The Newlands Times

Leadership Report

Dear Families, 

 

We have come to the end of Term 3 and it has been a term full of massive events and celebrations. On Saturday night, the PFA raised over $4000 dollars for the school and the Newlands Comedy Gala continues to be a highlight on the Newlands Calendar. We have said it before but a big thank you to Declan & Josh for giving up their time to entertain our community and to wrangle up a bunch of other hilarious individuals. A further thank you to Claire and the PFA for all the behind the scenes work and getting so many items for our silent auction. This week we also finished the term with our parent teacher interviews and it has been great for our teachers to celebrate your child’s learning and finally today we celebrated our end of term cultural week celebrations of Cuba. 

 

Melissa Buehler – Thank You!

Liss has been a teacher at Newlands for the last three years and has decided to move into the academia side of education. Liss most recently has been leading the Tutor Learning Initiative working with a range of students from different grades. Everyone has loved having Liss here and we want to wish her the best moving forward. All students and teachers will miss having Liss around, but we are sure she will come back and say hello. 

 

Term 3 Events

I don’t think we could have put in any more term events if we tried. Here is a quick rundown:

  • NAIDOC Week – Our students celebrated the week with a range of activities celebrating our first nation history. Thank you to Sonya and Simon in organising a range of resources for staff.
  • Newlands went Olympic crazy celebrating all the successes of the PARIS Olympians and Para Olympians. This coincided with the Newlands Athletics Carnival and Coburg District Athletics. These days are always so fun, Raul and Juan were incredible in ensuring it was a fantastic day for everyone.
  • Our 2025 Foundation Students had their first two transition sessions! A big thank you to Sophia and the Foundation teachers for helping our students have such a great start to Newlands. It’s amazing to see some of the siblings start and already feel so comfortable at our school.
  • 100 days of School for our Foundation Students – A big event for our Foundation families. Thank you to Katherine for organising the morning parade for everyone!
  • Nerida’s Community Inquiry went on a Nature Orienteering Excursion to and through Edgars Creek. The snake station was the talk of the town for Newlands this Term. 
  • Live from Oklahoma State University, Newlands Staff worked with Brian Poncy on our Curriculum Day which has led to the implementation of Facts on Fire / Maths Daily Reviews.
  • 12 of our incredible teachers have been coming in early to work with some of our students at our Writing Rules Club and our Maths Club. This will continue in Term 4.
  • Open Learning sessions continued this term in Week 5 and today for our Cultural Week celebration of Cuba. 
  • Clara and the 3/4 team went to the city on the Birrarung Wilam Walk. 
  • The Newlands Working Bee team worked together to prepare our incredible Wildlife Garden. A massive thank you to Agus who has led and created a project that will be an important space for our students to play in the years to come.
  • The 1/2 Incursion – Special Spaces and Special Places – organised by Christine.
  • Book Week and Character Parade continues to provide so much entertainment to our school. Thank you to Kehani for not only organising the event but also all of the Book Week activities. 
  • We continue to show our support and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community with our school being a sea of purple for Wear it Purple Day. 
  • Our incredible staff got up early to cook all of our Father’s and families the classic Values Bun. A huge morning turnout to celebrate the parents at our school. 
  • The Specialist Team continues to raise expectations of an exemplary Arts Program. The ‘Un Viaje Mágico’ was just unbelievable. The production has been the highlight of the year!
  • Kehani and her choir were fantastic performing at the Melbourne Town Hall for the Boite. It was fantastic seeing twenty of our students singing so many songs from different cultures! There was a common theme! We want a healthy life! We need to treat our environment better! 
  • Clara led and supported 16 of our students to perform at John Cain Arena in front of over 10 000 people for the School State Spectacular. So many dance moves, colours and hits!
  • Raúl continues to emphasise the importance of riding to school and bike safety through his Physical Education program. 
  • Declan & Josh who are not only highly entertaining on the microphone – organised a bunch of their funny friends for the Newlands Comedy Gala. Once again a thank you to Claire who convinced over 40 businesses to donate their products and services for our silent auction!
  • Cuba Cultural Week Celebrations! The last week of school is always one of the student’s favourites as we go deep into one of our Spanish speaking countries and learn everything we possibly can!
  • The PFA continues to provide opportunities for our families to meet by having multiple morning teas in the staffroom this term.
  • There was the Spanish Movie Night – The Moroccan Affair organised by the Spanish Sub Committee
  • A massive thank you to Jess known as our Uniform Fairy has not only given up her time to organise lost uniforms, she has gone over and above in making our library look a thousand times better!

 

I would just like to thank Jill and OSHC team for continuing to provide such an incredible program week after week, curriculum day after curriculum day. It is such a valuable service and we are so lucky to have an incredible operator in Jill!

 

Thank you to Shikha and the Administration team for organising all of the payments for the excursions, incursions, fundraising events as well as the first aid, foundation enrolments and helping all the students find their water bottles.

 

A big thank you to our incredible staff who work tirelessly to make the learning purposeful fun and engaging. We are lucky to have such dedicated teachers that make coming to work such great place for not only the students but each other. 

 

Thank you to Sonya, whom has supported the whole school through the successful process of the new department Disability Inclusion process while working with families, supporting our fantastic Educational Support Team and Wellbeing Team.

 

And a big thank you to Graeme, Sophia & Luisa for taking on new roles this term. They have been incredible in supporting all the staff and families this term.

 

 

And yes there are even more experiences and opportunities to get involved at Newlands in Term 4…The dates can be found on the SENTRAL calendar!

Week 1 – Friday PJ Fundraiser for the Grade 6 Graduation

Week 3 – Thursday – Foundation Activity Evening 

Week 3 – Friday – Grandparent’s Day 

Week 3 – Sunday – Working Bee

Week 4 – Monday – Tuesday 3/4 & Tuesday – Thursday 5/6 School Camp (The Ranch)

Week 4 – Friday – Day of The Dead 

Week 5 – Monday – School Dental 

Week 5 – Friday – Open Learning Classroom

Week 5 – Saturday - Fete De Primavera 

Week 6 – Monday – Dental Van

Week 6 – Thursday – Rockin Resilience Parent Afternoon – Begins at 2:30

Week 7 – Thursday – 1/2 Sleepover

Week 9 – Mon – Friday – Swimming Program

Week 10 – Tuesday – Whole School Transition

Week 10 – Thursday – Big Day Out (Grade 6s)

Week 11 – Tuesday – Grade 6 Graduation

Week 11 – Friday – 1:30 Finish (Last Day of Term)

 

Substantive Principal 

I would like to announce that I was the provisionally appointed as the Principal, to lead Newlands Primary School over the next 5 years. I would like to say a big thank you to all the families whom have continued to be supportive over this term. I am really excited to continue to work with our amazing families and staff to continue to strengthen what we have already created at Newlands Primary School. 

 

I hope everyone has an restful break and we will see you in Term 4

 

Thanks, Luke