Principal Report

Tomorrow completes our two week / 10 day intensive swimming program for the Prep -Yr. 2 children. It has been quite a daily logistical exercise taking 260 children to the pool, changing into swim gear, participate in a small group lesson, change back into school uniform, back on the bus and then return to class. Doing this once is impressive but to do it for 10 consecutive school days is outstanding.

A big thank you to the parents and education support staff that assisted at the pool and especially to Mr. Antoniadis for making this all happen. The children are certainly displaying signs of tiredness as we near the end of the two weeks, but they have had a wonderful time and we have seen huge improvement in their swimming and water safety skills.

2024 – Shorter lunchtime and an earlier dismissal time

Over the last 2-3 years there has been a noticeable difference in student social skills and development. With many children, there tends to be a decrease in resilience and issues with emotional regulation. This is certainly not just specific to Newport Lakes Primary School but is evident in children throughout almost all primary and secondary schools.

An increasing number of children are finding it difficult to sustain long periods of unstructured free time including the 60-minute lunch period. The 30-minute morning recess break seems to be sustainable, but many children find that the extended lunch break is too long, and the behaviour of many children is becoming an ongoing challenge. Overall, the behaviour of the NLPS students is very good but having more children and less play space is certainly becoming a concern at Newport Lakes PS.

In general, recess and the first half of lunch is fine, but during the last 15-20 minutes of our lunch break there is a clear upturn in the frequency of behavioural incidents. Often, this also leads to an increase in the number of students attending the sick bay for first aid due to the increased incidents in the yard – including injuries relating to accidents whilst playing ball sports and getting increasingly tired.

School collated data informs us that over a recently recorded 31 school day period, there were 181 presentations to sick bay during the 1-hour lunch recess. Between the 1.30pm – and 2.14 pm there were 89 presentations and between 2.15 – 2.30pm there were 82 presentations. This implies that 45% of student presentations to sick bay were in the last 15 minutes of the 1-hour lunch period.

In 2024 the school will again increase in size with our student numbers expected to exceed 570-575. The school has an enrolment management plan in place restricting enrolments to only children within its zone and siblings. The plan is diligently enforced and yet we have our largest cohort of 99 prep children beginning school at NLPS in 2024.

A Victorian primary school does not have a capacity limit upon its ground size – if a family lives within the designated school zone, then they are entitled to enrol at their local primary school. To meet our student accommodation needs in 2024, a further portable classroom building will be placed onto grounds before the beginning of the 2024 school year, further reducing the playing area for the children. NLPS School Council have strongly requested to the Government and the Department of Education over the last 4 years that any further buildings that are to be placed at NLPS should be double storey buildings, but these requests have all been unsuccessful.

At last week’s School Council meeting, it was endorsed that for the benefit of the health, safety and wellbeing of our children, the lunch recess period will decrease from 60 to 45 minutes from the beginning of the 2024 school year. Teaching and learning (instruction) time remains at 5 hours per day as required by Department of Education, but the end of the day dismissal time will change to 3.15pm.

Consideration was given to a split lunch period (half school has lunch from 12-1pm & the other half from 1-2pm) but this was not supported due to the following reasons.

The disruption caused by students playing directly outside the classroom windows would have a significant negative impact on learning.
Students working outside during school time e.g., filming, reading, group work would be inhibited due to other children playing during their lunch recess.
It would not assist the students that find it difficult to cope with the unstructured 60 minutes lunch period.
Incidents occurring in the toilets would increase due to children attending during their lunch recess joining in with children attending the toilet whilst in class.
There would a considerable impact on the school physical resources e.g. Art room, gym, MPR and they would not be available for lunchtime activities.
The school and grade levels would be divided, resulting in staff and students not having opportunity to build & share relationships at lunch periods.
It will be very difficult to maintain yard duty staff ratios with the additional time required.
The lunch time club activities including Library, Choir, Art Club, Sports Club, etc. could not be continued due to lack of staff and physical space.

The school operates an excellent after school care service which have kindly agreed to extend their operational hours to begin supervision at 3.15pm without additional charge.

Parents can contact the OSHC service at admin@qbcc or ph 9742 5040 for information on the afterschool childcare service if required.

The shorter lunch period and earlier dismissal time falls in line with many of our neighbouring schools. Feedback from these schools has indicated the shorter lunch period resulted in significant reduction in minor and major behavioural occurrences in the school yard, less social problems and less first aid incidents.

The school realises that some parents and families may be inconvenienced by the earlier dismissal times and the decision has not been made lightly or without considerable discussion at school leadership and school council. However, the decision is made in the best interests of the wellbeing and safety of the children, which of course must be our priority.

Further reminders of the 2024 new school times will be given to parents as the year progresses but it is anticipated that this early notification in October of an earlier dismissal (3.15pm in 2024) will enable all parents to make the required changes to meet their family needs.

2024 classes and positive ‘Learning Buddies’

Parents are given the opportunity to inform the school if there is any information that they feel is important or beneficial when considering the selection of next year’s class for their child.

Parents are requested not to select a teacher, as this will not be considered. Parents must note that requests made last year or in previous years are not ‘carried over’ or considered for the 2024 grade selection.

If parents believe that an issue should still be considered, it is important that a new request is written to the school. This request must be written and addressed to the principal and sent via school email address.

Requests will then be forwarded to the respective Team Leaders to assist the teachers when they are forming the grades for the following year.

The closing date for these requests has been extended to Monday 30th October.

Please email your requests here

Once this very difficult task of class selection is in process, late considerations cannot be accepted so this date is the final opportunity for parents to inform the school.

Over the next 2 weeks students will be given the opportunity of selecting up to five ‘Learning Buddies’ they would like to be with in 2024. All attempts are then made to ensure that the children have at least 1 of these students in their 2024 class. Parents may wish to spend some time discussing with child/ren over the weekend who they believe may, or may not, be a beneficial student to work with in their new class. Teachers will also look over the ‘Learning Buddy’ lists and may make suggestions to a child if they believe their choice needs to be re-considered.

If any parents believe that their child may be transferring to another school in 2024, it is very important to make the school aware of this information. Notification can be made directly to the school office via email.

Prep and Yr. 6-7 Transition

Early in November we welcome our 2023 Foundation (Prep) children to Newport Lakes Primary School for the first of their pre-school to school transition program.

We currently have 99 new children beginning in our foundation classes for the 2024 school year. Our new students will have the opportunity to spend three sessions at NLPS in preparation to begin their education in 2024. Details of these have been sent to parents directly.

Later in the term, the Year 6 students will have the opportunity of visiting their new state secondary school on Tuesday 12th December, 2023. This is a state-wide Yr.6-7 transition day for all state secondary schools. Some Independent and Catholic secondary colleges may have chosen an alternate date and parents will need to check with the school for details.

Term 4 Public holidays and Pupil Free Days

Monday 6th November is a pupil-free day and school will not be conducted on this day. This is the Monday prior to the Melbourne Cup Holiday. Teachers will be writing end of year student reports on this day.

Childcare may be available for NLPS students on this day BUT only if there are sufficient bookings for this day. Please contact the OSHC provider, Quantin Binnah for further information and details on 9742 5040 or admin@qbcc.org.au.

Tuesday 7th November is a Victorian public holiday and school will not be conducted on this day.

Farewell and good luck to Amy

We say farewell to Amy O’Dowd this week as she begins her maternity and family leave. On behalf of the entire school community, we wish Amy and Al all the very best over the coming weeks and an abundance of happy family life in the future.

Rest up Amy, grab as much sleep as possible, enjoy a peaceful coffee and prepare yourself for one of the happiest times in your life!

Hats off to our teachers!

In Victoria, we celebrate World Teachers’ Day tomorrow on Friday 27th October 2023.

It is a chance to recognise and celebrate the teachers who are making, or have made, an impact in our lives. Whether you are a current student, have children in school, or have been out of school for many years, World Teachers’ Day is a chance to say, ‘thank you’. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful, professional and caring staff at Newport Lakes Primary School and on behalf of the entire school community I wish all of our teachers a wonderful day and we all greatly appreciate everything you do for our children.

I hope you all have a great week.

David Moss

Principal