Message from Principal Sally

School Council News

The first meeting of the new School Council will be held on March 28th.  At this meeting office bearers will be elected and in the newsletter, following this meeting, contacts details for school councillors will be provided to the school community.

The school council has particular functions in setting and monitoring the school’s direction. School councils have three main responsibilities:

1. Finance: overseeing the development of the school’s annual budget and ensuring proper records are kept of the school’s financial operation
2. Strategic Planning: participating in the development and monitoring of the school strategic plan
3. Policy Development and Review: developing, reviewing and updating policies that reflect a school’s values and support the school’s broad direction outlined in its strategic plan.

Other key functions of school council include:

• raising funds for school related purposes
• maintaining school grounds and facilities
• entering into contracts
• reporting annually to the school community and the Education Department
• creating interest in the school in the wider community
• representing and taking the views of the community into account
• regulating and facilitating after-hours use of school premises and grounds
• operating a children’s service at the school.   Sourced from Department of Education & Training guidelines

Operational matters pertaining to the school and students are not the responsibility of School Council.

 Please see the School COuncil Election schedule below for further details.

School Numbers & Playground Behaviour Management

Our confirmed numbers for 2019 are 820 students as per census day on February the 28th. Hopefully this will be the number we are funded for which makes our programming affordable. Congratulations and thank you to the staff for the very positive start to the new school year. 

With four full weeks of classes and activities underway, I have observed concerning playground behaviours from some our students. For example, in our school playground, we ask that students leave sticks and stones on the ground for safety. I know there are amazing creative play opportunities with sticks and stones however, this can’t involve using or threatening to use them as weapons or even tools.

In response to this situation, we will trial a playground program which splits and shares spaces during break times. This will look like this:

• Prep to 2 students will play on the Southside
• Year 3 & 4 on the grasketball court 
• Year 5 & 6 on the oval 

Our fantastic Lunchtime Clubs have also started. Please see following:

HARMONY DAY 

Harmony Day falls on Thursday 21 March. This year we will celebrate by sharing the sentiment and action expressed in the beautiful book We are Together  by Britta Teckentrup. This picture book was brought to our attention by our well-being teacher Svet. 

On our own we're special, And we can chase our dream.

But when we join up, hand in hand, Together we're a team. 

Our school community will perform a huge Group Hug to encompass the boundary of North Melbourne Primary School.  Fingers crossed (and hands held) with 820 students and nearly 70 staff we should be able to encircle our school grounds.

We would love for you to join us and be sure to choose one colour of the rainbow to wear on the day.

Being Late and Absent Matters!

Protecting the safety and well-being of children through the reporting and monitoring of absenteeism is the responsibility of both parents/carers and schools. We are now into week 6 of term and the number of late arrivals and absences are alarming.

When your child doesn’t attend school or is late it disrupts their learning and the learning of others. It is important that students arrive at school between 8:45am – 8:55am to ensure they are ready to commence learning for the day.

Please refer to our Attendance Policy using this link on our website for further information.