I had the pleasure of hosting our first ever PBL Hero morning tea with our outstanding students who achieved our highest PBL reward level. Congratulations to all the students whose exceptional positive behaviours have contributed to making our great school even greater. I look forward to celebrating with more students before the end of year.

Year 4

Horatio

Epeli

Luke

Israel

Paige

Asher

Year 6

Vienna

Claire

Daniella

Amelie

Owen

Callum

Milica

Noel

Catherine

Thomas

Rosa

Bayar

Khalif

Emma

Georgia

Maxim

Seesaw Feedback

In our commitment to continuously improve and ensure our parental engagement and communication is reflecting the needs of our school community we are seeking your feedback on Seesaw. The feedback will help us in planning for 2023.

Please complete the Google Form link below by Friday week 7, November 25.

Seesaw feedback @ Duffy Primary School (google.com)

Year 3 & 4 Birrigai Long Day Camp

Year 3 and Year 4 students adventured out to Birrigai last week for their long day camp. Year 3 students went on a bush walk, exploring and learning about the native plants and did some creating on country with interesting items they found.

Year 4 students engaged in team building activities, working together in the crate climb to build a tall crate tower and completing challenges in a Team Trek activity. Both year groups learned how to make a campfire and cook damper over the hot coals. Many students enjoyed damper with golden syrup.

Unfortunately, the thunder and lightning kept everyone from being able to complete their second activity of the day, but were entertained under cover with learning rope skills, playing giant yard games, drawing with chalk and listening to the storm.

Senior Girls Sports Program

Miss Green, Mr Currie and Miss Toze are excited to be launching a before school Senior Girls Sports Program.

The Senior Girls Sports Program is an opt-in activity for students in Years 3 – 6, taking place on Thursday mornings every week from 8:30am – 8:55am in the hall.

The goal for the program is to support girls in feeling confident in participating in sports activities. We aim to build an inclusive environment where the main goal is participation. The program will aim to develop skills, confidence and cooperations in a range of sports. We will begin with skills associated with netball and basketball. There is no sports experience required and we strongly encourage any senior girl to come and give the program a go.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss the program, please contact our Senior Girls Sports Program teachers.

Ms Emily Toze emily.toze@ed.act.edu.au,

Ms Zoe Green zoe.green@ed.act.edu.au,

Mr Chris Currie christopher.currie@ed.act.edu.au

Students in Kindergarten to Year 5 Classes

Now is the time we begin our initial planning for the 2023 school year. If you have a child in Kindergarten to Year 5 who WILL NOT BE ATTENDING Duffy Primary School in 2023, could you please email your child’s name, class and where they will be attending in 2023 to info@duffyps.act.edu.au as soon as possible.

Academic Reports

ACT public schools have commenced preparing student reports for Semester 2, 2022. The Education Directorate has again made the decision that student academic reports will be provided with an overall A-E grade, and an assessment of achievement standard statements on a 5-point scale. Reports will not include detailed teacher comments. This strategy supports schools to prioritise teaching and learning as we continue to manage workload pressures due to COVID-19 and other illness.

Our teachers will continue communicating directly with families about student learning and you are encouraged to speak with your child's teacher if you have any questions about their progress. Duffy Primary School will be inviting all families in for end of semester interviews in Week 9, Term 4. Parents and carers will receive an email with PTO details to book in for an interview. Please note that Preschool interviews will also be taking place in week 8.

Regards,

Arilia Abell

Principal

Duffy Primary School

SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING - YEAR TWO

Welcome to Year 2's Spotlight on Learning!

We have been working really hard this Term and would love to share our learning with you. We can't believe we are already half way through Term 4. Here are some of the wonderful things we have been learning about this Term!

Mathematics

This term we have been engaging in a range of hands on inquiry based learning activities around measurement, money and data. We have also been consolidating our learning and engaging in these activities on Mathseeds.

Money

Australian Curriculum: Students associate collections of Australian coins with their value.

Measurement

Australian Curriculum: Students order shapes and objects using informal units

Data

Australian Curriculum: Students collect, organise and represent data to make simple inferences.

English

This term we have been engaging in a range of reading, writing and fine motor activities. We have also been focusing on our handwriting and practicing our letter and sounds.

High Frequency Words

Students have been practicing words they have misspelt in their writing. Each student is given 3 words to practice over the fortnight. Students then look at the word. cover it over with a piece of paper or their hand and then write the word. Students then put all of their words into a sentence.

Handwriting

Students have been practicing their handwriting using dotted thirds. We have been focusing on a letter of the alphabet and practicing writing a sentence.

Letter and Sounds

Students have been working on phonemes and graphemes during our letter and sounds program. Students alternate between two activities and each activity is tailored to individual students. Students practice writing their words onto a whiteboard or engage in interactive games on the Chromebooks.

Inquiry

Celebrations

Students have been learning to be researchers.

Students asked questions that they were curious about and then started using a variety of resources to assist them to find out more information. Year 2 have been able to navigate Britannica online and various articles and videos through safesearchkids.com.

They have collected and gathered this data on a recording sheet and will soon be choosing how they present this research to the class. Students can choose to present their learning on a poster, model, Google Slides, painting, song, dance, written report and many more. We can’t wait to see the outcome of their weeks of hard research!

Year 2 Team
Mrs Bourke - 2SB
Mrs Russell - 2KR
Miss Thompson - 2RT

AWARDS

Merit Awards

Toby M - KCR

Maeva C - KCR

Logan P - KDL

James C - KDL

Rohaan K - KKW

Bridie K - KKW

Mason E - KRW

Aria K - KRW

Ganesha W - 1SF

Flynn J - 1SF

Edward W - 1RP

Scarlett W - 1RP

Taylah R - 2KR

Elli S - 2KR

Oscar B - 2KR

Aisha V - 2RT

Matilda L - 2RT

Audrey B - 2SB

Samuel F - 2SB

Jaxson K - 3LH

Shanzay M - 3LH

Lana P - 3LH

Keira C - 4BS

Lizzie P - 4BS

Lizzy K - 4RP

Thubten C - 4RP

Ash H - 4TS

Chantelee L - 4TS

Byran A - 5CM

Valeria M - 5SZ

Pia Y - 5SZ

Gold Spirit Awards

Veronica R - KCR

Zoey K - 1RP

Eleanor Z - 1RP

Jackson F - 1SF

Wyatt G - 1SF

Tanishq D - 1SF

Florence M - 1SF

River I - 1SF

Chloe R - 1SF

Elizabeth S - 1SF

Chase S - 1SF

Theodore S - 1SF

Roa W - 1SF

Ganesha W - 1SF

Lilly T - 1SF

Waratah V - 1SF

Lachlan A - 2KR

Mia L - 2KR

Zion O - 2KR

Marley B - 2RT

Grayson E - 2RT

Maeve H - 2RT

Elsie P - 2RT

Kolani R - 2KR

Olivia M - 3GK

Alisha M - 3GK

Thomas W - 3GK

Braxton W - 3GK

Daniel B - 4BS

George K - 4BS

Elke W - 4RP

Elliot B - 4TS

Lily L - 5SZ

Sarah M - 6LK

Silver Spirit Awards

Vivaan J - KCR

Alex N - KCR

Eddie P - KDL

Jiaan M - KRW

Lennox M - 1RP

Billy W - 1RP

Flynn J - 1SF

Taylem P - 1SF

Ossian M - 2RT

Jaxson K - 3LH

Ethan J - 3LH

Eleanor R - 4RP

Fergus V - 4RP

Valeria - 5SZ

Kleio S - 5SZ

Ample S - 6ZG

Harley F - 6ZG

Harry P - 6ZG

Belle G - 6ZG

Jayde W - 6ZG

Astrid W - 6ZG

Luis F - GBP

Emmanuel S - GBP

George V - GBP

Lucas F - GVP

SCHOOL LEADERS

Prime Minister

Deputy

Speaker

P & C NEWS

The Duffy Primary Twilight Community Picnic - A Big Success

A BIG thank you to everyone involved in making the event the biggest and best of 2022. The event raised over $4,800 – money that will be set aside for important projects around the school.

A shout out to our amazing school community for their support with donations to the stalls, volunteering on the day and all of the prep leading up to the Picnic.

And of course – MASSIVE thanks to all sponsors below. We encourage everyone to support businesses that support our school.

Congratulations to our raffle winners:

1st Prize: Karma Dooji

2nd Prize: Chris Wilder

3rd Prize: Emma Alcock

4th Prize: Helen Delvin

5th Prize: Tom Brown

From the Uniform Shop

Don’t forget - The best time to order uniforms for 2023 is now!

The Uniform Shop does not open in week 10. The last orders for the year will be filled in week 9, Friday 9 December, for orders placed by 5pm on Thursday 8 December. Any orders placed after that time will be held over to 2023.

A rack of uniform items has been taken to pre-school for families to decide what items you might like to purchase for next year. Please place your order through Flexischools, noting the cut-off dates above.

The Uniform Shop will open for face-to-face trade on the Fridays of weeks 7 and 9, from 8.30-9.00. Parents will have the opportunity to look through the pre-loved items.

We hope to open the Uniform Shop in the week before school commences next year, but will not be able to confirm this until much closer to the time. Please keep an eye on the P&C's Facebook page from mid-late January for details.

End of Year P&C Celebration

We are having a P&C end of year celebratory dinner on Wednesday 30th Nov. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for more details closer to the date.

Year Level Facebook Groups

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 – perfect in the lead up to the long summer break. 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.

*NEW GROUP* A group for parents of pre-schoolers starting in 2023 has also been created, please share with any families you know who have a pre-schooler starting next year. This group is called DPS Preschool 2023.

Find the Duffy Primary Parents and Citizens Association on

Facebook!

@duffypandc

Don’t forget that the lovely staff at Baker’s Delight Cooleman Court give the school store credits for every purchase made. These credits help us run events like school barbeques and other fundraising events.

Don’t forget to mention Duffy

Primary BEFORE your purchase.

SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENTS

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

End of Year Library Borrowing and Returning

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we approach the end of term four, please be aware that Library borrowing will end in Week 7.

All books will then need to be returned by the end of Week 8 to assist with Library reset before the end of Term 4.

Please assist and encourage your children to find and return any items as soon as possible.

A Message from the ACT Education Directorate

Have your say!

The Education Directorate is working to strengthen inclusive education and is reviewing the way ACT public schools deliver disability education to inform a draft Inclusive Education Strategy. The Strategy will provide longer term direction and system reform to embed inclusive cultures and educational practice in ACT Public Schools.

A discussion paper presents a draft position statement on Inclusive Education and 7 proposed themes for the Strategy, informed by the Community Conversation and a review of contemporary evidence.

Further information is available on the Education Website - Strengthening Inclusive Education including a link to the Discussion Paper, an online survey and the Community Conversation Report.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts on this important work.

For further information please contact the Inclusive Education Strategy team via email - EDUInclusiveEducationStrategy@act.gov.au

ESafety Awareness Update: Sextortion

Dear Duffy Community,

We would like to provide our community with information to raise awareness of Sextortion (Sexual Extortion) and how it is becoming a larger risk to our young people.

From the Australian Federal Police:

· Investigators are warning that overseas offenders are increasingly preying on Australian children, particularly teenage males, coercing them into producing explicit images and then extorting them for money.

· Sextortion is a crime that can involve child victims being manipulated by online offenders into sending sexualised images, often through the offender pretending to be another young person.

· An offender will then threaten to share the content with others unless their demands are met. These demands include more images, sexual favours, and money.

· Authorities globally are seeing a significant increase in offshore criminal syndicates targeting teenagers. Investigators hope highlighting the trend will encourage children who have become victims to seek help and report the crime to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation at www.accce.gov.au/report

Some of the AFP's top tips to keep children safe include having the privacy settings of their social media account set to 'friends only' or 'private' to ensure they are not contacted by someone wanting to do them harm and turning off any location settings that could show where they go to school or where they live. Parents should also encourage children not to share any personal information with 'friends' they meet online. For more information you can visit the Office of the eSafety Commissioner’s page on Sextortion HERE.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Arilia Abell Principal

Duffy Primary School

A Reminder to Stay COVID Smart at School

As we experience new waves of the virus in our community, we need to remember to stay COVID Smart not only in the community but also at school. For the latest advice, watch the ACT COVID-19 update (November 2022) from Chief Health Officer, Kerryn Coleman.

If your child has COVID-19, you must keep them at home and let the school know. Telling us when your child has COVID-19 will also help us track if there is an increase in COVID-19 transmission at school and manage any high-risk exposures for our more vulnerable school community members.

Being COVID Smart is easy

· Make sure you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters.

· Stay away from schools if you are unwell.

· Wash your hands regularly.

· Wear a mask in public indoor places if you can (12 years and over).

· Keep a distance from others when indoors, if possible.

And don’t forget – if you have COVID-19 symptoms, make sure you get tested. You can access a free rapid antigen test from your school’s front office. Keep up to date at COVID-19 (act.gov.au).