Macedon Primary School Newsletter

Dear parents,

We have managed another successful term of student learning in term two.  There have been moments when we have really struggled to staff our school and I have never experienced the level of student absenteeism that we had earlier this term.  To have nearly 40% of our students away for a significant period was difficult for us.  I am sure that many of you will have had sick children at home this term and while this is hard, we really thank you for your considerate approach.  Having fewer sick students in class helps us keep the spread of viruses and germs down.

Our teachers, who’s primary role is to manage the learning growth for their students, have also completed a large body of work including investigating evidence-based strategies to support the inclusion of diverse learns in their classrooms this term.  We are culminating our investigation this evening with a presentation of our learning across the term to each other.  This has been important work for us and was supported by Department of Education staff in the Northwest regional office.  The successful integration of diverse learning has many prosocial benefits to our school and the wider community.

In term three we are turning our staff learning focus to Numeracy. We will be exploring the instructional practices that will give us the best chance to promote student learning and growth in our classrooms.  We also use the evidence based and science backed high impact teaching methods in our teaching.  Our highly experienced staff already routinely incorporate many of these strategies into their teacher and next term we will refining our approach to maintain our energy on continuous improvement.

Acting Principal – Karren Baker - July 11 – July 29

I am taking three weeks of leave after the school holidays and will be away between the 25th of June and 29th of July.  My first day back after the break will be the 1st of August.  Karren Baker will be the acting principal while I am away.  If you require support from her in my absence, please do not hesitate to email her Karren.Baker@education.vic.gov.au

Winter Solstice – Thank you      

Thank you to everyone who attended the winter solstice event on Friday night last week.  We had a huge turnout, much more than was expected and it was so pleasing to see.  Thank you to everyone who came to join in and support our school.  It is such a special event for our community, and we were excited to finally be able to hold an event like this.  A big thank you must go to all the volunteers who came and contributed on the evening, to those who helped at middle gully in the weeks leading up, who cooked treats, cooked a BBQ, cooked pizza, sold food in the shed and tended the bon fire.  A special thanks must go to Deb Fiori and David Oxworth who organised a large share of the event.

Conversations around Child Mental Health Round Two - Dr William Garvey and Jennifer Dix- Postponed

Unfortunately, this event has been postponed this evening.  One of the presenters has fallen ill.  We will reschedule this event for midterm three. Stay tuned.

Kind regards and Sampai jumpa (until next time),

Matt

Unfortunately we have had to postpone this event due to one of the presenters being sick. Please keep an eye out for a new date next term.

Winter Solstice – Thank You

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came and supported our Winter Solstice night last Friday at Middle Gully. It was a fantastic night and it was amazing to see how many people in our community came along to help and enjoy the night. Thanks so much to Shaun for his musical presentation, and to Kirstie Hall and Karren Baker for the Foundation performance. A HUGE THANKS to Ginny, our wonderful art teacher, for putting on an amazing display of the students artwork. Also, a big thanks to Mr Ewels who lit the fantastic bonfire which kept everyone warm throughout the night.

Another big thanks to all our helpers at Middle Gully, especially in the Eco Shed helping to prepare and sell food. The legends at the pizza oven were fantastic!

My biggest thanks and appreciation goes to Deb Fiori for all her energy and enthusiasm in helping to organise such a fabulous event.

 Mr O / David Oxworth

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 here: https://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. 

This week in Digital Tech:

Grade 1/2

So, after the thunderous applause and multiple Oscar wins of Grade 1/2 TT's stop motion animations last week, we now present the much-requested sequels, with a bigger budget (well, still $0) and even more special effects (paper explosions are special effects, right?) prepare to be amazed (yet still, slightly confused)

1/2 CS:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B9tE6lauDNcwAzthV3Qp2Gh6-kMVTWTF/view?usp=sharing

1/2 BT:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CsMfP_HRsApu0O1aYHiw2ZgT-OcfR7ER/view?usp=sharing

Grade 3/4

After a term of exploring the world digitally, for our last session it was time to take it to the next level, and explore some of the world, virtually using VR.

Students donned a VR headset and flew around the world in Google Earth VR, and then did some digging in Minecraft Education VR.

And yes, everyone looked fabulous in the headwear, clearly a Macedon Primary Fashion statement...

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! 

Thank you to the Bendigo Community Bank Gisborne & District for their grant to help with sustainability garden!

Parents, who are carers, may now be eligible to join Saver Plus and get up to $500 for education costs.

We at Saver Plus understand that carers have extra responsibilities, which means they are unable to work. So, we have expanded our income requirement to reflect this and have included Carers Payment as an eligible income source. 

Parents can email us directly at EnquiriesSP@bsl.org.au or call us on 1300 610 355.

Kind Regards,

Lynn Jacob (She/Her)

 Saver Plus – Community Engagement Specialist I Brotherhood of St Laurence

P: 0407 817 758 I E: EnquiriesSP@bsl.org.au  www.bsl.org.au