Principal’s Report

The Fun Continues

It’s been a busy and exciting few weeks at our school! Inside this newsletter, you’ll find highlights from our amazing FUNRaiser and the colourful Book Week Parade.

Looking ahead, we’re excited for our Father’s Day Breakfast and the launch of Shrek The Musical Jr tickets, which go on sale Monday at 9.00am. Don’t miss the chance to step into the swamp with us and enjoy the wonderful performing talents of our Stage 3 students.

As part of the musical season, we’ll also welcome back our friends from Plunkett Street School to attend the dress rehearsal. This special partnership, which began in 2019, is always a highlight. For some of their students, it’s their first trip “over the bridge.” We’re proud to provide lunch, entertainment, and most importantly, opportunities to build new friendships and reconnect with old ones.

Staffing Challenges

Like many schools, we’ve faced some staffing challenges this term, particularly with winter illness and other circumstances beyond our control. We sincerely thank all our families for their patience and understanding – especially those in 4O and 6H who have been most affected.

I will share a further update with you via School Bytes this afternoon.

Christine Smith

Principal

Sustainability @ NPS

Please note that we have a new Sustainability Initiative at NPS. This carries forward from a trial run we held at the Mother’s Day breakfast. We will again be using The Huskee Cup Initiative at Father’s Day. Sustainability is very important to us at NPS, and we aim to make all events as low waste as possible. This Father’s Day, your tea and coffee will be served in reusable Huskee cups — helping us save around 200 single-use cups from landfill.

How it works!
The P&C pay a deposit for the cups, which is refundable when the cups are returned (a small service fee covers the washing up and admin).

When you’re done, simply pop your Huskee cup and lid into the designated bins. Easy!

When!

Father’s Day Breakfast
Friday 5th September
7.30am – 9am
Basketball Courts

So this Father’s Day don’t bin it re-use it.

Student of the Week

Congratulations to the following students who were presented with their Student of the Week certificates at our recent K-6 assembly. Well done!

Stewart House Online Fundraiser

Every year we run an online donation drive for Stewart House, a school for disadvantaged children.

Each year 1,600 public school children-in-need come to Stewart House from many parts of NSW and the ACT. During their 12-day stay at Stewart House, children are provided with medical, dental and optometric assessment and treatment. For children requiring additional support, counselling is available. This is balanced with health and education programs and out of school activities to boost their self-esteem and promote better physical and mental health. These services are provided free of charge to the children who attend this unique facility.

If you would care to donate please do so online, and note Northbridge Public School in the company name field.

There will be a mufti day for students to join the cause on Wednesday, 10 September (Week 8).

DONATE

Our Vision is to enable all the children who come to Stewart House to:

Have a wide range of rich and rewarding experiences
Be inspired to see beyond their present circumstances
Have real hope and positive aspirations for their future

The Stewart House Program is designed to help the children:

Develop self-care, social and conflict resolution skills
Learn to relax and overcome anxiety
Develop a broader outlook on life
Establish friendships and routines in a safe community
Increase their self-esteem
Feel more emotionally supported

Whilst in residence, children are provided with:

Eye, ear, dental, and general health screening
Essential treatment, including tooth extraction and prescription glasses
Accommodation, meals, laundry services, transport and excursions
Medication and basic needs such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, new shoes and appropriate clothing

Heroes and Villians FUNraiser

A big thank you to all the parents & carers who attended our FUNraiser. It was a very enjoyable evening and we so appreciate the efforts of all the Year 2 parents that help pull the event together. Most especially we would like to thank Shelley Johnson and her team Jamall Mahdi, Abbe Waugh, Jules Ledgerwood, Sylvie McCallum, Rebecca Adorni, Tricia (Khai) Tan, Alysha Cowan, Jules Leitao, Sally Johnston, Sheridan Draper, Paul Stickings, Sophie Chow, Rebecca Lucas, and Adelaide Eastley as well as our wonderful P&C.

We were so impressed with all the effort put into turning our community of parents into Heroes and Villians for the night. You are all Heroes to us as you raised over $26,000 for our wonderful school. Thank you all for your generosity that will allow us to buy new lighting and projection equipment for our school hall. This will help all of our assemblies and musicals to be as heroic as our school community.

Book Week Parade

Our students and staff dressed up for Book Week and made their own adventure. Despite the downpour we managed to hold our parade in the school hall. Thank you also to the parents who came along (some even dressed up). What a wonderful celebration of Book Week!

A dialogue with Mrs Wineberg

Name: Mrs Michelle Wineberg

Job Title: Relieving Assistant Principal, 3/4S Class teacher

Define your job in one word: Impactful

Words of advice for someone wanting a job like yours?

If you’re aiming to become an assistant principal, start by getting involved—lead initiatives, join committees, and show you’re ready. Know your “why” and lead with purpose. Build trust through consistency and follow-through. Strong teaching is the foundation, but leadership also means mentoring and supporting others. Learn how the school runs—timetables, staffing, wellbeing, and systems matter. Seek feedback and use it to grow. Develop emotional intelligence to handle conflict calmly and with empathy. Lead from your current role—titles follow action. Stay connected, learn from others, and be ready for challenges. Leadership is rewarding but demanding, so set boundaries and look after yourself.

When you were at school as a student who was your most inspirational/favourite teacher and why?

My favourite teacher was Mrs Richards. I was lucky enough to have her in both Year 4 and Year 5. Through her, I developed a real love of reading. She was kind, encouraging, and created a classroom where everyone wanted to do their best. I admired her so much—I wanted to be just like her.

How do you spend your time when you are not at NPS?

I enjoy spending my time with family and friends. I love reading, so my Kindle is never far from reach. I’m a big sports fan—while I’m a Manly member, my heart belongs to the St George Dragons. I also love watching Formula 1 and rarely miss a race. One of my favourite ways to relax is going for drives with my husband and our dog, Buddy. I love to travel and am especially excited about an upcoming trip to South Africa. I absolutely love giraffes, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them in the wild.

Music and TV streaming habits: what do you subscribe to?

We subscribe to a number of TV and music services, including Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, Disney+, and YouTube Music. I love to binge TV series—there’s nothing better than watching episode after episode and getting completely hooked on a great show. I’ve also got my own playlists set up, and my family has a shared playlist we like to add to for our drives. We just pop it on shuffle and enjoy the mix of songs.

What was the most recent book you read?

“Wonder” by R.J. Palacio.

What is your mantra?

Choose Kind

School Sport Unit Tenpin Bowling Competition

Harrison (4J) and Charlie (5H) enthusiastically participated in the School Sport Unit Tenpin Bowling Competition on Monday18th August. The boys showcased a knack for bowling, playing two rounds of Tenpin Bowling at Strike in Chatswood and landed impressive total scores as a team.

The boy’s determination and camaraderie earned them 2nd place within their pool, and an outstanding 23rd place overall across the Greater Sydney and Central Coast regions. They represented Northbridge Public School with pride and demonstrated enthusiasm, persistence and great teamwork.

Congratulations Harrison and Charlie!

The Premiers Spelling Bee – Regional Finals

On Thursday 21st August, the Regional Finals of the Premier’s Spelling Bee for our school took place. We had two fantastic spellers from NPS represent at the event.

Junior: Hugo G (3/4S)
Senior: Tina H (6L)

With some tough competition against finalists from various other schools across NSW, we’re pleased to share the students’ results below:

Hugo came 6th place, out of 25.

Hugo’s words were rustic, microscope, skirmish, irrespective, westerly, grammar and intrigue

Tina came 6th place, out of 25.

Tina’s words were wildlife, patella, etymology, entrepreneur, residual, illustrious, aerosol, and indestructible

Congratulations to both Hugo and Tina for their massive efforts and the time they gave to prepare for these regional finals!

Golfing Success @ NPS

Zachary S (3B) recently participated in the Sydney North golf trial held at North Turramurra Golf Course. Despite some wild weather and a rescheduled washout, he competed primarily against Stage 3 students and demonstrated remarkable skill, determination, and experience well beyond his years.

We are delighted to announce that Zachary has been selected to represent Sydney North at the upcoming NSWPSSA Championships, which will be held at Barooga Cobram Golf Club from Tuesday, 23rd September to Thursday, 25th September 2025.

We are very proud of Zachary’s achievement and wish him all the best as he embarks on the next stage of his golfing journey!

Multicultural Speaking Regional Finals

A massive congratulations to Maaliya D (4O), who competed at the regional finals in the NSW Multicultural Public Speaking Competition. Maaliya did a spectacular speech. She was the Stage 2 Regional Champion and is now going to the State Finals of the Multicultural Speaking Competitiion on Friday 17th October at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference. She will be competing with the top 10 speakers in the state for her competition.

The organiser said the competition started with tens of thousands of students, with over 2000 competing in the locals round and 160 were left in the Regionals Competition.

What an achievement! Everyone at NPS is so proud of you Maaliya!

Tennis Champion

10U National Tennis Championships

We are delighted to announce that Eva H (5H) has qualified for the 10U National Tennis Championships, taking place during the September school holidays.

After winning several lead-up events, Eva secured her place in the NSW qualification tournament. Competing in a tough knockout format, she emerged as the number one NSW qualifier and will now join three other girls from New South Wales competing this September in Adelaide (South Australia).

The Championships bring together the top 32 girls and boys under 10s from all across Australia, who will compete over five days in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

We are incredibly proud of Eva’s achievements and wish her every success at this exciting national event!

Musical ticket information and poster competition finalists

Get ready to enter the land of fairytales! In just a few short weeks the 2025 Stage 3 Musical Shrek the Musical Jr will be performed!

Students in years 5 and 6 have been working so hard over the last term and a half to put on a marvellous show for you. They will perform at 7pm – 8:30pm on Tuesday 23^rd September and Wednesday 24^th September in our school hall.

Tickets for the musical will be available for purchase on Monday 1^st September at 9am and can be purchased through the Trybooking link: https://www.trybooking.com/DEVEW. The cost is $15 per seat.

To ensure all families who wish to attend can purchase tickets, there is a limit of four tickets per family in total (across both show nights). On Monday 7^th September at 9am the ticket limit will be lifted.

To celebrate, the Stage 3 students had a competition to design the poster for our musical. The winning entry gets to be the cover of the program! Thank you to all stage 3 students who submitted an entry – it was a tricky decision.

The top six poster entries can be found hanging outside of Mrs Smith’s offices and are:

Keona

Amy C

Ellie

Nina

Alisa

and the poster competition winner Tina!

A note from the bands!

On Sunday August 3, the Training Band and the Concert Band performed at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival in the Clancy Auditorium at the University of New South Wales.

This was a fantastic opportunity for all students for the students to perform for a large audience in a beautiful auditorium. Both of the bands performed incredibly well and should be very proud of their performances. The Training Band received a Bronze award and the Concert band received a Silver award.

Events like performing at ASBOF are unable to happen without the dedicated band parents who sacrifice their time and effort to make sure the Band is successful. Thank you for supporting the band students in their musical endeavours!

NRMA Road Safety Program

On Thursday 21st August an called Amelian from Fizzics Education through an NRMA Road Safety initiative came to the school and gave us all a lesson in science and road safety.

It was not only fun and interactive, but also very informative. The program uses theatrics and science, using hovercrafts, skill-testers and crash efff/alternative tests and was am action packed day. Their aim is, ‘Working with us to ensure our students are safe on the road, always.

You can help us keep the momentum going by asking your child to tell you all the things they learnt at school on the day.

Kids Giving Back

Mrs Smith received a lovely letter from Kids Giving Back this week and we would like to publish some of it in the newsletter. A big thank you to the two wonderful students Nina M (5H) and Penelope P H (5H) who volunteered their time to help give back and serve others with Kids Giving Back.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Dear Mrs Smith,

I hope this note finds you well and that the term is going smoothly for your school community.

I’m delighted to share the wonderful impact your students have made with Kids Giving Back between May and August. Their generosity, kindness, and teamwork have truly stood out.

Celebrating Your Students’ Impact
The following students joined over 1300 young changemakers who prepared and delivered more than 11 500 meals, snack packs, and care packages, along with heartfelt notes of encouragement for those in need. Together, they supported 15 Sydney charities! A remarkable contribution that speaks volumes about the values your school instils.

Research shows that young people who volunteer build stronger social connections, better wellbeing, and a sense of belonging. Your students embodied all of this, and we are so proud to see them leading with heart.

What’s Coming Up
We’d love to welcome more of your students and families into our programs:

October School Holiday Programs – Bookings now open (flyer attached for your newsletter).
Community Programs – Weekend family volunteering for ages 5+, plus special events like Father’s Day Cook4Good (flyer attached for your newsletter).
Service-Learning (Excursions & Incursions) – Hands-on experiences at our Hub or at your school, linking real-world issues with wellbeing, civics & citizenship, and PDHPE.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support. Every time your students walk through our doors, they remind us why we do this work and together, we are building the next generation of generosity.

Kids Giving Back

NPS is so proud of you girls! Parents, if you would like for your own students to attend a Kids Giving Back session please see the flyer below.

Nura Diya Excursion

Connecting to Country

On Monday 25th August Ms Carter and Maddi M (KC) attended Taronga’s new immersive experience, Nura Diya Australia. It is home to iconic and rare Australian species and the unique habitats that they call home. The name Nura Diya is from Sydney First Language and means ‘This Country’; these words have been gifted to Taronga through ongoing and respectful consultation with First Nations People, including Taronga’s Aboriginal Advisory Group, Cammeraigal and First Nations staff.

They participated along with other First Nations students from the North Sydney and Gordon Network of Schools. As part of their visit to the zoo, they particiapted in cultural sessions that include Dreamtime Stories and an exploration of FIrst Nations perspectives on Connection to Country and the land. Along the 400-metre walking trail, they strolled amongst Kangaroos, come paw-to-paw with our Dingo pups and walked within the tree canopy to see Koalas up close and then venture into the darkness to see curious night-loving creatures.These animals are some of the oldest and rarest wildlife found nowhere else on earth. They also immersed themsleves amongst native Australian flora and fauna, connect with Country and reconnect with nature. Nura Diya Australia combines five unique landscapes; buru nura – Kangaroo Country, gulamany nura – Koala Country, wuragal nura – Dingo Country, nguwing nura – Nocturnal Country and Blue Mountains Bush Walk – ngununy nura.

What a wonderful and enriching day!

Zone Athletics Carnivals

The Sydney North Zone Athletics Carnival was an exciting two-day event showcasing student talent and sportsmanship.

On Wednesday, August 27th, the focus was on field events like discus, high jump, long jump, shot put, and the 1500m race. Athletes demonstrated great strength and endurance, impressing with their performances.

Whilst today, featured the track events, including the 800m, 200m, 100m, and the thrilling 4x100m relay. Students competed with speed and teamwork, with relays being a standout.

Congratulations to all participants for their hard work.