11 April 2025

Update from Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we come to the end of a busy and productive term, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the incredible support we've received from our entire school community. Your involvement and encouragement have been invaluable, and we are so grateful for everything you do to help make our school a vibrant and welcoming place for all.

This term has been particularly eventful, with Year 3 and 5 students completing their NAPLAN assessments, which went smoothly thanks to the dedication of both our students and staff. Despite the challenges of testing, we’ve had many highlights that brought our school community together. We had our Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony, we celebrated Harmony Day, a wonderful occasion to reflect on the importance of diversity and inclusion, and we were fortunate enough to come together for our whole-school excursion to the Perth Zoo. It was a fantastic day of learning and fun, and I want to thank all our parent and carer volunteers whose support made this trip possible. We also captured memories with our school photos, had our first Lunch with the Principal, and this afternoon we will honour the service and sacrifice of those who have served our country during our ANZAC Day ceremony.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the year to come. We are currently in the process of developing our new Business Plan, a collaborative effort with our dedicated staff and our newly appointed School Board. We look forward to working together to continue building a bright future for our students.

Thank you once again for your unwavering support. We are fortunate to have such a committed and engaged community, and I look forward to the many exciting opportunities the next term will bring.

Wishing you all a safe and relaxing break.

Warm regards,

Denise Jeffs

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Easter Raffle

Congratulations to the following students:

First Prize: Ava Room 15
Second Prize: Anna Room 12
Third Prize: Bronx Room 17

Thank you to our wonderful community for the generous donations, the P&C volunteers and all families that supported the raffle!

Staffing

At the end of this term, we are saying goodbye to Ms Christine Hill who has done an amazing job as our Performing Arts teacher for the past few weeks. We wish Christine all the best. Mrs Sarah Fischer who has been working in Kindy on a Friday is having a sea change and heading up north with her family to take up a position at a new school.  We thank Sarah for her contributions to our school this term and wish her all the best. Miss Chiara Vellutini will also be leaving us to do relief and pursue her own business aspirations.  I am sure we will see her back here for relief.  Once we have selected teachers to replace these staff members will update families. I will also keep families updated should any other staffing changes occur over the holidays.

I am excited to announce that we have selected a new Performing Arts Teacher for our school. Please see her message below.

Kaya Newborough Families,

I’m Dee Ritchie, your new Music and Performing Arts teacher! From musicals in Texas, cruise ship blues in Spain to jazz in Canada, my WAAPA degree has served me well and I bring all that experience to our Newborough children. My approach is solid theoretical skills combined with open minded listening and critical thinking so even if we don’t want to become musicians, we are well educated in the Arts. Sounds serious! Lots of movement, laughter, and a safe place to experiment and intertwine these elements. I am really looking forward to meeting you all in Term Two.

School Board

This year, we called for nominations from staff and parents to join our School Board.  The new and existing members undertook a two-hour workshop upon these appointments and now we look forward to our first official board meeting next term. Our School Board members are:

• Denise Jeffs (Principal)
• Rebecca McGuckin (School Board Chair – Parent)
• Maribel Ward (Staff)
• Vicki Tennant (Staff)
• Karen Tucknott (Staff -new)
• Nadine Standen (Staff-new)
• Corinne Roberts (Parent)
• Samantha Preston (Parent)
• Denise Sanderson (Parent)
• Christopher Nener ({Parent – new)
• Callan Rose (Parent – new)
• Chris Burch (Parent -new)

School Development Day

We have a School Development Day on Monday 28 April.  Students return for Term Two on Tuesday 29 April.

Deputy News

Deputy Years K - 2 - Karen Tucknott

Perth Zoo Excursion

Weren’t we just so lucky on Tuesday 8 April to have such beautiful weather for our whole school Perth Zoo excursion. Mrs Jeffs, Mrs Ward, and I could not be more grateful and proud of every student, staff member, and parent who attended the zoo and for contributing so positively towards helping our students have such a wonderful time learning about our local zoo and the animals and conservation work it offers.

From the feedback we received, students thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the experiences which included the African Savannah (the Galapagos Turtles are huge!), the Asian Rainforest, the Australian Wetlands, the Amazonian and the Australian Bushwalk and of course, having a communal lunch on the main lawn together.

Thank you to Mrs Jeffs for taking so many great photos and sharing them on the closed Newborough Facebook page. We encourage you to have a look at the photos.

ANZAC Service

This year, Newborough Primary School will be commemorating ANZAC Day with an ANZAC Day Assembly for Pre-primary to Year 6 students on Friday 11 April at 2.00 pm on the basketball court facing the flagpole area.

All families are invited to attend, and we will open the gates at 1.45 pm, when students return to class after lunch. We request families come through the gates and not the front office please.

As this is a solemn occasion, we respectfully ask you to fully supervise small children with you. Please do not allow them to play on the main playground, verandas or basketball courts at this time to ensure we have a quiet, respectful event.

If the assembly finishes early, we are happy for parents to take students home from their classrooms early without signing them out at the front office. However, we request any students collected early, are taken off school grounds immediately please with no play on school grounds, while other students are still in class.  

If your family does not observe ANZAC Day, we are more than happy for you to sign out your child at 1.00 pm for the rest of the day, or please let us know they will not be attending the service so we can organise alternate supervision in the school for them during this time.

If you are attending the assembly, we do recommend you wear a hat. While we will provide the normal amount of chairs for an assembly , you may also wish to bring a fold-up chair to sit at the back of students if you wish.

Deputy Years 3 – 6 Update - Maribel Ward

NAPLAN Testing

Congratulations to all our Year 3 and Year 5 students for participating in NAPLAN testing. NAPLAN is a useful assessment tool for schools and families to see how our children are tracking academically. It is important to note however, that as informative as NAPLAN is, it is one test on one day. I would encourage families to schedule a time to meet with your classroom teacher if you have any concerns or questions regarding your child’s academic needs. Results of NAPLAN testing will be available later in the year and families will be informed when this happens.

Inclusion Matters

During this term, there have been several world awareness and acceptance days related to inclusion. Further information will be shared on Facebook.

17 – 23 March    Neurodiversity Celebration Week

21 March            World Down Syndrome Day

April                    World Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month

13 April               Auslan Awareness Day

Neurodiversity – a 2020 study estimates that 15 – 20% of the global population is neurodivergent. ‘Neurodiversity’ is the umbrella term used to describe the neurological ways that people process information.

Neurodivergence can vary, but is most commonly associated with:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
• Autism, also known as Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Dyscalculia.
• Dyslexia.
• Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) – also known as dyspraxia.

Auslan Finger Spelling Guide

P&C News

Containers for Change

Canteen

Please find below the instructions for how to create an account through Flexischools. 

You will be able to order from Flexischool every Tuesday and Thursday. Orders will close by 8am each canteen morning. 

Uniform Shop News

This is the offsite uniform shop.

School Directory

No Animals (Including Dogs) on School Grounds

DoE Security

Keep an eagle eye on our school!

School Watch encourages the school community to report any suspicious activity in and around school grounds, after hours and on weekends, as well as during school holidays.

Telephone 1800 177 777 (free call) or 13 14 44 (WA Police).

Please do not approach any individuals, just contact security and they will investigate the situation or contact the Police. Working together will help protect our school.

Community News

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