Week 1 - Welcome Back!

What a great start to the year!

I have really enjoyed getting around to classrooms and out in the playground to catch up with our returning students and getting to know our new students. It is so wonderful seeing the excitement for learning students have being back at MGPS. A special welcome to our new 2026 Kindergarten students.

This year we have a lot of exciting events that we are attending and holding. We look forward to playing a large role in the Armidale Running Festival, participating in NE Sings, PSSA Sport, HPGE opportunities, outdoor learning, a whole school musical and most importantly having fun while we learn!

We invite all our students and their families to our Welcome BBQ to be held in the Cola on Wednesday 18 February at 5:30pm - 6:30pm. This is a great chance for everybody to meet other families, get to know teachers and enjoy the night off cooking!

Last week our staff had a great week attending Armidale Secondary College on Tuesday with over 450 colleagues listening to Louka Parry, who shared a session on Staff Wellbeing, setting goals and being aspirational for 2026, and Meghan Wellard, our Executive Director, Rural North, who presented Public Education – Our part and the moral imperative and finishing with the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from around our network regarding Explicit Teaching.

We also had the wonderful opportunity to work with Michelle Clare, learning about Aboriginal Pedagogies and how to incorporate Aboriginal knowledge systems into mainstream education, making teaching and learning more culturally relevant and effective while enriching the educational experiences for all students.

MGPS Swimming Carnival

Our MGPS Swimming carnival is next Tuesday, 11 February. This carnival is for all students turning 8 in 2026 and older. Students will be able to dress in house colours and house captains will be decided on Friday. Students' houses can be found in School Bytes in their profile. We love having parent helpers on the day to help with time keeping. Please let us know if you are available to help on the day.

Armidale Running Festival and Future Fundraisers

As you may be aware in January 2025, Rory Webb was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare and muscle wasting condition with no known cure (yet). Rory is in year two at our school. A committee has been formed to raise awareness and support for the Webb family.

On the 14th of March 2026, the Armidale Running Festival is dedicating its New England Toyota 5km event as “Running for Rory.” They will be selling merchandise and raffle tickets to raise funds for Rory and to support the Save Our Sons Duchenne Foundation, which plays a critical role in research and advocacy. We encourage our community to get involved. MGPS students can walk or run together as a team if they want to register for this event or there is also a 1km run to show our support. For more information on how to register, click the following link.

The committee are also doing a trivia and auction night on Saturday the 21st of March 2026 at The Welders Dog Brewery with information about how to buy a table coming soon.

They would be deeply grateful for any support our community may be able to offer for our auction or raffle. All business donations are tax deductable will be acknowledged across Rory’s social media pages and will be featured in our event presentation on the trivia night. If you can donate to the auction/raffle, sponsor part of these events or know someone who can, please get in touch with Emma Polson or myself.

Support can also be shown by donating to the Save Our Sons Duchenne Foundation itself to help raise money for awareness and a cure. Save Our Sons Duchenne Foundation

Any assistance and support you can provide for these events is greatly appreciated.

Have a great week!

Peta Deiderick

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