Principal’s Report

Dear Parents and Carers

You may be aware of the following  from recent media, regarding the social media ban for students under 16. The eSafety Commissioner is conducting some webinars for parents. The link is below (control click on webinars)

From 10 December 2025, many social media platforms will be required to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts on certain age-restricted services. The changes aim to protect children from pressures and risks they can be exposed to while logged in to social media accounts.

The eSafety Commissioner is leading the implementation of the law. They are responsible for identifying platforms and supporting the community with information and resources.

Under-16s will still be able to see publicly available social media content that doesn’t require logging into an account. There are no penalties for young people who use age-restricted platforms or for their parents and carers as the responsibility is with the platforms.

We encourage you to access eSafety’s resources and support for families on their website and register for one of the upcoming webinarsExternal link for parents and carers.

Christine Smith

Principal

Student of the Week

Congratulations to the last Student of the Week recipients for this year.  The certificates were presented at our recent K-6 assembly. Well done!

Matias G-C 6H             Sebastian S – 4O

Sustainability Noticeboard

We’re here with a simple purpose – to protect what we love. Every sustainable change we make today will create a safer future for our children.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?
Sustainability is the practice of meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations (including our children’s generation) to meet their own.

🌿 FAMILY FAIR – SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER
The Glenaeon Family Fair is a chance to support local makers offering eco-friendly and fair-trade Christmas gifts. Expect creative kids’ activities, handmade goods, wholesome food, and music – all with a sustainable, local focus.

You can also walk there in minutes from Northbridge, via the bush track at Warner’s Park.

🕙 10am – 4pm
📍 Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag
🔗 https://www.glenaeonfair.com

🎬 OUTDOOR SCREENING – THANKS FOR COMING!
Thanks to the NPS families who joined the outdoor screening of Future Council. It was a gorgeous evening with live music, an epic sunset, and hands-on fun making objects from plastic bottle tops with Reshaping Waste.

Students from local schools played host for the evening, and the film was a powerful reminder of how young people are leading the way on climate action. If you missed it, keep an eye out – it’s well worth a watch.

If your child would like to join the real-life Future Council – a child-led organisation working with business and industry to co-design real, sustainable products, solutions and initiatives – click here.

📚 LOCAL STREET LIBRARIES
Have you discovered all the little street libraries around Northbridge? These commuity-led initiatives allow people to share books easily. Next time you’re cleaning out the bookshelf, consider dropping off your books to a street library.

My favourite? On the corner of Weetalibah and Neeworra Roads, painted by one of our very talented NPS parents.

Search for street libraries here: https://streetlibrary.org.au

Inclusion Noticeboard

World Teachers’ Day

Australia celebrated the teaching profession on World Teachers’ Day on Friday 31 October 2025.

At Northbridge Public School we celebrated our amazing teachers with an initiative led by the SRC leaders by organising and hosting a special morning tea for all teachers to thank them for their skilled work in educating, inspiring and supporting our students. Students wrote thoughtful thank you cards and made creative portraits of teachers to mark the occasion.

Let’s celebrate our teachers at Northbridge Public School by expressing our gratitude for all that they do. Our School Community is full of gems!

Special thanks to SRC families for providing a delicious morning tea!

The Festival of Children’s Music 2025

On Thursday 23rd of October, the Senior Choir, along with Miss Gillman and Mrs Royle, performed at the Chatswood Concourse in the Festival of Children’s Music.

The Senior Choir members joined seven local schools in a Combined Choir made up of over 300 students. They were conducted by Pymble Public School’s choir teacher and also NPS’s own Miss Gillman!

The Festival of Children’s Music was a fantastic opportunity to perform a range of songs and also to watch performances from many local schools, incluing a very groovy saxophone duet.

The stage 3 members of the Senior Choir were also able to perform a group item at this concert as an item and sung spectacularly.

Gaspard from 6H accompanied the combined choir on his flute, and also performed a solo item. Harriet B from 3/4S was also selected to perform a solo section of one of the combined items.

NPS was represented so well by our fantastic music students at this exciting event, who should be very proud of their achievements.

Thank you to the parents of the Senior Choir students for your support of this concert, and to Mrs Napper for coming to the final rehearsal and Mrs Wineburg for being a part of the evening show!

Playground Thanks

We know intrinsically how much children love to play.  But gross motor for young children has far reaching benefits.  Gross motor play is crucial for young children’s education because it builds physical strength, coordination and confidence which are fundamental skills for learning.  It also enhances cognitive abilities like problem-solving and memory, supports social development through group play, and provides the necessary foundation for more complex fine motor skills like writing. 

However, for our Year 1 students shown below with beaming smiles it’s just all about having fun. We are pleased that after some unfortunate setbacks and delays we have some fantastic play equipment for our younger students. Our thanks to Jonathan Lees for his work securing the grant that partially funded this project and to the P&C for their ongoing support.  We thank every community member for their support in ensuring we we have this new play space and your children thank you too.

Year 6 Leaping into High School with Jenny Atkinson- One Frog at a time!

On Thursday, 31 October, our Year 6 students from 6L and 6H took part in an exciting and insightful workshop run by Jenny Atkinson from Sparks Education titled “Get Set for High School!”

The session was designed to help our students prepare for the big transition to secondary school next year. Jenny guided the classes through a range of interactive activities focused on building confidence, organisation, and resilience — key skills for navigating new environments and challenges.

Jenny also shared the idea of “Eat That Frog”, a strategy that encourages students to tackle their most important or challenging tasks first — just like “eating a frog.” By getting the hardest job done early, students can feel more productive, confident, and ready to take on the rest of the day. It was a fun and memorable way to remind everyone about the power of good habits and time management.

Students reflected on what they’re most looking forward to about high school, discussed strategies for managing change, and learned practical tips for making new friends and staying organised. Jenny’s fun and engaging style kept everyone involved, and there were plenty of smiles and “aha!” moments along the way.

By the end of the workshop, 6L and 6H left feeling more prepared and excited for the journey ahead. A big thank you to Jenny and Sparks Education for supporting our students as they get ready to take this important next step.

What’s been happening in 2M?

2M have had a busy and fun start to Term 4! Take a look at some highlights below!

World Teacher’s Day: Mrs McIntrye and Mrs Howell were spoiled by 2M with thoughtful cards, chocolates and gifts.

AFL Clinic: we learned some new skills and had a ball (pun intended!)

Maths: we have been learning about volume and capacity. Here are some lessons where we had to compare the volume of different models and the capacity of different containers.

Visual Arts: We created a collaborative beach artwork using Ken Done as inspiration.

Dance: We have been busy rehearsing our dance for the end of year concert. We can’t wait to perform our Ninja ‘hero’ moves!

New play equipment: 2M have been very helpful in testing out our new play equipment! We give it the thumbs up!

Instrument Trials: We all had a turn of trying a variety of instruments including: a percussion drum, saxophone or clarinet, trumpet or trombone and the flute. This will help Miss Gilman match us to instruments if we would like to be part of Training Band next year!

Bonus: an exciting interlude during our outdoor maths lesson! 

Premier’s Reading Challenge 2025

Last week, our 2025 and 2026 Librarians for a Day got together to smash open the PRC Piñata and celebrate the completion of this year’s Premier’s Reading Challenge. It didn’t take long for Emily M (Year 6) and Abigail S (Year 5) to break it open! Inside were tickets, and the girls drew one lucky winner from K–2 and another from Years 3–6—each receiving a brand-new book to mark their achievement.

The following winners were revealed:

Phoebe A (KA) 

Gabby G (3B)

These lucky students will now choose a book that NPS will gift to them to celebrate completing the challenge.

Mrs Parker (Teacher Librarian)