Mr. Barclay's Bulletin

Hello NPS families. 

And just like that we are at the end of week 3! As teachers and school staff, we often say that the term breaks can go quite quickly however school terms can often go just as fast! With so much happening, each week rolls seamlessly into the next keeping everyone on their toes! 

The term has continued to start extremely well and following a Principal Newtowk meeting yesterday, I was pretty pleased to tell everyone once asked what a great start we've had. As always I am very proud of our students and their dispositions towards their learning. Our staff also continue to be the stars they are by supporting our students and their individual needs every day. I am grateful to have the staff that we do as I know just how much they care for and support our students to be their best. 

The next few weeks are huge for us with NAPLAN, camps, and excursions all set to begin happening. In reviewing our NAPLAN data from previous years recently, we are continuing to make great growth as a school and are excelling in many NAPLAN areas. I am looking forward to seeing this trend continue following this year's NAPLAN assessments and our students demonstrating their great knowledge and understanding. 

Thank you to all of our NPS families who attended our meet and greet evening on Wednesday. It is always wonderful to have our families onsite and we look forward to many more opportunities throughout the year. For those parents/caregivers that were not able to make it, or even for those who did, if you want to discuss your child's start to the year in a more formal setting, please organise a meeting with your child's teacher via the office. 

Thank you every. Have a happy and safe weekend! 

School Council Nominations are Open

We are currently in the process of forming our new School Council, by calling for nominations. We currently have the following vacancies open for nomination:

6 Parent Member Positions and 2 DET/School Employee Member Positions. If joining our School Council is something that is of interest to you, please request a nomination form from the school office in person or via email, newtown.ps@education.vic.gov.au. 

A reminder that all nomination forms must be submitted to the office by 4pm on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.The number of nominations we receive will dictate the next steps we take in the forming of our new School Council and if there is a requirement to progress into an election. 

Full information about joining the School Council is in the School Council section of the newsletter.   

Ongoing Fencing Request

As many of you are aware, I have been... encouraging... DET to support the safety of our students, staff, families, buildings, and grounds by erecting an external boundary fence. As a school, we often experience the negative components of being an open and accessible school space with unwanted people coming onsite during out-of-hours, and the rare person accessing the school grounds during the day to cut across the oval or car park to make their walk all that 90secs quicker. 

To note, all incidents of unwanted persons on site are reported to DET Security Services and Victoria Police.  

My ongoing... encouragement... has fallen on deaf ears. For families who are willing, I encourage you to write to our local MP, Christine Couzens, and share your/our frustrations of having such a beautiful school site that is being accessed and vandalised by unwanted people attending school grounds, as well as, and far more importantly, the safety of our students not being secure as it could and should be.  

Newtown Primary School 

Principal.