Welcome Back!
Welcome back to school everyone! By now I am sure you are all back into routine and wondering where those holidays went. They sure did fly by so quickly.
A special welcome to all of the new families to Coburg North this year. This of course includes all of our Foundation families. It was lovely to see and meet with some of you at our Tea and Tears in the gym. I think the we had more parents crying than students!
I’m sure you will all enjoy your time at Coburg North Primary School and we all look forward to working closely with you. This is a wonderful school with a brilliant school community.
This year we would also like to welcome our new staff. We have Ben Smith in year 5/6B, Tamara Gray in 5/6C, Surbhi Raj Kumari in 1C, Nicholas Baker in FD and Geordie Corbet in FC.
2019 CNPS Goals
2019 sparks another year of great professional development and growth. The school and our community will be heavily involved in rolling out the goals as set in our School Strategic Plan and those in the school developed AIMs document.
Learners for the 21st Century
This year we will be looking at establishing a 21st century curriculum framework that will aim to improve student engagement across the school through developing appropriate pedagogy that matches the learners of today. We will be moving towards the premise that we are all learners and that we are all teachers. We will be moving beyond the traditional hierarchy of the school and classroom to create environments where all stakeholders are working together to meet academic objectives while solving authentic challenges.
We will be involving students, teachers and parents in the process for developing a 1-1 BYO iPad program that will empower our students by giving them the ability to use technology purposefully for researching, analyzing, organizing, collaborating, networking, communicating, publishing and reflecting. More information about introducing our 1-1 BYO iPad program will be coming in early Term 2.
Building Teacher Capacity
This year teachers will be adopting the department’s state wide initiative of developing Professional Learning Communities (PLC) across the school. PLCs in an approach for schools to improve student outcomes at the school level by allowing groups of teachers to work collaboratively together.
In 2019, all teachers have been given a designated 2 hour block within their teaching schedule to work collaborately with their team (learning community). In the first hour, teachers will be looking at their student data and collectively researching best practice to meet the needs of all of their students. The second hour is provided for teams to continue to work together to plan for the week ahead.
For more information on the PLC initiative, click on the button below.
School Wide Positive Behaviors
Listed in our School Strategic plan is to investigate and implement a school wide framework in regards to mental health, well-being and respectful relationships. Many schools across Victoria are implementing the School Wide Positive Behavior (SWPB) framework that promotes wellbeing and improves the social and emotional outcomes of young people.
SWPBS is developed from evidence and data, demonstrating the most effective ways to prevent and respond to problem behaviour at school. Research has shown that SWPBS is successful in reducing problem behaviour, improving school culture, and increasing academic performance.
We will be creating a SWPB Community of Practice (CoP) group to investigate this initiative and develop a plan of action for implementation. The group will involve all stakeholders (teachers, students and parents). The group will also be reviewing the school’s values and conducting whole school feedback in regards to the developing a CNPS SWPB matrix.
For more information on our goals for 2019, feel free to download our 2019 AIP document after school council approval (Thursday Feb 13).
Soft Start - Classrooms Open at 8:50am
Last year CNPS allowed students to provide their teachers with feedback in regards to their teaching and how they felt within their classroom. The survey (PIVOT) allowed teachers and the whole school to identify areas that we could work on in order to maximize teaching experience as well as giving students a voice in their learning. One of the common themes that arose from the data was the need to work on transitioning from lesson to lesson and not ‘wasting time’. This has brought about the introduction of ‘Soft Start’. All classrooms will be now open from 8:50am every morning. The ten minutes before school starts will allow students to ‘get ready for learning’ by putting their bags away, getting all their books ready for the day, going to the toilet and eating fruit before the lesson starts. This will allow the students and teachers to start on time and conduct a full two hour program within minimal distruptions. At the end of the term, we will be asking both teachers and students for feedback on this transition. Please be aware that school still starts at 9am.
Stop, Drop and Go - Parking Changes
Please note that parking restrictions on all streets has changed and we are now seeing police and council parking inspectors patrol the area. We would like all parents to be aware that the 2 minute parking bays are for drop off only (do not leave your car). If you wish to come into school with your child, please find suitable parking and walk with your child to school in order to reduce congestion in the area. Please be aware that we are a growing school. We currently have 530 students and are expected to reach 650 students in the coming years. Parents can no longer park their cars surrounding the school during drop off and pick up times.
Staffing Changes
Unfortunatey we will be seeing one of our CNPS team members leave us in the next fortnight. Laura Lamptey from Year Two has to return back to the UK to support her family. This news was sudden and has required us to put up a Year Two teaching position up online for the rest of the year. We would like to wish Laura all the very best for her travels back home.
In the next fortnight we will also be hiring a new PE teacher with a technician to follow. News of the appointments will be advertised in the next newsletter.
Building Update
Stage One of the build is nearing completion. We have been given a date to start decanting (15 March) and plan to be in the new building ready for action for the start of Term Two. We will keep you posted during this time.
Demolition Sale
As the old library building will be demolished during the Easter holidays, we will be asking our school community if they wish to take any building materials before the demolition day and provide the school with a small donation in return. Tim will be sending out an alert on Compass with the details.
Lunch Clubs and Harmony Park Visits
Due to the building works, we will see ourselves with another loss of one of our playgrounds. During this time we have decided to create a variety of ‘Lunch Clubs’ that will be based on student interest and made available throughout lunch times. We are currently asking for ideas from students and teachers and will advertise the clubs and their location in the next couple of weeks. If you have any ideas that you would like to see happen for our students, feel free to speak to Marianne Roberts, our Lunch Club Cooridnator.
In term 2, we will be offering grades 3-6 visits to Harmony Park during lunch breaks. This will be timetabled and communicated with parents. We ask for all parents to click on the permission button on Compass for the ‘local permission’ that has been sent out earlier this week. If any parents do not wish their child to go to Harmony Park, please let your teacher and your child know.
Report Feedback
At the end of last year you would of received your child’s Semester Two report for 2018. We would like to improve the way we report to parents and are therefore asking for feedback. I am of the strong belief that less is more and simple is best. Your feedback is valued will be used when reformatting our student reports for Semester 1.
Please click on the link below to give us your feedback (only 3 questions). The survey will close at the end of this month.
Meet our School Captains
Our school captains for 2019 were asked, ‘What changes would you like see at CNPS and how would you make it happen to leave a legacy?’
Tadhg Vella: I would like to introduce a ‘Try New Things’ club. This club would be great for kids to try new things and then talk about how they went. Things like be a Vegetarian for a week, everyone would try it and then say how they went. This would be a great thing for students to do.
Naomi Young: I would love to see Twilight Sports come back to CNPS. We didn’t get to have it last year because our school is getting bigger, but I think we could still make it happen. Perhaps we can get year levels to verse each other.
Ada Sutton-Heath: I would like to reduce littering in our school and to come up with ways for kids to have courage to tell the teacher about things that worry them and that the teachers might not know about.
Thomas Halloway: I’d like to make sure that all students bring Nude Food to school to help our school minimize rubbish. We could introduce a new prize at assembly where the trophy could go to the class who has the most Nude Food.
School Library Temporary Closure
Due to the extensive building works at CNPS, our school Library has moved to a small temporary location. As a result, for safety reasons we are unable to offer browsing and borrowing by students of our collection until further notice. Teachers will be borrowing books for use in their grades, but these books will not be going home with students. We ask for your understanding during this time.
CNPS values reading and encourages you to use your local Municipal Library to stock your reading shelves at home. Next year, we will have a new Library for everyone to enjoy.
Uniform
Wearing the right unform to school promotes equality amongst all students and develops a sense of pride in our school, maintaining a positive image of the school in the community. We would like to ask all parents to ensure that their child/ren wear the correct uniform. Please be aware that leggings/jegging are worn under clothing (not on their own). For more information on our uniform policy, please see our website.
Key Dates
- Announcing School Captains: Friday Assembly Feb 8
- Meet the Teacher: Tuesday and Wednesday Feb 12 and 13
- 5/6 Canberra Camp: Mon Feb 18 - Friday Feb 22
- School Council: Wednesday, Feb 27
- Clean Up Australia Day: Friday, Mar 1
- Special Lunch Day (P&F): Friday, Mar 8
- Labor Day Holiday: Monday Mar 11
- Student Free Day: Tuesday, Mar 12
- Decanting Commences: Friday Mar 15
- Harmony Day: Thursday, Mar 21
- School Council and AGM: Wednesday, Mar 27
- Last Day of Term: Friday, Apr 5 (dismissed at 2pm)