Macquarie Memo Issue 18 2023
News from the Principal
This week we have been extremely lucky to have our review panel here discussing our school’s journey over the last five years. It has been wonderful to share the expertise, passion, and growth with our panel this week. On Friday we will be given some affirmations, commendations and recommendations moving into our next school planning. We are excited as a school to revisit or vision our next school improvement plan and start the planning for our next school improvement cycle. A massive thank you to all our parents that have been involved in the parent panel review meetings this week. We thank you for your time and commitment to our school.
On Sunday 4 June, we had our term 2 working bee. Thank you to everyone who came and helped, particularly Chris and Lil for all their organisation. We know there was a lot of illness keeping people away this time, myself included. So, we are looking forward to our term 3 working bee as an opportunity to welcome more families. We will let you know when the next one is coming up.
On Friday the 30 June, we will be having our Athletics Carnival at Cook Oval. If there are any parents who are happy to help on the day, please email sean.gourlay@ed.act.edu.au
We are very excited to be getting ready for a new program. Our P&C won a grant to facilitate a ‘Coffee and Coding’ program. This program will be run by parent volunteers before or after school (these details are yet to be confirmed) in our school Café. If you are interested in being part of the team that facilitates ‘Coffee and Coding’ please join us for the first robotics training session on Monday, 19 June from 3pm-5pm. If you are interested in coming to the training, volunteering or have any questions please contact me via email kristy.grant@ed.act.edu.au
Our semester 2 reports will be sent home very soon. Reports for Rosella preschool group will go home on Wednesday 21 June and all other P-6 reports will go home on Thursday 22 June.
Our parent teacher interview correspondence was sent out yesterday. Please check your emails so you can book in your parent teacher interview. This is a great opportunity for you to talk to your child's teacher as the semester 1 reports will not include teacher comments.
Next Friday 23 June, our SRC are hosting a Pyjama Day to raise funds for a new shade sail for our playground. Information for Preschool involvement will be posted on Dojo.
Our next assembly is scheduled for week 10, Wednesday the 28 June at 2:00 pm
Kristy
Managing Staff Absences
As the colder weather sets in, we expect to see a higher number of staff away at times due to seasonal illness and COVID-19.
To ensure that we continue to provide all students with quality learning with minimal disruption, we may be implementing temporary changes to our learning programs.
If required, some classes may be combined for short periods of time. We may also deliver student self-directed learning onsite using either online modules such as Google classroom or hard copy resources.The school may also take the opportunity to temporarily modify timetables or work with external providers to deliver some programs. There may also be a need to postpone excursions and other extra-curricular activities until there is enough staff to support them.
Every school will implement these measures differently and has the flexibility to make choices that best meet the needs of their school community.
If changes are required at our school at any time, we will write to you to let you know. We will also ensure we keep you up to date on how long we expect any changes to be in place.
As always, we remain committed to providing our students with high quality learning experiences in a safe and welcoming school environment.
Thank you for your understanding.
Staying COVID Smart in 2023
As you may be aware, there has been an increase in COVID-19 cases across ACT public schools in recent weeks.
To help stop the further spread of COVID-19 in our school, we are encouraging and implementing the following measures:
- Students who are COVID-19 positive or displaying symptoms (including a runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever) should test and must not attend school while unwell.
- Parents and carers must inform schools if their child is COVID-positive.
- Keep up to date with vaccinations.
- Families can access a free rapid antigen test (RAT) from the front office of their school. Nasal and saliva tests are available. Test when symptomatic or as a precaution.
- Practise good hand and respiratory hygiene.
- Distance where possible.
For the latest COVID-19 advice please visit the ACT’s COVID-19 website.
Stranger awareness safety message
This is a reminder to ensure your children and young people understand the importance of stranger awareness safety and information has been included on how to report an incident.
Please support us to keep our children safe by having conversations about moving safely around the community. You may wish to visit the Australian Federal Police website section on Child Safety for tips. In addition, the Safety4Kids is a non-government website that has useful information and links. The Constable Kenny website also has a number of tips for parents for younger children.
If you become aware of an incident or notice anyone acting suspiciously around a school or student, contact police immediately on 131 444 or in the case of an emergency call 000. If you witness an incident or if you have any information that could assist police, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Information can be provided anonymously. We would also ask that you notify the school so we can also support the wider school community to be aware of incidents.
Apply now for the Future of Education Equity Fund 2023
Apply now for the Future of Education Equity Fund for the 2023 school year. Eligible low-income ACT families can receive one-off payments for financial aid to help cover the costs of their children’s educational costs, such as sport equipment and activities, music lessons, school uniforms and excursions.
The Fund is open to eligible students enrolled in preschools that are attached to an ACT government school, through to Year 12 in the ACT. Further information and the online application form is available at https://www.education.act.gov.au/support-for-our-students/financial-and-resource-assistance-for-families
Evaluation - Active travel programs
TCCS has engaged First Person Consulting (FPC) – a Melbourne-based evaluation consultancy – to manage the evaluation and the surveys. We will not be collecting any identifiable information from anyone completing the survey and all responses will be kept confidential and anonymous. FPC will collect and analyse all responses and provide key results to TCCS in aggregate.
Parents/Carers:
News from the P&C
Grant success
The P&C are excited to announce we have been awarded a Mary MacKillop Today Community Grant to further the school’s robotics and education program. Through the grant the school has received a class set of Bee-bot and Sphero robots – fun floor robots that helps children to develop programming, coding, and communication skills.
To help make this program a success, we are asking for parent volunteers to help run weekly Bee-bot activities for 30-45 minutes after school in term 3. Sammat Education are offering two training sessions on Bee-bots and Spheros, so no experience is necessary. You can attend one or both of these sessions to learn how to use the robots, as well as example activities to do with the children.
Bee-bot training: Monday 19 June, 3pm-5pm, 3/4 Eddies classroom
Sphero training: Monday 17 July, 3pm-5pm, 3/4 Eddies classroom
We would love to see lots of parent volunteers for this great program. If you are interested, please email president.mpspandc@gmail.com, or simply turn up on the day.
Athletics Carnival Sausage Sizzle
The P&C are organising a sausage sizzle for students at the athletics carnival on Friday 30 June. Sausages are $2.50 each, and need to be pre-ordered through Flexischools before 5pm, Wednesday 28 June. The beef sausages are Halal, and there will be vegetarian and gluten free options as well. Note there will be no lunch orders available on the day.
P&C uniform shop
Get ready for the athletics carnival! There are some new and second hand house coloured shirts available for $5 and $2 limited sizes.
Scarves and beanies are now available on flexischools for $5
The volunteer run P&C Uniform shop is open:
Every Monday & Friday 8:45am - 9:15am, and every second Wednesday 3:00pm - 3:30pm (even weeks).
Volunteers are needed once a fortnight on Wednesday afternoons so the shop can re-open every week on Wednesdays. If you have half an hour to spare, please get in touch with the shop coordinators Liz and Julie uniforms.mps@gmail.com.
Orders for new uniform items can be placed via www.flexischools.com.au and will be sent home with students – no need to collect from the shop.
Donations of pre-loved uniform items are gratefully accepted during open times, or can be left with the office.
Notes / Reminders
All notes are available on our school website.
| Note | Due date |
| 2023 Stationery packs | Payments welcome anytime. See note below. |
Junior visit to the Canberra Theatre – “Are We There Yet” performance | Friday 23 June |
Athletics carnival | ASAP |
Community Notices
Does your child ski or snowboard?
If they would like to represent Macquarie Primary School at the Interschools Snow Sports Regional Championships held at Perisher from 18-21 July get in touch with Liz Watterson lizwatterson@hotmail.com by Friday 2 June.
The emphasis is on fun and participation at the regional level, however all competitors must be able to execute link turns and ride a chairlift/T-bar confidently to compete.
Contact Details
