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Mac St News - Friday 31st October

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members,

We are already four weeks into Term 4, and the weeks are flying by! The past fortnight has been calm, with most of our time spent in the classroom.

However, the remainder of the term promises to be busy and exciting, with many wonderful events taking place across the school.

5/6 Sport

Last Monday, our Grade 5/6 students participated in a triangular series of football and netball at the Creswick Football and Netball Club, competing against Creswick North and Invermay Primary Schools. The day was played in great spirit, and I was extremely impressed by the teamwork and resilience shown by our students. We look forward to the next event with these schools.

Assessment

In the coming weeks, we will begin our Semester Two assessments. It is important that all students attend school during this period, as these assessments help inform teacher reports. We encourage students to get plenty of rest to ensure they are ready to achieve their best results.

Reports

Student reports will be available on Compass from Thursday, 5th December.

Parent/Carer–Teacher interviews will be held on Monday, 8th December. These meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss teacher assessments and student progress in more detail. We ask that only parents and carers attend the interviews; students are welcome to wait outside the classroom during this time.

Curriculum Day

Next Monday, our staff will continue professional learning focused on refining our school’s behaviour curriculum. We are proud to be partnering with Hand in Hand Ballarat and Open Parachute to develop a wellbeing program for our students. Further information about this program will be sent home in the coming weeks.

School Podcast

We are excited to announce that our school podcast is about to launch! Our Junior School Council students are looking forward to sharing and celebrating the many wonderful stories that have shaped our school. If you know someone who would like to be involved, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Uniform

As we near the end of the school year, the rollout of our new school uniform is almost complete. From the beginning of next year, all students will be expected to wear the full school uniform.

The remainder of Term 4 will be filled with rich learning experiences and exciting activities for our students. Thank you for your continued support and have a wonderful weekend.

Dates to Remember

  • Monday 3rd November
    STUDENT FREE DAY
  • Tuesday 4th November
    MELBOURNE CUP - PUBLIC HOLIDAY – NO SCHOOL
  • Friday 7th November

    Grade 6 Shrine of Remembrance Visit

  • Wednesday 19th November

    2026 Foundation Families Information Evening 4:00pm – 5:00pm

  • Tuesday 25th November

    Grade 3-4 Earth Ed
    2026 Foundation Transition Sessions
    Group 1: 9.00am – 10.00am
    Group 2: 11.45am – 12.45pm 

  • Thursday 27th November

    Foundation Late Night Stay 3.15pm – 6.15pm
    Grade 1-2 Sleepover 4.15pm 

  • Tuesday 2nd December

    2026 Foundation Transition Session 9.00am – 11.00am

  • Friday 5th December

    Foundation Visit Ballarat Wildlife Park

  • Tuesday 9th December

    2026 Foundation Transition Session 9.00am – 12.00pm
    2026 Year 7 Orientation Day

  • Tuesday 16th December

    Grade 1-2 Sovereign Hill Excursion

  • Thursday 18th December

    LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THE YEAR!
    Final 2025 Assembly at 2.30pm

  • Friday 19th December

    STUDENT FREE DAY

Student of the Fortnight

For consistently showing the school value of Resilience.

  • Foundation

    Malakai

  • 1V

    Mason

  • 2E

    Ruby

  • 3/4 G

    Sam

  • 5/6I

    Emily and Ruby

  • Specialist

    Aleyah

Foundation News - Mrs Emily Burns

We have well and truly settled into Term 4, and it has been so wonderful to be able to now reflect on the growth our little people have made! We are tracking along beautifully as a group! This week we have been learning about the spelling /th/ and the two sounds it makes.

We have been reading a story to build our understanding about Australia as a country and the states and territories. In Maths we have learned about sharing into equal groups, play money, and clocks. Our favourite tasks this week were getting to create our own suburb and choose where the important things a town or suburb needs go on our map.

Grade 1 News - Mrs Tanya Vanderkley

This week in Literacy, our focus has been on using the Power of Three to make our descriptive writing more engaging and memorable. Students learned how grouping ideas or adjectives in threes can make their writing more powerful and enjoyable to read. I was absolutely blown away by their creativity and enthusiasm—everyone rose to the challenge and produced some truly impressive pieces of writing!

It’s been wonderful to see their confidence as writers grow, and the pride they take in sharing their work with others. Well done, Grade One SUPERSTARS!!

GRADE 2 NEWS – Miss Rhiannon Eustice

Another fantastic couple of weeks happening in the Grade 2 classroom.

In Maths, this week students have been working hard on learning about sharing between (or division). Students are now using their skills of skip counting to solve division facts like: 15 divided by 3 equals 5 and 90 divided by 10 equals 9. They have used dots to track their skip counting to solve the answers. Some students have even extended themselves and tackled the challenge questions like 36 divided by 4 equals 9!

In Writing, this week students have also been working hard memorising a narrative: Fantastic Goldilocks. We are creating a story map full of pictures and gestures that help the students to remember a whole story (including the punctuation). In a few weeks’ time we will have a go at re-writing the story word-for-word from our memories. How cool is that?

GRADE 3/4 NEWS – Mr Andrew Goodson

This term, our class has been reading The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird. The story is set in Ethiopia and follows a young boy named Solomon who dreams of becoming a great runner like the famous Ethiopian athletes he admires. Solomon lives in a small village in the mountains and loves to run everywhere he goes - even when it’s hot and dusty!

In the first part of the book, Solomon travels with his grandfather to Addis Ababa - the capital city. It’s a big adventure for him as he has never been to the city before. Along the way, he learns about his grandfather’s past and what it means to be proud of his country. We have just learnt about a secret that his grandfather has kept from Solomon his entire life… until now.

What happens next?

GRADE 5/6 NEWS – Mrs Bonnie Irving

On October 17th we were lucky to have a visit from Mrs Irving’s friend Lauren. Lauren is a certified Meditation practitioner who studied in India and was taught by some amazing Hindu gurus. She came to show us a traditional ceremony called a Puja Ceremony. A Puja ceremony is like a welcome to country. During the ceremony Lauren sang in Sanskrit (a traditional Indian language) and gave offerings of rice, sandalwood, fruit and flowers to her Hindu teachers.

Lauren is also in the Army where she is a parachute rigger. She answered lots of our questions about her tour of Afghanistan and then taught us how to do proper Army push ups.

We were so lucky to have Lauren come and share as if helped further our understanding of India and Afghanistan as part of our Knowledge unit.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION NEWS – Ms Wendy Tangey

Students birthday

Happy Birthday to the students who have celebrated their birthday in the last week or will celebrate their birthday in the coming week.

  • Indi
  • Beau