Principal's Report 

Dear Parents, 

In the final newsletter of last term, I mentioned that at that point there were not any pupil free days scheduled for term three. Murphy's Law of course, because since then the Department has asked schools to provide what is called a common Professional Practice Day (PP Day) for teachers in term three.  

Normally, teachers have a day per term to catch up on work, plan for future work, undertake professional learning and so on. Normally the teacher and the principal negotiate a day in the term to have this PP day spreading them out over the term to avoid disruption. 

Due to the ongoing high number of teachers being ill across the state, and the subsequent lack of replacement teachers , the Department has requested schools have a common PP day where all teachers have this day at one time. 

For us at Mackellar Primary School, this common PP Day will be Wednesday 31 August. On this day students will not be required at school, yet TheirCare will operate. We have selected a Wednesday as previous days have included Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with the upcoming November curriculum day on a Monday. We hope this limits disruption to any one day of the week over the course of the year. Reminders will of course be sent closer to the day, however you might like to mark that date in your diary now. 

As mentioned with staff, no doubt there are or have been members of your family unwell as seems to be the case everywhere.  Understanding that of course and that on occasion we can all be late, it would be really helpful if parents could have their children at school by 8:50am. Thank you to those who do regularly.  It would be great if everyone could make a concerted effort. 

Exciting news for grade three students! On the back off a highly successful grade 4 and 5 camp, we have secured a free camp for all grade 3 students, and for any grade 4 students who were not able to male the previous camp. This camp will be at Mt. Evelyn and run from Wednesday to Friday early in October.  Notices to families will be coming out shortly once further details are finalised. This is really great news for these students and we hope as many as possible take up this free offer. 

Thank you to those parents who were able to come along to our recent parent-teacher interviews. It was so pleasing to see parents and teachers once again able to have to face to face conversations regarding the progress of your children. For any parents who missed out, feel free to contact the school to find a time that suits to have these important conversations. 

Our Book Week transition morning for 2023 prep children is fast approaching. This will be a great morning where next year's preps start the important work of getting to know all about school and developing a love of literature.  If you haven't enrolled your child for prep for next year it's not too late so please contact the office. as soon as possible. 

Regards, 

Simon McGlade

Principal