Newman Primary School

Newsletter: Term 2 Issue 2

Principal's Message

Congratulations to our student leaders for their wonderful hosting of our first face-to-face assembly this year! It was wonderful to have all our students together and be able to address the school as a whole. Thank you to the P&C for supporting our award winners with a morning tea for them and their parents/carers. Next week we have the fantastic Room 3 who will be presenting an item.

This week we have started NAPLAN and I was extremely proud of our Year 3 and 5 students as I observed them participating in their online tests. Their relaxed and positive approach to the assessments and the technology, to this snapshot of their learning, was exactly what was needed. Our experience with the online technology at Newman Primary was extremely positive and relatively glitch free. Huge thanks to Mrs Grainger and Miss Cook for the test administration and to Mr Kilburn for the preparation of our ICT so our students could have such a successful experience.

Please assist us by informing the school if your child is unwell and not able to come to school. If it is an extended absence due to a necessary, trip away please make an appointment to discuss. Holidays and travel are regarded by the Department as unauthorised absences. Although we don’t wish unwell students to come to school as viruses can be easily spread, everyday matters.

COVID is continuing to impact our school and our current operating guidelines are below in this newsletter. Staff absences and the fact that we have no relief teachers in town has resulted in some flexible timetabling. While COVID is disrupting attendance, teachers and staff have continued to provide engaging and relevant educational programs to students. 

As the weather cools, the mornings at school can be a bit chilly with the breeze. I encourage all families to purchase a school jumper from Sports Power as described in our uniform policy. If another jumper is needed in the interim, a mostly plain black jumper is the most suitable. We thank you for your support.

Room : 2 Attendance Cup Winners

Congratulations to Room 2 winners of our Attendance cup for this fortnight. This class had an attendance of 72.51%. Room 2, it was great to see the improvement since our last assembly.

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

This Fortnights Merit Award Winners

Award Winners

ClassroomStudentClassroomStudent
ArtAvei Newhouse-LegaoRoom 6Lily Kent
ChineseMargaret WrightRoom 10Marco Tassone
Room 1Sunni-Rose FitzgeraldRoom 11Ariana Hopley
Room 2Tinbite MamoRoom 16Eamonn Cottrell
Room 3Jaxon BellRoom 20Charlee Heaslip
Room  3Tayzin  CollinsRoom 20Oscar Vann
Room 4Quinn Tahau-McSweenryRoom 22Lani Newhouse-Legaoi
Room 4Toby WilsonRoom 22Ruby Francis
Room 5Bailey CampionHASS Grace Caruana

Empathy and Kindness

Empathy & Kindness

This next presentation from 
The Resilience Project is all about Empathy and Kindness.  

Empathy is our ability to put ourselves in the shoes of others to feel and see what they do. We practice this through being kind and compassionate towards other people.

Brain imaging data shows that being kind to others registers in the brain as more like eating chocolate than like fulfilling an obligation to do what’s right (e.g., eating brussel sprouts)!

Research shows that practicing empathy, such as performing acts of kindness, taps into our brain’s ‘mirror neurons’, builds compassion and our behaviour becomes more social and community-based. 

View Part 3 of the series here - Empathy  
https://theresilienceproject.com.au/parent-and-carer-hub/

Here’s an activity to practise empathy and kindness:

  • Reflect on someone in your life who could benefit from an act of kindness today. It could be a friend who would love some affirmation about their work, your pet who deserves an extra treat, or a family member who would love a phone call or text message. 
  • Make a plan for who you are going to gift an act of kindness to, and what you are going to do. 
  • If you want to add accountability to your plan, share it with someone else and encourage them to do the same thing.
  • Follow up with each other in a few days time, to ask how it went! 
  • For mental health resources and support information, visit 
    The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

    Premier’s Reading Challenge

    We encourage you to join us in unlocking the wonderful world of reading for your children. 

    Reading takes you anywhere, and by making time each day to either read with your child or children or by encouraging them to read, you are making a huge impact on their literacy.

    Get started

    1.    Sign up and create an account using your email address and details.

    2.    Complete your child or children's details to register them for the challenge.

    3.    Let your child select an avatar.  You can register more than one child at a time.

    The challenge

    In your account you will have access to your 2022 Premier's Reading Challenge where you can:  access your child or children's reading challenge account.

    ·         find more than 7,000 book titles from our booklist.

    ·         log your child’s books - these can be books from our booklist or new titles (these include recording foreign language material and books read in a different format).

    ·         encourage your child to add a review or 'like' the book.

    ·         view your child's bookshelf, to see the books you have logged during the challenge.                                                                                                                 ·         track your child's progress in the challenge.

    You will need to log at least 12 books your child has read over this challenge, but feel free to keep adding more titles as they read.

    By logging your child's books, they will be in the running to win some fantastic prizes, including family holidays and experiences across Western Australia.

    reading record is available from your teacher if you cannot access an online account.

     

    Sign up your children on the website to begin their magical journey.

    www.premiersreadingchallenge.wa.edu.au

    COVID Measure Update

    Current public health and social measures are below.

    For schools:

    • masks no longer mandatory at school except for in specific settings and circumstances.

    • density and capacity limits no longer apply to school activities

    • asymptomatic close contacts no longer required to isolate (see requirements below)

    • an additional supply of RATs for all students and staff.

    If your child becomes an asymptomatic close contact, due to a person in your household being COVID-19 positive, they will no longer have to isolate for 7 days. They will be required to:

    • do a daily Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and receive a negative result each day to attend school

    • wear a mask at school (for students in Year 7 and above) and when travelling on public transport or ride-share.

    We will let you know when you can collect the free RATs the state government is providing for all students.

    In the meantime, if your child becomes symptomatic or a household close contact, please contact us.

    All school activities can resume, and we will continue to follow COVID-19 safe measures:

    • all staff and regular workers (including regular volunteers) at school are double dose vaccinated (third dose vaccinated within one month of being eligible)

    • adequate ventilation in each classroom, in line with health advice

    • enhanced cleaning remains in place. If your child becomes symptomatic they should stay home and be tested for COVID-19. Refer to healthywa.wa.gov.au for information on close contact definition, testing and isolation requirements. You should notify the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19.

    Thank you for your continued efforts in keeping our school COVID-19 safe

    Upcoming Coming Events

                          16th-20th May      NAPLAN Online Test 

                          Monday 23 May   Faction leader speeches - 8:30am. 

                          Thurs 26th May    National Sorry Day

                          Friday 27 May       Harmony Cup - Year 5/6

                          

                        

    Parent Handbook

    Our Parent handbook has been updated and is available on our website

    2022-Information-Booklet.pdf (newmanps.wa.edu.au)


    Connect for Parents

    Please make sure you are able to access your child’s Connect account. Many parent communications will come via this method. If you are having difficulties accessing, please ring the school office on 9154 3900 and we are happy to talk you through it.
    Further information can be found on the link below.

    Download

    Attendance and Absences

    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!

    Lock up your bicycles and scooters

    Many of our students ride bicycles and scooters to school each day. All bikes and scooters must be locked up at the bike rack to prevent theft. The school cannot take responsibility if a bicycle or scooter goes missing, so we strongly encourage students to use their locks to secure their bikes/scooters.