Newlands

Campus News

Newlands Special Kids Carnival

Across Victoria, Very Special Kids provides holistic palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions. This includes emotional, clinical and practical support to improve quality of life and to create positive, lasting memories for the children and their families.

Haileybury has several families who have been, and continue to be, supported by VSK. The VSK Piggy Bank Appeal is a wonderful way to give back and provide our support and Newlands is very excited, once again, to support the Very Special Kids Foundation by hosting a Carnival Day on Monday, 11 September. The day will include:

• VSK Big Pig merchandise sales with items range from $3.00 to $20.00 and including piggy banks, beanies, pencils, pens and keyrings
• Lunchtime carnival games for $1.00 each
• HPFK sausage sizzle: $2.50 sausages, $2.00 drinks, $6.00 combo.

Junior School families are invited to bring money in early from Wednesday, 6 September and Homeroom Teachers will keep a record of this. We are hoping this will be our biggest VSK Carnival yet! We look forward to seeing smiling faces and raising as much money as we can to support this very important cause.

Hockey success!

Year 8 student Zachary has made Hockey Victoria’s U13 State squad and will represent Victoria at the Australian National U13 Hockey Carnival in Newcastle from 23–29 September.

In July, Zachary played in the Eastern Metro Hotshots team at the Junior State Championships. He was then selected for the Hockey Victoria high performance academy and has been training there for the past two months. We wish him every success in September.

Year 12s lend a hand

Our Year 12 Senior School students are eagerly waiting for their opportunity to visit the Junior School to help with English and Mathematics lessons in the Prep, 1 and 2 classrooms.

This initiative is driven by the Year 12 students and highlights their commitment to building strong connections across the school community. As well as academic support, it reflects their strong sense of social justice and community engagement. By giving back and generously offering their time, these Senior students set a remarkable example for their younger peers by illustrating collaboration and empathy.

Early Learning Centre

Students adopt a park

Recently, the Pre-Prep children, educators and parents worked with City of Greater Dandenong horticulturalists and environmental officers as part of the Adopt-a-Park program. The children learned about the importance of creating habitats and nurturing local ecosystems. They also learned about different native animals who live in the neighbouring bush and wetlands.

Children in Pre-Prep will continue to visit the park over the coming months to observe the progress of the plants and continue their care. As the Pre-Prep children transition to Prep, they will pass the responsibility to the current Reception children to ensure continuous care of the garden.

Angus: “I liked going on the bus because it was so big! I liked stepping on the Hamilton digger because it was so wobbly and I needed someone to hold my hand. A Hamilton digger makes a hole in the ground for the plants to grow.”

Jack: “Caring for the environment is good for the animals. Today I planted trees for the habitat for magpies and possums and snakes.”

Bella: “I liked planting the trees because you get to put the plant inside the little holes, and they will grow with water and sunlight.”

A meeting of two worlds

For two days, children in Reception and Pre-Prep were excited to welcome Senior School students to the ELC. To support their studies of Health and Human Development and to focus on different stages of life, our Senior School students spent time with children in the ELC each morning.

These visits were a rich reciprocal learning opportunity as students from the Senior School modelled exceptional leadership, communication and social skills while children in the ELC shared their creativity, openness and sense of wonder. Our youngest and oldest students talked, built towers and sandcastles, drew pictures and spent time outside.

It was also wonderful to see some of our Senior School students who attended the ELC return to where their learning journey began.

“While I enjoyed pretending to drink tea with the younger students, I cherished the innocent conversations that the older students were able to uphold. I left impressed with the immense amount of social skill development the children gain over one year where they build confidence and social awareness. The opportunity to obtain a few high fives and share a laugh with the ELC students at the Keysborough campus was definitely a highlight of the Health and Human Development Unit 2 curriculum.” Norah (Year 11)

Mark Harrop

Acting Head of Newlands (Keysborough)

Lenice Norris
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Keysborough