Principal Report
Hello parents and carers,
You may have read on Compass earlier this week that I was named as the successful candidate for the substantive principal role for the next five years. I am so honoured and excited to be the new leader of this fantastic school and to work alongside our wonderful school community to ensure that all our students are happy, healthy and engaged at school, every day. I outlined my vision to the selection panel and look forward to sharing that with the staff and the community in due course. In the meantime, thank you for all the support that you have given me in the yard or via email over the last few months, I really do appreciate it, and truly value the confidence that the selection panel have placed in me.
School Athletics and Tabloid Sports Day
Yesterday we held our very popular sports days for all year levels across the school. Our Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students worked their way through 12 fun activities in mixed groups, and our Year 3-6 students all competed in more traditional events at the Newport Park Athletics track, including high jump, long jump, hurdles, sprints, and discus.
It was great to see so many of our students demonstrate our school value of resilience and give new activities and sports a go! I also loved seeing everyone dressed up in school house colours and getting into the spirit of things. The winning team will be announced at assembly tomorrow (May 24th). I wonder who it will be this year?
A big thank you to Mr A for organising the events down at the track and also organising the Bayside College student helpers at both places, who were fantastic. Thank you to Erin for coordinating the F-2 event as well. I also want to acknowledge the generous donation of fresh fruit that Coles Altona Gate provided for the day.
Pupil Free Day - Monday 27th May
A reminder that on next Monday, May 27th, no student is required to be at school as all staff members are participating in a Professional Practice Day (PPD). The current EBA requires that all teaching staff get one PPD a year and, rather than rely on CRTs, schools can select to have them all on one day instead, which the NLPS Consultative Committee has done, just like last year.
There will be no school for children on this day. Childcare is available and further information and bookings can be made by contacting the school’s OSHC provider Quantin Binnah on 9742 5040 or via email admin@qbcc.org.au.
Lost Property
If your child seems to be missing an article of their school uniform or personal belongings, then it is a good chance that it has found its way into the school’s lost property box. Students are welcome to look through the items during the play breaks and it is a good opportunity for them to practise our school value of being responsible.
If parents are up at school please feel free to call in anytime between 8.45am and 4.00pm to see if any of the clothing, lunch boxes, drink bottles etc. belongs to your child. There is quite an assortment of items in the box there so allow yourself a good 5-10 minutes to rummage through all the uniforms.
Interestingly, there has been an increasing amount of unlabelled items, so I urge you to check that all your child/ren’s items are currently labelled, just in case they do misplace them. Members of our wonderful Parents Club volunteer their time to go through and sort the uniform items regularly and, if there is a name on it, it will inevitably find its way back to the right person!
Walking Bikes in the School Grounds
After our successful ‘Ride to School’ day on May 3rd, staff have noticed that more students are being unsafe and riding/scooting/skating in the school yard, both before and after school. The expectation is that all students will dismount at the gate and their wheeled transport will be walked through the school yard, to help keep everyone safe, even if the yard is busy or quiet. We would appreciate it if you could help to remind your child to dismount at the gate and practice walking their bike/scooter through the yard - no one wants to be hit by a fast moving bike. Thank you.
2025 Foundation Enrolments
We would like to remind families that enrolment for Foundation 2025 is required by Friday 26th July 2024.
If you have a sibling of a student that attends here already, or know of families within our zoned community that have a child due to start school next year please remind them to get their enrolments in so we can plan for 2025 with confidence.
Enrolment forms are attached below or are available from Compass, the front office or on the school website - here.
2024 AIP Visual
For those of you that may be interested in what our strategic focus is for this year, here is the visual we’ve produced for this year's Annual Implementation Plan. It is full of acronyms (as is the world of education!) but the goals and related key improvement strategies (KIS) for the year are clear. Thanks to Mike for providing me with the inspiration! Feel free to chat with me if you’d like to know more - whilst out on yard duty or by emailing the school for a time or with a query.
Staff and Student Illness
As the weather cools down significantly, similar to almost all sectors of the community, we are presently experiencing a considerable amount of illness amongst our students and staff. Covid continues to be a concern as well as many other forms of sickness and ailments including gastro, colds and influenza.
We have been endeavouring to replace teachers when absent with CRTs (casual relief teachers) but due to staff shortages this is not always possible. At times we are required to utilise our leadership team and specialist teachers to fill in, or in some cases, split classes amongst other similar grade levels to ensure operation of the school. We thank families for their understanding and support in this matter and remind you to keep your child at home if they are not well to stop the risk of spreading anything to their teacher and/or classmates.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of autumn!
Thanks again for your support.
Carly Bannon
Principal