Welcome back for Term 3. It has been great to see our whole school community reconnecting so positively after the holidays.

Living the WUPS Vision

Over the past 2.5 years we have been working hard with “learning at the centre of everything we do in a culture of kindness”. Everyone feels welcomed and respected. WUPS staff are aspirational and expect our learners to achieve their best. Essential to this is positive relationships in a safe environment where the school community feels valued. I am interested to hear your feedback on our journey. How are we going living our vision?

Value Spotlight – Courage

This term we are focusing on the value of Courage. Courage is accepting challenging and embracing opportunities. Today we were privilege to have ex-student Callie Enright speak to us about how she has shown courage as a learner since leaving WUPS. Callie focused on the courage required when transitioning into grade 7, and the immense opportunities she has been offered because she has taken positive risks. Callie stated, “Opportunities are there, you just need to have the courage to try things you never thought you would.”

It is important to be aware that courage means different things for different people. It also looks and feels different in a range of contexts. Courage allows us to take risks, explore new ideas, look at opportunities in a positive light and to have a growth mindset.

Courage looks like:

• feeling fear and doing it anyway
• being prepared to go into difficult, unknown or new situations
• not being afraid of judgement
• asking for help when something is not working

Check out a DoE video of our value of courage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=U44955L-r4E&feature=emb_logo

Book Week Friday 26 August

Each year across Australia, the CBCA brings children and books together celebrating CBCA Book Week. We will be celebrating Australian children's literature and by holding a book character parade, sharing our favourite books and amazing displays. This will be in the hall at 9:15am on Friday 26 August.

The theme is about stepping into your own story, dreaming with eyes open...
listening to Country as the first storyteller...
learning from friends who help you on your way.

What will you come dressed as in 2022?

Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey

Attention: Parents and Carers of students in Year 4,5 & 6

The wellbeing of our students is important to us - we want to hear how students feel, and think, about different things going on in their lives.

Those in Year/s 4,5 & 6 at WUPS will be taking part in the Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey. The results from this survey will help us get a picture of the current wellbeing of our students, and what we can do to improve future wellbeing for learning. The more students who take part, the clearer our picture will be. 

The Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey is part of the Department of Education’s Child and Student Wellbeing Strategy .

The details for the survey are:

When:                                        Wednesday 31 August (up until 23 September if students are absent)

Who:                                          Years 4,5 & 6

What do I need to do:               You and your child don’t need to do anything. The survey will be done in class time and will not require your child to prepare in any way.

A letter with more information has been sent home with all Year 4,5 &6 students, including Frequently Asked Questions and a form to sign and return to the school if you do not want your child to participate in the survey.   

If you would like further information, please contact Mrs Jenny Rodman. 

Thank you for supporting us to ensure that all our learners are safe, feel supported and are able to flourish, so they can engage in learning.

Staffing Update

This term we have welcomed Miss Phillips as our Art teacher, Miss King as K/P and LiL teacher and Mrs Rodman as AST – Support Teacher. Please be sure to find them in the school, say hello and let them know who is in your family.

Yours in partnership

Angela McAuliffe

Principal

Welcome back to school for the start of Term 3! 

The health and safety of students and staff has, and always will be, our top priority.  Our Term 3 approach to manage COVID-19 is outlined in our COVID-safe schools operational plan. The Plan builds on everything we’ve learnt since the start of the pandemic.

The Department of Education (DoE) has worked closely with Public Health to ensure schools continue to be safe places for learners.  Many COVID-safe measures that you are familiar with continue to be in place to limit the impact of COVID-19 in our schools. 

With increased COVID-19 cases in our community leading into Term 3, our staff and visitors are strongly recommended to wear face masks when indoors, or if they are unable to physically distance. Wearing a face mask is not a requirement for students, however it is strongly recommended by Public Health indoors as well as when they cannot physically distance.  Students will be supported to wear masks by their school when they choose to.

Face masks and rapid antigen tests continue to be readily available for students and staff at all Tasmanian Government schools.

It is common to see increased illness at this time of year, so it remains important that we all continue to practise our COVID safe behaviours, stay at home if unwell and get tested.

As always, when your child is well, the best place for them to be is at school learning with their friends and teachers. 

We will need to continue to be flexible as some elements of our plan may change during the Term. We will continually monitor the situation, make changes as necessary and keep school communities informed.

Useful COVID-19 information for families

If you’re looking for practical advice and information about COVID-19 in Tasmania, Public Health has released their COVID-19 winter update.

A copy has been enclosed in this newsletter.

For more information about COVID-19, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID-19 Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.

If you need support translating or interpreting this information, contact the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450.

On Friday we did a science experiment with Mrs Haywood and some smarties. We had to put the smarties around the edge of the plate and then Sharon added some warm water, we watched to see what happened.

Hugo - The chocolates made a rainbow.

Archer - We put water on a plate. It changed the colours.

Amarli - We put smarties on a plate then we put water on them. It started to make a rainbow.

Izaiha - We made a rainbow out of smarties. We put water on the smarties, it made a rainbow.

Art 

Students have been learning about primary, secondary and tertiary colour mixing. They then used their mixed colours to create some vibrant abstract paintings. Colour mixing example by Ava, abstract paintings by Kash and Reid. 

Ms Phillips 

Art Teacher 

In German last term we looked at where Germany is in the world, what countries speak German, what food they eat, some basic introductory phrases (like ich heisse…) and things like numbers and colours. We had fun learning some songs and watching videos about different things to see and do in the German speaking countries.

This term we’re going to look more at the cultural differences between here and the German speaking countries as well as learning numbers up to 20. We’ll also dive deeper into some new vocabulary and learn some more German songs.

Indey  

Indey has completed all of her learning jobs today. Well Done!

Jamayah 

For the wonderful amount of detail to her scientific diagram. 

Eli 

I like how you have been focused on your learning in reading group time. Keep it up Eli. 

Launching into Learning

We have had a lovely start to Launching into Learning this term. Our children have enjoyed gross motor play in the hall on Wednesdays and play and exploration in the LiL room on Mondays.

Children have had the opportunity to read, paint, weave, pretend play, hammer, and make friends. Family members have been able to join their children in play as well have had the chance to talk and have a cuppa.

We welcome all new and existing families to LiL with children from birth to age 4.

If you have any questions about our program please phone or visit the office.

Family Challenge.

Your family is invited to join our WUPS challenge. Each student has a bingo board of activities to complete over the term. If your family achieves all nine activities, you will go into the drawer for a prize. All completed forms will receive 15 value points. Classroom teachers encourage photos of completed activities to be sent on Seesaw and/or signature by a family member next to the completed activity.

This week's riddle is:  I have a tail and a head, but no body. What am I?

Share your answer quietly with your teacher – good luck ?

Next week we have a massive week. The student leaders have organised a casual clothes day for everyone to participate in. It will be a gold coin donation if you come dressed in casual clothes. Casual clothes day will be held on Friday 12th of August. All your clothing must be school appropriate.

At the end of last term, all 5/6 students chose a sport for 5/6 sports day. It will be held on Wednesday 10th of August. All students attending will be expected to wear full school uniform.

As most people already know, everyone at WUPS had an opportunity to design our new WUPS beanie. To help with judging all of those amazing beanies, we decided to invite a very special guest, Mrs Stephine Templeton. As a team we narrowed the beanies down to 4 incredible beanie designs. We are leaving it up to the students here to pick what beanie design they would prefer. A huge thankyou to Mrs Templeton for helping us with judging.

On the Friday 26 August we are very excited to announce we are having our annual book week dress up day. During the day, Mrs Goodwin, Riley and Sienna will be hosting a book week parade. Family members will be welcome to come. More information will go out closer to the day.

Children’s University

Our students have been busy completing different tasks to contribute to their passport stamps for Children’s University. Activities have included attending Brixhibition over the holidays, completing jigsaw puzzles and doing word searches during lunch time and reading at home. Students will need to have all passport stamps recorded by September 19.

If you child is interested in joining Children’s University, please see Mrs Crawford.