Dear Parents/Caregivers

Student Leader Investiture Ceremony
It was wonderful on Monday afternoon to witness our 2022 Student Leaders, consisting of School and Vice Captains, House Captains, Arts Captains, and our Student Council class representatives receiving their badges of office in front of their families and peers.  During the ceremony, they also undertook the school leadership oath and took part in a cake-cutting ceremony.  Our new School Captains performed a vote of thanks before the new  invested leaders enjoyed some afternoon tea outside EPAC with their families. 

We look forward to getting to know our new leaders better as they undertake their duties this year and we wish them all the best in their new roles.

Infrastructure
It was very exciting last week to finally see the new building preparation commence with the putting up of the safety fences and screens and the demolition of the softfall, playgrounds, and sandpit to make way for the new building.  Our students have been very keen to watch the machinery each day when outside and to check in the progress they are making.  They were extremely excited today to see the workman’s sheds and site office be dropped into position.  During this building phase, we have to constantly remind ourselves of the “short term pain for long term gain “ mantra.

Outside School Hours Care Service
A reminder that our Outside School Hours Care service is currently at the end of its current agreement with the YMCA.  At the last P and C Association meeting the P and C were given the option to take on the service as part of their portfolio, but the meeting voted that it would not take on the service. Therefore, we have now entered the next phase of the process which is the tender process and will wait for that to play out over the next 3 months through the DoE procurement process.  The successful tender will be decided by a panel including myself as the Chair, the Deputy Principal and/or Business Manager and a representative from the P and C  Association.

Emergency Evacuation Drill
Last Friday we held our termly emergency drill.  This term it was the evacuation drill and next term will be the lockdown drill.  I am happy to report that even with the extra distance for classes to travel out to the EPAC end of the oval with the construction site, we were still able to evacuate the whole school in around 5 minutes, which was a good result.  We look forward to working with staff to take on any feedback and refine any issues so that we can continue to reduce the time it takes.  But considering the reduced access, extra distance to travel and this being the first drill for our new Preps, we did a great job.

COVID Reminders
A reminder that whilst recent restrictions in schools have been wound back and we welcome all parents back onto the site again, we need to continue to follow the COVID safe guidelines and social distancing requirements, that include, if you are ill you need to stay away from school. Any students who display COVID symptoms whilst at school will be provided with RAT test to do at home and parents will need to collect their children from school.  These precautions continue to stay in place to keep everyone at school safe as we see an increase in cases across the state in our school settings following the release of restrictions.

A reminder also that if your child tests positive to COVID you must report this to school immediately, and also if they are absent due to being a close contact with a positive case.

Parent Teacher Interviews
Another reminder that we have moved the Parent Teacher Interviews back to week 10 on March 29, due to a clash with the P and C AGM on the 22^nd March.  The interviews will be able to take place face to face in EPAC from 3:15-7:35 on this evening and booking will be able to be made through SOBS for a 10 minute targeted conversation with your child’s teacher on that evening.  You should have received an email with the details around booking your interviews with the SOBS system. This information has been sent home via email from Mrs Amy O’Malley our Head of Department-Curriculum.

It would be great for parents to bring their child to the interview so that they can be involved in the conversation about their learning. This is moving toward a three-way conferencing model which is considered best practice for these interactions. Of course, students that attend will need to be fully supervised by their parents in EPAC and not riding and playing around the school whilst at school.

P and C Annual General Meeting
Next Tuesday 22/3/22 our P and C Association will hold the Annual General Meeting at 6:15pm in the E Block Staff Room.  This meeting will be followed by the General Meeting for March.  At the AGM all current Executive positions will be declared vacant and nominations will be called to fill these positions for this year.  As I know that some of our current executive will not be standing again, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank them for their great work over the past year.  It was a massive year for them as new executive members with the 150^th celebrations and the Family Fun Day. They did a fantastic job as they worked diligently together as a team whilst also holding down their own employment and families.  So, thank you whole heartedly to Renee, Belinda, Debbie, Sian (resigned) and her replacement, Bec, as well as the paid P and C staff, Lynelle and Rosetta and all of the volunteers in helpers in the tuckshop, uniform shop and with events.

We look forward to a great role up at the AGM next week and lots of interest in the executive positions to support our wonderful school for 2022.

New Staff
Last newsletter we were able to profile three of our new staff to ESS this year and this newsletter I profile another new teacher to our staff this year and that is Ms Linda Hawes who comes to us from Annandale State School in Townsville and is teaching 2B this year. Again, we welcome her to ESS and hope her time with us will be inspiring.   We still have two more new staff to profile next newsletter, and they are Mr Taylour and Mrs Hall.

Till next time,
Anne Robinson
Principal

With the end of term quickly approaching, we are continuing to encourage our students to follow our school pillars of behaviour to ensure we finish the term strong!  Although it has been a disjointed term with many interruptions out of our control, the students have done well to get back into learning and routines to make the most out of the time they did have.

Be Safe:
Students are reminded that while we have reduced play space and limited access around the school, it is very important to always walk on the concrete to avoid possible accidents during transitions.

Be Respectful:
Students are to be commended for their outstanding behaviour at the recent Student Leaders’ Induction Ceremony and Whole School Assembly.  The students have been a respectful audience following our expectations.

Be a Responsible Learner:
Students are focussing on continuing to listen to teacher feedback and act on it to improve their work and achievement levels.

Facebook
Our school has a very active Facebook page with daily posts to keep our school community informed of what is happening in our school.  Our events are posted throughout the term to allow parents time to be prepared for the term ahead.  We encourage all of our parents to follow our page so you can enjoy the wonderful experiences our school has to offer.  The more you interact with the page by liking and commenting on posts, the more our page will appear in your newsfeed.  A reminder that Facebook is not the best platform to ask questions that you need immediate or urgent replies to as we don’t always see questions in the comment sections of a post.   This is best done by emailing the teacher/admin or calling the office.  Facebook is also not a site for posting complaints or negative comments about staff or school processes.  If you have some constructive feedback for the school or an issue that you would like to raise, we would respectfully ask that you make an appointment to speak with the Principal to discuss your concerns.   Any inappropriate comments will be removed from the platform.

Stop, Drop and Go
A friendly reminder to parents that to ensure the Stop, Drop and Go Zone at South Pine Road (in the car park) is successful, it is essential that drivers proceed all the way to the last gate where a staff member is waiting to open the gate for students. Parents are unable to leave their vehicles in this area to walk their students into under the buildings as it causes congestion to the flow of traffic and becomes a safety issue. Please do not drop your students at the first gate either as this causes cars to have to go around your vehicle and again causes issues with the traffic flow.  This gate is now locked at drop off time.  Thanks for your support with our safe drop-off. 

The expectation is the same for Laurel St Stop, Drop and Go.  Please do not park in this zone and leave your vehicle as it doesn’t allow for the traffic to flow.  It is important to continually move your car to the front of the zone to allow cars to move in behind you.   Our staff are working hard to ensure the safety of our students as they leave the school grounds and we appreciate your support with this by following our pick-up and drop-off processes.

Bullying No Way!

The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence is coming up on Friday 18^th March.  Bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence are all interpersonal behaviours that can create or contribute to negative social situations and school environments. A shared understanding of bulling is the starting point for effectively preventing and responding to bullying. Preventing bullying involves everyone talking together openly and respectfully.  Bullying can have a lasting impact on everyone involved, including those who witness item so it is important to work together to create sae school communities for everyone.  In support of the anti-bullying message, our students are permitted to wear an orange t-shirt and/or orange accessories to school on Friday 18 March.  Students are not permitted to wear orange face paint or hair colour.  Our school proudly supports the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence.

Easter Bonnet Parade!
Save the date!  There has been a change to the time of the Prep and Year 1 Easter Bonnet Parade on the last day of school Friday 1^st April.  It will now be held at 12:15pm on the bitumen in front of the Year 1 classrooms. Parents who attend are then invited to remain at school to eat with their child and then come along to watch the Colour Fun Run from 1:15pm on the oval.  

Morning Routines
Parents are reminded that the waiting area before school for parents with their own children is under E Block only (Prep C and 2B classrooms).  Under C Block is out of bounds (Under Prep B and 2A) as it is difficult to supervise is additional children are heading over there to visit their friends and then playing in the out of bounds areas.  Students with no parent supervision are to be waiting under D Block in their designated area until the bell rings to move to line up areas.  Thanks for your support of our before school processes and the out of bounds areas.

Whole School Assembly
Our next whole school assembly will be held next Monday 21^st March at 2:20pm.  With restrictions lifted, parents are welcome to attend our Assembly and there are chairs set up of for parents in front of the stadium seating.    We look forward to seeing you there.

Tina Burrows
Deputy Principal

A huge thank you to those who have already booked an interview with your child’s teacher. Currently 73% of our student body have an interview organised. Well Done Enoggera! Interview appointments are still available and can be made via the below URL. Interviews will be 10 minutes in duration and are designed to provide an overview on how your child is progressing globally with learning. With timelines being very tight we ask that you are punctual and arrive 5 minutes prior to your interview as a late arrival will reduce the time available to speak with your child’s class teacher. https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70109

The booking system will close on Friday 25th March at 4:00pm.

Should you require assistance to book an appointment please contact your child’s class teacher or myself on aomal3@eq.edu.au

Amy O'Malley
Head of Department - Cirriculum

2B’s Amazing Science Discoveries

In Science this term we are learning about different materials and their properties. This week we were learning about the strength of different materials. We found out that plastic and fabric are very strong materials but paper and foil are not strong materials.

The paper and foil ripped when we added weight

The fabric and plastic were very strong

We then tried to think of a way we could make foil stronger. We found that when we folded the foil and it has multiple layers it could hold more weight.

Foil is a lot stronger once it is folded with many layers.

This term Year 3 have been busy reading and writing a narrative and looking for clever ways we can incorporate noun groups and verbs into our writing to make it POP and highly entertaining for the audience. Did you know that there are different verbs that tell us more about the characters in a story? We have just begun to offer our friends feedback too using the 2 stars and a wish method. We just love giving advice!

Maths has been ‘a buzz’ as we continue to learn our number facts and practice using ‘jump strategy’and ‘split strategy’ in maths. Thank you to our families for hearing our number facts and spelling each week – this really makes a difference to our confidence and skill!

Year 3
Jason Taylour, Chanel Taddeo and Andrea Moeser

2022 who would have predicted it?  Despite all the ups and downs we are finally getting some of our sporting events together.

If you do have 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.  

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.

We have a little bit of forgetfulness creeping into the upper grades,  please make sure that your student is bringing their swimming items each week.  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 either to jjard16@eq.edu.au or tkfar0@eq.edu.au

Reminders of when your students are swimming. 

• Wednesdays – Prep A, 1B, 4A, 5/6A, 5/6B, 5/6C
• Thursdays – Prep B, Prep C, 1A, 2A, 4B
• Fridays – 2B, 3A, 3B

Kilometre Club:
Year 3-6 students are welcome to join us for running practice prior to school on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings between 8.15am and 8.45am.  Thanks Mrs Kent for helping out to add an additional day to our program. Students are to wait under the building until they are collected by Mrs Jardine or Mrs Kent to move to the oval.

Unfortunately, our space will be confined due to the expected start of construction of our new building, so Preps to year 2’s will need to remain in the supervised area under the building.

City District Team Selection
Congratulations to the following students who have been selected into City District Teams.

Yoshi – AFL

Patrick M – Rugby League

Lola B – AFL

Tilly R- AFL

Well done to you all and good luck at the upcoming Met North Carnivals.

Inter House Cross Country
Our interhouse cross country for Year 3-6 students will be held on Wednesday 30^th March at Mt Maria Playing Fields in Mott Street Enoggera.  Year 3-6 students will be walking to this venue with the support of teachers on the morning of the event.  The full program is currently being put together and will be communicated to parents when it is available.  The event will run from approx. 9.30am to 11.00am.  Students will be moving between school and the venue at this time.

Permission forms were emailed to parents several weeks ago and are due back from all students by Friday 18^thMarch.  Please make sure you have returned your students permission.

Unfortunately, we will not be including our Prep to year 2 students this year with our need to move this event offsite, makes their inclusion impractical on a number of fronts.   

District Sport Trials:
Term 1 & 2 are particularly busy with City District Team Sport Trials. Depending on the sport, students born 2012, 2011 & 2010, may be able to trial for City District Teams and ultimately commence a Representative Pathway.  This is an optional extra-curricular activity for students. It involves costs to parents in terms of trial fees, most trials are during the day with transport the responsibility of the parents. If students are selected in a City District Team there will be additional costs including, uniforms, team levies, possibly some travel to larger venues around the city. There will also be additional training sessions. Parents and Students need to be fully aware of the commitment that will be needed if they consider trialling.  

As a general guide, the student should be participating in club sport or tournaments of the particular sport for in excess of one year/full season.  Forms will be distributed by the HPE teacher if they are eligible to participate in trials. They will need to be completed by parents, signed off by the Principal and taken to the trial by the student, trail payments will need to be made via the City District School Shoponline all prior to the trial. School nominations will be submitted by the HPE teacher for those students who have been provided with forms. If your student does not wish to trial please, let me know ASAP after you have received forms and I will withdraw the school nomination.

For some sports a trial will be held at school to select those attending trials as our nomination numbers are limited. Students who have expressed an interest will be advised of trials when they arise, which will typically be during a lunch break or short period of class time. These trials will be supported by Education Queensland Staff who have experience in the nominated sports.  

Please remember this is an opportunity at REPRESENTATIVE SPORT not an opportunity to try something new. 

The upper school classes have all discussed with me the sports in which they participate outside of school and their interest in potentially participating in representative trials and their experience playing their sports, which helps in considering whether it is timely for them to be nominated or whether they should be waiting for another year.   

Some additional information about the District is available on the City District Sports Page connected to the Metropolitan North Website. Feel free to check in on this site.    https://metnorthschoolsport.eq.edu.au/district-sport/our-districts/city

Key Dates – this term.

• Enoggera Cross Country – Wednesday 30^th March – Morning session years 3-6 only.

Jo Jardine
HPE Teacher

Congratulations Enoggera State School on your National Festival Sustainability Award. Exceptional recognition of your hard work, great story telling skills on stage and commitment to producing sustainable productions. Our Arts Captains, Keily and Sofia did a splendid job speaking at assembly and presenting our prize, a framed photograph of the 2021 show to Mrs Robinson.

Thank you for returning the Expression of Interest form. It is fantastic to see so many of our senior students keen to challenge themselves and participate. It is also fabulous that so many parents and caregivers are willing to help out, simply outstanding!

Senior students, including Year 4, will be notified by Friday as to whether or not they will be joining the Arts Enrichment Program. At this stage, no payment is required. Once the team numbers are finalised, we will then be able to invoice families the Wakakirri program fee. A heads up that our theme this year may involve changing landscapes… more details are to come as our story and soundtrack develops.

Mrs Melissa Wilcox
wilcoxm@eq.edu.au

It is wonderful to see keen students coming along to Junior and Senior Choir and also Recorder Club. These groups are a wonderful way to compliment and extend on what we learn in Music class. Plus singing and playing Music in a group is really fun and good for your brain! We hope to do performances next term to show you what these groups have been doing.

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

Here’s some great websites for your child to use at home. Some sites may require a user name and password and therefore will need parent/caregiver permission.

Typing Club (free typing website) https://www.typingclub.com/

Typing Tournament (paid typing site) https://www.typingtournament.com/

Code.org (free coding site with junior to more senior learning)  https://code.org/

Grok Learning (paid coding site, introduction to Python code) https://groklearning.com/launch/

Blockly (free coding game site for kids) https://blockly.games/

Mrs Melissa Wilcox
wilcoxm@eq.edu.au

Hello Enoggera State School Community and Defence Families,

It has been a rough few weeks for our community with the floods, and want to acknowledge the support our ADF has provided. During the heavy rain, I found myself thinking often of our defence families and how important your roles are within our community. If any of our families need support at this time, please reach out.

I wanted to say a huge thankyou to all the Defence Families that have returned their surveys to me. It has been really helpful getting more information about your kids and your families. It’s important to me that as I continue to settle into the role I know what would be most supportive for you all. If you still haven’t been returned the survey and have some spare time to fill it in, please just send it back to the office with your child. If you would like me to email you a copy just let me know.

While we did miss some Defence Kids Clubs, we came back strong last week! We honed in on our UNO skills, had some silly snake showers (plastic snakes of course) and decorated our very own Defence water bottles. A big thanks to Gaythorne RSL for the donations. As I begin to settle into the role and the kids are getting the hang of our new space and new days, I can really see our little club becoming a community. Remember Defence Kids HQ is on Thursday and Friday at big lunch in D block art room. Come along, bring a friend and if you have any ideas for what you’d like to do at Defence Kids HQ just let me know.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER NEWS
Ink In The Lines is an Australian War Memorial touring exhibition currently showing at Ipswich Art Gallery. The exhibition shows tattoos of veterans and members of the Australian Defence Force that tell stories of rememberance, mateship, identity and healing.

Where: Ipswich Art Gallery - d’Arcy Doyle Place, Nicholas Street, Ipswich QLD
Dates: Saturday 5 March 2022 to Monday 2 May 2022
Times: 10am-5pm daily
No cost, no bookings required and all ages welcome.

ADF Equip (KidSMART) — Brisbane 6 April 22
ADF kids aged 5 to 11 years join us for a fun resilience based programme. The workshop aims to assist children manage the challenges of Defence life. This includes discussions around managing the absence of a parent at home. Keep an eye out for the Eventbrite Link or email dmfs.brisbane@defence.gov.au.

The Defence Member and Family Support Branch South Queensland send out monthly newsletters with tonnes of great information and upcoming events. Families are welcome to subscribe to the local DMFS Mailing lists via DMFS South QLD - dmfs.southqld@defence.gov.au

Signing off,

Amy Della-Torre
Defence School Mentor – Thursday and Friday
adell37@eq.edu.au

Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for Tuesday, 22 March, this includes electing the Executive positions. The P & C is actively seeking candidates for the President, Vice President and Secretary positions. If you are passionate about growing our ‘big little school’ please apply for the Committee position you are interested in.

The AGM is the only meeting where members can join without attending the meeting by submitting a membership form. All current members need to submit a membership form to continue being a member. Please complete the members form before 22 March and either provide to the School Office or email to pandc@enoggerass.eq.edu.au

If you are interested or have any questions please contact the P & C (pandc@enoggerass.eq.edu.au).

Just over two weeks out from our School Fun Run on Friday, 1^st April! We hope students are working hard towards their fundraising goals!

Students will need to create a profile and raise $10 to participate in the Fun Run! Students who raise $10 or more get a prize!

We are also very excited as parents are allowed to spectate this year! Parents can spectate from the EPAC end of the oval. Due to the smaller oval we don’t have much room so we ask parents to stay in this area. The event will commence from 1.15 pm after students have finished eating with the first wave at 1.25 pm.

A volunteer signup sheet will be posted on the P & C Facebook page at the end of this week.

The class to create the most profiles in the first week was 3B! The kids were so excited to receive their ice blocks! The week 2 competition is the class to have raised the most funds to date. Each student wins a lucky dip prize and a prize awarded to the class student to raise the most.

Currently we have raised $6,300 of our $15,000 target, so there is a way to go, please keep supporting us! We look forward to celebrating with an amazing day!

Mother’s Day High Tea – Saturday, 7 May
High Tea tickets are selling fast! A great opportunity to meet new friends and to catch up with old friends.  Why not get a table of class friends together! Limited number of tickets available so be quick.

Mother’s Day Stall
Moccona coffee jars are needed for the Mother’s Day Stall. Please place your 100g and 200g jars in the marked container just inside the school office. Please NO large 400g jars.

Artist Wanted
We are still looking for an artist to make the area around the tuckshop very bright and colourful. If you are artistic and able to design and paint wall art the P & C would love to hear from you. Please send an email to pandc@enoggerass.eq.edu.au

Containers for Change
The purple bins are conveniently placed all around the school for you to bring your containers in!  Alternatively you can visit the depot, deposit your containers and contribute to the ESS scheme, our school scheme ID is C10051863

Tuckshop
We are starting to think about term 2! If you are able to assist with home baking or helping in the tuckshop during term 2 please get in touch with the P & C.  We currently only have a small group of volunteers that we rely on, it would be nice to give these wonderful people a break! It is a great opportunity to meet others.  Grandparents are very welcome to bake or help in the tuckshop, we currently have an amazing ‘Ma’ that bakes and volunteers nearly every week!

Uniform Shop
Open every Friday during the term at 8.00 – 9.00 am. You can pre-order via QKR! App and collect from the Uniform Shop. If you are unable to collect on Friday, the order can be picked up from the School Office.

Key Dates
Follow Enoggera P & C on Facebook to keep up to date on planned events, activities, Tuckshop menu and Uniform Shop.  It is the best way to stay informed on all the latest happenings! https://www.facebook.com/EnoggeraSSPandC

P&C Executives

The Enoggera State School P & C meets every 4^th Tuesday of the month – next meeting is AGM 22 March 2022