Dear Duffy School Community, 

Celebrating Student Growth – Semester 1 Reports & Learning Conferences 

Our Semester 1 student reports were published on Parent Portal, yesterday Wednesday, June 25. These reports provide an overview of each child’s progress and achievements so far this year. 

This semester, reports do not include a written comment, as we continue with our more interactive and personal approach to reporting—Learning Conferences (previously known as Parent-Teacher Interviews).

Learning Conferences are an important part of our reporting process. They provide an opportunity for students, teachers, and families to come together to discuss learning, celebrate growth, and set goals for the future. This format supports meaningful conversations and deeper engagement in your child’s education.

Key Dates to Remember:
📘 Reports Published: Wednesday, June 25 (Week 9) – via  Parent Portal
📅 Learning Conferences: Monday, June 30 – Friday, July 4 (Week 10)

All students from Preschool to Year 6 are expected to attend their Learning Conference with a parent or carer. We look forward to seeing you there and celebrating your child’s progress together.

School Review – Report Available Soon  on School Website.
Thank you to all who supported our School Review this term. The process was extremely positive, highlighting our strong community, inclusive practices, and focus on student learning. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:
• Continue the work with current literacy, numeracy and inquiry strategies to enable staff to embed practice and track the impact on students. 

• Mature the use of the current PLC structure to support differentiation to cater for students in universal practice and for interventions. 

• Expand the opportunities for staff, students and the community to have voice and ownership, such as the School Enhancement Teams, to support better clarity of the strategic agenda. 

• Develop a communication strategy to regularly share and celebrate student learning to the school community.

 The final report will be available on our school website by the end of this term – we encourage you to take a look!

We are nearly at the end of a busy and productive Semester one in Preschool. Our preschool year began with getting to know each other, building relationships, sense of belonging, feeling connected and developing a growth mindset. 

At school our learner assets encourage us to be Self- managers, Communicators, Collaborators, Thinkers and Researchers through play. We are learning to become emotionally strong not only by practising mindfulness during Zen time but also during mealtimes. 

We have been learning about Country and our connection to Country through walks on Country, little yarns, art and engagement with Indigenous story telling. In Language and literacy, we have been exploring sounds (Onomatopoeia) through songs and quality texts during group time. We enjoy our music and movement sessions as they help us practise beat, rhyme and rhythm, fine and gross motor skills along with oral language development. We also have regular visits from Ms Smith to share books written by a group of budding writers in the Possums class.

Engaging with the wider community is one of the ways we develop a sense of belonging, being and becoming. The Buddy program, visit from Constable Kenny, a yarn with Wiradjuri storyteller Larry and celebration of learning with our families are some of the ways Preschool has engaged with the school community and beyond to strengthen our connection and built our knowledge and understanding of the world around us.

Nominations are now open for the 2025 ACT Public Education Awards. These awards celebrate the outstanding people who make a difference in our public schools every day.

If someone at your school has supported your child, inspired others, or gone the extra mile, this is your chance to say thank you.

Nominations are open from 16 June to 25 August.

You can nominate more than one person, in any category.

To learn more and submit a nomination, visit: act.gov.au/community/honours-and-awards/act-public-education-awards

Let’s recognise the people who help our schools shine.

You may have noticed an Individual Student Reading Record coming home. 

That’s because the Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge began on Monday 10th February. 

The challenge is for students to read 30 books between the 10th February and the 12th September 2025. 

Books recorded as read can include:

-Novels and Novellas

-Non-Fiction Texts

-Graphic Novels

-Books of Poetry

-Audiobooks

-Picture Books

-Books read to students by someone else

-Books read aloud to a younger sibling/cousin

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge is turning 21 in 2025! For 21 years, the challenge has been encouraging students all over the ACT to spend more time reading. 

Last year, Duffy Primary School Students read over 11,000 Books, beating our 2023 total by over 1000 books! At Duffy Primary, teachers will be recording all books read to students in class, and students are encouraged to record their reading at home on the Individual Student Reading Record, to be returned to school by the 12th September. 

Uniform Shop Update:

The uniform shop is open every Thursday from 8:30 to 9am.  The uniform shop will be closed week 10 for stocktake.  Any orders made in week 10 will be filled in  week 1 of term 3.

The P&C have decided to introduce logos on all jumpers and hats

supplied from the uniform shop, following increased interest from the 

school community.   New items will be ordered from the supplier with 

logos as the current stock runs down. There will be a slight price 

increase of the new logoed items.

The uniform shop has worked hard with volunteers from the Duffy 

community to make iron on Duffy Primary School logos.  These will be 

provided with any hoodies (not polar fleece) or hats purchased from 

the uniform shop from today and include instructions on how to iron 

them onto your child’s new hoodies or hat

Logos will be available for purchase from the front office or uniform shop for 50 cents each, 3 for $1 or 7 for $2.  These can be added to any of your child’s existing hoodies and hats. They can also be added to new hoodies and hats sourced from other retail suppliers.  There is a smaller sized logo for hats.  Students can continue to wear these items without the logo as well.

There is currently a poll in the Duffy Community WhatsApp group to  

gauge interest for a winter skirt, the poll will close at the end of term, 

please review the poll to have your say.

Parentline ACT

Parentline ACT offers free and confidential telephone counselling for parents and carers in the Australian Capital Territory. This service provides guidance and assistance on various parenting issues, ensuring you have the support you need with no appointment necessary. Parentline ACT is open on Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. For support, call (02) 6287 3833.