CNPS SCHOOL VISION: To build a community of curious, creative and engaged learners who are empowered to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing world. Collectively we will work with our students to become responsible global citizens who have the skills, knowledge and personal attributes they need for their future.
As we close out the year, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to our entire Coburg North Primary School community. It truly takes a village to create a thriving school. The combined efforts of our students, teachers, parents, and wider community — including wonderful groups like Rotary — have made a tremendous difference. Your support, enthusiasm, and dedication have been invaluable, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
A special thank you to our teachers, education support staff, and administration team. This year, once again, you have shown incredible commitment and resilience while working through the ongoing education crisis. Working in schools is by no means an easy job, and I am very fortunate to lead such an amazing, dedicated, and passionate team. Your hard work and care for our students are what make CNPS such a special place.
Farewell to Our 2024 Graduates
Congratulations to our 2024 graduates! You’ve worked hard, shown determination, and are ready for the next chapter of your journey. We are proud of everything you have accomplished and of the wonderful people you are becoming.
As you leave Coburg North Primary School, remember that the values of respect, resilience, and responsibility will continue to serve you well. Be kind, stay curious, and know that you will always be part of our CNPS family.
We wish you all the best in your future adventures!
Thank You to Our School Captains
A huge thank you to our 2024 School Captains — Willa, Clea, Ashling, and Louise — for your exceptional leadership and dedication throughout the year. You’ve inspired us with your confident public speaking at assemblies, warmly welcomed prospective families by leading engaging school tours, and represented CNPS with pride and respect at significant events like ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. Your commitment and enthusiasm have made a lasting impact on our school community, and you’ve set a shining example for your peers to follow.
We are incredibly grateful for all your hard work and the positivity you’ve brought to CNPS.
Thank You to Our Parents and Friends
Our Parents and Friends community has been amazing this year! Throughout the year, their participation in events such as Harmony Night, Parent Appreciation Days, Trivia Night, the Bunnings BBQ, and Carols Night has brought joy to our school and raised significant funds. Your incredible efforts have contributed to the purchase of our new audio system in the COLA, bringing fantastic sound quality for all to share.
Together, P&F raised an impressive $20K, — thank you!
Farewell to Families Leaving CNPS
Each year, we welcome new families to the CNPS community, and we also say goodbye to families moving on. For those leaving this year, it marks an important milestone — some of you have been part of our school for over seven years.
Your support, involvement, and dedication have helped make CNPS the vibrant, connected community we are today. We know saying goodbye is bittersweet, but we cherish the memories you’ve shared with us. As this primary school chapter comes to a close, remember that you will always be part of the CNPS family.
Thank you for being such an integral part of our community. We wish you all the best as you embark on this new chapter.
Families Leaving:
- Adams
- Avery
- Brennan
- Burgess
- Burns
- Cath
- Close
- Day
- Decruz
- Fredrickson
- Hancock
- Hemingway
- Kestev-Kettle
- Mahon
- McManus
- McCallam
- Mills
- Nikolis-Rizza
- Payne Muller
- Power
- Santos McDonald
- Sellitto
- Smith
- Spano
- Stavrinou
- Trapalis
- Townsend
- Tzambazis
- Vanden Bosch
- Wallace
- Warren
- Webber
- Wilcox
- Yagyu-Davies
Special Acknowledgements
As we say goodbye to several families this year, we want to extend heartfelt recognition to those who have gone above and beyond to support and enrich the CNPS community. Their contributions have left a lasting impact, and we are deeply grateful for their dedication. While the P&F will be acknowledging these remarkable people in this newsletter, I also want to express my own appreciation for everything they’ve done.
Cath Sugden: A dedicated member of Parents and Friends (P&F), Cath was always the first to volunteer for Bunnings BBQs and school stalls. She also served on the School Council for several years as the community representative, contributing her time and energy to enhance our school.
Sutton-Heath Family: Tamara Heath has been a committed member of P&F since 2013, serving as secretary and president over the years. She was a parent representative on School Council, a member of the Make Noise organising committee, and tirelessly supported election stalls, Bunnings BBQs, and the Coburg Farmers’ Market pancake stall — even standing at the school gate for hours with the donation bucket.
Paul Sutton served on the School Council for many years, chairing Buildings and Grounds. Paul was the longest-standing member, serving over seven years on School Council. He generously volunteered at numerous Bunnings BBQs and spent countless Saturdays at the Coburg Farmers’ Market BBQ. Paul loved the school so much that he decided to work for us over 2 years to which he continued to improve our school grounds.
Stephanie Cath: A valued member of P&F, Stephanie regularly volunteered her time to support the school community, always lending a helping hand where needed.
Bree Day: A P&F member since 2012 and a past P&F president, Bree was heavily involved in coordinating the Farmers’ Market, managing pancake licenses, organising school stalls, and contributing to the Make Noise festival.
Meredith Dimsey: A P&F member since 2012 and treasurer for most of that time, Meredith organised numerous Footy Pie Days at the canteen and coordinated the creation of school art calendars. Many of these efforts were shared with Bree and Tamara, often with Clea, Riley, and Anneka in baby carriers or prams!
Emma Jeffery: Emma’s passion for greening our school saw her planting most of the trees on our grounds and organising countless planting days. She led planting sessions with classes and oversaw the creation of the frog bog in the southwest corner of the school.
Oktay Kaya: Oktay served on the School Council for a number of years, dedicating his time to supporting the school’s governance and community initiatives.
Narelle and Will Mahon: Avid gardeners and dedicated working bee attendees, Narelle and Will contributed greatly to keeping the school grounds beautiful and well-maintained.
Vanessa McManus: A long-time P&F member, Vanessa coordinated many successful Coburg North plant days — a major logistical effort that brought life and greenery to the school.
Melissa Mills: Melissa contributed extensively to school concerts, assisting our Music Teacher, Stephen, and ensuring these events were memorable for the whole community.
Amelia O’Neill: A long-time P&F member and former P&F secretary, Amelia volunteered tirelessly for stalls and BBQs, adding creative touches to the Special Person’s stalls with her clever crafts. She was instrumental in introducing ball boxes to the playground in memory of Sian and also served as a valued member of the School Council.
Your dedication, hard work, and unwavering support have left a lasting legacy at CNPS. We are forever grateful for the countless hours, energy, and heart you’ve given to our community. Thank you! I will miss you all very much.
Warm Wishes for the Holidays
Wishing all of our CNPS families a Merry Christmas, a joyful holiday season, and a Happy New Year. May your break be restful and filled with happiness. We look forward to seeing you in 2025!
Warm regards,
2C Inquiry Update!
This term, Grade 2 has been learning about changes in nature. Grade 2 has done the following: plant potatoes, learn about the tools used in gardens, went to the crop, and more. The grade 2s have also Harvested the potatoes and are preparing to cook them. Cez has said something exciting, too. she’s making FRIES! Yum! Absolutely scrumdiddliumptious!!! YUMMO!
By Archer, Greta, Makayla and Lana.
Potato Update
This term, the Grade 2 students successfully grew and harvested their very own potatoes! From planting the seeds to nurturing the plants and finally enjoying the harvest, cooking and EATING! It’s been a hands-on journey of learning and teamwork observing all the CHANGES to our potato plants along the way.
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Cez, our dedicated groundskeeper, for her guidance and support throughout this project. Her expertise and encouragement made this experience unforgettable for the students. Thank you Cez!
Well done Grade 2s!
CNPS New Mural
Earlier this year, the grade 2 students designed class craft murals for their classroom to represent their strengths and the strengths they use at school which supports everyone to feel like they belong. We are excited to reveal the new school mural on the cream brick building which was inspired by the work Grade 2s did at the start of the year. This mural is still to be completed with the school values and 24 character strengths including zest, creativity and appreciation of excellence and beauty; so stay tuned for the final product. A big thank you to our very own grade 2 teacher, Alex, for her design skills and creativity in this project. As well as Ms. B and Taylor for their painting contributions. Thank you to our letter painter, Eliza Svikulis, who is gifting her time to us to write the character strengths for all at CNPS to remember and enjoy. The Grade 2 students have made their mark on the project by designing and painting a flower to the mural. Well done on your patience, resilience and creativity to complete such an outstanding contribution to the school, Grade 2s. We hope the community enjoys it as much as we do!
Dear Coburg North Primary School Community,
As we approach the end of another successful school year, the Wellbeing Team would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to each member of our school community for contributing to an environment of care, growth, and support. Together, we have achieved so much throughout 2024.
Looking Back at 2024: This year has been one of growth and collaboration. From embracing the Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) to advancing our work with The Resilience Project and School Wide Positive Behaviours, we have continued to prioritize the wellbeing and development of our students and staff. These initiatives will continue to be a focus into 2025 and beyond.
Exciting Changes for 2025: Moving into next year, we are thrilled to announce our shift to the Department of Education’s Disability Inclusion model. This transition marks a significant step in fostering an even more inclusive and supportive learning environment for every student.
Thank You! None of this would be possible without the collective effort of our amazing students, dedicated staff, and supportive families. Together, we make Coburg North Primary School a place where everyone belongs and flourishes.
We wish you all a joyful holiday season filled with rest, connection, and happiness. Let’s continue to care for ourselves and each other as we look forward to 2025.
Take care,
The Wellbeing Team
Coburg North Primary School
Have you seen the new teepee near the Bishop Street Gate? We made the impromptu decision to add this to the Little Area after we saw how great the Prep one looked. We look forward to watching many students use this as a play space in the years to come.
The new carpets will be installed in the school holidays, then all the mammoth tasks are behind us and it's just the fun parts left! Our Wellbeing Team will then be able to add their inclusive furniture and the finishing touches to the space.
We hope you've taken a moment to admire the creativity of the Year 2 Teaching Team, their beautiful mural is in the Little Area and it will certainly be a legacy for the years to come.
School Holiday Projects
From mid January we have a rolling list of contractors coming onsite to install new carpets, blinds, cupboards and filling our playgrounds with 50m3 of mulch. We will also be working on reoiling the prep playground and all the outdoor timber benches.
2024 Volunteer Thankyous
We would like to take this moment to express our appreciation to all the Buildings and Grounds volunteers for 2024. Thankyou for lending your strength and passion to our school! For 2025, we have setup a Whatsapp Community Channel, which is where we will post any volunteer opportunities, we welcome our school community to join the Channel using this link. We look forward to reengaging with our school community in 2025 through our working bees and weekly volunteer opportunities.
Building & Grounds Plans for 2025
Currently we have two major projects planned for 2025, firstly we have secured Minor Captial Works funding to have the toilets in the Little Area upgraded in 2025. We are incredibly grateful to the Department for this investment of approximately $500,000 in our school facilities. Our second major project will be to create a senior (year 6) retreat near the year 6 portables. We currently don't have funding for this so we invite fundraising support from the school community. If you are in a position to donate please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Building Fund.
Thankyou for a wonderful 2024, good luck to the year 6 families as you embark on your senior school journey, happy holidays and we look forward to welcoming all returning students and families back to our beautiful school grounds next year!
It was great to see all the happy faces at our icy pole/popcorn/uniform stall at carols on Tuesday. That’s now a wrap on a busy 2024 for P&F. We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped out with P&F events in 2024.
P&F are looking forward to 2025 and as usual there will be lots of opportunities to come together as a community.
Keen to get involved? Everyone is welcome to join our monthly meetings and the first meeting for 2025 will be held at 7pm on 10th February at the school. Please join us to find out more about what being a member of P&F is all about, our fundraising goal for 2025, the events we have planned and how you can help. The recruitment of new members is key to our success as when existing members leave the school, the more new faces who can get involved, the better. It's also a great opportunity to get to know your fellow school community members.
To register your interest to get involved or to find out more, please email us at cnps_pf@hotmail.com
Which leads nicely into our next segment…
Farewell and thanks for all the snags, cakes and friendship…
As the Grade 6s prepare to graduate from Coburg North Primary School, this means it’s also time to farewell many parents, carers and families who have given so much to the school over many years.
On behalf of P&F and the school community, thank you for every time you volunteered, cooked a snag at a school BBQ, grew plants for the plant sale, donated a craft or baked item, or helped at a working bee – you have helped make this school a great place to be.
P&F particularly wants to recognise departing members who dedicated many, many, many hours to P&F and the school over the years – Tamara Heath, Amelia O’Neill, Meredith Dimsey, Vanessa Basilone and honorary P&F member, Paul Sutton.
Tamara Heath and Paul Sutton
To say CNPS is a better place because of Tamara and Paul’s contribution is an understatement.
As former P&F president and school councillor, there’s not many parents with more volunteer runs on the board than Tamara. She was instrumental in organising the memorable ‘Make Noise Festival’ held in 2017 and many P&F stalls and BBQs over the years.
We’d also like to recognise the contribution of Tamara’s husband, and honorary P&F member, Paul Sutton who has helped run many BBQs, at the monthly Friday lunches (when the school was smaller) and was P&F’s favourite person during his time on school staff as the grounds person.
With 3 daughters all attending CNPS, Tamara and Paul have been part of the school community for more than 10 years and have built strong networks during this time. As their final contribution to the school, they ran the Bunnings BBQ on a cold and rainy Sunday in July and filled all the volunteer spots by calling for support from their school networks alone!
Tamara and Paul leave an enormous legacy at CNPS and their friendly can-do attitudes will be greatly missed.
Amelia O’Neill
If only we could bottle the essence of what makes Amelia an extraordinary P&F member. Her contribution to the school has been as P&F Secretary, longtime coordinator of the school community Facebook page, running the 2nd hand clothing stall, organising trivia nights, as well as volunteering on countless stalls and BBQs. Amelia also worked incredibly hard to achieve the installation of sports boxes and equipment for students to use in honour of her close friend, school parent and P&F member Sian Harrison following her death from cancer. Amelia’s contribution stretches across many facets of school life, her dedicated involvement and no-nonsense approach is much admired by all who worked closely with her.
Meredith Dimsey
Many of the kids’ favourite things about Primary School activities that P&F have run over the years, are due to Meredith’s efforts! The kids’ Art Calendars and AFL pie and hot dog days were always incredibly popular. She’s also been P&F Treasurer for so long, no one remembers when she started! Meredith is renowned for her skills as the EFTPOS machine whisperer. During the CNPS State Election Market in 2022, Meredith worked ALL day running the EFTPOS payment system which only glitched when she went on her break to go and vote! Thank you, Meredith, for your ongoing involvement and support of P&F and the school over the years.
Vanessa Basilone
Green-thumb Vanessa coordinated the P&F Spring Plant Market for three years, bringing together growers from the school community as well as nurturing many seedlings and other plants to support the plant sale. Under Vanessa’s guidance, the plant market thrived during COVID by pivoting to an online sale and offering thousands of plants for sale. Other schools could only look on in wonder at how such a successful plant sale was achieved amid lockdowns and social distancing. Vanessa’s wonderful contribution proves that skill, tenacity and spirit for a great cause will bear fruit for all involved.
A heartfelt thank you from all at P&F and the entire CNPS community!
To contact the Parents and Friends group, email us at cnps_pf@hotmail.com.
Have a safe and happy holiday and we’ll see you in 2025!
2025 Term Dates:
- Term 1: Thursday, 30th January to Friday, 4th April (10 weeks)
- Term 2: Wednesday, 23rd April to Friday, 4th July (11 weeks)
- Term 3: Tuesday, 22nd July to Friday, 19 September (9 weeks)
- Term 4: Monday, 6th October to Friday, 19 December (11 weeks)
2025 Student Free Days:
Our School Council has approved the following student free days:
- 28th January (Tuesday) - Statewide Student Free Day
- 29th January (Wednesday) - Curriculum Day
- 22nd April (Tuesday) - Curriculum Day
- 6th June (Friday) - Student Free - Assessment writing day
- 21st July (Monday) - Curriculum Day
- 3rd November (Tuesday) - Student Free Day (professional practice day)
Other 2025 Events
Term 1
Week 1
- First Day back at School: Grade 1 - 6 Students return to school - Thursday, 30th January
Week 2
- Foundation students first day of school - Thursday, 6 February
- Tea & Tears 8:45am - Thursday, 6 February
- Body Safety Parent Information Night - online 7pm - Thursday, 6 February
Week 3
- Meet The Teacher Night - 12:30-7pm - Wednesday, 12 February