Principal Report

At Newport Lakes Primary School we have a very active Junior School Council (JSC) comprising of a grade representative from each of the eighteen Year 1 to Year 6 classes. The JSC usually meets every second Thursday lunchtime with teachers that give up their lunchtimes to assist the students in conducting the meetings and organising the associated activities.

The JSC members take their class representative duty very seriously and provide significant student voice to many decisions and actions that occur at the school.

Today the JSC conducted a ‘Food Drive’ asking students to bring along tins of food which will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Students in all grades were given the opportunity to wear free dress on this day as payment for bringing along tins of suitable foods for the new residents to our country. Suitable tin food includes chickpeas, tomatoes, beans, corns, peas, carrots, mixed vegies etc. If you forgot your tin, you can still drop it in at the office.

Being kind, generous and helping others is the core of all the work our JSC undertakes as well as making our school a better place for all students attending now and in the future.

Play Equipment

Tomorrow, we will see the beginning of the installation of our new senior school play equipment with the erection of the safety fence around the work zone. Having served our school well, the existing equipment is approximately 20 years old. The equipment has been continually well maintained but is becoming very costly to maintain to the Australian Accredited Playground standards.

The JSC once again had a significant role in the design and colours of all the components of the new equipment. After discussions of what is involved in choosing a design and what equipment options are available, each of the Year 3-6 JSC members sought input from the students in their grade of what they would like in their new equipment.

Funds for the new play equipment were received from the proceeds of last years school fete, assorted fund-raising events conducted, rental of school facilities and tax deductable donations to the School Building Fund.

Installation will take approximately a week and then play on the equipment will be limited to the Year 3-6 children for the remainder of the term or until the excitement settles down and then we can determine if any of the younger children can safely play on equipment unsupervised.

I am also very pleased to inform our school community, that in co-operation with Rotary International, it is likely that our old play equipment will be dismantled, updated by Rotary volunteers and then transported to Sri Lanka to be used by young children, hopefully for another 20 years in a new country.

Camp Program

Following feedback and consultation from parents, staff and school council, it has been decided to limit the NLPS school camping program in 2024 to Year 4 -6 students only.

In the wake of evaluations of the last 2 years school camps, it is believed that many of the Year 3 children were not ready for an overnight camp and found the experience was too challenging, causing anxiety and distress both leading up to and whilst on the camp.

Rather than being a learning and enjoyable experience it was an upsetting time for both the child and the family. Although this was not the case for all the children, there was, and continues to be an increasing number of children not ready for an overnight camp experience in Year 3. Rather than an off-site overnight camp, a day of outdoor experiences conducted at school may be a better option for this year level.

The school camp experiences planned for 2024 are:

Year 4 - Mon 18th to Wed 20th March 2024 Campaspe Downs (Adventure Activities Camp)
Year 5/6 - Mon 11th to Wed 13th November 2024 Philip Island (Surf Camp)

Early Arrivals

Parents are continued to be reminded that yard duty does not begin until 8.45am before school. Unfortunately, a small number of parents are dropping off, or permitting their children to come to school, well before this time. If children are on the grounds before 8.45am they are not being supervised and therefore are unsafe.

Parents are most welcome to come along and supervise their children playing in the schoolyard before 8.45am or otherwise are able to enrol them in the before school care program that is available from 6.30 am every school morning.

Congratulations - Preps & Athletics

Felicitations and well done to all of our prep children on celebrating their first 100 days at primary school. This is a big achievement in any child’s school life and the progress they have all made in this short period of time has been outstanding.

Thank you to all the hard work, patience and effort the Prep teachers have undertaken in the first 100 days of this school year, and we are looking forward to the ‘huge steps’ the preps are destined to make in the remainder of the year.

Well done to all the Year 3-6 children that represented Newport Lakes PS in the District Athletic Sports conducted on Wednesday at the Newport Athletics Track. Congratulations on this achievement. Further information and results will be available in the next newsletter.

Staff Changes

I will be on Long Service Leave beginning Monday 14th August for the last 5 weeks of Term 3. In my absence, Carly Bannon will be the acting principal and the school’s three Learning Specialists, Amy, Mat and Tarsh, will be sharing the Acting Assistant Principal role.

We will also be welcoming back Rhiannan Wallace from her extended leave to assist with long term absences for the remainder of the 2023 school year.

I hope you all have a good week.

David Moss

Principal