Newsletter

Greetings parents, carers and community members

Winter is finally upon us and has been making its presence felt over these last few weeks through the nippy chill in the morning breezes. Please check your children's jumpers and jackets to make sure they are labelled with names so that they can be returned promptly if left in the playground.

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK

This week has been a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements. Reconciliation Week is held between anniversaries of 2 key dates in our history – the successful 1967 referendum and the High Court’s Mabo decision. It's a chance for us to celebrate how far we have come and to look at the work we need to do for the next generation. Our students have been engaging with numerous activities this week to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the rich history of our country and the culture and stories of our nation's First Peoples.

YEAR 5 SYDNEY EXCURSION

Our Year 5 students embarked on a trip to Sydney yesterday to tour around the historic Rocks area and visit the National Art Gallery to view the Archibald Prize entries. From all accounts the children enjoyed a wonderful day experiencing the many iconic sights of Sydney. Community feedback to our staff in attendance was extremely positive, commending the way our students conducted themselves in public. I would like to thank Mr McMahon, Mrs Betts, Ms Day, Mrs Swain and Mrs Bezzina for their organisation and facilitation of this educational opportunity for our Year 5 students.

Yours in public education,

Justine Abell

The local police have visitied recently regarding parking, stopping and traffic flow around our school. A couple of rules are really important to note - particulary on Evescourt Road and Russell Road in the afternoon. 

Road Rules 2014 – Section 167

Offence: Disobey no stopping sign (in school zone)

Penalty: $362

Demerit Points: 2

Road Rules 2014 – Section 172(1)

Offence: Stop on/near childrens crossing (in school zone)

Penalty: $481

Demerit Points: 2

Similarly, we have been advised by the School Crossing Supervisor that there has been an increasing number of 'near misses' on the crossings around our school. When driving around the school please be mindful of the crossing supervisors and their directions. 

WEEK 7

Monday 5  June - World Environment Day

• GABC Zoom Meeting (Year 5)

Wednesday 7 June

• Weekly assemblies (K-2 - 2:00 - 2:35 pm; 3-6 - 2:40 - 3:10 pm)

Thursday 8 June 

• Year 5 Art incursion

WEEK 8

Monday 12 June

• Public Holiday - King's Birthday 

Wednesday 14 June 

• Camp Quality Giggle Day

Thursday 15 June 

• Year 1 Art incursion 
• Starstruck Dress Rehearsal

Friday 16 June 

• Starstruck Performance 

Saturday 17 June 

• Starstruck Performance 

Our school will be upgrading our finance system on 6 June 2023. In preparation for the transition to the new finance system, we will be required to implement a short payment lockout period where we will not be able to receive any payments.

What this means for you

• Online payments were halted on Tuesday 30 May 2023

• Any existing payment links that have been sent to you previously in emails can stillbe used after the transition and will automatically redirect to the new system

• All previous payments made will be migrated to the new School Bytes financesystem and portal

• Moving forward, when making a payment online, you will be redirected to a Service NSW page to complete an online payment. This is the new online payment platform as directed by the NSW Department of Education

• Payments made online will display as 0SCHOOLSONLINE 0000 PARRAMATTA AUS on your bank statements moving forward

After the transition, a School Bytes portal will be available for you to register andbegin using (Link: https://portal.schoolbytes.education)

What is the School Bytes portal?

The School Bytes portal allows you to

• Make school payments online (including paying for multiple siblings at once)

• Use a family credit to pay for an activity or school contributions

• Download a receipt for payments made

• View all historical payments in one place

• Complete and submit digital permission notes

• View the status of all permission notes

• Request a refund if required

This can be done where you want at any time, day or night. Online payments are processed in real-time and can be viewed by school staff immediately. While our preference is for payments to be made via the portal, we will still accept payment via cash, cheque, money order and EFTPOS.

Please see the attached flyer for additional information and to register for the School Bytes portal. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please don't hesitate to contact the office on 4957 1511.

Rebecca McCully

School Administrative Manager (Rel)

On Monday the Year 6 debating team versed Adamstown Public Goldies in our first round of the Premier's Debating Challenge for 2023. The topic was 'Students under 12 should never be allowed to use smartphones'. NLPS was given quite a challenge in being allocated as the negative team of this debate but managed to deliver a convincing argument which won them their first round. Well done NLPS Bowerbirds!

On Wednesday the NLPS debating team had the pleasure of versing New Lambton South Public School in our second round of the Premier's Debating Challenge. The topic was 'All students should be given the chance to complete tests twice' with NLPS being allocated as the negative team. Although, we did not come home with the win on this one, it was an extremely close debate and both sides gave very convincing arguments with strong rebuttals. The team is now looking forward to their next debate which will take place at New Lambton Public School on Monday 26 June against Hamilton North Public School.

Consistent attendance improves student outcomes, increases career options, and helps students build relationships and confidence.

Missing a day here or there may not seem like much but absences add up and can impact your child’s learning more than you think. When your child misses one day a week over a year, that’s 40 days of school, 8 weeks of lessons and 2.5 years over their school life lost.

We thank our parents and carers for continuing to encourage and support their child's regular attendance at school.

On Tuesday 23 May, our 12 Year 6 leaders attended the GRIP Student Leadership Conference at the Civic Theatre, Newcastle. The students participated in games and learning that included being an ‘other’s first’ leader, the impacts leaders can have and getting people on board with your ideas. It was an entertaining and engaging presentation. 

Our leaders represented New Lambton Public School with excellent enthusiasm and they thoroughly enjoyed the day. 

On Friday 26 May we held our swimming awards assembly in the MPF. It was great to see our parents and carers in attendance to celebrate their child's achievements.

The Student Environment Team (SET) will be presenting at the K-2 and 3-6 assembly on Wednesday 5 June. K-2 assembly is from 2:00 - 2:35 pm and 3-6 assembly is from 2:35 - 3:20 pm. The SET will be introducing our new composting program which we are implementing as part our successful Sustainable School's Grant. The SET (pictured below) is excited to be involved with supporting the program across the school.

World Environment Day takes place on Monday 5 June this year and promotes environmental action, sustainability and the protection of the world’s ecosystems. This year marks the 50th anniversary, and the focus is on finding solutions to plastic pollution. To read about current projects to support World Environment Day please visit the website at: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/

The NSW Department of Education has been working to develop a Partnership Agreement with the P&C Federation NSW (P&C Federation).

The department and Federation have a strong relationship and are working on several joint initiatives. These aim to support local P&C associations and strengthen the voice of, and engagement with, parent and carer communities.

One key initiative is the development of a long-term Partnership Agreement that will further build on this strong working relationship.

A draft Partnership Agreement is now available for review. Your views are important to us.

If you would like to provide feedback, an online survey is available via the NSW Government’s Have Your Say website and is open until 11 June 2023.

By working together in partnership, schools, parents and carers can support each other so that students can achieve their potential through public education.

There's no better place to be these school holidays, than at the UON Occupational Therapy Clinic and boy have we got some fantastic programs in line for kids young and old! 

Our occupational therapists are hard at work finalising the program plans to make it oh so fun, and if you look into the two attached files, one is an overview of each program and the other is the dates and times.

We would love to see your child/s at one of our programs and we look forward to hearing to your enquiries and/or calls to confirm a spot in any of the programs.

Positions fill quickly, so please get back to this email promptly if you would like to secure a spot or have any questions! 

A prior assessment is not needed to participate in any of the programs. 

We do want you to be aware of the following guidelines for participation in our programs:

• We are not an NDIS or private health affiliated service, and therefore program fees are to be paid out of pocket, at the beginning of the first day of the program your child is enrolled in.
• All parents and any clients over the age of 12 must be vaccinated for COVID-19 or sessions will remain on telehealth. Proof should be provided on your first session back.
• Please ensure if you or anyone in your household have cold or flu like symptoms including fever, cough sore throat, respiratory illness, or difficult breathing that you do not attend your session (Please call and notify staff within 24 hours).

Will Capps

UON Occupational Therapy Clinic Administration

Phone: 49854273      Email: otclinic@newcastle.edu.au