Enoggera State School eNewsletter

Dear Parent and Caregivers,

Welcome to week 6 of term one. It is wonderful to see everyone settled in and enjoying their learning and our extra-curricular activities are now all up and running, with students trying out new clubs and activities. We are so lucky at Enoggera that our staff value these extra-curricular programs and appreciate that they devote their time to these activities, outside their rostered hours of duty.

YEAR THREE PERSUASIVE WRITERS

I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of students from class 3A recently who wanted to share their persuasive writing with me. They were trying to persuade me that Yr 3 should be allowed to use the new sandpit as research states that it would have a positive impact on their socialisation, problem solving and creativity which would assist them with their school work. They presented some really well-structured pieces of writing and were very passionate about the cause. They also shared their planning and their beautiful drawings. Well done 3A!

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS' Day (March 8)

Next Wednesday March 8th is International Women’s Day. We will be celebrating this special day at ESS by holding an event in the EPAC for our Yr 4/5/6 girls and their Mums/female caregivers. We will have a guest speaker, Sian Brownlow, who is the mum of one of our ESS families. She will be presenting around STEM careers for girls and encouraging more girls to go into these careers on offer. We look forward to seeing as many Mums/female caregivers as possible at this event as we celebrate with a morning tea after the presentation.

Invite_2.pdf

MULTI-PURPOSE ROOF

This week we have had the start-up meeting with the company who won the tender for building the roof over the multi-purpose court. The winning tender was from MODCON Constructions. We are told the construction will start by the start of Term 2 and will likely take 10 weeks pending rain delays.

It is also good news that they will be doing the works from the front of the school and South Pine Road entrance so that our ovals will not be used in the construction at all, so we will not be losing our green space again. We will however, lose use of the court for Term 2 but after that, it will be a much more usable space moving forward.

The front of the school and South Pine Road access will be disrupted for the lift for this new build, we have been advised this will be only for a week - we will keep our community informed of these changes as there will be some impact on South Pine Rd parking and our off-road car park bays.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS

A reminder that 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 the 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 how your child has settled into the new school year and how they are progressing with their learning in readiness for Semester One assessments.

CHAPLAINCY

We are very sad that our long standing Chappy, Sarah Petchell, is moving on to be a Chaplain in the Army. She has been a part of this community for over six years and will be sadly missed. She has done a wonderful job in creating a profile for Chaplaincy here which is demonstrated by the value and faith our community places on her and the Chaplaincy program. We wish Chappy all the best in her new role but are excited that she will continue to be involved with our school through the Local Chaplaincy Committee as the Chair for the rest of this year. She will also be a great support to our new Chaplain who has been recruited, but we are just awaiting for the announcement. Once announced, we hope she will be able to start as soon as possible so that we do not have a long pause in the service.

At the recent LCC meeting we voted Chappy Sarah in as the 2023 Chair, Melanie Russell to continue as the Secretary and we are still recruiting a Treasurer. Jess Pinkerton will stay on as the Church representative. They look forward to working closely with the school and the P and C and Student Council to continue to build the profile and understanding of the Chaplaincy service and also to fundraise for the wages gap we have to maintain a Chaplain in our school for two days per week.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the GRIP Student Leaders Conference at Chandler with our Captains. It was a wonderful day with our leaders having the opportunity to learn about their roles and how to lead and also having an opportunity to meet with leaders from other schools. It was a fun and action-packed day with plenty of activity, dancing and interaction. Our leaders participated fully and some of them even got to participate on the big stage in front of the whole auditorium.

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE

A reminder that Camp Australia will be taking over our OSHC from the first day of the Easter vacation on April 3rd with their Holiday program called Rocketeers. Families who use the service for before or after school care will need to enrol with Camp Australia for care for Term 2 and also for the holiday 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.

There is more information in this newsletter about the programs on offer and how to enrol through their online portal. We are looking forward to partnering with Camp Australia to continue to offer excellent outside school hours care to our students and them becoming part of our school community, as YMCA have done for many years before them, which we are extremely grateful for.

Camp Australia will be holding a Parent Information session on 14/3 in our library where they will explain their processes and this will also be an opportunity for parents to ask questions about the new service.

Principal_1.png

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

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 recent Parent Information session held. If you have concerns about your child participating in NAPLAN please make an appointment through the office to discuss this with me.

Till next time,

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal

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, Tuesday and Friday, Mr Woodrick is running a Kilometre Club for students in Y3-6 who want to train for the upcoming cross country. This has changed from Wednesday as it was clashing with Breakfast Club.

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 frequent 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 Being Safe with a focus on safe play on the oval and keeping our hands and feet to ourselves. 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 rack 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 access 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.

Our Student Council has met twice this year already. The Student Council is run by the School Vice-Captain Savannah as the chair, and the two School Captains, Chelsea and Jarvis, as secretary and treasurer. They are a very enthusiastic group of students from Year 3-6 who are very keen to make our great school even better!

This term, the Student Council has organised to fundraise for the Down Syndrome Association with a “Lots of Socks” Day. Students are invited to wear crazy socks to school on Tuesday 21^st March and bring a gold coin donation. The Student Council is also reintroducing ‘Wrapper Free Wednesday’ in an attempt to reduce waste generated by our school. The students voted to purchase a Buddy Bench with the money raised by the Student Council last year as their legacy item. This year, the students have voted to raise money towards a cold water bubbler for students.

Week 4 Awards

Class	Student	Reason
Prep A	Iylah G.	Following class routines independently.
Prep B	Liam H.	Terrific reading showing knowledge of print conventions.
Prep C	Theo H.	Having a go at class activities.
1B	Finn O.	Persisting in difficult learning tasks.
1C	Alistair F.	Actively participating in class discussions. Well done!
2A	Luke R.	Enthusiastic attitude towards all aspects of his work.
2B	Finn G.	Demonstrating fabulous on-task behaviour.
3A	Julia B.	Her positive attitude and extreme effort in all work areas!
3B	Yvette B.	Her persistence in all tasks given.
4A	Alexis B.	Following instructions from all teaching staff and completing set tasks.
4B	Olive O.	Super efforts in her writing.
5/6A	Alexander P.	Fantastic work in maths.
5/6B	Patrick M.	For consistently co-operating with others.
5/6C	Luna M.	Always being ready to learn.

Week 5 Awards

Class	Student	Reason
Prep A	Riley L.	developing confidence in class discussionhs
Prep B	Olivia S.	Always demonstrating active listening.
Prep C	Max K.	Answering questions in class discussions
1B	Millie L.	Being a curious learner.
1C	Edward S.	Being a responsible learner and always putting his best effort.
2A	Katarina A.	Being an independent student who strives to do her best at all times
2B	Blair G.	Trying his best in every lesson. Well done!
3A	Evelyn T.	For her amazing OREO paragraph. Well done.
3B	Leo B.	His enthusiasm in class discussions.
4A	Matias C.	Listening and engaging in classroom learning discussions.
5/6A	Ashton P.	Enthusiasm towards writing
5/6B	Rhys K.	Demonstrating great understanding in comprehension.
5/6C	Edmond C.	Always being ready to learn.

Week 6	Sunday 5th March	National Clean Up Australia Day
Week 7	Wednesday 8th March	International Women's Day
Week 8	Monday 13th March	2pm Assembly @ EPAC
Week 8	Tuesday 14th March	Stamp Out Bullying @ EPAC
Week 8	Tuesday 14th March	Camp Australia Information Session

Dear Year 3 Families,

We have to thank you for helping our students to ‘brainstorm’ some very creative story ideas for our BIG WRITES in homework each week! Coming up with ideas for writing is certainly the main challenge and to be able to brainstorm amazing ideas at home really does allow the students to focus on many other important elements of writing. We have really enjoyed reading the various plot ideas each week. We hope you enjoy just a snapshot of our innovative writing! Look out for clever language features to make our work really pop!

All the best,

Mrs Moeser (3A) & Mr Taylour (3B)

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 especially, please make sure that your student is bringing their gear 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 to aawoo0@eq.edu.au

Reminders of when your students are swimming.

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

Kilometre Club:

Year 3-6 students are welcome to join us for running practice prior to school on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings between 8.30am and 8.45am.

City District Team Selection

Congratulations to the Sienna who was successful at the Metro North Trials and will now represent ESS at the State Trials in late March. Go Sienna GO!!!

A big congratulations to Lola B and Olivia A who made the City District girls AFL team. Great effort to the both of you and best of luck at the next stage.

Inter House Cross Country

Cross country will be held on the school grounds now we have our oval back. The event will be for all students, Prep to grade 6 on Monday 20^th March.

A more detailed order of events will be in upcoming newsletter and email communications.

Red_Pillar_Dress_Up_Day_15_Mar.pdf

Introduction & Update

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to introduce myself (Michael Harris) at Enoggera State School, P-6 Digital Technologies Teacher. Being very interested in electronics and robotics makes Digital Technologies the perfect subject for me! I am excited to teach students how to think “digitally’ as we collaboratively imagine, build and test solutions to meet current and future needs.

As the year progresses, the students will develop their skills and knowledge in classroom and in extra-curricular activities. Our first challenge for the year is the Bebras Computational Thinking Challenge. Bebras is backed by the Australian Government and run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Bebras is an ideal and fun way to strengthen computational thinking and problem solving skills through interactive online challenges.

This year, the challenge will be held in the computer lab in April, during lunchtimes. It will take 45 minutes to one hour to complete the quiz for individuals or small teams from Years 3-6. Student achievement is rewarded through participation and how many correct answers are solved within the time limit: to attain Credit, Distinction or “Hall of Fame” levels. More information can be found on the Bebras Website. To register your interest go to this online survey. The survey closes March 10.

Parent/guardian consent forms will be sent home via the students in March. Once the signed forms are returned, students will be registered and then provided with practice quiz materials. Please take the time to consider this opportunity.

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

Dance Ensemble 2023

All I can say is WOW! We had over 60 students across Years 4 to 6 come along and audition for the Senior Dance Ensemble which is incredible!

Based on the number of enthusiastic dancers we have at ESS, we have decided to open up another ensemble called Junior Dance. Junior Dance will be made up of Grades 4 and 5 and Senior Dance will be Grades 5 and 6.

We had a fantastic first rehearsal last Thursday learning dance technique in preparation for our new 2023 routines.

Below is a reminder about rehearsal times for each group. There are also some forms still outstanding that need to be returned. Please hand in to the office or Miss Dunstan at the next rehearsal.

Rehearsal reminder: Junior Dance (Thursday second break after eating) and Senior Dance (Thursday at 8am before school) I can't wait for an amazing year!

Miss Georgia Dunstan

Primary Dance and Drama Specialist Teacher

Gardening

Rockmelons have been growing over the Christmas School holidays and last week four big melons were harvested. I believe two have gone to YMCA for their afternoon tea and two went to Tuckshop.

Next week students will be planting some new seeds and are very keen to have the seeds germinate and grow into more yummy produce.

Worm Farms

Our worms are in desparate need of food so if you are not composting your food scraps you may like to package them up and send them to school to be placed in the tumble bins ready for the next feeding cycle.

Containers for Change

Our lovely grade five student's have begun supporting the school community by helping the younger students properly prepare thier containers ready for collection on Wednesdays. We are ready for families to send in thier containers for change if they are able to support us. It is important to remember that the lid and straw needs to be thrown away in general rubbish first.

Our next committee meeting is Wednesday 8 March.

Karen Kent

1A Classroom Teacher

Enoggera State School

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.

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

NAPLAN_Parent_Information_Brochure.pdf

NAPLAN_Parent_Information_Brochure _pdf 119.36 KB

Tuckshop

How great are Grannies!

This week, the Tuck Inn had 3 Groovy Grannies come and volunteer- and boy did their grandkids love it. If you are unable to help in the tuckshop, why not ask your parents if they can?

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

Tuckshop: Term 1 Wednesday Specials

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

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

You can view the tuckshop menu on our Facebook here all orders must be in by 8.15 am Wednesday or Friday morning.

A big thank you to the Sustainability Stars and Mrs Kent who kindly donated some wonderful rockmelons that they grew. These were used in the fruit salads this week and were delicious! Keep it up!

P&C AGM

Our Annual General Meeting will be held in the new staff room on the 28^th March 2023 at 6.15pm. Please join us in person or online via the link

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3a8f9e2c33cb214510b6f076fd47407b33%40thread.tacv2/1650866314811?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2279023927-4894-4ad7-83c9-f8c517ac262e%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%228b17a3e0-a1b8-4c13-b182-2be21ddc52ad%22%7d

Nomination forms for all the Executive Positions can be emailed to you directly or found in the office. Please submit completed nomination forms by 12pm on the day of the meeting to: pcsecretary@esspandc.com.au

All existing members who wish to continue their membership, will need to submit a new application for membership and sign the code of conduct.

Please note that the AGM is the only meeting which allows the P&C to accept applications for membership without your attendance at the meeting. Accordingly, we encourage you to complete your membership forms and submit them to the email above prior to the meeting, regardless of whether you can attend the meeting. These forms can be found in the office.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Key Dates

P & C AGM followed by General Meeting	6:15pm, Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Let’s Boogie- Disco Night (all year levels)	5pm-8pm Friday, 5 May 2023
Mother’s Day Stall- EPAC	Friday ,12 May 2023
Mother’s Day High Tea	2.30pm-4.30pm, 20 May 2023