Principals' Update

Year 5/6 Excursion to Scienceworks

It's been a long time since we’ve seen any of our students head out on an excursion and we are very excited for our Year 5/6 students to be going to Scienceworks on Monday. This excursion is linked to their first Science Topic - Electricity for Term 3, and the students will be taking part in the Electrical Energy, Safety and Lightning presentation at Scienceworks.

Athletics Day Years 3 to 6 - Wednesday 11 August

Next Wednesday we will be holding our first Athletics Day in 2 years. Sam Guerra has done a fantastic job stepping into Chris Atkins’ shoes to coordinate the event. We would also like to thank the Friends of Sport Team Martha Evans, Marika Benetti-Hille and Maddi Davis for supporting Sam through the planning process. We are looking forward to hopefully a rain free event at the George Knott Athletics Track, Clifton Hill.

Health and Safety Measures for Return to School

Thank you to everyone for observing health and safety measures such as wearing masks in the school grounds, practising social distancing and not entering the school buildings unless it is absolutely necessary. We understand that you may wish to communicate with your child’s classroom teacher so please consider sending an email or leaving a phone message. If it is absolutely necessary for you to enter the building, you must sign in with the Service Victoria QR code.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Thank you to all of our wonderful teachers for taking the time to conduct Parent Teacher Interviews this week. These interviews are a valuable opportunity for our teachers to provide feedback to parents and carers on how their child is progressing at school.

Parent Teacher Interviews with Jacqui Woodard (12J) will be held on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 August. Please see the separate booking tab for these interviews.

Please note: If you participate in formalised Student Support Group meetings (SSGs), these will be scheduled separately. All families participating in these meetings will be contacted directly. There is no need for you to book a Parent Teacher Interview as well.

Planning Week - Next Week

Next week our teaching teams have been allocated planning days to plan for the learning for the rest of Term 3. This week was originally scheduled for Week 3, however, due to the last remote and flexible learning period, we postponed to Week 5. At CNPS we value student voice and agency and in the first two weeks of each term we actively seek students’ input in the learning for the term. Within planning week, the teaching teams plan to meet the learning needs and interests of our students.

Whole School Big Idea: Continuity and Change

Enduring Understandings: Where We Are in Place and Time

Who we are: Our Community

	Foundation	Year 1/2	Year 3/4	Year 5/6
Unit Topic:	Our Community	Ch-ch-ch-changes	My Island Home	Who Cooked Up Australia?
Victorian Curriculum:	Personal and Social, Intercultural Capabilities	Critical and Creative Thinking, Intercultural, Ethical, Personal and Social Capabilities	Intercultural Capabilities	Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Capabilities
Essential Question:	What makes a creative, happy and safe community?	Why has our community changed over time?	Could Australia’s early story have been different?	Would you have liked to migrate to Australia?
Focus Questions:	Who is in our class school community? Who helps us in our wider community? How do they keep us safe/happy? Where can you find creativity in our community?	When have key changes been made to our community? What aspects of the past continue to be an important part of our local community? What features shape our current local lifestyle (technology, education, community, economy)?	How did Aboriginals/ Torres Strait Islanders come to the land of ‘Australia’? What was life like for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples before the arrival of Europeans (70000 years ago)? What were the significant events and who were the Australian/Aboriginal people that shaped Australian colonies?	How did an Australian colony develop over time? Why and how did Australia become a nation? What contribution have significant individuals and groups made to the development of Australian society?

2022 Foundation Enrolments

A reminder to all of our CNPS families that we have sent out the first round of enrolment letters of offer for Foundation in 2022. If you have not yet completed an expression of interest form for your child to commence Foundation next year, please do so as soon as possible.

VGSA 2021: It's about time!

The Victorian Government Schools Agreement (VGSA), which outlines pay and conditions for public school staff, expired on 30 April. The AEU is now in negotiations with the Department of Education and Training (DET) for a new agreement.

There are two major priority items for the new agreement - excessive teacher workload and proper remuneration of our education support staff for the vital work they do in supporting our students. On average, Victorian teachers are doing 15 hours unpaid overtime a week. Our teachers go above and beyond working outside of the paid 38 hour week. And many support staff do not earn a salary that reflects their contribution, in spite of the central role they play. Teachers, Principals, and ES need workload relief now and ES staff urgently need a fair wage which recognises their value and professionalism.

We value any support our school community may provide in this campaign.

Staff Professional Learning

Monday 9 August - Mary and Sophie - Graduate Teacher Conference for 2nd Year Teachers

Friday 18 August - Rachel - Challenge Partner for Preston Primary School Review

Supervision in the School Yard Before and After School

A reminder to all CNPS Families that the school yard is supervised before school from 8:45am-9:00am and after school from 3:30pm-3:45pm. Students should not be arriving at school unaccompanied before 8:45am as there is no supervision to ensure their safety. Those students who remain unaccompanied in the school yard after 3:45pm will be asked to wait in the foyer and we will call parents. If we are unable to contact parents, carers or emergency contacts, students will then be placed into aftercare at parents’ expense.

The Principal Team

Rachel Corben, Erin Brown & Jane Bilby

Beyond the Gates