Speaking Comp.—7pm

13th September—LV Division

Athletics—Selected Students

15th September—Gr 3-6 Plan-

ning Day

17th September—Hill End Mar-

ket Cake Stall

19th September—Gr 3-6 Concert

Practice

19th September—School Council

Meeting—7:30pm

20th-22nd Sep.—Brendan Absent

21st September—Whole School

Concert Practice

21st September—School Con-

cert—7pm

22nd September—Footy Colours

& Pie Day

22nd September—Term 3 Ends

BEYOND TERM 3

27th October—Halloween Disco

22nd—24th November—Gr 3/4

Camp Rumbug

27th Nov—1st Dec Whole School

Swimming Program

14th December—School Presen-

tation Night

20th—21st December—Gr 6

Graduation Camp

MON TUE WED THU FRI

04 Gr P-2 Planning Day—CRT’s Em-ployed National Literacy & Numeracy Wk

05

06 Brekky Club Lunch Order Day PA Meeting—9am MARC Van

07 Brekky Club West Gipps Mobile Library

08 Brekky Club Sports Camp Forms & Paym Due—Selected Students WG Principals’ Mtg

11 Gr 2/3 Quantum Excursion Lions Club Public Speaking Comp.—7pm

12

13 Brekky Club Lunch Order Day LV Division Athlet-ics—Selected Stu-dents

14 Brekky Club

15 Brekky Club Gr 3-6 Planning Day—CRT’s Em-ployed

September 2017

Find us at—www.willowgroveps.vic.edu.au

TERM DATES 2017

Term 1 30th Jan (teachers start) to 31st March

Term 2 18th April to 30th June

Term 3 17th July to 22nd Sept

Term 4 9th Oct to 22nd Dec

Like us on

Reminders

SUPERVISED HOURS: 8.45AM—3.30PM

VOL 17 : ISSUE 27 6TH SEPTEMBER 2017

School Office Hours—Terms 3 & 4

Congratulations

News from Ann

School Working Bee—Saturday

NAPLAN

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

Winter

St ud

P A G E 2

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

We value the thoughts of our School Community I would like to take this opportunity to say thank-you to our parent community for their par-ticipation in this year’s Parent Opinion Survey. The online survey closed last week and we had 36 out of 55 families participate. The survey provides us with valuable information and assists our school in gaining an understanding of our parent’s perception regarding a range of factors. It allows us to celebrate our strengths and identifies potential areas where we could improve. In 2016, one critical factor that was identified as an improvement area was the way we re-port student achievement to our parents. Through the Parent Opinion Survey, it was made aware to us there had been a consistent dissatisfaction with the way our reports were writ-ten and presented. To ensure that we meet your expectations, we have taken some stra-tegic steps on how we report student progress in 2017, most notably through the trial of Student Led Conferences in Grade 1/2, as well as the creation of a reporting template that allows teachers and students to reflect on their progress against our values and expected behaviours. The Student Led Conferences are designed for parents, to sit down with their child and examine their learning progress by looking through their learning portfolio, containing work samples and student reflections against their set goals. Parents of Grade 1/2 have already been surveyed about the Student Led Conferences, with lots of positive comments re-garding its effectiveness in providing more individualised feedback to parents on their child’s learning. Before we finalise our reporting structure for Semester 2, we now want to gain further feedback on our written student reports. The reports that were sent home to all families with students in Grades P/1, 3/4 and 5/6. We would encourage all of our parents to click or paste the following link into their internet browser on their computer or phone and com-plete the short 5 min survey: http://bit.ly/2gwc4r5 The survey will be open for one week only and will close on Wednesday the 13

th of Sep-

tember. Schools have a much greater degree of autonomy and flexibility in how we report student progress and achievement, including the format of student reports. Your feedback is vital in ensuring that our reporting format is relevant, useful and most importantly meets your needs. If you would like to complete the survey and do not have access to a phone, internet or computer, please contact the office and we can assist. Thanks in advance for your participation. Take care and enjoy the rest of the week. Brendan Dawson

Principal’s Report

ROSTER

WEDNESDAY 13th Sept

Amanda NT.

WEDNESDAY 20th Sept

Gay T.

26th July—

19th September 2017

P.E. Award

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Playground Award Heidi C

For encouraging respectful behaviour during Assembly.

Student

of the Week Sofia M

For all round enthusiasm

for school and life.

Oscar R Cooper S

SPECIALIST

AWARD

Riley G

for LOTE

AR

T

P.E

LOTE

STUDENT ACHIEVERS

Parent Association News

Congratulations

News from Ann

School Working Bee—Saturday

NAPLAN

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

Student Achievements

P A G E 4

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Winter School Sports Competition—AFL and Netball—revised date

Willow Grove Primary School

Cake Stall

Sunday, 17th September

We will be holding a stall at the upcoming Hill End Market on Sunday, 17th September. If you are able to help please complete the form sent home with your child last week, and return it to school by Friday, 8th September. A copy of the form is also available below.

Parent Association News

Parent Association News

Congratulations

News from Ann

School Working Bee—Saturday

NAPLAN

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

Student Achievements

P A G E 5

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Win- ter School Concert—21st September—7pm

We are in need of two metal milk

pails/buckets. They will be re-

turned early in Term 4.

Parent Association News

Congratulations

News from Ann

School Working Bee—Saturday

NAPLAN

Parents play a major role in assisting and supporting their child to ac-quire strong literacy skills. Literacy learning started when your child was born. Parents play a vital role as their children’s first literacy teachers. Consider all the things that children learn before school as they mix with others, observe what others do and try to do the same things. Much of this learning happens naturally and within a social context. Oral lan-guage is the foundation of learning to read to write. Encourage your chil-dren to talk about and express their feelings and ideas. Provide experi-ences that expand their concepts and vocabulary. Children do not al-ways needs loads of money spent on them. Varied family outings, games inside and out, just pottering around with you as do jobs will ex-pand their notion of the world. They will bring their knowledge and under-standing of the world to their reading and writing. Literacy learning is a social experience because it depends on demon-strations from, collaboration with, and continuous feedback and re-sponse from, other people, it happens, at home and at school, when chil-dren are surrounded by people who listen, talk, think, read and write. Children need to see the purposes for reading and writing.

Here are some ideas for you to support your child develop literacy skills over the year levels. Share experiences (a picnic, camping, gardening, cooking, farming) which are then talked about at home Share books (especially stories) and talk about them with more experi-enced readers Have plenty of books to handle and read See print all around them Have models of how people read and write Have opportunities to read and write Know that people expect them to read and write Are given choices about what they read and write Feel free to ‘have a go ‘ at reading and writing (including spelling) Are able to talk about their reading and writing Experience feelings of success Feel responsible for their own reading and writing Have confidence in their own ability Understand what reading, writing and learning can do for them We need to work together, parents and teachers, to develop a part-nership which will support our literacy learners and to ensure a life- long learning. As adults we know that literacy provides the keys to life.

Can you help?

News from Ann

Student Achievements

P A G E 6

W I L L O W G R O V E S C H O O L A N D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S L E T T E R

Winter

News from the STEM Desk

Community News

WILLOW GROVE TENNIS CLUB

The tennis season starts in October and our Club is looking for a player, (and anyone who would like to fill-in occasionally) for the Saturday afternoon Senior Competition. If you are interested in playing on Saturdays please contact Dennis Cervi 5633 2756 or Joan Brown 5635 2361. Club representatives recently attended the Loy Yang/Yinnar & District Tennis Assoc. meeting and were asked to advertise some upcoming social FAST4 tennis opportunities. The first one is on Sunday 10th September at the Morwell Tennis Club between 3-5pm with a BBQ afterwards. Everyone is welcome - Senior and Junior players. There are two more sessions planned for later in the month, at different venues. If you require more details contact Joan 5635 2361.

JUNIOR TENNIS

Training for Junior players who would like to play in Saturday morning competition teams will commence on the 12th & 19th of September. 3.15 - 4pm for the primary school children and 4 - 5pm for the older children. Training will continue on Tuesdays after the school holidays and will then be open to beginners and those just wanting to give tennis a try. Coaching, with Sally Kirstine, in the school holidays will be arranged if there are sufficient numbers. Sally is available to come to Willow Grove in the morning on the 3rd & 4th of October. If you have any questions about the Junior tennis or would like to register for coaching contact Joan Brown 5635 2361 or Pauline Blackshaw 0401 947 630.