Macquarie Memo Issue 19 2023

News from the Deputy Principal

Today all parents should have received their child’s semester one school report. These are hard copy for preschool children and via email for kindergarten to year 6. If you have not received the emailed report, please check your junk/spam email folder. If it is also not there please email me directly and I will send a copy through Stacey.naden@ed.act.edu.au

Congratulations to Charlie, Isobel, Harriet and Aidan who proudly represented our school at the ACT Cross Country Carnival last Thursday. We are very proud of your efforts.

Last week’s school review was a huge success. The panel felt comfortable and welcome at our school all week. They spoke to all staff, some parents and students across the week to get a good understanding of how Macquarie works and the progress we have made in the priorities of our current 2018-2023 School Plan over the last 5 years. At the end of the week, the panel held a feedback session with all staff where we received many commendations and affirmations which was really positive and affirming to see and hear. The panel provided some recommendations which will go towards forming the priorities on our 2024-2028. We will share information with you after we have received the final report. Students, parents and community will be included in the writing of our next Plan. I would like to extend our thank you to parents who took time out of their day to come and speak to the panel. It was greatly appreciated.

Next week is the last week of term. We have our annual athletics carnival on Friday 30 June at Cook Oval for students in kindergarten to year 6. This will be a really great way to end the term for students, staff and community. Please come along to cheer on the students during the day if you can. We also have plenty of volunteers roles available for the day, or part of, so if you are able to help at all please email sean.gourlay@ed.act.edu.au The P&C are running a sausage sizzle for the carnival. Orders can be placed via flexischools.

Next week we also have parent teacher interviews. These replace comments on reports for semester one so please make sure you make a time to meet with your child’s teacher.

I hope the weather warms up slightly and can enjoy the weekend.

Have a great week

Stacey

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. 

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:

https://fpc.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9zU82MwDxaxYEwS

News from the P&C



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.

Community Notices

Contact Details