Leadership Report

There are only 5 days left in 2024. This will be our last official newsletter for the year. I would like to thank everyone for their support this year in making Newlands continue to be such a fantastic school for the students, staff and community.  The reason we get up each day and work so hard is because of our students. What drives us teachers is seeing our students building their academic, social and emotional capacity, but we also love the thoughtful, entertaining and hilarious contributions/stories they provide each day. They are the reason our school is such a great place and we hope they have a restful break, lose teeth, gain teeth and grow taller. 

It has been a massive a year and I am sure I will forget many people, but I would like to acknowledge:

School Council – Adam, Clare, Juanita, Craig, Lisa, Tim, Jess, Luisa & Graeme for ensuring that the school is maintaining a high standard and prioritising the right things for our school. I’d like to thank Juanita, Lisa, Jess whose 2 year commitment comes to an end this year. They have been integral in ensuring our school building project has been successful as well as our Instructional and Wellbeing practices continue to be prioritised. There will be nominations for our 2025 School Council early next year, which will coincide with our AGM. 

Buildings & Grounds – Kristy, Scott, Tim, Andrew & Agus for all their hard work in ensuring our grounds remain pristine.  Not only have they organised and ran termly working bees, Scott has been super handy with his Phillips head. The wildlife garden has been an incredible addition to our school this year and I want to thank Agus and the Wildlife team in not only making it happen but ensuring there was a connection between the students and garden. A big thank you to Ray who is our local Maguyver, who continually solves all the grounds and maintenance issues we have. I would also like to acknowledge Sab for all his efforts during Terms 1 to 3.

Parents & Friends – The committee has been relentless in providing our school with so many opportunities to come together as a community and to raise money for our school. The Parents & Friends Association have raised money for our new playground which is going to make many students happy in the years to come. We are talking about the Welcome Picnic, The Colour Run, The Comedy Night, Movie Night, Book Pack Day, Parent Morning Teas, Uniform Sales, Read-A-Thon and Mango Fundraiser are just a few of the events. These take weeks and hours to organise and we appreciate all the effort that takes place. The School Fete was a true reflection of what our school is and what it stands for. A massive congratulations to the main committee members – Adam, Claire, Nicole, Marta, Sarah, Jess, Alberto, Andrea, Morag, Lou & Olivia who have done so much for our school. An extra thank you to Olivia who is an organisational fiend! We know there is a behind the scenes Facebook group that are also champions in organising our events.

Education Sub Committee – Craig, Kate, Eleanor, Roxanne, Petra, Melanie, Edgar, Jess & Lauren have really supported the school in the details for our Wellbeing and Instructional Handbooks. They will be supporting our celebration in Term 1 when we share it with our families. The Education Sub Committee are also a valuable insight into our Parent Opinion Survey and helps us prioritise our focus as we move forward.

Spanish Sub Committee – Veni, Alberto, Nicole, Christina, Marta & Sarah have all been working with Luisa in helping us further enhance our Spanish Program. Veni went over and above running Spanish classes afterschool for students in Semester 1. The students and families could not thank Veni enough for all of her work and dedication towards this. The committee were also heavily involved in the organisation and celebration of the Dia de Los Muertos. We further thank Egmont, Abner, Alberto, Edgar & Tere for the Offrenda which was such an incredible visual and learning experience for our students. Our Term 1 Spanish Fiesta is always such a fantastic event supported by the Spanish Sub Committee.

A big thank you to Tom Civil and Antonia who let us take advantage of their artistic skills in beautifying our school. As you may have noticed there is lots of new painted areas around the toilets and surrounding concrete area. 

The Newlands Staff – Everyone from our incredible Admin Team – who are continually answering phones, helping students overcome headaches and doing everything on the financial side. They are incredible and work tirelessly every day. Thank you to all the staff who assess, plan and deliver learning experiences while ensuring each student feels safe and valued in the classroom. On top of this they are calling families, having meetings, organising excursions and doing thousands of other things behind the scenes to make sure the classroom is calm and focussed. A further thank you to the amazing Jill, our fabulous OSHC Co Ordinator, who manages her own school after school finishes, feeds the students and ensure there are lots of fun activities for them to engage in. A further thank you to Graeme, Sophia and Luisa who have been instrumental in setting up what looks to be an amazing 2025 at Newlands.

We are also saying some amazing goodbyes to 3 fabulous staff members. 

Sergio has been a much loved teacher since arriving from Broadmeadows five years ago. He has made schooling so fun and been such an asset in making our Spanish Bilingual Program what it is today. We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavours in education. We have appreciated the amount of hours he drives every week to school and understand that it is time to prioritise himself!

Since the day Juan arrived at our school as a pre service teacher, we knew he was incredibly special. We locked him in pretty quickly before he could visit another school and he has been fabulous ever since. His inability to put himself first has always been his biggest weakness, but our school and schooling community have benefited and appreciated everything he has done. Juan is flying back home to Spain, but we hope that it is a very short trip and we see him again very soon. 

Denise has been at the school for the last three years, helping parents and students with all their needs in the front office. In a time where we had no one in the office for a few weeks, Denise stepped in to the role with limited knowledge but just worked her way through it from day one. We wish nothing but the best for Denise as she moves to the Virtual School Education. 

Grade 6 Families

I’d like to thank the families of Grade 6 who have trusted our school in providing our students with the tools to be not only successful at High School, but in life. We wish nothing but the best for our Grade 6s and while we celebrate the Grade 6s at the graduation next week, I would like to thank the following families and wish them the best as they move on.  I would like to thank Hannah, Lyndee, Adrian Jan, Elvira, Kit, Bec, Andrew and Fiona whom have all been such advocates and supporters for our school since I arrived. I would also like to thank Tash who was our School Council president for many years when the school was growing and Michelle who was integral in helping our school get the money our school deserved! While you are officially leaving our school, we welcome you back with open arms any time.

Welcome

We can’t end on a sad note, so we would officially like to welcome our new 2025 teachers. While all the students met the new team and there is a page with all of the new introductions: we are very excited about Florencia joining the 5/6s, Connie, Diego and Lucinda joining the 3/4s and Paula joining our 1/2 team.

Intervention finished up today!

A big congratulations to all the teachers and students involved in our before school intervention this term. It has been incredible to see the progress made in both Literacy and Numeracy. The school is currently working with the teachers to see how we can continue this in Term 1 next year. When we have more information, we will follow the same process and invite families and students to join in. I would personally like to thank my Newlands Maths Nerds – my Grade 4s have been so dedicated to upskilling themselves in Maths this Term. It has been fantastic to work with all 20 of the students. 

We are looking forward to celebrating our last week together with our Grade 6 graduation on Tuesday night and finishing up with our Cultural Celebration at 12:10pm next Frida,y before our final guard of honour for our Grade 6s. Remember school finishes at 1:30 next Friday!

5 more days left in 2024, 5 more days of primary school for our Grade 6s

Have a great weekend

Thanks, Luke