Principal News

Welcome to Week 2. We have had a great start to our term with lots of learning and time with our friends.

Arrival times:

Supervision in the morning does not begin till 8:30am. We ask that parents do not drop their children off to school before 8:15am. Thank you for your cooperation with this.

Stage 3 author visit:

It was fantastic to have writer and comedian Oliver Phommavanh with us last week as part of the Australia's Authors in Schools program. Oliver entertained Stage 3 with a lively presentation about the joys of creating characters and story lines. Thanks for dropping by Oliver!

North West Soccer trials:

Good luck to Harry, Quade, Connor, Tommy and Kai who are representing PSSA at the NW soccer trials in Inverell.

PAX Word of the Fortnight: COURAGE

Courage means doing something even though we are scared or nervous.
Courageous PAX LEADERS don't give up even when things are tough.
At Martin’s Gully, we show courage by not giving up and being persistent and resilient.
Things to discuss at home: Have you been courageous lately? Have you seen someone show courage at school or home?

Attendance Matters:

Well done students and parents of MGPS! In Term One, we achieved an attendance rate of 93.6%.

We still working towards our target of 90% students attending 90% of the time as this is currently at 81.1% however we would like to sincerely thank all families for your support with attendance.

We have set our school a target to achieve 90% attendance 90% of the time for 2023.

Can you help us do this? Can you make appointments or attend extra curricular activities outside school hours? Coming to school each day between 8:30am and 9:00am and leaving at 3pm is just a simple way we can achieve this together. Let's do this together.

Staff Spotlight:

Hello Martin's Gully community! My name is Madison Killen and I am one of the Stage 1 teachers. This is my fourth year being a part of the amazing MGPS team. I grew up in Walcha but became very familiar with Armidale when I attended O’Connor for my high school years. I moved to Sydney for a gap year but decided the city life just wasn’t for me, so I returned to Armidale in 2013 and haven’t left since! I live with my husband Toby, our fur baby Vinnie, our son Lennox and we are very excited to be welcoming another member to our family in August. In my spare time I love to read, go to the beach and spend time with family. Prior to studying Education, I completed two years of a Criminology degree but realised my passion was elsewhere. That’s when I started studying a Bachelor of Education and I honestly haven’t looked back since. I feel very privileged to be spending my days with such unique, funny and kind individuals! Martin’s Gully is a truly special place and I thank my lucky stars every day that I get to be a part of this incredible community!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Felicity Pennington and Peta Deiderick

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