CNPS Bulletin 2024 | March

All children are invited to come play on Bishop Street before school on the first Friday of every month. It’s part of a program called Open Streets.

Open Streets gives kids a safe space to play by restricting car access on a section of Bishop Street. It also encourages families to consider walking or other active ways of getting to school.

Parent volunteers trained in traffic management by Merri-bek City Council close off the section to create the space for kids to play.

All you need to do is come to school a bit early on the first Friday of the month. Bring your bike, scooter, skateboard, roller skates or just yourselves! Some awesome year 6 students on 1 March filled Open Streets with fun activities including a cone obstacle course, a chalk-drawn racetrack and hula hoop station.

So put it in your diary or look out for it on Compass.

• When: 8 to 9 am, first Friday of the month
• Where: Bishop Street, between O’hea St and the CNPS car park.

Sport Update

Ride2School Day

Thank you to everyone who participated in Ride2School Day this year! We had a giant obstacle course, a running race and an awesome area under the COLA full of different activities. It was fun and loud, but lots of people followed the rules to make it a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. People also had amazing decorated hats, bikes and scooters. Congratulations to Louie (5A), Zoe (3C), Ada (FB) and Eva (FB) who were the winners of the ‘Bling Your Bike’ competition!

Division Swimming Update

Congratulations to Eva and Charlie from 5C, Pearl and Evie from 5A, Reuben, Harry and Ayla from 5B, George from 4C, and Zoe from 3C. They all competed in Division Swimming held on the 13th of March. Everyone put in an amazing effort and went really well! Unfortunately, we didn’t have anyone make it through to Regionals, but we are proud of everyone who did their best.

Cross Country

Just letting you know, the School Cross Country Carnival will be held on Friday in Week 2 of Term 2. It is a heap of fun for everyone, so get excited and get training!

Viv & Riley

PE Captains

Berry Street Training Day 1 and 2: The Wellbeing Team recently participated in Berry Street Training Day 1 and 2, a comprehensive program designed to equip educators with strategies to support students who have experienced trauma or adversity. These training sessions provided invaluable insights and practical techniques for understanding and addressing the complex needs of our students. By enhancing our knowledge and skills in trauma-informed practices, we are better prepared to create a nurturing and inclusive learning environment where all students can thrive. Days 3 and 4 of the training will take place on the curriculum days in Term 2.

The Resilience Project: Another significant initiative that the Wellbeing Team has been actively involved in is the ongoing rollout of The Resilience Project. This evidence-based program focuses on building resilience, gratitude, and mindfulness skills among students, staff, and parents. Through engaging workshops, classroom activities, and community events, we are fostering a culture of positivity and mental wellbeing. By incorporating the principles of The Resilience Project into our daily practices, we aim to empower individuals to navigate life's challenges with resilience and optimism.

SWPBS Team Focus: In addition to our work with Berry Street Training and The Resilience Project, the School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) team continues to prioritize the implementation of our behaviour matrix and school assemblies. These initiatives are integral to promoting our school values of respect, responsibility, and resilience. Through consistent reinforcement and celebration of positive behaviours, we are creating a school climate where mutual respect, accountability, and perseverance are valued and upheld.

Literacy Support Program at Coburg North P. S.

The start of Term 2 will see the launch of our Literacy Support Program for students in Grades 1-4, UFLI Foundations!

What is UFLI Foundations?

UFLI Foundations is an explicit and systematic program created by the team at the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI—pronounced “you fly”). The program introduces students to the foundational reading skills necessary for proficient reading. It follows a carefully developed scope and sequence designed to ensure that students systematically acquire each skill needed and learn to apply each skill with automaticity and confidence.

UFLI Foundations targets the following foundational reading skills:

• Phoneme blending and segmentation practice
• Accuracy and automaticity of grapheme-phoneme (spelling-sound) correspondences
• Decoding automaticity of words with previously learned concepts
• Explicit introduction of new concepts
• Decoding and encoding practice
• Reading and spelling irregular words
• Reading and spelling connected text

How are students chosen for the program?

This year at Coburg North, we introduced a whole-school reading assessment screener called DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) 8th edition. The decision to enrol students in the UFLI Foundations program was made based on various assessments (DIBELS 8th, Motif) and observations indicating areas where additional support may be beneficial for their academic progress.

Learning at Home

A Closer Look at Reading Fluency

This term as part of their Professional Learning Communities, our teachers have been taking a closer look at reading fluency.

Fluency has three parts to it, in order of importance.

1. Accuracy - reading the words correctly.
2. Rate - reading not too fast and not too slow.
3. Expression /Prosody - reading like you talk.

Fluency is what is known as the bridge to reading comprehension.

That’s because once a child is able to accurately read the words on the page, they are able to dedicate more of their brain power to understanding what they have read.

Supporting Reading Fluency at Home

• Read, read, read! Encourage your child to read for pleasure as much as they can.
• Repeat readings of decodable texts for our beginning readers or poetry, plays and speeches for our older readers.
• Listen to your child read aloud. It’s really important for your child to read aloud, especially if they are developing their fluent reading. When we read aloud, we can hear what has been read, which helps with reading comprehension.
• Read to your child as often as you can. Hearing you read aloud is a great way for your child to hear excellent examples of reading with expression. Don’t be afraid to get silly with it- change your voices for characters, get louder and quieter and bring the drama!
• Listen to audiobooks. Audiobooks are a great way for children to hear other examples of fluent reading that highlight accuracy, rate and expression.

The primary focus this month has been moving out and moving back in to the Ganbu Wilam building. Before students moved back in, we were able to install more bag hooks and complete the carpet tiling in 3C and 3D's classroom. Signage has also been mounted on the exterior of the building.

Contractors have been onsite to tidy the gardens around the school and mulch the pruned branches.

Over the holidays, posts will be installed around the pirate ship in preparation for the installation of a new shade sail next term.

Meet the Parents and Friends’ Executive for 2024

P&F held its first meeting for the year and elected the team. It was also great to see new faces at the meeting and join up to be part of P&F.

The meeting was also P&F’s Annual General Meeting and we reported back on the great activities and events delivered in 2023. Georgie Murphy, P&F President, reported that in 2023, P&F raised $22,281.37 from running more than 10 events over the year, including the Harmony Night BBQ, Referendum market in October, Bunnings BBQ and several craft and bake stalls throughout the year.

We want to say a HUGE thank you to outgoing Vice President Yardena Tankel who was an instrumental member of the team in 2023 who led Harmony Night BBQ and organised the excellent Trivia Night.

Meet the P&F executive team for 2024:

• President – Georgie Murphy
• Vice President – vacant
• Treasurer – Meredith Dimsey
• Secretary – Kelly Lynagh and Gemma Walsh
• School Council Rep - Amelia Matthews

The next P&F meeting is 7pm on Monday 22 April. All are welcome to attend!

Thanks to volunteers for supporting Harmony Night and Hot X Bun fundraiser!

On Wednesday this week, volunteers were busy ensuring the hotXbuns you ordered made it home and running the sweets stall at the Harmony Night event.

Thanks to hotXbun volunteers: Brooke Ryan, Jackie Hanson, John Wilding, Andrew Bond and . Georgie Murphy who helped label and distribute over 150 packets of buns from O’Heas Bakery.