Kaya everyone,

Who can believe we are almost at the end of the 2023 school year? The last school day for students this year is Thursday 14 December. Our Year 6 students are feeling very excited and nervous about the end of the year, as high school becomes a reality. Our graduating students will go to five different high schools next year, and all have spent time transitioning and getting to know the school, staff and other students who will be in Year 7 with them. The Joondalup Schools graduation is next Tuesday 12 December at 9am in the undercover area.

2023 WA Awards – Winner Disability and Inclusion

Our school attended the WA Education awards yesterday as we were a finalist in this category. This year there were five categories across all our government schools. Hwee Peng Tan, our Board Chair, nominated us for this award. We became finalists and have had media and the judging panel come out to the school to ask us lots of questions and look at our school in action. Yesterday, at the awards morning it was announced that we won this category! There were four finalists including Geraldton Primary School, Malibu School and Bob Hawke College. We are extremely proud to win this award, and I want to take the opportunity to thank and congratulate all our students, families, staff, Joondalup Primary School, and community as this recognition belongs to us all. We are also awarded $20,000 for winning this award. As a staff we will decide together how best to use this funding for our school.

Christmas Carols and 30^th Anniversary

Last Friday night Joondalup Schools celebrated our 30^th Anniversary with a display in the library. The display incorporated photographs, newsletters, newspaper articles and trophies that showed our history to current day.

Joondalup Primary School organised the event, and we performed “Santa Wear your Shorts”, (thank you Mrs Parker for putting this together!) as well as a few other songs which students were involved in. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and for giving such positive feedback about the evening. Thank you to Mr Rhys Sutherland for his expert organisation and musical talent which made the night possible and to Mrs Jayne Butler for her support of the School Choir.  Miss Penny Thornton created a beautiful backdrop made up of prints of reindeers. A huge thank you to all the staff from across Joondalup Schools who cooked the sausage sizzle, set up, packed away, attended rehearsals and helped on the night. 

Adventure Week

Is in full swing and those that have been to Outback Splash so far have loved it! This year junior, middle and upper primary have organised events for their students – however everyone is going to Outback Splash!

Schools Plus – Helping Students Succeed Grant

Heidi Brough, our STEM specialist teacher applied for this grant earlier in the year. She has been successful, and has secured a $90,000 grant ($30,000 over 3 years). Heidi has applied for the funds to continue to develop an assessment tool in the area of STEM (digital technologies), which will support staff, other schools and families supporting students to develop fine motor skills and the skills needed to access and use digital technologies. Watch this space!