Principal's Report

Hello everyone,

Book Week was fun! Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter flew in and taught in 1/2. She had a window FULL of her educational proclamations! There was a parade of costumes (a special shout out to Minecraft, Dracula, and Hagrid). We raised $70 towards our sustainability projects and Yarranmullawit. 

Last newsletter I spoke about  Yarranmullawit.  Remember, contact has been made with the scientists researching the decline of the Southern Bent-wing Bat (Yarranmullawit).

Well, The Southern Bent-wing Bat has been named Australian Mammal of the Year!

More than 50,000 votes were collected. Apparently, it was a tight race between the dingo and the bat, but the bat came out the winner and there was even a special presentation at Adelaide Zoo. 

Athletics 

One of our students was able to get through to the next level of Athletics competition in the Long jump. He will compete in Bendigo on the 12th of September.

Congratulations and good luck Harvey!

Working Bee

It is wonderful to see that working bees can finally make a comeback to schools. Our last working bee was for the sand pit in 2019. It is somewhat fitting therefore that the upcoming working bee will continue with work on the sandpit as well as a number of other projects. Please, if you are available on the day, we would love to see you. Parents are welcome from 9am onwards.

Family Picnic

On the same day as the working bee, there is going to be a family picnic up at the hall organised by the Parents and Friends group. I hear that pizza is available for an early dinner! Details are on the flyer in the newsletter, our socials and uEducateUs.

Mango Drive

The Mango Drive is up and running. If you are a fan of Mangoes, please consider supporting Newham Primary school by purchasing a tray. Perhaps friends and family may also be interested. 

Bring a Can for the Foodbank

Thank you to our families who have donated items for the Gisborne Foodbank. As you can see in the picture there has been quite a variety donated. We have until the end of the term to collect what we can to support families using the food bank. Please consider sending something along if you can.

Sustainability Competition at Newham PS

Information is going into all the classrooms next week about an exciting opportunity for our budding artists with an interest in explaining sustainability. Early in term 4, ALL Newham students will be able to submit a design to put on our rubbish bins. Not only will these designs make our bins look terrific, but they will also explain to everyone what each bin is for and encourage our community to do the right thing and bin their waste. The designs chosen will be made into large vinyl bin stickers which are very hardy and will highlight our students’ work for years to come. A huge thank you to the Parents and Friends group for their support in this venture. As an example, here are some pictures from a school in W.A. who made stickers for their bins. 

Swimming

Swimming is finishing up this week. This has been an Aqua awareness program, catering for as many students and skill levels as possible. Considering there are a number of students who already attend swimming lessons, the intention of this program has been to support the work done in those lessons rather than sit side by side with them as extra lessons. Students did a fantastic job changing over sessions smoothly and shuttling back and forth to school.

Thank You, Liz

An interesting conversation at the pool with one of the Swim instructors pointed to them having seen our video on Facebook about enrolling at Newham Primary School! Here’s hoping that many more locals see the wonderful work Liz has been doing in producing these little vignettes. Many, many thanks to Liz for her work. 

2023 Enrolment Confirmations

Could parents who are yet to enrol their Prep and other year level students for 2023 please do so now.  

If there are any families, not just those heading for Braemar in 2023, who will not be returning to Newham next year, could they please inform the school. We have now entered the period where we begin to plan for next year and this information is very important to the process.

Confirmation of Out of School Hours Care Onsite in 2023

Newham Primary school has just received official confirmation that we have received a grant for 2023 and 2024 to have OSHC on site again at Newham Primary School for before and after school care. This is wonderful news as COVID lockdowns saw OSHC moving off site.

Kids Teaching Kids on Tuesday

Next Tuesday our year 6s will be heading to Hanging Rock to participate in the Kids teaching kids sustainability day. A number of schools from the Macedon Ranges will be attending. The day will be about sharing the experiences of each school and explaining the measures they have undertaken to manage and promote sustainability at their school.

NAPLAN Results 

Individual NAPLAN results for students in years 3 and 5 are being sent home (please check school bags). This year was the first year students were required to do this test online. This new requirement didn’t faze our students and they are to be commended for giving the NAPLAN test their all.

My Vision Link

In today's modern world of technology, it is important to consider the negative effects of extended screen time on the eyes, minds, and bodies of children. To better educate parents and caregivers, MyVision recently published a guide to screen time for parents, covering issues such as; problems screens can cause, suggested screen time limits by age, teaching digital literacy, and more! Please take a look:  myvision.org/guides/screen-time-guide/

The Covid Pandemic and the Effects of Lockdown are Still Being Felt

There have been numerous articles on the effects of Covid on school students over the past few years. Even now we are back in classrooms, students are still working through these effects.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald from May this year, emphasized; "...students have been more distracted, disobedient, and unsettled in their friendships since last year’s lockdown, raising concerns that the protracted isolation has had a lingering effect on children’s development and social maturity." 

Students have been observed displaying behaviour usually seen in younger years. Due to lack of interactions, they have become socially awkward and reverted to aggressive behaviour to solve their problems. Teachers have noticed a “heightened” level of emotional response to issues that they may have coped with before the pandemic, so emotional regulation has become an area of focus for schools.

Supporting this is an article from the Age newspaper from April this year, which stated that "Student behaviour was now a bigger issue than learning loss as schools resumed normal practice after the two years of disrupted learning. Primary schools are grappling with new behavioural issues among students, including new cases of school refusal and alarming social media activity." Schools have had to re-teach social skills such as you can’t always be first and you can’t always win and you can’t always get what you want. Some students may not have had to deal with these while at home. Students have found it difficult coming back to school. They are anxious and worried about returning to school even though they haven’t had big troubles in their school environment. A handful of students have developed serious mental and behavioural issues from lockdown.

Although these articles are from earlier in the year, the fallout from lockdowns and student anxieties and uncertainty cannot be resolved quickly, or simply by returning school. 

Here at Newham Primary School staff continue to support students still experiencing the effects of lockdown as mentioned in these articles. As a staff we continue to be grateful to parents who are working closely with the school to maximise positive change for their children. We are using our School Wide Positive Behaviours, our knowledge of mindfulness and Smiling minds, Restorative conversations, and Respectful relationships as well as our professional development information on ADHD, anxiety, and ASD to rebuild their social skills  and to counter the effects of student anxiety. 

With the continued support of our parents, we plan to work with our students throughout term 4 to enable each one to reach their social and emotional potential. The higher a student’s wellbeing and self belief, the more likely they are to engage in effective learning practices. DET have recognised this correlation and continue to encourage schools to develop programs.

Looking ahead to Term 4, with Spring in full bloom, staff have planned programs to get students interacting and exercising their social skills. Please be on the lookout for Term 4 excursion and incursion dates and times. 

We will be fortunate during this time to welcome Zara back for 2 days per week until the end of the year. Zara was recently our preservice teacher and is excited to be working with classes as an educational support staff member. Also returning in the short term will be Mrs Hiland (Sue). Sue will be with us over the first 6 weeks of term 4 providing further group support to our teaching and learning programs.

Next week is the last week of term. 

There will be an assembly at 2.15pm for a 2.30pm school finish.

There will also be a short newsletter of Term 4 dates to put into your calendar.

Have a lovely Spring weekend!