MPS Community Newsletter
24 November 2020
We are Maryland Public School
'Every child, every opportunity, every day'
Email: maryland-p.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: https://maryland-p.schools.nsw.gov.au/
Location: 51 John T Bell Drive, Maryland NSW, Australia
Phone: 4955 9430
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarylandPublic
Twitter: @MarylandPublic
Welcome to Week 7
Thank you to all who responded to our surveys. We have been collating the responses and will use these to make decisions moving forward.
A summary of parent / carer responses to our survey is as follows;
What Are We Doing Well?
Ranked in order…
The school supports my child to develop and demonstrate important values - 91.3%
School is a positive place for my child/children - 89.2%
Teachers, parents and the school work together to support high levels of school attendance. - 87%
My child can identify a staff member they can confidently turn to for advice and assistance at school. - 87%
Technology is effectively used to enhance learning for my child. - 82.6%
My child is known, valued and cared for at school. - 82.6%
What Needs Work?
Ranked in order…
Parents and carers receive regular information about how their children are performing and how they can support their child's progress. 19.6% (56.5% disagreed)
The school creates opportunities where feedback from students and the community can be shared and monitored to facilitate improvement. - 32.6%
Teachers make appropriate adjustments to learning activities so that my child is appropriately challenged. This may be in class or with a learning support teacher. This may also include extension work for students working beyond their expected stage of learning - 39.1%
My child understands where they are at (their progress) and what the next step in learning is - 39.1%
The school invites parents and carers to reflect on student progress and achievement, to inform planning and strategy development - 45.6%
Teachers provide my child with feedback about their learning / progress so that they know how to improve - 45.7%
The last survey (completed by both staff and parents / carers) also asked respondents to complete the following sentence;
I want Maryland Public School to be ............
I have compiled the results of this question into a Word Cloud. Word Clouds (also known as wordle, word collage or tag cloud) are visual representations of words that give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently. Every response to this question (staff and parents / carers) has been included. Using this information, we will be able to draft our new school vision.
Have a terrific week everyone,
Mrs Van Egmond
Best wishes Mrs Garven
Mrs Mackay will be teaching KSG for the remainder of the year. We are blessed as they will remain in very good hands!
Presentation Day Assemblies
Unfortunately, this is absolutely not possible under any circumstances.
As mentioned in the newsletter last week, we are bound by guidelines and space and we will be at capacity with the numbers we have planned for.
I understand this may be disappointing however, I respectfully request that you do not make inquiries of this nature.
Please note that all ticket holders (attendees) will be required to sign in on the day via the Service NSW app. Please ensure you have this app ready to use as your sign in for Presentation Day assemblies. Details can be found below.
Many thanks,
Mrs Van Egmond
GREAT NEWS - CONTACTLESS CHECK IN IS NOW AVAILABLE AT MPS!
Our School has today registered as a COVID Safe Site. We now have Contactless Sign In using a QR code. In order to use this facility you will need to have the Service NSW App. This app is free and will allow a quick and contactless check in for school events such as Kinder Orientation and Presentation Day. Much easier than filling in forms! It is also a way to store your license on your phone, a very handy feature!
Look for the red waratah symbol in the app or play store.
https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/cam.../service-nsw-mobile-app
New shirt design
One decision that was made however, was to add another everyday shirt that included an Aboriginal artwork design based on the painting gifted to us by local Aboriginal artist Lee Ann Hall. We are surveying our students this week and also invite you to respond below. The uniform review committee have narrowed the designs down to two choices.
They are included below.
Variation to Term 4 School Development Days
No students are to attend school after Wednesday 16 December.
MPS Calendar
Term 4
MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER TO FRIDAY 20 NOVEMBER 2020 - STUDENT WELLBEING WEEK
- 2021 Opportunity Class Placement Test
- 'SuperHero Wednesday' - Gold Coin Donation
Friday 20 November 2020
- Stage 3 Touch Football (Students Only)
Wednesday 25 November 2020
- 9am Cut-off for Grey & Gold Cards to be handed into the office for Whole School Zoom Assembly
- Stage 2 Gala Day (Students Only)
Friday 27 November 2020
- Returning Band Students for 2021 e-permission due
Tuesday 1 December 2020
- Year 7 2021 High School Orientation (State Wide)
Wednesday 2 December 2020
- Whole School Zoom Assembly (Students Only)
Thursday 3 December 2020
- Stage 3 Gala Day (Students Only)
Monday 7 December 2020
- Presentation Day Assembly Kindergarten (9.30am - 10am) and Stage 3 (12.30pm-1.15pm) STUDENTS ONLY
Tuesday 8 December 2020
- Presentation Day Assembly Stage 1 (9.30am - 10am) and Stage 2 (12.30pm-1.15pm) STUDENTS ONLY
- Year 6 Farewell
Wednesday 9 December 2020
- Principal's Picnic - Award for Excellence Excursion
Friday 11 December 2020
- New Band Students for 2021 e-permission due
- Final Band Lesson & Special Pizza Lunch for Band Students
- Class Party Day
Wednesday 16 December 2020
- Last Day of Term 4 for Students
Wednesday 27 January 2021
- Staff resume for 2021 (Staff Development Day)
Thursday 28 January 2021
- Staff resume for 2021 (Staff Development Day)
Friday 29 January 2021
- Year 1 to Year 6 Students resume for 2021
Monday 1 February 2021
- Kindergarten commence for 2021
Stage 2 Touch Football Gala
On Friday, 13 November, Mrs Toll and Mr Blyth accompanied 22 amazing Stage 2 students to the Crossroads Zone Touch Football Gala Day, held at the Newcastle Touch Fields.
Congratulations to all of these students on their fabulous sportsmanship. It was wonderful to see such talent and participation on the field, as well as children generally having fun, getting lots of exercise and consolidating their necessary skills.
Thank you again to our awesome Stage 3 referees, Ethan H and Brodie W - we appreciated your energy and ability.
Mosquito Alert!!
Due to the recent rain and sunshine we are experiencing very friendly mosquitoes. Students will need to be sprayed before coming to school. Students may carry a roll on repellent only.
New Uniform Shop News
Please ONLY enter the school ground if you are going to the uniform shop.