16 December 2025

I have thoroughly enjoyed my term as Relieving Principal whilst Mr Fisher has been in a Relieving Director Educational Leadership role. Mr Fisher will continue in this role to begin 2026, which means I have the great fortune to continue on as Relieving Principal for that time. Mrs McLerie will continue to be Relieving Deputy Principal, and I thank her for fulfilling this role so competently this term.

I would like this opportunity to say thank you to our wonderful community for a fantastic term. It certainly has been a busy one, but oh so rewarding for everyone. It may be the last week, but there is still so much happening!

One of the highlights in our last week is our Annual Presentation Day assemblies, which were held today. Year 6 Graduation, K-2 and 3-6 assemblies all taking place. It was lovely to see our planned celebrations come together in a way that incorporated our students, staff and community. To share my thoughts and reflect on our school year and then share the successes of many students who received recognition across a diverse range of disciplines, was a fantastic way to conclude an outstanding year. Well done to every recipient, but also to all students in our school, who have certainly achieved success throughout the year in many areas.

A big part of today was the announcement of our 2026 School Captains and Prefects. I want to again congratulate all nominees. However, only four people can be elected to School Captaincy and Vice-Captaincy and four to the Prefect role. I congratulate Mila and Dallas, our new Captains, April and Parker, our new Vice-Captains and Arya, Kyah, Charlie and Lewis on being elected to the Prefect role. I believe that these students will be excellent leaders for Woonona Public School and we look forward to them growing into their role in 2026. Well done!

Thursday 4 December saw our Year 6 students head off to Jamberoo and I congratulate them on their behaviour throughout the day. Ms Phillips and accompanying staff were very complimentary of our students who were responsible, mature and reliable. More than this, they had a great time! Well done Year 6 and thank you to our teachers who co-ordinated the organisation of this day.

Tomorrow night, Wednesday 17 December, is another wonderful event for our Year 6 students, enjoying their social evening at school. It is always so nice to see the students enjoy each other’s company and really embrace their last few days being a primary school student. Special thanks must go to Ms Phillips and her wonderful team for co-ordinating such a joyous event for our students to remember for a lifetime.

Whilst Year 6 have been busy, all of our K-2 students have also been busy in a completely different way. All their practising certainly showed when they put on a performance of a lifetime, for the much loved Christmas Showcase last Wednesday. A huge shoutout to all the students and staff who kept the crowd entertained throughout the morning. I don’t know who had the bigger smiles, the students or the family members watching! I know there were certainly some sighs of relief from both staff and students afterwards, the crowd was huge!

The end of 2025 is going to be emotional time for our school community, as we bid farewell to some of our much loved staff.

Mr McGee, a longtime staff member of ours is taking the plunge and saying goodbye to teaching to embark on his own personal business venture with his family. I would like to thank Mr McGee for all that he has brought to Woonona Public School over the years, being one of our most loved teachers by students, staff and families alike. His calm approach and infectious laugh will certainly be missed.

Mr Samuel is also leaving teaching for now to explore other interests in outdoor education. Whilst Mr Samuel hasn’t been with us for a long period of time, he has certainly had a positive impact in the short period of time he has been with us.

I wish both Mr McGee and Mr Samuel all the best in their new adventures.

I would also like to thank Mr Dixon for his commitment and enthusiasm in teaching Science this year, whilst also teaching 3-4N on a Friday. It’s never an easy job to fulfill two very different teaching roles in the same week but he has done it with ease. Mr Dixon is heading back to Albury to join his family and take on new teaching opportunities there. I wish Mr Dixon all the best and hope to see him back at Woonona one day.

Both Mrs Partridge and Mrs Manduri have an exciting time ahead, both preparing to welcome a new little baby into their families. For Mrs Manduri this will be her first and for Mrs Partridge it will be her second. I would like to wish them both all the very best and look forward to letting you all know early in the new year about their new little additions.

Ms Tyrrell will be taking leave in 2026 to go on an overseas adventure. I wish Ms Tyrrell all the best in her travels and look forward to seeing her back in 2027.

Ms Bailey will also be setting off to enjoy some travels and adventures in 2026. I also wish Ms Bailey all the best.

If you see any of these staff members over the coming days, be sure to thank them for their effort and commitment to Woonona over the years. I am sure we will see many of them again at Woonona PS in some capacity in the future.

Tomorrow, you will receive your child’s Semester 2 report. Reports happen twice per year at all public schools in NSW. Our staff have written extensive reports that cover all key learning areas. These subjects have all been assessed through a range of techniques, with student’s abilities compared to relevant syllabus outcomes for each stage of learning.

Remember:

• Teachers plan teaching and learning programs using syllabuses developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority.
• The syllabuses describe standards that apply across the state for each learning area.
• Your child’s teacher uses their knowledge of syllabuses and knowledge of the children in their class to plan their teaching and learning programs.
• Teachers use their professional judgement, internal and external data gathering about each child’s achievement against the statewide standards to award the grade.

If your child has achieved a 'sound' on their report then they have achieved what is generally expected. If your child has achieved a 'high' or 'outstanding,' then they have achieved more than is generally expected. If your child has achieved a 'limited' or 'basic,' then they have not yet achieved what is generally expected compared to other children of a similar age.

I want to remind parents that students’ last day for the school year is Friday 19 December. All students will resume/start school on Monday 2 February 2026.

As normal, when students return next year they will return to their 2025 class and teacher, where possible. This is a nice way for students to reconnect with their teacher and classmates and also allows us to confirm student numbers and class structure before placing them into 2026 classes. Please let your child know this, as it’s often reassuring for them to not have the worry over the holidays on where they will go on the first day.

As this will be the final newsletter and correspondence for 2025, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support throughout the year. I wish you and your families a happy and safe holiday. I look forward to seeing you all back here in 2026!

Merry Christmas!! I hope Santa is good to you!!

Ms Alison Strinic

Relieving Principal

These amazing students were awarded the 'Citizenship of the Month Award' for November, in recognition of their exemplary standards of conduct and service to others.

Congratulations to:

Mia K-1G

Elijah 1L

Reeva 3-4S

Eva 5-6L

Congratulations to the following students away on photo day:

Olympia 3-4B - August Citizen

Abigail 3-4N - October Citizen

• Year 6 Social Evening - Wednesday 17 December
• Reports Home - Wednesday 17 December
• Year 6 Farewell Tunnell - Friday 19 December
• Last Day for Students & Staff 2025 - Friday 19 December
• All Students First Day 2026 - Monday 2 February

Next year our school will be using School Bytes instead of Sentral.

We will be using School Bytes for not just finance, but all the modules that we currently use Sentral for. This will reduce having 2 programs/apps and associated costs.

School Bytes has all the same features as Sentral like viewing the attendance record, absence explanations, SMS & email communication, academic reports, school calendar and parent teacher interview bookings.

The transition for parents will be simple if you are registered with School Bytes which most of you are already. Sentral Parent Portal access will be turned off sometime next year. We will hope to be able to let you know when soon.

If you haven’t downloaded your child’s existing academic reports in Sentral this may be a good time to do so. There may be a delay before we can have them uploaded into School Bytes.

If you are not registered for School Bytes please click on this link for the app or register here

The Library will be closed for the rest of the term for stock-take. Please return any library books as soon as possible.

Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Mrs Carroll

Librarian

Uniform orders are filled weekly by P&C volunteers.

School hats/caps are available to purchase from the front Office, cash payments only.

Further information on ordering uniforms can be found on the school website.

Please be aware that there are students in our school with allergies to nuts. We ask that you give consideration to voluntarily agreeing not to send nut products, in particular peanuts and peanut butter to school.