Newport Natter

29 June 2020 Term 2 Week 10

Principal’s Report

Dear Parents,

It has been great to see the majority of our students really engaging with their learning and each other over the past 2 weeks. This week I have seen some great examples of individual genius hour projects, persuasive writing on school improvements and descriptive writing from Year 3, on their quality text “Fox.”

I have also seen many examples of Newport students being the students we want them to be; 'Strong' and 'Smart' which was my message to them in assembly this week. 

Episode 1: A Secret about the Brain Visit https://www.classdojo.com/BigIdeas/ to find the full series and many wonderful resources, including discussion guide...

For those students who have not achieved this over the past fortnight and have found themselves 'unravelling', we have been working with our local schools (Bilgola, Avalon, Barrenjoey and Pittwater High Schools) and other experts to try to understand why.  It seems that the lack of their regular routine (winter sports and other activities), sleep deprivation and our students feeling and expressing part of the stress of the adult world, could help us to understand this. I have included a piece by Dr Kirstin Barchia, a local parent and Clinical Psychologist (PhD, MClinPsych, BPsych(Hons) titled; 'Are you or your children feeling unsettled? Why normal isn’t feeling normal yet' for your reference and to help us understand the underlying effects of COVID-19 and what is happening for our young people at the moment. As a staff, we have been reflecting on what actions we can take to support our students through this time.

Goodbye Mr French

After many years of turning the staff’s maintenance 'to do' lists into 'done', Mal French our Grounds Assistant (GA) is retiring. Mal has been our reliable and capable 'Mr Fix it' for 7 years, turning his hand to anything and everything needed around the school from moving furniture and fixing plumbing to small carpentry jobs, gardening and other repairs, touch ups and clean ups. Always with his smile and gentlemanly ways and always with a will to improve the school and be of assistance, Mal has been a pleasure to work with and an important part of our Newport team. On behalf of our school community, I would like to thank Mal for the important role he has played at Newport. We wish Mal all the best in his next chapter and we look forward to catching up with him when he drops in from time to time.

Welcome to Emma Friedlein in our Canteen

It is very exciting to see our canteen re-opening this week with parents, students and teachers being able to order their lunch through Flexischools. Some wonderful, fresh, healthy options are available including:

•             Fresh sandwiches including freshly poached chicken.

•             Salad boxes - Greek, Caesar, chicken Caesar or make your own

•             Slinky apples or fresh fruit salad

•             Bag of fresh vegetables with hummus, or bag of carrot sticks

•             Twisty pasta Bolognaise (spiral pasta and Bolognaise sauce    loaded with flavour and vegetables) – also a gluten free option is available

•             Hot rolls with a range of fillings made fresh, wrapped in foil and gently oven-heated

•             Chicken wedges, with an optional side salad - small, medium and large serves available

•             Fruit cups

We would like to warmly welcome Emma to the Newport School Community and look forward to seeing our canteen up and running again to cater for the food needs of our school community.  

On behalf of the school community, I would also like to sincerely thank Lisa Wood (P & C Vice President), Brooke Logan (P & C President) and the P & C Executive for the work and time they have taken in recruiting a new manager and preparing the canteen to reopen. 

The P & C still has days when volunteers are needed so if you would like to join in the fun, please get in touch with the P & C by emailing info@newportpandc.com.au.  Please note that our process of essential adults only on school site continues. Our canteen volunteers are essential adults and can be identified by their apron. 

School Charter – R.E.S.P.E.C.T

From time to time parents may need to approach the school in order to discuss the progress or welfare of their child or to enquire or express a concern about a school policy, practice or incident. If your concern is about your child, the first person to see is your child’s class teacher, at a planned time that is convenient for you both. Please arrange this through a phone call/email.

If you need to speak with an executive or have questions or concerns regarding a school policy or practice, please direct your enquiry to the school office where it will be appropriately delegated. You can also email the school newport-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au or me; natalie.baldi@det.nsw.edu.au

In any interaction with school staff, be that in writing, over the phone or in person, the Department of Education expects that we work in partnership to promote student learning, treat each other with respect and fairness and we communicate in a positive and constructive manner. I could also add to this that when things go wrong, it is important to acknowledge mistakes and remain 'solution focused' in an environment of mutual respect, as opposed as looking for blame. I have included the Department’s Community Charter for your reference and William Glasser’s chart of connecting and disconnecting habits.  

Student Behaviour Expectations

In preparation for a positive and productive start to our learning in Term 3, we will be reminding our students of our CARE code and our high expectations of behaviour which is underpinned by the Department of Education’s Behaviour Code. Every student, every day chooses how they behave and perform. If they choose not to behave and perform to the standard set at school, the responsibility lies with them. At Newport, we are very clear about our expectations and give feedback to students so they understand how they are performing against these expectations. Your support in highlighting  benefits of positive behaviour at school which allows all students to learn is always appreciated.

We Applaud Safe Driving and Parking Around the School

Last week I received an email from a parent who expressed the sentiment of most of our parents who follow the rules regarding the Kiss and Drop zones and school parking – frustration but mostly concern for the safety of all of our children.

With staff at the Top Western gate most mornings to greet students doing Kiss and Drop, myself or Mr Hearne at the Kinder Tree Gate most mornings and our changed arrangements for pick up in the afternoons, traffic congestion should have eased. In any case, those parents using Stuart Street to drop students off are putting all of our students in danger. Please don’t sacrifice student safety for convenience.

3-6 Term 3 Sport

Despite COVID restrictions being lifted around contact sport from Term 3, the Pittwater PSSA won’t hold winter, interschool competitions this year because of the reduced timeframe. PSSA Carnivals, State Knockout Competitions, State Carnivals and trials have also been cancelled. The summer PSSA competition is planned to resume Friday mornings from Term 3, Week 9.

So, What will Friday morning sport look like at Newport in Term 3?

Between Weeks 1-7, we will still offer the usual PSSA sports: rugby league, boys’ and girls’ soccer, AFL and netball which will be played as ‘PSSA Friendlies’. There will be no selection process and any student wishing to participate will be involved. Students will play against each other in a friendly game (Newport vs Newport) each week.

Students are in the process of expressing their interest for each sport. If students don’t won’t to participate in the competitive sports, non-competitive options will be provided.

Some of the ‘PSSA Friendlies’ will be played off-site at grounds from which the students can walk back to school. Permission notes and further information will be communicated later this week. Thank you, Mr Moran and Miss Cowling for efforts in organising this initiative.

Learning this Week

Congratulations to all those students involved in small group support lessons for literacy and numeracy who continue to persist and improve their skills in subjects that don’t always come easily to them. Thank you to Ms Cheney (Year 1 and 2 reading support), Ms Maclaurin (Year 2, 3, 4 and 5 reading support) and Mrs Power (Year 1 and 2 numeracy support) for improving students’ basic academic skills and in turn, improving their confidence and love of school. Grace, Aarna, Leo and Lila, pictured left, have improved their reading by six PM benchmark levels so far this year. Well done!

Parent Survey

Thanks so much to those of you who have provided us with your opinion and ideas through the parent survey to inform our future planning. If you haven’t done so already, the survey will close on Wednesday. The more responses we receive, the more accurate the data samples become. If you can, please contribute at: Newport Parent Survey

Mufti Day

Thank you to the Parliament Ministers for organising the crazy hair + crazy sock + mufti day last Friday. Over $700 was raised which will contribute to the Year 6 gift to the school at the end of the year. It was a great day; much fun was had by everyone. 

Trafalgar Park

We have been given the all clear to use Trafalgar park again during lunchtimes. Students have been missing the extra space to play in and, as pre-COVID, grades will be rostered to use the park at second-half lunch. 

Are you or your children feeling unsettled? Why normal isn’t feeling normal yet.

If your children are misbehaving, not sleeping or are a bit more anxious or moody recently they are not alone. Talking with other psychologists and teachers who work with children and teenagers, there seems to have been an increase in unsettled mood and behaviour over the past few weeks. There are a few reasons why this may be the case.

One reason that may explain the unsettled behaviour of our children is that emotions are contagious, and our kids are feeling and expressing part of the stress of the adult world. Emotions can be spread between people without a word needing to be spoken. Have you ever walked into a room and felt tension there immediately before anyone has spoken? While our children have been back at school for more than a month now, the “adult” world is still changing.

Many parents are feeling the stress of juggling the new schedules, which can change at a moment’s notice. Some parents are trying to catch up and get ahead on their work and are feeling a greater need to work harder to ensure they still have a job. This stress is compounded as soon as someone has a sore throat or a runny nose. These mild symptoms of colds that do not normally interrupt our lives are causing significantly more interruption and stress. Some parents are also experiencing stress because of loss of work. And all of this is happening without promise of a “holiday” break. Not being able to travel overseas may feel like an indulgence we can do without but being separated from family members who live overseas is very difficult for some parents.

Stress in the family can lead to unsettled, disobedient, or anxious behaviour in children in three ways. First, as outlined above, there can be direct emotional contagion without us as parents feeling like we are showing our stress to them at all. Secondly, our stress often leads to us being less emotionally available for our children. It is common for parents to focus on order and cleanliness of the house more when stressed, jump on the phone a bit more, or work more. In many families, children have gone from spending a lot of time with their parents to not much at all which may be unsettling them. The third way our stress impacts our children is that when we are stressed, we are less patient with our children. We are more likely to snap at them which unsettles them more, which unsettles us, and the cycle continues.

Many of the things that are stressful to parents currently may not be able to be changed. It may be helpful for your family to take some time to consider how you can reduce the stress you are experiencing. If nothing else taking slow deep breaths to help to calm you may help reduce the feeling of stress of your family considerably.

Written by:

Dr Kirstin Barchia PhD, MClinPsych, BPsych(Hons)

Clinical Psychologist


We have almost made it through a very bizarre term and first half of the year. There is no doubt our staff are more than ready for a break over the Winter holidays, as I am sure our students are too. Thank you for your feedback during our Parent/Teacher phone interviews over the past 2 weeks. We look forward to evaluating these processes and seeing what parts we as a school community would like to continue into the future and what we need to retain from the past. Your feedback on this certainly helps to inform our decision making.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff for their ongoing commitment and dedication to the wellbeing and quality learning opportunities for our students. This term our staff has demonstrated flexibility, openness to new learning and change at a minute’s notice and an ability to see the upside. Not once did they lose sight of their purpose to educate our students nor the role they play in catering for their academic, social/emotional and physical needs. In addition to this, the continued care they demonstrate towards each other during these times is heart-warming.      

Thank you to all who have played their part - be that the actuarial feat of organising student numbers/class ratios/staff at home and school, to planning lessons, ordering hand sanitiser, setting up Chromebooks and technology, baking for the staffroom, organising uniforms, learning to love the Zoom camera, troubleshooting passwords and log ins, uploading Learning Frameworks, staying outside the school gates, cleaning EVERYTHING, preparing learning packs, problem solving before anybody even knows there was a problem, “talking up” colleagues and our school community, keeping problems away from children’s ears, preparing the canteen, continuing learning support and GATS, being flexible and saying yes, answering emails, creating some fun and laughter or just accepting the situation we all found ourselves in and making the most of it as a community. Thank you.

Kind Regards,

Natalie Baldi

Principal

ICAS Assessments

Students from Years 3-6 that are interested in the ICAS Assessments have until Friday 17 July to book online. Students have the option of sitting the Science, English and/or Mathematics assessments.  The exams are held before school to minimise disruption to the learning program. Students are assessed on their ability to apply classroom learning to new contexts, using higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. The dates for the exams are as follows: Science Tuesday 18 August, English Tuesday 25 August, Mathematics Tuesday 1 September. If your child is interested in sitting for any of the ICAS Assessments please access the Parent Payment System by clicking on the following link, closes Friday 17 July 2020.

Year 2 GAT Group ‘Ultimate Board Game’ Challenge

For their ‘learning at home’ online program, the Year 2 GAT group worked through a fun hands-on challenge. Their brief was to use the ‘design thinking process’ to design, make and test their ‘ultimate board game’.

Firstly, the Year 2’s thought about board games they like to play, and their appealing and enjoyable features. They then brainstormed possibilities for making these games even better and used a ‘board game design plan’ to collate ideas for their own game.

Important design and gameplay features such as theme, movement around the gameboard, age range and number of players, strategies, how to win, and basic game rules needed to be decided on. A prototype was then developed, which involved creating a practice board game template and collecting and making some (or all) of the gameplay pieces. Some of the completed prototypes have been ‘tested’ at home; and at the beginning of Term 3, students will have the opportunity to play their game with Year 2 classmates. This ‘testing’ phase is essential, as students can evaluate the success of their game, gain relevant feedback, and identify the need for any modifications or improvements. 

Overall, it was great to see the creativity that resulted from this task, with a variety of themes explored, such as: pirates and treasure, fishing and travelling, Harry Potter, dancing, number patterns, sea/air/land battles, rabbit adventures, spooky Halloween...and more! 

Well done Year 2 GAT group. You demonstrated wonderful persistence with this at-home challenge. Now it’s time to have fun watching your games in action!

Lotte R (2MG) Harry Potter inspired 'Lotte Potter' board game

Marshie M (2MG) 'Bunny Trap' board game

Music News

Music is back!

We are really excited to be back rehearsing in the first week of Term 3.  Term starts on Tuesday 21 July so no Stage Band or Performance Band on Monday 20 July.

Special care will be taken by all conductors/teachers to ensure that best practice  is adhered to in terms of hygiene and infection control.  Please remember to keep your children home from rehearsals if they exhibit any signs of sniffles or cough.

Violin 1s groups 1 & 2 will be in room 1FG. Violin 2s will be in room 1NB. These rooms are next to each other in the block next to the canteen (block K).  

You will receive an email in the coming week or so with further information about any other room changes for bands.

Any queries, please get in touch with newportpsmusiccommittee@gmail.com or contact your band or ensemble manager.

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