Dear Parents/Carers,

Time really does fly when you are having fun. There has been so much happening at Duffy Primary School over the last couple of weeks including our Annual Swimming Carnival and Junior Water Fun Day, Staff Professional learning with Fiona Hamilton, Harmony Day, NAPLAN, Year 6 Camp, Walk and Ride to School Day to name just a few.

Swimming Carnival

Our annual swimming carnival and water fun day (P-2) was a great success. The students displayed exemplary behaviour, sportsmanship and most of all had a great time in the water. Congratulations, to the House Captains, for being inspiring leaders and cheerleaders for their houses all day.  We are grateful for all our parent volunteers and students from Stromlo High who assisted us on the day. Thank you. Please see article further down acknowledging our swimmers. 

Harmony Day

On Wednesday 20th March, Duffy School came together to celebrate Harmony Day. Students were encouraged to wear orange or dress in their cultural dress. This day was created in 1999 to celebrate unity and diversity. Harmony Day was originally an Australian celebration but is now marked worldwide by conscientious citizens.

NAPLAN

We are very proud of our year 3 and 5 students who engaged in NAPLAN testing recently.  NAPLAN is a snapshot of students’ progress in literacy and numeracy and helps governments, education authorities and schools to see whether young Australians are reaching important literacy and numeracy goals.

Appointment to Duffy Primary School board

Congratulations to Dan Heap on his election to the Duffy Primary School board in the Parent Member position. Dan’s appointment to the Duffy Primary School board will commence on 1 April 2024. We look forward to working with Dan and thank him for his involvement and commitment to ACT public schools.

We hope you all enjoy the upcoming Easter long weekend.  We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday 2nd April. Stay Safe. 

Regards,

Katie, Arilia, Sarah and Fiona

Learning and Teaching

By sharing regular updates on our school improvement plan, we aim to strengthen the connection and between home and school, ultimately leading to improved student outcomes.

Priority 1:

Increase individual student growth in writing across all year levels.

Over the last few weeks all teachers have engaged in professional learning focussed on Word Inquiry. Here at Duffy we aim to both nurture curiosity about words with our learners and increase their orthographic knowledge and skills. Our students begin their literacy journey with a fascination about words however the curiosity won't last unless we are developing skills - helping our students to become 'word knowers'. 

Ask your child to use their 'phoneme fingers' to isolate the sounds in a word, how to 'tap spell' a word or to retell the 'tale' of a word. 

Priority 2: 

Improve the percentage of students making expected growth in number.

This year we have implemented a scope and sequence for Maths. The resource from 'Ochre' provides a  sequence that is mapped to the Australian Curriculum, enabling teachers to more easily enact the Curriculum. Lessons and units are knowledge and vocabulary rich so that our students build on what they already know to develop their knowledge and become successful lifelong learners. Click here to view this resource. 

Mobile Phones

A new ACT Public Schools policy comes into effect this year. Our practice regarding phones already aligns with this policy. All students who bring a phone to school need to hand it in to the front office. Phones are collected from the same spot at the end of each day. This routine has worked well for our students and phones are stored securely during the day.  Please ask that any student who wears a smart watch that these are set to ‘school mode/ school time’ during the day.

ACT Public Schools policy 

Parent Portal

Term 2 we are introducing a new Parent Portal, a secure online platform used to share student information between you and your child’s teachers. 

Using the Parent Portal on your mobile phone, tablet or computer, you will be able to:

• notify us if your child is sick or explain an absence

• book parent-teacher interviews

• receive academic reports

• receive our school newsletter

• receive messages from your child’s teachers

• make payments

• access the school calendar and your child’s student timetable

More information will be sent to families next week via email, however you can start the sign up and identity verification process now so you’re ready to go. Head to the Education Directorate website Parent Portal page for all the details.

P&C Fundraising Priorities
The P&C is seeking views on where 2024 fund raising efforts should be directed. The survey only takes 1-2 minutes to complete and can be accessed here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DYJLZNH

Please take a look and let us know your thoughts! We want to ensure that funds raised through P&C activities are directed to areas where the school community sees most value.

P&C volunteers needed!

The P&C Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday 12 March. Thank you to all those parents who attended and volunteered to support the work of the P&C in 2024.

As a number of key committee positions remain vacant, we are still looking for some new faces to join the P&C. It would be wonderful if you could consider putting your hand up for one of the following positions:

President: Chairs all P&C meetings and represents the P&C within the school community.

Secretary: Keeps records of in-coming and out-going communications and takes and distributes minutes of meetings.

Assistant Secretary/ Communications Officer: Supports the primary Secretary position and acts in their role in their absence, also manages communications and promotions.

ACT P&C Council Delegate: Represents Duffy Primary P&C at the ACT Council of P&C Associations’ meetings (two per term) and provides an update back to the P&C on topics of interest.

P&C Fundraising Team: Supports coordination of P&C fund raising efforts, noting that this is a shared effort with many activities also supported by members of the school community.

Please note that no previous experience or special skills are necessary to take on any of these roles, just a willingness to assist and be part of a great team who share the load and have fun. 

If you would like to know more, or would like to volunteer for one of these roles, please email Jen at secretary@duffypandc.org.au.

Uniform Shop

Have you noticed the chilly mornings? Are your winter uniforms ready? 

With Good Friday on March 29th, the last time the uniform shop will be open and filling online orders will be Friday the 5th April. We’ll also put the second-hand items out the front of the school on the 5th feel free to rummage through to see if you can find what you need. Any orders placed after Thursday the 4th will be filled in term 2. 

Last week, Year 6 students went on a two-night camp to Borambola Sport and Recreation Centre near Wagga. An amazing time was had by all! 

Week 6 - Merit Awards

Week 8 - Merit Awards

On Monday the 25th of March students were presented awards for our school swimming carnival. Ribbons were presented for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each events. Full results from the race events are available here.

Students who were awarded Age Champion or Age Runners up are as followed:

Congratulations to sports house Fleming for receiving the most points at this year's swimming carnival!

Chess Club Achievements 

The Duffy Chess Club entered the Academy of Chess' Annual Primary Schools Challenge and came 7th out of 23 schools. Whilst the Duffy Chess Club has been operating for two years, they were up against well-established clubs from Canberra's top academic performing private and public schools. They did exceedingly well, and Duffy is now in the top 10 primary school chess clubs. 

The Duffy Chess team that participated included: 

• Cooper C

• Bailey D

• Ryder I

• Bodhi I

• Lennox M

Duffy Chess Club meets in the school library on Friday mornings at 8:30am. It is run through the Canberra Academy of Chess, and it costs $160 per term. The next term starts on 3 May 2024. 

If your child is interested in taking part, email enrol@sydneyacademyofchess.com.au for a copy of the enrolment form. For all enquiries, please contact Sydney Academy of Chess on (02) 9745 1170. 

Requirements for daily sign-in/out and wearing of identification

Volunteers and visitors must sign-in/out for each visit, recording the date, start and finish times and the tasks undertaken.  

All Volunteers and Visitors at Duffy Primary School must enter and exit the school via the front office sign in on arrival prior to proceeding to their destination or activity (including accompanying students on excursions), identify themselves (present WWVP registration card or other identification if relevant) and report to front office staff to be signed out before leaving the school. You will be given a Visitors sticker each time you visit which must be displayed for the entirety or your visit.

This allows the school the opportunity to monitor compliance with the WWVP Act and Emergency Evacuation Procedures.

Duffy Preschool has a Visitors and Volunteers sign-in and sign-out register and you must report to preschool staff before proceeding to work with students. 

Safe Parking

It is the responsibility of everyone in the community to drive and park safely, especially around schools. School environments can become congested during drop-off and pick-up times, please be sure to follow the road rules and pay extra care when dropping off or collecting students.

Please make sure you are parking where it is legal and safe, which could be a little further away from school if this will avoid safety and traffic problems.

More information is available on the Transport Canberra website.

Dogs on School Grounds

Just a  reminder that under the Domestic Animals Act, dogs are not permitted on school grounds.

Section 42 of the Act defines places where dogs are prohibited. These include the grounds of a child care centre, preschool, primary school, high school or secondary college during school hours or when school sport including training is being conducted or a dog is taken into the grounds with the approval of the principal (e.g. service support dogs). Dogs are prohibited within 10 metres of anything designed for play by children in a public place if children are playing on it; a fireplace designed for cooking food; or a swimming area defined by a sign erected.

We understand that dogs are an important part of people's families, and for some the walk to school is a good opportunity to take the dog for a walk. However, as well as the legislation mentioned above, there are children and adults in every school that for whatever reason find it difficult to be around dogs. We ask that you keep this in mind when walking your dog, and please do not bring them onto the school grounds.  Thank you!

Assemblies

Wednesday assemblies will now commence from 2:30pm-3pm. Please check our website for an Assembly Roster for the year. 

Library Volunteers

We are looking for volunteers to cover books in the library! Please email the front office at duffyps@ed.act.edu.au if this is something you would be interested in.

Learning For Life

The flyer below shares information about an opportunity that has been made available to families at our school called the Learning for Life Scholarship Program. It’s run by the Smith Family organisation. They provide financial support to families who are eligible to help with costs related to education, such as book packs, uniforms and excursions. They also provide access to education programs that can further support your child.

To be eligible, you must;

• Have a child/children in Kindergarten to Year 8

• Have a current Health Care or Pension Concession Card

• Demonstrate a strong commitment to education through regular school attendance.

Please contact the front office if you are interested in receiving a referral form or would like to discuss your eligibility.

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