Dear Parent and Caregivers,

As we near the business end of the semester and head into the assessment and reporting period for semester one, I encourage you to ensure your child is on time and at school every day to ensure they are in the best possible position to ‘Achieve SuccESS @ ESS’.

Following the busy assessment and reporting period we will celebrate the close of the semester with some fun activities in the last week of school including, the Principal’s Award’s Assembly, Junior and Senior Sports Days, Slime Run for Chaplaincy and the Under 8’s morning on the last morning of term.

CHAPPY WEEK

This week nationally we celebrate Chaplaincy Week.  This is a week where we acknowledge the great work our Scripture Union Chaplains do in schools to support the emotional wellbeing of students, staff and families every day and also an opportunity to raise funds to cover the shortfall in government funding. 

Whilst we had our launch of the Slime Run for Chaplaincy this week with the Colour Explosion Dress Up Day and some other activities planned, our big fundraiser for Chaplaincy for the year will be the Slime Run on the afternoon of Thursday June 22.  Students will require a white shirt on this day so the colour shows up and to protect their uniforms.

Following the COVID wages support we benefitted from for our Chaplains, we now are faced with a shortfall in wages this year to keep a Chaplain in our school moving forward for two days per week.  So, I encourage you to set up a profile for your child and to dig deep fundraising online outside our school community to support this.  We very much value the work of our Chaplain and wish to retain the current model, with our community’s support.

In case you are still not clear on what Chaplains do in schools I encourage you to look at the document below called the Chaplaincy Spotlight which highlights the focus of their work.

P AND C

Recently we celebrated P and C Week where we acknowledge the wonderful work our P and Cs do in schools.  We are particularly lucky here at ESS to have a very active P and C who work tirelessly under the leadership of the President, Dean Collings.  Their major project for the past 4 years has been the roof on the multi-purpose court which is finally coming to fruition.  Doesn’t it look great?

As you may be aware we are currently planning the next project and fundraising focus for the school and P and C.  Parents and carers were encouraged to have their say to P and C members who voted at the meeting last night.  We are very happy to announce that the next focus of the P and C will be the lights for the multi-purpose court which is due to be completed by the end of term.  This is dependent on the success of a ‘Stronger Communities Grant’. 

The next project will be a new Prep playground in the new grassed area beside the pool.  We are currently getting quotes and applying for a ‘Gaming Benefit Grant’ to contribute towards this project, which will most likely happen early next year with grant funds, P and C funds and school funds. The third project discussed was the heating of the swimming pool and we are applying for another grant called the ‘Go For Gold Grant’ with the DoE which is to upgrade sporting facilities to ultimately increase participation in the Olympic Sports.

The future at ESS certainly looks bright as the P and C and school work together for the benefit of our students, so please get behind our P and C with their fundraisers coming up such as the Trivia Night, Family Fun Day and Father’s Day Stall on the back of very a successful Disco, Mother’s Day Stall and High Tea afternoon.  We thank our wonderful P and C executive and members who organise these events for our school community.

FULL SCHOOL REVIEW

Our full school review was completed in the last week of term with some very positive feedback from the three reviewers who spent three days in our school interviewing staff, students and, parents and community partners.  Our reports have arrived and I encourage you to read the Executive Summary attached, which details the affirmations and recommendations.  This report will go up on our school website shortly. They have also produced an infographic of the review which is below.

This information will be used to plan and guide the quadrennial school review process and ultimately our next four-year strategic plan for the school.  Taking on the feedback from our School Council the collection of further data will be collected using a range of surveys around different topics.  We are currently working on these and I hope to have them out prior to the school holidays.  Next term the various executive teams from the School Council, P and C and School Leadership team will come together to utilise the data to plan our next 4 years.

Again, thank you to those parents who were able to speak with the reviewers and provide such positive feedback around the school and the work that we do here.

On May 26 we will hold our first Open Day for this year aimed at families who are looking to enrol here for 2024 either in Prep or other year levels.  If you know of families who live in our catchment and are hoping to come here please let them know of the coming Open Day which will commence in EPAC with a talk about the school which will be followed by a tour of the facilities.

Mrs Anne Robinson

Principal

Dress Code

As the weather cools down, it is a good time to remind parents that students are required to either wear a school jacket available at the uniform shop (open Tuesday morning from 8am); or a plain jumper in a school blue colour. Students are not permitted to wear hoodies or jumpers with any printing or designs on them. Girls are permitted to wear blue stockings (or black if blue is unavailable). All students can also wear plain school blue tracksuit pants.

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.

HATS! HATS! HATS!

Please remind your children to continue to bring their hats to school every day! Mr Woodrick’s dream would be to have every child in each class wearing their hat to their HPE lesson on the oval, as he doesn’t want to see anyone missing out on the fun!   Although it is cooler, we still need to wear our hats in the sun!  If your child is missing their hat, please ensure that they check lost property outside the Uniform Shop as there are often numerous hats with names waiting to be claimed.

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.

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 safety – focusing on being in the right place at the right time. We are also reminding students of what areas are out of bounds for their safety during the breaks and before/after school.

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.

STUDENT COUNCIL

The Student Council held an excellent meeting last week with Mrs Robinson and Mrs Burrows. They will be holding a fundraising Meal Deal on the last week of term – hopefully on the Senior Athletics Carnival Day. The students voted to have another Subway Meal Deal. Information will be sent home to parents in the coming weeks.

This Friday is the Student Council’s Random Acts of Kindness Day in which students will be given special Kindness Gotchas for any acts of kindness that they show, and throughout the following week. These gotchas will be drawn on the Assembly in Week 8.

Finally, the Student Council supports the Sustainability Club’s Wrapper Free Wednesday initiative and ask that parents consider how they can reduce waste in lunch boxes on Wednesday.

SLIME RUN

Students are encouraged to continue fundraising for the upcoming Slime Run for School Chaplaincy! The Slime Spectacular School Fun Run is creeping up and is just over 4 weeks away!

Students will be given free sunglasses and a rainbow headband for the event. The students will be covered in non-toxic water-based slime from head to toe! (Safety data sheet is available upon request for the Slime).

Fundraising for our Slime Spectacular School Fun Run is entirely online. Follow the instructions in your child’s sponsorship booklet to create a cybersafe, online profile page at www.australianfundraising.com.au. At the end of our fundraiser students can order up to a total of 5 prizes based on their donations received. They can even mix and match!

The highest fundraising class in the school will win a Pizza Party!

Did you hear that Mrs Robinson will be slimed by the highest fundraiser in the school? 

If we reach the goal of $10 thousand dollars raised, Mrs Burrows will be slimed!

So don’t forget to ask your family, friends and relatives to help your raise money for the Slime Run!

For further information, please contact Chappy Twinkee on twinkee.polius@suchaplaincy.org.au or 07 3550 1333

What an exciting start to term we have had! Year 4 has been busy exploring traditional tales and learning so many important lessons from the morals within them! With the opportunity to revisit narratives we have been able to consolidate our understanding of the text and language features involved in this genre. This week we began the construction of our first draft of our own traditional tale so stay tuned to read the final masterpieces in the coming weeks. Here is just a sample of what is to come!

Long ago, in Ancient China a beautiful young girl named Kiara was born. Despite being small and smart, she was definitely annoying. She came from a wealthy family named “Medilan”. Kiara had chalk white skin, hazel eyes, small feet and knee length jet-black hair. She had many pets, all of them cats and she and her brother Miko inherited a great fortune, bigger than anyone could imagine. By Isla Brownlow

We are off to Everton Park State High School this week also to experience the wonders that the high school has to offer in a Showcase Day. Thank you to all those parents who returned the forms early giving the deputy a chance to send through our final numbers. Just a reminder that we will be departing at 8:15am this Thursday 25^th of May from under D block. We will return in time for the finish of school.

Pinball machine designs are well under way and in the coming weeks we will give the students an opportunity to work on these during class time. We are all very excited to be having our double class space open in week 10 to enjoy the fruits of the students labour in a Pinball Parlour Extravaganza for all of our year 4s!

P&C Projects

The P&C have decided to support the funding of all “on the table” projects which include the Multipurpose court roof lighting, new Prep playground and pool heating. We are targeting the roof lighting initially as we are close to the project being completed and grants being allocated. Then we will look to the playground and pool heating. All funding options are subject to grant availability so this might change our direction at some stages. If direction and allocation of funds do change, we will keep the School community informed.

Should you have any questions please feel free to email us directly pandc@enoggerass.eq.edu.au

Tuck Inn

We are so close to the end of term and have a few slots available still for volunteers. Please check your calendars and pop your name down where you can.

TUCKSHOP ROSTER volunteersignup.org/B4JJ9

HOME BAKING ROSTER volunteersignup.org/CCAWB

Please note that all grandparents and family members who would like to help in the tuckshop are required to obtain a BlueCard before their first shift. This is a free application and can be done via the link. Please notify us first before applying as you will need to liaise with the school.

BLUE CARD APPLICATION https://my.bluecard.qld.gov.au/account/registration/privacy-notice

All volunteers are required to sign in at the office before each shift and then also sight and sign the Key Messages for the school. Once this is completed the school will keep a record and we encourage you to take a photo of this document and store it on your phone. The Key Messages are only to be completed once.

Qkr! Orders

Please ensure that when placing your order for tuckshop/uniform shop or any events that you check you have the correct profile selected, the date is correct, and you press confirm.

If you are struggling to use Qkr please email us so we can offer you some guidance.

Let’s Boogie Disco

Wowzer what a night!!! Thank you to everyone who came out and had a boogie. ??

It’s been a while since we hosted a disco and it definitely won’t be the last - we have had kids coming up and asking for another asap!

A huge thank you to our events team for all the unseen effort you put in on the day, our volunteers who signed up and went above and beyond and those parents who got roped in on the night.

We were lucky to have wonderful sponsors like Sally Mansini - Ray White Alderley and their team who cooked that BBQ like nobody’s business.

The team from Habitat Screens & Decor were kind enough to make some bar tables for all our parents to enjoy while catching up with each other.

Our super year 6 Pink Vest crew were out and about helping our school kids which was lovely to see.

And of course, Everton Park State High School - thank you to Principal Rick O'Connor, their Business Manager, Mrs Flegler and the Arts Department who let us use their brand-new performance venue, it was just perfect!

These events can't take place without volunteers, so if you haven't had a chance to put your hand up yet, please do, so we can continue the fun!

Thank you to all the parents who purchased their tickets and food online, this helped us out on the night so much.

Our event was so successful that we managed to fundraise $4000 towards our new projects for the year.

We hope you all had a great time, and we can't wait to dance the night away again soon.

Mother’s Day Stall

We hope all our special ESS Mums enjoyed their gifts from the students this year.

Another great event run by our amazing volunteers. We really couldn’t do it without you! We are happy to announce that Rita who was our convenor for this year has put her hand up again for next year. If you would like to support Rita, please get in touch so you can be part of her team.

All their hard work has paid off with a fundraising profit of $2600.

 Mother’s Day High Tea

Over the weekend we had 45 amazing women join us for our Annual Mother’s Day High Tea event hosted by Soul Pantry.

An event that lets us dress up, catch up with friends and mingle with new ones. A fantastic effort from our Events team who managed to secure over $2200 worth of prizes to raffle off. With a fundraising profit of $1300 to go towards all the exciting projects for this year. Please see our Facebook page for a list of amazing business who supported our function. We would love for our community to support them in return. 

This event has been so well received that we can’t wait for next years already and to see it grow and grow each year.

We were very lucky to have guest speaker Lauren White attend and give us the confidence to find our Yes and be our most powerful selves.

Battle of the Bands- Trivia Night

Who will be the Trivia champs of 2023?

Last year was our most successful Trivia Night and we are looking forward to surpassing all our goals for this year with another amazing evening - which this year will include a dance party afterwards!

The pressure is on to see who will dominate as most "Knowledgeable of things" at ESS.

This year’s theme is...... Battle of the Bands - Music theme!

Come dressed as your favourite rock God/Goddess, musical genius, pop sensation, band, or music genre.

GO WILD!!!!!

Limited tickets/tables available $250 per table of 10 and $25 single tickets.

Purchase your table via the Qkr! app. Limited numbers.

Doors open at 6pm for all teams to decorate their tables - don't forget that there will be some amazing prizes up for grabs for best themed tables and costumes.

The Bar will start serving from 6pm and trivia will start from 7pm. This will be a cashless event.

BYO any snacks or food - you may even like to order in.

Good luck - and may the odds be ever in your favour ?

P&C Executives

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.

Our next meeting will be July 25th.

Keep up to date on all things P&C via our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/EnoggeraSSPandC

Track and Field Carnivals

Our School Track and Field Carnivals are scheduled for Week 10 of Term 2. 

Junior Carnival – this is for Prep to year 2 students and will be held during the first two sessions of school on Tuesday 20^th June. Events like running, jumping and throwing will all be completed on the day. All activities will be held on the school oval on Tuesday 20^th June from 9am to 12noon.

Senior Carnival – this is for students in year 3 – 6 and will be for the whole day on Wednesday 21^st June.  Students will be walking with staff from Enoggera to Mt Maria on the day of this event.  Permissions for this will be going home shortly. There will be one activity (High Jump) that will occur back at school prior to the carnival due to logistics and equipment.  A full program will be distributed before the carnival.

PE lessons

We are practicing all the athletics events in our lessons. It has been great to see so many working very hard on the activities.

Students without hats are still a major concern. We need to be sun safe and hat on heads is essential for a successful PE lesson. There are many hats in the last property so I would encourage you or your child to have a look if they have misplaced their hat.

Hello Parents/Caregivers, just a quick reminder that the deposit payment for the year 5/6 camp is due by the end of this term - being the 23^rd of June.

The deposit amount is $100.00 and can be paid via BPOINT through the invoice sent out earlier this term, through the office or via QParents.

If you have any questions or concerns around your student account please don’t hesitate to contact me on bsm@enoggerass.eq.edu.au

Have a great week, Ellie.

Hello Enoggera State School Community and Defence Families,

How are we already half way into Term 2?!

 DEFENCE UPDATE:

A crucial goal of the Defence Mentor program, is ensuring that we support the social-emotional wellbeing of our Defence students. Miss Laura is working hard to get around to as many students as she can, in order to support each Defence student in filling up their cups of self-worth and mindful affirmations, and focusing on having a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.

This goes hand in hand with the students learning in class, as when one feels confident and believes in themselves, the possibilities in their learning is endless! With the younger students it’s about focusing on being able to recognise and name their emotions and then having a tool kit of strategies to help them being able to self-regulate when they are experiencing big emotions.

For our senior students, social-emotional regulation is still a crucial goal, however I am taking it a step further with them and ensuring that they have a wellbeing toolkit that they can use now and throughout their life, looking at all things growth mindset!

FORTNIGHTLY DEFENCE KIDS HQ UPDATE:

We had yet another very busy and exciting time at Defence Dragons Club the last fortnight. With Miss Laura’s background in Early Childhood Education, she loves being able to bring big ideas from the voices of our Defence students and co-support in creating real life hands - on experiences. Last Monday and Tuesday in Defence club, we were on a mission to find Dory and Nemo and so we took it upon ourselves to go “Under the Sea”, which was very much enjoyed by all. Using sensory based play, such as kinetic sand and ocean animal figurines, this allows to cater for our differentiated learners who may require more sensory input.

When setting up these experiences, I am very intentional about what I place out, so that it encourages students to be able to build certain skills such as, critical thinking skills, problem-solving, resilience, cooperation, creativity and team building, which are all critical 21^st century life skills.

This week in Defence club it was all about COLOUR!! Yesterday, our Defence students worked on seascape portraits using lots of different colours and textures, making homes of shelter for their animals they had used last week. Today (Tuesday) our Defence students worked together in pairs and individually, making coloured braids, learning to tie colourful reef knots, keyrings and lots more. The iron beads are a real hit at the moment with many students focused on creating their own chosen design.

PARENTAL ABSENCES:

A friendly reminder that as Absences begin to increase in the ADF, to please update myself on any upcoming Absences. You can also email myself, let admin or your child’s classroom teacher know. This information is really important so that I can ensure I am there pre, during and post preparation in supporting your child during their parent/s absence.

For those that attended the Enoggera Family Fun Day on Sunday, I hope you had a fantastic time!! So many Defence children commented how much fun they had!! These type of family events really are a wonderful way for your child and family to engage in family fun activities and a great opportunity for ADF families to come together for mutual support, education & connection within the community they live in and for their overall personal and social wellbeing.  

I had previously sent out to families the DMFS South Queensland eNews for May. I have gone through the eNews again and have highlighted below some upcoming events still left for May.

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR MAY-JUNE:

Socially connect with Mates4Mates

Mates4Mates is one of Australia’s leading veteran charities actively changing the lives of current and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members, and their families, impacted by service.

Knowing the power of social connection and community, Mates4Mates create regular opportunities for mateship and peer-support through social, recreational, and family activities.

Coming up in May:

• Pancake Breakfast, Milton

           Every Friday morning

           8:00am – 8:30am

• Beach Fishing, Nudgee

          Tuesday, 23 May

          8:00am – 11:00am

• Shark & Ray Garden Experience, Loganholme

           Thursday, 25 May

           10:30am – 12:00pm

For more upcoming activities around South East Queensland, visit the Mates4Mates website. Can’t make it in-person? Mates4Mates also offer online social connection activities.

Please Save the Date for the upcoming events in June:

 June

• 13th Coffee Connections – Brisbane
• 16th Kokoda Barracks Open Day
• 22nd Coffee Connections – Amberley
• 28th Coffee Connections – Darling Downs
• 27th ADF Equip – Brisbane
• 28th ADF Equip – Amberley

 If you follow Eventbrite through this link, you will be notified immediately as new events are published.

Defence Member and Family Support - Brisbane Events | Eventbrite

Veteran Arms and Families Counselling Open Arms have upcoming workshops for May-June. Please scan the QR code below to register your interest and for the most up to date information around these programs.

As always if you have any concerns or need to reach in, I am on-site at Enoggera on Mondays and Tuesdays and can be contacted via email at lvint7@eq.edu.au and the school office line on (07) 3550 1333.

Have a lovely week everyone!! 

Warm Regards,

Laura Vinter

Defence School Mentor