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Welcome back to the school year! We’re excited for another big year of learning at West Ulverstone Primary School. I don’t know about you – but wow it was great to see all the students with smiling faces, bright shiny uniforms, and huge aspirations stream through the blue door where I was the first day back.
I extend my welcome back to our families and staff who are returning and, to new families and staff – welcome to WUPS. I hope you all had a wonderful break. It is great to be writing to you again, at the start of the new year of learning and aspiration! The start of the school year is an opportunity for fresh beginnings, excitement, and growth. Thank you for preparing your family to be school ready following the holiday break. This year at WUPS we welcomed 43 new faces to our school. This includes 36 students, 14 of these students are starting school for the very first time in Kinder and 22 students have come to WUPS from other schools. Other new faces include 7 new staff members. All staff at WUPS look forward to working with your family in 2022. Hopefully you saw their welcomes on Facebook.
I would like to acknowledge the outstanding work of all staff for their preparation of our learning environments and for enabling a positive start to 2022! Our school looks fantastic!
New Staff
Welcome to
Mr Manassah Dare-bonnici 1/2A (UTAS Teacher) who will be with us for 6 weeks this term.
Term 1 Focus Value is Respect
The start of a new year is a great time to review our values. Our values represent our school culture. When these values are genuinely lived and reflected in our behaviour and decision making, they will make a significant difference towards having positive outcomes for our community. Voicing and acting on our values is everyone’s responsibility. How will you show respect at WUPS?
Respect is establishing relationships with respect for ourselves, others, the past and the environment.
Congratulations to our first values champions of 2022 for showing our value of Respect. These students have been respecting self, others and our environment.
Working together for safe schools
You are welcomed as a valued school member and role model for our school. While on school grounds or at a school activity, everyone has the right to be safe and be treated fairly and respectfully. Volunteers and visitors are expected to behave in a way that supports a safe school environment. This means that everyone at our school agrees:
- We behave in a safe and respectful manner
- We use constructive and appropriate language
- We treat school property with respect
- We work together to support learning
- We cooperate with staff instructions and school procedures
- We drive slowly and carefully on school campus
- We behave in line with our school’s behaviour policy
If unacceptable behaviour is displayed on school grounds or at a school activity I (or my delegate) may ask you to leave. Please request a copy of our school policy for volunteers and visitors for further information.
Partners of Learning
During the year if you have any questions or concerns, classroom teachers are your first port of call. You can book an appointment through our office staff to see classroom teachers after 3pm on Tuesday's and Thursday's. All staff take part in Professional Learning on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Please ensure you have downloaded Seesaw it is a great way to message classroom teachers directly and see snapshots of your child’s learning. Below is an example of a Seesaw post from 1-2B.
COVID-19 Update
We know that this year feels very different to last with COVID-19 in the community, but we want to reassure WUPS families that we are doing all we can to provide a safe learning environment.
Proactive measures are in place at our school, including:
- frequent cleaning and increased hygiene practices
- vaccination of all Department of Education staff, volunteers, and contractors
- wearing face masks indoors by all staff
- increased ventilation in classrooms
- use of outdoor learning areas.
RATs and masks
Students have also be given COVID-19 care packs that include rapid antigen tests (RATs), face masks and useful information. Please know that additional face masks and RATs will be provided (up to two per week) if requested for the first five weeks of term. Please request additional RATs as you use them. Please remember to correctly dispose of RATs and Facemasks.
To keep our sites COVID-safe, if your child has symptoms and you have run out of school issued RATs, we ask that you DO NOT attend school to collect a RAT. Instead contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.
Your child only needs to use a RAT if they have COVID-19 symptoms. If your child has COVID-19 symptoms, they must stay at home and use a RAT.
Please refer to Public Health’s easy-to-follow instructions on how to use a RAT. In the information pamphlet contained in your rapid antigen test, under section 6.0 there is an instruction stating ‘you must take a laboratory PCR test immediately’ if your RAT tests positive. Public Health assures us that school staff and students do not need to do a PCR test if their RAT tests positive.
What to do with your test results
If a negative result is returned, and your child is feeling well, they can attend school.
If your child tests COVID-19 positive, you must immediately let us know, and complete the Public Health form. You must follow Public Health advice. During your child’s isolation period, if they feel well they can access learning via the Virtual Learning Centre.
If someone in your household tests COVID-19 positive, you must immediately let us know that your child is a close contact and follow Public Health instructions. Your child can access learning via the Virtual Learning Centre during this time.
If you have any questions, please contact the school office. For more information, please visit the Tasmanian Government Coronavirus website or contact the Tasmanian Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738, or Department of Education COVID Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.
Entering school sites
We are looking forward to welcoming parents and carers onto school sites, however, you must follow these COVID-safe measures:
- only enter if you are feeling well
- limit your time onsite
- wear a face mask indoors and outdoors (exemptions apply)
- frequent handwashing and hand sanitising
- physical distance of 1.5 metres between adults
- check in using Check in Tas app.
A RAT is not required to enter the school if you have no symptoms. Stop, Drop and Go is preferred (dropping your child at the gate to limit adults on site), but we understand this is not always appropriate.
How to manage intermittent hay fever symptoms
Hay fever and some other respiratory conditions that occur from time-to-time produce symptoms similar to COVID-19. A student experiencing intermittent hay fever (or another condition) and displaying symptoms even where their RAT is negative, need to stay home. They must then have a PCR test to ensure it is not COVID-19. Following a negative PCR result, the student must obtain a letter from their doctor noting their symptoms are due to hay fever or another condition. The student can then return to school. If symptoms change or increase, the student must self-isolate and take another PCR test and receive a negative result before returning to school. This decision has been made in consultation with Public Health.
Thank you for your patience and kindness towards our staff as we navigate these changes together. We will continually update you of any changes and appreciate your flexibility during this time. Our top priority is providing a safe learning environment for your children.
If you are wanting to know more information, please refer to the frequently asked questions for parents and carers and Department of Education COVID-19 website.
If you still have a question, please talk to the school office or contact the Department of Education COVID Support Hotline at COVID19support@education.tas.gov.au or on 1800 816 057.
Angela McAuliffe
Principal
Codie-Lee Collins-Boulter 1/2B
Codie worked really hard at his learning in maths. Well done Codie!
Jaykohda Orchard 1/2B
Jaykohda for working very hard on her writing. Well done Jaykohda!
Indey Barwick 1/2A
Indey for doing fantastic spelling work. Well done Indey!
Jaylah Carr 1/2A
For excellent results in a spelling test. Well done Jaylah!
Zahlia Young 1/2B
For working hard all day and making respectful choices. Well done Zahlia!
Kash Currie 3/4A
For some outstanding writing and drawing. Well done Kash!
A reminder that hats must be worn in Term 1 through to April when we play and learn outside. It is also important that students are wearing our school hat. These are available for purchase from Maveric Clothing.
With the new school year here, it is timely to remind our school community of expectations in our car park.
For safety reasons the car park is one way, with the entry point closest to the crossing and exit point to the East. Please ensure that you enter at the correct point to ensure the safety of everyone using the car park. Please also drive at low speeds in our car park.
There is a designated disabled spot directly in front of the school. Please ensure that this spot is kept clear for those who require it. Thank you for your co-operation.
It has been a happy start to the year in Kinder/Prep with lots of exploring, learning, and having fun!
We have had a wonderful first week back and with lots of fun activities and getting to know one another.
The Preps have been great role models for our Kinders, helping them to learn new room routines and expectations.
The Kinder students have been exploring the playground environment and developing a sense of belonging in their new space.
Everyone is doing a fantastic job!
Miss Finch, Miss Brown and Mrs Robertson
How nice it is to be back in the classroom with such a positive group of students. 1/2A have been spending time getting to know each other and setting rules that support a safe and welcoming learning space. Our rules include ‘Being nice to each other’ and ‘Being willing to try new things’.
If you haven’t already joined our class on Seesaw please see the office for assistance. We will be using Seesaw to communicate with families and celebrate student success. If you need to speak to me directly, please call to make an appointment. Looking forward to spending 2022 getting to know you all.
Ms Deet Cox
What a fantastic start we have had in 1/2B. Excitement has been very high from students and teachers alike as we all get to know each other and explore our learning space.
We are very lucky to be joined by Mr D for the first two weeks as he completes his UTAS placement – we will be sad to say goodbye however he will be back a bit later in the year.
Please feel free to contact me through Seesaw or call into the classroom at drop off time with any questions or to check in with how your student is travelling.
Mr Alex French
Our year is off to a fabulous start in 3/4A. We have been focusing on establishing respectful connections with each other and have been busy organising our classroom for all the wonderful work we are going to do in 2022. This week we have set a goal to work on our noise level when learning, as we have discovered that most people in our class like to have a quiet and calm space to work in.
We have enjoyed reading some beautiful picture books and we are developing our skills to select ‘good fit’ books when reading to ourselves. Our classroom library has been very popular and it’s safe to say that Anh Do is one of our favourite authors.
We have worked collaboratively to find out which month is the most popular for birthdays in our class. Would you believe that in August, six people in our class celebrate their birthdays? Using the data that we have collected, we are creating a birthday graph to display in our classroom. We can’t wait to have it finished for everybody to see!
Miss Gill Pratt
Term One has kicked off with a bang and students in 4/5/6A have made a fantastic start.
We have been learning to round numbers up and down in order to convince our parents that that new scooter isn’t really too expensive. We’ve been working on our sizzling starts and will be looking to share some of our amazing stories with our families over the next few weeks. We’ve begun to explore why explorers explored the unexplored. We’ve created an Art Gallery and have started working on some “Seasonally Challenged” trees that aren’t quite sure which season they’re in. But most importantly we have been getting to know each other, learning to work with new people and facing challenges together in supportive learning environment.
Mr Reuben Gee
On Friday afternoon students in 4/5/6B helped each other learn to play a variety of games. Students have been getting to know each other and were focussing on cooperation.
Mrs Lynda Coates
Subway ordering will begin again this year, commencing Week 2 - Thursday 17 February 2022.
Subs For You is a convenient, web-based system to provide a healthy and affordable lunch option for your children.
In six easy steps you can order your child’s lunch:
- Sign Up at subsforyou.com
- Log into subsforyou.com
- Select your details and then add student
- Select order lunches and highlight student
- Select order day and lunch pack (packs include a Subway roll, drink and side ie. biscuit or fruit)
- Order lunch before 8.00am on the designated lunch day - Thursdays
Your lunches will be delivered to the school on Thursday at the regular scheduled lunch time.
If you have any questions or queries regarding your account, please email contact@subsforyou.com
For urgent order enquires please call Jacinda on 0499 990 418.
* Please note these events could be subject to change.
Monday 28 February | SASS Parent Info Session 5:00pm - 6:30pm |
Monday 28 February - Thursday 10 March | SASS Visit, Years 3 - 6 |
Thursday 14 April | Last Day of Term 1 |
Friday 15 April | Good Friday |
Sunday 17 April | Easter Sunday - Easter Bunny Comes |
Monday 2 May | Term 2 Commences |
Tuesday 3 May | 2022 School Photos |