Dear Parent and Caregivers,

COVID-19

Just another thank you to our community as you have been wonderfully flexible in dealing with the multitude of changes due to the current COVID-19 restrictions imposed to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus. We are hopeful that some of the restrictions in place may be lifted this coming Sunday and I will communicate any news if a decision is announced.

Until then a reminder that we are still working with:

• Parents and visitors not currently being onsite at all, so I encourage you to use the supervised Stop, Drop and Go zones at the front and back of the school each morning and afternoon and if walking or riding to collect children that you do so from the front gate or EPAC gate and not congregate with other parents at the gates. The contactless drop off and pick up is a wonderful service so please avail yourself of this.
• It is important that we all continue to follow COVID-safe practices including physical distancing, sanitising and wearing face masks throughout this period.
• If you, or a member of your family, is feeling unwell or displaying known symptoms of COVID-19 please get tested, stay home and isolate until you get the results and your symptoms resolve.
• The current School and Early Childhood Service Exclusion Direction states that where the Principal, staff member or Teacher reasonably suspects that a child is unwell the parent is to be notified and the child is to be removed from the school as soon as practicable.
• No organised extra-curricular activities which require mixing of year levels therefore, all sports and extra-curricula activities have been cancelled where we cannot limit them to one year level only.
• No assemblies or school functions

I once again thank all parents and carers for your support during this period and we look forward to bringing our whole school community back together again as soon as we are able to safely do so. A big thank you to our staff as well who have navigated the lock down, change to home learning and back to classroom learning quickly and effectively. I I thank them for their professionalism and the way they have taken these changes in their stride.

ASSISTANT REGIONAL DIRECTOR VISIT

This week we again fortunate to host a visit from our ARD, Mr Rob Van den Heuvel.  Due to the restrictions he was not allowed to meet with staff and students this time but instead spent valuable time with the leadership team unpacking the school’s A-E data from Semester One and comparing that to previous years and other like-schools.

It was most pleasing to see that our school (yellow) continues to produce excellent A-E results as compared to QSS (Qld Similar Schools) (blue) where we are consistently sitting higher than those schools in the percentages of students achieving C and above grades for English, which is our priority area.  We talked around the students achieving C grades and how we could move more of those students into the B grades and also those achieving B into the A grades and how we could work with staff to implement strategies to support this movement.  We look forward to Rob returning shortly to work with staff at planning sessions with Mrs O’Malley, our HOD-C.

PREP ENROLMENT

A reminder that we have set dates for two open mornings this term, where prospective families can come for a tour of the school facilities and listen to a general talk about our school and the programs we have on offer by the Principal, Deputy Principal and Head of Department-Curriculum.  These Open mornings will held on September 1^st and September 7^th from 9-10am and will commence in the EPAC facility on Laurel St.

Following that will be the Prep enrolment interviews with a member of the Administration team for those families that want to enrol a Prep student for 2022.  These interviews will be held in the last two weeks of this term between September 6^th and September 17^th and will be able to be booked through the SOBS booking system by each enrolled family at a time that suits them.  These bookings opened on August 1^st. At that interview we will collect some information about the child entering Prep and check that all of the enrolment paperwork is in order and provide information around the rest of the enrolment and transition process.

Following the enrolment process then in Term 4 we will hold transition afternoons and information sessions which will focus specifically on preparing the child for Prep and also providing all of the necessary information about the Prep program to the parents.  If you have any questions about the Prep enrolment process for 2022 please call the Administration office.

STAFFING

The recruitment process for the Defence School Mentor position at our school is progressing and just waiting for the restrictions to ease so that visitors can come onsite so that we can arrange some interviews. 

Our new permanent Deputy Principal, Mrs Tina Burrows has commenced with us this week.  We are very excited to welcome her to the school and I think she has been suitably impressed with our students, staff and beautiful school since she has arrived. It certainly is an exciting time for the school as we are able to move forward for the time being with three leadership positions in the school, so we are currently working out how that looks and which portfolios each of the leaders will  look after. 

WAKAKIRRI AND YEAR 6 CAMP

As those families involved in Wakakirri have been notified already, the scheduled heats have been postponed until October 18 which unfortunately clashed with our planned Year 6 Camp tp Marcoola.  We have therefore been lucky enough to negotiate a change of camp dates to the only available spot at the end of this term on September 15,16,17.  This means a faster turnaround now of paperwork, planning and payments.  We are pleased that our Yr 6 students will be able to enjoy both activities which are highlights of their final year in primary school as ESS.

Till next time,
Mrs Anne Robinson
Principal

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I begin the next chapter of my career at Enoggera State School.  My name is Tina Burrows and I have been appointed as the new Deputy Principal and have been warmly welcomed by staff and students this week.  Sadly with the current restrictions, I have not had the opportunity to meet many parents as yet but I look forward to getting to know the community over time.   I have been working for Education Queensland for the past 30 years beginning my teaching career in the classroom beginning my career on the Gold Coast! I was soon transferred to Bundaberg and worked the region at various schools for 10 years diverting to a learning support role and intervention teacher.  Upon return to Brisbane and having my family (a son and daughter), I then changed direction again and started working in Special Education.  This is where I started my promotional journey being appointed as the Head of Special Education at North Lakes State College and working in this role for 10 years working with students with disabilities from Prep to Year 12.  I then progressed to become Deputy Principal at Humpybong State School located at Margate Beach at Redcliffe and remained in this role for 6 years.   I felt that it was time for a change of location and I was offered the opportunity to apply for the new Deputy Principal position at Enoggera and to my delight I was successful in winning the position.  My first impressions of the school have been incredibly positive.  I have been impressed by the friendly, respectful students who have been polite and welcoming to me.  After visiting all classes, students have continually approached me in the grounds to introduce themselves and engage me in conversation.  I am impressed by the professionalism of the staff and the focussed learning happening in all classrooms.  I look forward to settling into my new role at Enoggera and to developing relationships with the staff, students and school community over the coming months and years. 

Tina Burrows
Deputy Principal  

YEAR FIVE NEWS

As always the ‘what’s happening in 5A’ is brought to you by the students in 5A, so enjoy the news from the perspective of Grade Five students (slightly edited by Mr Chinn and final editing by Aron).

In English, we are doing the interesting subject of poetry! We will be writing an analysis of a poem, which promises to be both challenging and exciting. After the analysis is complete we will be writing an imaginative narrative based on a poem! In short, Term Three is going to be amazing!

By Aron and Byron.

This term, in Digital Technology, the Year Five students are learning about binary coding in computer language, and how it works. Binary consists of just two digits 0 and 1, instead of our decimal system which uses ten digits. We love going to the computer lab and learning with the wonderful Mrs Wilcox.

By Heidi, Mimi and Lara.

In HASS, we are learning about how and why things have changed over time, specifically during the colonial times (the 1800s). We also need to have an understanding of ‘cause and effect’, which we are getting better at with each example. It’s a bit hard though because we can’t quite imagine what life was like without technology, let alone cars, plumbing and electricity.

By Tallula and Miles.

Finally, just a short reminder that it is Science Week right now. The aim of Science Week is to engage and inspire people of all ages to explore science, engineering and technology. A starting point for you at home is to type ‘Science Week’ into the search engine of your choice and get involved.

By Louis and Zoe.

LIBRARY NEWS

Our BOOK WEEK celebrations are next week 23rd – 27th August in the library. We have other world displays, activities will be held in the Library daily at first break, the winners of the CBCA “BOOK OF THE YEAR” will be announced and we will hold our BOOK WEEK book character parade on Thursday 26^th August. The parade is a much-anticipated event on the ESS calendar but remember that the best costumes are often the ones that the students make themselves using resources from home. The costume doesn’t have to relate to the theme of “OLD WORLDS, NEW WORLDS, OTHER WORLDS,” just a favourite book character. Some prizes will be handed out to reward our best borrowers.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE

We are entering the final week for the Premier’s Reading Challenge. A lot of students have already excitedly handed in their completed forms, and I have been as excited to receive them. 

This is a really easy challenge for the students to compete in as they only have to read 20 books for Prep to Year 4 and 15 books for Year 5-6 and they have until Friday 27^th August to return their completed forms to either their classroom teacher or to the library.  Or alternatively email them to me on sgree207@eq.edu.au

If you cannot find the School Record form, I have attached a copy of the link

https://readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au/register/Documents/school-reader-record-form.PDF

The requirement for Year 5 and 6 to read 15 books acknowledges that older students are likely to select longer, more complex books that may take them longer to read.

Don’t forget that as an added incentive, the class with the highest participation rate will receive a small prize.

So good luck everyone – set yourselves a reading target and read, read, read!

OVERDUE BOOKS

We still have a fair few overdue books from the first half of the term. If your child has overdue books could you please help them look for them and return to the library as soon as possible.

Happy Reading
Shannon Green
ESS Library

The Term 3 rollercoaster for sport continues, but we continue to plan for events going forward to be ready if and when they are able to return.

As always if you have any questions relating to sport, please email me at jjard16@eq.edu.au and I will endeavour to answer them or find out the answers from the relevant group.  

City District Track and Field

Sadly, the City District Track and Field event for 2021 has been cancelled. Decisions were made in the School Sport Sector to cancel all the Track and Field Carnivals for the remainder of the year, this includes the State and Regional Championships.  While it is extremely disappointing,  the complexities around these events with the current Covid Situation makes it difficult to plan for them to continue.  All we can do is hope for the return of the events in 2022.

Volleyball Cup

We are continuing to plan for this event – organisers are waiting to see if the rules around Interschool Sports Activities will open up at the end of the current restriction period.  Invoices should now be able to be accessed via QParent.  If it does have to be cancelled the school will be in contact regarding options for returning of funds. 

The Annual Primary Schools Cup is scheduled to be held on Thursday 2^nd September, at Craigslea State School.  Students from year 5 & 6 have been invited to participate in this carnival.

Gala Sports – Term 4

Year 5 and 6 Students will be participating in Gala Sports in Term 4.  This involved full days of sport at various venues around Brisbane on the first three Fridays of Term 4. Our chosen sports are Touch and T20 (Cricket). Permission Forms will be sent home over the coming weeks. Students have nominated their preferred sports and planning is now underway for teams, staffing and buses.   Students in year 5 will participate in the final two Gala Days as they will be on Camp during week 1.

Plans are being made for some sports activities with Year 3 and 4 students at school on those days. More details will be provided in the coming weeks. 

District Sport Trials – Term 3:

District team sports trials for the year have almost all been completed. Cricket is the last remaining trial, at this stage the Boys Cricket has been rescheduled for the third time in the hope that the event will be able to be run and the Girls Cricket trials also await the hopeful lifting of restrictions around sport at the end of this current period. Information will be sent to those involved of any changes made to scheduling.

Key Dates – this term.

• Primary Schools Volleyball Cup – Thursday 2^nd September

Our rescheduled performance date is Tuesday 19^th October.

Thank you to Mrs Robinson, Mrs Burrows and Mr Roxburgh for rescheduling the Year 6 camp so that our Wakakirri team can perform live, a mighty effort! Around 98% of Year 6 students play a role in Wakakirri and it is wonderful that these students can now partake in both activities (pending Covid-19 restrictions of course).

Students were absolutely delighted to receive their merchandise. Wakakirri merchandise can still be purchased via the website https://www.wakakirri.com/shop/ Students too said that they thoroughly enjoyed watching the live streaming of other schools across Australia.

A huge shout out to our leads; Kenzie, Callum and Sarah, for working so hard during their lunch breaks. The set pieces are almost finished and we look forward to rehearsing the backstage into the show. Thank you to all the parents who have emailed offering help. We will continue to keep in touch and we are very appreciative of your support.

It has proven a real challenge to get this story on stage and live streamed across Australia. It is now possible thanks to our remarkable team of leaders, staff, caregivers and students, thank you!

PS Thanks to Sofia’s gran for turning our doll into Raggedy-Anne, stunning!

Free Webinar delivered to our students

Our Wakakirri team were the recipients of the 2019 National Health Category Award. Our school were issued with 1 FREE Live Workshop on being safe online compliments of Wakakirri and Bully Zero Australia Foundation. Covid restrictions have made organising a live presentation difficult so our students will attend a live webinar instead. Students in Years 3-6 will attend the presentation, SafetyNet, in EPAC from 2-3pm on Friday 27^th August.

Thank you to Wakakirri and the sponsor, BullyZero Victoria for this great award.

Melissa Wilcox and the Waka team

Senior Dance Ensemble and the Year 4 Drama Enrichment Program

We are super excited to resume our extra-curricular programs next week. Should the current restrictions be extended, we will be in touch.

Don’t forget to add the new 150^th Celebration/Fun Day rescheduled event to your calendar (Wakakirri and Senior Dance performing alongside musical items).

Thank you for your understanding and we can’t wait to continue the hard work and fun.

Melissa Wilcox 

Choirs and Recorder Club: 

Due to current restrictions our Choirs and Recorder rehearsals and performances are on hold until further notice. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon! There is Music and backing tracks on the ESS Music Edstudio for practicing at home for those who are keen.

 http://staff.learningplace.eq.edu.au/lp/pages/default.aspx?cid=257938 

Mariel Hopper 
Classroom Music Teacher 
mxhop2@eq.edu.au 

*Due to Assembly being cancelled students will be presented the awards at the next Assembly.

Position vacant

Casual School Crossing Supervisor

A position exists for a Casual School Crossing Supervisor at Enoggera State School.

A School Crossing Supervisor must be able to work in all-weather conditions,

•  45 minutes morning shift 30 minutes afternoon shift - a maximum of up to 5 days per fortnight (on a rostered basis).
• Relief opportunities on your rostered days off.
• Pay Rate $31.88 per hour.

Commencement of employment for the successful applicant is dependent on: 

• The favourable outcome of a health assessment.
• A Positive Notice Blue Card (you do not need to have a blue card to apply for the position).

 Applications are available from the School Administration.