Newman Primary School

Thank you to all parents, carers, staff and students for your efforts to keep each other safe, and keep the school running during this extremely busy time with COVID-19 impacting our community. We appreciate and thank all families for your understanding and support through this consistently changing space. Our concerted effort means that it is almost business as usual for Newman PS as our staff have worked extremely hard to ensure that classes remain open and the teaching and learning programs are of a high standard.

The Chief Health Officer through our Department of Education have announced a few lessening of restrictions for Term 2. We will keep you informed as these come to light.

Over the past two weeks Mrs Carolyn Macintyre-Scott has helped considerably, relieving and releasing teachers for a variety of reasons and covering classes. As part of the Departments flying Squad of teachers, without a car and without really knowing a lot of people she has provided much needed support in our school which is much appreciated.

Mrs Fiona Kelleher will be leaving us at the end of term. She too has been relieving in classes and assisting us across the school particularly with Physical Education. It has been a pleasure to have her in our school and we wish her all the best.

We also thank two of our education assistants Mrs Kim Kinsella and Mrs Jodi Quince for their time at the school in various roles such as school officer, Aboriginal Islander Education Officer and as Education Assistants. We know you will enjoy your time in your new roles in town and we hope to see you around.

Just a reminder that the school playgrounds are not open before and after school. Our gates open at 7:45am and classrooms open at 8:00am. Between 7:45-8:00am students are to wait outside their classrooms ready for the day. As COVID restrictions change we are aiming to have the undercover area open again for students who are here before 8:00am.

As we come towards the end of Term 1, I would like to reflect on some of the amazing things that our staff, students and community have achieved in one very busy term. Not only have our students participated in strong learning programs, we have also started a new languages journey with Chinese, worked with STEM Smart and Newman Futures to deliver exciting STEM and digital technologies lessons to our 3-6 students, Implemented the Resilience Project across the school and started the school Positive behaviour Support journey.

We hope all of our families enjoy some time together over the break and we are excited and enthused to see everyone back on Tuesday 26 April.

This year, we are excited to bring The Resilience Project into our Newman Primary School community and implement student’s wellbeing curriculum throughout our classrooms.

The Resilience Project delivers emotionally engaging programs and provides evidence-based, practical strategies to build resilience. 

Our Partnership Program consists of online presentations and weekly lessons for students, professional development for staff, and Parent & Carer Hub (Inc. digital presentations) for our parent and carer community. 

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing the Parent & Carer Hub with you. The videos are   5-10 minutes long and will walk through the key pillars of resilience: Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness.

You’ll hear stories and be introduced to activities to show how these strategies can support our kids' learning and development, and also support you as parents and carers.

This program is an important part of our school’s effort to look after the mental health of our community.

Newman Primary School has opted to work with Martin. Martin is passionate and full of energy.

View the first presentation of the series here: Part 1: Meet Martin and learn about The Resilience Project -  https://theresilienceproject.com.au/parent-and-carer-hub/

We will be in touch fortnightly to share the remainder of the program, including research and wellbeing activities to integrate into day-to-day life. 

For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.                                                                                                                                                          

Click on the link below to access – Positive mental wellbeing strategies

 Part1_TRP_Intro_Parents.png

Congratulations to room 22  winners of our attendance cup for this fortnight. 

This shows the commitment of families and students and a reminder about the importance of attending school everyday unless your child is sick.

Fri 8th April:                Anzac Day Service & Last Day of Term 1

Mon 25th April:          Anzac Day Public Holiday

Tues 26th April:         Term 2 commences

Fri 13th May:              National Walk Safety to School Day

10th- 20th May:         NAPLAN Test - Online  

Primary family contacts would have received an email from Newman Primary School inviting you to complete a survey, seeking your feedback and input as parents. At a staff and School Board level the survey data is used to inform improvement planning and set targets for our school. For families with multiple children at the school you will receive a separate email for each child as there are unique survey codes. The survey is available from 21/03/2022 8:30:00 AM, Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

If you choose to participate, your responses will be completely anonymous. If any of your responses enable administrators to identify you, this is unintentional, and your responses will be regarded as personal information and will be protected by applicable privacy laws.

If you would prefer a paper copy we have some available in the schools office.

We value your input!

As you would be aware there have been positive cases of COVID-19 associated with Newman Primary School. Many of our staff have been impacted as close contacts have been  in isolation this past week.

Should your child be identified as a close contact at school you will be notified.

Our priority is to maintain everyone’s health and safety. 

You can find out more about what to do if you are a close contact including testing at healthywa.wa.gov.au

Advice for all families and staff:

• The school remains open.

• If your child is not identified as a close contact, your child is not required to quarantine and should attend school.

• If staff are not identified as a close contact, they are not required to quarantine and should attend school.

• As for everyone in Western Australia, we ask that you monitor your child/yourself for symptoms of COVID-19 and get tested and isolate until you receive a negative result, if symptoms develop.

• If you or your child develop symptoms, please do not attend school.

• Please note that the Omicron strain can present with less typical symptoms such as diarrhoea, particularly in children. 

If you have queries or concerns, please contact:

WA Health on 1300 316 555.

A friendly reminder that all parents are carers of children in years 3 and above are required to provide their child with a mask for school each day.

We only have a limited amount of disposable masks available.

Thank you everyone for your ongoing support during these times.

In an effort to streamline our absences process, we would like to request that you advise us of student absences via text message using our school messaging platform.

Our school messaging platform number is 0437 152 405

When you message the school, please include the name of the student, their class, the date they will be absent and the reason for the absence.

We thank you in advance!