As a parent or carer, you are an important part of our school community. We offer a range of services to support you and your family.

Parents and Citizens’ Association (P&C)

Our Parents and Citizens’ Association (P&C) is made up of parents and carers, teachers and community members. The P&C meets regularly to contribute to decision-making, developing policies and management plans as well as fundraising.

Who is the Newington Public School Parents & Citizens Association?

We are a group of volunteer parents, carers, and community members that work together to improve our school and school community. Any member of the school or local community is welcome to join, share ideas, and contribute.

How You Can Get Involved

You can get involved by:

• Volunteering your time, skills, or resources to support our activities through our Volunteer Sign Up Hub.

We also advertise opportunities to volunteer through:

- The NPS App and Newsletter (the Croak)

- Facebook (Click here to follow us)

• Attending our meetings. We meet on Tuesday nights in weeks 3 and 8 of each school term (7:30pm online and/or in the school library). It’s a great opportunity to meet other parents and hear updates from the school principal. Everyone is welcome to join us.
• Becoming a member by clicking here. The $5 membership fee can be paid online or in person.
• Donating to our infrastructure fund (tax deductible) or sponsorship of our activities.
• Following our updates on Facebook. Click here to follow us.

Our Purpose

To support Newington Public School (NPS) in facilitating improvements in learning development outcomes and sense of school community for NPS' students and families.

Our Role

• To encourage parent input and represent the collective voice of NPS’ parents and citizens in NPS decision making (e.g. to school policy decisions, canteen operations, uniforms, etc.).
• To raise and contribute money that will fund important projects that support our purpose and NPS’s strategic improvement plan (e.g. academic resources, school infrastructure, etc.).
• To promote social involvement and a strong sense of community within the school community.

Our values

• Participatory (we welcome our community to participate and contribute to realising our purpose)
• Diversity (we thrive when our membership represents the diversity of the school community we represent)
• Value-Oriented (we focus on the highest-value adding activities, even when faced with difficult decisions)
• Transparency (we share our decisions and explain how we made them)

Our goals

Our goals for 2021 are:

1. To provide resources and representation that increases NPS student growth and attainment, engagement, and sense of belonging.
2. Fundraise and contribute $40,000 to NPS by the end of March 2022.
3. Increase our membership to more than 50 members that represent the diversity of the school community we represent by the end of 2021. 

Our Focus Areas

We will focus our contributions in four areas to realise our purpose and achieve our goals:

1. Provide educational resources and infrastructure.
2. Represent the voice of the school community.
3. Enhance students' sense of belonging.
4. Build our P&C capabilities.

How We Are Raising Money to Fund Our Contributions to NPS

We will be running or supporting the following events and initiatives in 2021 to help fund our contributions to the school:

• 11x Second hand uniform stalls
• 2 x School disco BBQs
• 1 x Local election BBQ
• 6 x Bake stalls
• 3 x School fun/mufti days
• Mother’s and Father’s day stalls
• Plant-a-difference fundraiser
• Christmas Artwork Fundraiser

Contributions Under Consideration

Here is a list of contributions to the school that are under consideration for 2021. We estimate that we will be able to support up to $40,000 of contributions to NPS in 2021.

• Fund 20% of a full-time teacher at NPS ($22,500)
• Fund 33% of a school wellbeing officer ($7,000)
• Purchase books for School Renaissance reading program (~$5,000)
• Purchase new ICT resources for classrooms (e.g. replacing laptops) ($~5,000)
• Air Conditioning Maintenance (~$11,500)
• Contribution towards purchasing of new classroom smartboards ($10,000+)
• Upgrade Playground Equipment ($20,000)
• Provide Shade for Play Equipment (unknown)
• End of Year Staff Appreciation Lunch (in kind)

Our Executive Team

NPS P&C is led by a volunteer executive team that are nominated and elected by our members at an Annual General Meeting in Week 8 of Term 1.

President (Patryck Allen)

Hi everyone, I'm a proud father and husband who also has the privilege of helping lead our P&C Association. I'm passionate about the mission of our P&C because it provides us all with an opportunity to help improve our children's precious school experience. I'm looking forward to meeting more of our growing community and maybe even working together towards some great outcomes for our kids!

Vice Presidents:

Sarah Richardson

I am a busy mother of 3 currently on parental leave with my youngest son born in November 2020. My “big two” children attend NPS, with my daughter in year 5 and my eldest son in year 1. I’ve always wanted to contribute to our children’s foundation of life. I’ve now been given this opportunity as Vice President and I intent to grab it with both hands. I hope to work with you all on valuable outcomes for our children and our wonderful school.

Barlynda Goodhart (VP of Fundraising and Sponsorship)

With my daughter starting in Kindy at NPS in 2021, I wanted to immerse myself into the school community so thought that being part of the P&C Executive Team would allow me to get to know the school staff and parents better. What I achieved was much more as I have been able to give back to the school and the community.

Treasurer (Helen Miller):

I have a daughter in year 4 at NPS. Love our school and love the community, which is why I decided to volunteer and help out. Looking forward to exciting times ahead.

Secretary (Eric Land):

My wife and I have one child in the early years at Newington Public school. We value public education and are thoroughly impressed by the quality of the teaching and learning at the school. I am excited to be able to support the students as secretary in the P&C.

Publicity Coordinator

Michelle Macdonald 

What started out just helping a friend when our kids were in Kindy, I've ended up being on the P&C team now for over 5 years!

I love the close connection to school and our community you get from helping with the P&C. Seeing everyone's hard work Fundraising turned into tangible equipment for school is so rewarding. Even better I have made many friends I would not have meet otherwise.

I have a background in Marketing & Visual Merchandising and love creating. I also love putting on an event with the Staff Appreciation Lunch being my favourite to decorate.

Contact Us: hello@npspandc.onmicrosoft.com

Counselling for families

The school counsellor can assist when families undergo a trauma or big change. Contact us to make an appointment. For information in community languages, see school counselling service.

Outside of the education system, free telephone counselling services are available to support families who may be going through a difficult time.

• Lifeline – 24-hour telephone counselling service. 13 11 14.
• Mensline Australia – 24-hour telephone counselling service for men. 1300 789 978.
• Parent line – an advice and information service. 1300 1300 52.

Interpreting and translations

We will help you communicate with our school. If you’d like an interpreter for a school meeting, let us know and we will arrange one, if available.

If you don’t speak or understand English well and want to contact us, call TIS National on 131 450 and ask for an interpreter in your language. The operator will call the school and get an interpreter to help. This service is free.

For more information, listen in your language.

Visit the department’s translated documents section for important information that’s relevant for your child’s education in many languages.