Edition 22
Principal's Message
Under 8s Day
Thank you to Mrs Armstrong all of the Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers, Ms Beck, Mrs Chivers, Ms Jenkins and Mrs Rixon for a consecutive successful Under 8s Day! Thank you also to Enriching Communities and YMCA for contributing to the fun of the day. It was great to have Jimboomba Police join us to celebrate our young people. The children had a wonderful time exploring all of the activities. I think parents and carers had just as much fun joining in or watching the joy on the faces of the children. Although cool in the morning, it was a perfect Autumn Day to enjoy the outdoors. I am sure all attendees slept well on Wednesday night! This will be an annual event for Everleigh State School and we look forward to creating a bigger and better experience next year! Mark the date in your calendar for 2024.
Visible Learning at Everleigh State School
All classrooms at Everleigh State School have what is called a Learning Wall and Bump It Up Wall. These displays assist children to know and understand what it is they are learning, particularly in English, and how they will be assessed. As a school only in its second year, I am continually amazed at the commitment of our teachers to support the learning of our students. Learning Walls are used to display the Learning Intention (what the students are learning to do during the unit). Information about the topic being taught, important vocabulary and other visible displays to assist students to know and understand what they are learning about is displayed.
The Bump It Up Wall has exemplars of what the students are working towards being able to do by the end of the unit of work. Students and teachers co-construct Success Criteria, what students need to be able to know and do to be able to complete the task is also displayed. The purpose of a Bump It Up Wall is for students to reflect on how their work compares to the exemplars on the wall. Students, with the support of their teacher, are working towards being able to identify what they are able to do and what they need to do to improve.
Our knowledge and use of Learning and Bump It Up Walls to continue to improve through professional learning, and teachers visiting each other’s classrooms to assist each other to improve on what they are already doing. This is exciting work for our school.
Parent/Carer Code of Conduct
As adults, it is our job to role model appropriate behaviour to our students, who are our future leaders. Everleigh State School has Student, Staff and Parent/Carer Codes of Conduct, which describe how all members of our growing school community are expected to behave. These Codes of Conduct are built around departmental guidelines as well as our school CARE values of Commitment, Accountability, Respect and Encouragement. We all have an important role to play in ensuring we are modelling the expected behaviours for our students as the grow into committed, accountable, respectful and encouraging young adults. The way in which we speak to staff members, and other parents/carers leaves an impression on our children. If our children see us speaking rudely or yelling at other people, they are likely to mimic this behaviour. Children are not born knowing inappropriate language (swearing) and do not start making noises or saying words by yelling. This is behaviour they learn from observing the adults around them. I have attached our Parent/Carer Code of Conduct to remind our parent body of our school’s expectations. I have had to unfortunately have some difficult conversations with parents this year in regards to the way in which they have interacted with staff and other parents/carers. This is not what I signed up to do and are horrible conversations to have. If we all think about how we like to be spoken to and take a minute before reacting, our interactions can be much more positive and show our children how problems can be solved respectfully. There is no place at Everleigh State School for staff or other parents/carers to be abused by members of our school community.
Under 8's Day
Deputy Principals' Message
PBL
Our PBL focus this week is about following the directions of staff and volunteers right away. The reason for this is in order to maximise learning time in the classroom by reducing distraction which allows for support to be given as needed. At Everleigh State School we want to always ensure that we are letting student learn and teachers teach and following directions straight away builds a calm environment for that to occur. During lunch breaks this supports students interacting and engaging with each other as the directions provided are always developed in order to help guide students to be making decisions in a calm state that promotes a calm environment. Staff only give reasonable directions to students and as such can be followed straight away without question. Where students feel a direction is unreasonable, they are encouraged to report this to their parents/carers. Parents/Carers are invited to speak with your child’s Deputy Principal should you agree that the direction was unreasonable. This feedback from parents will be useful in ensuring that directions from staff can be trusted and our understanding of a reasonable direction is line with our community. Please feel free to contact Mr Morley via email or through See-Saw if you have any questions in regards to this.
Rules, Laws, Rights & Responsibilities
Students in our Year 5 & 6 classes have been learning about rules, laws, rights and responsibilities that we have in order to develop and maintain an ordered society. This is part of their Civics and Citizenship studies within HASS. It has been wonderful hearing student insights into this area as we identify, describe and explain the difference between rules and laws and how these are managed. As part of this learning, students have also been discussing their rights in our society using the United Nations Charter for Children’s Human Rights and how respecting their rights also means fulfilling their responsibilities. Students in classes have identified that in order for them to feel safe in their environment, they have a responsibility to act in way that builds a safe and positive environment for others. The insight and opinions of students in these discussions have been deep and students have been showing a key interest in this.
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. Our attendance rates since last newsletter are:
Prep 92.7%
Year 1 89.1%
Year 2 91.6%
Year 3 88.8%
Year 4 84.0%
Years 5 & 6 89.5%
Congratulations to this edition’s Attendance Champions - Prep!
Messages from Executive Services
Student Absence:
With the weather becoming cooler in the mornings, we are seeing an increase of illness at school. While we value attendance, please be reminded to keep unwell children home, so as to allow them time to recover as well as to stop the spread.
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.
Don’t forget to also cancel your canteen order if you have pre-ordered ahead: (07) 2899 5125
Q Parents
We invite all parents and carers to set up their Q Parents app. This app is our preferred option and is a one-stop location to check on your account or pay invoices, as well as to report absences. It is quick and easy to use. If you require any assistance to set this up, please contact executive services.
2022 Yearbooks:
If you ordered and have not yet collected your 2022 yearbook, they are still available for collection at Executive Services.
Stop, Drop and Go Zones
We now have name tags for you to attach to your car sun visor which will allow our staff to see your child’s surname and have them ready for collection.
Kangaroo – families with students in prep to year 2 use the Kangaroo stop, drop and go zone at the front of the school.
Platypus – families with students in years 3 to 6 only may use the Platypus stop, drop and go zone at the rear of the school, on Anderson Drive.
These name tags are available to collect from the office.
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.
Sharks Volleyball Club News
Registrations for Sharks Camp 2023 - July are now officially open!!!
Sharks Camp is a four-day volleyball camp designed to cater for athletes of all skill levels. With elite development opportunities available and pathways into club and state level volleyball, this camp has something for everyone!
The Dates:
4th July | 5th July | 6th July | 7th July
We usually hit capacity pretty quickly, so if you're interested sign up today to secure your spot!!
Check out our website for more information!
Park Ridge State High School - Information Evening
Flagstone SCC - Days of Excellence
