Dear parents,

Attendance and family holidays

Recently we have seen a rise in the number of families taking extended leave from school during the school term. I can appreciate that family holidays offer a unique opportunity to spend time and connect with your family and experience a different perspective and learning opportunities.

We do however strongly encourage you to try to take these breaks during the school holidays. We know that sending your child to school consistently is one of the most important factors in a child’s school years. Students learn new things at school every day. Attending and participating in school will help your child develop:

important skills and knowledge to help them learn
social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and teamwork.

Children who attend school every day and complete year 12 have:

better health
better job opportunities
higher income across their lives.

It is important to write to the school requesting that you child miss any school for a holiday. In cases of short holidays during the term, we will provide a student absence learning plan that children are to complete while they’re away. It important to make a request for the holiday in time for the teacher to prepare this for you.

If you are taking extended leave from school for more than a school term, we will unenroll your child/ren and you are strongly encouraged to enrol your children in virtual school or set up a home school arrangement with the Victoria Education and Training Regulator.

It is the parents and carers responsibility to ensure that children 6 to 17 years old go to school or be home schooled. You are legally responsible for making sure your child goes to school every day.

Trivia Night

Later in the term on Friday the 26th of May, the school council is hosting a parent trivia night at Jubilee Hall. Tickets are nearly sold out, so if you are looking to go, please log in to Try Booking https://www.trybooking.com/CHWLB

We are seeking 5 to 6 volunteers to help set up Jubilee Hall. Set up will be from 12 pm onwards. Please message Julie Monk (0418376280) if you are able to help. We'd also appreciate volunteers for the final clean up at the end of the night.

Winter Solstice

On Friday 16th of June, we will be hosting the annual Winter Solstice bonfire night in Middle Gully. This night includes an arts exhibition in the JCB, lantern parade, bonfire and food in Middle Gully. It a fantastic tradition and fun family night. Stay tuned for more details.

Parent support in classrooms

We are calling for parent volunteers to support with student resourcing tasks and support in the classrooms. Volunteers would be working with and guided by our friendly educational support staff. All training will be provided, and both your time and work will be highly valued the entire Macedon Primary School community.

We are also keen to receive expressions from interest from any retired / teachers on leave to support with our MiniLit, reading support program. This program reaps outstanding rewards for our students who require additional support with their reading. The MiniLit program operates daily between 9.00am and 11.00am. We would appreciate any support you might be able to provide.

Please contact us at the front office, macedon.ps@education.vic.gov.au to express your interest and we will be in touch. We anticipate the volunteer program to run on a flexible basis and look forward to hearing from you.

Finally, I would like to extend our support to Exford Primary following the horrific bus yesterday. Our thoughts are with the children and families who will suffer life long effects.

Kind regards and Sampai jumpa (until next time),

Matt

Thank you