From the Principal's Desk
Week 5
This week we have had another amazing week at Martin's Gully. I am continually amazed at how encouraging and supportive our students are to each other in the classroom and beyond. Below I've shared our major events from the week outside our fabulous classroom learning.
Dance Eistedfodd
Today I attended the Armidale Dance Eisteddfod for school groups and we were amazing!!
Our small group of students performed with such confidence and gusto and brought me to tears. I was so proud to see our students step out of their comfort zones and finish off all their hard work with such an outstanding confident performance. A huge thank you to our Creative Arts captains, Abbie and Lucinda for initiating and coordinating the dance. We can't wait for them to perform at our next assembly.
Cross Country
This week we had a big contingent of students attend the Armidale PSSA Cross Country. Although wet and muddy our students ran their hearts out and we saw several students progress to the next level in Coolah. Congratulations Lia, Nixon, Brodie, Olivia, Ryder and Emma.
Musica Viva
On Monday Musica Viva came and entertained us and taught us a lot about rhythm and beats and using body percussion. We loved every minute!
Choir
Last Friday we watched our choir perform their eisteddfod items for assembly. They were truly amazing and wowed our audience!
Debating
On Tuesday, 8 Stage 3 students attended a debating workshop to prepare our students for debating this year. They learnt lots and showed great team work.
PSSA Hockey
Congratulations to PSSA representative, Pippa and Josh who played their hearts out in the torrential conditions last week at the PSSA State Championships. We got to watch them on the live stream and were very proud!
Multi Cultural Speaking
Congratulations to our Stage 2 students who have presented their Multicultural Public Speaking Competition Speeches. The quality of all speakers was extremely high.
Billie and Olive have been selected to represent Martin’s Gully from Stage 2 in the local final held at Drummond Memorial School in Week 10.
Congratulations to Stage 3 students who gave well prepared speeches in the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition today. The speeches were amazing. Further congratulations to Lucinda and Olivia B who will represent Martin’s Gully in the Armidale final.
NSW Public Schools Survey
In Term 2, we are offering our students the opportunity to participate in the NSW Public Schools Student Survey. The survey gives students the chance to share their thoughts and feelings about life at school, including questions about their engagement, learning experiences and wellbeing at school.
Hearing directly from our students will help us understand what’s working well and where improvements can be made to our school. The survey is confidential, takes around 10 to 15 minutes to complete, and will be conducted online during school hours.
Participation is voluntary. If you prefer your child not to participate, please request and complete the opt-out consent form, and return it to the school. Further information about the survey is available at https://education.nsw.gov.au/npss
School Bytes Reminder
MGPS moved to using the platform School Bytes for all communication and payments. This is because COMPASS is now School Bytes. If you haven't already, you will need to download the School Bytes Parent App.
One off excursion fee reminder: If you have not yet paid your excursion fee, it can now be paid using School Bytes.
Our PAX word of the fortnight is TEAMWORK.
Teamwork involves including others, allowing everyone to have a voice, leadership skills, listening skills, sharing and being respectful of others. At MGPS, we are all part of the team.
We learn in our PAX lessons how we can use You Can Do It and Zones of Regulation with PAX to be the best we can be every day. It's great to chat to your child about what our PAX words are and what they mean so we can make those school and home links.
Have a wonderful wet week!
Peta Deiderick