Newman News Term 1 Week 8: From the Head of Primary

Jo Dunn on 27/03/2019

Gross Motor Skills in Early Childhood

Gross motor skills require whole body movement and involve the large (core stabilising) muscles of the body to perform everyday functions, such as standing and walking, running and jumping, and sitting upright. They also include hand-eye coordination skills such as ball skills (throwing, catching, kicking) as well as riding a bike or a scooter and swimming.

Gross motor skills are vital in enabling children to perform every day activities. For example, a child’s ability to maintain appropriate posture (upper body support) will affect their ability to participate in fine motor skills (e.g. writing, drawing and cutting) and sitting upright in class. This in turn impacts on a child’s learning and participation in the educational program.

Newman College’s Early Childhood staff recognise the need to instill these skills into everyday teaching and learning activities, to ensure that children are given ample opportunity to practice and develop these competencies. Our Physical Education and sporting program places a strong emphasis on the development of gross motor skills, whilst integrating them across more generalised sporting pursuits.

The ‘Fitness Friday’ initiative at Marian Campus is a further opportunity for students to practice and consolidate their development of these skills, whilst encouraging and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

College Production – Masquerade

The College Production of Masquerade is currently in final rehearsals in preparation for performances commencing in Week 9. Staff and students have been working hard to prepare this wonderful play and we encourage all families to support the Arts in our College by purchasing tickets to attend the upcoming shows. Please click here.

Parents of our Year 5 and 6 students were sent correspondence last week informing them of their child’s attendance at the matinee performance on Friday 5 April. Students from some of our feeder schools will also be in attendance. This is a wonderful opportunity for our Year 5 and 6 students to both engage with and celebrate the hard work of their Years 7-12 peers and staff to collaborate in the presentation of this production.

NAPLAN Online

Please find an information pamphlet from ACARA regarding NAPLAN Online for 2019. These assessments are scheduled at Newman College in Term 2 Weeks 3 and 4, Tuesday 14 May – Friday 24 May. A schedule will be sent out early in Term 2. Download NAPLAN Online 2019 Parent Information Brochure 

All Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will sit NAPLAN Online and we will be conducting a practice test with these students in Week 9 of this term. This practice test will have multiple benefits in that it will confirm the College ICT capability or highlight any weaknesses, it will ensure all students have the correct ‘lockdown’ browser installed on their machines and most importantly will provide students with the opportunity to experience a NAPLAN style test in this format.

While schools around the nation move across to online testing, the College is being provided with paper copies of the tests as a backup measure. These will be phased out over the next two to three years.

Year 3 and 5 families are asked to download the locked down browser onto their child’s iPad. Click here to access the link.

School Photo Days 2019

Students in Kindy – Year 6 should now have received their school photo order envelope. The order envelopes are printed uniquely for each student. On photo day the camera links to the bar code on the order envelope, therefore it is extremely important that every student returns their envelope on photo day – even if families are not buying photos.

The instructions to students / parents are printed on the envelope and are self explanatory. Parents will notice that they have a wide choice of photo packs available to purchase.

School Photo Days are taking place on:

  • Kindy – Year 2 – Friday 24 May
  • Years 3-6 – Friday 17 May

Sport Update

Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to all students in Years 3-6 who participated in the 2019 Swimming Carnival. Click here for the results, Age Champions and more photos from the day.

IPSHA Swimming Carnival

On Thursday 21 March, Newman College hosted the IPSHA Swimming Carnival. Students in Years 4-6 (who were selected from their excellent performance at our own swimming carnival) represented the College with pride and demonstrated excellent teamwork and sportsmanship.

I congratulate all students who participated and staff who supported the event, which was a wonderful way to conclude our Term 1 swimming season. Thank you also to our parent community who supported our students and staff by volunteering to assist in various roles throughout the day.

Marcellin Award

Congratulations to the following students who received a Marcellin Award in Weeks 7 and 8:

Berkley Blizzard & Noah Parrelli, Year 2: Both received the Marcellin Award for the mature and well mannered way they represented Newman College when showing some important guests around the Marian Campus.

Rio Angus, Year 6: Rio has been acknowledged by numerous members of staff across the school as someone who is truly selfless. On many occasions, she has been seen letting others have a go before herself and giving up what she has so that someone else doesn’t have to go without. She is a truly caring and compassionate person, her actions of kindness never have to be prompted; she simply sees a need to do something and does it. Rio shows excellent leadership qualities, has great initiative, works diligently and is respectful of everyone she meets. This can be seen in her polite and courteous manner, as well as her proactive approach to helping others. Rio is also described as someone who has a positive attitude to life and is grateful for the blessings she has, and in turn, is generous in sharing her blessings with others.

The Marcellin Award at Marian Campus is drawn from submitted nominations each Wednesday morning at Prayer Assembly. At Lavalla Campus, the Marcellin Award is presented at campus assemblies to one student selected by the Leadership Team from submitted nominations.

 

IPSHA Swimming Carnival

Jo Dunn on 27/03/2019

Newman College had the privilege of hosting the IPSHA Swimming Carnival on Thursday 21 March 2019. This year the carnival took on a new format, with all participating schools joining together to compete in a one day-time carnival. Students from nine Catholic primary schools attended, creating a great atmosphere for everyone. The students were exposed to some very fast swimmers from other schools and were very successful in their races at this friendly carnival.

Leading up to the carnival the Years 4-6 students swam in squad training sessions before school run by Ralph, the Newman Churchlands Swim Club coach. This was an invaluable experience for the students, to not only improve their times but also their stroke technique.

Well done to everyone who participated!

Years 3-6 Swimming Carnival

Jo Dunn on 27/03/2019

On Friday 15 March, all students in Years 3-6 participated in the 2019 Swimming Carnival. It was very successful day on all accounts. Students swam with speed, enthusiasm and were especially good at cheering on their team mates from their faction bays. We were lucky enough to witness one record breaking event by Madelyn Bertolini from Marcellin in Year 4. Madelyn swam in a time of 39.00 seconds in the 50m Freestyle race, beating the previous record of 40.58 seconds which had been held since 2004.

Well done to Delaney faction (captained by William Gilbert) for winning the Swimming Carnival Championship Shield and Marcellin faction (captained by Maddy Carroll) for winning the Swimming Carnival Efficiency Award.

Congratulations to the Age Champions

Year 3 Girls
1. Taylor Cain
2. Savannah Bornmann
3. Isabel Burton

Year 3 Boys
1. Mitchell Short
2. Cooper Warwick
3. James Bianchini and Blaine Castleman

Year 4 Girls
1. Madelyn Bertolini and EmmaGilbert
2. Chloe Rear
3. Evangeline Earney, Clancy Boss and Eloise Bulmer

Year 4 Boys
1. Jensen Rutherford
2. Theo Constantine
3. Aaron Stannard

Year 5 Girls
1. Jessica Bourke
2. Lucinda Short
3. Ella Hills

Year 5 Boys
1. James Bornmann
2. Luca Chester
3. Jeremy Colman and Ryan Tindall

Year 6 Girls
1. Madison Turnball
2. Hallie Ceglinski-Andrews
3. Audrey Devlin

Year 6 Boys 
1. Alexander Santoro
2. Harry Prentice
3. Oscar Properjohn

IPSHA Basketball Carnival

Jo Dunn on 27/03/2019

Selected students in Year 6 will represent the College at this year’s IPSHA Basketball Carnival.

The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA) conduct a series of sporting carnivals for students in Years 3-6 with the focus on participation. There are no shields or points awarded. It is about giving students the opportunity to compete against students from other primary schools, promoting fun and enjoyment, encouraging everyone to participate and highlighting the importance of fair play and healthy competition.

Newman News Term 1 Week 6 – From the Vice Principal

Jo Dunn on 15/03/2019

Our Vision for Learning, Shine through Discovery – Let your light shine (Matthew 5:16) challenges our learners to strive for personal excellence. Each student will encounter difficulty, success, failure and achievement. Adopting a growth mindset supports children to accept challenges as opportunities, failing as learning and to value perseverance and determination. By changing our language to support growth instead of grades, and encouraging children to believe they can improve supports resilient, engaged learners. We are honoured to have Dr Justin Coulson work with Newman families on themes of respectful relationships and resilience. I look forward to seeing many families on Monday 25 March.

BUILDING RESILIENT AND RESPECTFUL RELATIONSHIPS PARENT SESSIONS

9 Ways to a Resilient Child (content is most suited for Early Childhood parents)

Parents will learn the psychological secrets that build their child’s sense of identity, strengths and growth mindset in order to perform better, be happier and build resilience. 9 Ways to a Resilient Child is based on Dr Justin Coulson’s best-selling book and shows parents how to help their children cope powerfully and positively with the challenges that life throws at them.
When: Monday 25 March, 9.00am – 10.30am
Where: Marist Auditorium
RSVP: jo.dunn@newman.wa.edu.au

Respectful Relationships; Love at Home – How to get along with your kids and help them get along with you (and their siblings)

We all say we get along just fine at home… but there are those uncomfortable niggles. There’s the eye-rolling, the disrespect, the lack of motivation to help out, and the sibling warfare. If we’re honest, most adults have been known to shout a bit too, and let’s face it, we don’t always listen that well to our kids. Conflict and friction at home cause more trouble than we need, and interfere with everyone’s wellbeing. Wouldn’t it be great if there were some simple, practical things we could do to help everyone get along better – starting right now? Parents will learn the best ‘relationship rules’ for a happier family so home life really does feel loving… most of the time! The presentation will be followed by a Question and Answer session.
When: Monday 25 March, 7.00pm – 8.30pm
Where: Marist Auditorium
RSVP: jo.dunn@newman.wa.edu.au

Updated ICT Policy

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) includes any electronic device or application used to communicate, create, disseminate, store or manage information such as text, images, audio or video.
Students have the right to learn in a safe environment, including when they have access to ICT to enhance their learning. Newman College is committed to the responsible and educational use of ICT and to the protection of students by providing secure access to these services as part of their learning experience.

The College has completed a period of evaluation on the effectiveness of its ICT policy. While this process involved exploring the current use of ICT at the College, it also involved working with other schools in the Metropolitan area as well as direction from Catholic Education Western Australia. The updated policy is now available for parents, staff and students via the College website. Download ICT Policy

Wellbeing and Counselling Team

The College is pleased to announce our newly formed Wellbeing and Counselling Team. The Wellbeing and Counselling team supports teachers, students and families from Kindy to Year 12. Mr Alan Fitzpatrick Deputy Principal Wellbeing Secondary, and Mitch Bristow Head of Primary lead the team which consists of:

  • Amber Newsome, Psychologist
  • Jessica Bouquet, Counsellor
  • Siobhan Quirke, Counsellor and
  • Caryl Gioia, Social Worker

Accessing support from this team is done via Leaders of Wellbeing. Wellbeing programs can be accessed via the College website. Click here

Program details and support materials from guest speakers will be shared by your child’s Leader of Wellbeing. Resources available to families and students will be shared and published to the College community via the notices and newsletter.

Student Code of Conduct

Leaders of Wellbeing, supported by Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Bristow, in collaboration with student leaders, will be developing a Student Code of Conduct which seeks to uphold the same intent as the College Code of Conduct in a way that is meaningful to students. The conduct statements inform our Respect framework which applies to all students. We are committed to ensuring student voice is heard and used to support all relationships between students and staff.

Code of Conduct

A reminder to all families that the Code of Conduct can be accessed via the College website. The Code is mandated by Catholic Education Western Australia and the application of the code extends to all staff, students, parents, guardians, caregivers and volunteers.

The Code seeks to value the dignity of every person, foster positive relationships, ensuring confidentiality and accountability and supports professional boundaries. Events held during school hours AND outside of school hours that are associated with the College are also supported by the Code of Conduct. Any perceived breaches of the Code can be discussed with any member of the Senior Leadership Team. We thank you in advance for your understanding and support of how we strive to partner positively with one another.