5 April 2023

Newsletter Articles

Dates to Remember

Please refer to the side panel “School Calendar” section for the “live” calendar of events for information

Principal’s Introduction

Term One Thank You

It has certainly been a very busy term which has cumulated in the opening of our newly refurbished nature playground. I would sincerely like to thank staff, students and parents, for their patience, understanding and support during this term. Staff, as always, have continued to maintain focus on student learning and wellbeing. In addition to this, our School Board, P&C and the NEWBRO Dads have been amazing groups of people who have really contributed towards the success of Term One and provided me personally with a lot of support over the past 10 weeks. A very deep heartfelt thank you.

Nature Playground Now Reopened

After two years in the making, the newly refurbished nature playground is now open for use. This is with thanks to the hard work from many parents and the P&C to start the large job of mulching the area. While there is still some mulching and the need for the crushed limestone path to be laid, the nature playground has turned out a real treat and students are loving the new play equipment.

To celebrate the rebuild, we held an opening on Friday 24th March with a Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony lead by Noongar elder, Herbert Bropho. Mr Worthy, Member for Scarborough, Stuart Aubrey, P&C President, Mr Laurie McCallum and our School Board Chair, Mr Callan Rose were also in attendance. The P&C also organised an after school play organising the Perth Reptile Company to come and show a range of reptiles including some very friendly snakes. The NEWBRO Dads topped the day off as a fun occasion by organising a production line of sausages for student lunches! Such a wonderful day, despite the rain. A massive thank you to everyone involved.

Please Help Look After Our Nature Playground

We now ask that everyone in our community takes collective responsibility to look after our nature playground. As it is open to the public, please keep your eyes out for any unwanted behaviour, dogs, rubbish and other paraphernalia that may end up in there. If you do see any issues you do not want to confront, do not hesitate to call School Watch Security on 1800 177 777 or the Police.

Term Two Staff Changes

Term Two will see a number of staff changes. We thank those staff going on leave, retiring or taking up other positions; and welcome our new staff to the school.

Louise Carey – Education Assistant: Retiring This term we say goodbye and all the best to our wonderful early years Education Assistant, Mrs Louise Carey who has recently retired. Louise has been an Education Assistant here at Newborough since 2010 in a permanent role. Louise has been instrumental as an Education Assistant in our kindergarten and pre-primary classes over this time, and we will miss her calm approach to students in her care. Louise is very much looking forward to spending more time with family and playing tennis. We wish her all the very best during this next phase of her life.

Other Staff changes:

Kindy Green: Mrs Pip Murdoch is extending her Leave for Term Two. Mrs Kara Varcoe will continue as the classroom Teacher. Mrs Michelle Kaps will remain as the Education Assistant in Kindy Green for 2023.

Year 3 Room 6: Miss Justine Watson has accepted a teaching appointment at Dampier Primary School starting in Term Two for the next 12 months. We are sure Dampier will love Miss Watson as much as we do, and we wish her all the very best.

Miss Laura Hicks will replace Miss Watson as the classroom teacher in Year 3, Room 6 for the remainder of the year.

Year 4, Room 12: We welcome Miss Angelica Browne to Year 4, Room 12 in Term 2 on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays until Mr Iain Freeman returns from his Leave in Term 3. Miss Browne will also be providing Duties other than Teaching time to the pre-primary students on a Tuesday.

Year 5, Room 14: We also welcome Miss Roisin O’Connor to Newborough Primary School. Miss O’Connor will be teaching Year 5, room 14 in Term 2 while Mr Peter Blanch enjoys his Long Service Leave.

Physical Education Specialist: Our new Physical Education Specialist will be Mrs Natasha Tench. Mrs Tench is currently teaching at PLC as the Head of the Junior School (K-6) Physical Education Sports Coordinator and Physical Education and Health Teacher. However, unfortunately she is unable to start at Newborough Primary School until mid-term 2. We will ensure we have adequate teacher coverage and student preparation for the upcoming sports events organised. We look forward Mrs Tench’s expertise in this learning area when she starts.

Bricks 4 Kids Replacement Incursion

To replace the Bricks4Kids incursion, we have organised a Scitech Incursion for Week 3, Term 4. The cost per child will range from $7-$14. The Scitech incursion is a one-off hands-on session, not a series of lessons. We will let you know more in Term 3.

Lastly, I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very safe, enjoyable school holidays. Please look after yourselves and your loved one.

Please note that Term 2 resumes on Wednesday 26th April after the ANZAC DAY Public Holiday on Tuesday 25th April 2023.

Kind regards
Karen Tucknott
Principal

Noongar Season

Djeran (April – May)

The Noongar Season ‘Djeran' is represented by the colour green as it is the time of the year where the cooler weather begins.

Djeran season sees a break in the really hot weather. A key indicator of the change of season is the cool nights that bring a dewy presence in the early mornings.

The winds will also change, especially in their intensity, with light breezes generally swinging from southerly directions. Many flying ants can be seen cruising around in the light winds.

Noongar Vocabulary Program

Noongar is the language of the Noongar nation and is spoken by many groups across the south-west corner of Western Australia. Newborough Primary School staff and students are learning Noongar words together in class. Our Term 1 focus is on greetings and family. We have started to learn the following words:

Week 6: Ngaangk: Mother
Week 6: Maambart: Father
Week 7: Djook: Sister
Week 7: Ngooni: Brother
Week 8: Koorda: Friend
Week 9: Woola: shout of praise

Deputy News

Anzac Commemoration Service 2023 – Thursday 6th April

This year sees us return to normal services, and as such we are able to hold a community event to commemorate ANZAC Day. This will be held on Thursday 6th April at 8:45am at the flagpole stage. We will have a guest speaker, Mr Des Cummings from the Scarborough branch of the Returned Servicemen’s League, who will share with students his own experiences in service. Mrs Snelson will lead the choir in singing the ‘Green Hills of Albany’ while our special guests and nominated students from each class lay a posy around the flagpole.

As this is the first in-person service we have been able to conduct in a number of years, we have decided to take it back to basics in order to inform and reflect on what the purpose of ANZAC day is. It is a commemorative ceremony, and as such audience members will be reminded that there is no clapping throughout the service. We also ask that young children are supervised closely and kept off the play equipment.

Students who participate in Scouts, Girl Guides, Joeys, Brownies etc. are welcome to wear their uniform for the day.

If you would like to explore some of the history of ANZAC Day with your child/children, the website has a wealth of information for young and old. The theme for Anzac Day this year is ‘Commemorating Australian Service in the Vietnam War’. While this isn’t the focus for Newborough’s service, classes (especially those in the older years), may be participating in lessons about it. There are some engaging ‘Stories of Service: Vietnam War’ videos that covers the experience of an indigenous man, four fab nurses and a navy clearance diver. These are rich resources that can help generate discussion and come with some suggested inquiry lines. The link to these can be found linked below. For our younger students there is a range of suitable activities that can be found linked below.

Nature Playground

Since the opening of the nature playground, classes have had the opportunity to visit throughout the week to play and explore. Students have noticed that while it is great fun, they need to establish some procedures for safe play so that everyone can enjoy the nature playground as it is intended.

Some nominated students from Years 3–6 spent time on Friday exploring, dissecting, and discussing some possible safety issues they could foresee. They have recorded their ideas, and we will use their student voice, as well as the ideas generated in our junior primary classes and by teachers themselves, to adopt some expected behaviours in line with our school values for playing in this area.

Everyone is a Newbie Knight

P&C News

A big thank you to everyone that helped organise the opening of the long-awaited nature playground, A big thanks to Karen Tucknott for arranging the opening and especially the smoking ceremony and to our P&C secretary Georgia for arranging the reptile experience. There have been so many people involved in the fundraising and planning of the Nature playground, I couldn’t possibly name you all, a special mention to Carly Fowkes, Wes Gregory and John Worthy for their early efforts in securing funding from our local member Stuart Aubrey and getting the ball rolling. Thanks to everyone who made it to the mulch party.... don't worry if you missed out we will be having another one in a few weeks!

Regards
Laurie McCallum

Canteen

Despite some interest in the Canteen Manager role, we have yet to obtain a new manager for the canteen. Hence, we are readvertising the position again. Please feel free to pass this onto anyone you know who may be interested. Thank you to all parents for your support, patience and understanding.

Newborough Primary School P&C is looking for a Canteen Manager who enjoys working with children, is passionate about food, loves their work and has a great community spirit.

The successful candidate will work alongside our 2 Casual paid staff (on Fridays) and numerous volunteers. We cater for a large and diverse school population of approximately 400, including students, teaching and administration staff.

Our Canteen is a fast-paced working environment, open 3 days per week.

It is the responsibility of the Canteen Manager to:

• Prepare and cook fresh snacks and meals onsite, including bulk cooking for stocking the freezer.
• Purchase Canteen approved items from vendors.
• Promote a healthy and interesting menu that adheres to the food Traffic Light System.
• Maintain stock levels to ensure ingredients are fresh and of high quality.
• Manage the Quickcliq online ordering system.
• Encourage volunteer participation and co-ordinate attendance.
• Adhere to relevant safety and hygiene guidelines, including advice from the local Council.
• Keep up to date with WASCA guidelines and policies.
• Provide updates to the P&C.
• Financial Reporting of expenses to the P&C Treasurer.
• Uphold the core values of our school: Respect, Kindness, Teamwork, Challenge Yourself

Skills and experience required for this role:

• Previous experience in managing or assisting in a canteen or commercial kitchen is highly preferable but not essential.
• Excellent customer service.
• Ability to meet deadlines.
• Ability to lead and work within a team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Cash handling experience.
• Willingness to complete WASCA training, seminars and/or other relevant courses.
• Working With Children Check (including Police Clearance).

If you are interested in this role or would like further information, please forward your CV or enquiries to our P&C President, Laurie McCallum, at laurie@atlaspacificgroup.com.au

Music News

Choir

The NPS Senior Performance Choir has been invited to perform at the 2023 AASTN (Australian Association of Stormal Therapy) and APETNA (Asian Pacific Enterostormal Therapy Nurses Association) Conference on Friday 14th April 2023 at Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle. We look forward to entertaining the delegates at the conference.

Chaplain News

Greetings Newborough School Community

I hope you have been enjoying my snippets of information. My goal is to talk about challenges that regularly come up for our students and to let you, their caregivers know, what students are talking about.

One area that we all need to look at is - Are we having age-appropriate conversations with our child’s mental and emotional stage in mind? When I speak to students, I am often surprised at how much adult information they know, especially in separated families. Children do not need to know why parents are fighting, why parents are separating or financial challenges.

Children do not have the capacity to process and understand at the level required to feel safe. One fact learnt over the last 30 years is that when children hear a portion of information, they will make up the rest in their minds that is 100 % worse than what the situation might be. And sadly, so many children end up blaming themselves in some way that they are responsible for what is happening.

In saying this, children are also not stupid and can sense and know that there are problems. If they ask you directly if something is wrong because they hear you fighting, they need to be told that the parents have a challenge to work through, the parents have it under control and they don’t have anything to worry about.

Tips for talking to children about challenges.

Parenting differences – Work out the values you want encouraged in the home and the behaviour that demonstrates this. Work out fair consequences for each. Agree on them and stick to what you have decided. Then both work from the same page.

Money challenges - Especially at present money issues are challenging all of us. This is one major area that stresses children if they keep hearing “we have no money”. Parents often mean we have no money for the extras, but kids think they are losing the house and not going to be fed. An excellent sentence that was given to me was “It’s not in the budget this week”.

Stress/Depression – With the challenges of life, stress that leads to depression is prevalent. With this, emotions run high, we are tired, trying to juggle everything. Effective parenting can go out the window. The best way to handle this is to say to the children, “I have an adult issue to problem solve. While I am doing this, I might have different emotions from sadness to anger, it’s ok to feel these emotions, I am working on finding the right answer. (You can give an age-appropriate example for something they might have experienced.) Tell them you will be ok, and if they see you upset, it doesn’t mean it is anything bad.”

Exhaustion – Instead of talking about chores or turning blue in the face arguing, talk about being a team. And to get everything done, to have free time together, everyone has their part to play. Have a list of activities they can help with, like setting the table, putting dishes away, folding washing and get them to choose which ones to do that week. Then if everyone joins in, you can have popcorn and movie on the weekend.

I hope some of these ideas have been helpful. Please keep in mind. Our children do not need to know about our adult issues.

At Newborough we are building an environment to strengthen and grow student’s knowledge around positive mental health.

Blessings
Ms Deb – School Chaplain

Newbro Dads

Sausage Sizzle

Wow, how well did the Sausage Sizzle Day go off!! We had a great time with sooo many volunteers cooking and packaging sausages on Friday 24th March. The production line to dish out 260 odd sausages, drinks and sauce in under 25mins was a sight to behold. Huge thank you to Rob Antonello for pitching this event and coordinating all the details. Rob has two kids at NPS and is a regular to our Friday morning beach swims. We really appreciate the great contribution everyone made to make this event a success.

Events Planning

Following our last Dads catch up at Scarborough Sports Club, we have now locked in some other events for the year. Please save the date in your calendar, the back of your hand, post it note, mention it in-passing to your wife…. or she will mention it because you don’t read the newsletter.

• Saturday 13th May 6pm- Night walk at Lake Gwelup (details will be out soon),
• Wednesday 7th June 6pm- ‘Tie Knots Not Lots’- fun with ropes, knot tying for kids and adults,
• Friday 8th September- Newbro Dads take over the Canteen day- menu to be announced (dependant on Canteen operation situation by this date),
• Saturday 25th November- the famous Newbro Dads Camp Out!!!

Nature Playground

The nature play space is finally here and what a great opening ceremony held by the school. The indigenous cultural aspect of this ceremony was inspiring and the timing of the rain was eerie. Well done to the school for a fitting opening to this community funded project.

There is still work to do!!! We had a few dads and an army of kids help spread out the mulch pile last Friday after school. Kids with pitch forks, shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows helping improve their own nature play space was cool. If you missed out, don’t worry we have at least another 8-10 cubes of mulch still to arrive. The community help means we will have more of our precious fundraised money for other awesome P&C events at our school.

If you are using this play space please encourage your kids to clean up any rubbish they find, even if it’s not their own rubbish.

School Garden

The school Garden Club have planted out some Autumn/ Winter vegies and will be tending to these in their lunchbreaks. Remember you can be a part of this every Wednesday afternoon for just 30mins. Come in and help pull weeds, rake up leaves, turn the compost tumbler, hold a hose or lean on a rake and dish out some moral support.

A little bit often is the motto, every Wednesday 3pm.

Well that’s a wrap for Term 1. Have a great Easter Break, school holidays, long weekend… all in one go!!! Can’t wait for a breather when Term 2 starts.

Next Meeting: Wednesday 10th May 6pm- (Venue TBC)

Newbro Dads Group

TERM DATES

School Directory

Useful School Information

SIREN TIMES

ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCES

Every day at school is important for every child from Kindergarten to Year 6. Our attendance mantra is EVERY CHILD, EVERYDAY AT SCHOOL. This includes being on time and ready to start the school day.

The school and Principal does not endorse children’s absences to go on holidays, greeting or saying goodbye to fly in fly out parents, special shopping trips and the like. These are unacceptable excuses that we hear too often. Parents are responsible and legally obliged to ensure their children attend school every day possible. Poor attendance not only severely impacts on your child’s learning but also on other children in your child’s class.

If you are having any difficulty getting your child to school let us know and we will try and help. Sometimes it seems easier to give into a child and keep them home for trivial reasons. This is fraught with short term and long-term danger. We have had a lot of success in this area when parents and the school work together. Make no excuses for not attending school.

Department of Education (Western Australia) policy states that all children from Pre-Primary attend school for 5 full days as from the commencement of the school year.

Attendance details are entered electronically twice daily by classroom teachers and the information fed onto a school database. An SMS messaging service endorsed by the Department of Education operates to enable parents to inform the school by text message if their child is going to be absent. The system also automatically sends a message to parents if their child has not arrived at school and no notification has been received. This service assists parents to advise the school of absences and also ensures the safety of children by letting parents know that the child has not arrived at school.

If your child will be absent/sick or late, please contact the school directly either by:

Please include only the student’s name and classroom number, reason for absence and the date in any messages. For Example: “John Doe Room 13 absent 1/2/2021 sick with flu”.

Notes are requested from parents for:

• Any absence from school
• Permission to go on vacation during term time
• Permission to leave the school grounds at any time including lunch time
• Nonparticipation in sport and physical education lessons

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE AT SCHOOL

Before School

Main gates open at 8:20am. Staff will be out and about before school each morning to greet and assist you in any way possible.

Earlier access for school-based activities such as Choir, Music Tuition, Running Club is through the Mulberry Tree gate.

• K-6 Classrooms open at 8:30am
• Parents/Carers welcome to walk children to their classes, enter classrooms and meet with teachers for short communications. Please make an appointment if you require extended time.
• No before school play in any areas, including Kindy and Pre-primary. Students are to be fully supervised by parents in these areas.
• First siren at 8:37am
• Second siren classes commence at 8:40am
• Gates closed and locked at 8:40am
• Students arriving from 8:40am are late and go to the Front Office for a ‘Late Pass’
• Front Office is not for general entry into the school. Students entering must be with a parent

After School

• Gates open at 2:50pm (2:20pm on Tuesday)
• Gates locked and toilets closed at 3:30pm (3:00pm on Tuesday)
• After school play is a privilege, not a right. We are happy to support after school play on school grounds with the following conditions:
• Parents must supervise play and keep students in line of sight.
• School rules apply at all times.
• There is no play on verandahs, Library and near Front Office or car parks.
• Play allowed on school playgrounds Mondays, Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays until gates are locked.
• There is NO afterschool play on a Tuesday. This is a dedicated teacher preparation and staff meeting time. Families are asked to leave school grounds straight away on a Tuesday please.
• Mulberry Tree gates remain open for after school care
• Continued supervised play encouraged at the City of Stirling’s Karrinyup Sports Centre and Jackson/Wilding reserves and the Nature playground.

LATE ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL

Parents/guardians are reminded that students should not arrive at school before 8:20am. When gates open. Teachers open classrooms at 8:30am. There is no play before school.

School commences at 8:40am Sharp. Late arrivals need to go to the front office with their parents to sign in and get a LATE PASS.

SIGNING OUT EARLY

If your child needs to be collected from school during school hours (e.g. attending an appointment or leaving early), can you please email the school at newborough.ps.absentee@education.wa.edu.au and your child’s class teacher ahead of time - at least 24 hours beforehand, where possible. Please include a reason for early pick up and the approximate time you will be here. Parents/Carers sign the child out on the iPad at the front office. They will be given a ‘Sign Out’ card to hand to the classroom or specialist teacher when they collect the student from the classroom.

EXCURSIONS AND INCURSIONS

During the year teaching staff plan a range of suitable excursions and incursions to introduce, develop or reinforce learning experiences for their class.

Incursions are an opportunity for the children to experience high standard performances covering a wide range of learning areas. The children are able to see national, and sometimes international, performers including musicians, storytellers, artists and many others at a reasonable cost. Particular attention is given to developing the social skills of the children, as well as their confidence and independence.

Formal written permission is required before any child can be taken on an excursion. Every endeavour is made to space excursions/incursions during the year to avoid costs being too great at any one time. If payment is not received by the due date and a payment plan has not been entered into, students will not participate in that particular excursion/incursion and will join a buddy class on that day.

MONEY COLLECTION

When paying for incursions, excursions, or other school activities, please pay via direct deposit into the school bank account.

Newborough Primary School does not accept cash payments.

Money can be paid by online banking (please include your child’s surname and incursion/excursion name as reference). e.g., K Smith Edu-dance.

Our school bank details are:

BSB: 016 350
Account No: 3408 71304

MOBILE PHONES POLICY

A reminder that the Western Australian Department of Education has a strict ban on students using mobile phones at school. Students who bring any mobile communication device, including phones, to school must hand it in to the classroom teacher or front office where it will be stored until the end of the day. The exception to this is the Years 4-6 students participating in the bring your own devices program, which allows the student to bring laptops to school, but still no mobile phones. Students who may require contacting parents during the school day can do this on the school landline phones with permission of the Admin team if the reason is for an emergency only.

Birthday Cakes/Gifts for Students

A reminder that we do not allow the sharing of birthday cakes, presents etc. for birthdays or other celebrations.

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.

Uniform Shop News

Netball News

NETBALL FOR PP & YEAR ONE

If your child is in Pre Primary or Year One we'd love them to join us for netball skills training, Friday afternoon in term two. Registrations are now open to boys and girls. All the details and the link to register is available here:

YEAR 4S

ALSO - we are still looking for a couple more netballers to join our gorgeous Year Four teams with coaches Bec and Chris. Training on Wednesday, games on Friday. Contact Sonia Johansen on newboroughnetball@gmail.com or call 041 77 333 57 if you're interested.

First time players are very welcome!

Perth Identified Player Program

CONGRATULATIONS!

Massive congratulations to Indigo Stacey from Year 6 who successfully trialled for Perth Netball Association (PNA) PIPP (Perth Identified Player Program) for 12 year olds.

PIPP is a talent development program for PNA registered athletes. Participants go through a lengthy trial process and the final 30 girls (plus training partners) who are selected get to take part in a specialist coaching and playing program.

It is no mean feat to achieve selection for PIPP - especially when you consider the volume of competition. Newborough has an amazing history of representation in PIPP teams - with six more ex Newborough girls earning a place this year in the 13s, 14s and 15 year old teams.

Congratulations again Indigo. We hope you enjoy this amazing opportunity to develop your netball skills.

Community News

Barnes Karate

SoccerPlay