Macquarie Memo Issue 20

News from our Principal

Welcome back to 2025! We are very excited to welcome many new students and families to Macquarie this year to join our wonderful Macquarie community!

We hope you all had an amazing break, and we are looking forward to a fantastic year in 2025!

We have a few changes and exciting things happening this year that we will let you know about as they happen. The first change we have this year is that students will be eating outside instead of in classrooms. We are trialling this and will let you know if there are any changes, but eating outside means that students may benefit from an icepack in their lunch boxes to keep things nice and cool. Lunch boxes are returned to classrooms after break time.

Monday morning lines on Namadgi blacktop will also happen every week this year, Monday morning lines will be a great opportunity to deliver important messages to students and hand out our silver Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) awards.

We have made some changes to our PBL reward system this year and are moving from bronze and silver yearly targets to termly targets, our gold awards will remain yearly. Bronze awards this year will be handed out in class, silver awards will be handed out at Monday morning lines and gold awards will be handed out at assemblies.

Wednesday 19 February our P&C will hold their annual welcome BBQ. This is a great time to meet new families, catch up and have a chat.

In week 4 we will have our ‘Getting to Know You’ interviews. More information about booking in a time will be sent out closer to the date, keep an eye on Class Dojo for updates around this.

Class Dojo is used as our main form of communication to families at Macquarie, we use class stories and school story to deliver information. We don’t, however, use the messaging function of this application, if you need to message your child’s teacher, please do so via email. Our school newsletters are also a great place to find information, newsletters are sent home fortnightly on a Thursday.   

A reminder that our two disabled car parks are only to be used by families who have disability parking permits. If you don’t have a permit, please do not park in these car parks.

Please remind your children that being safe is one of our school values and that they are required to wear helmets for safety when riding a bike or scooter to school and as we are a sun safe school please ensure your child has a sun smart hat to wear for outside play.

We acknowledge that a new school year is a big adjustment for students, but we are already seeing students settling into new classes and making new friends.

We are looking forward to working with you in your child’s learning this year and for an exciting 2025.

Kind regards

Kristy

2025 Stationery and Book Packs

Student Name:_________________________                 2025   Year Level:_______________________

Payment Options - cashless payments are preferred

Option1:  Electronic Funds transfer

EFT Details

Account Name:                  Macquarie Primary School Management Account

BSB Number:                      032 777                     

Account Number:             001586

Use reference:                  Child’s Name 2023 STATIONERY

Option 2:  Quickweb

Quickweb Details:

Go to our school website and follow the prompts on the payment page

Use reference:                  Child’s Name 2023 STATIONERY

Option 3:  Cash or cheque paid directly to the Front Office in a sealed envelope labelled with your child’s name and year group.

Parent Portal is now available as a mobile app, SENTRAL FOR PARENTS

Download Sentral for Parents for free

through the App Store or Google Play Store.

Macquarie Primary School encourages you to sign up to the Parent Portal as it’s a secure and convenient way to communicate with your child’s school.

Parent Portal can be accessed on a mobile phone, tablet or computer and will allow parents to:

·        Notify us if your child is sick or to explain an absence	·        Read updates to school events
·        You can notify us of any existing or future absence	·        Receive academic reports
·        Update your family contact details	·        Manage secure payments
·        View current school newsletter	·        Access excursion notes

Please contact the front office for further information MacquariePSAdminEmails@ed.act.edu.au

P & C News

Notes / Reminders

All notes are available on our school website.

Contact Details

Community Notices

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.