IF THERE was any crying going on as a record 36 new preppies arrived, with a skip and a jump, for their first day of school at Newhaven Primary School last Thursday, it would only have been the parents.
As far as the new kids were concerned, they were up and about and raring to go.
“The kinder is fantastic,” said Newhaven Primary School Principal Sharyne Munday about the students’ preparation.
“Having the kinder on site here has been great and into our third year now, you really notice the difference, not only with the way the kids are prepared but also with our enrolments.
“This is our biggest intake for many years, and they’ve already settled in,” she said.
A “where is the green sheep?” treasure hunt around the school, as a fun orientation exercise, certainly helped.
“As well as the education support they receive at kinder, they’re practically onsite already and they get six sessions at the school before they start,” said Sharyne.
“They’ve already had a PE session, they’ve been to art and science and a lot of the kids have siblings here so they’ve already been on the school grounds numerous times.”
Ms Munday said the new group of 36 preps would split ideally into two classes of 18 under the supervision of experienced teachers Jo Robinson and Beth Williams, together with support from education aide Ruby Anderson, herself a former student at Newhaven, and planning to go on and complete her teaching qualification.
It all made for a successful transition and a great start to the school year at Newhaven with something over 150 total enrolments, including two additional kids who showed up out of the blue on Tuesday.
There are plenty of highlights to look forward to in term 1 but the school is already gearing up for its key fundraiser for the year, its main community outreach activity, the Newhaven Primary School Music Festival and Market.
“The fete just got too big, and the weather was unpredictable, so we’ve opted for a music festival and market now and we’re into our second year. The kids perform and we also have a range of local artists as well.”
They’ve got the swimming sports at Wonthaggi this Friday, for grades 3-6, and there’s a twilight athletics carnival later in February but the focus is on establishing a year of progress in the classroom and they’re off to a flying start in that regard.
