Macedon Primary School Newsletter

Dear parents and carers,

URSTRONG - Friendology

In planning our return to permanent face to face schooling this year it was important to me that we support our students with the transition back to the high levels of social interaction that we are used to at Macedon Primary. Navigating the ups and downs of these relationships after so long in isolation and so many lockdowns has been a challenge for some in our school.  As a result of some research and conversations with other school leaders we have become a URSTRONG school.  URSTRONG’s mission is to support schools to create a culture of kindness with a whole-school friendship strategy that empowers students with friendship skills.

Your children will be working through the Friendology lessons each week for term one and part of term two.  There will be supporting resources to support you to continue to conversation at home with you children.

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million students, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship.

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

As a next step, we would recommend:

·         Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG.

·         Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family.

·         Explore the hundreds of resources available to you!

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

Approach to teaching reading – Initial Lit

The front cover of The Age on Wednesday 16 February featured an article about Churchill Primary School in Gippsland and the success they are having in using a synthetic phonics approach to teaching their reading.  The article piqued my interest as at the end of 2020 we began our journey to introducing a similar approach to reading based on the same science with more weight and time given to teaching the students to read with a synthetic phonics program.  In late 2020, we introduced the MiniLit program as an intervention to support our readers in need of additional support.  In 2021, we consolidated the Mini-lit program, and our Foundation classrooms began with the whole class phonics approach to teaching reading, InitialLit.  Then this year, the first two professional learning days for our staff were dedicated to further upskilling our staff in this evidence-based approach to teaching reading and the Foundation to Year Two teachers are incorporating this approach across their classrooms.  Our Year 3 -6 teachers are also making changes to there spelling program and using the “Promoting Literacy Development – PLD” approach which marries with the Foundation to Year 2 Initial Lit program.  While we are early in our roll out of this approach, we expect to see a strengthening of our results in this area to provide our students with the important foundational skill.  Please feel free to reach out to me or talk to your classroom teacher about this approach more information.

Kind regards and Sampai jumpa (until next time)

Matt

Lunch orders are every Friday, please make sure you have the correct class name and room number. Please try to avoid dropping directly at Red Door as this creates issues when lunch orders arrive at school.

The menu is available here: https://macedonps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Red-Door-Menu-2021.pdf 

23 February - Parent-teacher interviews

14 March - Labour Day holiday (student free day)

8 April - Last day of term 1 (2:30pm dismissal)

TERM 2:

26 April - First day of term 2

13 June - Queen's birthday holiday (student free day)

24 June - Last day of term 3

TERM 3:

11 July - First day of term 3

13 September - School photo day (TBC)

16 September - Last day of term 3

TERM 4:

3 October - First day of term 4

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

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

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

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

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

Collecting students early for appointments

We understand that there will be times when you need to collect your child from school for appointments or other reasons. We ask that you call or email the school prior to the time so we can have your child ready at the office.  Often the children are not in their classrooms and if we know in advance that you are collecting your child early,  we can have them at the office ready for collection. Our email address is macedon.ps@education.vic.gov.au or phone number is 54261518.

Bell times / recess / lunch times

8:50 am         Bell signals as a prompt for the commencement of the school day. Students are encouraged to enter the classroom from 8:50 am to organise their belongings and workstation for the day.

8:57 am         Music commences as a prompt for students to assemble outside of their classrooms.

9:00 am         Bell signals the start of the school day.

11:00 am       Commencement of morning recess

11:27am        Music commences as a prompt for students to assemble outside of their classrooms.

11:30 am       Bell signals the end of morning recess

1:00 pm         Bell signals lunch, students eat lunch inside

1:10 pm         Bell signals students can go outside for lunch break

1:50 pm         Bell signals 10 minutes until the end of lunch break

1:57 pm         Music commences as a prompt for students to move to their classroom ready for the afternoon session.

2:00 pm         Bell signals the commencement of the afternoon session.

3:30 pm         Bell signals for dismissal for the end of the day.

The dismissal time for the end of term 1, 2 and 3 is 2:30 pm and 1:30 pm at the end of term 4. 

Student Enrolment Information Forms

Thank you to the families who have returned their student enrolment forms. These are a sand coloured document which lists the current personal details held by the school for your child(ren). If you could please take the time to check the details listed to ensure they are correct and then either;

• if all the details are listed are correct, sign the form and return the sheet as it is, or
• Make the necessary alterations, sign and return.

It is really important that we have your families most current details, especially in times of emergency or illness.

If your family circumstances have changed and parents are no longer living together, we have an alternative family form. If you could please send this into the office with the updated situation. https://macedonps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Alternative-Family-Details.pdf

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.

Camps, Sports, Excursion Fund (CSEF)

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. School camps provide children with inspiring experiences in the great outdoors, excursions encourage a deeper understanding of how the world works and sports teach teamwork, discipline and leadership. All are part of a healthy curriculum. CSEF will be provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities. If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child. The annual CSEF amount per student is $125 for primary school students. Contact the school office to obtain a CSEF application form. If you received CSEF last year, please note that you must complete a new CSEF Form for 2022 and return to the office by the end of February. 

Conveyance Allowance

Parents have primary responsibility for transporting their children to and from school. The Department of Education (DET) provides financial assistance in the form of a conveyance allowance to help families in rural and regional Victoria with the cost of transporting their children to their closest appropriate school. The conveyance allowance is a contribution towards transport costs and is not intended to cover the full cost of transporting children to and from school. The allowance is an acknowledgement of the often limited government-provided transport infrastructure available outside metropolitan Melbourne. A conveyance allowance is provided to a student on the basis of individual eligibility.

To receive a conveyance allowance individual students must meet all of the following criteria:

1.      Attend a school/campus located outside the Melbourne Urban Growth Boundary.

2.      Attend the closest appropriate school/campus. For students attending government schools, this will be the closest school appropriate to the age and gender of the student (e.g. primary, secondary, single sex).

3.      Reside 4.8km or more from the school (shortest practicable route calculated by school at time of application from the student’s home to the school attended).

4.      Be of school age (between five and 18-years-old at the time of application), and a resident of Victoria.

5.      Be enrolled and travelling to school three or more days per week.

Students’ circumstances can change during their school years (e.g. moving residence or changing schools). Change of circumstances affects eligibility and a new application must be submitted with each change of circumstance. If you are unsure if you are eligible for Conveyance Allowance please contact the office.

If you received Conveyance Allowance last year, please note that you must complete a new Conveyance Allowance Application Form for 2022 and return to the office ASAP.

Conveyance Allowance applications must be lodged in early March, therefore the Conveyance Allowance Application Forms must be received at the office no later than Friday 4th March 2022.

(No late applications can be accepted).

School Crossing

I have received a message from our friendly crossing guards about some unsafe crossing use.  Please make sure you are not parking over the crossing, or doing u-turns in front of the crossing.  Our ultimate goal is to keep our most precious little people safe.  Please do your bit by using the dedicated crossing and waiting for the guards to stop traffic and blow their whistle.  

Julie and Emma

The following awards will be presented at our weekly assembly on Friday at 3:00pm.  The assembly takes place outside the John Curtin Building (JCB). Parents are welcome to attend.

1/2TT - Chloe B - for challenging herself with her work and learning.

1/2TT - Liam K - for a terrific start to Grade 2!

1/2CS - Archie B - for his beautiful reading and happy approach towards all tasks.

1/2CS - Ted S - for his enthusiastic and hardwork especially in maths.

3/4MS - Lukas B - for his positive approach to all learning activities. Well done.

3/4MS - Zoey H - for her positive approach to all learning activities. Well done.

3/4MS - Maisie W - for being a caring and helpful student.

3/4VW - Chelsea B - for always doing her best work.

3/4VW - Teage K - for being helpful in the classroom.

5/6AB - Vera C - for being an excellent support for others in class.

5/6AB - Phoenix W - for always having a go and trying his best.

5/6RC - Finn P - for settling in well to his new school and being a fantastic member of 5/6RC.

Visual Arts

Sienna R - 3/4GS - for terrific focus and determination in art.

Lachlan G - FKH - for terrific focus and concentration in art

On Thursday the 17th of February 3/4 GS went to Middle Gully for our Land Care session and everybody loved it! We did rock art with Deb in the Eco Shed, Seed collecting with Mr Ewels and Penny and we also did some gardening with Mr O and Angela.

At the garden we had heaps of fun learning about the fruits and vegetables. We pulled out weeds and plants that were going to seed. We found some garlic cloves and ladybugs too. Anglea and Mr O were busy supervising the children using the pick axes.

In the Eco shed with Deb we painted rocks for a fun game of noughts and crosses (Bugs and Beetles). Some of us had the opportunity to paint our own bug and beetle and we will get to take them home soon. We had beautiful colours like red, blue, green, turquoise and blue.

 We also collected seeds with Mr Ewels and Penny. The seeds we collected were Wattle, Cootamundra and Sticky, Oven and Black Wattle. We are trying really hard to grow these.

We had a wonderful afternoon at Land Care and we can’t wait until our next session!

HEAPS OF FUN! 

Sienna R - 3/4GS

Welcome back for 2022!

Spaces are filling up for OSHC.  Most spaces are taken up by permanent bookings and we are unable to book casuals in (they will have to be placed on a waiting list).  If 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.

Fee increase 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.