Macedon Primary School Newsletter

13 July 2022

School Values: Respect, Responsibility, Creativity, Integrity, Teamwork

Principal's Report

Dear parents,

The holidays are over and here we are ready to embark on a new term of learning. I do hope everyone had a lovely break and even managed to get away for a short time. I enjoyed hearing about some of the Foundation student’s holiday adventures on Monday morning.

Welcome

We would like to welcome Aleks McGregor and Issy Gennari to our Macedon Primary family. Aleks will be taking up the teaching duties in the 1/2 team until the end of the year and Issy will become a member of our Education Support team assisting students across the school. If you see them around please give them a friendly Macedon welcome.

Covid update

The State Government is continuing to provide schools with Rapid Antigen Tests during term 3. We will continue to provide families with tests as they are delivered. It is recommended that students and staff test when symptomatic. In regards to the wearing of masks, as per the current Government recommendations, masks are not mandated but strongly recommended in indoor settings. If you are a household contact and are over 8 years of age you are required to wear a face mask in indoor settings unless you have a valid exemption. 

Macedon Science Expo and Festival

During term 3, students across the school are doing inquiry units about “How do things work?” an exploration in Science and Technology that investigates the physical and material world of natural and human-made phenomena. Some of the themes being studied include Toys in the Foundation area and “The Solar System” in years 1 and 2. In the 3/4 unit they are studying “Animals and their Ecosystems” and finally the year 5/6 students are broadening their horizons and exploring many areas of science including life cycles, robotics, forces and how machines work. After all this intense learning the culmination is the Macedon Science Expo and Festival on Thursday 8th September, from 4-6pm. So, save the date and we will look forward to our families sharing the students achievements at the end of the term.

Till next week

Karren Baker (Acting Principal)

Vandalism at Middle Gully

During the first weekend of the school holidays there was some vandalism at Middle Gully. We have narrowed the timeframe to Saturday the 25th of June between 11:30am and 1:00pm. Someone had cut the wire of the chook pen with wire cutters and has also smashed beyond repair a mosaic Koala. Mr Ewels moved the chickens to his property for the holidays and he and Mr Gower repaired the chook pen wire. Thank you to you both for your help. The local police have been informed and will be keeping an eye on the area. If anyone saw any suspicious at Middle Gully over that weekend, please let the school or the local police know.

Important Dates

12 August - Grade 3/4 Excursion to zoo

15 August - Grade 1/2 excursion to Bendigo

18 August - ICAS English exam

19 August - District Athletics (selected Yr 3 -6 students)

22 August - Grade 1/2 swimming, Kyneton 

26 August - Grade 1/2 swimming, Kyneton 

29 August - Grade 1/2 swimming, Kyneton

1 September - ICAS Maths Exam

2 September - Grade 1/2 swimming, Kyneton

5 September - Grade 1/2 swimming, Kyneton

8 September - Science Expo 4 - 6 pm

9 September - Grade 5/6 Hot shot tennis, Gisborne 

13 September - School photo day 

14 September - District basketball

16 September - Last day of term 3 - 2:30pm dismissal

TERM 4:

3 October - First day of term 4

18 October - 21 October - Year 5 & 6 Camp - Howqua

31st October - Curriculum Day (student free day)

1st November - Melbourne Cup holiday (student free day)

2 November - 4 November - Year 3 & 4 Camp - Weekaway Lancefield

5 December - 6 December - Year 1 & 2 Camp - Lady Northcote 

20 December - Last day of the year (1:00pm dismissal)

Dressing for Macedon Winter

Winter is in full swing and the mornings are frosty, we remind parents to dress their children with plenty of layers. The classrooms are all warm, however at recess and lunchtime the children need to be dressed appropriately.  Our lost property has numerous jackets, jumpers and coats. I Please come in and take a look.

If your child is coming home muddy, please pack a spare set of clothes in their bag. We have limited spare clothes in sick bay and would appreciate if you could supply your own.

New COVID Settings

Face Masks 

All Victorians are now encouraged to wear a mask when with other people indoors and when you cannot physically distance, including outdoors.

Wearing a face mask can help protect you, your child/ren and those around you. Face masks stop droplets spreading when people talk, cough, sneeze and laugh, which lowers the chance of spreading or catching the virus. This information is especially important for those who are medically at risk.

The Victorian government’s advice recommends people over 8 years of age wear a face mask in indoor settings, except for close contacts, who must wear a mask indoors unless an exception applies. If you wish your child to wear a mask at school, and/or they themselves wish to wear a mask, we will ensure they are supported to do that. We have a supply of children's and adult masks at school or you can send your child to school with their own mask.

People are now exempt from testing and isolating four weeks after getting COVID, instead of 12 weeks.

Parents and carers who have COVID-19 can transport their non-COVID-19 children via private vehicle to their primary or secondary school when an alternative person is not available to assist. This will include school holiday programs held on school grounds.

This means that parents and carers will be able to leave COVID self-isolation to take their non-COVID-19 child to school or school holiday programs via a private vehicle.

The parent or carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times.

Family members are asked to continue reporting positive COVID-19 cases to both the Department of Health and our own testing portal.

You must also let the school know if your child is a close contact. Students who are close contacts and want to attend should still take 5 RATs over 7 days and wear a face mask whilst indoors if they are aged 8 years or over.

Students should continue to stay home if they are unwell, even if they test negative on a RAT.

Rapid Antigen Tests

Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) will continue to be available in our school in Terms 3 and 4.

RATs continue to be required by students who are household contacts to attend school (5 negative tests over a 7 day period) or who have symptoms.

The ongoing supply of RATs to families in our school will ensure that parents and carers will have them should they need them if their child is a household contact or has symptoms.

Families must continue to notify the Department of Health and the school if their child returns a positive RAT result. Additionally, you should inform us if any of your children are household contacts.

Thank you also to all families who have got their child vaccinated.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has updated its recommendations around fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccination. From Monday 11 July 2022, people over 30 years will be eligible for a fourth dose. ATAGI recommends that people aged 50 to 64 years should have their fourth dose, while those aged 30 to 49 years may choose to have a fourth dose. For further information see the ATAGI website.

Getting vaccinated is easy and bookings can be done via the coronavirus website. If you have any questions about the vaccines, I encourage you to speak to your GP or a health practitioner.

For more information about face mask requirements, visit the Coronavirus website.

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/parents-carers-and-guardians 

From the office

Late arrivals

If your child is late to school (after 9:00am) can you please sign them in at the office. The teachers mark the rolls at 9:00am and if your child is late to class they will be marked as absent and you will receive an SMS asking about their whereabouts.  The classrooms are open from 8:50am.

Foundation 2023 enrolments

Foundation enrolments for 2023 are now open. If you have a child that is starting school next year of have friends or family interested in enrolling their child at Macedon Primary, please contact the office for an enrolment form or click on the following link: https://macedonps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2023-Student_Enrolment_Form_Updated_Feb_2018.pdf 

Absences / Holidays

If you have planned absences such as holidays please let the office know via email, phone or there are forms available from the office. We can then let the teachers know and they can arrange a learning plan for your children. 

Voluntary Curriculum Contributions

The process for invoicing parents for voluntary curriculum contributions. If you are unsure if you have paid or if you would like to pay, please contact the office.

Working with Children Check

All parent helpers at Macedon Primary must have a valid working with children check. It is free for a volunteer check, please apply online at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply-1If you have a valid working with check and have yet to provide it to the school, please email a copy or come into the office and we will take a copy.

Julie and Emma

Student Achievement Awards

The following awards will be handed out at Assembly this Friday in the JCB at 3:00pm

FKH - William P - for always giving his best in everything he does.

FKB - Kai L - for great improvement with his letter formation.

FKB - Oskar M - for terrific writing about his holidays.

1/2AM - Elliott P - for working really hard during reading rotations.

1/2TT - Maddie J - for taking care with the presentation of her work.

1/2TT - Isobel W - for terrific factual writing about the planets.

3/4GS - Yuka P - for a fabulous start to term 3. Well done!

3/4GS - Lauren B - for fabulous work with number families. Well done!

3/4MS - Jack B - for putting a lot of effort into his work. Well done!

3/4MS - Olivia S - for her excellent research and beautifully presented mini-project on tadpoles and frogs. Well done!

3/4VW - Cooper B - for excellent work with multiplication and division facts.

3/4VW - Patrick S - for outstanding work in our multiplication lessons.

5/6MS - Hamish C - for being a fantastic class helper and showing excellent leadership skills.

5/6RC - Grace H - for working hard on her 3D paper sculpture.

5/6RC - Eva K - for working hard on her 3D paper sculpture.

5/6AB - Evie Mc - for excellent reading out loud of 'The Giver', our class text book study.

5/6AB - Flynn L - for always asking important questions about learning.

STEM Awards:

Liam K - 1/2TT: for his amazing work recreating the Memorial Cross in Minecraft education and a great example for other students.

Archer D - 1/2TT: for his amazing work recreating the Memorial Cross in Minecraft education and a great example for other students.

Visual Art:

William E-R - FKH - for sharing great Steam Punk ideas in Visual Art.

River B-P - FKB - for always being so positive and hard-working in Art.

The Interschool Snowsport Championships

The Interschool Snowsport Championships are held at Mt Buller, beginning on Monday August 22, 2022. The event provides an opportunity for Australian school students of all ages to experience snowsport and to participate at either a recreational or competitive level.

In recent years Macedon Primary School has had a number of students attend the event. The school does not provide any transport or accommodation to the event, you would need to organise transport and accommodation yourself. There are no staff members attending the event.

Students from Foundation to Year 6 can compete for their school as part of a team or an individual in any of our nine discipline events. The 2 most popular events are:

1.      Alpine - Skiers are timed on a modified giant slalom course

2.      Ski Cross - Skiers are timed individually on a course including jumps and high-banked turns

There are 3 Primary School divisions:

Division 4 – Years 5 and 6

Division 5 – Years 3 and 4

Division 6 – Foundation to Year 2

 

If you would like further information or to register for the event, please see Mr O. You can also get further information and the schedule of events from the website:

https://www.interschools.com.au/home-victoria/2022-vic-champs-event-info/

Thanks

Mr O

ICAS - Assessments for Yrs 3 -6

What is ICAS? 

ICAS is an online academic competition that is designed to assess students’ higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English and Mathematics. 

Each assessment celebrates students’ accomplishments by providing opportunities for recognition and development. Every student who participates will receive a printed certificate and an online results report. Top performers will be eligible for medals. 

We encourage you to consider entering your child into ICAS this year.  

 Learn more about ICAS here. (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas) 

 How to participate in ICAS 

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year, please: 

1.   read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (https://www.icasassessments.com/products-icas

2.   go to Parent Portal herehttps://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps 

3.   enter our school’s access code –     FUW928

4.   enter your child’s details, select the tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment. 

 Please note that the ICAS tests shown for selection are at the school’s discretion.  

After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email, please keep this for your records. 

We will notify you of the date(s) that we run ICAS at the school and when your child’s ICAS results are ready. You and your child can access the results once released via the Reports Portal using the TAP ID and pin found on the back of the ICAS certificate. 

The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure. 

Privacy Collection Statement 

Janison is aware of our responsibility to protect the identity of, and all information relating to, children, and students in general, from disclosure and consequently Janison does not: 

·  collect any personal information or data of children other than as required for the purposes of completion of the assessment, test or exam; 

·  transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in Australia to any jurisdiction outside of Australia other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 

·  transfer any personal information or data obtained during the delivery of assessments, tests or exams conducted in other international regions out of the child’s jurisdiction other than with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 

·  share any personal information or data relating to children or students with any third parties (other than a third party whose services are necessary for servicing our products, e.g. print/distribution companies, medal engraving, etc.) except with the specific consent of the person, or his or her parent or guardian; 

·  use any personal information or data relating to children or students for marketing purposes. 

·   

Janison may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com

 

We are proud to offer ICAS and look forward to some fantastic results later in the year. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions. 

Visual Art Report

This term we have an exciting Inquiry topic; Simple Machines and we will explore this through the wonderful world of Steam Punk. 

Here is a fantastic piece done by Anja this week. 

STEM Update

This week in Digital Tech, students began to explore the possibilities in AR (Augmented Reality).

AR involves creating virtual elements that can be placed into the real world, these can be interacted with and can provide you with information or help (or even just a giant dinosaur, because, why not?)

Over the next few classes, students will create their own virtual scenes we can 'place' around the school, once completed you will be able to see these the next time you are here (stay tuned for more info soon)

 Mr. Garcia

Pictured: we can see some students creating some augmented plant life (because we clearly don't have enough of that around here... 😉)

Visual Art Request

Urgent call out from the Art room for the following handy items, before our exciting print making unit next term. Do you have any of the following at home that might be donated to the Art room?

* Box board (not corrugated cardboard, but the thinner, denser cardboard pictured here).

* Corflute (the plastic sheets used for signs such as real estate signs).

* Old yoga mats (namaste!).

* Thick string or jumbo sized yarn/wool.

* Plastic table cloths (C’mon she won’t be into purple unicorns next birthday!).

If anyone has such magical treasures they would be prepared to donate, we will be eternally grateful and promise in return at least one unique and priceless, personally rendered masterpiece…It’s the least we can do! 

 

Outside School Hours Care

Please notify the office or email oshp@macedonps.vic.edu.au if your child is sick and will not be attending before or after school care.  

We now have spaces available for casual days, however you need to fill out an enrolment form PRIOR to your child starting at the service. f you have a permanent booking and do not need the service for After School please advise the program as soon as you know, preferably before 11.00am on the day so we are able to give that space to another child.  For Before School, please call before 6.30pm the day before or email the service on oshp@macedonps.vic.edu.au

Late cancellation fees apply if your child’s place is cancelled after 11.00am.  Further, if you do not cancel your child and they do not attend, fees may still apply.

Fees for 2022

Our rates for 2022 are: $16.00 for Before School Care (7:00am - 8:45am) and $23.00 for After School Care (3:30pm - 6:30pm). All you need to do is call the school 5426 1518 or email oshp@macedonps.vic.edu.au to book.  If the unexpected happens and a casual booking is required within 24 hours, please contact the school via phone, we cannot accept walk-ins after school.  Please note that enrolment forms need to be completed at least one business day before the first session of care.

Please pay through the school via Direct Deposit, using the following details (not BPay):

Account name: Macedon Primary School

BSB: 063-840

Account: 1003 4330

Vicki, Helen, Karen & Marie.

Community News

Have you got something important to say?

Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health and Sunbury Aboriginal Corporation are inviting people between the ages of 9 and 25 to join Kid x Plus.

At Kid x Plus we will help you to develop a talk which will be presented to politicians, experts and decision makers, making sure that they know about the things that young people care about.  Last year’s Kid x Plus speakers talked about a range of topics including mental health, education, discrimination, disability and the environment to name a few. 

Even if you don’t want to give a talk, you can still join Kid x Plus as part of our event team, helping us to run the event.

Registrations close 22 July.  To find out more and to register go to: https://sunburycobaw.org.au/kid-x-plus/

If you have any queries about Kid x Plus, please contact Matt Gleeson, Building Healthy Communities, Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health on 9744 9516 or at matt.gleeson@scchc.org.au

Macedon Primary School

Macedon Primary School acknowledges the Wurundjeri people as the traditional owners of the country upon which we learn and work. We recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community and pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.