Edition 7
Principal's Message
WELCOME MRS ANGELA ARMSTRONG
Last week we bid farewell to Mrs. Harker as she takes leave to prepare for the arrival of her little bundle of joy. We wish Mrs. Harker and her family all the best.
In Mrs. Harker’s absence, we welcome Mrs. Angela Armstrong to the role of Deputy Principal for Prep to Year Two. Mrs. Armstrong has spent the week meeting staff and students and finding her feet. I am sure our community will welcome Mrs. Armstrong and make her feel part of our school community. Ensure you say ‘hi’ when you see her.
EVERLEIGH STATE SCHOOL DIGITAL DEVICE (INCLUDING MOBILE PHONES) POLICY
There appears to be an increase in the number of students who are bringing mobile phones to school or wearing smart watches with connectivity. I would like to remind all parents/carers of Everleigh State School’s policy regarding digital devices, particularly those with connectivity. While I understand that some students are catching buses, walking or riding to school and a mobile phone/smart watch is provided for safety reasons, any digital device outside of iPads used in the classroom should not be brought to school unless an application for exemption has been completed. This information is clearly stated in our Student Code of Conduct on pages 20-22 and in our Parent Handbook. Both of these documents were provided to all families as part of our Enrolment Packs and can be located on our school website.
Any student who has a personal digital device other than their iPad must be granted an exemption and hand their device into the office before school. It is an expectation that such devices are turned off prior to being handed in each morning and only switched on once students exit the school grounds. Parents/Carers should not be contacting students regarding changes of routine via personal devices unless after school hours. All messages are expected to be received via Executive Services. Students who receive messages/phone calls while waiting for buses or pick up areas are expected to notify the supervising staff member of the incoming communication prior to using their device. This is to ensure any digital device is used appropriately and we can protect students from unnecessary online risks.
Students who catch buses should not be using their digital device other than for the purpose of receiving incoming communication from parents/carers or for use in an emergency. Likewise, students who are independently riding or walking to school should only be using their device in case of an emergency. Should any parent/carer wish to discuss their concerns are welcome to contact me directly to discuss this further.
COLOUR RUN
Thank you to the many parents and carers who attended our Colour Run to mark 100 days at Everleigh State School. Staff and students alike enjoyed the afternoon and I think there were quite a few volunteers who were happy to explode colour over staff, particularly Mr Morley! I am humbled by our small but dedicated school community support. A huge thank you and congratulations to our P&C and volunteers for making this inaugural event a success. I believe we have raised close to $10,000 for our school, which is an amazing effort!
100 DAYS DISCO
What a great night we all had at our very first school disco! All of the students and staff had a great time. Thank you to the P&C for arranging this event. It was wonderful to see so many parent/carer volunteers assisting with tickets, food and drink sales and supervision. I have managed to get some sneaky photos of some of our staff dancing at the end while packing up!
NEW SCHOOL PBL SIGNAGE
If you were on site Thursday or Friday of this week, you may have noticed some new signage. A huge thanks to City Scape who produced and installed our beautiful school expectations. Our signage promotes our expectations across the school, eating and play areas and toilets, whole school expectations
Colour Run
Disco
PBL Signage
Everleigh YMCA Donation
This afternoon, Kristy and students from Everleigh YMCA donated a Galipoli Rose and plaque to our school to be added to our ANZAC Garden. It will be a lovely addition and add to the importance of the garden for our commemorative services. Thank you to Kristy and the Everleigh YMCA team for this thoughtful donation.
Deputy Principals' Message
CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
Students in our year 5 classes attended the Logan West Cluster STEM Day on Wednesday with Mrs Jenkins. Students became involved in activities themed around crime scenes where they had to solve STEM challenges. Our students represented the school wonderfully and had a wonderful time.
YEAR 5/6 LEARNING
Year 5 and 6 students are currently engaging in understanding our government systems including the history of federation through their HASS studies in the classroom. Students have been learning about the reasons for colonies to unite, some of the leaders involved in this process and how democracy has shaped our government. Our students in years 5 and 6 are looking forward to heading to Parliament House in Brisbane city later in the month.
YEAR 3/4 LEARNING
It has been amazing hearing students recap the story they are hearing and studying in class. Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda has been a massive hit with our students as they wait for the next part of the story to understand how the author of a quest novel portrays a character and demonstrates their development within a story and how the author uses setting and language to impact on the mood. The vocabulary students are using when talking about Rowan of Rin is wonderful.
STUDENT COUNCIL NEWS:
Our student council ran their first fundraiser for the Red Nose Foundation today. Students dressed in red today to show their support for the Red Nose Foundation. Red Nose Day has been around for over 30 years and the funds raised in that time led to the creation of the Safe Sleep Program, which has reduced the rate of SIDS in Australia by a staggering 85%.
Our student council at the time of writing had raised $1852 for this cause. This is a wonderful first initiative.
Red Nose Day
Footpath Closures
As you would be aware, a new sporting ground is being constructed next to the school. As a result of this ongoing construction, footpaths along Everleigh Drive and Ivory Parkway have been impacted. The P&C and I have met with Mirvac to discuss the safety concerns for students which has resulted in construction fencing being installed to block off pathways and limit pedestrian access underneath what was just bunting. At Tuesday's parade, Mrs Wheatley addressed the students on safe ways to get to school when walking or riding to ensure students remain off the road as much as possible. A special thank you to Mark Clancy from Mirvac who has worked with both Shadforth Constructions and Logan City Council to provide fixed fencing and sigange to keep our students safe. Please refer to the diagram below and speak with your children about following these directions to keep them safe. Thank you to Mrs Batty for stopping and taking photos of our school crossing and the shared zones students should be using when needing to cross the roads. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mrs Wheatley.
Message from Executive Services
A reminder that our school day commences at 8.30 am. All students should be at school by 8.25 am to ensure all students arrive at class on time. On average, we have between 10-15% of our student population arriving late requiring late slips.
In addition to late arrivals, there are quite a number of students with outstanding unexplained absences. Miss Marina will be following up firstly with a second text message. Any outstanding unexplained absences will then be followed up by an official letter. Should unexplained absences still exist, contact will be made by either a Deputy Principal or Principal. As per our Attendance Policy, which is available on our website, all student absences must be explained.
Library News
Thank you to all parents/carers who supported our first Book Fair. As a result of all sales, we have been able to purchase $1100 worth of additional books for our Resource Centre.
Music Notes from Mrs Chivers
We are well into term three and all students are involved in dance units as part of their music lessons.
Prep to year two have been learning about the fundamental movement skills for dance. Locomotor and non-locomotor movements. They are also continuing their music journey by singing and playing boom whackers to help develop their musical understanding.
Years three and four are learning about contrast in dance and will be learning a choreographed dance using contrasting movements. They are also continuing to practise their recorders and are becoming more confident players.
Years five and six are looking at how to use their technical and expressive skills to engage an audience with their dance and become confident in their movements. They are learning a choreographed Bhangra style dance. They are also practising their recorder playing in music.
We have 2 new songs to learn in choir to perform mid term 4. I am always looking for interested students from Years 2 to 6 to join us and would like to encourage more to join. We are now rehearsing Tuesdays and Thursdays at second break.
Prep 2023
Please see below information regarding our Prep Transition Program for children commencing Prep in 2023.
2023 Enrolments
We are now accepting enrolments for all year levels for 2023. Please pop in to Executive Services to collect an enrolment pack. Enrolment interviews for students enrolling in Years 1 - 6 will be scheduled during Term 4.
Everleigh SS YMCA News
A few reminders for our YMCA families:
- Remember to sign your child in to the correct session when you arrive in the mornings, this will prevent split attendances that need to be amended.
- We are licensed for a 6pm close. Please ensure you have made plans for your child to be collected before this time as late fees may be applied.
- Please ensure all of your child’s belongings are labelled clearly as we are still finding a lot of jackets and other items with no name on them.
Vacation Care is fast approaching and we have some exciting incursions and excursions locked in. Please know that we are currently limited to 60 places for the centre and incursions and 40 places for excursions. If you need to utilise YMCA, please follow the link below to start the enrolment process.
https://www.ymcachildcare.com.au/outside-school-hours-care/everleigh
YMCA Everleigh are currently looking for an Assistant Coordinator you would be someone who has previous experience in an OSCH environment with experience in MTOP and programming and wanting to take a step into management to help support our amazing team. Please follow the link below to express your interest.
Free 4 & 5 Year Old Health Checks
Parents/Carers are encouraged to take advantage of free health checks prior to children starting school. These 4 and 5 year old checks can assist in providing early intervention before starting school.