New Woodend families have now been with us for 5 weeks!  Here are a few pics of families where the new Reception has joined their sibling now at school! We trust that your child is settling into school life at Woodend and that you continue to receive the information and help you need to feel comfortable with school life.  Here are some helpful hints about some new areas you and/or your child may not have tried or would like to know more about:

KISS AND DROP

If your child is in the early years of schooling, there is no need for you to have to pursue this unless you feel ready.  This is an area located on the western side of the zebra crossing on Edward Beck Drive adjacent to our school.  At morning drop off time, parents/carers drive past the zebra crossing and turn into the ‘kiss and drop’ zone where the child/ren farewells and exits on the side of the footpath, not the road side.  It is a quick 1-2 minute farewell so that the parent then exits the zone and the next parent/carer can drive safely into the zone. A teacher checks on this area morning and afternoons. In the afternoon, your child can wait for you behind the fenced area and the duty teacher will wait with your child/ren until you arrive.  If your child is not collected after school, the duty teacher will walk with your child/ren to the front office where the front office staff will contact you to organise for their collection or OSHC. This occurs at approximately 3.20pm.

Please read the recent Newsblog post called ‘Parking, Traffic and Kiss and Go Updates’ for more information.

HANDWRITING AND LETTER FORMATION

In the early years, it is important for your child to:

  • have developed hand dominance (ie. clear right or left-handed preference)
  • develop the recommended pencil grip to enable them to write
  • practise forming their letters and numerals correctly

With your support, once we ensure these three areas are achieved, your child will have the ability to handwrite legibly and easily and this is vital skill in many aspects of everyday life.

What can you do to help?

  1. Is is likely that your child’s kindy/ preschool/ childcare teacher will have informed you if your child has not shown hand dominance please check in with your child’s teacher
  2. View the ‘Pete the Pilot’ pencil grip text and read this through with your child, modelling the correct grip to your child; encourage your child to copy and practise this skill on paper.  The story is also available on our website in the ‘Our School’ section in ‘New Families’ tab.
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  3. See the below image showing the correct motions for forming the letters and there are practise sheets contained within their Home Reading Diary.  You help them practise the letter or numeral being taught in class.

CANTEEN

Have you been able to access the Qkr app?  If you ever need to order a lunch order for your child/ren, there are only a few steps required to order via Qkr.  You can find out about Qkr on our website in the ‘Our School’ tab in ‘Canteen’. Your alternative is to use a paper bag, record on the front all the details required – child’s name, class, menu items ordered and amount of money, and place the money inside the bag.  Your child will need to be reminded to place the bag in the lunch order box in their classroom when they do their morning jobs.  Once a term, we have a ‘Special Lunch Day’ where a lunch item is available for a treat and you may like your child to participate.  Special lunch examples have included Subway roll and juice; sushi and drink; sausage sizzle and pie/pasty day.  We advertise in advance so that you have an opportunity to order.

The canteen has recently reopened for recess and lunch play purchases which we call ‘Over the Counter’ items.  There are a variety of items for your child to choose from ranging from fresh fruit to Anzac biscuits.  A menu can be found on our website in the ‘Our School’ tab in ‘Canteen’.

COMMUNICATION

Are you getting all the information you need?  A large percentage of our communication is digitally shared and we want to ensure you are able to access the spaces you need.  We recommend you are in these digital spaces:

  • School Newsblog
  • Team App
  • Class Facebook page

If your child is involved in a sport/s, instrumental music, choir and/or Wakakirri this year you will also need to be accessing that Facebook page eg. wps cricket.

If you would like to be part of the parent community Facebook page which has recently been updated, you can request to join wps – parent networking.

All of these digital spaces can be accessed on our website in the Communication tab.

Additional information is available to read on our website in the ‘Our School’ section in the ‘New Families’ tab. Please do not hesitate to contact the school if there is anything you require assistance with to help you with school routines, processes and procedures.