20 March 2024

Principal’s Introduction

Dear families,

What a fantastic fortnight we have had since the last newsletter! School Photos, NAPLAN, the P&C Colour Slime Run and our Newbro Dads Pizza evening! It has been so incredible to see our community coming together again at events such as these.

Thank you for all the amazing support from our whole school community during our 2024 P&C Colour Slime Run Fundraiser. It was a huge success with so many amazing parents helping on the day. What a fun and great day filled with laughter and happy, messy faces.

Our P&C work incredibly hard and the many hours our parents put in is truly appreciated by the school - we are very lucky to have such wonderful support from our parent body! A special thank you to our Colour Run committee, Laurie, Andrew, Jodie, Georgia and Lee, who did a lot of the coordinating before, during and after the event. Your hard work made the day run very smoothly.

The P&C will use the funds raised to assist the school in meeting our school priority areas in the Business Plan. Our next P&C meeting is tonight, Wednesday 20 March and we would love to see you there, all welcome!

School Board

The Newborough Primary School Board is an integral aspect of our school operations, and our board members play a vital role in shaping the education system and ensuring the well-being of our students. NPS held our first board meeting on Wednesday 13 March, and I thank all members for their contributions to this meeting. We elected our board positions for the school year, and I am pleased to announce the following positions on the board for 2024:

School Board Chair: Becky McGuckin
Deputy Chair: Corinne Roberts
Secretary: Sammy Preston

We also thanked our outgoing Board Chair, Callan Rose, for his long-standing contribution to the NPS School Board. Callan’s vision and unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment at NPS is demonstrated through his immense passion for creating the best educational opportunities for our students. I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to Callan for his dedication to improving the quality of education at Newborough Primary School.

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

This week we are shining a spotlight on the amazing students in our community who process the world in a different way. Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by our schools with the opportunity to recognise the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent, while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual. Approximately 15-20% of the population has a neurological difference.

There are a number of fantastic resources you can access as a parent on the Neurodiversity Week website:

As an inclusive and supportive school community, we can all do our part to help our students understand and celebrate these differences.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 & 5 students are almost finished NAPLAN testing, with the last class assessment session scheduled for today.

Phones and Smart Watches

A reminder that mobile phones and smart watches are not to be used on school grounds to contact parents or access social media, as per Department of Education policy. If a child needs to contact a parent, or a parent needs to contact a child during the school day, this needs to be done through the office. Phones need to be switched off and handed to the front office before school, with watches switched to aeroplane mode.

After School Play

We do love seeing students playing at the school after school on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but would like to remind families and students that safety is our first priority. Unfortunately, our staff have been required, over the past fortnight, to step in and manage behaviour concerns during the after-school play time. I would like to remind families that supervision is the responsibility of the adult with each child and ask that you remind your child/ren of our play expectations whilst on school grounds. Thank you!

Mulberry Tree Gate

If you are using the Mulberry Tree gate outside of our school arrival and drop off times, please ensure you close the gate fully behind you. It is important that the gate is left closed for the safety of our students and community members. Thank you for your assistance.

WA Government Student Assistance Payment

On Sunday, the Premier, Hon Roger Cook MLA, and the Minister for Education, Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA, announced the WA Student Assistance Payment. This State Government initiative offers a cost-of-living payment for every student in Western Australia to provide financial relief and assist families with their children’s schooling.

All Western Australian school students (Kindergarten to Year 12) currently enrolled in a public school, registered non-government school, or home-schooled, with a valid WA student number (WASN) are eligible to claim this payment from Monday 15 April 2024.

Payments per child available to claim during Term 2:  

$150 for kindergarten and primary school students  
$250 for secondary school students

This will assist parents to pay for school essentials and extras, including books, stationery, computers, uniforms, excursions and camps.  

The WA Student Assistance Payment is available to claim within the ServiceWA app. More information about setting up the app and step-by-step instructional videos are available on wa.gov.au/servicewaapp. The ServiceWA app is the fastest and most convenient way to claim the payment, however alternative claim methods will be available for those unable to access ServiceWA. This payment can not be claimed through the school. More information was emailed to families on Monday this week and is available on the website: education.wa.edu.au/wasap/questions-and-support.

Deputy News

Edu - Dance Incursion Advice and Consent Form

This year, we have organised a fabulous, fun dance and fitness program called Edu-dance for Term 2 for all students Kindergarten to Year 6. Edu-Dance is a curriculum-based dance fitness program designed for primary school students. Edu-Dance focuses on physical fitness, dance confidence, developing self-esteem in students and teamwork. The lessons are high-energy with age appropriate choreography and music. The program is primarily hip-hop based in style but also touches on contemporary, musical theatre and Jazz genres. The program teaches each class a dance over the term which they then perform at a concert at the end of the program. These concerts will be in Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 2 and you will be informed of the exact times next term. Each lesson next term will be 30 minutes long. Teachers will let you know of the times for your child’s class closer to Term 2.

There are two different costs and notes for the program due to the age groups.

• The Kindergarten program is 9 weeks and costs $41.00 per child.
• The Pre-primary to Year 6 program is 10 weeks long and costs $36 per child.

*Please note costings are based on the overall cost of the program divided by the number of students participating.

The Consent and Advice Forms were sent home last week. The forms are also on our Website.

Harmony Day

HARMONY DAY – THURSDAY 21^st MARCH 2024: Week 8 (Harmony Week is Monday 18^th- Sunday 24^th March 2024)

As part of our commitment to continue to strengthen inclusivity, respect, diversity and a sense of belonging within our community, Newborough Primary School will recognise Harmony Week on Thursday 21^st March (Harmony Day). On this day, all students in Pre-primary to Year 6 will participate in a whole school song at 9am in the nature playground amphitheatre. The song will be “Down Under in Australia” by Susie Davies-Splitter and Phil Splitter which students have been learning in their Music lessons.

We invite all available parents to join us in the nature playground to watch the performance and enjoy a complimentary coffee organised by the P&C and sponsored by one of our super parents, John de Leo of Force Real Estate. The Coffee van will be set up on Hazlitt Oval for this occasion from 8am-9am. We recommend parents drop students off at class and make their way to Hazlitt Oval for a coffee before going into the nature playground to watch the performance at 9am. Please note any complimentary coffees or hot drinks are for parents only. Please do not order any drinks for your children as this increases costs for any sponsors. Please be respectful of our sponsors and the time the coffee van finishes. Thank you.

WEAR THE COLOUR ORANGE OR NATIONAL DRESS ON HARMONY DAY

All students, staff and families are invited to either wear the colour ORANGE to show support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia OR wear national dress on Thursday 21^st March 2024.

For more information on Harmony Week, you may like to refer to the official Harmony Week website  

Year 6 Camp

Thank you everyone!!  We have had fantastic support for our Year 6 Camp fundraising.  Obviously, a bargain wine offer has a few supporters.  If you haven’t had a Year 6 kid at school yet I am sure most will remember how exciting and memorable your school camp was.  I remember my Year 7 camp to Nanga Bush camp like it was yesterday.  This opportunity for our kids is made possible by our special teachers, who give up their time to enable a school camp. Thank you for the organisation and effort it has taken just to plan, book and execute this amazing event.

This year our Year 6 kids are off to Camp Karem, which is in Bullsbrook.  They will come back full of lifelong memories, stories to embellish and solidify friendships which we hope endure a lifetime.

The camp is an additional cost for parents and so any fundraising makes a big difference to the cost of the camp.  We have been lucky to complete two fundraising events, a democracy sausage sizzle at last year’s referendum day and the wine fundraiser this term. We have managed to raise around $2700 to offset the cost of the camp.  This is an amazing outcome.

Thanks again for your support and generosity.

Andrew and the Year 6 Parents 

P&C News

Colour Run Update

Thank you to everyone who supported our colour fun run - it was a huge success, we have raised over $8000 to be used to improve the school.

We had an amazing group of volunteers turn up early to set up, get everyone registered, help manning and supervising each station, first aid, refreshments and packing down in record time. It was great to meet many new faces from the Kindy crew and see all the kids worn out after several laps of the course.

A special mention to Georgia Bradbury, Jodie Prendergast and Andrew McGuckin for assisting with all the planning and their efforts throughout the day. To Stuart Aubrey and Nick Stenhouse for being a good sport and getting slimed by the kids and to all the teachers and staff who made their way down.

For those who used the online platform, the prizes will probably not arrive before the end of Term 1, so we will likely distribute them in the first or second week of Term  2.

The next P&C Meeting is this evening, 7-8pm at the school Library, hope to see some new faces as we plan for Term 2.

Newbro Dads

What a great turnout to the Newbro Dads welcome evening on Friday night at the NPS Sustainability Shed. Homemade pizzas made right there in the school’s own pizza ovens. They were amazing, such an awesome effort by Rob and Andrew S preparing the pizza bases and ingredients and Del stocking the fridge. Great to see some dads who are new to the school, with little tackers in Kindy. If anyone else is keen to join in with the Newbro Dads just let us know with an email and we can send a link to the WhatsApp group chat.

It takes a whole family effort to assist dads to participate in the school community. There may be younger kids left at home, all the kids left at home, or the bedtime routine is messed up because dad and the kids are having fun at a Newbro Dads event. We really hope your family can find a way to get your Dad and the kids out to these events.

So, what does 2024 offer us this year?  Well by sheer popular demand we will be hosting a night walk during winter, of course we will!!! Make sure the kids get a headtorch beforehand so they can spot frogs and spiders galore. There will be the awesome camp out in Term 4, with movie, marshmallows and millions of stars!!

What else?? Well, that could be up to you.  Look out for our next catch up and bring your ideas. We should be able to squeeze in at least two other events, like the balloons or paper plane events that fit in the undercover area.

Awesome show on Friday everyone and we look forward to seeing you all again at the next event.

Email: Newbrodadsgroup@gmail.com 

Netball News

Calling all Pre-primary and Year 1 netballers.

Registrations are now open for PP/Year 1 players to join the Woolworths NetSetGo training sessions. These sessions are a fun way for kids to get involved in sport and learn some basic netball skills. No experience is required just sign up and have some fun!

When: Thursday's (Term 2 only, excluding public holidays), 3 - 4 PM

Where: Newborough netball courts (Quadrangle)

Cost: $105 (KidSport vouchers available)

For additional information about the program or to register please visit our website.

Unless places fill prior, registrations are open now until March 26th.

If you have any questions please contact, Tanya Cawthorne newboroughnetball@gmail.com 

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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