SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - Week 2, Term 3 2025

Principal's Message

Focus on Ability Film Festival: I am beyond proud of our support unit students who have entered a powerful short film titled "Voices of Ability" in the Focus on Ability Film Festival, an international competition celebrating ability over disability. We encourage our school community to support our talented students by voting for their documentary through the link shared in the email sent earlier this week: Vote Here.

Voting is open until August 5 at midnight, and each vote counts! After voting, please remember to check your inbox for a confirmation email to ensure your vote is counted. Let's come together to showcase the amazing work of our students and promote their achievements! Thank you for your support!

Public Education Week: Next week, we proudly celebrate Public Education Week, embracing the theme “Ignite Your Potential.” This is a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together and recognise the vital role of public education in shaping bright futures. 

Join us for our Open Day on Friday, August 8th, where classrooms will be open for exploration from 10:15 AM. Year 2 parents are especially invited to enjoy the Zoofari presentations in the Hall starting at 10 AM. Additionally, we encourage families to participate in Jeans for Genes Day by wearing jeans to support this important cause. Don’t miss the CLC Art Show opening on Wednesday, August 6th at the Art Gallery, where students will have the chance to appreciate their peers' artistic talents throughout the week and into the weekend. Our Year 6 students will also be attending the MHS School of Rock Concert at the Town Hall on Friday, adding to the excitement of the week.

External Validation: We are excited to share that we have submitted our External Validation (EV) documentation and will be hosting the panel meeting on Thursday, August 14th, during Week 4. This process is an important part of our commitment to continuous improvement and involves a panel of educators reviewing our school's performance and practices over the past four years. EV is a crucial process that helps schools assess their performance against the School Excellence Framework. This framework provides a clear set of criteria for evaluating our effectiveness in delivering quality education and improving student outcomes. If you look at the image in the top right corner of this article, you will see the 9 artefacts that will be evaluated in our school. 

During the panel meeting, we will showcase the significant progress we’ve made as a school, highlighting our achievements and the positive impact on our students' learning outcomes. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to reflect on our journey and celebrate the hard work that our staff, students, and community have contributed. Moreover, the insights gained from the EV process will play a vital role in shaping our strategic directions for the next School Excellence Planning cycle. By understanding our achievements and areas for improvement, we can set clear, ambitious goals that will guide our efforts in improving the educational experience for all our students. We are proud of the progress we’ve made over the past 4-5 years since we last underwent EV, and I am really looking forward to sharing our journey with the panel.

Jolly Gym Registrations: Jolly Gym enrolments are now open. We can't wait to meet our 2026 Kindergarten students in just a few short weeks! To register, click here: JOLLY GYM REGISTRATION

Also, whilst Jolly Gym enrolments are super important, so is enrolling at school for 2026. If you haven't done so yet, please make sure you jump on and enrol (Link is below the image)

Update to School Sport Uniform: We are excited to share that we have been exploring options for enhancing our sports uniform, and the response to our NAIDOC shirt has been overwhelmingly positive. Many students and families have expressed a desire to see this shirt worn more frequently. Following multiple discussions at the P&C, our executive meeting, and staff communication meeting, all three groups voted in favour of including the NAIDOC shirt design as an option for our sports uniform starting in 2026.

We are currently in the process of exploring cost and fabric options to ensure that this addition aligns with our values and meets the needs of our community. We want to reassure our families that students will have the option to choose between the current polo shirt and the new NAIDOC polo (pending the arrival of stock). There is no pressure to purchase the new shirt; we want to ensure that all students feel comfortable and supported in their uniform choices. We look forward to keeping you updated on this initiative and appreciate your continued support!

Have a great weekend and week ahead.

Mr Carters

Principal

Principal's Awards

Congratulations to the following students who have received a Principal or Deputy Principal Award over the past fortnight. 

Attendance Spotlight

Welcome back to ✨Attendance Class of the Week✨ where we shine the spotlight 🔦 on the individuals, classes and grade groups doing their best to show up EVERY DAY they're well, supporting our mission to keep attendance on point ✅📅Each week’s class is chosen based on a magical mix of:
📊 Data analysis
🎯 Class and individual attendance rates
❓ Unexplained absences
🌟 Milestones reached
🙌 And commitment to our school wide attendance initiatives. This term, our focus (as always!) is hitting those attendance targets 🎯 and cutting down those pesky unexplained absences ❌A gentle reminder to please follow up absences with families and make sure everything is recorded in Sentral 💻 not just to tick a box, but to check in with families and offer support if needed. 🤝💙Now, let’s talk WINNERS 🏆 because we have some SERIOUSLY amazing news...

Drumroll please... 🥁🥁🥁We have NINE CLASSES with ZERO UNEXPLAINED ABSENCES this week. 🎉🎉👏

Huge shoutout to: Bilbies, Blue, Daintree, Green, Koalas, Orange, Pink, Red and Yellow!
🔥👏💛💚🩷🧡💙❤️🩵🦘🌳🐨BUT… there can only be ONE Attendance Class of the Week, 🏅 💖In this class is a little legend 🧒 who has faced some big attendance challenges in the past, often hovering between 50-70%. 😟This has sometimes made friendships tricky and affected her learning, BUT THIS TERM… 🌟 She’s been here EVERY SINGLE DAY since Term 3 began!
📆 Her first FULL week to kick off a term!
🎉 An incredible milestone that we hope continues (no pressure, little one 😅). Without further ado…🥁 CONGRATULATIONS TO... DAINTREE🌿💚This week’s Attendance Class of the Week 🙌🙌🙌

A huge round of applause to Mrs. O’Brien 👏👏 who consistently encourages her class to be at school each and every day they’re well and creates a harmonious, safe space where little people THRIVE and GROW. 🌱💕Once you have decided on your song, please make contact with our bell music extraordinaire Mrs Caligari 🎶🎶🎶

Let’s keep this momentum going, team💪 Every day counts and every check-in matters 💙

Canberra Excursion

Students from our school have recently enjoyed an educational tour of our national capital. Our students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage, and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist in meeting the costs of the excursion, the Australian Government is contributing funding to the school in the amount of $45.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

A wonderful review from two of our Year 6 students follows: 

Year 6 Canberra Excursion

Canberra was a real blast! We had lots of fun, and we visited some of Australia’s most loved icons!

On the first day, we were off by six-thirty and heading five and a half hours South from Mudgee. We stopped in Cowra and were then back travelling. When we got there, our first stops were the National Capital Authority, The National Film and Sound Archives, and lastly, the National Dinosaur Museum. We then headed to Sundown Villas to get some rest.

On Wednesday, we were up and running by eight o’clock, ready in our uniform to visit the new Parliament House. After seeing the Parliament in session and meeting Andrew Gee, we went to the National Museum of Australia. Then we headed off to Mount Ainslie for lunch. We then went to the Museum of Australian Democracy, and we made a heartfelt visit the War Memorial. Our last stop for the day, Questacon! We all enjoyed the Free Fall and all the experimental activities!

On Thursday, we were up bright and early to travel to the snow! It took about three hours, and we were all very excited to finally play in it once we got there! Several snowballs, snowmen, and snow angels later, we were back at Sundown Villas, ready for a big drive back tomorrow!

Finally, on the last day we visited the Royal Australian Mint, the Arboretum, and the AIS. We then got on the bus and departed Canberra. When we got back to school we were really tires but we had a lot of fun!

A big thank you to all the teachers who came along on the trip.

By Lottie Harvey and Dakota Hogan

100 Days of Kindergarten

100 Days Smarter! On Monday, our Kindergarten students celebrated their 100th day of school! 🎉

They imagined what life might look like when they're 100 years old – from eating jelly for every meal to riding scooters around retirement villages! With the help of their Year 6 buddies, they decorated fabulous 100-day crowns and proudly paraded through the playground in our very special “Old People’s Parade” for visiting families. It was a joyful, laughter-filled day and a celebration to remember. Here's to being 100 days smarter!

Boys Basketball in Gilgandra

Yesterday, our Basketball Team travelled to Gilgandra for Round 5 of the PSSA knock-out competition. It's always tough playing against a team that has a home court advantage, and today was no different. With Mudgee not hitting a basket in the first half, things were looking grim. But...and here's the best part...our boys dug deep and ended the third quarter with only a 9 point difference!  In my opinion, the end score did not fully capture the grit, determination and perseverance our boys showed both on and off the court today.
 Great work boys!
 Also, a MASSIVE thanks to Mrs Turnbull for her all-round assisting brilliance

Mrs Lucas

Library News

There are some amazing events coming up in the Library this Term!

Book Fair - Our annual Book Fair is happening in Week 5! The theme this year is 'Book an Adventure'.  Students will be previewing the fair in the lead up to the Book Fair and will be bringing home a 'Wishlist'. Students will then be able to purchase books in their Library time, from Monday, 18^th August until Friday, 22nd August. Parents will have the opportunity to come into the Library and make purchases from 3pm - 3.30pm on MONDAY 18th, WEDNESDAY 20th and FRIDAY 22nd August, and from 2pm - 3.30pm on THURSDAY 21st August. 

Book Club Issue 5 - Brochures went home this week. Please complete any online or cash payments by Friday August 8th. No late orders can be accepted, sorry. 

The Great Book Swap - MPS Library will be hosting a 'Great Book Swap' in support of Indigenous Literacy Day. This will take place in Week 7 on Wednesday 3^rd September. On the Great Book Swap day, students will be able to come dressed as their favourite book character and purchase a book for the cost of a gold coin donation. 

For those interested in making donations before the event, please see the QR code below to donate at our MPS Great Book Swap website. More information can be found at:   https://edu.greatbookswap.org.au/mpsgreatbookswap2025

Happy Reading!! 

Students of the Week

P&C Canteen News

We are excited to share that our P&C has been given the opportunity to run the canteen for the upcoming Rugby State 7s Carnival during the school holidays, specifically on Monday, September 29, Tuesday, September 30, and Wednesday, October 1. This event will serve as a significant fundraiser for our school, so stay tuned for more information on how you can help!

Additionally, the P&C will be operating a BBQ and canteen at the CZPSSA Zone Athletics on Friday, August 29, in Week 6. We encourage everyone to come out and support our athletes while enjoying some delicious food. Thank you for your continued support of our P&C initiatives!

Other dates to pencil in the diaries:

- Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 September: Father's Day Stall

- Wednesday 3 September: Father's Day Breakfast (and we hear there is a Book Parade this day too!)

Community Notices