Term 1, Week 3

13 February 2025

What Happened This Week

Year 6 School Leaders’ Induction

Today, we held our School Leaders’ induction Chapel service with our Year 6 families. We celebrated the leadership roles of every Year 6 student at Lindfield for 2025. Pastor Richard La’Brooy reiterated in his address that every student in our school is a leader. 

Leadership at Newington College is the example we show others, the way we treat and care for those around us, and the way we consistently give our best effort in everything we do. Leadership is always about working as a team to activate our gifts, talents and strengths. Leadership is also our ability to bring out the best in each other as we always work together towards better things. 

It is important that you talk with your child about your own values and what you as a family believe, as we talk about what we as a school believe to be important.

Introducing our 2025 School Leaders’:

Lindfield Student Representative Council and ICT Representatives

Leadership at our campus is an important component of our learning program and throughout the year we aim to provide the students with many opportunities to lead within their classroom and across the school. Service learning is one of those leadership opportunities and at our school we have a Student Representative Council (SRC) with two representatives from each class each semester. We also have two ICT Representatives in each class each semester to assist students and staff. In addition to this there are three Music Representatives to assist with our music ensembles. All other leadership responsibilities are rotated amongst our Year 6 students who have their 30-minute weekly service requirement.

In our assemblies last week and this week, we had the opportunity to congratulate our SRC and ICT Representatives for Semester 1.

Student Representative Council:

ICT Representatives:

Kids Giving Back  

‘Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth’ – Muhammad Ali  

As part of our ongoing Great Hearts focus, Year 6 students recently attended Kids Giving Back. The students worked collaboratively in a community kitchen; each adopting a different role to prepare and cook meals that were then distributed to vulnerable people around Sydney later that day. This was an important and practical way to launch the Year 6 service learning program for the year. It builds on the important service work that the students undertook at Cromehurst School last year. The students are very much looking forward to supporting both the wider school and their own communities again this year. 

Lindfield Open Morning

It was wonderful to welcome so many families to the Lindfield Campus on Wednesday for our first Open Morning of 2025. Our Year 6 School Leaders were outstanding ambassadors, warmly greeting families at the gate, guiding them to the library, and sharing their unique perspectives during campus tours. 

Our school community remains our greatest strength and we deeply appreciate the valuable feedback we receive through your interactions within the wider community. Time and again, visiting families comment on the welcoming environment and vibrant culture they experience while walking through our campus. We are incredibly proud that this positive and authentic reflection of our school is so evident. 

The Fortnight That Was – Weeks 1 and 2

Welcome

We are excited to welcome a new family to Lindfield! Say hello to Jason C and Lulu T and their son Eric C (Year 5W) who joined us today, in Mr Trethewey’s class. 

Before and After School Times

A reminder to all families that unless your child has music before school OR has a registered supervised co-curricular club, drop-off time is 8.05am and NOT before. This is to ensure the safety of your child as there is no staff supervision prior to 8.05am. 

Dismissal time for Years K-2 is 3.00pm and Years 3-6 is 3.10pm from the Northcote Road Gate. We will have staff supervision until 3.30pm. After 3.30pm, students will be taken to After School Care and a cost will be incurred. 

If your child has a co-curricular club, pickup time from the designated club location is 4.00pm for Years K-2 and 4.15pm for Years 3-6. After these times, students will be taken to After School Care, where an additional cost will be incurred.  

More information about After School Care can be found here.

We appreciate you adhering to these guidelines. 

Swimming Carnival – Years 3-6 

The school swimming carnival for students in Years 3-6 is being held on Thursday 20 February at Stanmore. Every student will have multiple opportunities to swim and enjoy the carnival atmosphere. All students are required to wear their black swimmers to compete.

We encourage all parents to come along and support our students at the Senior school. Bus transport to Stanmore will leave from Lindfield at 8.30am and parents can nominate (via Consent2Go) to drop off and/or collect their child from Stanmore. The individual medley events will start at 9.40am. The carnival run sheet with full information will be published in New Spaces prior to the event. 

Newington College Welcome Cocktail Party

All Newington parents from the ELC, Wyvern, Lindfield and Stanmore are warmly invited to the Newington College Welcome Cocktail Party on Friday 21 February 2025. The event will start at 6.30pm on Memorial Drive at Newington College Stanmore.  

The event will be a great opportunity to welcome new parents and reconnect with old friends in a relaxed environment on campus. We’re excited and we hope to see you there! 

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased here.  

Please direct all enquires to community@newington.nsw.edu.au 

Parent Learning Series: The Science of Learning with Sean Kang

The College warmly invites all parents to an evening with Associate Professor Sean Kang from the University of Melbourne on Tuesday 4 March from 6.00pm at our Lindfield Preparatory Campus. 

Explore how your child’s brain develops at every stage and discover practical ways parents and schools can support their growth and ensure they reach their full potential. 

More information and event registration details will be published in New Spaces in the coming days. 

ICT Help for Parents

To assist all parents in navigating New Spaces, please refer to this comprehensive New Spaces article.

2025 Lindfield Calendar and Term Dates (subject to change) 

The 2025 dates have been published and can be found here on New Spaces. Please ensure you check this calendar regularly for any additional events and changes. 

Staff Profile

This week, we are profiling Stanmore’s beloved Science teacher, Vatche Ansourian. A former television presenter, Vatche is known for his passion and charisma, contributing every day to making the campus a more vibrant place. With his infectious enthusiasm for science, he inspires students to explore, question and discover the wonders of the natural world.

Q. What is one of your favourite memories of being a student? 

A. One of my fondest memories is the thrill of group work – those moments spent huddled with friends, tackling tricky problems, writing a group play or designing a model, and even turning our collective confusion into outright hilarity. I remember vividly a play we wrote about consumerism in English that had us in stitches. Was it the best? Of course it was. Was the acting on point? You betcha! But it wasn’t just about cracking the lesson. It was about teamwork and thinking on our feet, skills that have served me well both in and out of the classroom.

Q. Did you have a favourite teacher growing up and why?

A. I was incredibly fortunate to have a couple of standout teachers who truly shaped who I am today. The first was my Year 6 primary school teacher, Ms Perantuono, and the second was my Year 7 science teacher (no surprises there!), Mrs Smith. Both gave me the freedom to explore and make my own decisions about learning. Ms Perantuono taught me how to set my own learning goals and explore my interest in the human body. Mrs Smith was always there to answer any question and made me think. Their trust and encouragement turned every lesson into an exciting adventure rather than just another day at school.

Q. If you weren’t a teacher, what other career would you imagine yourself in?

A. If I wasn’t teaching, I’d probably want to be a full-time kids’ science show host. Having had a stint in kids’ TV before, the idea of mixing humour with hands-on science to spark curiosity in the next generation is still incredibly appealing. Given that’s not happening, I’ll take a full-time kids’ science teacher any day #same.

Q. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to students that you wish you had known when you were in school?

A. My top piece of advice is simple: consistency. It might not sound as glamorous as a flashy study hack, but steady effort and regular practice lay the foundations for genuine understanding and long-term success. I’ve found that setting aside a bit of time each day to review notes or tackle practice problems builds a solid foundation, much like regularly hitting the gym builds strength over time. Each small, steady step helps you better understand complex ideas and reduces the need for stressful, last-minute efforts. Trust me, your future self will thank you for the effort you put in today.