Edition 18
Principal's Message
School start and finish times
Our school day commences at 8.30 am and concludes at 2.30 pm. Please ensure your child arrives by 8.25 am in preparation for the school day. Any student who arrives after 8.30 am is considered late and will need a late slip from the office. This is to ensure any students who arrive after the official start of our school day are not marked absent without explanation by class teachers. Unfortunately, there have been situations where teachers have marked rolls at 8.30 am prior to attending a specialist lesson and students have been marked absent. This has then resulted in parents/carers receiving an unexplained absence message as the student did not collect a late slip. The best way to avoid this occurring is for students to arrive at school on time.
Supervision before school commences at 8.00 am when our gates open. As our school bus runs do not arrive until 8.20 am, supervision before this time is not a requirement. It is a preference that students do not arrive at school prior to 8.15 am. Students are required to remain seated in their relevant areas until 8.15 am, where handball only may be played if safe to do so.
School concludes at 2.30 pm at Everleigh State School. It is an expectation that students attend all day. Should you need to collect your child early, please organise in advance as it is quite disruptive when Miss Marina needs to call classrooms and make announcements during break times to locate students who are leaving early. Please also note that supervision is provided at our 2 pick up areas from 2.30 – 2.45 pm. We are unable to provide supervision after this time and our office closes at 3.15 pm.
Parent waiting areas
I would like to remind parents/carers about our before and after school procedures.
Before school, any children who are with parents/carers should remain with their parent/carer. Children should not be running around in covered, concrete areas and playgrounds are out of bounds for safety reasons. There should be no parents/carers or students up stairs prior to the bell sounding at 8.25 am unless a meeting has been arranged in advance.
After school, all parents/carers are expected to wait in main entrance area and wait until the end of day bell sounds. I kindly request that parents/carers of Prep students in particular do not wait outside of classrooms as this is disruptive. Again, playgrounds are out of bounds after school.
LEM parent session
We are excited to invite our parents/carers to an information session on our whole school approach to teaching phonics and spelling at Everleigh State School – LEM Phonics. Greg O’Keefe, the instructor who has trained all of our teaching staff will be attending our school on Thursday 16 March from 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm. As this is an information session for parents/carers, it is a preference that children do not attend. Please register your attendance via this link https://survey.qed.qld.gov.au/n/enZhp7g
Uniforms
Another reminder of our school uniform as needed. It is an expectation that all students wear our school uniform every day. Our uniform consists of:
- School polo shirt. Year 6 can wear the Senior polo shirt as part of our uniform
- School shorts/skorts with our school logo
- White Black socks are not part of our uniform.
- Plain black shoes. There are many places where full plain shoes can be purchased.
- School winter jacket and/or long pants
If your child is unable to wear their school uniform, a note to your child’s teacher would be appreciated. Should financial assistance be required, please contact me directly.
Deputy Principals' Message
NAPLAN 2023
NAPLAN is fast approaching. Students have been preparing through practice testing. The purpose of this is to ensure familiarity with the format in which they will be assessed. No data is collected from the school during practice testing as we want to make sure students have an enjoyable experience when they participate in NAPLAN.
With NAPLAN moving online in 2022, tailored testing was utilised. What this means is that students will have different experiences during NAPLAN based on how they progress through their testing. During the tests there will be sections that will ask students to review their work before they move on as a different line of questions will follow depending on student responses at that point. This allows for students to be assessed on what they know and can do rather than being assessed for what they cannot do. Students report that through this type of testing, they enjoy the experience and feel successful in their efforts. This has made testing far more accessible for all students.
Whilst we recommend all students participate in NAPLAN Online, parents/carers are welcome to withdraw students from testing. If this is the case, please contact the office as soon as possible. Students who are withdrawn by parents/carers from participating in NAPLAN needs to be confirmed by close of business on Tuesday March 14.
Ipad and ICT Agreements
Recently iPad Agreements were issued to all students in Years 2-6 and ICT Agreements were sent home to students enrolled during 2022 as this needs to be completed annually. These forms outline the responsibilities of students and parents/carers in the use and maintenance of devices used for learning at school. These forms must be returned promptly as they form the agreement that students will abide by school processes. Please make sure these have been returned.
Every Day Counts!
Attendance at school every day is critical for long-term success. Our school target for attendance is 95 per cent. This is based on our understanding that illness, injury and personal circumstances sometimes arise. An attendance rate of 95 per cent equates to ten (10) missed days of learning per year.
A strong commitment to attendance is required by students, parents, caregivers, schools and the community. There are four key factors in supporting student attendance at school:
- all children should be enrolled at school and attend on every school day
- schools should monitor, communicate and implement strategies to improve regular school attendance
- truanting can place a student in unsafe situations and impact on their future employability and life choices
- attendance at school is the responsibility of everyone in the community.
We monitor student attendance closely and commit to supporting families to ensure that children are at school every day unless unwell. If you are experiencing difficulty, please speak with your child’s teacher. Each edition of the newsletter will communicate the past fortnights attendance with one cohort named the Attendance Champions. Our current cohort attendance rates are:
Prep 93.98%
Year 1 90.06%
Year 2 88.73%
Year 3 94.02%
Year 4 86.76%
Years 5 & 6 90.03%
Congratulations to this edition’s Attendance Champions - Year 3!
Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing Survey
In Term 2, students in Year 4- Year 6 will be asked to take part in the Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing (QEW) Survey.
We know that wellbeing and engagement are important parts of your child’s life at school. The QEW Survey is designed to measure how students view their wellbeing and engagement across different topics. The information we get from the survey helps us better understand and support our students.
An information letter will be sent out to parents and carers closer to the time. If you have any questions, please contact the school. More information, including FAQs, can be found on the Education website: (https://qed.qld.gov.au/publications/reports/statistics/schooling/students/queensland-engagement-wellbeing-survey).
Message from our Business Manager
A number of families are yet to make any payment towards their SRS (Student Resource Scheme) which provides all books and stationery items for students. Please ensure all or part payment of your child’s SRS is made prior to the end of this term. Students who do have any payment made towards their SRS by the commencement of Term 2 will lose access to online learning platforms such as Reading Eggs and Mathletics.
There are also a number of families from Year 2 to Year 6 who have elected to rent an iPad and have not made any payments. If full or part payment for this year’s rental payment is not received by the end of this term will lose access to a personal iPad and will be given access to a shared school device until full or part payment is received.
Please contact Executive Services on 2899 5111 if you are experiencing financial hardship.
Messages from Executive Services
Student Absence:
If your student will be absent, parents/carers have a legal obligation to notify the school, including advising the reason for the absence. We kindly request you let us know by 9am on the day of the absence. We have two preferred methods for advising absence:
- Via the Q-Parents App – please see reception if you require information on this.
- Via our dedicated Student Absence Line – (07) 2899 5160, where you can leave a message any time of the day or night. Please save this number in your phone.
Reminder: You will also need to advise YMCA if your child is booked in and will be absent.
YMCA absences should be advised before 2:15pm via email aev@ymcabrisbane.org or via text or phone call 0459 905 087.
Lost property
Name labels make all the difference in helping us to returned lost items to the correct students. We kindly remind parents to name lunch boxes, water bottles, containers and also hats. We really appreciate your assistance with this. Please see the attached photos of recent treasures waiting for their owners to claim them.
Message from Everleigh SS - P & C
P&C Annual General Meeting
Our rescheduled P&C Annual General Meeting will be on Monday 20 March at 6.00 pm. For ease of access, we will meet in the Resource Centre. Please park in the Platypus drop off zone or along Anderson Drive and use the pedestrian gate near the Resource Centre. We are seeking nominations for all executive roles. Our AGM will be followed by a general meeting.
2023 Cross Country
Thank you to Ms Kim Beck, Mr James Morley and all of our wonderful staff, students and families for a successful cross country today! Everyone had their fingers and toes crossed to keep the rain away to avoid a repeat of 2022 of resceduling several times.
Students all excelled in their effort and energy during Cross Country 2023. We started off the day unsure if we would get through the day with weather hovering above threatening to rain but the Sun came out for Years 3- Years 6 students to compete. Students in each grade gave their best. Points were earned in all houses and records were broken.
As we moved into the junior cross country, the threat of rain returned but the cheering from our students and the support from families was amazing. All students were able to participate in a wonderful event. A huge thanks to Miss Beck for her efforts in organising and running the event.
Age Champions for 8 Years and above and the House winner will be awarded at Tuesday's parade.
Everleigh SS - Student Council News
Congratulations to this year's Student Coucil Representatives. They have already been busy with our first raffle of the year to support our inaugural Senior Canberra Trip in Term 4.
YMCA Everleigh
Parking - "Have Your Say"
Logan City Council is seeking parent and community feedback on current parking practices around school zones. If you would like to have your say, please click the link contained in the flyer below.