Dear Parents/Carers,

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY CRAIGSLEA!  

I write this on the day of the official opening of Craigslea State School. This afternoon we mark this day with a whole school assembly with some invited guests. A much larger event will take place on September 10. It is a privilege to be part of this fine school's history. Students will bring home a commemorative sticker of the 50th Anniversary this afternoon. I look forward to following some cars around the neighbourhood displaying the sticker and their pride in our school. 

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

We look forward to the start of Term 2 and hope for fewer interruptions than the start of the year. Staffing and student absence was high and it was extremely difficult to compress 10 weeks planning into seven weeks. Indeed with all the absences, it was a lot less than 7 weeks for some staff and students. Of course, this term staff and students should not come to school if they are COVID symptomatic. The school is in a position where if children are displaying symptoms once at school, we do need to call parents/carers to collect them as this is a Health Department Directive. In saying that, however, it is important that parents and carers are careful not to allow absences from school without good reason, as the lack of continuity can impact student achievement significantly. There are a small number of students who had prolific absences before COVID and we will continue to support those families to ensure they can have their child return to school with the least interruption possible. If your child is consistently (pre and post COVID) having 5 days or more a term off school, then we start to be concerned about the continuity of a child's education.

It is law for the school to explore with families how to resolve ongoing medical and emotional issues impacting on school attendance.  Enforcement of school attendance occurs only if it is not clear to the school that non-attendance is being addressed by the parents/carers through evidence of medical professional support. Reluctantly, the school then needs to follow the procedures outlined in the Education Act. 

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Before the end of the term, the community voted for nominees on our School Council. Charmaine Manewell, Liz Ryan and Kyron Williams received the most community votes to obtain these three seats. I would like to sincerely thank all the parents who nominated. The number of nominees was amazing and a great indicator of the depth of engagement of parents/carers in our school. We encourage parents/carers regardless of their attendance at P and C and School Council meetings, to engage in surveys, events or in other ways, contribute to ideas on how to improve our school. 

Speaking of engagement, our last parent/carer survey said this: 

I would like to congratulate the staff on their efforts to provide the best education possible to their students. As you can see from our targets for this year, we are not resting on our laurels. Therefore, we always need parent/carer feedback to continually improve. 

BOOK WEEK

Please note there will be a change of date to be advised for Book Week. Please note this on your school calendar. We will hold our Book Week aligned with our Book Fair later in the year. 

Have a good week and happy 50th Craigslea,

Kathy