It’s been another incredible week of learning at Newlands! A big thank you to all the families who gave up their Sunday to help clean up our school during the Working Bee. The students were particularly impressed by the newly updated toilets, so a special shout-out to the Buildings & Grounds Sub Committee for their organization and dedication in making our school look fantastic.

Today marks our much-anticipated 3 in1 event, which has been on the calendar for a while now…

Classroom Information Sessions – Today at 2:30 pm

If you’ve ever wondered who to see for what, how to communicate with the school, or when your child has Visual Arts, this session is for you! We’ll cover all this and more. The sessions will begin at 2:30 pm, and we know that some families have multiple children, so to help with that, we’ll send out the PowerPoint slides in next week’s newsletter. The Foundation session will be in the staffroom, the 1/2 session in Kylee’s classroom, the 3/4 session in Lisa’s classroom, and the 5/6 session in Clara’s classroom. We highly recommend attending if possible!

Wellbeing Celebration Launch – We Care, We Learn, We Grow! – 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

The Newlands staff is excited to share our approach to wellbeing, and yes, there will be free stickers! This is a great opportunity to see how we set up our classes for success, the intentional language we use in the classroom, and how we support students who may need additional help academically, socially, and emotionally. The event will kick off at 3:35 pm at the DJ desk with a quick introduction, before families can enter the Learning Worlds to explore with the help of our teachers. If you miss one of our Wellbeing Booklets, you can collect one from the office!

PFA Welcome Back Picnic – 4:30 pm

Bring a picnic rug and your ATM card, and the PFA will take care of the rest. Let your kids run around while you relax, enjoy the tunes, snags, and baked goods at the Welcome Back Picnic. If you’re looking for a positive vibe this Friday night, this is the place to be! We encourage families to gather around the trees near the Foundation classrooms for extra shade.

Foundation

During the Foundation planning session, the team was buzzing with excitement over the learning experiences they’ve been creating around counting and subitising. Colleen proudly showed how well her class could name letters and make letter sounds, covering letters like s, a, p, t, f, and m. The students also demonstrated their heart words, such as “the,” “I,” and “my.” The classroom was filled with engaged students working hard. After a fun round of activities, the students safely ran to the tables to practice tracing letters. Here are a few photos of the students in action.

1/2

I joined Karren in her Wellbeing session today, where the students were acting out different scenarios and sharing their coping strategies. As I entered the room, the students shushed me, fully immersed in Luka and Nye’s performance. Here’s what some of the students shared about their favorite subjects:

Ada – "Wellbeing is really fun, and we learn about how to control our feelings."
Catalina – "PE is awesome because we do cool sports."
Gus – "PE is fun because it makes me sweaty and energized."
Xanthie – "PE makes me energetic and strong."
Vida – "I love Art because we do fun things like painting and paper mache."
Apollo – "Art is amazing because I enjoy drawing and painting."
Beatriz – "Art is fun because we get to paint."
Theo – "I like STEAM because we do a lot of fun activities."
Casper – "I enjoy Inquiry because every answer is right!"

3/4

The students have been exploring how addition and subtraction relate and how algorithms work in both. Oliver led the class, showing off his subtraction skills while explaining the process in Spanish. The students used MAB (Multi-base Arithmetic Blocks) to check their answers and demonstrate their understanding of place value. Here are a few photos of the students working through their "Constructores."

5/6

I joined Florencia’s Spanish numeracy lesson where students were estimating numbers. Jack showed me how he uses his knowledge of times tables to estimate with ease. When I asked about the best thing they’ve done this week, the responses were all in Spanish:

Beatrix – "Me gusta escribir porque es muy fácil"
Angus – "Jugar al fútbol en el recreo"
Eloise – "Me gusta el bienestar porque es muy divertido"
Jack – "Me gusta las matemáticas porque hay muchas ecuaciones"
Felix – "Me gusta los deportes porque jugamos al softball"
Lowri – "Me gusta los deportes escolares porque juego al bat tennis"

Next Week’s Assembly – Leadership Presentation

After a long wait, the badges are finally ready, our leaders are prepared, and the teachers have practiced their congratulations! Next week’s assembly will feature our Leadership Badge presentation, beginning at 2:45 pm. We look forward to seeing you in the gymnasium to celebrate our 2025 School Leaders!

See you all tonight!

Thanks,

Luke

Community News/ HOLIDAY PROGRAM!