Greetings from Bale

2025 Prep Transition

We had our first prep transition session on Tueday with around 40 preps in attendance. There will be three more sessions over the next three Tuesdays for our new 2025 preps to become familiar with our school environment and teachers. We are so excited to welcome them and their families to the NPS community. 

School Savings bonus & 2025 Camps Confirmed Information

The intial School Savings Bonus is being rolled out over the next couple of weeks, to ensure that the Schools Savings Bonus team have the correct information for families and students. The email you receive will have a code and instructions on how to use the School Savings Bonus, follow the prompts in the letter from the Department of Education.

Parents will be required to complete their request and nominate how they wish to use the School Savings Bonus of $400 to be put towards either Uniforms at Noone or be applied to their Family Statement as a credit where it can be used towards camps and excursions for the 2025 school year - the bonus can be used for both.

The money is given to our school to manage the payments for Noone uniforms and the office will monitor and manage the money for camps and excursions for the 2025 school year. Families will be kept informed of their credit on their account.

For those families considering using their School Savings Bonus for camps, dates for the 2025 school year camps have been confirmed, please find below approximate costings for student camps:

• Grade 1/2 camp to Mt Evelyn Overnight camp departs on the 23rd of October 2025 and return on the 24th of October 2025 approximate cost $ 260.00
• Grade 3/4 camp to Phillip Island 2-night camp departs on the 13th of August 2025 and return on the 15th of August 2025 approximate cost $ 390.00
• Grade 5/6 camp to Lord Somers Camp 2 nights departs on 28th May 2025 and return on the 30th of May 2025 approximate cost $ 450.00

The School Savings Bonus is  sent out in batches and may be received at diffrent times for different children, even if at the same school/in the same family. We encourage parents to check your emails and your junk mail. If you have not received an email by the end of November please contact the Department as they have a dedicated team for the SSB. As we recevie information we will share this with families via compass or if required we will contact individual families in relations to their email bouning back to the department.

2025 Enrolments

As we continue to plan for the 2025 school year, we ask that if you are planning for your child(ren) not to attend Northcote Primary School in 2025, please inform the office in writing at northcote.ps@education.vic.gov.au. This information will help the school confirm enrolment numbers for next year and ensure we are able to plan accordingly.

As you may have seen in previous newsletter editions, enrolment details are crucial to assist us with our planning for 2025.

Year 5/6 Swimming

For the last two weeks, our Year 56 students have been participating in the swimming program over at Northcote Aquatic and Recreation Centre. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers and NPS staff, excursions are always exhausting but so important.

Northcote High School Band

On Monday 25th of November we will be welcoming the Northcote High School Band, to NPS to perform for our students at 1.30pm in the hall.

For many of our students there is a natural progression to enrol at Northcote High School, with this in mind there will be a few familiar faces of past students performing, so we encourage our students to go along to watch and support the NHS Band.

Sun Protection

As we head into the warmer months, it’s important to remind our school community about the need for sun protection. At Northcote Primary School, we encourage all students to wear sun-safe hats, protective clothing, and sunscreen from September to April. We ask that families model these SunSmart behaviours at home and ensure students come to school prepared for the day. By working together, we can help minimise the risk of UV-related health issues and keep everyone safe under the sun.

For more details, please refer to our SunSmart Policy, available on the school website.

NPS Policy updates

Northcote Primary School is a Child Safe school, committed to creating an environment where students are not only safe but feel safe. As part of our ongoing commitment to improving our child safety framework, we are actively reviewing and updating our policies to ensure they remain current and effective.

Recently, you may have seen changes to our Photography Policy. If you are a parent with a child in Prep - Year 5 and haven’t yet completed the survey regarding photo permissions, please do so here.

Another key update is to our Mobile Phone Policy, which now includes wearable devices such as smartwatches. These devices must be securely stored at the school office during school hours, in line with the Department of Education’s guidelines. For more information, please refer to the updated policy on our website.

To head to Policies page on the Northcote Primary School Webpage, you can follow this link 

Bale Micovski

Acting Principal