Mr. Barclay's Bulletin

Hello NPS Community! :) 

I am going to start this fortnight's newsletter by acknowledging our dedicated, hard-working and resilient staff. Newtown PS is the 6th school that I have worked at, and since very early on, I have been in awe of our staff's willingness to adapt, be flexible, and support one another - often without needing to be asked or prompted. 

This of course extends from our wonderful office and administration staff, our dedicated educational support staff and of course our teachers and school leaders. We have wonderfully strong collective efficacy at NPS amongst staff and this is something that I am very proud of. 

It has been great throughout the past several weeks showing prospective 2024 families around our great school. Tours have been constant and it has been wonderful meeting new families who see NPS as a possible destination for their child next year. Our 4 school captains have also been great in assisting me on these tours and handling all of the 'tough' questions!  

For our current families with siblings, enrolment information can be obtained from the office or emailed directly by contacting the office. All 2024 Prep enrolment confirmation will be finalised by mid-August in term 3. 

In some exciting student news, Oscar in year 6 this week attended the State School Victoria Basketball Tryouts which were held over two days in Melbourne. This is a huge effort as State School Victoria has only selected 64 boys from around the State for these tryouts! I, along with our school community wish Oscar all the best and hope that over the past two days, he's shown enough talent (which he has!) to impress the selectors! Great work Oscar! 

Finally - I am thrilled to announce that we have received a 2023 Woolworths Junior Landcare Grant for our project, Indigenous Welcome/Meeting Space. 

The aim of our project is to increase student and community awareness of our Indigenous past by creating a meeting space that focuses on Indigenous culture. The children will be involved in selecting native/Indigenous plants to be grown in the area. The expected (environmental and educational) outcomes of the project include increasing local Indigenous awareness and perspectives amongst our school community.

Our school is one of 1,107 primary schools and early learning centres across Australia to receive a Woolworths Junior Landcare grant to help grow our next generation of environmental champions. 

The children and teachers are looking forward to getting their hands dirty and learning from this project – we’ll keep you updated!

Thank you everyone and have a GREAT long weekend! 

School Council - Public Reporting Meeting - Tuesday, 20th June @ 7pm

All community members are welcome to attend this meeting. As a school council, we are required to call a Public Reporting meeting once each year. At this meeting, we will be sharing our 2022 Annual Report with the school community (this report is also available on our school website HERE). 

If you would like to attend this meeting, please contact me or our School Council President, Kate Judd (kate.judd@education.vic.gov.au)

Regards,

Corrie.