As I near the conclusion of my tenure as Principal of NEGS, I am reminded that the moments that bring me the greatest joy are those spent seeing our teachers and students actively engaged in learning, both in our classrooms and throughout the wider community.

Our recent involvement in the New England Garden Festival is a wonderful example. Our students proudly donned their uniforms and worked together to serve Devonshire tea and sandwiches. Thank you to the teachers and parent volunteers who worked alongside our students to make this such a successful event. It was an excellent lead-in to the upcoming Service Week when our students will once again have the opportunity to contribute to and support the wider community.

I have also been reflecting on the concept of how schools improve their academic outcomes. It is a broad question that often leads us to interrogate data, measure progress and consider teaching practices. The following excerpt from a recent research article explores the notion of academic buoyancy and how we can empower girls to take risks, persevere through challenges and take greater ownership
of their learning. I hope you find it of interest.

Academic Buoyancy: Empowering Girls to Take Risks and Own Their Learning
This eBrief summarises research undertaken as part of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools’
Global Action Research Collaborative (GARC), an international initiative promoting evidence-
informed practice in girls’ schools. Key Findings from the Research:

• Explicitly teaching academic buoyancy builds resilience and ownership of learning. Helping girls recognise unhelpful thinking patterns, manage anxiety and respond constructively to challenges strengthens their confidence and ability to take responsibility for their learning.
• Commitment (persistence) and Coordination (planning) were the most impactful strategies. These approaches help girls break complex tasks into manageable steps, persevere when faced with difficulties and regulate their emotional responses rather than avoid challenging situations.
• Early intervention is important. Introducing academic buoyancy strategies in the early years of secondary schooling may help build academic confidence and resilience before negative thinking patterns and anxieties become established.
• The sequence of teaching matters. Students need to be explicitly introduced to the strategies, given authentic opportunities to apply them and encouraged to revisit their experiences through reflection.
• Reinforcement and accessibility support success. Students identified the need for more opportunities to practise and reinforce the strategies, supported by shorter, more accessible learning resources.

What helps a girl keep going when a problem feels too difficult, an assessment is approaching or an initial idea does not work?

An important first step is helping students recognise and understand their responses when learning becomes difficult. Students in the research described recognising feelings of anxiety, stress and being overwhelmed, and then identifying strategies to help them move forward. Two strategies featured particularly strongly:

• Commitment (persistence): Taking a break when needed, returning to challenging tasks, persevering and resisting the temptation to avoid difficult work.
• Coordination (planning): Breaking complex tasks into manageable parts, identifying steps and organising thinking to reduce cognitive overload.

The findings suggest that these strategies help create a greater sense of academic safety, enabling girls to take risks, test ideas, learn from mistakes and engage more deeply in scientific inquiry. As girls navigate increasingly complex academic and social environments, academic buoyancy provides a valuable, research-informed foundation for developing resilience, confidence and lifelong learning ownership.

References
Collie, R. J. & Martin, A. J. (2022). Academic buoyancy and student outcomes in Australian girls’ schools. UNSW & AGSA. Douglas, L. (2021–22). Academic Buoyancy: Empowering Year 9 and 10 Girls to Take Risks and Own Their Learning as They Problem-Solve in the Science Classroom. Ruyton Girls’ School.

Ms Liz van Genderen

Principal

Upcoming Celebrations

The final weeks of the year are filled with vibrant opportunities to consolidate learning, put new skills into practice, and celebrate our students' achievements.

Staff and students are hard at work putting the finishing touches on our upcoming production, Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies, it is shaping up to be a show not to be missed! If you haven't secured your tickets yet, please be sure to purchase them soon.

Celebration of Learning | Wednesday 25 November

Please note the schedule for our upcoming Celebration of Learning:

• 9:15 AM – Celebration of Learning (Assembly Hall)

We invite all families to join us as we celebrate the achievements of every student from Pre-K to Year 6.

Uniform: Full formal uniform (including blazers). All are welcome!

• 10:15 AM – Morning Tea

Parents and guests are warmly invited to stay for morning tea following the assembly.

• 11:00 AM – Musical Matinee

Tickets: Please purchase your tickets online

Click HERE to purchase a ticket.

• 12:15 PM – Family Picnic

Families are invited to bring a picnic blanket and lunch to share with their children on the Library Lawns.

• 5:30 PM – Year 6 Dinner

A special evening for Year 6 and their families.  

Service Week: Bringing Learning to Life

Our final week of school forms an integral part of our school’s transformational journey: Service Week.

Throughout the year, our students have engaged with the 6 Deep Learning competencies, developing essential skills to be Good at Learning, Good at Life. Service Week provides a practical platform for students to integrate this knowledge.

Guided by empathy, compassion, and integrity, students will participate in community activities that encourage them to reflect on how their actions positively impact others, showing kindness and doing what is right, even when it goes unnoticed. Detailed information regarding Service Week activities will be sent home shortly.

Important Final Day Details:

Pre-Kindergarten: Final day of school is Wednesday 2 December.

Kindergarten to Year 6: School concludes following Speech Day on Thursday 3 December (approx. 11:30 AM).

Note: There will be no Homework Centre on this day.

Getting Ready for 2027

Step-Up Day

Step-Up Day will be held on Thursday, 26 November. Students will visit their 2027 grade-level classrooms, meeting teachers and previewing the routines and learning opportunities ahead for the coming year.

Uniform & Preparation Reminders

In preparation for 2027, please ensure all uniform items fit correctly and remain in good repair:

• Hats for formal uniform and travel to & from school: As of 2027, girls require the navy straw hat; boys require the official NEGS cap. (Note: The NEGS trucker cap is an optional item and is not part of the Junior School uniform).
• Hats for Playtime: All students will be required to wear either the official NEGS cap or NEGS playground hat during break times.
• Labelling: Please ensure all uniform items are clearly named so lost property can be returned promptly.
• Uniform Shop Hours: Open Tuesdays and Thursdays through to the end of term.

Farewell Miss Moule

Miss Kate Moule will be concluding her time at NEGS Junior School at the end of the 2026 school year.

Since joining us in 2025 following her graduation from UNE, Miss Moule has brought energy, positivity, and a strong work ethic to every aspect of her role. She is a valued colleague and educator who deeply embodies our school’s purpose and values. Notably, Miss Moule played a central role in establishing the Stage 2 Saumarez project, strengthening our students' connection to local history and community while building a foundation for sustainability.

As Miss Moule embarks on the next exciting chapter of her career, we extend our heartfelt gratitude and warmest wishes for her future.

What a busy start to the term! Round Square has kicked off with lots of exciting activities. The Secondary Round Square leaders announced the winners of last term's colouring competition, which was very hard to judge because of the wonderful entries! Congratulations to all our winners who won prizes of books. 

There has been a lot of fun in junior school this term, with activities happening every second week led by our Secondary students. They ran an art activity where junior school students decorated a hot air balloon which represented themselves ‘flying high’. The year 7 and 8 Round Square students also ran a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt in the playground, which was lots of fun.

The Senior Round Square committee have been busy organising activities for this year's service week at the end of term, as well as organising more postcards for next year.

Ms Fiona Munzenrieder

HSIE Teacher/Round Square Coordinator/SRC Support

On Wednesday of week 5, Stage 5 went to Gibraltar Range National Park to see the waratah flowers and Anvil Rock, a part of our geography unit this year. Ms Munzenrieder, Mr Deegans, and Doc Pearson accompanied us on this excursion. We left school around 9 am and had a long bus ride, then a hike to see this beautiful site. Everyone was excited to begin the small trail and took in lots of the sites along the way. The landscape was dense and interesting to take in as we talked about the beauty of the waratah flower. Everybody took away a good experience from this excursion and we are thankful for the time these teachers took for us to have this excursion and learning experience. 

By Rowie Kahler and Mikaela Evans.

Dear families,

Reminder for families who already receive the School Drive Subsidy: I require a travel diary recording your trips (see attached for blank form) for Terms 3 and 4.

If you do not know anything about this subsidy, read on.

The School Drive Subsidy is available to NSW residents in areas where there is no public transport, to drive an eligible student all or part of the way to school. The subsidy is only intended to partly offset the cost of using a private vehicle to drive the eligible student and is not intended to cover all costs. Transport for NSW administers the School Drive Subsidy scheme.

The subsidy is for driving school students to school or to the nearest transport pick-up point, by car, motorcycle or boat.

For more information and the application process, please visit https://apps.transport.nsw.gov.au/ssts/schoolDriveSubsidy

At NEGS, I require a TRAVEL DIARY to be completed at the end of each Semester, i.e., the end of Term 2 and the end of Term 4, and returned to me. These diaries are available from the NEGS Engage Parent Portal.

If you have any queries, please contact me at helen.smith@negs.nsw.edu.au or by phone (02) 6774 8700.

Kind regards,
Helen Smith

We warmly invite all Junior School families to spend the day with our school community. Here is what we have planned:

9:15 AM – Celebration of Learning Assembly (Assembly Hall)

Celebrate our students' milestones and success across all year levels.

Uniform: Full formal uniform (blazers required for Stage 2 & 3)

10:15 AM – Morning Tea

Stay and catch up with fellow parents and guests over morning tea.

11:00 AM – Musical Matinee

Enjoy a fantastic performance by our talented students (tickets available here).

12:15 PM – Family Picnic

Pack a picnic blanket and lunch to enjoy together on the Library Lawns.

5:30 PM – Year 6 Dinner

A special celebratory evening dedicated to our Year 6 students and their families

Click HERE to RSVP.

Join us for a special show - Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies

There's nothing quite like watching our Junior School students shine on stage. This year's musical is going to be brilliant—and we'd love to have you there.

Performance:
Wednesday, 25 November | Matinee at 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Click HERE to purchase your ticket.

Ticket Price: $25 per person

Bring family, bring friends, bring your enthusiasm. This is going to be wonderful!

Join us for an enchanting evening as we celebrate the festive season at our annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols! Following the service, stay and enjoy a fantastic P&F BBQ as we wrap up a wonderful 2026 together with our school community. RSVP HERE.

Join us for the NEGS 131st Annual Speech Day and Prize Presentation Ceremony as we come together to celebrate an extraordinary year of academic achievements, co-curricular excellence, and personal growth across our school community. RSVP HERE.