Message from the Principal Team

Principals' Update

Week 4

Thank you to all of the CNPS students, staff and families for the warm welcome back this week. It is fantastic to return to so many happy faces. I am particularly impressed by the number of parent helpers we have coming in to listen to our students read. We can never have enough support from our families particularly when it comes to supporting our learners. The school has been in excellent hands during my absence and I am excited to reconnect with our school community.

World Teachers Day Tomorrow

It is World Teachers Day tomorrow and we are asking our students and school community to celebrate the phenomenal work of our teachers at CNPS. Our teachers have shown great resilience during challenging times, all so they can give our students the best future possible.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (aitsl) are asking communities to take a moment to share a“hats off” selfie to celebrate teachers, and to tell us what they mean to you. Grab your hat – beret, beanie, bucket, bowler – and create a post on social media, making sure to use #WTD2022 and @aitsl. 

Funding Announcement

On Monday, we had an early morning visit from Mike Williams - Labor for Brunswick and Rebecca Thistleton - Labor for Melbourne. They were both excited to share that Premier Dan Andrews was about to announce that a re-elected Andrews Labor Government will deliver a $1.6 billion boost to the state's schools and kindergartens. Of this, $850 million will be spent on school upgrades, and $8.4 million will be spent at Carlton North Primary. 

We also welcomed Ellen Sandell - Greens State MP for Melbourne and Tim Reed Greens State MP for Brunswick onsite to celebrate this news with the school. Our School Council has worked tirelessly over the past few years to campaign for funding for CNPS as our school buildings and grounds desperately need upgrades. Trish has played a significant role in this campaign reaching out to Ellen Sandell for support. Please see the letter from Mike Williams and Rebecca Thistleton below and Ellen Sandell's Facebook post below. 

Junior School Toilets

We are very pleased to share that the newly refurbished Junior School toilets will be open for use on Wednesday next week. Keith has shared the extensive amount of consultation that has been conducted with the students, parents and staff in terms of whether to designate the toilets as gendered or non-gendered. On Tuesday evening the Education Subcommittee determined that due to the overwhelmingly positive response towards non-gendered toilets, the toilets will be allocated as F-2 and 3-4. There were a small number of concerns raised during the consultation such as cleanliness, and these will be very closely monitored as the students start using the new spaces. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this consultation process.

Class Placement for 2023

Our teachers have commenced creating the classes for 2023. Within class, teachers will ask students to list 3 friends that they work well in the classroom. We are asking you to please have a chat with your child at home to start identifying these friends.

If you have a request for your child’s class placement due to wellbeing concerns, please ensure that you make this request (in writing, to Jane Bilby) no later than tomorrow, Friday 28 October, so that your request is considered when organising classes for 2023. Creating classes is a very complex process and it is very difficult to make changes to the classes once they are formed. One change can have a flow on effect and impact strategic decisions and other class placement requests. We are not able to consider class placement requests made after 28 October.

At Carlton North Primary School we recognise the importance of fostering and maintaining friendship groups. We also understand that it is equally important for students to mix and learn with peers who have different interests. We ask that requests for class placements are made in writing and addressed to Rachel or Jane. We will not always be able to accommodate class placement requests but will endeavour to take your wishes into consideration where possible.

All teachers at CNPS are caring and committed educators and CNPS strives to ensure that all students are provided with a high quality education. Whilst we appreciate that you may believe that your child would benefit from being placed in a class with a particular teacher, we are generally unable to accommodate these requests. 

The Class Placement Policy can be found on the school’s website. 

http://www.carltonnthps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Class-Placement-Policy.docx.pdf

Rachel Corben