Everleigh State School eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Thank you for a smooth start for 2025. Last Thursday was ‘Day 8’. This is the day where the number of students effectively enrolled (enrolment can be counted as they have been at school or will attend school by a particular date) is submitted to Central Office to confirm our 2025 staffing allocation. Our 2025 ‘effective enrolment’ is 741 students! To think just four years ago, we have 200 students at the same time.

While we had a student count of 741 students last week, we continue to experience continual school growth. While classes have been structured in a such a manner to ensure we can maintain optimal class sizes – 25 students from Prep to Year 3; 28 students from Year 4 – Year 6 – I cannot guarantee all classes will remain within these limits. At present, all year levels across the school have a reasonable number of spaces to cater for our continued growth.

Staff and students have settled into the school year well. I am particularly impressed and proud of our Year 3 to Year 6 students who currently have a bit of walk from their eating area at B Block to their play areas. They are safe and respectful with their movements to and from these areas.

Uniforms

It is pleasing to see the majority of our students wearing the appropriate full school uniform, including school bag and hat, on a daily basis. I am aware of the delivery delays for certain shirt sizes. I believe these orders will be received very shortly.

Playgrounds

It is almost a daily occurrence of staff having to remind parents/carers that our playgrounds are OUT OF BOUNDS to all children and students (unless under the care and supervision of YMCA) before and after school. Again, please respect the directions from our staff.

Safe use of carparks and drop off/pick up zones

I continually receive complaints and photos of parents/carers who are parking and leaving their vehicles in the Kangaroo drop off/pick up zone. I understand the frustration of limited carparks; however, we all need to work together and abide by the rules. There is very clear 2-minute zone parking on the area deemed to be our drop off/pick up zone on the outskirts of the Kangaroo carpark.

I do not have the staff nor the time to spend every morning and afternoon directing parents/carers to park in the appropriate areas when information and maps have been shared with the community.

Please be respectful of those around you and follow the rules!

I can share that the Platypus Pedestrian access gate is operational. While some works continue, this pedestrian access point should remain open for pedestrians each morning and afternoons.

THERE IS TO BE NO PEDESTRIAN ACCESS THROUGH THE EXIT DRIVEWAY OF THE PLATYPUS DROP OFF/PICK UP ZONE!

Part of the works to make the Anderson Drive entry and exit points of our school safer was the addition of more yellow lines to the left of the Platypus drop off/pick up zone exit. Road rules in Queensland state ‘If the edge line is yellow, stopping and parking is prohibited where the line is marked.’

I encourage you to familiarise yourself with road rules and safe driving around schools.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety

Deputy Principals' Message

From the Deputy’s Desk….

Three weeks into our term and everyone has been super busy establishing learning and maintaining the high standards we expect in our Everleigh State School community. Intertwined with our teachers’ completing pre-assessments that guide our teaching, and building consistency of our daily habits, we are also setting up excursions that enhance our learning experiences, and ensuring our students support our routines of play and eat break times. The delayed finish date for our B-Block constructions have all been taken in our stride and our students are to be congratulated in their resilience and acceptance of a few ‘longer-walks” to get to PLAY and Canteen.

Student Leaders Badge Ceremony. We have experienced some issues with the AV system on our hall, and as such we have had to juggle our original date of this special event. Our 2025 Badge Ceremony will now be in Week 5, Tuesday 25 February, 9.00am-10.00am in the hall. At this special event we will present our Student Leaders, Student Council Class Reps and also Class Digital Leaders. Our students have been busy self-nominating for these positions of responsibility and our teachers have enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm and nervous excitement of our future leaders, present their pitch to their classes.

It takes a Village…. We wish to thank you, our parents and families for upholding and leading the conversations at home with your children, as to the importance of all the little things that make us great. It is as important to us that our students wear white socks that are able to be seen, and have name-labelled their hats, as it is that our students have “Brain Break” food for the morning session to keep their fuel up for learning. These little things have had a resounding effect on our Classroom and Break-Time behaviour decisions by our students.

Ovals and Play Breaks. Our Sports House Captains have been doing an amazing job setting up soccer goals on our Junior Oval (in front of Resource Centre) and our Year 1-2 students are revelling in the opportunity to play. Our Senior Oval has had lines marked: Touch Football, Soccer and AFL, to allow our students some structured areas to play their modified PLAY activities. Once completed, our Middle Oval (near B-Block) will also afford our students additional space to burn some energy and build valuable skills of interaction during PLAY times.

New staff and new students. Our new staff have settled into our team exceptionally well and we are blessed to have them. Our new students are also immersing well too, and having positive role models of our established students, help them become adjusted to our Everleigh way, is also much valued.

Mark Waugh (3-6 Deputy)

Message From The Executive Services

Important information regarding school attendance

Parent’s responsibilities – it is the parent or carer’s responsibility to ensure the following:

ensure their child arrives at school on time and attends their educational program every school day
provide their current contact details to the school to enable effective notification
contact the school either before or on the day of an absence, or as soon as practicable, in accordance with the school's communication processes and provide an explanation for each absence
notify the school if their child will be arriving late or leaving early
ensure their child follows the school’s processes and procedures for late arrival and early departure.

Late arrivals – it is expected that students arrive before class begins at 8:30am. Once the school gates are closed (approx. 8:45am) students arriving late should be escorted into school via the office by a parent or carer who must give a reason for the late arrival.

Where late arrivals are persistent and regular, principals should discuss the situation with the parent to determine if additional supports and/or strategies are required to strengthen engagement and improve attendance.

Early departures – it is expected that students remain at school for the length of the school day. Parents are encouraged to ensure their child misses as little school as possible.

Early departures should only be requested for reasons deemed reasonable. Routine appointments such as doctor or dentist should be made for outside school hours.

Early departures should be advised ahead of time, so as to ensure minimal interruption to class learning. (Please do not pre-advise an early departure via the QParents app as this causes a system glitch) Please phone the school office to request an early departure if necessary.

As classroom areas are out-of-bounds during lunch breaks, early departures during breaks that are not advised ahead of time will need to wait until the end of the break when students are permitted to access and collect their school bags.

Absences – school absenteeism and truancy can impact significantly on students' learning and wellbeing. Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.

Under the law, you must make sure your child attends school on all school days unless there is a reasonable excuse. Schools must monitor attendance of students and follow up with parents and caregivers any unexplained absences.

It is expected that the school is notified of a student absence before 9am on the day of the absence, where possible. Our preferred method is via the QParents app. Please contact the office if you require assistance to set up the QParents app. Alternatively, you may phone the Student Absence Line on (07) 2899 5160, where you may leave a message anytime of the day or night.

Absence for Family reasons – When the student is absent due to family circumstances beyond the influence of the student. Parents should be encouraged to ensure their child misses as little school as possible. Where these absences are persistent and regular, principals should discuss the situation with the parent and/or student to determine if additional supports and/or strategies are required to strengthen engagement and improve attendance.

Moving house
Transport issues
Family member is ill or in hospital

Absence for Holiday - Holidays during the school term are discouraged. If the absence is for more than 10 consecutive days, an application for exemption form should be completed.

Unauthorised absences – When an excuse given for a student absence is deemed as unreasonable by the principal it will be recorded as an unauthorized absence. This includes:

Leisure activities
Shopping
Visiting friends and relatives
Celebrating birthdays
Fishing
Truancy
Any other reason for absence that the principal does not consider to be reasonable

Where absences are persistent and regular, principals should discuss the situation with the parent to determine if additional supports and/or strategies are required to strengthen engagement and improve attendance.

Change of contact details:

Please advise Executive Services if any of your details have changed. For example:

Address
Best contact phone number
Work details
Emergency contacts other than parents/carers

Please pop into the office to complete a change of details form, or email admin@everleighss.eq.edu.au to update your details.

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 jackets, hats, lunch boxes, water bottles, etc. We really appreciate your assistance with this. Any item that is labelled gets returned directly to the classroom.

All previously unclaimed and unnamed school jackets have been given to our guidance officer to distribute to families in need. If you believe you have lost an unnamed jacket, please advise as soon as possible.

All unclaimed, unnamed items are disposed of or donated at the end of each term.

Please see attached photos of current lost property items.

Message From The Head of Department - Curriculum, Ms. Tanya Conway

Attention Year 3 & 5 Families

NAPLAN - National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy

On Friday, 31st January, information regarding NAPLAN testing was sent out to our Everleigh Families in Years 3 & 5. As a reminder, please see below.

NAPLAN testing will take place from Wednesday, 12 March, and Monday, 24 March, with our school’s specific dates to be confirmed. NAPLAN assesses your child’s literacy and numeracy skills, providing valuable insights into their learning progress. It is not a pass-or-fail test but a tool to support their development. Encouraging your child to do their best on the day is the best preparation, as excessive coaching is not necessary.

At Everleigh State School, Year 3 and 5 students will complete NAPLAN on iPads, making the process more interactive, familiar, and efficient. Digital assessments reflect modern learning and help build confidence with technology while providing meaningful feedback on student progress.

There are 4 test domains: writing, reading, conventions of language and numeracy. All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to sit the NAPLAN tests unless they are withdrawn by their parents/carers or exempt.

Withdrawals:

Should you wish to withdraw your child, please contact the school via email at NAPLAN@everleighss.eq.edu.au by Tuesday, 18th February to ensure the necessary documentation is completed.

Exemptions:

Students may be exempt from one or more of the tests if they meet one of the following criteria:

students with a significant intellectual disability and/or significant co-existing conditions that severely limit their capacity to participate in the test
students with a language background other than English, who arrived from overseas and have been attending school in Australia for less than a year.

Exemptions for students with physical and/or intellectual disabilities are determined through consultation between the principal, student, and parents/carers. If you have any questions regarding an exemption for your child, please contact the school via email at NAPLAN@everleighss.eq.edu.au by Tuesday, 18th February to ensure the necessary documentation is completed.

Adjustments for students with disability:

Information about available adjustments for students with disabilities can be found on the NAPLAN AARA page, however, please contact the school via email at NAPLAN@everleighss.eq.edu.au by Tuesday, 18th February should you have any further questions regarding your child.

Message From The Head Of Special Education Services, Mr Josh Newby

Dear Families,

Welcome back to Term 1 2025, we wish you all the best for the upcoming school year. Please find below information about some parent self-advocacy events which are coming up through the Department’s partnership with the Community Resource Unit (CRU).

Workshops

Families can apply to CRU for funding to assist with travel and accommodation where workshops are not being held close to home. Workshops are outlined on the attached flyers.

Other resources are also available on CRU’s website covering a range of topics. A resource recently published is the What is Inclusive Education for children with disability? – in Plain English fact sheet.

If you have any questions about these events, please feel free to contact the consultants at CRU directly, by phone on (07) 3844 2211 or by email at EducationProject@cru.org.au.

Message from The Guidance Officer - Mrs Mel Bashford

PBL Focus Weeks 4 & 5 - Encouragement - From The PBL Team

Q Parents - Registration Process

Q Parents

We remind 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 and view report cards. It is quick and easy to use. The app will follow your child to any state school all the way through, including to high school. If you require any assistance to set this up, please contact executive services.

Music Notes From Mrs Chivers

Message From Everleigh State School - P & C

2025 Annual General Meeting for Everleigh State School P&C will be held on Monday 3 March at 6.00 pm. Nominations are being sought for President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. If you would like more information on these roles, or the role of the P&C at Everleigh State School, please contact the P&C via email at everleighsspandc@gmail.com