Deputy Principal News
Pillar Practice
The Pillar Practice for Week 8 and 9 focuses on the Learning Pillar. There are three main messages regarding behaviour in the classroom.
- Have a go at all learning tasks – demonstrate a Growth Mindset
- Always say yes to instructions given by staff – don’t refuse or argue
- Listen to instructions the first time, every time.
Blue learning Gotchas will be the focus gotchas for the next 2 weeks.
School Dress Code
Please ensure your children are wearing the correct jumper to school during the cooler months. Parents are asked to please follow our school Dress Code that requires students either wear the school jacket, or a plain blue jumper. Blue jumpers with printed designs, colour jumpers and hoodies are not permitted. Students not wearing the correct jumper will be directed to the office to borrow a correct jumper for the day. Girls are permitted to wear navy tights. As these are difficult to find, they are also permitted to wear black tights. Blue tracksuit pants are also suitable for both boys and girls to wear with their polo shirt.
This Dress Code was developed collaboratively with the school community and supports the wearing of a school uniform to promote a sense of belonging and school pride. It also promotes a supportive environment fostering mutual respect among individuals at school by minimising visible evidence of economic, class or social difference. Thank you for your support of our School Dress Code.
Also, this term, we are holding a “Book Swap” in which students are permitted to bring a maximum of 3 books from home that they don’t want anymore to school to swap. Each swap costs the students a gold coin. In swapping their book, we raise money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and our students get to take up to three different books home for some holiday reading. This will be held on Thursday 26thJune at both breaks in the library.
Students are invited to bring their book/s to school and drop them into the library on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before school with their gold coin for each book. Their name will be added to a swap list. They will then be invited back to the library at first and/or second break on Thursday to swap their books.
Another small fundraiser for the Student Council legacy item, and the students have decided to have a Crazy Socks and Sunnies dress up day. Students are asked to donate a gold coin donation to the Student Council on Friday 13th June.
Spell-a-thonThe big fundraising event for the Student Council is the ESS Spell-a-thon. Last year, the students raised enough money to purchase a second table tennis table, and the cold water bubbler for the students. We are moving our spell-a-thon forward in the calendar a little bit this year to work around the P&C Colour Fun Run at the end of Term 3.
Therefore, sponsorship forms and spelling lists will be going home at the end of this week. Teachers will select a spelling list for students in their class based on individual needs so that everyone can confidently participate in the spell-a-thon. Please be assured that the spell-a-thon is not used for any kind of assessment of students. Students will have Week 9 and 10 and the two weeks of the school holidays to practice their words and collect sponsors per word or donations.
All forms will need to be returned by the end of Week 1 in Term 3 and the spelling tests will be held in Week 2. Further information will be sent home with regards to the process of collecting sponsorship money in a letter on Friday. Thanks so much for your support of this fundraiser for the Student Council.
Sport
Both the Junior Tabloid Sports and the Senior Athletics Carnival are being held next week (Week 9). Senior Athletics will be held at the Mt Maria playing fields with the students walking to the grounds from school on Wednesday 18th June.
Tabloid Sports will be held at Enoggera State School oval from 9am – 12pm for Prep to Year 2 students on Friday 20th June.
Under 8s Day
Students in Prep to Year 2 will enjoy a variety of activities as we celebrate Under 8s Day on Friday 27th June from 9am to 11am. Visitors from our local kindies will also be attending, along with the Fire Brigade and the Police! A note was sent home to parents last week to indicate if they are able to attend to take a small group of students around the activities. We are hoping that Mr Harris might start the morning with a science experiment on the multi-court and Mrs O’Malley will conclude the morning with a shared story. We hope to see lots of people there to celebrate being Under 8!
School Lunches
As the weather gets colder and as your children grow bigger, parents are asked to consider how much lunch they are providing to their children in their lunch boxes. We have seen a significant increase in the number of students coming to the office because they have run out of food and are still hungry. Although we have some sandwiches in the freezer and a few snacks provided by Camp Australia, our stocks are running low with this increased need for additional food. Parents are asked to please take a moment to talk with their children about whether they have enough food in their lunch box at school and to add some items if necessary.
Before School
A friendly reminder to parents who wait before school with their children, that the allocated waiting area is under A block (Year 1 eating area) and Under C Block (Prep Eating Area). Parents are asked to please not sit under D Block or E Block as these are the supervised student waiting and playing areas. G Block near the Year 3 Line Up area is also not a suitable place for parents to wait with their students before school as this area is high traffic for supervised handball and accessing the toilets.
As we are now six months into the year, parents are reminded that we have supervision before school from 8:15am to 8:45am so there is no need for parents to stay at school with the students in the morning prior to lineup time. This is the time of the year to foster independence in students for the years ahead.
Attendance Letters
The Department of Education sets attendance goals for students in their policy, “Everyday Counts”. To ensure that we are continually working towards these attendance goals, we monitor individual student attendance percentages throughout the term. As a result of this data analysis, you may receive a letter alerting you to your child’s current attendance rate. Whilst we understand that these absences may be explained or be due to illness, we are required to alert you to absence totals and percentage of attendance as high absentee rates can have a significant impact on your child’s learning and overall results.
The purpose of a letter is to make you aware of our concerns about your child’s attendance and to see if there is any way that the school can support you to ensure your child improves their attendance to the goal of over 90%. Please also remember to let the school know the reason for your child’s absence so that you do not receive unexplained absence letters from the office.
Toys at SchoolOur School Pillars establish our school expectations for behaviours around Learning, Safety and Relationships. Recently, there has been an issue with students starting to bring toys to school. This includes trading cards, fidget toys and soft toys. The school expectation is that children do NOT bring any toys to school as they can cause disruptions to teaching and learning; create altercations between students during play time; and be unsafe. Only in the instance of a toy being documented as a reasonable adjustment in a student’s personalised learning plan for specific needs, are students permitted to have a sensory style toy at school. We would appreciate if parents would check that students are not packing toys to bring to school in line with our school expectations.
Ms Tina Burrows
Deputy Principal