It has been lovely to see the students arriving at school with renewed energy and enthusiasm over these last two weeks. The excitement of the updated concrete path near the black top (aka the catwalk) the new garden bed outside the preschool, and the opening of the new front office space have been the talk of the playground. Thank you to the Public-School Infrastructure Renewal Program for the important upgrade to our Front Office.

ANZAC Day

Students, staff and members of our school community paid respects with a student-led school service on the first day of term, acknowledging the past, present, and ongoing sacrifices made by our servicemen and servicewomen. It was a real treat to have our school choir accompanied by Mrs Morrell perform.

Lest we forget.

P&C

This week a small group of our wonderfully committed parents attend our P&C Meeting. Our P&C are an incredibly important group in our community. They work with great enthusiasm and commitment in pulling together many wonderful events for our community. Please consider lending a hand to our P&C during 2023.

National Volunteer Week - 15-21 May 2023

National Volunteer Week is Australia's largest annual celebration of volunteering. This event recognised the vital support that the millions of volunteers in our country provide to their communities and encourages people to consider volunteering. There are many ways you can volunteer here at Duffy. This includes listening to students read, attending excursions, talking to students about your job, running a workshop on your hobby, providing a cultural experience for students, being part of the school board or P&C .

Whether it’s a one-off or a regular commitment, talk to your school about the opportunities to get involved..

Please join us as we celebrate the wonderful Volunteers here at Duffy PS.

School Gates and Entry

Please be aware that the entry points of the school continue to only be the gates at the front of the school and the ‘Duffy shop gate’. The double gates near the ‘Enviro Centre’ are for vehicle access only. Also, a quick reminder to ensure the safety of your child/children, it is very important that they do not arrive at school before 8:30am, teacher supervision begins at 8:30am. Playground gates and external doors will remain locked until 8:30am.

Regards,

Katie, Arilia, Sarah and Katie

SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING - KINDERGARTEN

Trusting the Count

Yellow Group

We have been exploring numbers from zero to ten using number cards, loose parts, tens frames and objects we find in the classroom. We have been focussing on counting forwards and backwards from 10.

Green group

We have been working on our place value and number knowledge. Students have been working hard to partition numbers and recognise that all teen numbers have a ten and that this is represented with a 1.

Blue group

We have been working on identifying our numbers 1-20 by participating in a range of games and activities. We have been creating number sentences about numbers to show our understanding of simple additions.

Investigations

We explore and learn collaboratively during our investigations sessions.

We have opportunities to improve our fine motor skills.

During investigations we explore our environment and apply our learning to many different contexts.

During investigations, we have opportunities to deepen our number sense.

Enviro Centre

Throughout the year students have had the opportunity to spend time learning in our enviro centre. Each time we have visited, we notice what has changed, spend time with Jedda, feeding the chickens, watering and weeding. We have planted marigold plants throughout the garden beds to encourage the bees into the gardens to help the other plants grow. We have been observing the sunflowers grow taller and taller each time.

Cross Country

On Wednesday Week 2 we had the school's Cross Country! This was a very exciting event for Kindy, as we got to run a lap around the oval with the school and school community cheering us on. We celebrated each other's achievements and had a fabulous, cold, morning using our skills of being a good sport.

CROSS COUNTRY

Our cross country carnival was held in cool and blustery conditions this week. Well done to all students who took part and gave their best effort on the course, and also supporting each other with fantastic cheering. Thank you to the many volunteer helpers, and parents, carers and other well-wishers who came to support the students and our event.

The top 5 for 8 years and older are:

Ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will be presented at Monday WOW in Week 4 (15th May).

SCHOOL LEADERS

Prime Minister

Barney Mungoven

Deputy Prime Minister

Kleio Slater

Speaker

Nina Aubrey

AWARDS

These will be presented at Monday Morning WOW (8th May - 9am)

Merit Awards

Fletcher K - KBS

Ruby D - KBS

Sienna K - KDL

Jack H - KDL

Alanna S - KRP

Jackson S - KRP

Sarah G - 1EO

Sam H - 1EO

Ethan M - 1ET

Abigail H - 1ET

Paige P - 1SF

Sarah B - 1SF

Melody M - 2KJ

Rayan A - 2KJ

Eshan M - 2RW

Marine F - 2RW

Maeve H - 3MS

Rupert A - 3MS

Abi O'Neill - 3SZ

Tai S - 3SZ

Evie W - 3VS

Harry P - 3VS

Joseph K - 4BH

Harriet J - 4BH

Gwen R - 4RP

Jessica T - 4RP

Charlie W - 5CM

Leo I - 5CM

Eddie D - 6LK

Hannah A - 6LK

Adele M - 6ZG

Nina A - 6ZG

P & C NEWS

Uniform Shop Co-ordinator needed

Can you help out? This volunteer position plays a vital role in ensuring the unform shop operates smoothly. Tasks include overseeing the fulfilment of orders, processing payments and stock take. The Flexi School ordering system makes things super easy, and the position comes with not 1 but 2 helpers, who are already in place. The uniform shop is currently open Fridays of odd-numbered weeks from 8.30am – 9am, with Flexi School orders sorted during that time, so the time commitment is not extensive. You can change the day the shop opens to suit you better, if you wish. If you’d like to know more please email duffypandc@gmail.com or connect with us on Facebook.

Cup-A-Yum – Term 2

This fan favourite is making a come-back this year, with the next tasty treat event for Tuesday of Week 4. This fun canteen day provides students with an opportunity to purchase healthy snacks from the canteen and also contributes to students' financial literacy. All healthy snack items will be under $3, so raid the money box! No lunch food is provided. If you can spare a few hours midweek and are interested in assisting in these canteen days, please email duffypandc@gmail.com.

Our last event raised over $200 for school projects; can we beat that?!

Find the Duffy Primary Parents and Citizens Association on

Facebook!

@duffypandc

Don’t forget to connect with your Year level parent community on Facebook – this is a great way to stay connected, get year/school specific information and even organise gatherings.

Just search “DPS Year” on google and the groups will pop up, or head to the Duffy Primary Parents and Citizens Facebook page for more info.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Just a reminder coming into the cold and flu season that if your child has a constant runny nose and cold or flu symptoms, please keep them at home.

2024 School Year Enrolments are Open

Enrolments for the 2024 school year for students transitioning schools or starting at a school are open. Visit education.act.gov.au for the online application link and information about the school in your child’s Priority Enrolment Area. School information sessions for prospective students are being held throughout May. Alternately, visit school websites to find out more or contact the school directly. Apply by 2 June to receive an offer by 24 July 2023.

Active Streets

Have you noticed this logo on footpaths and shared paths in Canberra and wondered what it is?

The logo is part of the Active Streets for Schools program, which is a program to make the environment around schools safer to ride, walk, scooter or skate to and from school.

The logos will be around our school soon as part of the Active Streets program to promote walking and riding routes highlighted on our school map. The pavement stencils help to promote ‘part way’ drop off and collection points for families that live too far away to use active travel for the entire journey.

The logos also help to promote to the broader community that they are in the vicinity of the school and children are likely to be present.

As part of the program, educational resources have been distributed to certain year groups throughout the school to teach children about independent travel.

There are a number of benefits of children walking and riding to school, including safety in numbers, the health of the children, reduced congestion and less impact on the environment.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41VJf4idpbs&list=PLnX8HposULFqM9PxXXnEE3_MXiej4hGvt&index=3

Have Your Say: Education Legislation Reform

As our education system continues to grow and evolve the ACT Government is considering a range of legislation improvements to ensure our systems and supports remain contemporary, and reflect the needs of students, families and teaching staff now and into the future.

Reforms are being considered to:

o clarify school enrolment requirements

o modernise participation and attendance requirements to reflect the different methods of education delivery

o strengthen enrolment, attendance, and participation provisions to minimise the risk of children and young people disappearing from the education system, and

o outline requirements for distance education.

To have Your Say, head to the Your Say conversations website to read the discussion papers, take the survey, leave a comment or make a submission: http://www.yoursayconversations.act.gov.au/education-legislation-reform

Feedback will close at 11:59pm on 6 June 2023.

The Smith Family Saver Plus Program- free financial education for families

The Smith Family (ACT) offers a range of programs to help families and individuals to stay engaged with education. Saver Plus is a program with a specific focus on supporting families and individuals with low incomes to meet their education expenses.

Saver Plus is a matched savings and financial education program that aims to help people on lower incomes to strengthen their financial skills and to develop a savings habit. The program provides financial skills education and motivates participants to save by matching their savings dollar for dollar, up to $500. These savings can be used to pay for education costs such as computers, books, uniforms, extracurricular activities and school excursions. Schools may wish to share the attached flyer with their school community. Contact Saver Plus on 1300 610 355 or saverplus@bsl.org.au.

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;