Macquarie Memo Issue 8 - 2024

News from the Principal

What an amazing week we have had last week for Reconciliation Week!!! Mary and Lauren G did an amazing job organising a week filled with activities, fun and Johnny Cakes. I hope your children had a wonderful time participating in traditional games, Indigenous story time and Indigenous art activities.

We have had to postpone our school photos for tomorrow due to the weather. We will send out our new rescheduled date shortly.

We are excited to announce that we have an outcome from our acting SLC panel. We are pleased to announce that Laura Matchett and Jenelle Martin will be sharing the 3-6 SLC role until the end of the year. Laura will begin the position next week and Jenelle will join her when she returns from leave next term. Mariam will move to K-2 team leader for the remainder of the year. Laura and Jenelle will continue to have connections with their current classes and further details around this will be provided to families of 5/6NL and 3/4JM students soon.

A big thank you to all our staff who attended 5/6 Camp at Wombaroo. Our students demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and overcame many personal challenges with some difficult activities such as the big swing and vertical challenge. We couldn’t be more proud of our students for the way they represented our school at camp.

Our year 5 band students will attend Weetangera on Tuesday June 11 for their first combined band practice. Listening to them, we can already hear the amazing skill and talents we have in our year 5 band.

We have had such great interest in our year 5/6 upcoming Netball Gala Day on June 20, Laura and the teams have started to train in preparation and it is lovely to see their wonderful teamwork in action.

This term our staff have been participating in professional learning around ‘Number Talks’. Number Talks are currently being implemented in our classrooms. This teaching practice is a great way to tune students into learning and develop their number sense and mental computation strategies. We hope that as we continue to roll this out across our school, students will be able to share their learning and understanding of Number Talks with you at home.

I hope you all have a safe and relaxing long weekend!!!

Regards Kristy

5/6 Camp Wambaroo

Here are some of the comments from our students....

• Very fun
• lots of things were fun but hard
• the giant swing was scary and exhilarating
• I made heaps of new friends
• challenging
• not much sleep
• staff were very friendly
• I loved the bushwalking
• the beds were comfortable
• everyone was so encouraging

A message from one of our parents

My child was so reluctant to go to camp, but she came back smiling, excited to share everything that had gone on (and very exhausted)! She was sharing what she had learnt about herself, "I can actually do a lot more than I think I can when I get out of my comfort zone". This is amazing for us as parents to hear, and it is a credit to the supportive, encouraging staff that were there cheering her on and pushing her to try new things. 

The National Reconciliation Week theme for 2024 was “Now More Than Ever”. Staff and students at Macquarie Primary School have been reflecting on this theme and have made either a pledge or a wreath to acknowledge that reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. "Now more than ever the work continues. Now more than ever we need reconciliation." (Reconciliation Australia 2024)

Our school foyer showcases the wonderful work of our staff and students who have committed to collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.

Next time you visit our school, please visit the front foyer to see this amazing work!

Mirri's News

Mirri has had a very busy week. She has welcomed Rachel into the front office, listened to Reconciliation Week stories and tried to help Mary with her cooking. 

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

Grill’D Fundraiser

For all of June Macquarie Primary School will have a “Local Matters” fundraising jar at Grill’d Belconnen. Every time a patron orders a burger, they receive a token that they can pop in one of three fundraising jars. At the end of the month the jar with the most tokens is awarded $300. So next time you are at Grill’d (located on the top floor next to Target) please make sure you choose our school and help us win $300. You can also nominate MPS even if you order online.

Community Cookbook

The P&C are proud to be part of such a vibrant school community and hope to celebrate our families and cultures with a Macquarie Primary School Cookbook. If you are interested in being involved in its creation please email president.mpspandc@gmail.com. A general call for recipes will go out once we have enough volunteers produce this collection of family favourites!

Southern Cross Club Connection

Are you a member of the Southern Cross Club? If so, please link your membership to Macquarie Primary School and the P&C will receive 7.5% of your spend on food and beverages as a Community Rewards Fundraiser. You can simply fill out this online form (it takes about one minute!), or chat to reception next time you visit one of the clubs around Canberra.

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. Opening 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.

Contact Details

Community Notices

All donations can be dropped off to the school. Items must be in great condition and Children's size 5-16 are preferred.

For 20 plus years, Menslink have provided free counselling to young guys throughout Canberra and the surrounding region.

If your young guy is having a hard time and could really use someone to talk to, get in touch with Menslink. Now conveniently located in Holder (with some sessions also available at Kippax & Lanyon), our wait times are currently low so we’re ready to help when he needs it.

We provide a welcoming and supportive environment for young guys to share their concerns and worries with a male counsellor who will hear them out, work alongside them and provide tips and strategies to get them through those tough times.

Our Counselling sessions are completely confidential and are available to any male aged 10-25. There are no fees or charges or limits to the number of sessions. You don’t need a mental health plan and we are available during school terms and school holidays. The only prerequisite is that he is willing to give it a try.

If you think your young guy will benefit from chatting to one of our counsellors, have a chat with them and head to www.menslink.org.au, hit the ‘Get Help’ button, fill in the form and we’ll get back to you, generally the same or next business day.

If you need more info on how to have that chat with them, just email admin@menslink.org.au or call 6287 2226 and we will send you some information.