Newsletter: Term 1 - Week 1
A Message from the Principal
Thankyou everyone for the warm welcome I have received as I have joined Neville Bonner Primary School. There is clearly a strong sense of community and I feel privileged to be principal of this school. I’d like to welcome our new families who have started with us this year, and hope your children have had a settled and positive start to the year. With the restrictions in place I believe we had a settled and organised start to the year and it is great to have students onsite. We are continuing remind our older students who have younger siblings, that they can transition through the school to their younger sibling’s gate. The exception to this is preschool, where we cannot have older students on this site.
New staff
We have a number of new teaching staff who have joined the Neville Bonner Primary School team this year.
Goonlaur Sibunruang - Senior LSP class
Maddie Handley - Kindergarten
Yolanda Shao and Sheree Shoring – Year 1
Joanna Parry – Year 3
Will Colebatch – Year 4
Elizabeth Roufer – Year 5
Amanda Bray – Performing Arts Specialist Teacher
Amy Slaven – ICT Specialist Teacher
Distribution of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) –
I’d like to recognise the efforts of our staff in running a successful operation in supplying our community with two weeks supply of RATs. Many of our families expressed their thanks to staff which was well received and made them feel their efforts were appreciated.
We will inform you of how we intend on distributing RATs for weeks 3 and 4 next week.
Notification of COVID-19
As we return to school we expect to see positive cases of COVID-19 reported to us for both staff and students. Following a reported case, we work with the Education Directorate to assess the level of risk of each case and communicate to families accordingly.
In the event of a reported case you will receive communication from the school should it be determined that exposure may have occurred within your child’s year group. Generally, we will not be able to divulge information relevant to an individual class unless we categorically ascertain that the risk was unique to that room only. We cannot provide information to families whether the positive tests was from a staff member, visitor or student.
If your child is showing any symptoms, please do not send them to school. Use a RAT or PCR test and isolate until they receive a negative result. If your child has symptoms and has tested negative to a RAT they should stay home and take another test in 24 hours to exclude COVID-19.
Executive Team
Our executive team for Term 1 is as follows below.
Principal P-6 – Will Johnston
Deputy Principal P-2 and Preschool and Kindergarten Team Leader – Sascha Steinbeck
Deputy Principal 3-6 and Specialist Staff Team Leader – Melissa-Louise Brough
Executive Teacher Years 1 and 2 – Janet Hagan
Executive Teacher Years 3 and 4 – Mellissa Hoek
Executive Teacher Years 5 and 6 – Kerry Johnstone
Executive Teachers Disability Education – Charissa Gosper
Getting to Know You Yarns
We will again be carrying out ‘Getting to Know You' yarns. Information surrounding this important event on our school calendar will be sent out early next week. We would like as many families as possible to engage with this event as it provides a great opportunity to meet your child’s teacher. We will be carrying this out online to limit the amount of adults onsite. I am hopeful that later in the year we will be better placed to welcome parents on to site for events such as these.
Will Johnston
Principal
Dates to Remember
14 February - 18 February - Getting to Know You Yarns
21 February - P&C Annual General Meeting
Communications Sent Home This Week
Notes and Emails Home
RAT Distribution
COVID-19 exposure letters Kindergarten and Year 2
SMS Texts Home
RAT Collection Reminder
Absence notifications
School Board
Nominations for the 2022 school board open on Monday 7 February at 11am and close on Monday 21 February at 11am.
Positions available: Three parent positions.
Please contact reception for a nomination form.
Parents' and Citizens' Association
P & C General Meeting
Welcome to 2022! Our first meeting for the year (our AGM) will be held on Monday, 21st February at 6:30pm, with a 'meet and greet' at 6:15pm. We will advise of location (staff lounge or online) closer to the date. Please see attached advertisement and position information for the committee. We would love to see you there!
Facebook
If you are new to our school community, or even a long time member, you might not know we have a P&C Facebook page! Here you can find out more information about our meetings, canteen updates and fundraising! Find us at https://www.facebook.com/NBPS.PandC.
Second Hand Uniform Shop
The second hand uniform shop will be open on Wednesday, 9th February from 2:30pm to 3:30pm in the car park on Mabo Boulevard. We have loads of pre-loved uniforms for sale. Preferred payment is via EFTPOS, however cash will be accepted.
Contact Information
Principal:
Will Johnston william.johnston@ed.act.edu.au
Deputy Principals:
Sascha Steinbeck (P-2) sascha.steinbeck@ed.act.edu.au
Melissa Brough (3-6) melissa-louise.brough@ed.act.edu.au
P&C President:
Kylie O’Keeffe nevillebonnerps.pandc@gmail.com
Board Chair:
Amani Kerr
Reminders
The COVID-19 pandemic is not over. Restrictions are still in place-including in our schools-and we all need to be vigilant. This includes not sending children to school when they are sick. If your child has any kind of illness, even if it is just a runny nose, they must not come to school. If your child is unwell at school, you will be asked to collect them. It is important that we limit the spread of disease during this pandemic. By doing the right thing you can help keep Canberra COVID safe.