Greetings parents, carers and community members

ATTENDANCE

Parents of children from Kindergarten to Year 12 must ensure their children attend school every day. On occasion, your child may need to be absent from school. Justified reasons for student absences may include:

• being sick or having an infectious disease
• having an unavoidable medical appointment
• being required to attend a recognised religious holiday
• exceptional or urgent family circumstances e.g. attending a funeral.

Parents must provide an explanation for absences to the school within 7 days from the first day of any period of absence. Where an explanation has not been received within the 7-day timeframe, the school will record the absence as unexplained on the student's record.

CANTEEN OPENING

On Wednesday 6 September our canteen opened for business, much to the delight of our students! Mrs Amanda Wigman agreed to manage the canteen for one day each week (Wednesdays) and is hoping to eventually open for two days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday). As with any new venture there will generally be initial teething problems. Last Wednesday was extremely busy in the canteen and despite numerous staff members lending a hand, student lunch orders were unfortunately delayed. We thank you and your children for your flexibility and understanding as Amanda settles into the role. If you are available to assist in the canteen, even for an hour or two, please contact the school and let us know.

KNIGHTS FEVER

Today our students had the option to wear red and blue in support of our local football team, the Newcastle Knights. Mrs Green tapped into her connection with the Knights and organised a video clip from a few of the team members personally thanking our students for their support. Let’s hope they win against the Raiders on Sunday and make it through to the semi-final!

STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN

STRATEGIC DIRECTION 2 - Positive school culture

Initiative 1 - Wellbeing through evidence-based practices

Our school's wellbeing working party is currently reviewing the programs and practices in place to support student wellbeing. As part of this process the working party is collecting some baseline data by surveying staff, students and parents/carers regarding their experiences and thoughts. 

All information received before Friday 22 September will be analysed and evaluated by the wellbeing working party, with a view to developing a plan to improve the wellbeing of all NLPS students. If you have not yet completed the wellbeing survey please take a few minutes to provide us with your valuable feedback.

I will leave you now to enjoy the images from our most recent whole school assemblies and some of our other school events.

Yours in public education,

Justine Abell

NLPS was abuzz with excitement for the upcoming Newcastle Knights game! Our community will be cheering on the Knights this Sunday when they take on  the Raiders to secure their spot in the semi finals. Go the Knights, defend the kingdom!!  

Thank you from the Newcastle Knights!

Year 6 visited Canberra two nights and three days, in week 5. We saw numerous locations, including the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport), Parliament House, Questacon, and National Education Electoral Centre.

Depending on whether we had to submit medication on the first day, we had to arrive at school by 6:30 or 6:45 am. Not even the sun had risen yet! We were divided into bus groups and set off on our tour. The central locations we visited/ saw on the first day were:

The Big Merino, Goulburn NSW: We took a photo and learned that it represents Australia’s wool industry.

Lake George, Bungendore, NSW: This classic lake on the border of NSW and ACT. We learnt that this lake was made from rainwater and does not go into the ocean.

Mt Ainslie, Majura, ACT: We took a photo and looked over Canberra from the lookout.

Parliament House, Canberra ACT: We learned about the House of Reps and the Senate. We also took a photo at this iconic place during sunset.

We had dinner once we arrived at our accommodation. We had trivia after our great supper! Some of the questions we weren't even aware of existed, like: In what year was Mr. Homer's last year at NLPS? Or, "Which foods does Mrs. Potter dislike?" We were all exhausted after the trivia, so we all went straight to bed.

On our second day, due to our excitement, most of us were awake by 6:00. After we got ready, we had breakfast. After brekkie, the POD playground at the National Arboretum was our next stop. The playground was in massive acorns!

We went to the Royal Australian Mint after the playground. Through the glass, we could see how the coins are made and learn about the history of our currency.

After the Mint, our next place was the National Electoral Education Centre inside the Old Parliament House. At the centre, we conducted our Year 6 election. We learned about our electorate, our member for Newcastle, and how an election works.

Afterwards, We went to the AIS where we saw the facilities where Olympians and Olympians - to - be train. When our tour finished, we got to play in the hands-on area, where there were  rowing, basketball, cycling, balance test and many more activities. There was also info about famous sports people such as Ricky Ponting (Aussie cricketer) and Ellyse Perry (Aussie cricketer and former Matildas’ player).

After our amazing time at the AIS, we went on an embassy driving tour. We saw the embassies of the USA, China, New Zealand, Britain, Papua New Guinea, India, Pakistan, Italy and many more.

We then returned to our accommodation and had some downtime just before dinner. Our dinner was chicken schnitzel and some vegetables as a side.

We then had time to get ourselves changed for our night activity which was…….BOWLING!!!! Even though we were so exhausted, we managed to make it through the night by having fun bowling with our friends.

On our final day, we were still very tired so we all woke up around 6:15am to 6:30 am. We all had to pack for the trip home quickly before brekkie.

After brekkie, we left to go to the Memorial drive/walk. It was all about the history of the different wars that Australia was in plus their allies in those wars.

After the Memorial walk/drive, the other bus group came and joined us at Questacon. Before we went to the galleries, we got to do some shopping for ourselves or our families. We went to 3 galleries in total. At our final gallery, there was a lightning strike from the Tesla Coil. It was loud and really cool. Everyone cheered and talked after the strike.

After Questacon, we had lunch outside the Old Parliament House. While we were enjoying lunch, a swan came for our food. Everybody was just backing away but it just kept coming. The swan even came face to face with Mr McMahon and it even stole a student's food!!

On our trip home, everyone was very quiet and exhausted. We had Maccas at about 3:30 p.m. and everyone’s stomachs were filled. On our way back we had no stops. Something that everyone was talking about was the Matilda’s game at 8:00pm.  It was about 6:45 pm on Wednesday that we reached back at school. We got our bags and Questacon items and all headed home after such a wonderful trip!

By Ruby and Aryan 6C

Over the course of three days, year five from New Lambton Public School traveled to The Great Aussie Bush Camp for an adventurous camp, full of activities and fun.

Arriving at the Great Aussie Bush Camp was extremely exciting. The two buses pulled up on the road and the year five pupils tumbled out of the bus, grabbed their bags and went to sit down at the camp fire. after the exciting chatter had quietened down we got separated  into our cabin groups, put our bags down and got ready for our first activity. Group one had and instructor called Shona and off we down down to the canoes. 

After we got into our groups of three, we had an intense safety talk and got our massive life jackets and headed into the water with our canoes. At first we practiced steering the mammoth  canoes to get a feel for it. Then the soaked students headed downstream and played a fun game. Once the students arrived back at the the bank we packed up and headed back tot he hill for afternoon tea. With a choice of snow cones, museli bars, apples and bananas. We walked  and talked, heading off to our next activity.

Grace.B - 5B

In week 6, year 5 traveled to the Great Aussie Bush Camp at Tea Gardens. 

Students participated in a variety of activities, such as canoeing, archery, orienteering, dual flying fox and the giant swing. The Lost World (Mud World) was a massive hit with all students getting absolutely filthy and squealing in delight in the muddy obstacle course. 

Nighttime activities included a trivia night and 'County Fair' where students got to bounce on a jumping castle, jump on a trampoline in sumo suits, sold milkshakes and cakes, played in the vintage arcade and so much more!

It was a huge three days and all involved were absolutely exhausted, including the teachers.

Thank you to all of our families for allowing your children to go and experience this wonderful opportunity.

Year 5 teachers 

On the 25th of August, K-2 went down to Regent Park for their Sport Day. It was a wonderful day in the sun where students did a running race and tabloid activities. During activities students enjoyed a picnic on the grass with their peers and parents in attendance. A merry day was had by all involved! Thank you again to the staff and parents for their organisation and assistance on the day.

Hunter Region PSSA Athletics Carnival

On Friday 1 September, 18 students from New Lambton PS traveled to the Hunter Sports Centre at Glendale to represent the Newcastle City PSSA Athletics team at the Regional Athletics Carnival. 

All students competed with great pride and effort, congratulations to all students who competed on the day. Best of luck to our students who will go on to compete in the NSWPSSA Athletics Championship at Sydney Athletics Centre on 25 & 26 October, Madeleine.J, Ella.J, Sofia.P, Archie.P, Connor.T, Oliver.M, Jayden.Y. Good luck to our NLPS athletes! 

In week 7, four of our talented students represented New Lambton Public school in a team-based chess tournament at St Joseph's Primary School in Charlestown.  The team consisting of Ahas, Hamish, Qasim and Parineeta were very successful, winning the Rookie division.  The students showed great sportsmanship,  concentration and skill, and enjoyed collaborating with other students to further develop their skills between games. They will now go on to compete in the finals in Term 4.  

Sep 4 - 15, Year 2 Intensive Swimming at The Forum

Sep 12 - UON Science and Engineering Day, Year 6

Sep 13 - Lambton High School transition session

Sep 14 - Year 1 Gymnastics at HSC

Sep 15 - Nationla Netball finals, Maitland

Sep 20 - Lambton High School transition session

Sep 21 - Year 1 Gymnastics at HSC

Sep 21 - P&C Fluoro Disco

Sep 22 - Last day of term 3

Oct 9 - First day of term 4

Thank you to the P&C and all the Non-SASS staff for our SASS appreciation afternoon tea, much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Rebecca McCully

School Administrative Manager (Rel) 

School Disco: Thursday 21 September

Term 4 P&C meetings:  30 October and 27 November

What does it mean to be brave? Is it ever okay to break a promise?

Help students think about questions like these as an ethics volunteer teacher at NLPS. In ethics lessons children are encouraged to listen closely and develop their own opinions. Classes help students develop confidence and empathy and as an ethics teacher you will get a lot out of it too.

Ethics classes can only be offered as an alternative if we have volunteer teachers. Volunteers come from our parents, grandparents and local community. Primary Ethics offers free training, lesson scripts and teaching support.

Ethics classes are offered during the scripture timeslot on Wednesday at 2:05 pm or 2:40 pm.

For more information contact Julia at Julia.Kosheleva@primaryethics.com.au or visit www.primaryethics.com.au