Principal's News

Dear Clayton North Primary School Community

Welcome to Term 4!

It has been a busy start to the final quarter of the school year, enrolling many new students as well as receiving notifications of a number that will be moving school in 2025. If you are taking your child elsewhere, we are very sorry to see you go. If it has something to do with the school that you are unhappy about, please let us know so that we can address the issues for other students and families. We welcome feedback, both positive and not-so-positive.

The annual CNPS Art Show last week saw the Huddle transformed into an exhibition centre displaying the most colourful and creative artworks by our talented students! We were delighted to welcome an ex-CNPS parent and artist, Laila Tabassum, who officially opened Art Week at a whole school assembly on Monday afternoon. Laila stunned the audience with pictures of her incredible art pieces that, according to her, were inspired by nature. 

It was great to see children proudly showing off their artwork to parents and families. Thank you to families for taking the time to attend during the week. A big thank you and congratulations to Bronwyn for another very successful Art Show this year!  

Monash Council Sustainability representatives attended last Tuesday’s assembly to present our school with a prize for being selected the winner in the Monash School division for the Actions for Earth – School Sustainability Challenge. We were recognised for the work we already do in this space with the Nude Food Day, our plans for the intergenerational and cultural garden and grey water usage, as well as some of the initiatives we have signed up for, such as the Container Deposit Scheme. Thank you and well done to Radhika, Jenny and Kathie for leading and facilitating sustainability at Clayton North! We are eagerly looking forward to the outcomes this produces.

Repair works following the storm damage early in Term 1, have been completed in the Foundation and 5/6 classrooms. We are in the process of recarpeting the Foundation area before resetting the space to welcome our new students in 2025. 

The F-2 library is nearing completion. We have had a librarian-volunteer, Clare Snell, take on the mammoth task of unpacking, covering, cataloguing hundreds of books and organising them on the shelves. There is a little more that needs to be done before we are ready to open the library to students. Thank you to Clare, Laila Sarwar (parent), and Hourig, who has been overseeing and supporting them in preparing what will be a terrific asset for our school.

School Saving Bonus

Families with a child enrolled in a government school from Prep to Year 12 in 2025 should have received an email from the Department of Education. The next correspondence will occur at the end of November with further information and details on how to access the funds. 

"Families can choose how they spend their $400, via the School Saving Bonus online system. The online system will give parents the option to spend their $400 bonus with school-approved uniforms and textbook suppliers, or to allocate funds to school activities (or a mixture of both)." 

Parent Opinion Survey

Thank you to the families who completed the survey last term. Once again, the majority of positive responses, in all domains, are between 80 and 100%.  

The area that is highlighted to address is teaching children organisational and time management skills. It is worth noting that areas for improvement from last year’s POS – general school communication, communication of student progress with parents, adequate academic challenge, and preparing students for the next phase – have come in at 100%, 86%, 86%, and 90% respectively, this year, which is a great improvement.

It is reassuring to know that parents are generally satisfied with the care and learning opportunities that we offer children. I am confident that our focus on high expectations and standards, academic rigour, effective communication with families and engaging them to be contributing partners with the school, will enable us to make continued headway in achieving the goals we have set as a community.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

The Year 5/6 BYOD program has worked well this year and will continue through 2025. Current Year 4 students will bring home a hard copy of the letter to parents and related information next week. 

Parents can access the CNPS JB HiFi portal via the link below:

https://byod.jbhifi.education/auth?code=CNPS2025

Parents of Year 4 students are urged to contact the school if you need further clarification. 

Sue Simadri