2022 Term 4 - week 6

Principal's Article

Dear Parents/Carers,

This term is flying by, cant believe it is week 6 already!

Incursions and activities

We have started the term with lots exciting incursions and activities for our students which have included; The Special Olympics, WADSA, Outdoor Classroom Day and the fantastic Colour Run (Thanks Michelle for your organisation and hard work in making this an inclusive event and a great success).

The inaugural ESNN Lego Masters competition took place last week at Beaumaris Community Centre. This was organised by our ICT consultant this year Rory Critchley who enabled our students to battle it out against other centres and schools.  Our students had a fabulous time and created models which involved programming, robotics and at the same time maintaining a carbon neutral theme.  Congratulations to the team, for winning the "Programming Award".

P&C

I would like to thank the P&C for the continuing support of the Westminster Schools in what has been another year impacted by COVID and the New Build. The whole school community really values what you have done.

I would also like to thank the P&C for its ongoing donations for the book awards and end of year prizes.

For 2023, I would like to encourage parents to step forward and nominate for a role in the P&C as these role are integral to ensuring our students have the best experience possible at school. Positions for P&C President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Canteen Volunteers is open for 2023. P&C Annual General Meeting will be held on 14th March 2022, 8.45am – 9.45am at WPS Library.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Norman Gibbons for his outstanding contributions to the Westminster schools in his various roles including P&C Treasurer and Canteen Volunteer Manager over the past 20 years.

Shool Vistors

At the end of last term and the beginning of this term we have both EA and Teacher prac students in our classes. I would like to acknowledge all our staff for the support and the sharing of knowledge they provide which goes some way to ensure we continue to attract excellent people into our sector.

To attract more teachers to work with students with disabilities the Department and WAESPAA have joined together to run a switch course for current teachers who may be interested in working with students in our sector.

We have been really pleased to host some of the staff from Nollamara and Balga who have expressed an interest in observing what we do in our context in order to take ideas and strategies back to their schools.

School Board

Wednesday 23^rd November is our open school board meeting in the library. It would be great to see members of community there where there will be an opportunity to hear and see what goes on within the board.

Kind Regards,

Gary Hobson

PRINCIPAL

Our Vision

S.T.E.A.M

All students at Westminster participate in a specialised STEAM program. This means that for 1 day a week the focus is on Science, Technology and Art often taught through integrated themes and projects.  STEAM projects give students a chance to engage in hands-on, experiential learning. Students are often using different materials and tools in order to discover how something works, how to build it, and how to fix it. The theme this semester has been on Chemical Sciences which deals with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions.

 We had a wonderful visit from Scitech with their Mix and Make Show and workshop which explored what happens when common ingredients found at home get mixed together.

We have also been conducting lots of science experiments in class and observing what happens.

We have also had lots of fun observing what happens when we mix colours and the students have created some beautiful art work.

And we have explored how to create different types of lines, such as straight lines and zigzags, and include them into our own creations.

During Technology lessons the students have used different materials to create and build things designed for a purpose such as a house for the 3 little pigs or choosing what features to include when designing their own gardens.

Outdoor classroom day

Outdoor Classroom Day - Our students had an amazing day discovering & exploring the outdoors, enjoying fresh air, nature and sunshine. They were involved in various activities such as Nature Bracelet, Scavenger Hunt, Erupting Sand Volcano, Rock Painting, Rainbow Activity, Little Bird's Day - StoryTime and Spraying Silhouette.

Colour Run Fundraiser

P & C

Merit Award Winners - Week 4

Uniform Fitting Day

Parents are required to accompany students to the fitting.

Canteen

Schoolzine

Voluntary Contributions 2022

Term Planner

School Board Members