Wassup Woonona

Please enjoy the video above and find more photos further down in this newsletter.

Email: woonona-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: https://woonona-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/
Location: 5a Gray Street, Woonona NSW, Australia
Phone: (02) 42844316

One of the highlights for last week, was our Annual Presentation Day Assembly. I was so proud that our planned celebration came together in a way that we could incorporate our students, staff and community. To share my thoughts and reflect on our school year and then share the successes of many students who received recognition across a diverse range of disciplines was a fantastic way to conclude a complex year. Well done to every recipient, but also to all students in our school, who have certainly achieved success throughout the year in many areas.

A big part of our Assembly was the announcement of our 2021 School Captains and Prefects. I want to again congratulate all nominees. However, only four people can be elected to School Captaincy and Vice-Captaincy and four to the Prefect role. I congratulate Jett and Sabina, our new Captains, Byron and Ella, our new Vice-Captains and Lachlan, Bentin, Jayda and Jemma on being elected to the Prefect role. I believe that these students will be excellent leaders for Woonona Public School and we look forward to them growing into their role in 2021. Well done!

Finally, a big thank you to Miss Sibley who led the Zoom Webinar that allowed us to stream to our community.

Last Tuesday also saw our Year 6 students participate in a fun day of ten-pin bowling, water fighting and general day of celebration. I would like to congratulate the students for their behaviour and enthusiasm on the day. More than this, they had a great time surrounded by friends and their teachers! Well done Year 6 and thank you to all Year 6 teachers who co-ordinated the organisation of this day.

Monday night was our Year 6 Farewell and what a night it was. Our graduating class of 2020 have had a huge year, with the last few weeks being exceptionally busy. However, it all came together, with the night being the pinnacle of their celebrations. Transitioning to high school is a huge, daunting time for our students but they have done a fantastic job, working closely with our teachers, and are ready for this next big step.

I would like to thank everyone involved for bringing together the night in such wonderful fashion – a beautifully decorated hall, plentiful food, outdoor games, indoor disco, graduation treats and gifts and a fitting presentation at the end to tie it all together. In addition, our P&C were able to subsidise the night, due to fundraising being restricted, and we thank them for their support of our graduation class of 2020. It certainly was a fantastic way to celebrate a huge milestone for our students.

Congratulations to Alexia whose design was selected for the year 6 2020 Year Book.

Videos and photos of the night will be made available shortly, with parents to be notified of how to access these via school Enews.

At the end of this year, we will be waving a fond farewell to two staff who have been at our school for the last two years.

Mrs Nikki Dalla Pozza is our school counsellor and, as is her role, has been moved to another school, Thirroul PS for the 2021 school year. We thank her for her hard work and dedication to our students and staff over her time at WPS.

Mrs Emma Robinson is one of our great School Learning Support Officers but will be joining Woonona High School staff in 2021. Mrs Robinson has worked with a number of students, across the whole school, in her time with us. We thank her for her efforts in supporting these students and wish her well on the next step in her career.

As was mentioned in last week’s assembly, we will also be wishing three staff members all the best as they transition into retirement. Mrs Julie Lake, Mrs Lauren Borst and Mrs Lyn Tamp will all finish at the end of this year and I know that our community will join the staff and students in wishing them all a fitting farewell.

Mrs Lauren Borst

Mrs Borst began with the Department of Education (DoE) in 1980. That’s right, this is her 40th year as a teacher. During her career she worked extensively as a casual teacher in the Wollongong area, before moving to Rosemeadow Public School in Campbelltown, where she taught on class for three years. She then transferred to Barrack Heights PS where she taught for 19 years, where she started to transition more to a support role – becoming a Learning and Support Teacher - a teacher that is specialised and works with students who might need some additional support. After her time at Barrack Heights, Mrs Borst moved to Woonona PS where she has been for the last 10 years. Mrs Borst’s strength and passion lies in literacy, where she has been Reading Recovery trained and has spent years providing support and intervention for students and staff to assist with literacy development. She is highly admired as an exceptional teacher and her skills and knowledge will be a huge loss for our school. Mrs Borst will be taking a year’s leave, pending retirement and we wish her all the very best as she transitions to her new and exciting life ahead.

Mrs Lyn Tamp

Mrs Tamp began with the DoE in 1999 as a casual School Learning Support Officer or what was known back then as a Teacher’s Aide. The same year she started with the DoE was the same year she began at WPS as this is the only school Mrs Tamp has worked at – that’s right she has been at WPS for 21 years. In addition to starting as an SLSO in 1999, Mrs Tamp was also the WPS P&C President that year, as she lived locally, with her boys attending the school until 2001. After years as an SLSO, Mrs Tamp was offered admin time in the office and library and made the transition out of the classroom and playground. In 2004 she gained permanent status at the school and since then her time and hours grew as did her role within the admin team. Mrs Tamp will leave a big hole in our administrative team as we move into 2021 and beyond. She will be remembered for the efficient way she goes about her day and her commitment to the students and staff in our school in the many interactions she has on a daily basis. I know how respected Mrs Tamp is by the staff and the great knowledge that she takes with her into retirement. I know that Mrs Tamp has great plans for a busy and fulfilling retirement and we wish her all the very best as she moves into this new phase of her life.

Mrs Julie Lake

Mrs Lake began with the DoE at Lindsay Park PS in 1979, working at various schools after this, including Greenacres and Macquarie Fields as classroom teacher, before taking a few years off to raise her children. In the early 1990s, Mrs Lake returned as a casual teacher, before choosing to retrain as a Teacher Librarian in 1994, a decision she described to me as the highlight of her career. In the years following, Mrs Lake worked at Kanahooka HS, St Helen’s Park and Helensburgh PS before moving to Woonona PS in 2010. Throughout her career she has been involved in the refurbishment and renovation of numerous libraries – three actually - as well as the phasing in of technology into libraries – a time that I’m sure our students find hard to comprehend. She will be remembered for her passion for books and for students engaging with reading, I’m sure most will remember her exquisite Book Week outfits. She leaves WPS looking forward to the future and the many passions she has and we wish her all the very best as she moves into an exciting time in her life.

On Wednesday 2 December a number of talented and hard-working students performed for the Woonona Community of Schools Band at their end of year concert. These students have gone above and beyond, doing lessons and spending considerable time practising, outside of school hours, to fine-tune their skills. It all came together on the night and I congratulate them on their achievement.

We were lucky that Woonona High School recorded the event, on the night. This Wednesday, as part of the Talent Show, their performance will be shared with our staff and students.

As mentioned above, our talent show will take place today, via submitted videos, made at home. I would like to thank the committee of teachers for making this special event a reality. We have had a huge number of applicants this year, which is great! Unfortunately, due to this large number, not all videos can be shown to all students. A select number will be shown to all students, with those not chosen to be shown to their Stage throughout the remainder of the day. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to seeing the talents of the many students across our school.

The Deadly Encouragement Awards is a fantastic initiative run by the local Aboriginal Educational Consultative Group. This year the awards were run a little differently, with no official ceremony, due to restrictions. Despite this, two recipients were nominated by our school and received recognition amongst their peers in recent Stage Assemblies. Congratulations to Emily and Tatum who were this year’s successful recipients. Both students thoroughly deserve this recognition for their hard work and dedication to their education.

Friday of Week 8 saw our students participate in what many staff and students described as, “the best day ever!” Not only did everyone have a fantastic colour blast, but the school P&C were also able to raise significant funds that will go towards the purchase of technology for our students. The final sum raised was $19210.79! Thank you to the P&C for your efforts in making this a reality, to our staff who brought the day together at school and for the amazing community effort in supporting the fundraising.

In addition to our colour run, students and staff also had a relaxing celebration day, with classes playing board games, eating a treat or two and having an enjoyable day of celebrating the school year.

I would like to thank IGA Woonona for their support of our school. Each year they donate a cheque to our school to go to resources for our students. This year we received nearly $2500 and this will go directly to the purchase of literacy resources.

I want to remind parents that students’ last day for the school year is Wednesday 16 December (today). Students will resume school on Friday 29 January 2021. We look forward to seeing our Year 1 to Year 6 students on this first day. Our Kindergarten students will begin Big School on Tuesday 2 February after their Best Start Assessments have been conducted.

As this will be the final newsletter for 2020, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support throughout the year. I wish you and your families a happy and safe holiday.

Merry Christmas!! I hope Santa is good to you!!

Mr Tim Fisher

The Woonona PS swimming carnival is scheduled for Thursday February 11 at Corrimal Pool. All children from 8 years of age, or turning 8 in 2021, are eligible to attend. Events begin with 50m races in each stroke and continue into 100m freestyle and medley events. For students to attend, they must be able to swim the length of the pool unaided, which is 50m. Summer is a wonderful time to hit the pool and practise swimming. Enjoy your holidays and spend some time in the water improving your swimming and fitness so you’ll be carnival ready next year.

Early Stage 1

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Each school year, parents/carers are asked to provide some essential stationery items for their children. The P&C have coordinated with Learning Pod to fundraise for the school through purchasing stationery packs

For a full list of all packs that have been specifically designed by the teachers to suit each year group visit the school website.

Celebrating the successes of our students outside of school, especially at the highest level, is something we enjoy. Congratulations to Henry, who has been training in martial arts for six years. Recently, he successfully graded to Sho Dan Black belt! Henry took part in a three day long intensive training camp and trained for a mammoth 23 hours over the weekend before having to complete a six hour grading, an amazing effort for someone who has just turned 11!

On 5 December 2020 Owen (5P) participated with his team in the Team Nationals (East) of the First Lego League. This is a great success for a rookie team comprising students from Thirroul Public School and Woonona Public School, who came 9th in the regional competition a few weeks back, which qualified them for the nationals. The competition involved programming a LEGO Mindstorms robot around to perform a variety of tasks, the enactment of a short sketch and a presentation as well as the answering of questions. At the nationals the team won the Rising Star Award, which is a major success.

Congratulations, Owen and his team.

Please be aware that there are students in our school with allergies to nuts. We ask that you give consideration to voluntarily agreeing not to send nut products, in particular peanuts and peanut butter to school.

The AFL will be running a Holiday Program at Croome Rd Oval between 9.30 & 1.30 on Tuesday the 12th January at Croome Rd Sporting Complex and between 9.30 & 1.30 at Thomas Dalton Oval on Tuesday the 19th January.

Boys & Girls turning 5 to 12 years are welcomed to get along and have some fun.

Skills, drills and lots of fun an a safe friendly environment.

Google Auskick, where to register, pop in the postcode and select Wollongong City (after school) Auskick Centre then select Thomas Dalton or Croome Rd Holiday Auskick Program and follow the prompts.

The cost is $51.00 includes a sausage sambo, dinks, insurance & AFL footy pack.

More info call John on 0411226086