ENewsletter

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

Principal's Report

Dear parents,

The sun is finally shining here and we’re loving it. I have noticed a range of classes outside and enjoying the sunshine this week. Mr B’s class were dancing in the JCB this morning and Mrs Slater’s class were running laps of the oval yesterday in between their reading and writing lessons yesterday.

House Orienteering tomorrow - rescheduled event

Tomorrow our students will be participating in the house orienteering event at Tony Clarke Reserve. During PE this term My O has been teaching all students how to read a map and find the control points. They have been practicing at school and tomorrow will test these skills in the Tony Clarke area and our pine forest. The junior school students complete courses close to the oval and as the student get older, the challenge increases and the courses get longer. It is a great chance for parents to come down and watch. The children will be leaving the school at 9:30am to walk to Tony Clarke. Students are asked to wear house colours.

Lunch Order Providers

Please see the message below from the school council in relation to the change of Lunch Order providers. We have recently undertaken a review of the lunch order providers and have decided to change from Red Door Café to the Farm Truck. Red Door will provide lunches for the next two weeks before we transition to the Farm truck on Thursday the 24th of November. One change to be aware of is the change from Friday lunch orders to Thursday’s.

Mental Health Expo

I am pleased to be involved in the Macedon Ranges Health Forum "Developing Minds". With key guest speaker, clinical psychologist, Jennifer Dix, on the 16th of November in Gisborne. Jennifer will explore how to best support the social and emotional wellbeing of our children. I will be offering a school perspective and be available to answer questions throughout the evening.

In preparation for a new year, we discuss ways to support change. If you would like to register your details at the following link we can prepare to answer specific questions on the night.

There will also be stalls from local organisations providing mental health information. The event commences at 4:00pm with speakers beginning at 5:00pm. This is an in person event at Macedon Ranges Health, 5 Neal Street, Gisborne.

Kind regards and Sampai jumpa (until next time),

Matt

Middle Gully update

Mental Health Forum - 16th November

With key guest speaker, clinical psychologist, Jennifer Dix, we explore how to best support the social and emotional wellbeing of our children. Macedon Principal, Matthew Forrest will be offering a school perspective and be available to answer questions throughout.

In preparation for a new year, we discuss ways to support change. Q & A session to follow. Please feel free to ask questions here which speakers can prepare to answer on the night.

Beleza Uniform Sale

The Australian Fire Danger System

In September 2022, all jurisdictions across Australia will implement a new fire danger forecasting system, the Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS). This will deliver a nationally consistent system for fire danger ratings based on the latest scientific research.

What's changed?

The new Extreme fire danger rating under the AFDRS will cover a broader scope of fire ratings combining the current Severe and Extreme fire danger rating.

In addition, Code Red will now be known as Catastrophic fire danger.

What does that mean for us?

Macedon Primary is classified as a Category 2 school, meaning that we will now relocate in accordance with our pre-approved plan on a day forecast Extreme FDR for our LGA (Local Government Area).

We will continue to communicate with the school community over the coming months about how the AFDRS change will be applied and how we can support the community through the transition.

COVID update

COVID-19 isolation requirements have changed

The Victorian Government has announced the end of the Pandemic Declaration and associated Pandemic Orders.

The following settings, based on advice from the Department of Health, will apply from 11.59pm Wednesday 12 October 2022.

It is strongly recommended that students:

who test positive to COVID-19 stay home and isolate for 5 days
should not attend school after 5 days if still symptomatic
who are symptomatic but have not tested positive should not attend school
advise the school of the COVID-19 positive test result

Where students become symptomatic at school they should:

be collected by their parents/carers
undergo testing for COVID-19

Reporting positive COVID-19 test results

The Department of Health recommends that a person who tests positive for COVID-19 should inform those with whom they have recently been in contact, including their workplace, schools and household.

Parents and carers will therefore be asked to continue to report positive student COVID-19 cases using the VicED COVID Tool.

COVID-19 vaccination changes

The current mandatory vaccination requirement for staff and visitors, contractors and volunteers working in specialist schools will cease to apply from 11.59pm Wednesday 12 October. COVID-19 vaccination, including booster doses, continues to be strongly recommended for all school staff.

Face masks

Staff and students who wish to wear a face mask should be supported to do so, and schools should continue to make face masks available for staff, students and visitors.

The Department of Health recommends that masks should be worn by a person who is a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 when leaving home.

Additionally, the Department of Health recommends that masks should be worn by a person who has COVID-19, for at least 7 days after a positive test, when they need to leave home.

Important Dates

10 November - Yr 5/6 Bike Ed session 2

10 November - District Orienteering - Yr F -6 Tony Clarke Reserve

11 November - Regional Orienteering Yr 3-6 - ***CANCELLED***

14 November - District Cricket - Yr 5/6

15 November - Yr 5/6 Bike Ed session 3

17 November - "Farm Truck" - New lunch ordering system starts, register at www.flexischools.com.au

17 November - BagusKan Indonesian incursion

18 November - Second Foundation 2023 transition morning

22 November - Yr 5/6 Bike Ed Session 4

24 November - Yr 5/6 Bike ride to Hanging Rock

25 November - Foundation excursion - Fairy Park

30 November - Grade 6 'Choosical' wellbeing half day

1 December - Foundation Activities - Middle Gully from 11:30am

2 December - Foundation Activities - walk 9:00am-12:30pm

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

7 December - Third Foundation 2023 transition morning

8 December - Tabloid Sports Day 9:30am - 11:00am

8 December - Billy Cart Race Day

13 December - Fourth Foundation 2023 transition morning

14 December - Grade 6 Graduation

16 December - Grade 6 City Excursion

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

2023

Tuesday 31st January - First day of term 1

Whole School Orienteering - rescheduled to 10 November

All children from Foundation to Year 6 will be participating in our local Orienteering program to be held at Tony Clarke Reserve in Macedon, on Thursday 10th of November 2022. There is no cost for this event.

Children will leave school soon after 9am and walk to the Reserve, returning around 12:15pm.

This is a house event, so children are encouraged to wear house colours.

As this is a local excursion we do not require further permission beyond the forms signed by parents/carers at the start of the year.

Parents/Carers are welcome to meet the students and teachers at Tony Clarke Reserve to cheer the children on and/or assist with the running of the program throughout the morning. Please contact David Oxworth or the office if you are able to assist on the day.

Please ensure your child has a sunhat and sunscreen, a raincoat if required, and the students will be carrying their own snacks and drinks in their bags. Lunch will be eaten back at school.

Mr O

School Council Report

The School Council is pleased to confirm that we have selected Farm Truck as our school's new lunch order provider.

In assessing potential vendors, we found Farm Truck to offer many benefits. Most important was a reasonably-priced range of child friendly, and mostly parent approved, food items, including home-made sausage rolls, warm chicken wraps, brownie bites, make your own roll, margherita pizza, fruit salad, and gluten-free options. In addition, lunch orders will now be placed and paid for through Flexischools, a web-based ordering system.

There is no need to plan ahead as lunch orders will still be placed, paid for and delivered on the same day. However, the day for lunch orders will change to Thursdays (Truckshop Thursdays, anyone), as Farm Truck does not have availability to supply lunch orders to Macedon on Fridays at this time. We appreciate that this change may require a slight adjustment to your "end of week" routine.

Farm Truck will begin supplying lunch orders from Thursday 24 November.

We look forward to your feedback as we transition to Farm Truck and thank Red Door for their many years of service. We also thank Emma, Ben, and Sarah for their diligence in evaluating potential vendors and summarizing the relevant information. And especially to Emma - what will you do with your Friday mornings now?

Julie Monk, on behalf of the Macedon Primary School Councillors

New Lunch order provider - Farm Truck

Lunch orders will now be on a Thursday

We are excited to announce that that Farm Truck will be our lunch order supplier from Thursday the 24th of November. All orders will be online through "Flexischools". Parents will need to download the Flexischools app and create an account. Follow the registration process, choose your student and then you are good to go.

The Farm Truck is run by Helen, a local business person who you may have seen at other school events and Farmers Markets in the region. She hopes she can provide fresh and tasty lunches to the children of Macedon Primary. There are also gluten free options available.

You can order up until 9:00am on Thursday morning for Thursday lunch.

https://user.flexischools.com.au/

The last day for Red Door orders will be Friday the 18th of November

From the office

New Lunch order arrangements

We are excited to advise that the "Farm Truck" will be supplying our lunch orders from Thursday the 24th of November. All orders will be online via "Flexischools" families need to:

Download the Flexi Schools app
Login/Register
Add your school and year level/class
place your order
make your selection
Make payment

We are looking forward to working with the Farm Truck and hope you enjoy the new change.

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

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

Awards will be presented at assembly this Friday. Assembly takes place at 3pm on Friday in the John Curtin Building.

FKH - Lola C - for working really hard to understand division.

FKH - Caleb Mc - for his amazing cooperation with his partner during a STEM challenge.

FKH - Daisy R - for great efforts at writing division equations.

FKB - Jocelynn L - for showing perseverance in division tasks.

FKB - Ellie D - for her co-operation during a STEM challenge.

FKB - Toto B - for giving his writing a "red, hot, go"

1/2AM - Pip B - for working incredibly hard in numeracy this week.

1/2AM - Isla D - for filling Mrs McGregor's bucket. Thanks Isla!

1/2CS - Aubrey R - for his outstanding efforts in writing. Amazing improvement!

1/2CS - Louie J - for working hard in class and striving to achieve your best in writing and maths. Keep it up!

1/2CS - Joe G - for his amazing holiday diary! Fabulous!

1/2CS - Mietta P - for being a kind and hardworking member of our class. Keep up the fantastic work!

1/2TT - Mason K - for working hard on all his activities.

3/4VW - Ava B - for showing resilience and bouncing back after her injury on camp.

3/4VW - Cooper B - for being brave and a great leader on camp.

3/4MS - Max M - for being an excellent helper and including everyone in camp games (award chosen by his peers)

3/4MS - Isaac C - for his excellent efforts on camp. Great archery skills! Well done!

3/4MS - Holly B - for demonstrating persistence and resilience on camp. Well done!

3/4MS - Maggie M - for her excellent participation, persistence and resilience shown on camp. Well done!

3/4GS - Tom G - for being positive and encouraging others on camp; especially in the Ga-Ga pit!

3/4GS - Lorna L - for being kind and supporting other on camp.

5/6RC - Kai L - for being polite, thoughtful and helpful and making our class a great place to be.

5/6MS - Deniz N - for working hard when creating a persuasive writing piece.

5/6MS - Hunter E - for applying herself well while working on her Year 5 Leadership tasks.

5/6MS - Hannah R - for her fantastic persuasive writing piece!

5/6AB - Spencer R - for his amazing work in maths!

5/6AB - Evie Mc - for an amazing writing piece.

Art

William P - 3/4MS - for intense focus and creativity in Visual Art

Polly S - 5/6RC - for terrific imagination and focus in Visual Art

Lost Property

We have a number of items of lost property from the 3/4 camp and general school lost property. If it is not collected in the next week it will be disposed of. The camp items are up near the office, general lost property is down near the toilets in the main school building. Please come in and take a look.

Middle Gully Program Update

3rd November – 5/6RC

10th November – 1/2AM

17th November – 1/2TT

24th November - 1/2CS

1st December – 2 x Foundation classes from 11.30am

8th December – No Landcare

15th December –5/6AB and 5/6MS

Parent helpers are always welcome, please sign in at the office prior to going over to Middle Gully and make sure the office has seen your current Working With Childrens Check.

Our sessions are on a Thursday afternoon from 2:00pm - 3:30pm.

Younger siblings are welcome, but must be supervised by their parent or guardian.

Indonesian shadow play and music next Thursday, 17th November

Next Thursday, 17 November, Aaron from Bagus Kan will visit to perform an Indonesian wayang (shadow play) for the F-2 students and conduct Gamelan Orchestra workshops with Foundation and Yr3-6. He'll also bring some becaks (Indonesian bicycle taxi's) for the older students to ride (taking bike ed to a whole new level).

If you would like more information or would like to come and see a genuine Central Javanese Gamelan Orchestra in action, please email deryn.mansell@education.vic.edu.au by next Tuesday.

Jonah (FKB) drew this picture of a scene from the story Aaron will tell in the wayang, it's a traditional tale about a clever mouse deer who outsmarts 10 hungry crocodiles.

Visual Art Report

This week in Art the grades 3-6 students learned how textiles were printed before machines began textile printing. We hammered a variety of flowers and leaves onto fabric to create an impression. We learned a lot and created some beautiful Monet-like pieces.

Grade 1/2 students explored the works and culture of recently passed Indigenous artist, Gloria Petyarre. She is most noted for her work ‘Medicine Leaves’ and we viewed a video of her process and used this to inspire our own story telling using acrylic paint.

STEM Update

So, you may think one gets into the teaching profession to empower young people to learn, I mean, that is somewhat right, but also, it lets me do stuff I think is excellent (and if the students also think it is excellent, well, that is a bonus)

That was definitely the case the past few weeks with our Grade 5 / 6 students as we have been exploring the creativity and power of A.I and Machine Learning tools DALL-E 2 and Craiyon (and other A.I tools for writing, image recognition and music)

Now, you will need to excuse me as I geek out a little here, but these pieces of software use machine learning models and Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 language models to generate digital images from natural language descriptions.

Ok, so what did I just say? - Well, basically, we can type in a string of text, such as "A photograph of a sunflower with sunglasses on in the middle of the flower, in a field on a bright sunny day" and the AI will create that image for us, and it does it not by combining different images from the internet, but by actually creating it from scratch, that image below never existed in the world before that string of text was typed in and it was generated (oh, and when you generate an image from a string of text you input, it becomes your creation, you own it)

We looked at how it worked (here is a video that explains it all nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVcsDDABEkM) and then talked about the can of worms that is the morality and ethics behind being able to create something from nothing (this was a fun conversation, but students did bring up some good points, such as it is a great tool for those of us that may not be so artistically skilled, but still have great ideas they want to set free)

And then, of course, they had a go themselves... and that was even more amazing.

But, the best way to see this in action is to do it yourself, which you can do from the links below.

Dall-E 2 is by far the most powerful (think of it as a 2-year-old... but in Machine Learning years that is an age) but does require an email address to register (it is free to use)

https://openai.com/dall-e-2/

Craiyon doesn't require any logins, and you can use it as soon as you click the link (but it is more like a slower, 6-month-old)

https://www.craiyon.com

Enjoy!

Mr Garcia

Oh, and here is A photograph of a sunflower with sunglasses on in the middle of the flower, in a field on a bright sunny day:

Grade 5/6 Camp Howqua

On October 18th, Macedon Primary School’s Grade 5s and 6s set off for a long anticipated trip to Camp Howqua which is near Mansfield. We completed several exhilarating activities each and every day of our four day stay. Three of the most talked about activities were the Survivor Course, Water Slide and the Zipline.

The Survivor Course was an extremely fun and enticing activity. To complete the course we had to push our teamwork and social skills to the limit so that we could finish this deathly, muddy task. Our team completed a series of problematic tasks. Some of the tasks were the high wall, the climbing rope hill, the crawling tunnels, the climbing wall and the best and messiest of them all, the mud pit. The Survivor Course was one of the most popular and lively team building exercises of them all.

There was a water slide that the owners call, the “WEDGINATOR”. It was one hundred metres long and people going down hit around seventy kilometres an hour. It was an exhilarating experience for any age. Even the teachers had a go at it. “I was absolutely terrified at first, but after a couple of turns it was less of a shock and more exciting,” said Mrs Carey. Before cruising down the “WEDGINATOR” we had to climb 52 rocky and painful stairs to the top. But Bryn, Ryan and Spensa came up and down the slide a whopping 60 times in one hour!

Another popular activity was the zipline, it was shocking at first but definitely thrilling. Everyone found it to be a breathtaking experience. There was also a massive climbing wall next to it that everyone tried to conquer.

It was a very fun time and everyone had a great experience both teachers and students alike. There was also great entertainment when there were no activities and delicious food thanks to the chefs at the camp.. All and all it was a fantastic camp that we would recommend to all schools.

By Bryn, Riley and Noah

Sunsmart Reminder

In line with our Sunsmart policy, we ask that all students come to school with a wide brimmed hat. At recess and lunchtime and any other times when outdoors all students must wear a hat. Students who are not wearing hats will be asked to play in the shade or in a suitable area protected from the sun.

Hats are available for purchase at Beleza Uniforms in Gisborne, or you can purchase any wide brimmed navy hat. We have sunscreen at the office if the children would like to wear sunscreen.

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

WayOut - Planet GAGA

We are excited to hold Planet GAGA during Transgender Awareness Week on Saturday 19 November in Kyneton.

Planet GAGA (Gender Affirming Games and Activities) is a safe and affirming space for transgender, gender diverse and non-binary children and their parents/carers to connect with each other. Planet GAGA is facilitated by Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health’s WayOut program.

For more details and to RSVP please contact WayOut on 5421 1666 / healthpromotion@scchc.org.au

Macedon Junior Cricket

Macedon Cricket Club is running Woolworths Cricket Blast again this season. It’s a fun and fast programme for kids of all abilities to learn the skills and play Australia's favourite sport.

5 - 10 year olds. All welcome.

It doesn't matter if you've never picked up a bat or ball. (We use rubber balls - not hard cricket balls).

Learn some skills, meet some other locals and most importantly - get out there and HAVE FUN.

Come and join the fun at Macedon Cricket Club (Tony Clark Reserve), Sunday mornings from 9:00 - 10:00, starting November 6th.

Registration will be online via the Playcricket website.

You can find general details at playcricket.com.au. Any queries please contact Andrew (andrew.jeanes@robertbird.com.au)

For any budding cricketers 10-12 years of age Macedon Cricket Club would welcome enquires to come and join our U11 or U13 sides. Please contact Todd (todd.c@qubedadvisory.com.au) or Clint (clint.grobler@gmail.com).

Macedon Primary School Newsletter

16 November 2022