Dear Parents and Caregivers,

LEARNING CURVE

This week our Learning Curve program is from the Health and Strengths category. The wellbeing skill builder is doing the big three for the lower school and doing the big five in the upper school.   

The lessons are about prioritising doing these three or five things to ensure you will be much happier and healthier. The big three are exercising every day, drinking enough water and also getting enough sleep and the extra two for the senior students is about eating fresh healthy foods and having a positive mindset to see the good in things.  If you prioritise these things every day for at least three weeks they are more likely to become habits and more likely to become long lasting.

STAFFING

As you are aware, Stacey Talbot left our Administration Officer position recently and Dal Begeda has taken over the role temporarily whilst the permanent recruitment takes place to fill the role moving forward. We look forward to announcing the winner of this recruitment process in due course as the process is finalised.

STUDENT COUNCIL PURCHASES

Our Student Council purchases from last year’s funds raised have started to arrive with the new basketball backboards being installed recently into the multi-purpose court and also the sunscreen being delivered to every classroom. The table tennis table has been ordered and the quotes for the cold-water bubblers and water bottle refillers, are being finalised.

CSI (COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT)

Last week we had a visit from our School Supervisor and visiting Principals to view our priorities for this year.  They met with myself and the leadership team before we visited some classrooms and received feedback from the visit.  The feedback was very positive around our priorities and focusses for the year ahead.

TC ALFRED

Today we were advised that schools will be closing for Thursday and Friday as per the communication emailed out to parents today. Pending the outcome of the TC will determine when schools can open. This will be clearly communicated to families and can also be checked on the school closure website at any time. We wish everyone safety throughout this event and look forward to getting back on track as soon as possible.

TEACHING OF READING V9

Last year we commenced implementation of the Australian Curriculum Version 9 in English and this year in Mathematics.  As part of the changes to English there have been significant changes to the teaching of reading in Australian Schools as part of this curriculum. Our staff have been working through the professional development around the changes late last year and we have created an action plan to guide implementation in readiness for a full roll out next year. 

Last year the Department of Education conducted some parent twilight sessions online which were well received.  These were recorded and I have attached the link below.

https://mediasite.eq.edu.au/mediasite/Play/d5a99b04712b44758dc85854bde46a3c1d

There is also a parent brochure at this link.

https://det-school.eq.edu.au/assets/reading/documents/reading-parent-brochure.pdf

As we progress further into our action plan we will share more specific information about how you can support your child to read at home and about the changes to the way we are attacking word reading (sight words) etc.

Till next time,

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal

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NAPLAN 2025

All students in Years 3 and 5 will be undertaking assessments in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy as part of the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) between Wednesday 12^th March – Tuesday 18^th March 2024 (Week 7 and 8).  Year 3 will complete Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy online and complete the writing test in paper format. Year 5 will complete Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy online.  We ask that students arrive punctually during this time, have a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast to best prepare them for daily testing.

The Enoggera NAPLAN Testing Schedule is as follows:

Day and Date	Test	Year 3	Year 5	Catch Up Sessions  Year 3 and Year 5
Wednesday 12th March	Writing	9:15am	11:45am	N/A
Thursday 13th March	Reading	9:15am	11:45am	1:50pm Writing
Friday 14th March	Conventions of Language	9:15am	11:45am	1:50pm Writing/ Reading
Monday 17th March	Numeracy	9:10am	11:45am	1:50pm Reading / Conventions of Language
Tuesday 18th March				9:10am Numeracy 11:45am Reading / Conventions of Language

Students in Years 3 and 5 will sit a NAPLAN OMNIBUS Practise Test on Wednesday 5^th March to enable them to engage with the online platform, build confidence and practise their skills. This test consists of a combination of questions for Reading, Conventions of language and numeracy.

In preparing for these assessments students have been developing required ICT skills and capabilities through weekly Digital Technology Lessons focussed on:

• Mouse Skills
• Logging on and off
• Keyboard Skills
• Icons, images and NAPLAN specific Tools

As part of daily classroom instruction, students are being explicitly taught the literacy requirements of NAPLAN Testing through:

• Consolidation and practise of Question Types (e.g. Multiple Choice, short response)
• Reading Comprehension Strategies
• Teaching of Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation
• The teaching of Problem Solving using the See, Plan, Do, Check Model
• Planning, Drafting and Editing Texts

For information around NAPLAN and sample questions parents and students are welcome to view the below links. Mr Harris will provide further information on how students can access sharepoint accounts

• https://pages.assessform.edu.au/pages/year-3-demos
• https://pages.assessform.edu.au/pages/year-5-demos

NAPLAN withdrawals, exemptions or special considerations

Parents seeking withdrawals or exemptions for their students from NAPLAN testing are to contact school administration to arrange for a meeting with the Principal (Mrs Anne Robinson) to discuss the tests being withdrawn from and the reasons for the withdrawal.  Paperwork will then be completed at the meeting. 

Parents of students requiring special considerations are reminded that these reflect the usual supports in place for students in the classroom as part of their Personal Learning Record (PLR). Success Teachers will be in contact with parents of eligible students and provide a form to be signed and returned to school by 11^th March 2025.

NAPLAN Muesli Bars

Year three and year five students will be provided with muesli bars as an “energy snack” to eat during each NAPLAN test as research indicates that chewing supports and aids learning and cognitive functioning. The school provides Uncle Toby’s Yoghurt Muesli Bars and further information is available below.

If you do not wish for your child to receive muesli bars or require further information please email Amy O’Malley aomal3@eq.edu.au

Semester One Parent Teacher Interviews

Semester One Parent Teacher Interviews are being conducted in EPAC on Tuesday 1^st April 2025 (Week 10) from 3:15pm – 7:45pm. Interviews can be booked using the SOBS system https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70109

The System will open at 6am on Monday 17th March (Week 8) and remain open until 6am Monday 31^st March.  Bookings cannot be made outside of this window.  Instructions on logging into SOBS; adding and updating student details; and booking an interview can be viewed via the URL: https://eq.sobs.com.au/docs/sobs-pt3-parents.pdf.   Should you have any queries regarding the booking process please contact administration on 3550 1333 or email Admin@enoggerass.eq.edu.au

 Gaythorne RSL Sub-Branch Anzac Day 2025 Writing Competition

Students in Years four, five and six are invited to enter the 2025 ANZAC Day Writing Competition. Cash Prizes are awarded for First, Second and Encouragement awards. The competition closing date is Thursday 13^th March and responses and signed entry forms (available from administration) are to be sent via addressed envelope to:

Anzac Day Writing Competition

Gaythorne RSL Sub – Branch Inc.

PO Box 6361

Mitchelton 4053

Please see the Topic and Conditions of Entry details below:

  

Library News:

Please note that Issue 2 Book club orders need to be ordered using the LOOP system by Monday 24^th March 2025 to ensure orders are received prior to the school holidays. 

Loop orders can be made by:

Mrs Amy O'Malley

Head of Department, Curriculum

Hello Parents and Caregivers,

Please find below my updates for this coming fortnight.

GENERAL FINANCE

Just a reminder that full payment on the below activities is due soon or already overdue. If you are having financial difficulty and require financial assistance, please contact bsm@enoggerass.eq.edu.au to arrange a payment plan.  

We have a lot of parents who have not made payment on the CARS & STARS Subscription for 2025 and for Religion Books. Please be aware that this directly affects your child as it means they don’t have the valuable resources required to complete certain activities in class and for religious instruction lessons.

Just letting all parents and carers know, invoices are always sent out to the paying parent via email. The paying parent is allocated at time of enrolment and can only be changed if requested in writing. What this means is that only one paying parent can view invoices online through QParents. If you would like more information around this please email me on bsm@enoggerass.eq.edu.au . If you believe you may have a student credit on your account, please contact me directly to apply this credit as you are unable to allocate credits through QParents online.

We strongly recommend all parents to sign up to Qparents, so they can stay in the loop with the schools’ happenings. If you have any other financial inquiries, please contact me directly.

MAKING FRIENDS INCURSION

Invoices were cancelled on Friday afternoon (28^th of February) and it seems there has been a glitch with the system. Thursday and Friday’s payments haven’t attached themselves to the invoice and are now sitting as a credit on file.

New invoices for some of the families whose payments have come through. Please do not pay this invoice as I will be applying credits to the invoice. There are also a few families who consented to their child/ren to attend however hadn’t paid the invoice. As such a separate invoice will be raised for you as an outstanding invoice. Please ensure this invoice is paid promptly.

Invoices will appear like the following through QParents;

2025MFCORRECTION – Please do not pay, the credit on your account will cancel this invoice out.

2025MFOVERDUE – Please pay (invoices will be raised this week/next week due to the cyclone an school closures. Any parents who consented to the incursion and didn’t pay by Friday the 28^th of February will be invoiced for this event as your child attended.)

Also, we have quite a few parents who didn’t complete their online consents through QParents however they made payments – I have reopened the consents through QParents. Can you please ensure you complete the consent as the event has now passed. If you do not have access to QParents please ensure you pop into the office to complete a hard copy form.

LOST PROPERTY

Just a reminder to parents and students that the school’s lost property is located directly under the administration office outside of the uniform shop. A big thank you to the parents in the community who have been collecting lost property daily and putting items in this area for students to collect.

Due to the Cyclone, we have relocated all lost property to storage and it will be put out again once safe to do so.

Stay safe and take care!

Ellie Mastrapostolos

Business Manager

Student of the week awards for Monday 3 March 2025

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Performance Teams

Rehearsals are well underway, and students have been working extremely hard learning their songs and choreography. Students also attended a Sunday intensive session where we spent the day learning 2 dance routines and 3 songs. We are incredibly proud of all of the students, and we can't wait for everyone to see what we've been working on. 

Please remember to attend your rehearsals on time, bring your water bottle and don't forget to continue practicing. 

Dance Ensembles

Dance Ensembles are starting this week. Please check the below times for your ensemble group. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Red Dance - Monday at 8am

Boys Crew (Grade 3 - 6) - Monday at first break after eating (Everyone is welcome)

Green Dance - Wednesday at second break after eating

Purple Dance (Grade 1 -2) - Friday at first break after eating (Everyone is welcome)

If you have any questions please email Miss Dunstan. 

Choir

Choir has started and it was wonderful seeing so many students at the first rehearsal. If you would like to join it's not too late. Please see the below times:

Junior Choir - Thursday at first break after eating in the Music Room

Senior Choir - Friday at 8am in EPAC

If you have any questions please email Mrs Rees.

Recorder Club

It was wonderful seeing so many new faces join Recorder Club last week. If you interested in coming along it's not too late. Recorder Club runs on Fridays at first break after eating in the music room.

If you have any questions, please email Mrs Rees. 

Miss Georgia Dunstan, Primary Dance and Drama Specialist Teacher and Mrs Rebecca Rees, Primary Music Specialist Teacher

Performing Arts Team

School Zone Safety – advice for motorists

With school back, it's a timely reminder to drivers to slow down in school zones and pay attention at children’s crossings.

Coming back after holidays it can be easy to forget what to look out for. School zone signs are displayed as you approach the school and shows both the speed limit and the times you need to reduce your speed around the school. Children's crossing are identified by children crossing flags, which are displayed near crossings before and after school hours.

When the crossing is supervised, you as a motorist must: 

• wait until all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders have crossed the road and the crossing supervisor has returned to the footpath
• abide by the direction given by the School Crossing Supervisor.

 If the crossing is unsupervised, you as a motorist must: 

• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a children’s, pedestrian or marked foot crossings
• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a road you’re turning into
• give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on a slip lane
• give way to pedestrians in a share zone
• travel at a speed allowing you to stop safely at a crossing if needed

As a driver, it's important to make sure you give way to all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders such as skateboards, e-scooters.  You must also give way to pedestrians using a motorised mobility device such as a motorised wheelchair or a mobility scooter.

Some of our most vulnerable road users are children getting to and from school, so it’s important to slow down and abide by the crossing rules, as it won’t make much difference to the trip time, but it could very well save lives.

Visit the Street Smarts website to find more information about what to do at pedestrian and children crossings.

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QLearn

One of Queensland Department of Education’s  “Student Learning and Wellbeing Strategy”   key initiatives is to connect school learning environments and curriculum to families, through the QLearn Learning Management System.

The QLearn platform is a ‘blank canvas’ that allows Enoggera State School Teachers to post student learning resources for home access. The  resources are to be inclusive, positive and user friendly at all times.

The success of QLearn hinges on how effectively families access their child/rens learning using different devices (computers, iPads and mobiles), anywhere, any time. Already school data indicates that we have had over a dozen different Year One families login last weekend alone.

Correct Use of QLearn

When you sign in to QLearn (see the picture below), you agree to ”Conditions of use” to adhere to the Department of Education’s student  (Page 27) and parent  Code of Conduct.  

 

Once you are logged in you will see various “virtual classrooms” allocated to your child/ren. Currently during this trial, the 2025 Digital Technologies classroom is the only fully operational classroom. There has been much effort made in ensuring all Digital Technologies experiences are enriching for all students. If your feelings are to the contrary, please ensure that your comments which could be construed as negative or contrary to positive learning and wellbeing of our students, are communicated directly to the school in the first instance, and not through the platform.

You will also discover various audio visual content and hyperlinks to further learning. Note that copies, downloads and screen-shots of the QLearn content, is strictly prohibited. As these resources belong to Department of Education, reproductions require Principal’s permission.

We look forward to QLearn enhancing student learning and wellbeing which will evolve thanks to caregivers’ positive feedback.

Michael Harris

Digital Technologies Teacher

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Class Swimming

Thank you to all of our parents in the lower years who are coming along and helping out with their classes. We really appreciate your help as we can work in smaller groups and help all the students become more confident in the water.

The change rooms are getting a little noisy and that is impacting on our time int the pool. Students are encouraged to focus on their tasks while remaining quiet in the change rooms. The quicker the class is in getting changed, the more swimming time we have together.

A special mention to 2C who focused on their tasks in the change room and gained themselves 4 minutes extra swimming time this week. Keep up the great work!

Our program is part of the curriculum not an added extra so it is really important they are participating in every lesson.  If they are unable to swim for any reason, send a note or email to aawoo0@eq.edu.au  

Kilometre Club

With only a few weeks of run club remaining, year 3-6 students are welcome to join us for running practice prior to school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings between 8.30am and 8.45am. 

It is great to see so many students join in. The focus at the moment is finding the right pace. Sprinting the whole cross country is not an option, so jogging at an even pace is better. There are some great runners here at ESS – and they are getting better because they are practicing. It is really hard to have a great cross country run if you don’t practice.

 

3 on 3 Basketball:

Teams are encouraged to nominate for the first intra-school sport competition of the year – 3 on 3 basketball.

Students in Years 3 to 6 are encouraged to nominate for the games, where a round robin competition will see teams play a number of games before a finals series to crown the 2025 winning team.

Teams can be mixed gender, mixed age, and mixed ability. Participation is the key.

Team registration is this week, with games to start next week.

Get involved and have fun!

Mr Andrew Woodrick

HPE Teacher

Emotional Regulation

As children grow, their emotions and how they interact with the world around them becomes more complex. Learning to regulate emotions is a developmental process and the ability to manage emotions and behaviour in accordance with the demands of the situation is referred to emotional regulation. Skills for managing a wide range of emotions are important for children to learn as it helps to foster positive mental health and wellbeing throughout their lifespan. Research has shown that emotional-regulation skills are tied to a range of positive health outcomes, including resilience to stress, increased happiness, and better overall well-being.

Learning emotional regulation skills takes time and practice. As an adult, you can help your child learn and develop their emotion regulation skills by asking your child how they are how feeling and encourage them to share any thoughts or feelings that they have. For young children, it may be helpful to draw their emotions or act them out. It is important to validate your child’s emotions and to avoid labelling any emotions as positive or negative.

Promoting a calm environment at home can assist children manage their own emotions by providing structure and predictability. Modelling and teaching how to slow down and calmly respond to situations rather than being impulsive is another way to help your child learn about emotional regulation. Encourage children to spend a little bit of time each day to in a calm and quiet space to reset and refocus. Introducing children to mindfulness activities including breathing techniques, such as belly breathing or rainbow breathing can also help to assist in regulating emotions. For further information, on emotional regulation, visit

https://beyou.edu.au/resources/fact-sheets/social-and-emotional-learning/self-regulation

What a huge success the breakfast club has been to start back up. I would like to say a huge thank you to all the senior school students who have been helping as without you guys, I feel I would be completely lost.

Breakfast club will be every Tuesday morning. Serving will start at 8.20 but if you have volunteered to help, please be under E block by 8am.

We have also welcomed back our Fun Friday discos at second break on the green. There are so many little faces that light up and dance their way into the weekend every week which is fabulous to see.

I have been truly welcomed by the Enoggera community and look forward to working with you all.

Alisha Pearson

Student Wellbeing Officer

alisha.pearson@jabiru.org.au