Leadership Report

Hola a todos!

We hope everyone enjoyed their three-day weekend and four-day week. While it has been a relatively normal week for Newlands and our students, we have been lucky enough to share some of the great learning that has been taking place at our school with numerous visitors this week. 

Firstly, we had Hayley from our local Kindergarten, Barry Beckett come in to meet the Newlands team. We were able to share what learning looks like and the school’s values and beliefs which really reaffirmed the great relationship and community we share. Yarra Primary School also visited our school this week to look at our Maths program. It is really great to have so many visits to our school to acknowledge the great work our staff are doing. A big thank you to Sophia and Jose yesterday, who were able to share our Mathematics journey, our Builders program, our strengths and our focus to further refine our program. 

Sports mania is taking place at Newlands over the next two weeks. On Monday is our Athletics Carnival. While I am able to confirm the devastating news that the hammer throw will not be an event this year (or ever), the parent race will be taking place on the track. Juan and Sergio have both been training over the last few weeks and have been sharing inspirational quotes with the staff as they prepare for the challenge. Rumours that our School Councillor, Juanita is the favourite to win having previously beaten Usain Bolt. We cannot confirm or deny these rumours. The Newlands World Cup competition begins next week, a big thank you to Raul who has painted the oval and has organised the whole event. All of the students are so excited to be involved and to get out and play!

The F/1s have been learning about their family history and using many different art techniques to show their families. I asked Sophia if I was able to look at all the students work but the response was less than positive. ‘You need to come to the Art Show like everybody else’. Speaking of the Art show, out teachers have been creating some exemplar worked examples. 

One more week before the 2/3 Camp! Everyone is really excited and can’t wait to get up to Camp Campaspe downs on Wednesday. I recommend the purchase of all things warm! The 2/3s are creating story boxes to share important parts of their lives. The students have been creating word clouds and writing comics to share their stories in a fun way. This has been the conversation piece in the 2/3 area, allowing the students to think and talk about something else outside of school camp.

The room was deadly silent in the 4/6 area during a reading session I visited today. The students were engrossed in the stories they were reading, with some students on the desk, some on the floor and some standing up. The teachers at Yarra primary school felt like they were in another country today when they entered the Spanish classes today. They were in complete shock and ore the way the learning was delivered and how the students were listening and responding.  

Our first transition session for the year takes place next Tuesday. It is so exciting to finally meet some of the new faces coming to Newlands next year as well as being in total shock that some of the babies I first met from our families are now entering the first year of Prep. I can’t even imagine how Ross would feel! A big thank you to Jess for taking over the transition reigns this year and to all the kindergartens with their help through this process. We have no doubt the new families will have a great first session and begin their journey into Newlands in a positive way. 

Tim Smith and his incredible dedication to Working Bee flyers continue. The Term 3 working bee is the biggest event of the year. Sunday the 13th of August is next weekend, if you have not cancelled your plans, it is not too late! A big thank you to Tom Civil, our famous artist who is repainting the characters he created around the school 2 years ago and adding some new additions. We will see you bright and early for a 9:00am start!

The PFA and Declan Fay are in the final stages of finalising the line up for our upcoming Comedy Gala. This is guaranteed to be a great night and an incredible fundraising event for our school. Tickets are still available, but they are being quickly snapped up. Make sure you don’t miss out. For more information, please follow the link below!

Finally, TeamKids, our holiday program provider, are hosting an upcoming Q&A session. They will be able to answer all your questions and help you register with the service! We are really excited to have TeamKids provide this service and become a part of our community. The online session will be on the 23rd of August at 6:30pm. We will send out the link when we get closer to the date!

We hope you have a great weekend, and we will see you next week!

Thanks, 

Luke