Our school enrolment is sitting just above 430 students P-6 and we are still waiting the arrival of some new families. It has been wonderful to see so many of our families dropping off and picking up students. We have had a very settled and positive start to the year, welcoming many new students and families at our Preschool, Kinder and across the other grades. The smiles on their faces and the eagerness to begin school has been beautiful. Students also spoke this week of how wonderful it has been to reunite with friends and develop new relationships. The opportunity to connect with friends and neighbours signalled a welcome return to a little normality in what has been a few years of continuous adjustment.

Our staff has also had a fabulous start to the year, and we have welcomed a number of new faces to our school community. Please click here to view our 2023 School Staffing List.

Duffy Primary school will continue throughout 2023 to ensure our students are given every opportunity in our nurturing community to be the best they can be, whilst enabling learning experiences to enhance progress and strive for excellence.

Duffy’s strategic goals for 2023 are as follows:

Improve student performance in writing across all year levels.
Improve the percentage of students making expected growth in number

Open Classroom Afternoon

As well as an important focus on learning, Duffy Primary School values positive relationships with all in our community. We look forward to seeing you all at our open classrooms and welcome BBQ afternoon on Tuesday 14th February. Our open classrooms enable parents and carers to be in your child’s learning space and to meet their teacher/s. Please join us from 3.15-4.30pm.

Our job of educating the students we serve would not be possible without parents, caregivers, and families. We are committed to work together positively in partnership with you on your child’s educational journey.

We ask that all of our community are respectful to each other:

conduct themselves in a respectful and responsible manner that recognises and respects the rights of others
work positively in partnership with the school
contribute positively to behaviour, academic and other personalised support plans for all children to enhance learning outcomes
support the well-being and conduct of all community members
support staff in maintaining a safe, secure and respectful learning environment for all students
respect and comply with reasonable requests or directions of the principal, members of staff or Board and P&C volunteers

Another vital part of this partnership is clear, timely and transparent communications. We aim to keep you informed through a variety of channels, recognising the diverse needs of the community we serve. From our website, to seesaw, to our numerous social media channels, to the messages shared by schools directly with parents, caregivers and families – we do our best to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be informed about their child’s educational journey.

Don't forget to download Seesaw and to follow Duffy Primary School and Duffy Primary Parents and Citizens Association on Facebook.

Communication between Home and School

Please feel free to contact the school via phone 6214 2510 or email duffyps@ed.act.edu.au to speak to any of our staff. The first point of call regarding administration is Shiara/Linda at the Front Office and for learning is your child’s classroom teacher.

Staff welcome the opportunity to meet with parents/carers. This occurs both formally (parent/teacher interviews) and informally (by social, after school, sporting and cultural activities). As a parent/carer if you have an issue or concern it is always best to raise this as soon as possible with your child’s classroom teacher. Following on from that, you are always welcome to speak with school executive.

Phone 6214 2510

Email duffyps@ed.act.edu.au

Your Child’s Classroom Teacher

Executive P-Year 2

Katie Withers

Executive Year 3-6

Sarah Moore

Deputy Principal

Arilia Abell

Principal

Katie Smith

Student Parliament Leaders for 2023

We are very excited to announce our new Student Parliament leaders for 2023.

Prime Minister

Barney Mungoven

Deputy Prime Minister

Kleio Slater

Speaker

Nina Aubrey

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 14th February.

With every best wish for a wonderful week ahead with your beautiful families.

Regards,

Katie, Arilia, Sarah and Katie

SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING - YEAR 6

Parliament Speeches

Year 6 has begun their exploration and unit on the federation of Australia and the beginning of our democratic system. Year 6 have been learning about the range of roles within our Duffy Primary House of Representative and have selected the roles that they wish to run for. On Wednesday afternoon students who were running for the role of Prime Minister and Speaker bravely presented in front of Year 3-6. Ms Green and Ms Kelly would like to comment our presenters for their outstanding efforts in presenting their speeches.

Art - Portrait Collage

In art lessons, year 6 have begun to produce artworks that represent their identities. They have found images in magazines that represented their likes, hobbies, and values. Students are in the process of inserting these images into a silhouette profile of themselves. We look forward to displaying them in the coming weeks for everyone to see.

Acknowledgement of Country

Students worked collaboratively to construct our Acknowledgment of Country. We will begin our Monday WOW and other whole school events using our Acknowledgement of Country to pay respect to Indidenous people, Country and culture.

SCHOOL VALUES

P & C NEWS

First Meeting for the Year

Please join us for our first meeting of 2023, Tuesday 14th February at 7pm. You can attend in person at the school or online via Teams, keep an eye on the P&C Facebook page for a link on the day.

The P&C Annual General Meeting is on 21st March – we look forward to seeing you there. We’ll post reminders closer to time.

Uniform Shop Update

Welcome to 2023! The uniform shop is happy to see so many familiar faces, and to also see lots of new ones now that everyone is back at school. There is something really special about helping families to kit out their little ones in their first school uniforms!

In 2023 the uniform shop will open for face-to-face sales on the Fridays of odd-numbered weeks from 8.30 - 9.00 am. This will also be your opportunity to peruse the pre-loved items. Please note that card payments are preferred.

Flexischools orders will be filled every Friday except week 10 each term. Please note that the cut-off for Flexischools orders is 4.30pm on Thursdays. Orders received after that time will be held over to the following week.

Families ordering for multiple children are encouraged to put all their desired items in the one Flexischools order.

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.

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.

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.

HEROES CORNER

Audrey, Ella and Jessica Bryant

The girls competed in a big MTB race in the holidays, and we'd love to share their results.

The UCI XCO National Series 1 and 2 2023 was run over the weekend of the 21-22 of January at Mt Stromlo attracting some of the best cross country riders from Australia and New Zealand. https://www.sbs.com.au/sport/article/world-class-field-brings-rockstar-element-to-cross-country-national-series-opener-this-weekend/uwaxxwj0r

We saw lots of Duffy kids past and present racing and volunteering to help the event run smoothly. Our girls, Ella (year 5), Audrey (year 3) and Jessica (year 2) raced in the under 13 category. Their course was two pairs of the lower sections of the full course. These were difficult trails that were also raced by the elites. In the U13 Audrey finished second, Ella third and Jessica fourth. 6 year old Jessica was the smallest competitor by far!

Duffy Primary represent!

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS

School Board

Duffy School Board Nominations are open from 11am Monday 6 February 2023 (week 2).

We have 1 P&C Member and 1 Parent Member position to be filled in 2023. Please consider taking part in this important and exciting facet of Duffy Primary School.

To nominate for the school board, complete the nomination form and return via email to Arilia Abell arilia.abell@ed.act.edu.au.

Nominations close 11am Monday 20 February 2022 (Week 4).

The School Board provides a formal mechanism for parents and staff to have their views taken into account when decisions are made.

If you would like more information please come and see either Arilia or Alice.

School Uniform

The School Board endorses the wearing of uniform as it is part of the school ethos of helping to create a sense of belonging and pride in the school and so engender a positive school spirit.

Whilst wearing of uniform is not compulsory, students at Duffy Primary School are encouraged to wear their school uniform or school colours each day.

Students must be in uniform when attending excursions or outside events; this is to ensure their safety. When parents' complete permission notes for excursions or school events, they are acknowledging this requirement.

Staying COVID Smart in 2023

Being COVID Smart remains a priority for all ACT public schools in 2023.

Students, staff and visitors are reminded to:

· Stay home if unwell and get tested for COVID-19

· Stay up to date with your vaccinations

· Practise good hand and respiratory hygiene

· Physically distance from others when in public places

Individual schools may implement additional measures to manage COVID-19 if deemed necessary in a particular setting. Any changes will be communicated to parents and carers.

If your child has COVID-19, you must let the school know. We recommend keeping your child home for at least five days.

RATs are again available from the school for students in term 1 from the front office.

You can read more about how we are being COVID Smart in ACT public schools at https://www.education.act.gov.au/public-school-life/covid-school-arrangements

Safe parking around schools

The start of the school year is a particularly busy time in our school carparks and surrounding streets. It’s important that we park safely and legally to support the safety of students.

Parking on a footpath, nature strip or roadside verge can:

· Cause safety risks for pedestrians as they are less visible to oncoming cars

· Increase the risk for vulnerable members of our community like children, people who are visually impaired, and those using a wheelchair or pram

· Restrict the line of sight for other road users

· Restrict access for emergency services vehicles.

Parking on nature strips can also damage trees, footpaths, gutters and underground pipes and cables. Please also remember not to park across driveways or block neighbouring residents’ properties.

As students return to school remember to also slow down and stick to the 40km/h limit around our schools between 8am and 4pm.

Parking inspectors regularly patrol school zones to support safe parking and keep students safe.

If you cannot find a car park in our school car parks, we suggest parking a little further away and walking or riding the rest of the way – it’s a quick and easy was to get in some exercise too.

Let’s all work together to keep our kids and community safe!

More information about travelling safely to school is available on the Transport ACT website.

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;