Greetings from Shaun

Code Camp- Summer Holidays activities

An exciting new extra-curricular activity  is available at Northcote Primary School, embark on a coding adventure over the summer break with Code Camp!  The Northcote Primary School Council are currently finalising an agreement with Code Camp to run an after school (during the term) and a holiday program for interested individuals. 

There will be Code Camp workshops running over these summer holidays, based here at Northcote Primary.  This would be a great opportunity for our students to gauge their interest in coding and whether they may want to join  regular out of school hours workshops which will be held  in 2024 starting in Term 1.

Code Camp is desinged to ignite the passion for programming, and invites students to delve into the world of coding, fostering a dynamic learning environment where creativity meets technology. Students will explore various programming languages, engage in hands-on projects and collaborate with like minded peers. Whether your budding tech entrepeneur is a novice or an experienced programmer, code camp promises an enriching experience that goes beyond the classroom, empowering students with the essential skills for the digital age.

Please find more information in the Code Camp Flyer in this issue of the newsleter.

Northcote High School visits

The Northcote High School Band did the long march up St Georges Rd with their instruments to put on a wonderful performance for our students in the hall last Tuesday. It was a very special performance, a highlight was the Lion King Medley that incited the hall erupting with singing and choreography from our 2024 School Production.   There were quite a number of our past students in the band, who seemed quite proud of their connection to Northcote Primary and their familiarity and connection with our current students. 

We also had a group of Northcote High year 7 students visit our year 6's to chat about their transition to high school this week and discuss what to expect, the things that can sometimes be challenging and tricky to navigate and the big one - the what to look forward to! 

It is great to witness the continuing partnership between Northcote High School and Northcote Primary School with these shared events.

End of Year Picnic

Our end of year picnic is fast approaching - Monday 4th December! We hope to see as many families coming together to 'exhale' and enjoy the company of other families, before we forge into the mayhem that is Christmas cheer!

Our community sub committee has organised sushi for the evening, if you are feeling a little too busy to organise your own BYO picnic, this can be purchased via Compass Canteen. If you have any trouble ordering, please be sure to speak to our lovely office staff for assistance.

Cyber safety for our students

As we continue to navigate the cyber frontier, please remember to be vigilant and closely monitor what your child is accessing on devices at home and who they are interacting with. Online Safety is a shared responsibilty, and while we will continue to do our bit in educating our students and encoruaging responsible digital behaviour, we need your help and your support with this at home. To help you out, we have a whole range of tips and tricks on our school website which you can access at anytime. I would particularly like to draw your attention to the guides around whether your child is old enough for various apps and websites. As a general rule, although harsh, the simple answer is no, primary age children should not be on most apps. For more information check out the website:

Menu > Wellbeing and Engagement > Cyber Safety

https://northcoteps.vic.edu.au/wellbeing-and-engagement#cyber 

As part of our shared responsibilty to keep our students safe at school and at home we are launching a new regular post in our newsletter around cyber and online safety. Please be sure to look at our first edition in this issue of the newsletter.

Tea Towel fundraisers

Thank you to Amy for encouraging our budding artists to create their self portraits, for this amazing fundraiser and I know many, including myself were very impressed with the final products, they look fantastic! I'm sure they will make great practical Christmas gifts and keepsakes for many families.

A reminder that Icy pole Friday's are back and will continue every Friday afternoon, after school, till the end of the year, canteenside!

Class Structure for 2024

As you will be aware, we are currently in the middle of planning for 2024 and so I thought now would be a good time to give you an update on the class structure we are predicting for next year. Based on the current projections of student numbers and movements, we are planning for 14 classes across the school and the class structure is likely to remain unchanged. This means that we will have two straight Prep classes, and then continue with our multi-age composite classes in Grade1/2 and Grade 3/4 and 5/6 with four classes at each level. 

We will also maintain our current Specialist program of Art, Music, PE and Italian. 

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding around this. 

Prep Transition  

Our Prep transition sessions are currently in full swing. These sessions have been incredibly successful, with our newest little community members settling in quickly and definitely showing lots of excitement about becoming a part of our wonderful school. Tuesday will be our next session, running from 9:15 am to 10:15 am in the Prep classrooms. This Tuesday's session will also be an opportunity for prep parents to join us and other families for an informal chat and 'cuppa' in the hall.

Our final session is scheduled for Tuesday the 5th of December. This last session will allow our junior recruits to spend some time with their new classroom teacher and their 2024 classmates. With many new families joining our community, please make sure to say hello if you see a new family in the yard and welcome them to our amazing community.

Prep and 5/6 Swimming

Our swimming program for Preps and Grade 5/6's has now finished up and I'd like to thank all the parents who generously donated their time to supporting our swimming program. I'd also like to acknowledge the efforts of all our teachers who made the transistion from school to pool look seamless!

Working Bee- Saturday 2nd December

Please put December the 2nd in your calendar for the final Working Bee for the year. We are concentrating on the area surrounding the Top Turf and the OSH yard this time around. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Take Care,

Shaun.