Newham Primary School Newsletter

Principal's Report

Simone Wood, Principal

WELCOME

I am thrilled to be able to congratulate all students, staff and parents on an excellent start to the 2023 school year. We are very excited to welcome back all students and their families, and we are especially pleased to welcome our Foundation students (Preps). Also a very warm welcome to our new families and students who have transferred in across other year levels here at Newham. We look forward to supporting your children and working together over their education journey. 

We welcome Brooke Mann to Newham as our Business Manager, and Sharny Smith to our Foundation (Prep) 1 room. Please make yourself known to them.

 

Please read through this newsletter carefully. It contains significant information required for the beginning of the year. Parents will be able to refer back to this newsletter easily. Its the first one!

 

START TO THE TERM in the classrooms

Our ‘Rock Solid Education’ start to the first two weeks of school, will embed our processes, and support our students to get back into the swing of school routines. This year lunch eating time has come forward to 12.40. With paramount consideration to sitting together and socialising while eating and also to student wellbeing, calmness and easing play anxiety, students will have a lunch eating break separate from their lunch play break so that eating, perhaps listening to a story and companionship is encouraged, rather than hurriedly eating, and running out to play. This is a routine that will take a few weeks to become second nature.

 

VISIT THE CLASSROOMS

Please also know that you're very welcome to visit the classrooms with your child(ren) before or after school - they're open from 8.45am in the morning, and then in the afternoon until 3.40pm (Staff are in meetings Tuesday/Wednesday at 3.45). 

We all hope to see you here!

 

LEARNING SESSIONS

5 x 1-hour sessions form our learning time this year.

Lunch eating time is between session 3 and 4. There is also dedicated eating time attached to recess and a fruit break time during the transition from session 1 to 2.

 

9:00am    Session 1

10:00am  Session 2

11:00am  Eating time

11.10am  Recess

11:40am  Session 3

12:40pm  Lunch eat

12:50pm  Session 4

1:50pm    Lunch play

2:30pm    Session 5

3:30pm    End of school day (earlier dismissal last day of term)

 

School Council information

At this time of each year, the School Council membership undergoes a process where some of the membership comes to the end of their term, allowing for nominations from the school community to be submitted. Nominations have been called as of Monday 6th February. As a result of this, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all School Council committee members for their commitment to the school. 

The Declaration of school council membership (formerly Schedule 7) outlines which representatives’ tenure concludes this year. As a result, the following parent members are concluding in March 2023: 

  • Liz Pape
  • Peter Brown

Members that retire at the end of their term, however, are welcome to nominate for membership again if eligible (e.g., have children here or still work at the school). 

In alignment with the Department of Education School Council Election Guidelines we will now conduct the process and call for nominations, this will then determine whether voting will be necessary. The school council election process must be completed on or before 31 March, each year.

  1. Notice of election and call for nominations: by Tuesday 21st  February 2023 
  2. Closing date for nominations: Monday 6th March 2023 
  3. Date by which the list of candidates and nominators will be posted: Tuesday 7th March 2023 
  4. Date by which ballot papers will be prepared and distributed on or before Wednesday 8th March (forms to be sent out to all families), if required. 
  5. Close of ballot Friday 17th March 2023 4PM, if required. 
  6. Vote count Monday 20th  March 2023 11.20 AM, if required. 
  7. Declaration of poll Tuesday 21st  March 2023, if required. 
  8. First council meeting to elect office bearers Monday 27th March 2023 (Also date of next School Council Meeting and AGM) 

School Council is an enjoyable way of being involved in our school’s overall direction, vision, and policy development. The constituting order of Newham Primary School confirms the composition of Council as being: 10 members (6 parents and 3 DET,1 community member if required). 

If you are interested in School Council – the below may assist you in deciding about nominating. 

 

What is a School Council and what does it do? 

The school council has a limited governance and oversight role, whereas the principal manages the day-to-day activities of the school and is responsible for ensuring the delivery of a comprehensive education to every student with the knowledge, capabilities, and attributes for their future role in society. The principal also holds a duty of care for, and is responsible for the care, safety, and welfare of the students at the school.

 

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set the key directions of a school within centrally provided guidelines. The term of office for members is two years. Half the members must retire each year, and this creates vacancies for the annual School Council elections. The functions of a school council are to establish the broad direction and vision of the school, participate in the development, monitoring and endorsement of the School Strategic Plan and Annual Implementation Plan, approve the annual budget and monitor expenditure, review, and update school policies, raise funds for school related purposes, oversee the buildings and grounds, provide cleaning and sanitary services and report annually to the school community. 

 

Why is parent membership so important?   

Parents on School Councils provide important viewpoints and have valuable skills that can help shape the direction of the school. Those parents who become active on a School Council find their involvement satisfying in itself and may also find that their children have a greater sense of belonging. 

How can you become involved? 

The most obvious way is to vote in the elections. However, ballots are only held if more people nominate as candidates than there are positions vacant. In view of this, you might seriously consider standing for election as a member of the School Council or encouraging another person to stand for election. 

Do I need special experience to be on School Council? 

No. What you do need is an interest in your child’s school and the desire to work in partnership with others to help shape the school’s future. All council members will be expected to attend governance training which will be coordinated by the school after the AGM. 

What do you need to do to stand for election? 

An official notice informing parents of the election and a call for nominations will be on display at school as of Monday 6th Feb. If you decide to stand for election, you can arrange for someone to nominate you as a candidate or you can nominate yourself in the Parent category. DE employees whose child is enrolled in a school in which they are not employed are eligible to nominate as parents for the School Council where their child is enrolled. Once the nomination form is completed, return it to the school office within the time stated. If there are more nominations received than there are vacancies on council, a ballot will be conducted in the two weeks after the call for nominations has closed. Remember 

  • Ask at the school for help if you would like to stand for election and are not sure what to do. 
  • Consider standing for election to Council this year. 

Be sure to vote in the elections if an election is required. 

If you would like to contribute to the school by being a part of the council, please collect a nomination form from the office or refer to the attachments on the uEducateUs message.

 

 

DET IS NOW DE

As advised by the Department Secretary Jenny Atta via the School Update (December 2022), due to a number of changes across government, the Department of Education and Training (DET) has now become the Department of Education (DE).

This is going to take us some time to get used to!

 

NPS Communications Update

 

Newham Primary School continues to work on providing timely, clear, effective and professional communications to students, parents and carers, and the wider school community. NPS recognises the importance of communications and continues to strive to refine our delivery.

 

All communications at NPS are guided by our school values of Respect, Unity, Responsibility and Resilience. Families having access to the correct information but also engaging with school information is key to our students being ready to learn. Our official direct communications are via uEducateUs and the Newsletter. Meetings in person and phone calls also support our students. 

Your child’s teacher is the first point of contact at Newham Primary school. The uEducateUs app allows your child’s teacher to share information regarding learning in the classroom and any class messages or reminders. In turn you can also contact your child’s teacher with this app. For any urgent enquiries please contact our school office between 8.30am-4pm on 54270 235.

 

uEducateUs  

uEducateUs is also used to distribute the fortnightly newsletter link as well as your child’s academic reports, excursion/camp permission slips and general notices. Please ensure that you read messages in a timely manner. 

Newsletter

The newsletter is a great way of staying up to date with the exciting news and events happening at NPS. The newsletter is accessible via the uEducateUs link plus on our website. it is distributed every fortnight towards the end of the week. Notifications are sent out when the newsletter is available.

Assembly: Fortnightly School Assemblies are a great way to be involved in school life and hear about what is exciting our classes to learn. Our first School Assembly will be held on Friday 17th February at 3pm. All families welcome. Year 6 Bomber jackets and student leader badges will be presented here.

 

Communication Counts … For better or worse ALWAYS tell us FIRST! 

 

We welcome feedback when we are doing a good job and when you think there is something that might be improved. If there is a classroom problem, please talk first to your child’s teacher. If the problem is not resolved, please speak to the principal, Simone Wood.

 

 

Looking forward to working with you for a wonderful 2023.