Messages from the Principal

Hello NPS Families, and welcome back for Term 3

I hope that all our families had a refreshing break and are ready for an exciting Term 3 ahead! Plenty is happening, as always, in and around NPS in the coming weeks, so I have attempted to condense a lot of that information below for you.

Upcoming Works

You may notice a few changes that will shortly be occurring around our school grounds! Some essential works will be carried out to improve our school facilities so that our school continues to be a safe and welcoming environment for our students. 

• New palisade fencing will be replacing our Picket Fencing along Aberdeen Street, which will also include the reinstatement of car park gates. 
• Our wonderful yet old playground will be receiving a facelift with new paint, new slides, and wood replacements! This will give our playground a much-needed new lease of life for our students!
• Our much-loved Prep Courtyard is also set for some changes, with rear retaining walls showing signs of cracking. I have engaged the VSBA to support us with either repairing or removing these walls, which means we will lose the beautiful artwork on them. That, however, will provide an opportunity for something new and fresh! This project will be a larger one, with a number of stakeholders involved, so we estimate the completion of this project to be later in the year. 
• Working Bee! Shannon House now has their turn for 2025 to attend this term's Working Bee taking place NEXT Saturday morning. We hope to see as many Shannon Families as possible come along. 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our annual Parent Teacher Interviews are scheduled for weeks 6 and 7 of this term on  the following nights: 

• Tuesday 19th August
• Wednesday 20th August
• Tuesday 26th August
• Wednesday 27th August

PTIs are always a valuable opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, celebrate achievements, and discuss goals for the remainder of the year with your child's teacher. Booking information will be shared soon via Compass.

OSHC Update

Our Patch, our current OSHC provider, will be withdrawing their service at the end of this term. I am currently working through the tender process to procure a new OSHC provider for our school community. At this point in time, we are unsure if the new provider will offer holiday/vacation care at the end of this term; however, I will be seeking that this does happen and will notify all families either way as soon as I am able to. 

ICE Bucket Challenge

A huge shout-out to Paige, who braved the Ice Bucket Challenge with style and a smile during our final Term 2 assembly! Her enthusiasm and sense of fun, and bravery, helped raise awareness for MND and this year, our school community raised a total of $312 for a very worthy cause. 

Sovereign Hill Excursion – SLA

This week, I was fortunate to attend the SLA's excursion to Sovereign Hill. Due to the weather we could have easily been mistaken that we were in fact on Mt. Everest; however, the students, staff, and parent helpers braved the cold and had a wonderful day! It was a great day to have our students step back in time to learn about life on the goldfields. following their Term 2 Inquiry Unit. 

Mobile Phone and Personal Device Policy

Last year, we updated our Mobile Phone and Personal Device Policy to ensure we are in line with DET's guidelines and new legislation. As part of this policy, updates were made to the use of Smart Watches, which we have seen an increase in being worn by students here at school. These are GREAT devices, having one myself, and they do a range of things, much like a mobile phone or iPad device. 

We have also, unfortunately, witnessed students using their smart watches to call and or text family members and friends, which goes against our own, and DETs ' policies. As stated in our Policy; 

"Personal devices such as smartwatches must not be used at Newtown Primary School during school hours, including lunchtime and recess, for anything other than the basic functions of a digital watch. The includes, however, is not limited to telling the time, setting alarms, using a stopwatch, or a countdown timer. Smartwatches are to be switched to a “school mode” if available. If not, smartwatch devices with provisions to call and text, are not to be used for these purposes at any stage. "

Students found to be using these devices for the reasons of calling and or texting during school hours, will be asked to hand over their device (Smart Watch, iPad, Phone, etc.) to their teacher for parents only to collect at the office.   

NPS Feedback Portal - Term 2 Reflections

We have a strong 'open door policy' at NPS. One of the many avenues we offer to families to provide feedback (or feed-forward) is our 'Always On Feedback Portal'. 

If you would like to give your feedback on any event or school-related topic from last term, please follow the link above. You may have seen it featured in every newsletter on the next page as well as on the school's website. Like the title suggests, our 'Always On Feedback Portal', can be accessed at any time to provide your feedback and comments, allowing us to continually reflect and grow. 

Principal

Newtown Primary School