Enoggera State School eNewsletter

Dear Parent and Caregivers,

DAY 8

As I am sure you are aware, Day 8 of the new school year is a very important day, as this is the day that the school’s funding for the year is calculated on our enrolment numbers and student needs for the year. I am very happy to say that our Day 8 numbers were 352 enrolments which has ensured we can maintain our current 15 class structure, staffing and processes we had predicted and strategically planned for the year. We expect with our new building and increased capacity of 4 classrooms that our enrolment capacity will increase to 400 students, which should future proof us for the next few years. We will still maintain our tight enrolment management processes of accepting in-catchment enrolments and only limited out-of-catchment enrolments, where space allows.

NEW MISSION and VISION

Last year we did a lot of work with our staff to update the schools Mission statement and Vision for the future to ensure we are all on the one page and working together toward the same goals. With change in staff over recent years it was important work for our staff to all be on the same page. You will see these around the school and on our email tags as we roll out this new work. We have been working closely with the High Performing Teams (HPT) program and company around this work to refine our structures and processes within our school also, to ensure they align with HPT and our school Mission and Vision.

MULTI-PURPOSE ROOF

It is very exciting to announce that we have completed all of the requirements and the letter of acceptance was sent to the winning tenderer this week. We will be meeting with them shortly to discuss when the project can start.

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS and PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

Recently, we held our annual Parent Information Sessions where parents attended the classrooms to meet with the teachers to hear about the new school year and the routines and expectations for their child’s class. We thank the parents who were able to put time aside to attend and stay informed of what is happening in their child’s classroom. If you were unable to attend our teachers will have sent home a copy of the information and handouts to you. I would encourage you to keep the communication with your child’s teacher open to ensure positive outcomes for your children.

The next opportunity to meet formally with your child’s teacher will be at the first round of Parent Teacher Interviews for this semester, which will be held this term on Tuesday, 21/3/23 in EPAC between 3:15 and 7:15pm. More information will go out in the coming weeks about using the SOBS program to book your interview spots. These interviews go for 15 minutes each and will be an opportunity for our teachers to report to you on how your child has settled into the new school year and how they are progressing with their learning in readiness for Semester One assessments.

STUDENT LEADER INVESTITURE CEREMONY

It was lovely to see our 2023 leaders receive their badges of office and undertake their leadership oaths at our recent Student Leader Investiture Ceremony. We are looking forward to working closely with our new team to progress our wonderful school this year. Already they have come to their first meeting full of great ideas and with some funding behind them, due to the great work of last year’s Student Council. They are currently working on their year plan to be presented to the P and C shortly. The plan will map out their fundraising and plans for the year to ensure they do not clash with the P and C events.

The legacy project from our 2022 student council was a buddy bench and a cool water bubbler. Since we already have some cool water bubblers at the new building they have decided to move ahead with the buddy bench. Chappy Sarah has kindly offered to donate us a parting gift of a second buddy bench, so that we can have one for the Junior grades and one for the Senior grades. We are looking at quotes now and positioning options for the benches to go in as soon as possible.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Next week I will be attending the GRIP Student Leadership Conference at Chandler Stadium with our Captains. We attended this conference last year and our captains took away some great leadership learnings to assist them with their roles throughout the year. More information about the program can be found at:

https://www.gripleadership.com.au/

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE

Camp Australia are preparing to take over on the April 3, the first day of the Easter School Holiday program with their popular Rocketeers program. Below is the partnership announcement and there is further information in this newsletter around registering for Camp Australia and also booking in for the Easter Holidays.

FULL SCHOOL REVIEW

A reminder that as 2023 is the final year of our 2020-2023 Strategic Plan, this will be the year of our Quadrennial School Review where we take information and feedback from all stakeholders to assist in developing the strategic plan for the school for the next 4 years, 2024-2027. As part of that process our school will undertake a Full School Review from the EIB Education Improvement Board to feed into that process. We have been notified that our review will be commencing on March 28, just after the completion of NAPLAN for the year. We are currently in the process of planning for the three reviewers to be in our school for the three days from 28-30^th March. As part of the review the reviewers will be speaking with most staff, students, our educational partners and also P and C, School Council and parents and community members. The link below will take you to a fact sheet for parents and community members.

https://schoolreviews.education.qld.gov.au/review/Documents/parent_community-factsheet.pdf

COMMITTEES

It is great to see all of our extra-curricular clubs and activities back up and running with an array of activities for students to participate in at break times. Our environmental sustainability club (Sustainability Stars) have been very busy getting the worm farms, recycling and gardens functioning. They were very pleased to see some planting done before the holidays has produced some large rockmelons, as per the picture below. These have been donated to the tuckshop to use in the fruit salad. Well done to Mrs Kent and these students for the great work they do in our school. They are very proud to be wearing their green vests when working around the school.

Our Pink Vest leaders are also doing an excellent job supporting staff with supervision at break times by setting up activities and supporting students to play nicely with each other. They are also very proud of the pink vests. Mrs Burrows has been so busy timetabling and training them that she has enlisted the support of Ms Kerr to assist with their support and management.

NAPLAN

This term we will undertake NAPLAN testing for our Yr 3 and 5 students online between March 15 and 27. We ask that you do not make appointments or plan holidays during this time as it is important that all students have the opportunity to participate in this testing program as it provides valuable data to inform their future learning journeys and school improvement strategies. Mrs O’Malley has added some information to this newsletter and also sent out an email to the Yr 3 and 5 parents about NAPLAN and the coming Parent Information session next Monday at 4pm in the school library. If you have concerns about your child participating in NAPLAN please make an appointment through the office to discuss this with me.

SPORT REPRESENTATION

Well done to the eleven students who recently represented out school at the City District Swimming Carnival and especially to the two students who have been selected to move forward to the next stage and represent City District at the Metropolitan Regional Swimming Championships. Congratulations to Layla and Sienna Grice for their selection.

We have also had many students attending trials for a range of Winter sports and wish these students all the best at the trials. A reminder that Mr Woodrick is now our HPE Teacher and is managing the Sports programs and is also our representative at the City District Meetings. If you have any questions around representative sport please contact Mr Woodrick.

Till next time,

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal

BEFORE SCHOOL PROCESSES

With the opening of the new building and the new AstroTurf and handball courts, we have changed some of the before school processes.

All parents are asked to wait with their children only under C Block before school. Students should be sitting with their parents at this time. We kindly ask that you do not wait under E Block as this is the thoroughfare to the boys’ toilets and easier to monitor with no parents and students waiting in this area.
When the bell rings at 8:45am, Prep students will remain under C Block and line up for Mrs Egerton, Mrs Nelson and Mrs Rossiter/Miss Enoch. Lines will be painted on the concrete to help the preppies to see where to line up. Parents are to say goodbye to their children downstairs and help them to line up to walk up to class. Parents are asked not to go upstairs with the students as it causes congestion on the stairs and on the veranda, which is unsafe.
When the bell rings at 8:45am, Year 1s are to walk to under A Block (near the Uniform Shop) to line up for Mrs Kent, Mrs Boone and Miss Hunt.
Students are not to deliver bags to their line up areas when they arrive at school, but to keep them with them until line up time.
All students without parent supervision are to sit and wait under D Block. From 8:30 these students are permitted to play handball or skip on the AstroTurf, if they choose. When the bell rings, students are asked to return their skipping ropes and handballs to the Year 5/6 volunteers and return to under D Block. The staff on duty will then release one year level at a time to move to their line up areas.
Year 3s are to walk via the library to their line up area, not through the new building breezeway.
On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Mr Woodrick is running a Kilometre Club for students in Y3-6 who want to train for the upcoming cross country.

Front Gate

In trying to be helpful, some students or parents are using a rock from the front garden to hold back the front gate on South Pine Road leaving it wide open! This is very unsafe for our new preppies who may wander off and see the open gate that leads to a very busy road! Please ensure that you keep our front gate closed at all times. Thanks for your help with this.

Hats and Water Bottles

During these hot summer months, please remember to ensure your child is coming to school with their hat and a water bottle every day! It is easy for students to become overheated and dehydrated if they are not drinking water throughout the day. As always, please ensure your child’s property is clearly labelled.

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 or derogatory 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 first gate closest to the library. 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 locked in the mornings for safety. 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.

Pillar Practice

Our three school pillars including Safety (Be Safe); Relationships (Be Respectful); and Learning (Be a Responsible Learner). Each fortnight at Assembly, a Pillar Practice is shared with staff and students that becomes our focus behaviour improvement. This fortnight, our Pillar Practice is around Be a Responsible Learner. All class teachers are provided with a poster for their classroom and will explicitly teach our school expectations around the relevant pillar and behaviour. Students are reminded daily about our focus behaviour with the goal of improving this behaviour across the school. The Student Engagement and Behaviour committee reviews behaviour data across the school at their meetings to discuss future focus areas for identified behaviours of concern. This process is documented in our Student Code of Conduct and is part of our explicit teaching of behaviour in our school. You can support us by being aware of the current Pillar Practice and discussing the expectations with your children at home.

Bike Racks

With many students riding bikes and scooters to school, our bike racks have become quite full. To overcome this issue, we are asking students to fill the bike racks from the back. Many students who arrive first are putting their bikes at the front of the cage, making it difficult for the later students to get past to the back racks. We are also looking at ways that we can fit more racks in the bike cage. Also, we are investigating upgrading the path beside the pool to make it safer for students wheeling bikes into the school.

A reminder please that all bikes are to enter through this gate and not via other entry points. Students and younger siblings are asked not to ride scooters or bikes in the school grounds to ensure everyone’s safety.

School Dress Code

At the beginning of the school year, it is a good time for parents to reacquaint themselves with our School Dress Code. This Dress Code was developed collaboratively with the school community and supports the wearing of a school uniform to promote a sense of belonging and school pride. It also promotes a supportive environment fostering mutual respect among individuals at school by minimising visible evidence of economic, class or social difference. Thank you for your support of our school Dress Code.

Some points of interest:

Footwear - Students are expected to wear ALL black closed in shoes (no boots) and plain white socks that cover the ankles.

Jewellery – Watches, studs and sleepers are acceptable but only one earring per ear is to be worn whilst at school. No other form of jewellery is to be worn, except for medical, cultural or religious purposes.

NAPLAN 2023

All students in Year 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) Online between Wednesday 15^th March – Wednesday 22^nd March 2023. The writing test for Yr 3 students only will be completed in paper format.

We ask that student attendance is punctual during this time as testing will be occurring at the beginning of the school day for Yr 3 and after first break for Yr 5.

In preparing for these assessments students have been developing required ICT skills and capabilities through their weekly Digital Technology lessons and additional NAPLAN ICT lessons which commenced in Yr 2 and Yr 4, in readiness for this testing. These additional lessons have focussed on using the laptops and desktop computers and developing:

Mouse skills
Logging on and off
Keyboard skills
Icons, images and NAPLAN specific tools

Students are also regularly using the laptops and ipads in the classroom for classwork. 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
Teaching of problem solving using the ‘See, Plan, Do, Check’ model
Planning, drafting and editing texts when writing in the narrative and persuasive genres

Students will sit the NAPLAN Practice Test on Thursday 23^rd February to enable them to engage with the online platform, build confidence and practise their skills.

For information around NAPLAN and sample questions please view the below link.

https://nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site

Students may be exempt from the NAPLAN tests if they are newly arrived in Australia and with a language background other than English, or have significant intellectual disability and/or significant co-existing conditions which severely limit their capacity to participate in the tests. All other students are expected to participate in the tests. Disability adjustments which reflect the student’s normal level of support in the classroom may be provided. Access to disability adjustments must be discussed with our school’s SuccESS Teachers: Donagh McKenzie dmcke@25@eq.edu.au and Belinda Paton bpato13@eq.edu.au Required paperwork, will need to be completed and returned to school prior to Wednesday 15^th March.

If you have concerns about your child undertaking the testing please contact the school administration office to make an appointment to see the school principal, to discuss your concerns.

For further information, a NAPLAN Parent Information Session is being conducted on Monday 20^th February at 4pm in the Enoggera State School Library. During this session parents will learn about:

the testing format and the types of questions students will be offered
how the question branching works
the scheduling of the testing program
the marking guide for writing
the types of reports and information you will receive

In the interim, please find attached the NAPLAN Parent Information Brochure

NAPLAN_Parent_Information_Brochure.pdf

NAPLAN_Parent_Information_Brochure _pdf 119.36 KB

Library News

It has been exciting times in our library this week celebrating Queensland Schools’ Library Week and Library Lovers’ Day on February 14. Students are eagerly completing our colouring competition and Heart Craft Activities. The Colouring Competition Winners will be announced on Week 6 Assembly.

Week 2 Awards

Class	Student	Reason
Prep A	Martin B	Particpating in reading groups by sharing his ideas
Prep B	Isobel C	Wonderful drawing of pictures depicting our sounds
Prep C	Ginerva M	Always having a go and putting up her hand to answer
1A	Leyaan M	Always working beyond expectations
1B	Olivia F	Being a persistent learner even when things are tricky
1C	Ariel-Rose L	Having a go at class activities
2A	Millie S	Being a responsible and co-operative member of our class
2B	Esme C	Being responsible and staying on task
3A	Minami D	Displaying excellent reading strategies and comprehension
3B	Saxon J	Contributing to class discussions
4A	Poppy M	Always treating others with respect and consideration
4B	Isla B	Great use of noun groups
5/6A	Jamie L	Creating vivid noun groups
5/6C	Charlee G	Helping out when needed

Week 3 Awards

Class	Student	Reason
Prep A	Iylah G	Following class routines independently
Prep B	Trae D	Contributing to class discussions
Prep C	Sonam W	Active learning and having a go
1A	Oscar M	Always trying to do his best
1C	Titus H	Always giving 100% effort and trying his best
2A	Harvey M	Developing a very responsible attitude to all his learning
2B	Imogen J	Showing kindness to others
3A	Amelia E	Being our Reading Groups guru and delving deep into reading
3B	Alexia H	Displaying a wonderful work ethic in tasks
4A	Harry P	Always following instructions and being an active listener
4B	John K	Great contributions in literacy
5/6A	Toby W	Comprehensive answers in literacy group
5/6B	Sophia L	Consistent diligence in writing
5/6C	Lola B	Always giving her best effort

The Year 4 classes have had a wonderful start to the year and we are already in full swing with our units of work. Also, it was great to meet some of our parents at the Information Session last week.

In Science this term the Year 4 students have been investigating weathering and erosion. The students have looked closely at different types of rocks, observed soil types and done their own geology dig.

They have all enjoyed making observations, comparing and communicating their findings and making predictions.

Students will plan, conduct and report on an investigation of the erosion process.

There has been a lot of excitement around commencing our Pinball Parlour unit. There is no need to start collecting equipment for the project this term, as we will just be working on our designs. We will give you plenty of notice before construction begins.

Red_Pillar_Dress_Up_Day_15_Mar.pdf

Red_Pillar_Dress_Up_Day_15_Mar _pdf 92.56 KB

Class Swimming:

Thank you to all those parents/grandparents/carers who have been coming to the pool each week to assist with swimming for Prep, Year 1 and or Year 2 Classes. Your assistance is really appreciated and makes such a difference to the students.

Can all parents please check that UNIFORMS and SWIMMING GEAR is named. We waste considerable time each week during lessons sorting out the missing shirt, lost shorts and left behind swimming gear. Naming it makes this much easier and quicker, not to mention fewer losses for you and your students.

Over the last few weeks there has been an increase in the number of students not bringing all of their gear swimming. Please ensure that your child has everything they need for our swimming lessons, to save us precious time.

Swimming Cap
Sunsafe Shirt – students cannot swim without something covering their shoulders – a rashie/sunshirt or T-shirt. The only exception to this is the swim suits which have built in long or short sleeves.
Goggles – while these are not compulsory – many students are more comfortable wearing them. If your students wishes to wear these please make sure they have their own. While there are some spares at the pool a lot of time can be wasted with the sheer volume of students borrowing goggles. It takes a lot of time and hands to adjust so many goggles, which inevitably is needed when they are borrowing our spares.If they have their own they will fit them without needing adjustment.

Students unable to swim due to illness:

If your child is unable to swim on any particular week, please send a note to school with your child or email me at aawoo0@eq.edu.au

Kilometre Club:

Students who are keen to prepare for Cross Country can participate in Kilometre Club. We meet on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning starting at 8:30am to 8.45am.

Students are to wait under the building until collected.

District Sport Trials:

Congratulations to Sienna and Layla who both qualified for the City District team at the regional trials. Good luck and swim EXTRA fast.

Well done to all the recent trialists. It has been very hard competition, I hear.

Lunchtime Clubs

Thanks to the keen students who have already been attending lunchtime digital technologies clubs. As a reminder, the clubs are:

Tuesday second lunch: Senior Robotics Club

Wednesday second lunch: Coding Club

Thursday second lunch: Junior Robotics Club.

I am looking forward to seeing new keen faces in the computer lab . We have some BIG PLANS for the rest of the year!

Thanks,

Michael Harris

Digital Technologies Teacher

Senior Dance Ensemble (Years 4 – 6)

Welcome back to another fantastic school year! We’re so excited to continue to provide amazing arts opportunities for our students at Enoggera State School.

The Senior Dance Ensemble is a performing arts enrichment program that runs before school with live performance opportunities throughout the year.

Rehearsals take place every Thursday morning at 8am in EPAC. Auditions were held on Thursday 16^th of February (Week 4). During the audition/tryout lesson, students did warm ups and stretches and learnt some technical skills and a small dance sequence.

After the audition on Thursday successful students will be sent an invitation home to join the assemble and will need to return the completed form to Miss Dunstan on the first day of rehearsal.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Miss Georgia Dunstan

Dance and Drama Teacher

Week 5

Monday 20th February

NAPLAN Information session - open to all parents

4Pm ESS Library

Week 6

Monday 27 February

Assembly

2pm EPAC

Week 6

Monday 27 February

Regional Swimming Carnival

Frozen Fridays

It’s been a few years since we’ve been able to run the ever popular Frozen Fridays, but they are back! YAY!!!

Every Friday from 3pm-3:15pm we will be selling $1 ice- blocks from the tuckshop for the rest of Term 1 to celebrate the start of the weekend and cool us down in this hot weather. Cash only - see flyer below for more details. See you all there.

If you would like to volunteer to be one of our Frozen Friday Friends or have any questions, please get in touch via email vicepresident@esspandc.com.au

Tuckshop- QKR app profiles

We have had a pretty smooth start to the year regarding tuckshop. We are having a few issues with QKR app profiles not being set up correctly. Please ensure that you check that you have selected the correct year and class for each child. The app auto selects Prep if you do not change this manually.

We are still looking for some help in the tuckshop and with home bakes. Please sign up via the links below

TUCK INN ROSTER volunteersignup.org/4TLJQ

HOMEBAKE ROSTER volunteersignup.org/9WTFX

You can view the tuckshop menu on our Facebook page, all orders must be in by 8:15 am Wednesday or Friday morning.

Tuckshop Term 1 Wednesday Specials

Wednesday, 1^st March - Ham and Cheese Croissant $8 includes a drink

Wednesday, 15^th March - Sushi pre-order closes at 12pm Tuesday 14th

Wednesday, 29^th March - American Hotdog $8 Includes a drink

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop will be open every Tuesday morning from 8:00 – 9:00 am. You can purchase from the shop or pre-order uniform items via the QKR app and pick up from the shop on the following Tuesday. If you are unable to pick the items up, they will be provided to the office to distribute to your child.

Events

We are very excited to tell you about the events we want to host this year. If you are interested in being part of the organising teams or just want to help out on the day, please get in touch. If there is a particular event that is special to you, please put your hand up. Unfortunately, if we cannot get the help required some events will not go ahead this year.

We are also always looking for new and fun ideas - If you have been to a great event and think it would make for a fantastic fundraiser, please get in touch.

Key Dates

P & C General Meeting

P & C AGM followed by General Meeting

6:15pm, Tuesday, 28 February 2023

6:15pm Tuesday, 22 March 2023

P&C Executives

President – Dean Collings

Vice President – Khesanh Brock

Secretary – Christina Maher

Treasurer – Debbie Brauer

For any questions or concerns please email pcsecretary@esspandc.com.au

The Enoggera State School P & C meets every 4^th Tuesday of the month.