Newlands

Campus News

Book Week is coming

The Children’s Book Council of Australia has announced this year’s exciting theme: Book an Adventure.

Students from Prep to Year 8 will be treated to engaging presentations by some of their favourite Australian authors, including Adam Wallace, Mark Smith, Alice Pung and George Ivanoff. They will have the chance to hear about each author’s unique writing and illustrating processes, where their story ideas come from, and the creative journeys that led them to become published artists.

Alongside our author visits, the library will be buzzing with fun Book Week activities such as book trivia, art competitions, lunchtime cartoons and creative Makerspace sessions. We will also be hosting our much-loved Book Fair during Week 4, giving students and families a chance to browse and purchase a range of new and popular titles.

Of course, Book Week would not be complete without our Junior School Dress-up Parade. We can’t wait to see students, librarians and staff come dressed as their favourite book characters.

A huge thank you to our wonderful library staff for all the work they are doing behind the scenes to make Book Week 2025 a memorable adventure for our students. Let’s get ready to celebrate the joy of reading.

Early Learning Centre

What's on in the ELC

We have had a vibrant start to Term 3 in the Newlands ELC. Child safety is at the core of everything we do, and this term we were proud to once again partner with Kids ROAR to host a second online parent information session. These online sessions are designed to support families in continuing conversations around child safety, at home. By creating a shared language between school and home environments, we help ensure that our children feel heard, supported and confident in their right to be safe.

In the spirit of inquiry and discovery, we also took part in National Science Week with this year’s theme being Decoding the Universe – Exploring the Unknown with Nature’s Hidden Language. Our Pre-Prep children welcomed parent volunteers who lead incredible science-based activities. Meanwhile, our Reception children visited Mr Scardamaglia in the Middle School science labs to learn about photosynthesis.

Looking ahead, we are excited to celebrate Book Week from Monday, 18 to Friday, 23 August, embracing this year’s inspiring theme, Book an Adventure. Our children and families have been busily preparing costumes inspired by their favourite stories, ready to parade proudly for their peers. We are eagerly anticipating hosting this year’s ELC Cross Campus Art Show at Keysborough, with the theme centred around nature. We can’t wait to see how each classroom brings the concept of nature to life through their own unique and creative interpretations.

Junior School

JS Cricket Clinics

Run by Cricket Victoria, these sessions offered four weeks packed with cricket skills and games. It was the perfect chance for budding cricketers to hone their batting, bowling and fielding abilities in a fun and supportive environment. Whether participants were seasoned players or just starting out, the clinics catered to all skill levels. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn from experienced coaches and enjoy the thrill of cricket with friends.

100 Days Prep celebration

On Friday, 1 August, our preps reached a spectacular milestone — 100 days of school. To celebrate, our bright little stars lit up the classroom in their most colourful, sparkly, neon and sunshine-themed outfits, showing just how much they have grown, shone and sparkled through 100 days of Junior School. The day was filled with exciting literacy and numeracy activities all about the number 100 — from counting to creating and everything in between. What a joyful, jam-packed celebration it was. Congratulations to our clever preps on 100 brilliant days.

Year 3 Camp - Forest Edge

From Wednesday, 3 to Friday, 5 September, The Year 3s from Newlands and Edrington will head off for a three-day camp at Forest Edge. Forest Edge is an adventure camp located in Neerim South. Students will participate in a wide variety of activities such as indoor rock climbing, bush walking, archery and the flying fox. They will practise persistence and independence. After dinner, students will enjoy a movie night and a trivia night, and they will lodge in cabins with their peers. There have been many excited discussions in the classrooms about what to expect and the students cannot wait to experience their first school camp.

Middle School

Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical Jr

This year, Newlands Middle School students bring to life Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical JR in an adaptation from the full-length musical which was based on the book by Roald Dahl, and features a book by Dennis Kelly, and music and lyrics by Tim Minchin.

The show opened in the West End in 2011 and made its Broadway premiere in 2013. The musical earned seven Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, and five Tony awards, including the Tony for Best Book of a Musical.

Please see link below to get your tickets now.

https://events.humanitix.com/roald-dahl-s-matilda-the-musical-jr-wdfd3gqd

Sovereign Hill Gold Fever for the Year 5s.

The Year 5 students will be visiting Sovereign Hill in Ballarat for an exciting day excursion. This immersive experience will help students deepen their understanding of life on the goldfields in the 1850s.
At Sovereign Hill, students will explore the outdoor museum’s recreated goldfields town, complete with shops, diggings, costumed characters and demonstrations. Highlights will include:

gold panning in the creek
watching a gold pour demonstration
visiting historic shops and cottages
learning about the Eureka Stockade and daily life during the gold rush

This excursion will support learning goals by bringing history to life in an engaging and hands-on way.

Hugo Engele
Head of Newlands (Keysborough) 

Campus News

Welcome back

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope everyone had a wonderful break and some escaped the cold or ventured to colder places.

Thank you to all the families who filled out our questionnaire. The feedback is excellent and assists us in learning what the community would like from the HPFK. 

At the end of last term we supported the Year 8 Medieval Day with a hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme donut offering which was a serious HIT on a chilly June day. We sold over 300 combos. Even though there was no shank cooking or bone gnawing as per the theme, it was still some fun. Thanks Jonelle, Kürsti and the other parent volunteers for helping on the day.

We have a few events planned in Term 3 so please look out for correspondence including the next HPFK committee meeting date. 

Amy Ching
President, Haileybury Parents & Friends Keysborough