Newport Natter

New advice effective from 12 November, has been published by DoE relating to COVID-19 guidelines. In short, Year 7 transition to high school in Term 4 and school planned end of year events can proceed in a COVID-safe way while adhering to relevant COVID-19 Safety Plans. Our current processes for entering the school, managing students who are unwell, ordering lunches and uniforms and volunteering in the canteen remain unchanged for the remainder of the year and we are currently reorganising our end of year events to ensure we can celebrate within the guidelines and maintain community safety. Arrangements about these events are being communicated as they are finalised. For more information or DoE details, please see the link below: https://education.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/advice-for-families

The second round of orders for Chromebooks in our PODS Project (Purchase Own Device through School) closes on the 17 November. Should you wish to purchase a PODS Chromebook in the second round of orders click on the following link:  https://newport.orderportal.com.au

The second round of orders of Chromebooks will arrive at Newport School at the end of November and Mr Greg Mawson will prepare the Chromebooks for use prior to their delivery to purchasers.

School Leadership Initiatives - SpinalCure Donation

Congratulations Ministers and Year 6 leaders for your work with pyjama day that raised $400 for SpinalCure and over $350 to go towards the Year 6 gift to the school. We recently received the following message from SpinalCure.

Dear Newport,

Thank you for your recent donation of $400 to SpinalCure Australia and for supporting our quest to find a cure. Your generosity will help support some really exciting projects we currently have underway including:

• Our collaboration with Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) to further develop neurostimulation treatments for people with spinal cord injury. We have donated $1.2 million to the research program to date
• New anti-inflammatory treatments to limit damage in new injuries
• Improved rehab using robotics and video games.

Many Thanks, Carol and the SpinalCure Team

Entries are still being accepted for the online Talent Quest. If your child would like to enter they need to video themselves while playing their instrument and upload the clip to Google Classroom 2ym3q4r.

Why has our withdrawal program for gifted and talented students changed? In order to cater for a broad range of abilities and talents across our school and effectively cater for varying student needs, our withdrawal program changes its focus throughout the year. E.g. this year there has been a focus on individual projects through Genius Hour, creative writing, science and maths. The school's student profiling process supports decisions made regarding the programs offered and the student groups attending.

Prior to each new program commencing, the grade teams, Sappho Dalziell and any other relevant staff meet to discuss the content and the students nominated for the program. It is a structured process and we carefully consider students whose needs can best be met in the withdrawal group and those whose needs can be met via appropriate enrichment/extension and differentiation within the classroom for specific topics and Key Learning Areas. 

Overall, withdrawal groups are just one way that Newport Public School meets the needs of its gifted and high potential student population. For more information about the tiers of support for gifted and high potential students and FAQs about the program, please refer to the information published in the last Natter https://enewsletter.skoolbag.com.au/5ade2ca8 

The Department of Education’s Assets Unit has conducted a tender process for the Out of School Hours Care services at Newport for 2021 and beyond.  The successful company from the tender process is Camp Australia and they will be starting at Newport at the beginning of the 2021 school year. Families can prepare for the new school year by registering with Camp Australia for 2021. Registration is free and all families are recommended to register so that they can access care whenever they need it. If interested, please register through the Camp Australia Parent Portal at https://www.campaustralia.com.au/. Parents will not be able to book sessions just yet, but you can register your interest so when bookings are live it will be a simple click of a button. If you have any questions about the OOSHC service that Camp Australia offers, they can be contacted on 1300 105 343.

I would like to also take this opportunity to thank our current Newport Out of School Hours Care (NOOSHC) service including Jo Newton (Director), Brooke Lytham and staff, the current Parent Management Committee (PMC) members, Deborah Dinardo, Audrey Anderson, Anna Jordine, Penny Kee, Susan Stokes, Kate-Louisa Stead, Laura Webber and Lizzy Bath, as well as those parents who have played a role on the PMC in the past. For the past 26 years, the service has had the needs of our students at the forefront of its operation and Jo Newton and the team have worked tirelessly to ensure NOOSHC is an engaging environment for the students to spend their time, before and after school. 

Last week the DoE launched #MathsTrainsBrains, a Maths Campaign designed to change perceptions of mathematics among parents and the community. It includes resources to help parents support children’s learning and evidence based professional learning for teachers. The Everyday Maths Hub, which I can recommend, includes ideas for teaching mathematics to children with fun, creative activities.

On Wednesday 18 November, 11 of our students who have applied to be placed in a Year 5 opportunity class in 2021 will sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test. This year the test will be held at Newport School and students in Year 4 who have registered need to be at school by 9am on Wednesday 18 November. There are two parts to the test, each comprising 35 multiple-choice questions in English, mathematics and general ability (thinking skills). Students have 30 minutes to answer each part of the test. When students arrive on Wednesday morning they need to go to 4TD classroom. Thank you to Mrs Turner for overseeing the OC Placement Test process.

Please see the latest announcement by Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell on the launch of a new Mental Health Hub;

“Students, parents and teachers will now have easily accessible mental health advice and support at their fingertips, with the NSW Government today launching a new online Mental Health Hub. “Mental health support for our students has to be varied and accessible for everyone,” Ms Mitchell said. “We know that overwhelmingly students do their own research before they reach out for help, so we need to make sure that information is accessible and designed for our school communities. Minister for Mental Health Bronnie Taylor said the Mental Health Hub will be a useful toolkit for students, parents and teachers. “The hub has some really practical resources, from tips on how to start a conversation with someone doing it tough to finding ways to improve their own mental fitness,” Mrs Taylor said. The website is broken down into three categories; information for parents, information for teachers and information for students. The site can be accessed by teachers, parents and students across every school sector, including independent and Catholic schools, and has had input from leading mental health advocacy groups, including ReachOut, headspace, Kids Helpline and Beyond Blue. The Mental Health Hub: https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/counselling-and-psychology-services ”

The Department’s new Online Enrolment System has gone live. The Online Enrolment System is designed to provide flexibility for our parents to submit an enrolment application online and at the time that best suits you. The application can be accessed on all browsers and mobile devices including iOS and Android.

The online application process is currently restricted to:

•Enrolments into local schools only

•Children who are Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens or permanent residents

•Children who live in NSW.

Newport is able to offer our support and encourage you to complete your application to enrol online. If, however, you do not feel comfortable completing an application online, a paper copy will be available for collection from the front office or can be downloaded from the Department’s 'Going to a public school' site. 

Year 2 celebrated NAIDOC week with some sentences they made up using Aboriginal Words from the book, “GuriNgai.” My favourite introduced to me by 2MG was, “Alla minning koolang” meaning hello night stars. Thank you Year 2 and 2MG for leading the way in NAIDOC Week.

Our Year 5 students’ ears were burning this week, with Kinder 2021 students eagerly awaiting to meet their buddies and parents of our new students singing their praises as ambassadors for our school and facilitating such a smooth start to their orientation. Couple this with the confidence, maturity and sophistication with which they delivered their homework/leadership speeches and those of us who heard them were filled with pride and excitement for 2021.  Congratulations Year 5 – we are very proud of you!

KED made characters with craft paper and wrote up a character profile. They then used Chatterpix to bring them to life in a little video. The students should be very proud of themselves and what an amazing way for Kindergarten to express their wonderful ideas and be successful.

See some amazing persuasive writing from Year 1, scientific drawings from Year 3 and Year 4 working on their “Effort Project” lessons.

Kind regards,

Natalie Baldi

School Principal

Wed 18 Nov - Kinder 2021 Orientation

Wed 18 Nov -  OC Placement Test

Mon 23 - Wed 25 Nov - Year 6 Camp

Wed 25 Nov - Kinder 2021 Parent Zoom Information Session

Mon 30 Nov - Kindergarten 2020 Zoom Presentation

Tues 1 Dec - Year 6 High School Orientation Day

Mon 7 Dec - Picnic Day

Tues 8 Dec and Thurs 10 Dec - Year 6 Surf Education

Wed 9 Dec - Yrs 1-6 Zoom Presentation

Mon 14 Dec - Year 6 Presentation and Year 6 Dinner

Wed 16 Dec - Students final day

This week is the last time you will be able to borrow books from the library this year. If there is a book you still want to borrow, make sure you bring your books back this week so you can borrow it. All library books will need to be returned to the library by the end of next week (Friday 27 November, 2020), in preparation for our end-of-year stocktake.

Look for any lost or misplaced library books now, so, hopefully, you won’t have to pay for them. They could be under your bed, in your brother’s or sister’s room, in the bookshelf, in the car, at nana’s or at a friend’s place. Ask everyone at home to help you look. Don’t give up!

Stephanie Bracey, Gine Svendsen and Rita Ericsson.