Dear Parent and Caregivers,

This term is really charging on as we are in Week 4 already. The weather is heating up and the end of the year is in sight. Please ensure your child is bringing a water bottle to school to ensure they can stay hydrated in the classroom whilst learning continues.

MUSIC FEST

It was wonderful to hear that our Strings ensembles performed beautifully at the Music Fest last weekend. A huge thank you to the parents who transported students and their instruments to the event and cheered them on and also to Mrs Harle for all of her hard work and also Mrs Hall for assisting with staff supervision at the event.  Our Junior Strings Ensemble were awarded a Gold Award on the day and our Senior Strings Ensemble were awarded a Silver Award. 

It was great to see our Senior Strings in their full performance uniform of our new Performing Arts polo, black dress pants, all black school shoes and black socks. They looked so smart. This is the new standard performing arts uniform for all performing groups next year. The shirts are on sale now through QKR for students performing at Arts On Stage to purchase.

ARTS ON STAGE

Our annual performing arts culminating activity Arts on Stage will be held in EPAC on Thursday evening on November 9.  All of the performing arts groups will be performing on the evening.  These will include the Snr and Jnr Strings, Snr and Jnr Choir, Wakakirri, Drama, Recorder Band, Robo Cup, and Snr and Jnr Dance Ensembles.  Our Performing Arts staff are working really hard to prepare the students for the evening.  Please make sure you read all communication that goes home re the evening.

Food will be available from 4pm on the evening with doors open from 6pm and the show commencing at 6:15pm.  All tickets and food sales must be pre-ordered through QKR.  All tickets are single tickets to ensure seating capacity in EPAC, therefore adults are $5 and children not performing $2. Students who are performing will be supervised by school staff in the library for the evening and walked to EPAC to perform and back to the library after their performance, to be collected at the end of the evening.  The concert only goes for about 1 ½ hrs, so is never a late night. Please keep an eye out for communication and ticket sales information for the evening.

LEARNING CURVE FORTNIGHTLY FOCUS

Each week as part of our Learning Curve wellbeing program we focus on a category and wellbeing skill builder.  This week our focus is from the Meaning and Purpose category and the wellbeing skill builder is Problem Solving.  This focus is around providing students with the skills to solve problems with their peers in a respectful and reflective manner.  As part of the process each week students are taught the why, the how and what they need to do.  This week I went though the process with the students on assembly in the hope that they can reflect on a recent problem and then apply this to future problems.  This is a particularly handy skill to have at this time of the year, when tensions start to fray and bubble between students.

WHY: By learning how to solve problems that you have with others fairly and quickly, you will protect both their and your wellbeing.

HOW: Look at the part you played in the problem first, by asking yourself, ‘What was I thinking at the time to say or do what I did?” Then think about the impact it had on the other person.  Personal problems need to be sorted out because they are big energy users and tie knots in your heart.

DO: Think about a recent problem and how you could have dealt with this better by trying to solve the problem.

WORLD TEACHER’S DAY/DAY FOR DANIEL

A reminder that this Friday is World Teacher’s Day where we take our hats off to our teachers and the wonderful work they do in guiding our students.

This is also Day for Daniel where we will be honouring the Daniel Morcombe Foundation with a Dance for Daniel at 2^nd break. We encourage our students to wear red accessories on the day and to  bring a gold coin donation for the Foundation.

YEAR 5/6 CAMP

Our Yr 5/6 students and staff are heading off on Camp to Luther Heights at Coolum next week. We wish them all the best as they enjoy three days of activity to develop their leadership, resilience and cooperative skills. Much thanks to Mrs Burrows and Mrs Hall who have spent many hours organising the camp.

CLASS PREFERENCES 2024

The parent class preference request form, where parents have an opportunity to provide some feedback around class placements for their children for next year, is attached to this newsletter.  The form needs to be returned to the office either in hard copy or digitally to the admin@enoggerass.eq.edu.au by Friday November 10, to be considered, as we commence the process with teachers in readiness for next year. 

This is not about selecting a teacher, as we do not have staffing finalised or teacher placements finalised until later in the term, but it is an opportunity to make us aware of any special information around learning styles, style of teacher and style of classroom and also re students to be placed with or otherwise. Whilst we take on board the feedback, of course there is no guarantee that all requests can be actioned, as ultimately, we have to make the best placements conducive to teaching and learning for all students. 

QUADRENNIAL SCHOOL REVIEW PARENT SURVEY

A separate email will be sent shortly with some general survey questions to support the consultation and work this year around preparing for our next Strategic Plan 2024-2027.  We have a range of data sets already synthesised by staff and leaders, including the sets below, but we are also keen to hear some more specific feedback from our parent community around our school.

The feedback will be in the form of the traffic light system which is Green- what are we doing well and should keep doing; Amber- What needs to be tweaked to be more effective and Red - What should we stop doing.  The surveys will follow this format but are around a range of topics which parens can pick and choose from to engage with.

I apologize for the delay in getting this survey out to parents, as we had planned to do it last term but have had issues with the survey platforms and have had to investigate some different options such as survey monkey, my survey and the survey/form functionality in Schoolzine.

Data Sets

-School Review Recommendations

-Academic Data

-Behavioural and Wellbeing Data

-School Opinion Survey Data from staff, students and parents

NUT ALLERGY AWARE

We are seeking your help to support the students in our school who are at risk of anaphylaxis.  Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life-threatening. The most common causes of anaphylaxis in schools are food and insect allergies. The only way to prevent allergic reactions is to avoid being exposed to the allergen.

Our school is supporting students at risk of anaphylaxis in the following ways:

• training staff,
• reminding families to be mindful of not sending food to school that could cause an allergic reaction
• encouraging students with food allergy to wash their hands before and after eating,
• encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate/friend is allergic to,
• teaching students not to share food with friends who have food allergy,
• teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with allergy looks sick,
• educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis, and
• teaching students that teasing someone with an allergy is not acceptable behaviour.

Food allergy is now common in school aged children. Children can be allergic to any food, and it is not possible to completely remove all foods from our school. To help manage food allergies, our school is following the National Allergy Council Best Practice Guidelines (2021) which do not recommend banning foods as this is difficult to enforce and can bring a false sense of safety. Instead, we have chosen not to stock nuts and nut products in our tuckshop as these foods are not staple foods in the diet. We request that parents also consider not sending nuts to school, especially for younger students.

We ask you to support the school’s risk minimisation strategies outlined so that we can increase safety and provide an environment that meets the needs of all our students.

2024 ENROLMENTS

We have completed our Prep Enrolment Meetings for next year and have over 60 students enrolled for three Prep classes for next year.  If you are in catchment and are still wishing to enrol and have not had an enrolment meeting as yet, please contact the school office to make an appointment. Likewise, if you know of anyone that is still to enrol for next year, please encourage them to get their paperwork in and to make a booking.

Our Prep Transition mornings are on Friday, November 3 and 17.  On those mornings the 2024 Prep students will participate in a morning of activities in class. The parents will participate in Prep Information sessions in EPAC, followed by morning tea outside EPAC provided by Camp Australia, our OSHC provider. The uniform pop-up shop on November 3 will be conducted by our P and C.  The Transition mornings go from 9-11am on each of the days.  Parents and their pre-prep student should meet outside EPAC at 9am.   Reminder information will be emailed out to all parents with students enrolled for next year.

2023 YEAR BOOK

A reminder that again this year we are producing a Year Book of the 2023 school year at Enoggera State School.  This book is a great memory book of the year and is available to purchase by our families.  It includes class pages and pages on all of our school events and activities throughout the year.  It also includes a special focus on our graduates. The book is gifted to our graduating students at the graduation ceremony in the last week of school and will also be available for collection for families who order and pay for one prior.  The cost this year is $30 as it is a little larger than last years book at 90 colour pages. 

If you wish to purchase the year book please complete the order form attached and return to the office with payment by Friday, December 1, so that you do not miss out. We will have 62 available this year for the first 62 families that order to receive their copy before the holidays.  A further order can be placed after that for delivery at the start of school next year. 

CYBER-SAFETY

We have engaged the company Safe on Socials, who specialise in educating young people on cyber safety, to come to our school and run an age-appropriate session for our Yr 3/4 students and Yr 5/6 students and another session in the evening for parents around how to keep safe on online.  The session will be held on Tuesday 7th November, 2023, in the EPAC.  During the sessions, the presenters will facilitate opportunities for students to interact and clarify their thoughts with their peers and teachers.

To make the link with the students’ understanding of these topics, we highly encourage parents/guardians to attend the adult presentation. Note that this session will not permit children attendance due to some of the adult topics on the agenda. The parent session will also be held in EPAC from 5:15-6:15pm.

The program is based on the following topics:

• Safeguarding Personal Data
• Nurturing Online Relationships (social media and chat),
• Bullying, Grooming, Scams, Hoaxes, Deepfakes, Identity Theft and Misinformation.
• Protecting Privacy and Legal Responsibilities.
• Safe Gaming.
• Creating a Positive Online Presence

 Till next time,

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal