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Dear Parents and Carers,

Last week we held Forming Partnerships Meetings for students in Years 1-6 via Webex. These were important as the meetings provided an opportunity for Important Dates

parents and carers to meet with the classroom teacher and discuss their child, beginning the partnership between home and school. Thank you to all of the families who participated and we look forward to continuing to develop our 1st March home-school partnership. Hot Cross Bun Orders

Thank you to the families who have made Parent Payments. A reminder that only Open cash is accepted at the office, we do not have an EFTPOS facility. Payments 8th March can be made between 8:30am-3:45pm or by using the Qkr! app on your phone. Labour Day –No school The students have been engaged in a range of learning experiences over the 14th March past few weeks in the classroom, including place value, the use of vocabulary Hot Cross Orders and comprehension in reading. Close The Prep students have been learning routines and expectations and have been 25th March practising their reading and writing and also changing over their Take Home texts in order to develop their reading skills. They have commenced Rocket to School Photos Reading; a phonological awareness program which will assist them in developing 26th March letter sound knowledge.

In addition to this, wonderful things are occurring in the Specialist classes. In 1st April Health and Physical Education students are focusing on safety in sport and what makes and healthy and active place. Last day of Term 1 Students finish at The Visual Arts program has students exploring a range of visual art works. 2:10pm In Performing Arts the students are learning about dance and how it can be used to express feelings and ideas. 19th April First day of Term 2 In Science, students are exploring materials, looking at solids, liquids and gases. For more important dates, Please note that students are not required at school on Monday 8th March please visit: due to the Labour Day holiday. www.newburyps.vic.edu.au

Please refer to the Important Dates section of the newsletter to see what is coming up. Apps to Download

Sentral: Keep up to date with END OF TERM FINISHING TIMES instant notifications to your iPad or phone. QKR!: Make payments online At the end of each term Newbury Primary School students will be dismissed using your debit/credit card for early. all school events requiring payment. NEWSLETTERTerms 1, 2 and 3: Students are dismissed at 2:10pm

Term 4: Students are dismissed at 1:10pm Issue 3 Office Hours Friday 5th Please mark these times and dates on your calendar. Monday—Thursday 8.30am til 3.45pm February Friday 8.30am til 3.30pm 2021 FIRST AID TIPS: 03 8691 6900 COVID 19 Vs The Common Cold or Flu 202-226 Newbury Boulevard Craigieburn 3064 There are not many differences in symptoms of these illnesses so we ask that if [email protected] your child has even a slight cold that you keep them home. www.newburyps.vic.edu.au

If any children come to school with a fever, cough, headache, runny nose, sore throat or any other flu-like symptoms they will be sent home immediately.

COMMUNICATION REGARDING CONCERNS:

If you have a concern regarding your child, please ensure that you speak to your child’s classroom teacher as a first port of call. If they are not able to resolve your concern, the classroom teacher will then speak to another relevant member of staff to assist them.

HOMEWORK:

Homework is one way of supporting student learning and connecting families with the learning of their children. At Newbury Primary School we follow the Department of Education homework guidelines which state that:

Homework in Prep-Year 4:

 Will mainly consist of daily reading to, with and by parents/carers or older siblings.  Enables the extension of class work by practising skills or gathering of extra information or materials.

Homework in Years 5 and 6:

 Should include daily independent reading.  May extend class work, projects and assignments, essays and research.

DROPPING OFF AND PICKING UP:

When dropping off and picking up students, please practice road safety at all times. It has been reported that a number of cars are double parking, parking on the roundabout or on the curb which poses a huge risk for students. Parking inspectors often visit schools and will issue parking infringements to anyone found posing a danger or parking illegally. We have also noticed a large number of parents crossing in the middle of the road and not using the provided school crossings. Please demonstrate road safety by using our school crossings.

BIKES AND SCOOTERS:

At Newbury Primary School, we promote health and fitness and it is terrific to see many students riding their bikes or scooters to school. Please make sure your child is wearing a helmet and that once they enter the school grounds, they walk their bike or scooter in. The bike sheds are located at the end of the building, near Classrooms 16 and 25.

ENTERING AND EXITING THE SCHOOL/ GARDENS:

Please note that all gates around the school are open for entry and exit. We are trying very hard to beautify our gardens. Please respect our grounds and do not walk through the gardens.

SUPERVISION BEFORE AND AFTER SCHOOL:

Please note that supervision for students before school commences at 8:45am and after school until 3:25pm. Staff are not on duty beyond these times. Please do not drop off your child before this time or leave them waiting after school beyond this time as they will not be supervised.

ABSENCES:

There have been a significant number of student absences which is concerning. Teachers plan sequential lessons which can be disrupted by non-attendance. Please ensure your child is at school on every day possible. If your child is absent, please call the school number on 8691 6900 and leave a message to explain their absences or enter it on Sentral. All absences must be accounted for.

LATE ARRIVALS:

We have had quite a number of students arriving to school late and doing so on a regular basis. Please be aware that not only does arriving to school late impact on your child’s learning time, it also distracts the class when students enter during a lesson. Please ensure that your child is at school, in their class and ready to commence instruction at 9:00am. A reminder that students can enter their classrooms from 8:50am.

ALL DAY GRAZING:

At Newbury Primary School, we understand that students need food to fuel their brain and that they are hungry during the day. Therefore, we encourage students to bring along healthy snacks that they can munch on in class. Some ideas include: carrot sticks, cheese, rice crackers, fresh or dried fruit, yoghurt or vegetables. Please refrain from providing food that may affect any anaphylactic students.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS:

We understand that you may want to do something special at school for your child to celebrate their birthday, however please be aware that due to the current restrictions no items or food are able to be brought to school to be given or shared with others. Thank you for your understanding.

ASSEMBLY:

Whole school assemblies are not able to go ahead at this time due to social distancing requirements. Instead, we will be producing Newbury News episodes on a regular basis which will be posted on Sentral and the school website. Please keep an eye out on these.

STUDENT EMPOWERMENT LEADERS:

Developing leadership skills is an important part of Newbury Primary School and we aim to provide students with many opportunities to grow in confidence and leadership. Student Empowerment Leaders work together to be the voice of the students within the school. They demonstrate the school values of respect, integrity, effort and community on a daily basis. Congratulations to our 2021 Student Empowerment leaders. We look forward to working closely with you to develop your leadership capacity.

Prep Alaina – Prep D Nora – Prep F Gabriel – Prep I

Year One Advik – 1B Shinelli – 1D Thiyara – 1G

Year Two Passion – 2C Ashley – 2D Khadijah – 2F

Year Three Hargoon – 3B Paul – 3C Aryaman – 3F

Year Four Sienna – 4B Avijot – 4D Carina – 4E

Year Five/Six Arav 5/6D Faris – 5/6F Harseerat 5/6F Malak – 5/6H

SCHOOL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS:

School Council nominations for parents have now closed. Thank you to the parents/carers who put in a nomination for themselves or for someone else. School Council Ballot is now open. Ballot forms will be sent home with the eldest child from each family. Ballot papers are to be returned to the school office by 3:30pm Friday 12th March 2021.

We are privileged that you are part of our school community and thank you for choosing Newbury Primary School.

Principal Class Learning Community

Michelle Nunn

Cameron Traill

Chris Sacco

Thursday 25th & Friday 26th March 2021

This year our School Photos will be held over 2 days.

Thursday 25th March will be Prep—Year 4 Friday 26th March will be Year 5/6 and Sibling

All sibling photos must be ordered and paid for by no later than 8am on the 25th March 2021. Order forms have been delayed however as soon as they are delivered we will send them home with your child/ren through the classroom.

Rights, Resilience and Respectful

Relationships

At Newbury Primary School we participate in a program called Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships. Respectful Relationships supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence through eight different topics.

Topic 1: Emotional Literacy Throughout Topic 1 students learn how to better understand and recognise their emotions. They learn how to deal with negative emotions and support their peers. Rights, Resilience and Respectful

Relationships

Lower Years (Prep-Year 2) Tasks Upper Years (Year 3-Year 6) Tasks

Sharing Stories About Acts of Kindness Mood Tracker

Using the QR code below read the book When Students can see how they are feeling I’m Feeling Kind with your child. throughout the week by tracking their mood. This could be as creative or simple as they want. They could do this on their ipads using Using a pencil and paper or Ipad have your child pic collage or draw them in a journal/diary. write down a time when they were kind to someone at school or in their family. Get them to Talk to your child about how you can feel lots draw a picture to match what they did that was of different emotions in a day, but you need to kind. decide your overall mood to track. Have open and honest conversations about what made them feel this way, or what they could do to change a negative emotion into a positive one.

Examples of mood trackers:

Prep Community

In Prep, students have been enjoying forming relationships within their com- munity. They have also been learning how to play safely on the playground by going down the slide one at a time, taking turns and sharing the play- ground equipment. During English, students have been identifying the purpose of reading and learning about the different parts of a book including the front cover, spine and back cover. They have been practising how to sit safely in a chair when writing and exploring the correct way to hold a pencil when writing. During Maths, students have been learning that numbers are everywhere such as on letter boxes, classroom windows and car number plates. They have been using concrete materials when making collections. During Quest, students have focused on understanding the Newbury Primary School community and their role within this. They have explored what school is and have established school routines. Students have explored all the amazing different parts of the world that each other has come from.

Welcome to Science for 2021! In Science this term, we have been exploring chemical sci- ences across all year levels. We have spent time creating our science classroom commu- nity by describing how science impacts our lives. Prep: In Prep, we have been exploring what science is, the role of a scientist and how they are all scientists. Students have been looking at texture and different types of materials. Year 1/2: In Years One and Two, we have been investigating different types of materials. We have looked at how objects can physically change by bending, stretching and scrunching. We have experimented with different liquids and how these can make grow gummy bears and a skittle dissolve. Year 3/4: In Years Three and Four, we have been starting to explore the different states of matter, including classifying solids, liquids and gases. We have investigated how chemical reac- tions occur by blowing up a balloon with the gas from vinegar and bi carb soda. Year 5/6: In Years Five and Six, we have been starting to explore the different states of matter, in- cluding classifying solids, liquids and gases. We have experimented how an object can change from a solid to a liquid by making oobleck. Cooking Kitchen: All Year Three to Six classes have been introduced to the cooking kitchen. We have prac- ticed using knives safely by making fruit skewers. Each class will be in the cooking kitch- en every three weeks. We look forward to sharing all of the exciting things happening in Science this year! Miss Rae, Miss Muscat, Ms Hughes and Miss Young

Visual Arts

Visual Arts with Ms Kalolo In the arts room, students from Year Prep to Year 6 have been learning about the importance of being good art community members. We have created our Art Community Agreements and explored the features of the art room as well as the processes we follow when we are in the art learning space. During Community Building we explored our emotions through colour. We read the story, ‘My Many Coloured Days,’ by Dr Seuss. We shared why we feel certain ways on particular ‘coloured days.’ We then used the art work titled, ‘Squares with concentric circles,’ created by Expressionist artist Wassily Kandinsky for inspiration as our whole school art piece. We learnt that Expressionist artists express their feelings through a bold use of colour. For Kandinsky colour meant more than just a visual feature of a picture. He believed colour is it’s soul. We also have read the picture story book, ‘Where’s Your Creativity?’ written by Aaron Rosen and Riley Watts. We explored the concepts of what creativity is, the many ways we can be creative and also made portraits titled, ‘my creative self.’ Students used a variety of materials when creating their portraits such as oil pastels, black markers, paint, newspapers and paper.

In the coming weeks in Visual Arts, students will be exploring the art elements of line, shape and colour. They will develop their skills in the art area of drawing and create the following art pieces: Prep – Art piece: Squiggle drawing Year 1 – Art piece: My toy robot Year 2 – Art piece: Shape animal Year 3 – Art piece: Warm and cold landscapes (Art style ‘Expressionism.’ Artist ‘Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’). Year 4 – Art piece: Castle and Sun (Artist ‘Paul Klee’). Year 5/6 – Art piece: Op Art (Art style ‘Op Art.’ Artist ‘Frank Stella’).

If your child is completing Visual Arts in Semester One, please ensure they have an art smock clearly labelled with their name. I’m looking forward to a semester with our students filled with fun, creativity and imaginations running wild! Visual Arts Performing Arts Performing Arts – Dance with Mr Tovey and Ms Lupson We have had a great start to the year in Performing Arts at Newbury! Students across all year levels have had fun joining in community building tasks and games, and participated in discussions around how we show our school values in the Performing Arts room. Our Year Prep students are practising dancing within their own base and zone, and using their imaginations to turn everyday movements into dance moves.

Our Years One and Two students have been learning about safe dance practices such as warm-ups, cool downs and spatial awareness. They have been exploring the difference between locomotor and non- locomotor dance steps, and are beginning to use and select a variety of steps to create a dance sequence. Our Years Three to Six students have been exploring the five elements of dance – Body, Action, Space, Time and Energy, and have been applying them when working in small groups to choreograph their own dance routine.

All of our students are showing many creative ways they can use their bodies to express ideas and feelings. They have been learning about how dance is used in different cultures and are continuing to explore the many ways in which dance impacts our lives. Each class has been learning a dance sequence to one of the following songs:

Year Prep – Hokey Pokey Year One – I Gotta Feeling Year Two – Whoomp! There It Is Year Three - Dynamite Year Four – Old Town Road Years 5/6 – Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)

In the coming weeks students will learn how to refine their dance move- ments to prepare for performance. We look forward to seeing the final re- sults!

Mr Tovey & Ms Lupson

Key Dates 2021

27th January Student Free Day 28th January Student Free Day Must have Apps 29th January First day of school for 1-6 students 5th January Prep Students commence 8th March Labour Day –No school

1st April Last day of Term 1 Students finish at 2:10pm 19th April First day of Term 2 11th June Student free day 14th June Queens Birthday– No school

25th June

Last day of Term 2 Students finish at 2:10pm School Contact Information 12th July Office Hours First day of Term 3

17th September Monday—Thursday 8:30am - 3:45pm Last day of Term 3 Friday 8:30am - 3:30pm Students finish at 2:10pm Phone 03 8691 6900 4th October First day of Term 4 Emails - 1st November General Enquiries: [email protected] Student Free Day Parent Communication: [email protected]

2nd November Student Absence: [email protected] Melb Cup Day—No School Website: www.newburyps.vic.edu.au 17th December Last day of Term 4 Students finish at 1:10pm

Here at Newbury Primary School we take the safety of our students seriously. Please refer to the VicRoads information below and discuss with your children the importance of road safety.

Crossing the road safely Pedestrians have to share the road with vehicles so it is important they take care when crossing the road. As a pedestrian, plan where you will walk and always choose the safest place to cross a road.

Stop, Look, Listen, Think Follow the safe road crossing procedure – STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK.

 STOP one step back from the kerb or shoulder of the road if there is no footpath.  LOOK in all directions for approaching traffic.  LISTEN in all directions for approaching traffic.  THINK about whether it is safe to cross the road – when the road is clear or all traffic has stopped.

When crossing, walk straight across the road. Keep LOOKING and LISTENING for traffic while crossing. This information is particularly relevant to young people learning to cross roads. But it also provides a useful reminder to everyone particularly to those who may be distracted when crossing the road.

Crossings Even at crossings you still need to remain alert and check whether vehicles are stopping for you. Always make sure traffic has actually stopped before stepping onto the road. Remember children’s crossings are legally active only when the flags are displayed. If a school crossing supervisor is on duty, cross only when he or she indicates that it is safe.

Crossing the road at other places  Walk straight across the road – don’t jay-walk.  Keep checking in both directions to make sure the way is clear.  Try not to cross the road from between parked cars or near trees and bushes as drivers may not see you.  Avoid crossing near a bend or crest in the road. Give yourself a good chance to see vehicles coming from both directions.  Avoid crossing on roundabouts, particularly multi-lane roundabouts as they are very busy and complex and cars are not required to give way to you, unless there is a pedestrian crossing. Find somewhere further away from the roundabout to safely cross the road.

At Newbury Primary School we value and acknowledge the wellbeing of all students, staff and community members. Below we have provided wellbeing support numbers that are accessible for everyone at any time when needed.

Safe Steps 1800 015 188

Foundation House 9389 8900

1800 RESPECT 1800 737 732

Lifeline 13 11 14