Hi Everyone,

We’ve had some fantastic news this week! Newlands received a High Distinction of 94% on our Occupational Health and Safety assessment. Who would have thought?! A huge thank you goes out to Rhenny, Sophia (our amazing OHS rep), and Shikha for all their work in preparing for the assessment. And an even bigger thank you to Andrew, one of our wonderful school parents, who has been working alongside us to ensure we’re up to speed on all things OHS. This is an incredible achievement for our community!

Principal Conference – VTLM 2.0

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Network Principal Conference with Graeme and Jess, where Ryan Dunn presented the updated VTLM 2.0. It was reaffirming to see that many of the recommendations are already embedded in our practice at Newlands. But, in true Newlands spirit, we’re always looking for ways to refine and grow.

Foundation News

In Colleen’s class, the Foundation students had just wrapped up their Maths session and were excited to teach me how to use a tens frame for addition and subtraction. They also shared some clever strategies for solving problems quickly. I asked them what they love most about Maths:

Axel – I enjoy taking numbers away.
Maeve – I like adding numbers.
Alby – The same as Axel.
Lucas – I love multiplication!
Lachlan – I’m looking forward to learning about multiplication.
Tejas – I like using number lines to solve problems.
Issy – I like saying the numbers in Spanish.
Izzy – I like learning new numbers!

Colleen also shared how fantastic the students are at subitising numbers to 10 in Spanish—impressive!

Year 1/2 Update

I visited Moira’s class during their reading of Rocky & Louie, a beautiful Indigenous story about family and connection to Country. The students made deep connections with their term inquiry on Indigenous perspectives and shared thoughtful questions and reflections. I asked what they enjoyed about reading stories on the floor:

Will – It’s great to start the day calm.
Luna – I love asking questions and hearing everyone’s ideas.
Misha – You always get to find out what happens!
Shep – It’s a relaxing way to start the day.
Harry – It opens your imagination.
Augie – You get to see a range of different books.
Cooper – We’ve read lots of Indigenous books.
Elki – All the books have been interesting.

Some favourites this term:

Esther – Sorry Sorry (great for NAIDOC Week)
Felix – Welcome to Country (the illustrations were amazing)
Luna – Rocky & Louie
Sandy – I can’t remember the name, but it was about fire
Koa – My Culture and Me
Elliot – Born to Run (about Cathy Freeman)

Year 3/4 Highlights

In Angelica’s class, I watched the students revise and edit Spanish texts. I continue to be blown away by their Spanish reading and writing skills—it’s truly a privilege to lead a school with such a strong pedagogical approach.

I tried to ask what they were learning this week, but they were so eager to get started that I only managed to hear from a few:

Ace – I’ve been learning how to write more interesting sentences.
Maggie – I learnt the word mayúsculas, which means uppercase.
Mae – I learnt about pasado, which means past.
Layla – I learnt about ortografía and famous people.
Vera – I learnt about Paco de Lucía (a famous flamenco musician) and Baker Boy the rapper.

Year 5/6 Snapshot

The 5/6s were finishing off their weekly tasks or deep into reading. Here’s what a few had to share:

Charlie – I’m reading The Princess Bride and just getting into the adventure.
Abigail – I’m into Witching Hours—a girl and her brother are searching for a banner to destroy in a forest to stop a vampire.
Emlyn – I was looking up how to say "Frisbee" in Spanish… turns out it’s the same!
Reggie – We tackled subtracting proper fractions with related denominators. After a quick run-through together, he nailed it solo!

Meanwhile, Elsa, Neelix, and Clancy were working on their English writing pieces about First Nations activism. They shared their learning about Coranderrk, the Yirrkala Bark Petition, and the Freedom Ride—incredible insight and knowledge on display.

Looking Ahead – Week 9

Only 15 days left of the semester! A few important things coming up:

Foundation Incursion – Living Safely with Pets
1/2 Incursion – Continuing our exploration of Indigenous perspectives
Parent-Teacher Interviews – Bookings go online next week. This time, you’ll meet with just one teacher, with a focus on your child’s report. Look out for tips in next week’s newsletter to help guide your conversation.

School Dental Service

We have been able to engage with Smile Squad (Smile Squad | health.vic.gov.au) who are able to provide free dental check-ups for all students. Their service also provides free follow up dental work in their van which will come to Newlands. They will be attending school on Friday 22nd August.

We previously advertised that Smile Patrol would be attending school next term. The reason we have changed providers is that the Smile Patrol service is only free to families who have health care cards, and that they have a fee for all other families who use their services.

Information related to the change and login details to the service will be sent to families on Monday 16th June.

OHS Lockdown Drill – Monday

As part of our regular OHS procedures, we will conduct a lockdown drill at 11:00am on Monday. This is just a practice—please don’t be alarmed if you hear the siren.

Car Park Reminder

A gentle reminder that the school car park is for staff use only between 8:00am – 5:00pm. Please park in side streets if needed. We've had a few near misses recently with students exiting cars, and staff unable to find parking.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Thanks,

Luke

5/6 Classroom News