1 May 2025
From the Deputy, Head of Preparatory Schools & ELC
Welcome back for Term 2! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter break and enjoyed some memorable moments with family and friends.
Easter at Lindfield
Our Easter celebrations on the final day of Term 1 were a huge success. It was wonderful to see so many members of the Lindfield Community enjoying applauding the vibrant hats at the fantastic parade. Thanks to the P&F for the Easter Egg raffle and their support for this and all of our events at Lindfield.
Newington Supporter Expectations
Saturday 3 May is the first-round of 2025 winter fixtures. To ensure our teams, officials and coaches, and those of visiting schools, enjoy a positive experience when they play, Newington is sharing the following school-wide expectations at games:
- Spectators should make their presence and support as positive as possible. If we are hosting, we ask our parents to make visiting parents feel welcome.
- Avoid excessive comments directed towards an individual, even if they are positive. A good example should be set by applauding any skillful performance or play.
- Officials do make mistakes, but it is not for the spectators to remind officials of this.
- Parents should never seek to give advice to coaches, officials or players during or immediately after a match.
- When visiting another school, respect the host school’s premises and rules in matters such as parking and tidiness.
- If you have concerns, contact a staff member on the day, or our Sports Master, Mr Joel Wilson.
It is gratifying to see how much enjoyment parents get from watching their children play sport, but it is our responsibility to ensure this experience is fun for everyone, including our visitors.
We must continue to have conversations around what is best for our students; how they approach their sport, how sport can build character and how parents can best support their child to ensure they develop good sportsmanship. Newington has an excellent culture of encouragement and sportsmanship, and many of our parents are model spectators at Saturday games.
What Happened This Week
Welcome
We are delighted to welcome three new students and their families to our Lindfield Community. Eric L joined us late last term in Year 2. Royce W (Year 3) and Isaac C (Year 5B) started Term 2 this week. We trust their first week was an enjoyable one.
IPSHA Cross Country Carnival
Lucas F (Year 4) and Liam W (Year 3) proudly represented Newington Lindfield this year at the IPSHA Cross country carnival at The Kings School. With over 100 students from 20 schools competing competition was tough, they showed great sportsmanship and did their best.
Congratulations Lucas and Liam!
Chapel Thought
For people of Faith, the last two weeks have been a monumental and full few weeks.
We went into the holidays journeying into Holy Week. In the middle weekend, we celebrated Easter, showing us God’s Liberating Hope and All-Inclusive Love. And on the day that followed we heard the news of Pope Francis’ death. The week that followed was full of reflections on his life, culminating with his funeral on Saturday.
Whether you’re Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox Christian, people of other faiths or no faith at all, the death of Pope Francis was a significant event. He was a remarkable figure and one who embodied Christ’s teachings in a profound way.
Pope Francis showed what it means to welcome the stranger and support those who are different. He was fearless in his advocacy of migrants and refugees and made some concessions to groups who had traditionally been marginalised by the Church. He advocated for care of creation and action on climate change.
As the world waits with eager anticipation to see who will become the next Pope, let us be inspired by the example of Pope Francis in our daily actions and our work in the world. And in this Easter Season may we continue to know God’s liberating hope and all-Inclusive love in our daily lives.
– Pastor Richard La’Brooy
Anzac Day Service
It was a memorable way to start Term 2 with our Anzac Day service on Tuesday. Pastor La’Brooy led the service and Luca Z, our School Captain also presented. The Last Post was performed by Ravi W, Lochie O, Austyn P and Hudson P of Year 6, and they played exceptionally well for this important piece.
Sports
IPSHA Round 1 sport commences this Saturday 3 May 2025. Parents will be advised of the teams and draw via New Spaces on Thursday 1 May at 4pm.
In the event of inclement weather on Saturday, please refer to the Lindfield Sports page on New Spaces, New Spaces – Lindfield Sport.
We are looking forward to another successful and enjoy Saturday Sports term and the Saturday Koola BBQ run by the Lindfield P&F.
Hugh Brown
PDHPE Teacher/ Sportmaster (Lindfield)
2025 Lindfield Calendar and Term Dates
*Subject to change
The 2025 dates have been published on New Spaces and can be found here on New Spaces. Please ensure you check this Calendar regularly for any additional events and changes.
Newington LitFest and Dress Up
Our 12th biennial Newington Literature Festival will take place next week 6–8 May 2025. LitFest is an opportunity to celebrate literature and encourage reading, writing, and creativity among our students. During our LitFest celebration, authors will be visiting classrooms, sharing books, and running workshops with classes.
As part of our festival, our Book Dress-Up, ‘Your Favourite Book Character,’ will be held on Tuesday May 6, where students can dress up for the day.
Our Book Dress-Up will be a fundraiser for the Room to Read organisation. Room to Read envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and the world. Students are asked to donate a gold coin on the day of our dress-up. Thank you for supporting Room to Read through your donation.
Feel free to look at the following link on New Spaces to view our visiting authors, New Spaces – LitFest.
Lindfield Learning Hub is also taking orders for the featured books from our visiting Authors, please see New Spaces link for purchasing forms New Spaces – LitFest Book Purchase.
LitFest 2025 Speaker Panel
Parents also have the opportunity to join in the excitement by coming along to the LitFest 2025 speaker panel at the Stanmore campus, as they explore the evolving role of human storytelling in an era shaped by artificial intelligence (AI).
Hosted by two student MCs, this conversation promises to ignite fresh perspectives on creativity, narrative, and the future of storytelling in a digital world.
The panel will feature renowned authors Joel McKerrow, Jack Heath, Rawah Arja and Sue Whiting. Tickets are booking up first, so don’t miss out!
7 May 2025
Newington College – Old Boys Lecture Theatre
Free!
LitFest Volunteer Call Out
These great events are only made possible through the generosity of our parent community. There will be several opportunities for parents to volunteer during the festival, outlined below/ These will include providing hospitality to authors and helping coordinate authors with their student buddies:
Author Services – Grove Room (Chapel):
| Timeslots | Tuesday 6 May | Wednesday 7 May | Thursday 8 May |
| 8.00am–1.00pm | 2 parent volunteers | 2 parent volunteers | 2 parent volunteers |
| 10.00am–2.00pm | 2 parent volunteers | 2 parent volunteers | 2 parent volunteers |
Speaker Panel:
| Timeslots | Wednesday 7 May |
| 5.45pm–7.45pm | 3 parent volunteers (library & OBLT) |
Mother’s Day Breakfast
We are looking forward to our annual Mother’s Day Breakfast on Monday 12 May at 7.30am.
Please see New Spaces for all information and booking link, New Spaces – Lindfield Mother’s Day Breakfast – Monday 12 May 2025.
Co-education at Newington
Hear from Brigid Taylor, our Director of Co-education as we prepare to welcome our first cohort of girls in Kindergarten and Year 5 from 2026.
Discover the strengths and values that define Newington – and how the move to co-education will enrich and expand our community.
To learn more about co-education at Newington, including the Pioneer Scholarships for girls and boys in Year 5 2026, click here.
Co-ed Scholarships for Year 5 2026 Now Open
Become a part of history with the Pioneer Scholarship, created to celebrate Newington College’s transition to co-education and support girls and boys who are ready to lead, innovate and inspire. This is more than just a scholarship—it is an opportunity for trailblazers who are eager to make a lasting impact.
This scholarship is available to existing and prospective students (both boys and girls) currently in Year 4 (entering Year 5 in 2026). This prestigious opportunity is designed for students with a balanced range of achievements who will benefit from the outstanding opportunities at Newington College while enriching our vibrant school community.
Current and new students can apply here. Applications close tomorrow, May 2.
ICT Help for Parents
To assist all families in navigating New Spaces please refer to this comprehensive article with relevant links.
Co-curricular opportunity
Talent Club, who runs our popular Public Speaking club, is commencing additional afternoon and weekend clubs at our Lindfield campus. These clubs will be open to the public as well, so please feel free to share this information to your friends and family.
Staff Profile
This week we chatted with Meg Edwards, who has been a teacher at Newington for 10 years. While she spent the first 6 years at Wyvern, Meg has become an integral part of the Lindfield community since she began there 4 years ago. She is not only a passionate and kind teacher of our youngest students, but she also leads the Lindfield K–3 teaching team.
Q. Why teaching? What is it you enjoy about teaching?
A. I absolutely love teaching because you form unforgettable relationships and get to see huge growth. It’s a really special thing to be part of.
Q. What is something about you that other people may not know?
A. I can pick almost any song just from hearing the first few notes.
Q. What is one of your favourite memories of being a student?
A. Going on school camp!
