Mr. Barclay's Bulletin

Hello NPS Families

Good afternoon NPS families.

Welcome back for yet another action-packed term 4. I trust that all NPS families managed to enjoy the break and spend some quality time relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends. 

We've had a great start to term 4 with our students hitting the ground running and getting right back into their learning programs. It's been highly pleasing to have visited classrooms this week talking to students about their breaks and seeing them engage in their learning with enthusiasm. Within our SLA there is an added bit of excitement in the air with this being the final term of Primary School for our Year 6 students who are looking forward to their graduation in December! 

Having taken leave in week 10 of last term meant I, of course, missed the school concert and although I won't say that I was completely devastated to have not displayed my dancing skills in the staff item, I was indeed disappointed to have not seen first hand our students perform and display all of their hard work in preparation for the concert. I would like to acknowledge Ms. Bedson, Mrs. Washington, and arguably Geelong's best Dance Teacher Mr. McKinnis for their organisation and running of the event. It is a mammoth effort to get such an event up and running. 

This week we have had two new staff join our ranks in Ms. Claire Pitarto who is joining as an Education Support staff member.  We also have Mr. Nathan Storer who is joining us from DET SSS as an Inclusion Outreach Coach. Nathan will be supporting our staff and students and working closely with us to strengthen our Tier 1 approaches towards supporting student wellbeing, behavior, and in-class adjustments. 

Late in term 3, we received news that we were accepted into the Victorian Governments 'Greener Government Schools' program following an application submission. This means that we will be installing a Solar Panel System on the MPR roof to lessen the impact our energy use has on the environment. I am unsure as to when the panels will be installed however we're excited about it having been granted and look forward to our school becoming even more environmentally sustainable. 

In more good news - a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Oscar in year 6 who has been selected to represent Vic Country in Basketball at the Southern Cross Challenge in Melbourne over the January school holidays. This is a massive achievement for Oscar and is a testament to all of his hard work - particularly all of those early morning/before school Basketball training sessions! Hopefully when Oscar makes the NBA he remembers his teachers and Principals! ;) 

This afternoon we had our Colour Run, which I know our students were VERY EXCITED about and we are grateful that the weather remained dry!  Thanks to those spectators who turned out and also to the volunteers. 

We also have our swimming program taking place in weeks 4 and 5 not to mention the many other opportunities that will occur throughout the term. 

Class Placement Requests 2024 

As happens at this time roughly every year, our school staff and leadership team are in the rigorous process of developing a workforce plan for 2024. This process looks to find answers to the number of classes we have, where staff are possibly placed for the 2024 year, and discussions started about class list development.

As always there are still several unknowns that we are working through however whatever decisions are made we will ensure we have the best possible balance to cater to every single one of our students and their academic, social, and emotional needs.

As parents/caregivers, you may have your own thoughts and thinking regarding the placement of your child for 2024 regarding friendship groups or classroom factors. If there are comments and or thinking you have regarding this, please place those thoughts into an email addressed to the school email address (newtown.ps@education.vic.gov.au) with the subject line listed as “Confidential”. We ask that you complete this by Friday 27th October, which is week 4 of term 4.

Please note, that this is not a request process and although your thinking will certainly be considered, the individual requesting for specific teaching staff will not be.

Thank you everyone and have a GREAT weekend! 

Corrie Barclay

Principal