Dear Parents/Carers,
You have probably heard by now that school will resume on Monday 8th February. It is very exciting for our school as we are all looking forward to seeing everyone after the holidays, and in particular to welcoming our students back to school. I would like to give a special welcome to our new families and Kindy students to what has been a very different start to the school year.
The Woodland Grove community is kind, caring and resilient. We managed through the Covid times in 2020 by supporting each other and focussing on what is important, family and connection. We will do the same in 2021. So far we have dealt with the strange start to our 2021 school year with resilience and understanding. I thank you all for that. Our staff have taken the opportunity to engage with online professional learning and to plan for the school year ahead. I would like to thank all Teachers, Education Assistants and Corporate staff for their professionalism and ‘can do’ attitude.
Next week we will be in ‘post lockdown’. This means there will be some measures we need to put in place to keep our community safe. These measures are as follows:
1. All staff, parents/carers and other visitors on our school site are asked to wear a face mask,
2. Primary school children are not required to wear a mask but may do so if they like,
3. Staff may take off their mask when teaching or if they need to clearly enunciate a message or instruction,
4. Sanitiser will be available at all classrooms and outside the front office,
5. Three people at a time should be in the school foyer,
6. School gates will open in the morning at 8am,
7. The song ‘Happy” will be played at 8.15am. This is a signal for all visitors to leave the school site and for students to head in to class,
8. School gates will be closed at 8.30am,
9. Parents/carers are allowed on site in the morning and afternoon (please respect physical distancing by not entering classrooms other than on Monday morning see below)
10. No more than 5 parents/carers to be in a classroom at a time on Monday morning,
11. Kindergarten families have been contacted by class teachers regarding a staggered start to optimise time for children to meet their class teacher,
12. Week 2 arrangements for Kindergarten are separate to our PP to Y6 arrangements, although Kindergarten parents/carers are asked to wear masks,
13. Parents/carers are asked to make an appointment through the front office or through our website contact https://woodlandgroveps.wa.edu.au/contact-us/ if time is required with one of our teachers,
14. Our website calendar will be updated early next week and our Term One Calendar will be sent home by Wednesday,
I am proud to say that our cleaning and maintenance staff headed up by Alan and Leanne have received an exemplary report for their work. The school has never been so clean. They are valued members of the Woodland Grove team and are to be commended for their work.
In 2021 we welcome back all staff and in particular our returning staff from leave; Ms Caitlin White and Mrs Danielle Vinicombe. Mr Travis Kujawski and Mr Chris Holden return to us on renewed contracts this year. Mrs Courtney Mantellato will teach Indonesian in Term 1 and work in Ms Jessica Hodgekiss’ class one day a week for the year. Mrs Alison Reid is teaching Year 3 for Term 1. Ms Courtney Vale will teach in Kindergarten. We also welcome Mr Luke Jones who will be teaching Physical Education and Health as Mr Clayton Bird has taken on a new role closer to home. Ms Nadia Bean is on leave and is planning to return in Term 2 to teach Indonesian.
Mrs Cheryl Ancell is moving to a school closer to home and Ms Danielle Mathews will be taking up the Manager Corporate Services role in Term 1 while we advertise the position. We also give a warm welcome to Ms Adele Seymour who will be working as Associate Principal K to Y6. Ms Rebecca Hartman is Associate Principal for Y3 to Y6 and Ms Jen lay is Associate Principal for Quality Instruction. Mr Dahmen Higgs has changed careers and has taken a position with a school data company. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours and thank him greatly for his tremendous work at Woodland Grove.
As expected for a school our size there is always some movement with staff. This year has seen the smallest number of staff changes since our opening in 2017. I am looking forward to consolidating our teaching and learning practices across the school and bedding down the quality teaching and learning already in place. 2021 is the year we have the courage to be the best we can be.
In the words of Brene Brown
