Leadership Report

Welcome Back Picnic Recap

We hope everyone had a fantastic time at the Welcome Back picnic! It was the perfect way to spend our first month together, with tacos, sausages, and cake. A big thank you to our PFA for organizing this wonderful afterschool event. It was great to meet so many new families and chat about the joys of pop punk!

As we reach the halfway point of Term 1, there’s only four weeks left until our Annual Bilingual Fiesta. More tacos, churros, music, and dancing await! Be sure to add this event to your calendar, you won’t want to miss out on the fun.

Morning Tea

It was wonderful to see so many parents enjoying biscuits and coffee while their little ones were busy learning in the classrooms. A big thanks to the PFA for this great initiative, it’s always a great time to catch up with everyone. Here are a couple of photos from this morning!

School Council Nomination Reminder

A quick reminder: school council nomination forms are due by next Friday. If you’ve misplaced your form, our amazing office staff has extras available. Please note, you can only vote once, so make sure you don’t try to spend too much time with Rachael and Carolina!

Newlands Escuela Primaria Baloncesto - Before School Training

A huge thank you to Raul for organising our before-school basketball training sessions! They’ll be starting in two weeks at a cost of $99 for the term. We’re aiming to form three teams to represent our school in the Coburg Basketball Association Winter League. For those not interested in basketball, we’ll also be offering an alternative sport on Fridays, so everyone can join in the fun. More details coming soon!

Classroom Highlights

Foundation: This week, the Foundation class has been learning numbers up to 20 and mastering the Spanish vowels. Harvey proudly shared that he’d learned them all while on yard duty. When I asked the kids what they were most excited about this week, here’s what they had to say:

Harvey: "I got a wobbly tooth! I hope the tooth fairy visits again soon."
Lucia: "I’m so excited because my friend Oliva is coming over for a sleepover!"
Zak: "I played a game called ‘Explorers’ and it was really fun."
Eva: "I also got a wobbly tooth, and I have two new teeth!"

1/2: Yesterday morning, the 1/2 students had an amazing time with the Resilience Warriors Incursion, participating in activities like yoga, karate, an obstacle course, Giant Jenga, and a Giant Earth Ball! Here are a few of their favorite moments:

Millie: "Jenga was the best because my team won!"
Saxon: "I loved the tree pose in yoga and twisting my arms."
Jacinta: "I really liked the obstacle course, even though I didn’t win."
Xanthie: "The mindfulness with Kylee made me feel proud because I didn’t ring the bell once."
Sosa: "I loved the obstacle course—I won both times!"
Melvin: "I loved winning the race in the obstacle course!"
Caspar: "The Giant Earth Ball was fun to push around, and it was fun watching everyone else push it too."

Look out for next week's newsletter which will have loads of pictures!

3/4: I had a great time with Alysha’s class this afternoon, where students worked on a CSPACE Narrative Story Map. This framework helps students organize their stories clearly. The story they created was hilarious! Here’s a brief overview:

C (Characters): Sir Basil Pesto and his trusty sidekick, Alysha (who is short).
S (Setting): A hotel in Florence, Italy.
P (Problem): Sir Basil Pesto is mistaken for an ingredient and is headed for the pizza oven!
A (Actions): Basil escapes, covering the hotel in pizza sauce, just as Alysha stops the oven with a fork.
C (Conclusion): They leave the hotel and create a new one, the "Pizza Cat Hotel," where basil is banned as an ingredient.
E (Emotion): Basil feels proud as he opens the new pizza hotel!

I can’t wait to see how this plan turns into a full story!

5/6: Although there were no interschool sports this week, excitement was still in the air as students have began practicing for the main roles in this year’s Whole School Performance. Karren has been working with students on voice projection, clarity, and body language. The big event will take place mid-Term 3 at the Darebin Arts Centre. More information can be found in this week's newsletter. I also popped into Music class and heard lots of laughter as the 5/6s practiced their drama skills by creating mini plays about the elements, it was such a lively vibe in Rob’s room!

That’s all for this week.

Have the best weekend!

Luke