Dear Parents/Carers,

We are headed to the “pointy end” of the year where there is much to be done to wind down the year and to project into 2021.

It has been a tough year for many of you who have experienced changes in your work circumstances and possibly feeling some disconnect due to not being able to walk in and drop off or pick up your child from school grounds. Staff certainly struggled with the workload of providing paper and electronic options during COVID and we all miss the energy that parents on our school-grounds bring. We are running three graduation nights instead of one this year to ensure students can have three guests and Mrs Stockill is certainly feeling the difference between filming a Christmas Concert over many days in comparison to holding one live concert. It has been lovely to see parents back helping in the swimming pool and Mr Heidrich tells me the level of volunteer support in the pool has been the best ever!

Although events overnight in South Australia show us all how quickly some things can change and how cautious we still need to be, there are some things that we hope that will look brighter in 2021. We are looking at options to stagger parent presence on school grounds and in classrooms.

We need to:

• Adhere to QR code checking in;
• Ensure 1.5m between adults;
• Avoiding congregation between adults (other than staff) on school grounds;
• Allow 2 square metres per person indoors (this has just changed from 4 square metres which is good news)

We are considering the following ideas to manage parents/carers onsite to start 2021:

• Allow certain surnames organised by alphabet on certain days e.g: Mon: Families with A to E Surnames; Tues: Families with F to J surnames etc. We would do this on a rotating basis so if you had an A surname and worked on a Monday, A to E would be Tuesday the following week etc. We would use QR code check-ins.
• Return of Volunteers to classrooms using QR code check ins and we could manage it according to the 2 square metre rule without the congregation of non-staff adults.
• Stagger the start for  new Prep students in their initial weeks at school so their families can walk them in and pick them up in the afternoon, now that some restrictions have eased.
• Continue the pick-up and drop off areas for the time being. We have been visited by council who understand the challenges particularly on Hamilton Road but believe the school community is using and operating these zones very effectively. They are providing us with some ideas for small adjustments which may assist us further.

Our enrolment numbers are burgeoning for next year and we expect a significantly increased school population with a number of enrolment applications sitting on our waiting list, so we are looking forward to 2021 and the changes these increased numbers will bring.

By the time we touch base again, it will be the end of Week 9. By that stage, our School Leaders will be announced, our Prep Orientation, Graduation Evenings and Swimming Carnivals will have occurred.

Please note: Your child’s report card and class allocation for 2021 will be emailed directly to you at the end of Week 9, which is a change from the paper version that has occurred previously.

Exciting times!

PARENT CLASS REPRESENTATIVES

This year we have had parent representatives send a fortnightly newsletter to the parents in their year level keeping them informed about school and class happenings in consultation with the teachers on the year level. Not all year levels had a representative this year but we are very grateful to those that put their hand up for this task.

The Parent Class Reps for 2020 were: 

Prep: Wendy Monaghan and Allyce Pilz-Kluver

Year 1: Charmaine Manewell

Year 2: Megan Armstrong

Year 4:  Natasha Powell

Year 6: Michelle Ballinger

We would hope that we had a Parent Class Representative for each year level next year. Please contact Tess Bryce on tknig93@eq.edu.au if you are interested in helping keep your year level informed each fortnight.

We would love to hear your feedback regarding the Year 1 Playground and Craigslea State School Sustainability.  To have your say, please complete below by clicking the links.

Year 1 Playground Survey

https://craigsleass.schoolzineplus.com/survey/59 

Craigslea State School Sustainability Survey

https://craigsleass.schoolzineplus.com/survey/60 

Have a good week,

Kathy

Conversations with your child that go beyond...

"How was your day?" 

The trick is to ask about things that are specfic but still open-ended. Move beyond "fine" and "nothing" by asking your child to describe their world.  It's also great to start the conversation with an anecdote from your own day.

Sometimes, it just takes a little bit of prompting and creating a relaxed and welcoming environment to get the conversation going. Talking about school daily is a great opportunity for your child to know that you care about them.  It also gives you important insights into any problems like conflict or bullying, school anxiety, friendship challenges and more. 

Try one or more of these 10 questions tomorrow and see how your child reacts:

1. What was your favourite part about school today?

2. What activity did you like the most today?

3. What was the funniest thing that happened in your class today?

4. What made you laugh/worry/smile in school today?

5. What parts of school today went by the fastest? Slowest?

6. What are you looking forward to learning in school tomorrow/this month/year?

7. What's something your teacher said to you today that made you think?

8. What was something different that happened today?

9. What was the hardest thing you had to do today?

10. Can you show me something you learned or did today? 

Of course, if your child doesn't want to talk about school, you should respect that too.  Some children need a little space and time to relax after school before they are ready to talk.  By asking meaningful questions and really listening to the answers, you can get to know a lot about your child and how they are doing at school.  

Building Friendships 

Year One have been doing some great work around learning how to build and maintain friendships. Mrs Erica Wilson has been taking small groups and reading a beautiful book by P.K Hallinan called Heartprints, which presents the idea of deliberate acts of kindness.  

This book is being used to connect the language of friendship used here at Craigslea State School. The F in LIFE rules teaches us what friendship is, about listening to others, treating others the way you want to be treated, using polite language, respecting yours and others' property and being kind and honest. 

The book Heartprints poses a key question 

 “How many heart prints did you give today?”  

It connects students to a core principal of friendship and that is, placing others before ourselves. The simple language of the book allows the children to learn real life examples of how to be a good friend.  

As we do these things we place others first and in return they place us first and our friendships grow. As we see these qualities in students we ask them to colour in a heart print. When asked how they feel about themselves when giving away a heartprint, the children state it makes me ‘happy and proud’.  

At Craigslea we are proud of the friendships our children are developing and celebrate all students who use polite language, and are being kind and honest. 

Well done Year 1. 

Have a great week, 

Ms Dee Giudice - Head of Inclusion 

End Of Year 
As we head towards the final weeks of the year, please ensure that your child returns any outstanding Library books. Overdue notices will be sent home this week. Please help your child to find their overdue books or contact our school office to settle overdue fees so that I can replace books that have been lost. 

What's On The Shelf?
Students were excited to read some traditional tales that were showcased in the Library  last week in recognition of NAIDOC Week. I have updated some of our book series: Fans of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" will be excited to read the new spin off series "Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure", Anh Do has released "WeirdDo #15: Planet Weird" and Pig the Pug is up to his old tricks in "Pig the Blob".

Xmas Concert
Thank you to all of the wonderful students who came along dressed in the Xmas spirit for the filming of the Xmas concert. Students will all watch the concert on the 27^th of November at 9:30 in their classrooms. They are welcome to wear Xmas clothes on the day.

Instrumental Paperwork for 2021
Beginning students or continuing students in the instrumental music program, please return paperwork as soon as possible.

Junior Strings First Performance 
Craigslea Junior Strings started learning Cello, Violin, Viola at the beginning of this year. We are very proud of their first performance, I'm sure you will be delighted to hear it too!