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A-Z Information

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Safety and Security

School opening hours are 8:30am–4:30pm. The Front Office is attended between 8:30am and 3:30pm    All families, visitors and volunteers are required to sign in and out at the front office during school hours and follow any emergency procedures if instructed. The side gates and the bike shed are open between 8.30am-9.30am and 2.30pm-3.30pm.  Suspicious behaviour on school property should be reported to police by ringing 000.             

Special Days/Events

Students are provided opportunities to participate in a range of activities to recognise significant days during the year. These may include:

· Clean Up Australia Day (March)

· Harmony Week (March)

· World Book Day (March)

· National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence (March)

· Earth Hour (March)

· Ride to school day (March)

· ANZAC Day (April)

· Mother’s Day (May)

· Walk safely to school day (May)

· National Simultaneous Storytime (May)

· Reconciliation Week (May/June)

· World Environment Day (June)

· NAIDOC Week (July)

· Public education week (August)

· Winter walk to school week (August)

· Science Week (Aug)

· Book Week (August)

· Father’s Day (September)

· Reading Hour (Sept)

· Literacy and Numeracy Week (Sept)

· National Children’s Week (Oct)

· Ride safe to school week (October/November)

· Remembrance Day (November)

· Outdoor Classroom Day (November).

These are advertised in our newsletter.

Sporting Carnivals

Macquarie holds three sporting carnivals per year:

Sporting Houses

Stacey following up re further info on how house point scoring works]

All students are designated a school sporting house for their time at Macquarie. To ensure family harmony, siblings are placed in the same school sporting house. Students are encouraged to dress in house colours for school sporting events. Our school sporting houses are:

·        Bennelong - Blue

·        Lachlan - Yellow

·        Redfern – Red.

Start of the Year/First Day of School

Please check the Macquarie Primary website and Facebook page for the first day of school date relevant to your child.

· Beginning of week preschool children, kindergarten and new students start on Monday of week one.

· Students in years 1-6 start on Tuesday of week one.

· End of week preschool group starts on Thursday of week one.

Class Lists are displayed on the noticeboard near the front office.

The Uniform Shop is usually open at extra times in the week before school starts and during week one.

On the first day of school…

· Preschool

· Kindergarten: Please arrive between 8:45-9:10 and make your way to the kindergarten classroom. Signage is on display to direct you to the classroom. (On subsequent days school begins at 9.00am). Students and families are accompanied to their classroom by School Captains and/or year 6 students. Activities such as puzzles, drawing construction and play dough are available for children to engage with. Families are invited to stay and participate in activities. Between 9.15am-9.30am parents say goodbye to children.

· New students: Please come to the front office to find the location of your child’s classroom. Your child will meet their teacher. On subsequent days school begins at 9.00am.

· Years 1-6: On the first day of school, children are requested to assemble with their classmates on the Namadgi blacktop to be welcomed and introduced to their teachers. Students are then guided to their classroom by their teacher. Parents are welcome to stay with children for the first few minutes of the day.

First day checklist

Student Injury Insurance and Ambulance Transport

The ACT Education Directorate does not provide any insurance cover for injury, disease or illness to students resulting from school activities or school-organised excursions. Claims for compensation are met where there is a legal liability to do so. Liability is not automatic and depends on the circumstances in which any injury, disease or illness was sustained.

As there is no automatic insurance cover for personal injury if your child is injured at school or during a school-organised activity or excursion, parents should consider whether taking out personal insurance cover for these circumstances is warranted. This insurance might cover contingencies including medical/hospital expenses, ambulance transport outside the ACT and cancellation of transport or accommodation or loss of or damage to luggage.

The ACT Ambulance Service provides free ambulance transport for students who are injured or suddenly become ill at school or during an approved school organised activity within the ACT.

Student Leadership

Students at Macquarie have opportunities to participate in a range of leadership activities including:

·        Buddy program: Encourages senior students to support their peers with a variety of activities including reading, fitness, and art and craft.

·        Student Representative Council (SRC): At the beginning of the year, two representatives from each class are elected to serve on the SRC in kindergarten to year 6. The SRC meets fortnightly with a teacher to discuss, implement and monitor student-initiated suggestions and activities.

·        School Captains: In term four all year 5 students are invited to nominate for the positions of School Captain for the following year by addressing the criteria. Students prepare a presentation, and four students from Year 5 are elected by their peers. 

·        House Captains: At the beginning of the year, two students (year 5 or year 6) from each sporting house are elected by their peers to be House Captains. Their role is to prepare and lead their house at carnivals across the year.

·        Technology Team: run the technology in the hall for assembly and other events

 

Student Management

Macquarie strives to create and maintain an inclusive learning environment and a positive school climate where students, parents/carers and staff feel safe and have a strong sense of belonging. Students are encouraged to become responsible, self-disciplined and respectful of the rights of others. The school strives to develop in students, the ability to work as a member of a team as well as independently, to develop an appreciation of the worth of individual differences, and to develop the capacity to act as responsible citizens who care about others and their environment. Appropriate behaviour and good manners are always expected.

The school requests that parents inform the teacher or Principal when their child’s school progress or behaviour might be affected in some way by circumstances not known to the school (serious illness in family, altered family circumstances).

Teachers regularly monitor their programs to ensure positive behaviour outcomes for their students. When normal classroom strategies such as redirection through questioning have not resulted in appropriate behaviour choices, additional steps such as an in class break, time to self or co-regulate in another classroom or space, and support from the executive are implemented. Each child’s circumstances are unique and are compassionately considered.

Classroom code of conduct: At the beginning of the year each class develops a classroom code of conduct. These are displayed in classrooms and referred to regularly through classroom learning. The aim of the classroom code of conduct is to guide students to make consistent behavior choices in the classroom which they have agreed to at the start of the year.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is the flexible framework we follow at Macquarie to create an environment that enhances student learning and wellbeing. For more information:

Teachers regularly monitor their programs to ensure positive behaviour outcomes for their students. When normal classroom strategies such as redirection through questioning have not resulted in appropriate behaviour choices, additional steps such as an in class break, time to self or co-regulate in another classroom or space, and support from the executive are implemented. Each child’s circumstances are unique and are compassionately considered.

Classroom code of conduct: At the beginning of the year each class develops a classroom code of conduct. These are displayed in classrooms and referred to regularly through classroom learning. The aim of the classroom code of conduct is to guide students to make consistent behavior choices in the classroom which they have agreed to at the start of the year.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is the flexible framework we follow at Macquarie to create an environment that enhances student learning and wellbeing.


Sun Protection and ‘Hats Off’

It is important that students have a SunSmart hat at school as we access the outdoor classroom regularly and want to keep everyone protected. Students are required to wear a wide brimmed, legionnaires or bucket hat when outdoors. We ask that caps are not worn to school. Students without a suitable hat may be directed to shaded areas: ‘No hat, play in the shade’. If eating outside, teachers organise for students to sit in shade areas. Some indoor choices for students are available at lunchtime e.g. library, clubs.

SunSmart hats are available for purchase from the Uniform Shop 

‘Hats Off’: Students are not required to wear a hat during June and July – this is known as ‘hats off’.

Sunscreen: Where practicable, students will be given opportunities to apply sunscreen (brought from home) 20 minutes prior to the lunch break and before participating in outdoor activities. Families are encouraged to support students in applying a daily application of sunscreen before school. Families should advise school of any medical condition which precludes the use of sunscreen lotions. Parents are encouraged to provide sunscreen in their child’s bag for application during the day.

Sunglasses We support the wearing of sunglasses for outdoor activities.