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