Principal Report

Good afternoon, NLPS families,

For those who may not know this about me, I am a Collingwood tragic - so one-eyed I can barely rate another player or team (and to be honest, I'm not rating my own team much at the moment either!). As a member of the club for 40 years, I enjoy going to games regularly, as it is also a way I connect with my family - all Collingwood supporters, a loyalty passed down through my mum's side. Say what you like about us, but we always attract a crowd and we organise the big games well, as we did again last Monday.

As I gazed over the giant crowd of blue 'Big Freeze' beanies yesterday and listened to our wonderful Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, speak about Neale Daniher and how remarkable it would be if every Australian embodied the values he has shown - courageous, community-minded, and caring - it got me thinking about our amazing school community and our school's vision for the future. As I often tell our students, we are all so lucky to be living in this area, in this country, at this time in history, and to be part of this beautiful local community. We need to continue to be generous with our luck and relative privilege, and show compassion to all, especially in times such as these. Our recent school review helped make the case for updating our school vision, and we will look to begin this important work next semester. I will let you all know how you can be involved.

Update on Parent Teacher Interviews (PTIs)

We have recently had our Term 3 Curriculum Day approved by our School Council - Wednesday 22nd July. For the first time in recent memory, we will trial using this day for our second round of PTIs. As Mat and I have both mentioned in previous newsletters, there will be less written information in our Semester 1 reports (which will be made available to families in late Week 10), and the longer daytime schedule allows us to allocate 50% more time per interview - 15 minutes instead of 10. Further details and booking information will be made available later this term, but please mark this day in your calendars.

Please note that for our Year 5 & 6 students, we will be conducting three-way conferences, where the student leads the conversation for 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of additional discussion. It is important that these interviews take place face-to-face.

If your Foundation - Year 4 child will have an SSG in Term 3, then please do not book a PTI. Carol will reach out to you to book in an SSG early in the term. 

With limited places available, we ask that parents that are in separated households make a time together, if that is possible. Also, when making time to meet a specialist teacher, please make sure that you book one slot for your family, not per child. 

2025 Annual Report

It is a legislative requirement that all Victorian government schools prepare an Annual Report by 30th April each year, and that this includes school specific information on student outcomes, attendance, and financial activities. The Annual Report must be endorsed at a meeting of the school council and attested to by the principal and school council president. This was done in late Term 1, 2026.

The 2025 NLPS Annual Report has now passed departmental quality assurance and will be presented to the school community prior to our next school council meeting on Monday June 22nd from 6:30pm online via this Webex link:

 https://eduvic.webex.com/eduvic/j.php?MTID=m67e23f3081601b2e0872d264be54bf5d

Password - uqXmJFT4Y46 

The 2025 AR will also be placed on the school’s website over this coming week - please check the ‘Policies & Child Safety’ page under the ‘Our School’ tab.

Toilet Block Removal

As part of our review of Child Safe Standards, it was determined that the temporary toilet block near the multi-purpose room (MPR) should be removed. This decision was made due to limited visibility and supervision of the area, as well as its accessibility to the public during school hours. The block was always intended as a temporary installation during the school’s 2019 building works, and its removal will not affect our compliance with the required student-to-toilet ratio. TeamKids has been notified, and further details regarding the removal - scheduled for the upcoming holiday period - will be communicated to them once finalised. 

Clear Expectations and Processes for Managing Behaviour

As we head into the second half of the year, we continue to focus on relationship building and classroom management, supported by professional learning around supporting students with additional needs, regular circle time, practising ‘Unconditional Positive Regard’ and co-regulation, and using Restorative Practices - as well as the Department's 8 Positive Classroom Management Strategies (PCMS). 

These include:

• Clear school-wide expectations: Explicitly teaching and modelling our school values, as well as classroom and yard rules and agreements.
• Consistent routines and explicit instructions for expected behaviours.
• Positive reinforcement through praise, regular acknowledgement of effort and/or conduct and whole-school awards.
• Daily social-emotional check-ins, including circle time and wellbeing prompts.
• A calm, consistent learning environment that reduces uncertainty and promotes self-regulation.

As a busy school with 550 students and close to 50 staff, issues will sometimes arise, and clarity in how we respond to these incidents is essential. The NLPS Behaviour Flowchart, introduced last year, has helped students understand expectations around conduct in the classroom and yard, as well as what may happen if they do not respond appropriately to reminders or low-level interventions. This chart is displayed in every classroom, alongside our School Values Matrix and Restorative Chat prompt. As parents and carers, it's important that you are also familiar with the chart, the related interventions and consequences, and who is responsible for managing these situations.

As you will see, we work hard to notice and acknowledge the positive 'green behaviours' we observe throughout the majority of the day, and many minor 'yellow' behaviours are managed easily as they arise. For more serious amber and red behaviours, please note that - as indicated in the pink text box at the bottom - any intervention or consequence is aligned to the specific behaviour and individualised as necessary. That said, very serious behaviour cannot simply be talked through, and we hope to have your support should this ever involve your child. 

If you have any queries around the behaviour in your child’s class, please contact your child’s teacher in the first instance. If you continue to be concerned, please contact the Assistant Principal, Mat Williamson. 

Staff and Student Illness

As the weather cools down significantly, similar to almost all sectors of the community, we are presently experiencing a considerable amount of illness amongst our students and staff, including colds and influenza.

We have been endeavouring to replace teachers when absent with CRTs (casual relief teachers) but due to CRT shortages this is not always possible. At times we are required to utilise our leadership team and specialist teachers to fill in, or, in some cases, we need to split classes amongst other grades to ensure operation of the school. We thank families for their understanding and support in this matter and remind you to keep your child at home if they are not well, to stop the risk of spreading anything to their teacher and/or classmates.

Foundation 2027 - Sibling Enrolment

We’d like to remind families that enrolment applications are due by Friday 31st July, which helps us plan for 2027 - although submissions are also welcome at any time before then. 

If you have a child already attending the school and a sibling due to start, please ensure your enrolment is completed by the deadline so that we can plan with confidence.

Stay warm as we head into proper winter!

Carly Bannon,

NLPS Principal