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.
Wominjeka, Coburg North Primary School community!
As we navigate the chilly mornings of July, it's impressive to see our students prepared and eager for their learning activities. Despite the cold, it's encouraging to see their positive attitude each day.
Parent Opinion Survey - We Want You to Tell Us What You Think
Each year, the Department of Education opens the annual Parent/Caregiver Opinion Survey. This survey is designed to help schools gain a better understanding of families' perspectives on school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement. At Coburg North Primary School, we value your feedback immensely as it helps us improve our programs and initiatives.
Why Your Feedback Matters:
Over the past two years, based on your feedback, we have made several significant improvements:
- Homework Program: We have introduced a systematic synthetic phonics spelling program.
- School Wide Positive Behaviour Program: Strengthened our approach to foster a sense of responsibility and respect.
- Resilience Skills: Implemented The Resilience Project and The Berry Street Education Model to enhance students' resilience.
- Assessment Practices: Introduced DIBELS reading assessment and assessments from the Department of Education’s Digital Assessment Library for reading and mathematics.
- Parent Involvement: Reintroduced Parent Helpers after our Covid invited participation in Parents and Friends, and organised whole school events like Harmony Night and Carols.
- Curriculum Events: Encouraged parent involvement in Italian Day, Athletics, school camps, and more.
- Communication Channels: Provided concise updates via Compass. Established Parents and Friends 'What’s App' groups for school communication and connections. Launched the CNPS Instagram page and kept our website up to date. Monthly newsletters to update the community on educational programs, initiatives, and events. Created CNNN (Coburg North News Network), where students share what’s happening at CNPS through video. Clearly identified communication processes on our school website. Made the Parent Handbook available on Compass. Shared Term Overviews to inform parents of the semester’s teachings. Introduced reading workshops.
Survey Details:
The survey will be conducted online, takes only 20 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at any convenient time on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones. It will be available in English and 10 other languages, including Arabic, Greek, Hakha Chin, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Somali, Turkish, and Vietnamese. Resources are also available in additional languages to assist parents/caregivers/guardians who speak a language other than English at home. Please reach out to your child’s teacher or the school directly for survey guides in your language.
Expect to see the survey in your inbox next week. We would love everyone to complete the survey to provide us with accurate feedback.
Your participation is crucial in helping us create the best possible environment for our students. Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to our school.
Warm regards,
Monika
Green & Gold Day
On Friday 26th of July we held our ‘Green & Gold Day’ at school to support the Aussie athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. At lunch we held a heap of amazing events to get everyone active and into the Australian spirit! Some of these activities included a tricky agility course, which the Sport and House Captains helped to set up and run. We timed people and the person with the quickest time earnt house points for their team. We also ran a 50m sprint against the teachers where about 100 students had a go, got active and were involved in a cracking race against the teachers. The last activity we did at lunch was the beep test, where we had lots of fit participants pushing to challenge themselves and their friends. Everyone got involved and had an incredible time. For more ‘Green & Gold’ action, make sure you tune into the Olympics over the next two weeks to see our amazing athletes do us proud in Paris! Up the Aussies!
By Vivienne and Riley
Grade 3 Excursion - The LUME
Grade 2 Science Incursion
On Wednesday the 24th of July, Grade 2 students extended their understanding of light and sound with an exciting incursion by Hands on Science. Each student got to see what it is like to be a scientist by hypothesising, testing, and experimenting with different instruments and materials to create light and sound energy. To learn how our eyes and ears sense light and sound, students also created range of sensory experiences!
Here are some comments from the Grade 2s about the incursion:
- My favourite part was when we made the box guitars because it made a really good tune – Dilara
- My favourite part was when we did the shadows because it made really cool pictures on the wall – Lana
- My favourite part was when we used a plastic cup and then used a certain type of string and attached them together and they made a chicken noise or a farting noise (so basically a chicken with gas) – Greta
- My favourite part was making different vibrations with the tuning forks, and I really enjoyed when the tuning forks hit the water because it made a splash! - June
- My favourite part was the tuning forks because when you banged it on the table and put it next to a ping pong ball on a string, it made the ball bounce because of the strong vibrations - Maggie
All students are looking forward to applying and sharing their learning, including demonstrations of how we sense light or sound, with the CNPS community at the Student-Led Exhibition in week 10 this term! We hope to see you there!
Team Verde
Team Verde (student environmental group) has set up a container donation bin near the front gate. For every drink container with the 10c mark the school will get ten cents! That means if everyone dropped off one container the school would get over $50. If everyone donated 20 containers that would be more than $1000!!! We will use the money for sustainability projects such as creating habitat gardens, reducing waste, and saving energy and water.
Donating your used drink containers to school is just an option. If you are already making use of the container deposit scheme for your own purpose, we encourage you to continue doing so.
Team Verde
Jump Rope for Heart
Jump Rope for Heart kicks off this term at Coburg North Primary School!
Jump Rope for Heart is the Heart Foundation’s primary school skipping challenge that helps kids move more, have fun, and raise funds for life-saving research and programs.
This year we’ve got an audacious goal to see our student Heart Heroes at CNPS to log 40 hours of skipping throughout the program!
Register your child online, so they can receive the full benefits of the program and participate in online fundraising, simply follow the link below to get started. www.jumprope.org.au/parents. Once registered, you can share their online fundraising page with family and friends to help raise money for this great cause.
Students will be skipping throughout the term during PE lessons and lunch breaks, including a lunchtime club run by Grade 6s. They are also encouraged to continue practising at home!
We will hold our school Jump Off Day in Week 10, which will mark the end of the program and is a chance for everyone to come together to skip and show off their newly learned skills. For further information, please visit www.jumprope.org.au/parents.
Thank you for supporting the Jump Rope for Heart program!
Peer Mediation at CNPS
This term, volunteer Grade 6 students have started peer mediation at all lunch times during the week. The purpose of peer mediation is to support the junior students (Foundation - Grade 2) in resolving non-physical conflict through restorative conversations. This provides a fantastic leadership opportunity for the senior students and further develops relationships with students from different year levels.
The Grade 6 peer mediators work in pairs, wear a fluoro vest and move throughout the foundation playground and little area (pirate ship playground) looking for students who require their assistance. They then use a script to help students reflect on what happened prior to, and during the conflict, and guide them to decide on the best way to resolve the problem and prevent it from happening again in the future.
Peer mediators are also on the lookout for students showing excellent examples of our school values in the yard, and are able to acknowledge their positive behaviour with our school values stickers.
Wellbeing and Inclusion Update
Welcome to Term 3! The start of the term has been as busy as always, and the WIT team is looking forward to an exciting second semester of school for 2024.
Resilience Project
Our work with the team at the Resilience Project has continued, and all teaching staff at school were fortunate to recently attend a workshop by the Resilience Project founder, Hugh Van Cuylenburg. Many of you may have heard of Hugh through his podcast “The Imperfects.” Hugh has been a leader in the Positive Psychology movement in Australia, and the work his team is doing in schools across Australia and other parts of the world is inspiring to hear. Listening to his personal stories and reflections as a teacher, parent, brother, and son highlights the importance of continuing the work we have begun with the Resilience Project this year.
Body Safe
The Body Safe program for 2024 has begun this term, and all students from Foundation through to Grade 6 have had the chance to participate in these sessions. The Wellbeing and Inclusion team will be meeting with the staff from Body Safe to discuss the program for 2025 and beyond to ensure we are meeting the needs of our students with the most relevant learning and resources.
SWPBS
The SWPBS Team at Coburg North PS recently met with our regional coach to review our data from recent teacher surveys. He was impressed with our progress over the last 12 months. We are progressing so well that he believes we’re on track to skip the Bronze certificate and achieve Silver status by the end of the school year. This achievement will be celebrated at meetings among other principals in our network in the future.
Disability Inclusion
As mentioned previously, our school will transition from the previous model of Program for Students with Disabilities to the Disability Inclusion Model. We are among the last schools in the state to make this transition, and as a result, we are starting to receive more information about what that will mean for us as a school. We will aim to share any relevant information with our school community as it becomes available, and we also plan to hold a parent forum to discuss this with parents and carers and allow for questions to be fielded.
Thank you,
Pat Lynch
We are excited to share with you the drawings for our new O'Hea Street Entry Plaza and extension to the Foundation playground. RB Landscapes been engaged to completing these works. Other projects RB Landscapes have completed at CNPS include Coburg Crop, seating next to the COLA and the Foundation playground. Works are scheduled to commence on Monday, August 12th and are expected to take 5-6 weeks.
This project will open the front of the school and allow for 24 hour access to parts of the office building. As a result, the school is looking into the installation of CCTV at the O'Hea St. entrance as a security measure. There are no plans to have CCTV in any other part of the school. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact the school via email.
During construction, families are asked to use the Bishop or Jersey Street gates at drop off and pick up times. Students who usually park their bikes or scooters at the O'Hea St. entrance are asked to park in the bike parking at the Bishop St. or Jersey St. entrances.
Over the next few weeks, minor resurfacing works will take place on the oval around the soccer and football goals. This work is taking place in stages to allow students to continue to use the oval when the weather permits. Portable soccer goals have been placed on the oval for student use in the interim.
In this week’s School Council we will be reviewing NAPLAN data and results, as well as the outcome of various school initiatives and activities, including various community and other surveys. As we race towards the end of year, I remind everyone that your suggestions, feedback and ideas are vital to our school’s continual improvement, so I encourage you to please keep the feedback and suggestions flowing by emailing using the school contact details on our website or enquire at the front office.
Paul Cavicchiolo
CNPS School Council President
Introducing our new President!
Hi Everyone! I’m Kelly Lynagh, parent of Grade 5 and Grade 2 kiddos. I’ve been a member for the last few years and have immensely enjoyed taking part in the events organised by the P&F. Keep an eye out for future events and meetings as I encourage others to consider joining and getting to know our greater community deeper. Thanks especially to our departing President Georgie Murphy for her leadership this past year and a shout out to the members for their continued enthusiasm and hard work.
Bunnings BBQ
Thanks to everyone who volunteered or popped along to buy a snag on Sunday which, in true Melbourne style, meant braving hail, rain, sunshine and wind all in one hour. Special thanks to Paul and Tamara for keeping the stall running smoothly all day.
Parents and Friends would also to like to thank anyone who donated or loaned items to run the stall, specifically Their Care who donated many of the items we needed. A great team effort and the money raised will be going towards the new PA system in the COLA.
Dates for your diary and get involved
Term 3 is a busy time for events as we continue with our fundraising goal of a new PA system for the COLA. Here's how you can get involved.
Volunteer, make or bake for the Father's and Special Person's Day Stall - Friday 30 August
Parents and Friends will be hosting this at the school on Friday 30 August.
We will need lots of items to sell and volunteers to run the stall on the day.
Items for sale can be dropped off to the school on Thursday 29 August or on the day of the stall. Things that sell well are baked goods, crafts and small plants.
To sign up to volunteer an hour or so of your time on the day, CLICK HERE or go to https://signup.com/go/YOmycRW
On the day, please send your children with $$ and a bag to take home their goodies. Items will range in price from $1 to $10.
CNPS Trivia Night - Saturday 14 September - save the date
Get the babysitter booked and assemble your teams, the social event of the year is once again here!
This year we will be returning to the West Coburg Bowling Club.
We still need lots of help to plan the event and arrange prizes - please e-mail cnps_pf@hotmail.com if you can volunteer your time/skills to our working group or come along to our next meeting on Monday 19 August.
Keep any eye out for Compass notifications over the coming weeks on how to book your table.
Plant Stall - postponed
After much consideration the Plant Stall will be postponed to next year. For those that volunteer and contribute every year, and will miss being involved in a gardening event, we will be organising some green thumb activities later in the year. This will be in collaboration with the school but as always ideas and suggestions are welcome! If you have an idea for something you’d like to see around the school grounds, please email through to cnps_pf@hotmail.com
Next P&F meeting - 19 August - everyone welcome
Our next monthly meeting is on Monday 19 August 7 - 8.00 pm. The meeting will be held on-line given it's still freezing - to receive the meeting link please e-mail cnps_pf@hotmail.com
Even if you've never been to a meeting before, we'd really appreciate any help you can offer during this busy time of the year.
Celebrating Science Week – Friday 23 August
In celebration of Science Week, students will be participating in an engaging science show. Each grade will attend the Mad Science Show, an epic journey through space! Students will witness explosive big bangs, count down to exciting rocket launches, and discover what makes our blue planet, Earth, truly special. The wonders of the solar system will be brought to life in this exciting 60-minute show. It is full of demonstrations and includes some audience participation. Students will attend in one of three groups:
- 9:40am - 10:40am: Foundation - Grade 2
- 11:30am - 12:30pm: Grade 3 - Grade 4
- 1:50pm - 2:50pm: Grade 5 - Grade 6
Students will also be involved in a collaborative engineering design challenges in their own grades. Students in Foundation – Grade 2 will be designing a marble maze using playdoh, and students in Grade 3-6 will be designing a paper ball run with a catch – the ball has to take the longest amount of time possible to exit the run. Stay tuned to hear the results!
Week 4
- Foundation - 100 Days of School - Wednesday, 7 August
- Grade 1 Zoo Excursion - Thursday, 8 August
Week 5
- Grade 3/4 Author Visit- Zani Louise - Tuesday, 13 August
- Grade 4 Camp - The Island - Wednesday, 14 August - Friday, 16 August
Week 6
- Grade 5/6 Author Visit - Felice Arena - Tuesday, 20 August
- Book Week - Book Parade 9:15am - Thursday, 22 August
- Mad About Science Show F-6 and engineering challenge - Friday, 23 August