Edition 30
Principal's Message
Welcome back to Term 4! As of today, we have 45 school days remaining of the school year. As Report Cards will be emailed out on Wednesday of the last week, this leaves approximately 40 days left for teaching and learning to occur. In order to maximise this time, students need to be at school all day every day where possible. While I understand that time away with family is important, this should occur during our dedicated school holiday period and on weekends. Across the school, there are 78 students who have had four (4) or more days absent for holidays during the school term. Of those 78 students, 16 students have had 10 more absences due to holidays across the year. A focus of our department’s Equity and Excellence strategic plan is about maximising learning days. As parents and carers, you can assist us in maximising your child’s learning days by making every school day count.
On Monday, 49 students along with Mr Alexandrou, Ms Suter, Mrs Davis, Mr Morley and I will be waking up extremely early to depart Brisbane Airport at 7.10 for our inaugural Sydney/Canberra trip. You can follow our journey on our Facebook page.
It has been brought to my attention that some parents/carers who use the Platypus pick up zone are parking across the exit of the staff carpark. Please ensure space is left for staff to exit at the end of the school day safely.
Our school sport shirts are now available for purchase from the Uniform Shop. As this shirt forms part of our school uniform, your child is not restricted to wearing their shirt for sports days only. The P&C will discuss what days students can wear their sports shirt and our Uniform Policy will be updated accordingly. At this stage, it is a preference that the sport shirt is not worn on Parade days.
Parent/Carer waiting areas prior to 2.30 pm
Parents/Carers are reminded to not wait outside of classrooms of an afternoon. The designated waiting area for all parents/carers is in the covered area near Administration and the Canteen. It is quite distracting to both staff and students when parents/carers are waiting outside of classroom, particularly when having conversations or taking phone calls. When the bell rings at 2.30 pm, you are more than welcome to meet your child outside of their classroom.
Deputy Principals' Message
Talk Like A Pirate Day
Everleigh State School students and the community participated in the annual Talk Like A Pirate Day fundraiser for Childhood Cancer Support and did a wonderful job. As a community, $1125 was raised which supports regional and rural families who unfortunately have a child affected by cancer and need to relocate in order to receive treatment. These families are so grateful for your support as they endure such difficult times. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend their official fundraising event on Tuesday September 19th on a City Cat dressed up as a pirate ship. The kids on the boat, many with their central lines still attached had a wonderful time pretending to be pirates and wouldn’t have the opportunity without the support of generous communities like Everleigh.
Our students also did an excellent job in their effort in their drawings, colouring and story writing for talk like a pirate day. Take a look at some of their artwork below.
Positive Behaviour for Learning
This term we have been focussing on using equipment as intended. This focus is important during play, during learning and as students are travelling to and from school. During class times, students use a range of learning tools including books, iPads, stationery, hands-on material and more. When these are used as directed for the intended purpose, they have a huge impact on learning. Likewise, where they are not used as directed, this impact can be negative. During play and whilst travelling to and from school, using equipment as intended impacts on safety. For these reasons, classrooms have been spending time focussing on using equipment as intended. This helps our students develop into lifelong learners.
School Camp
On Monday, students in years 5 and 6 are heading to Sydney and Canberra. This camp will provide wonderful opportunities for our students to visit the nations capital and immerse themselves in amazing experiences such as Questacon, Australian War Memorial and Australian Institute of Sport. This camp is big and would not have been possible without fundraising from our wonderful P&C and student council. Support from local businesses has also made this camp possible. Thank you to TJ’s Pizza, OzWhite Fences and Maclean Produce QLD.
Every Day Counts!
Attendance at school every day is critical for long-term success. Our school target for attendance is 95 per cent. With only 45 school days remaining this year, it is vital that students attend all day every day!
Cohort | % Year to date | Week 1 Term 4 |
Prep | 90.68 | 89.7 |
Year 1 | 90.28 | 89.3 |
Year 2 | 90.17 | 91.8 |
Year 3 | 86.64 | 80.3 |
Year 4 | 87.26 | 86.4 |
Year 5 | 88.19 | 90.2 |
Year 6 | 84.77 |
Congratulations to this edition’s Attendance Champions – Year 2.
2023 Christmas Card Competition
Calling all artists!
All students have an opportunity to submit entries for the 2023 Christmas Card Competition. If you know that your child has a keen interest in art and drawing, please encourage them to submit an entry. Parent consent is required for all entries and class teachers will offer the opportunity to their students and be in touch with you for approval before submitting. We will finalise all entries by Friday Week 3.
Messages From Executive Services
Student Absence Procedure
If your student will be absent, parents/carers have an 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
Spare change of clothes reminder
Please ensure you have a spare change of clothes in your child’s bag in case of accidents. Please include underwear, black shorts/skort and socks.
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 hats, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc. We really appreciate your assistance with this. Please see the attached photos of current treasures waiting for their owners to claim them.
Note: All unclaimed items will be donated or binned at the end of each term.
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.
STEAM News from Ms. Jenkins
We’ve kicked off the term with lots of fun. So far, our Year 1’s and 2’s have been designing a launcher to help thrust Superman into the air, since he’s been weakened by the kryptonite.
Our preps have been exploring some beach scenes and shells and our Year 3's and 4’s are looking forward to learning about our local wildlife.
Year 5 and 6 have kicked off with some challenging coding. Here’s Lilly’s Dino Dance Party.
TECH TIP: Discover “Energy hogs” on you iPad by going to Settings – Battery.
Canteen News
Our canteen provider, Thom and Ann’s is seeking your feedback. To assist them with improvements and providing the best possible service for our students, please take the time to complete the survey.