Dear CNPS Community,

Welcome to the first newsletter for the year! I hope all families have been able to access the Sentral Parent Portal; please contact me if you require support with this. Today's newsletter is a brief edition. In future weeks, you will be able to enjoy a report from each teaching team, with information about what students have been doing/learning, and usually some photos as well. Starting next week, we will also have "Values Awards"; each class teacher will nominate one or two students to be recognised for showing one of our school values - Thoughtfulness, Courage, Passion and Wonder. The Values Awards are published in the newsletters, and then presented to the students at the following Monday assembly. All parents/family members are welcome at our weekly assemblies - Mondays - 9am (for 20-30 mins) in the Silver Banksia building.

A big welcome to our newest and youngest community members - the gorgeous Preps!  Welcome also to our new parents and families.  We have some new students starting in Grades 1-6 this year, and we warmly welcome these students to CNPS as well. We also have 3 new staff members starting this week - Mrs Tagliabue - sharing 5/6HT with Hannah Ryan, Ms Rivalland in 5/6R, and Mr Sajko in 1/2 S. We are excited to have you on our staff team!

HOUSEKEEPING:

Some information especially for our new parents, but possibly good reminders for all!

1. PARKING

You will have noticed that we have limited parking at CNPS; please observe the parking restriction signage - noting that some areas are parallel, and others are angle parking. Parking inspectors have been known to issue tickets in our neighbourhood, so please be mindful of this, to avoid a fine. There is also a no standing area on the Bull Street side of the school - between the Cleanaway bin and the start of the bus zone. Please observe this restriction, for safety reasons, when reversing out into bus travel paths, and near the gates where parents are picking up/dropping off. The Bull St gate is particularly busy and potentially hazardous if drivers are not reversing onto the correct side of the road, etc.

For those who live close by, please consider walking or riding to school where possible, and for those who need to drive, please try to park on the next block and walk the rest of the way, and use the Barker St crossing if convenient.

Please also note that there is an "un-manned" crossing on Hunter Street.  Cars must give way to pedestrians using that crossing when the flags are displayed, and no parking is permitted inside the crossing zone.  

2. SUSHI WEDNESDAYS

We will commence our lunch orders from Lunchbox Sushi next Wednesday February 4th. Please order at School Lunch Online by 5pm on Tuesdays and send your child with an empty container for their sushi on Wednesday. Be sure to select your child's correct class name for 2026, to ensure that their lunch is delivered to the correct classroom.

ICYPOLE FRIDAYS - We sell Quelch Fruit Juice Icypoles each Friday lunchtime in Terms 1 and 4 for 50 cents.

3. PRIVATE MUSIC LESSONS

We support students and their families to engage with private (individual or small group) music tuition onsite at CNPS.  We are fortunate to have very talented tutors in Scott Sanders, Carl Pannuzzo and Sarah McDonald as our resident tutors. See below for a message from Sarah. More information to come from Scott and Carl in a future newsletter, once I know more about their availability for new students this year.

4.  SCHOOL WEBSITE

I encourage you to visit our school website - Charlie has been working hard to update it, and there are some fun facts about our staff on there, as well as a comprehensive FAQ section, and some helpful information about our learning programs:  https://sites.google.com/education.vic.gov.au/castlemainenorthps/home

5.  SUMMER HOUSE REBUILD

I am excited to get our Summer House (see pictures below) renovated this year - a long overdue project for CNPS.  If you have any building, carpentry, landscaping or painting skills and would like to be part of the fun, please contact me. 

THANK YOU:

to the parents who kept our grass and gardens alive over the hot summer weeks - Nico Pye coordinated the following dream team - Megan, Nicci, Kat, Andy, Christine, Stephanie, Amy, Eryn and Liz... with Nic Turner being the ultimate green thumb and overseeing the operation!  If you would like to be part of our Mowing Crew, please let me know.  It involves mowing the oval and other grass areas in the school on a roster (each person will mow maybe every 6 weeks?)

I look forward to a great 2026, and can't wait to see what we can achieve!

Have a good weekend,

Sam C