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Mac St News - Friday 1st May

Principals Report

Dear Parents, Carers and Community Members,

Term 2 has begun extremely well. Students have returned from the holidays settled, ready to learn, and have transitioned smoothly back into the routines and expectations of school life.

In Week 1, students participated in our intensive swimming program. While this makes for a very busy start to the term, we believe a concentrated block of lessons is both more effective and less disruptive than weekly sessions. We appreciate the support of families during this time, particularly with the added organisation of daily swimming gear.

ANZAC Day
Mr Goodson once again organised a meaningful ANZAC Day service for our school community. This important occasion allows students to reflect on and show respect for those who have served our country. Our school also has a strong historical connection to the 2nd/8th Battalion from World War II, which further reinforces the significance of this commemoration.

Our School Captains, Cruze and Emily, joined me in attending a local ANZAC Day service, where we honoured Robert “Bertie” and Wilfred Cutts, former students of Macarthur Street Primary School. The Cutts brothers attended school in Ballarat before moving to New Zealand. During World War II, they served with the New Zealand Wellington Battalion, and both survived the war. A floral tribute was laid on behalf of our school community in their memory.

Wellbeing
On Monday, Macarthur Street staff participated in a professional learning day with Tom Bennett, a leading expert in student behaviour and classroom culture. He is well known for his practical, research-informed strategies that support teachers in creating calm, focused, and orderly learning environments. We look forward to implementing key learnings from this session throughout the term.

Attendance
Attendance remains a high priority for our school, and I would like to acknowledge the outstanding effort from families so far this year. Our current attendance data is very strong:

  • 95–100%: 45% of students
  • 90–95%: 21% of students
  • 80–90%: 20% of students
  • 70–80%: 9% of students
  • Below 70%: 5% of students

This is well above the state average. We know that attending school every day, and arriving on time, provides a strong foundation for positive academic outcomes.

Mother’s Day
On Friday, 8 May, we will hold an open morning. We warmly invite all mothers and special people to join us in your child’s classroom to participate in activities together.

Overall, it has been a fantastic start to the term.

Have a great weekend.  

Anthony Cross

2026 Dates

  • Friday 8th May 2026

    Selected students represent Mac Street at the Sovereign Division Cross Country

  • Tuesday 26th May 2026

    Book Fair Commences

  • Tuesday 2nd June 2026

    Book Fair Concludes

  • Monday 8th June 2026

    King’s Birthday Public Holiday – No School

  • Monday 15th June 2026

    Parent Teacher Interviews

  • Friday 26th June 2026

    Last day of Term 2 – Students finish at 1.45pm

Foundation News - Mrs Emily Burns

We have had a fantastic start to Term 2 in Foundation. Last week was all fun and games attending swimming lessons each day! It was great to see so many smiling faces in the pool.

This week in Reading we are reading ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ and ‘The Wolf and the Seven Kids’ to help us learn about fiction stories, characters, settings and a plot of a story. In Writing we are beginning to write our own sentences on a scaffold using our grey lead pencil. Students are expanding a sentence to include their own ‘who’.

In Maths, we are continuing to learn about a collection, ten ones make 1 ten, and different 2D shapes. Our knowledge lessons this week are all about Little Red riding Hood and identifying the beginning, middle and end of a story by sequencing events.

Grade 1 News - Mrs Tanya Vanderkley

Grade One have been exploring a range of stories based on Aboriginal culture, including Ceremony and Back on Country, co-created by Adam Goodes.

Through these texts, students were introduced to important aspects of Aboriginal life, such as connection to Country, community, and respect for nature.

The books also included Aboriginal words for everyday items, such as foods and animals like kangaroo.

GRADE 2 NEWS – Miss Rhiannon Eustice

Holidays have quickly come and gone, but you would never be able to tell we have just had a break in Grade 2. The students have had an excellent return to school and the daily routine. Last week, we began constructing Single Paragraph Outlines (SPOs) together as a class.

We used the writing revolution SPO template to generate a plan in note form, then re-wrote our sentences in the correct paragraph structure. Students will gradually have more exposures over the course of the year with the aim to independently plan and write a paragraph in Term 4. 

GRADE 3/4 NEWS – Mr Andrew Goodson

The 3/4 class has had a tremendous start to the term. With swimming out of the way, we have been back into the normal routine again this week. This term, we’re learning about indigenous people, explorers and early settlers.

As a part of this, our class novel for the term is titled ‘Tom Appleby: Convict Boy’ by Jackie French. Whilst we are only two weeks into it, we are gaining insight as to the plight of many people who found their way from places such as Great Britain to a foreign land which we now call Australia.

Life was tough for many back home and the voyage would’ve been fraught with many dangers and diseases. We look forward to the adventures that this book will take us on!

GRADE 5/6 NEWS – Mrs Bonnie Irving

We have had a wonderful start to Term 2! Over the last couple of weeks, we have been preparing to read our class novel ‘Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence’. Our background learning has included an overview of the Stolen Generations as well as what Australia has done to begin to repair relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We have also researched the fence itself and why it was constructed in the first place.

Although some topics we have discussed are sensitive in content, all students have approached it with great compassion and respect. We are looking forward to reading Molly, Daisy and Grace’s story.

SPECIALIST NEWS – Ms Wendy Tangey

Art News

This term in Art we are focussing on the elements of colour and texture. We will be exploring painting, mixed media and print making.

Foundation is beginning with a ‘Superhero’ portrait while Years 1-6 are creating animal portraits with inspiration coming from the story book ‘Cats at Night’ as well as works by Streer artist Dean Russo and dog lover Itsuko Suzuki.

Physical Education News

This term we are kicking off with soccer. Years 3-6 will be receiving expert coaching from Arash Biargemand from Soccer Victoria.

Junior students will be practising their kicking and punting skills during loads of minor games and activities during PE. Here is how you can practise at home: