Macquarie Memo Issue 4 - 2024

News from the Deputy Principal

Dear families,

At Macquarie Primary School we have two improvement priorities as established in our School Improvement Plan 2024-2028 after School Review in 2023:

• Strengthen academic achievement in numeracy for all students, and
• Strengthen academic achievement in writing for all students.

These priorities are the basis of our strategic actions throughout the year as we work towards elevating our current pedagogy and practice to ensure continued growth for all students.

Alongside this we have ongoing focus areas of:

• Integrity and Culture,
• Positive Behaviour for Learning,
• Inquiry,
• Data, and
• Community connections (Arts Festival)

Each of these play an important part in the ongoing development of our school culture. Staff each selected a focus area of interest to contribute to throughout the year. These teams are also a way of capturing the valuable contributions and expertise of staff who work tirelessly for the best for all students.

With goals for each group set and indicators of success determined, I look forward to being a part of many conversations related to our focus areas over the course of the year.

We have a couple of ‘short’ weeks coming.  Atheletics Carnival note is coming home today with the BBQ lunch information. I hope that you find time for some rest after what has been a busy term. Please remember that term 1 is an 11-week term, with the last day of term being Friday 12 April.

Regards,

Karen

Parent Portal reminders

Parent Portal is now available. It is a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers.

Some reminders about Parent Portal:

• If you already have a Parent Portal account, use this Parent Portal access link to start using the great features.
• You can’t access Parent Portal directly through the ACT Digital Account website, you need to use the link above.
• When you are logged into Parent Portal, we recommend saving the browser as a favourite or to the homepage on your mobile phone for quick access in the future.
• The website can only be viewed using a web browser on your computer, mobile phone or tablet. An app is not available at this time.
• If you still need to register, you will need an access key and a Parent Portal registration link via email to link your existing account to your child’s records. If you haven’t received this, please contact the school’s front office team for assistance.

Notes / Reminders

All notes are available on our school website.

P & C News

Athletics Carnival Sausage Sizzle

The P&C will be hosting a sausage sizzle at the Term 1 Athletics Carnival. Keep an eye out for more information about ordering coming soon (vegetarian and halal options will be available).

P&C uniform shop

The P&C Uniform Shop is located in the Tidbinbilla Building. It is run by volunteers and sells new uniforms as close to cost price as possible, and second-hand items for $2 and $5. Open times are:

Mondays 8:45 - 9:15am, Wednesdays 3:00 - 3:30pm, and Fridays 8:45 - 9:15am.

Cash and card payments are accepted. Orders can also be placed online via the flexischools app - see  www.flexischools.com.au. No need to collect online orders - they will be sent home with students. Any questions can be sent to uniforms.mps@gmail.com.  

Donations of pre-loved uniform items are gratefully accepted during open times, or may be left at the front office.

P&C 2024 activities and call for volunteers

I am pleased to welcome new and returning P&C volunteers in 2024. We are planning, and have already run, a range of exciting social activities this year. These events help create an inclusive and vibrant school community, for example through our community welcome BBQ, Friday morning Breakfast Club, school disco, and year 5/6 farewell. We also help operationally by coordinating the canteen, uniform shop, and working bees.

Raising funds that help enhance our student learning and physical environment is another P&C priority. We have been very successful in our community and government grant applications in the past, with these funding projects such as the Garden Side Café, micro forest, construction of the shade cloth, robotic kits, Mirri, and more.

We also raise funds each year through activities such as the Colour Run Fun Day, Bunnings BBQ, cherry and mango drive, and Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls. Last year these funds were used to purchase 270 library books, two trikes, contribute to transportation to Limelight (an inter-school music event), a new BBQ, and fund SRC initiatives to install a netball/basketball hoop and new plants.

I believe the P&C helps make Macquarie Primary School an even better place for our children to learn and play, but we can’t do it without the help of our tremendous volunteers. So I’m asking parents and carers to please volunteer their time to help the P&C – it can be as little as one hour once a year helping at a school BBQ, a larger contribution such as helping run a fundraising event, or anything in between.

To find out more about how you can volunteer or if you have any suggestions for events or fundraising activities please email us at macquariepandc@gmail.com we would love to hear your suggestions

Cheers,

Matt White

Contact Details

Community Notices