Macquarie Memo Issue 10 - 2024

News from our Principal

I can’t believe it is week 10 already! What a term it has been, we have had, 5/6 camp, visits from Kenny Koala, book fair and author visits, and amazing learning happening in our classrooms. We have had major works interrupting our everyday life at school this term but all for the benefit of our students, staff, and community. We are looking forward to having our hall back up and running next term with heating and cooling. Although our hall will be up and running again you will still notice some ongoing school improvements happening for the rest of this term, if there are any disruptions to day-to-day operations, we will let you know.  

A big congratulations to all our students who participated in the Netball and AFL gala days over the past two weeks, they certainly made us extremely proud.  

A massive congratulations goes to Anika W for winning the 12 years age champion in the SSACT Swimming Awards, amazing achievement, Anika you should be very proud.  

Another massive congratulations to Miles H who represented Macquarie at the Rostrum Quarter finals this week. An amazing effort and speech.

Semester 1 student reports were sent home last week via email, if you haven’t received your child’s report, please let us know.  

This week we have been looking forward to parent/teacher interviews; this is a great midyear opportunity for families to connect and check in with teachers around student learning and progress. 

On Wednesday our SRC organised a Pyjama Day to raise money for new soccer goals. All students were encouraged to wear their PJ’s and bring a gold coin donation.  

On Friday we have the Giants coming to visit and our 5/6 students have organised a student vs teacher dodge ball competition, we are having a wonderful week 10.  

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and relaxing holiday break. Enjoy quality time with your families and we will see students back on Tuesday July 23.  

Kind regards

Kristy

MIRRI loved Pyjama Day and she wishes everyone a happy and safe holidays.

Reminder – Monday 22 July 2024 is a Pupil Free Day

A friendly reminder to all parents and carers that there are 2 remaining student-free days for ACT public schools in 2024. These are the first day of each school term:

Term 3 – Monday 22 July 2024

Term 4 – Monday 14 October 2024

Student-free days are for staff development, enabling teachers and schools to plan in a student-free environment. The increase in student-free planning days from 2024 is part of our Teaching Staff Enterprise Agreement, which prioritises better teacher workloads for educational leadership, teaching and learning.

Notes / Reminders

All notes are available on our school website.

P & C News

Grill’D Fundraiser

Thank you everyone who voted for Macquarie Primary School in the June “Local Matters” fundraiser at Grill’d Belconnen. We were runners-up and won $100 for the school P&C. The P&C raises funds for initiatives such as purchasing new books for the library, play equipment, plants for the gardens, contributes to transport for excursions, and other fun or educational items for the school.

Community Cookbook

Thank you to the folks who have volunteered to help produce our very special Macquarie Primary School cookbook! We can always use more volunteer though, so if you are interested in being involved, please email president.mpspandc@gmail.com. A general call for recipes will come out soon.

Term 3 P&C meeting – save the date!

The Term Three P&C meeting will be held at 6pm on Tuesday 30 July in the Garden Side Cafe. Please come along and let us know any ideas you might have, volunteer, or simply listen and meet some other parents and carers. All welcome!

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.