Dear Parent and Caregivers,

EVENTS

It has been wonderful over recent weeks to see our school performing/competing or participating with other schools on a range of platforms. As Principal of this wonderful school it makes me extremely proud to see our students giving things a go.  Whilst they may not always be winners they are always extremely well behaved, respectful and demonstrate excellent sportsmanship.  I am equally as proud of our staff who put their hands up to lead these activities, even though they usually come with an additional workload.

Firstly, it was fantastic to see our Wakakirri team perform again at Logan for the annual awards night.  Under the expert direction of Mrs Wilcox supported by Ms Kerr, Mr Harris, Mrs Hall and our Pre-service Teacher, Abbey Black they performed beautifully, behaved impeccably and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Our nomination in the Environmental Story Award at National level was recognised again and Mrs Wilcox was recognised for 10 years of service to Wakakirri.  Congratulations to all!

Last week our Yr 5/6 students participated in the Volley Ball Cup at Craigslea SHS again participating and behaving well.  The Yr 5 girls green team came home with a silver medal and our Yr 6 boys green team came home with a bronze, but everyone played well and enjoyed the opportunity mixing with many other schools.

Today our Yr 4 students are over at Everton Park SHS participating in the MADD day where they are exposed to a range of arts activities in Media, Visual Art, Dance and Drama and tomorrow our Chess students are attending the Chess Tournament at St Dympnas with Mr Taylour and Mrs O’Malley.  This is the first time we have participate in this activity so look forward to seeing how our student go.  Also recently, our Maths Tournament team did extremely well at the Brisbane North Maths Tournament.  Whilst they were out of the running for the major placings they worked together and solved difficult maths problems as a team in the RELAY event and worked well to utilise all team members’ strong suits in the TEAM event.  Thank you to Mrs Hall and Mrs Burrows for their work with the students in preparing them for this event.

CLASS PREFERENCES 2023

As we introduced last year, we will run with a class preference process again this year where parents have an opportunity to provide some feedback around class placements for their children for next year.  This is not about selecting a teacher, as explained below we do not have staffing finalised or teacher placements finalised until much later in the year, 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.  The form is attached and can be completed digitally and emailed to the Principal email or returned in hard copy to the office.

STAFFING

Our Regional HR teams are currently working on Teacher transfers for the 2023 school year.  This year there are two processes- a requested transfer process where teachers can request a transfer to another school and then there is the required transfer process where the DoE will move teachers around to other schools in order to fill vacancies and to ensure there is balance across schools.  This year as part of the required process they are targeting teachers who have been 5-10 years in their current school and were made permanent at that school on the undertaking that they would complete some rural/remote/unfavourable service and have not done so thus far.  As with every other schools we have teachers who have been identified as part of this required process, so we are awaiting news late next week around who is impacted.  As this is just the first round of the process and there is likely to be further staffing changes next term, I will be able to enlighten the community as things become clearer early next term.

PREP ENROLMENTS

We have commenced our Prep enrolment interviews for next year with about 55 students already being enrolled for next year. These meetings are where we go through the enrolment process and collect information re the child and their needs for class placements for 2023.  We encourage families to finalise enrolments ready for the 2023 Prep transition and information sessions next term which will be held on November 2 and November 16, commencing at EPAC. 

If you have a Prep student to enrol for next year please contact the office and book an enrolment interview through the SOBS system at the following address.  https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70109

Please pass on this information to families who are looking at our school for 2023.

MULTI-PURPOSE COURT ROOF

The new tender for the multi-purpose roof is currently out on QTender and today the project manager held a site meeting on site with a range of companies planning to tender.  Soon after the holidays we will have a new price so that we can apply for further funding for the project. With the additional time our P and C and school community have had to raise further funds towards the project, in addition to what was initially committed and the offer of additional funds from the School Subsidy Scheme, we are hopeful that this time we may be able to get the project completed this time around, as it is a much-needed piece of infrastructure in our school.

FLAG POLE

The new flag pole which has been purchased through the Past Students and Staff of ESS group has been installed.  This purchase was in addition to the lovely cabinet for archives in our office foyer which I featured in the last newsletter.  These additions to our school were made possible through donations from the 150^th celebrations and are very much appreciated.  Have a look at wonderful historical artefacts in the cabinet in the office next time you are at school.  I know the Happy Venturers Readers in the cabinet took me back to learning to read in a Qld Primary school in the early 1970s where we read about Dick and Dora, Nip and Fluff from the same texts until we could read.  How things have changed!

HOLIDAYS

As this is the last newsletter prior to the holidays, we wish all of our Enoggera families all the best for the coming vacation and we look forward to everyone returning for a busy and productive term 4 of learning and fun at Enoggera State School.

Till next time,

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal