Principal Pen
Dear Parent and Caregivers,
150th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONSWow! Wasn’t it a fantastic day! There were so many positive stories, great feedback and smiling faces from the event on Saturday, which have continued on this week both in person and via our Facebook site and the past students’ group.
A big thank you to our amazing P and C Association under the direction of President, Renee Coyne and Vice-President, Belinda Dow, and all of the members and volunteers who got behind them to run the day. A special thank you to Belinda who was the key organiser of the celebration. She did a fantastic job and should be most proud of what they achieved given the trying circumstances leading up to the day due to COVID and having to re-organise everything for a second time after the first cancellation.
Our sincere thanks also to the Past Students and Staff group under the guidance of Doug Appleton and Dawn Franzemann who have liaised with the P and C tirelessly since 2019 to make the 150th a special event for our school community.
Special thanks also to our staff who chipped in on the day to help out where needed. Thank you to our Arts staff, Mrs Wilcox, Mrs Hopper and Mrs Moore who worked hard preparing and rehearsing their groups in readiness for the big day. It was wonderful to see all of our groups perform after such a long absence due to COVID restrictions.
A big thank you also the Mr Roxburgh and Chappy Sarah who were MCs on the day. They did a great job keeping things moving along on the day in an entertaining fashion. Thank you also to Mrs Burrows who supported the day by assisting where required and photographing and posting the updates throughout the day.
All in all, everyone can be proud of what we achieved as I have had many positive comments and congratulations, particularly from our Assistant Regional Director, Mr Rob Van den Heuvel who commented on the great vibe to the day and that our performances were excellent and well-polished. He thought the day was well organised and was amazed with the depth of the historical memorabilia and information on display.
ARD VISIT
We were lucky last week to have our Assistant Regional Director in our school for the formal 150th Ceremony at school on Thursday and then he was able to stay on to meet with the leadership team and to visit classrooms to check in on how they are going with the Australian Curriculum this semester. His visits were to Prep A and also 3B this time where he talked to students and the teachers around their current English units of work. We look forward to his next visit to follow up on the work around supporting our students to move into higher grades on their assessment tasks in English this semester. I will be attending a School Leaders Day on Monday where this will also be some of the focus of the work.
ARBOR DAY PLANTING
It was lovely to see our classes that were here in the last week of term all out planting trees donated by the Brisbane City Council for Arbor Day. A big shout out to Mrs Karen Kent who has been working closely with the industrious environmental students at break times around the recycling and planting.
Already this week, they have taken the left over succulents from the 150th to fill some spaces in our remembrance garden at the front of the school. Well done team!
CAMPS
Thank you to staff who attended our Yr 6 camp before the holidays and also our Year 5 camp last week for the great work in organising and supervising our students whilst away. I am happy to announce that both camps went of brilliantly with all students having a great time thanks to the excellent organisation. Thanks to Mr Roxburgh, Mr Woodrick, Mrs O’Malley and Mrs Wilcox for their work with the Yr 6 camp and also to Mr Chinn, Chappy Sarah and Ms Kerr for their great work with the Yr 5 camp. Thank you also to Mrs Burrows who supported the organisation for both camps and managed a visit to the Yr 6 venue along with myself, before the holidays.
WAKAKIRRI COMPETITION
It finally looks like all of the hard work this year and last year into the Wakakirri story/dance production will finally come to fruition with final rehearsals on Sunday and the trip to the Logan Entertainment Centre on Monday to compete. A big thank you to Mrs Wilcox for all of her hard work and the staff who have supported her with sets, supervision, costumes, make up, ticket sales and finances etc. Thank you also to the families who have offered support for the rehearsal and at the event on Monday and also to those who have worked on costumes etc . We can’t wait to finally see our talented students on stage performing. What a wonderful way to finish off this program for this year. Well done to all involved!
STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Staff have been liaising around our student leadership processes and refining our processes for selection of the 2022 student leaders. Next year we will add a student council to the team with a dedicated position for a Student Council Chairperson and also class Student Council Representatives. The position of Student Council Chairperson will be like a Vice-Captain position which we have not got currently with the clear focus of running the student council with in the school.
We have also added a criteria card to the process for students to get signed off as part of their written application for a position. Mrs Burrows and myself will be meeting with the a Yr 5 students shortly to go through the process and we will be holding a series of workshops with the students to ensure they are well prepared in what student leadership involves and how to prepare their written application and if needed, speeches.
The positions available for 2022 will therefore be: 2 School Captains, 1 Student Council Chairperson, 2 House Captains for Banksia and Waratah, 2 Arts Captains, 1 Student Council Class Representative for each Yr 3-6 class.
We will announce the successful candidates for all except the class representatives at the final Principal’s Assembly of the year and we will hold a formal induction ceremony in Week 3 of next year.
Till next time,
Mrs Anne Robinson
Principal