Principal Report

As we settle into the second week back, it’s been wonderful to visit all 24 classes and specialist classrooms and notice how well our students have gotten back into their strong school routines, as well as how engaged they are in their lessons - they must have had a restorative and restful break with their families, so thank you! 

We have lots to look forward to this term - whole school events such as Science Week and Book Week, as well as a plethora of amazing incursions and excursions that have been organised by our teachers, not to mention the wonderful units that have been planned and novel studies exploring some engaging texts.

Parent Teacher Interviews / 3 Way Conferences

It was terrific to see and hear about so many parents attending our Parent Teacher Interviews yesterday - whether online or face-to-face in the classrooms. It was especially great to hear how well the student-led conferences went for our Year 4, 5 and 6 cohorts. Feedback from teachers was that they really enjoyed the longer blocks and the fact it was done throughout the day, rather than feeling rushed/late after a normal, tiring school day. I welcome feedback from parents on the revised format as well.

If you weren’t able to attend yesterday, but would still like to connect with your child’s class teacher or a specialist teacher, please contact the school and we’ll arrange a mutually suitable time to meet.

Attendance – Every Day / Minute Counts!  

Attending school every day means students experience what really counts: the learning, friendships, fun, and opportunities that shape their future. It was fantastic to celebrate the 308 students who had attendance rates of 95% and over in Semester 1 at our final assembly of the term. This is out of a possible 552 students.

As a principal, I attend various meetings and conferences at the local, regional, and state levels. A consistent focus across all of these is improving student attendance across our region. 

At NLPS, we prioritise regular attendance and work closely with families to keep students in class with their peers and teachers, enjoying all the benefits that brings. We understand there are times when your child will need to miss school. To minimise disruption to their education, we ask families to please schedule holidays and medical/dental appointments outside of school hours whenever possible. If your child is well enough to attend but is feeling unsure about friendships, schoolwork, or assessments, we encourage them to come in. Avoiding school can make these feelings more difficult and create negative patterns.

Our current attendance data is tracking slightly lower than at this time in 2025. Attendance will remain a strong focus for our school and the region as it’s closely linked to student and family engagement. Absences - whether for appointments, general rest days, or holidays - all add up, as you can see on the table below. While teachers do their best to catch students up, important learning can be missed. We ask that you please be mindful when making bookings during term time. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Additionally, we also ask that you do your best to ensure that your child/ren are here on time every day as well. The first 10 minutes of the day are important in many ways - connecting back with peers and their teacher when they line up/come into the classroom, getting taken through the day’s schedule so they know what to expect that day and participating in the start of the first lesson - either a warm up / and unpacking the learning intention and connecting to prior learning - all ways that make the learning experience easier. If your child is late, they miss out on these important components. 

Attendance – Entering Details on Compass

If your child is absent, please ensure you enter the reason for their absence correctly on Compass, as this impacts our data reporting to the regional office.

When submitting an Attendance Note on Compass, the drop-down ‘Reason’ menu is important. ‘Medical/Illness’ is the only option automatically approved by the Department of Education. If your child has a ‘Medical Appointment’ and is on the SSG list or has an IEP, this is also considered approved leave.

If you select ‘Parent Choice’, please provide further detail so the school can determine whether the absence is approved or not. Additionally, as per my Compass note last week, ‘Sorry Business’ is an option only available to our ATSI families.

Additionally, if your child does need to attend an appointment during school hours, please note:

• Drop-offs before 10am or pick-ups after 2pm are not counted as absences. The system may at times automatically default your child to be 'absent' for the entire AM or PM session. If this happens please contact the front office to update for you. 

Trial of Earlier Eating Time - Wednesdays from Week 3

A reminder that our trial begins next Wednesday 29th July. Many of our teachers have noticed that students are getting tired and/or dysregulated and disengaged during the fourth hour of learning (between 12:30-1:30pm) and so we began to look more closely at just how students were eating during the 11:00-11:30 recess break. In many cases, students spend a minimal amount of time sitting and eating in their designated eating areas as they were keen to make the most of the break to play with friends. Through the NLPS Consultative Committee, it was proposed that students may benefit from being given their set eating time at the end of recess 11:30 - 11:40, instead of the current eating time at 1:30-1:40. Therefore, we will trial an earlier supervised eating time for one day a week (Wednesdays) from next week.

That is:

• RECESS - 11:00am - 11:30am
• SUPERVISED EATING TIME - 11:30am - 11:40am
• Then two hour learning block begins at 11:40am, with change over 12:40pm
• LUNCH - 1:40pm - 2:15pm

Please note that there will be no change to the actual length of break times, just to timings. Teachers will monitor students' engagement levels during the fourth and fifth hours throughout the Wednesday trials of Term 3 and feed this information back to the Consultative Committee.

As always, we recommend packing enough food for two substantial meals during the energy intensive school day. Thank you.

Foundation 2027 - Enrollments Due July 31st

We’d like to remind families that enrolment applications are due next week - July 31st. If you have a child already attending the school and a sibling due to start, please ensure your enrolment is completed by the deadline so we can plan for 2027 with confidence.

Hoping that we all stay warm and well as we make our way through Melbourne winter!

Carly Bannon

NLPS Principal