Year Level News

Upcoming Excursions and Incursions

Please ensure you have processed all consents and payments on your Compass portal to guarantee your child's participation in all upcoming incursions and excursions. 

Please also ensure 2026 Permissions and Agreements have been processed to include permission for local excursion, photography permission, and ICT agreements. 

Foundation News

We hope you all had a lovely holiday and enjoyed spending time together as a family. We are very excited to be back for another term of wonderful learning.

This term, we have begun exploring living and non-living things. Students have been building their knowledge by sorting fiction and non-fiction books, identifying features such as contents pages, glossaries, diagrams, labels, and facts, and recognising that these texts share real-world information.

We also discussed what living things need to survive, identifying four key needs, including what gives us energy. Students were highly engaged when learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and enjoyed creating their own life cycles using pasta and other materials.

In Writing, we have been focusing on building strong sentences. Students are practising using capital letters, finger spaces, and full stops, while also beginning to include describing words. They particularly enjoy interactive writing on the whiteboard, which helps build confidence and supports their learning.

Our writing connects closely with reading, where students are encouraged to sound out and blend words. We also encourage them to have a go at spelling by listening for sounds in words—it’s okay if it’s not correct at first, as we support them to improve over time.

In Maths, we have explored location and direction. Students confidently used language such as on, under, above, behind, and in front, to describe where objects were positioned.

In Health, we explored our personal strengths while learning about consent and permission in everyday situations. We discussed the importance of asking first, listening carefully, and using kind, respectful words. 

We also talked about respecting personal space and being confident to say “no” or “stop, I don’t like it” if something feels uncomfortable. Students were reminded to seek help from a trusted adult when needed.

Through these discussions, students developed a stronger understanding of respect, safety, and caring for others.

A highlight of our first week back was the reptile incursion! Students were fascinated and loved learning about the reptiles.

It has been lovely to see how settled the students are and how quickly they have returned to their routines. We are looking forward to another fantastic term of learning together.

Year 3 News

Knowledge Building 

In Year 3, students have commenced their new Knowledge Building unit for the term. We are beginning by looking at what makes a community and the ways in which we belong to it, before delving into the reasons we have rules and laws. 

Last week, students discussed what communities they feel connected to and explored the Australian Coat of Arms and different community symbols. Each student created their own coat of arms that represents themselves, their families, interests, and clubs they belong to. Our Grade 3s are super proud of the effort they put into these and we hope you enjoy looking at their creations and reading about the meaning behind them.

My coat of arms is all about sports like Athletics, AFL, Golf, Cricket, Swimming and Ju-jitsu. I chose them because they are my favourite hobbies and I am good at them. My dad is the coach of Newport Power. - Leo 3MW

My coat of arms is all about me and Lucy in 3MK she is in most of my communities like: swimming trick or treating and lots more!😁I HOPE YOU LIKE MY COAT OF ARMS! Thanks for reading! 😁ALWAYS BE KIND. - Georgie 3MW

I chose karate because I love it and it shows people how to defend themselves. I love drawing because I can draw what I want and noone can tell me if it’s good or bad . I chose roller blading because it is fun and amazing. I love reading because I love the stories that the author wrote. I love frogs and foxes because they are so cute. I love Ada because she is the best friend I could ever want.  - Darcy 3MW

On my coat of arms it has my soccer, Hobson bay library, school, Nintendo, pizza, jiu jitsu, swimming, chess, AFL, basketball, knowledge building, uno, painting, and my name. I did that because I love them all. - Sebastian 3MW

I put football because it is my favourite sport, I also put in a switch because I like to play on it. I put down my favourite board games such as chess and rumi~o I put down my favourite foods, I like pizza and tacos. - Patrick 3MW

Literacy

Our Term Two class novel is The Wild Robot. In the first week of this term, students participated in Literacy lessons which built their contextual knowledge of the themes, location, and characters in the story to assist them in comprehending the text. 

The story is set in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), where the flora and fauna are quite different from what we experience here in Australia. We explored on a map where this is and looked at images and videos taken of the wildlife and landscapes. Students were amazed at the difference in the Winter months, noting the harsh conditions people and animals face in this region. Later in the week, students selected North American animals found in the PNW and practised their skills of listening and recording key information to describe their animals.

Year 6 News

Exploring ‘Mallee Sky’ 

Our Year 6 students recently immersed themselves in Mallee Sky, the beautifully crafted picture story book by Jodi Toering. What began as a close study of the author’s writing style soon grew into a rich, hands‑on language experience that students won’t forget.

Students examined how Jodi Toering shaped her writing, noticing the vocabulary, patterns, and imagery that bring the Mallee landscape to life. They paired this with a study of the illustrations, exploring how colour, texture, and perspective deepen the meaning of the text.

Inspired by what they discovered, students then created their own written passages, following the structural patterns used in the book. Each student painted an accompanying illustration, capturing the mood and movement of their chosen moment, before publishing their writing directly over their artwork, just like in a real picture story book!

Year 7 2027 Applications 

How to enrol your child in Year 7 & What you need to do

1.  Find your local school

Visit www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au to find your local government secondary school or nearby schools. 

2.  Submit your Application for Year 7 Placement 

Submit a Year 7 application from Monday 20th April 2026 to Friday 8th May 2026. You can list up to 3 preferred government secondary schools in your application. The form is attached on Compass, or a printed copy is available by request from the front office. 

3. Receive and choose to accept an offer 

You will be notified of the outcome of your application by Wednesday 24th June 2026 and should choose to accept or decline the offer by Tuesday 11th August 2026.

Note: If your child is in a government primary school, the Year 6 Coordinator, Transition Coordinator, or Principal of the primary school can help with any questions about the Year 7 placement process. If your child is currently home schooled or attends a non-government primary school, submit your application directly to your preferred government secondary school. 

At NLPS, Brodie is our Transition Coordinator and you can contact her on newport.lakes.ps@education.vic.gov.au 

Useful links

• Find my School – www.findmyschool.vic.gov.au
• Information on school zones – www.vic.gov.au/school-zones
• Moving to secondary school – www.vic.gov.au/moving-primary-secondary-school-information-parents- and-carers
• Disability and inclusive education – www.vic.gov.au/disability-and-inclusive-education
• International Student Program – www.study.vic.gov.au/en/
• Department of Education contact– Call 1800 338 663 or email: enquiries@education.vic.gov.au

Visual Art News

What a fantastic start to the year in Visual Arts at NLPS! Students from Years 1–6 have truly impressed me with their creativity, imagination, and growing confidence as artists. It’s been wonderful to see them take on challenges, experiment with new techniques, and think critically about their work. Here’s a glimpse into what they’ve been creating:

Year 1 & 2

Our youngest artists explored the basics of portraiture, learning how to carefully place facial features like the eyes, nose, and mouth. They then put their new skills into action by designing vibrant superhero self-portraits, full of personality, colour, and imagination!

Year 3 & 4

Students experimented with mark making, using pastels, acrylic paints, and a range of tools to create different textures and effects. They applied these techniques to produce beautiful, expressive artworks inspired by flowers, capturing their shapes and details in unique ways.

Year 5 & 6

Our senior students dived into the concept of identity and discovered why street artists choose public spaces to share their work. Inspired by graffiti art, they explored lettering styles and design features before creating their own bold and individual street art pieces.