Dear Parents,

Gisborne Community Care Food Bank – Collection basket – Front Office

Yesterday afternoon I met with Wally Van Dort, the manager of the Gisborne Community Care Food Bank. Wally wanted to share his appreciate to all the families who have donated to the Food basket in our front office.

The Gisborne Community Care Foodbank was commenced four years ago by the combined churches in Gisborne when it was shown that even though Gisborne is an affluent community there are still people struggling to put enough food on the table. The Gisborne Foodbank operates out of the back of the Uniting Church and is open Wednesdays and Fridays and is totally run by volunteers. It is totally supported by the local community by donations through collection bins, monetary donations, individual donations, local supermarket donations, community group support and school donation drives.

Wally shared that the Gisborne Foodbank is a safe place where customers can share their history and problems without judgement and if need be have a shoulder to cry on. Kindness from the volunteers is part of the offering and the care they place in the mental health of our clients plays a huge part of who they are.

Macedon Primary School will maintain the food donation baskets at the front office and we encourage families to donate there. Wally mentioned some helpful items for donations to me. They have “plenty of pasta and oh so many weetbix” already. Supplies that are very popular and helpful in the food bank are things like canned baked beans and canned spaghetti as well clothes washing powder or liquid, toiletries, jars of pasta sauces and supplies for hot drinks like tea and coffee and long-life milk.

We are going to support the food bank with a specific food drive in October, please watch the newsletter for details. Wally will be talking to our students at assembly on Friday the 13th of October. In the meantime, if you would like to support the food bank, please continuer to donate to the food basket in the front office.

Parent Opinion Survey

You will have received your unique link to the parent opinion survey via email recently. The survey is open until the 8th of September. I encourage you to participate in our quick and confidential parent opinion survey. Your insights support us to drive positive change for your child's education and those who come after you. Thank you in advance.

Book Week

We're also eagerly anticipating Book Week, our annual celebration of literature between the 19th and 25th of August. One highlight will be the fancy dress parade on Thursday the 24th of August, where students can dress up as their favorited book characters. It is always a great day and we will have a parade and welcome any parents and friends of Macedon to attend at 9:30am on the basketball court.

Father’s Day Stall

With Father's Day around the corner, we are sending home information about the pre-order system for ordering gifts today. This was the same process we used for our Mother’s day stall. There is more information to follow.

Working Bee’s – Saturday 2nd September 9am-11am – Bourke and Curtin House Families

The school council is committed to enhancing our community connections this year and we have re-formed our building and grounds team and will be hosting a working bee each term for the remainder of the year. The next working-bee will be held on Saturday the 2nd of September between 9am and 11am with a morning tea provided at 11am. We’re planning to plant out and mulch the front garden beds in front of the main school building and down the side with ground covers. Other tasks that we hope to achieve are tidying up the yard, weeding and mulching gardens, ivy removal and blackberry removal.

We are inviting the families of children in Bourke and Curtin House to come in term three and families of Hume and Mitchell to join us in late October, term four. If you’re up for attending both, you’re more than welcome!

If you would like to be a part of the buildings and grounds team please contact the school.

Kind regards and Sampai jumpa (until next time),

Matt

Macedon Primary School Fete