Leadership Report

We are at the end of Week 6, and what better way to start the long weekend than with a profound and articulate newsletter. Fitzroy Primary School finished their week with a visit to Newlands. It was fantastic to share our program with another excellent bilingual school, with a focus on our Instructional Model and the different components of our Literacy model. All of this happened alongside a busy week that included a Foundation incursion from Supreme Incursions, Interschool Sport, and Funky Friday.

Term 1 Holiday Program Unavailable at Newlands Due to Building Upgrades

Unfortunately, we are unable to run our holiday program at Newlands this term due to upgrade works taking place in the C-Block building during the two-week program period.

We understand this is less than ideal. However, in collaboration with OSHClub, adjustments have been made to staffing and programming, and families are encouraged to book into the holiday program at Coburg Primary School or Northcote Primary School instead.

Further information about this process can be found on the OSHClub page in this week’s newsletter.

Newlands Basketball Club

We can’t believe it, but it all starts next week.

Raul has organised training with Players First Basketball, who will be working with students to develop their basketball skills: dribbling, passing and shooting. While this is sport-focused, we are also offering it as a proactive way to support students who may find mornings challenging. It provides an opportunity for students to burn off nervous energy, build new connections at school, and start the day in an active and positive way.

Each age group will train one day a week, with the hope that students will form teams and participate in the Winter Coburg Basketball Competition.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN takes place next week for our Grade 3 and Grade 5 students.

As we often communicate, NAPLAN is simply another day on the calendar at Newlands. Our only expectation is that students try their best. At Newlands, we gather our own data sources that provide us with up-to-date information to ensure we are catering to the needs of all students.

NAPLAN will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays over the next two weeks. If you would like more information about NAPLAN, click here - NAP - NAPLAN

Ride2School Day - La Vuelta de Newlands

Only two more weeks until La Vuelta de Newlands! It is always one of the most enjoyable days on the calendar. It’s so fantastic to see students decorating their bikes and helmets for the occasion. This year, students will take part in a parade by riding around the school, creating incredible peloton opportunities and giving students the chance to ride together and keep their cadence.

More information can be found in this week’s newsletter.

Bilingual Fiesta

Our big end-of-term event will take place one week earlier this year, and we are aiming for our biggest Fiesta yet. We promise incredible food, music, a salsa workshop, more jumping castles, face painting, and everything else you need to celebrate the end of the term. Make sure you are ready to join the fun from 4:00pm on the 27th of March.

¡Vamos!

Into the Classrooms…

Foundation

I walked into Luke’s calm classroom after recess to see students writing sentences using Colourful Semantics as prompts. Students were using the prompts who, doing what, and where to practise building their sentences.

They were very excited about adding to their ideas, so I asked them to create their own. Here’s what they came up with:

Percy – A donkey is singing at Bounce.
Eva – A unicorn is playing with my pet dog at home.
Harvey – A cheetah is running in England.
Ollie – A penguin is running to the beach to sunbake.
Zack – A horse was running in the pool.
Arturo – A tiger is chasing an eyeball at the zoo.
Margot – A zebra is farting in the library.

Safe to say the creativity levels are very high in Foundation!

1/2

Kylee joined me on the floor to tell me about the great learning taking place in her class this week. Students have been editing and revising their recounts from last week’s excursion. They are using a checklist to ensure their sentences and grammar are correct while also expanding their vocabulary to make their writing more interesting for the reader.

I asked a few students what they had learned this week:

Jack – A strategy in numeracy to add numbers together.
Catalina – I learned how to make my sentences even better.
Noorie – I learned that I am going to be the SRC representative in 1/2CD.
Sophia – We learned a fun strategy to help make sure we don’t mix up our b and d.
Beatriz – Kylee helped me learn how to make my letters look amazing.
Maleeka – I learned how to do addition with numbers in the thousands.

They had to cut me off as the bell was about to go!

3/4

I sat next to Layla, who told me about what she had been working on during Wellbeing Specialist while Mozart quietly played in the background.

Students were creating “All About Me” hands, showcasing who they are, what they like, and what is important to them. Layla spoke about her family, being an older sister to her three-year-old brother, and how much she enjoys Greek mythology after learning about it last year.

I also asked some other students to share:

Oisin – I am a noisy 10-year-old with two brothers who loves pizza and tennis.
Flora – I am Australian with a Vietnamese background. I have a sister and I love my family, flowers and dancing.
Apollo – I was born in Dubai but my mum is Greek. I have two brothers and I love food, sport and One Piece.
Judy – I love my pets and family, my younger sister, lasagna, footy, reading and gelato.
Dash – I am a sarcastic Australian who loves his family and enjoys video games, basketball and watching TV.

It is fantastic to see such great learning take place in the Wellbeing Specialist program with students talking so proudly about themselves and what is important to them.

5/6

All students in 5/6 are currently writing narratives. Before continuing their drafts, they are adding new words to their personal dictionaries to expand their vocabulary.

Bonnie showed me her story about Mathilde, Sage and Florence who live in a small town and go on an adventure into a forest where they encounter a dragon. Funnily enough, this is in Flor’s class, which means the entire story is written in Spanish. I won’t spoil the ending, but it might just be worth learning Spanish to find out what happens.

I asked a few students to share what their narratives were about:

Sunday – A character named Moss discovers his tribe split into two, three million years ago and travels across the ocean to learn more about his history.
Charlotte – Kinkajou tries to find her parents and friends after she is abducted.
Lily – Pedro enters a forest and finds a medieval castle with incredible chandeliers, leading to a spooky experience.
Tiger – Johnny and Bob travel to Bangladesh but lose their passports.
Archie – Three people explore a forest, get lost, and several other terrible things happen along the way.
Mathilde – Bonnie and Johnny run with their eyes closed and crash into something… which begins the great, currently untitled, tale.

Once again, it may well be worth learning Spanish to read these Pulitzer-worthy stories.

That is all for this week! Have a fantastic extra long weekend and we will see you on Tuesday!

Thanks,

Luke