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Dear Parents/Carers,
Review of Communication
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we are in the process of reviewing the various modes of school communication. Please review the Communication Methods Table and complete the associated survey link - please click here by Friday August 5 as we currently have a low response rate.
Nut Allergies
Education Queensland schools are "nut aware" as thousands of children in our system have nut allergies. Each student has a medical plan and depending on the severity of their allergy, an anaphylactic attack can be brought on by something as simple as the inhalation of nut products for some students. These days, it is impossible for schools to declare themselves "nut-free zones," as there are so many food products that contain traces of nuts. However, in almost every year level in the school there is a student who suffers from a nut allergy. I'd ask parents/carers to carefully consider if lunch foods containing nuts can be avoided in school lunch boxes and eaten at home, as this allows our school environment to become more predictable for our students with a nut allergy. I'm sure our parents/carers of students with allergies would be most grateful.
Active and School Travel
Our school has recently submitted to be part of the Active School Travel Program. This program supports schools and parents/carers to encourage safe and active ways to travel to school. We have had some parents and community members kindly offer to be part of the committee for this program, if our submission to Brisbane City Council is successful. Our goal is to reduce the amount of school traffic around our neighbourhood roads; increase safe and active ways to travel to school and ensure our pick-up and drop off zones operate as safely as possible. On this note, I would ask parents/carers not to park in Ballinger Street as it is difficult to operate the zone there safely. If other relatives or friends collect your child/children, I'd ask you to let them know that parking in Ballinger Street impacts the safety of the students walking home from there, those that are being loaded into vehicles, increases the likelihood of car accidents and makes our neighbours upset because cars are parked in front of their driveways or on their grass. It is a short walk if the cars are parked in adjacent streets.
Have a good week,
Kathy
Cybersafety
These links provide important reading as a way of maximising your child’s safety online.
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/online-pornography
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/hard-to-have-conversations
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/taming-technology
Social-Emotional Learning
Seek a fair go for all; Strive for peace
In conversation with students, we talk about Safe Friends, Good Friends and Potential Friends. So what’s the difference?
It is important first to start with the fact that children are learning to work with all personality types. It’s difficult enough for adults to ensure a fair go for all and striving for peace when one disagrees with another on a moral or ethical basis. So children need many opportunities for discussion as they learn to implement the conflict resolution skills.
After resolving an issue, we need to help children to identify who are their:
Safe friends -those they can trust; who care about their friend as much as themselves.
Good friends - those that need boundaries. Often these friends are fun to be around but together, silliness and poor decision making can be had.
Potential friends – those friends who can be introverted or extroverted but tend to push the boundaries; take advantage of when the supervision has moved on or isn’t around. Where children make a deliberate choice to be sneaky.
Whilst implementing the strategy of Be Kind is so simple when children are with their safe friends, it’s not so easy with good friends and potential friends. But if children can learn to do this, their influence on those friends could be significant.
A scenario: A child decides to demoralise another child through put-downs. Your child as a bystander knows there is no reason for this and chooses to say to their friend, ‘Sam/Alice, you’re a great chess player but I think I can beat you today. Let’s go to the library and have a game.’
Whilst the target has been on the receiving end of something not nice or necessary, he/she can see that there is someone looking out for them by intervening in a strategic way. This builds resilience but also nips the problem in the bud – at least for now. We just need to be encouraging our children to use kindness (and distraction) to change the mood.
Children feel powerful when they can use strategies that work. We just need to set them up with the skills.
Investigations in Prep and Year 1
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning all Prep and Year 1 students participate in Investigations. This pedagogy is based on 'The Walker Learning Approach', an effective and age appropriate pedagogy for early years students. Investigations allow students to become the active participant in their learning.
Our teachers strategically set up creative open-ended experiences that allow students to investigate, explore, manipulate, create and interact along with instruction in skills and knowledge in literacy, numeracy and other curriculum areas. Each experience has a 'provocation' that invites students to engage in the learning experience. Investigations ensures authentic, personalised learning for each student.
Each day, our teachers scaffold the learning of the students through a 'tuning in' process. During this process, the focus child, reporter and photographer are selected for this session. This is followed by 'investigations' in which students work in the learning environment that has been intentionally set up to meet the learning needs and interest of the students. Following, Investigations our students spend time reflecting on their learning and making links to the explicit teaching that will occur later in the day or week.
When Investigations are occuring in the classroom, all students are highly engaged in meaningful learning.
Upcoming Events Term 3, Week 4
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Upcoming Events Term 3, Week 7
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View All Events On Our School Calendar https://craigsleass.schoolzineplus.com/calendar/1
Testing for 2022 Instrumental Music Program
This term students in Year 2 and 3 will be participating in placement tests for the 2022 Instrumental Music Program. Testing will be done in class time. After testing, invitations will be handed out to selected students to attend an information night about the program and what it involves. Queensland schools are allocated instrumental music teachers based on 20% of their Year 3 to 6 enrolment numbers. Therefore, it is an extension program requiring the selection of students based on their musical aptitude and based on the effort and time they put into the other learning areas and their homework.
Cross Country/Colour Run
The weather gods finally smiled on us and we managed to eventually hold this fantastic sporting event raising $8475.78 for our school. Special thanks to the P and C ,OSHC staff, Mr H and Jay who organised this wonderful event. Students received ribbons at the end of their cross country run and then did an additional lap where they were covered in colour.
Early Learning Network
Local schools and early childhood centres have formed a network to regularly meet with the goal of working together to ensure improved transitions for Prep students to our schools. On July 14, the network met in our school library and listened to a presentation given by our school's Speech Language Pathologist Beth Campbell on Oral Language Development.
Investigations and Inclusion Visits
Our school uses research to inform our practice. Recently, school leaders and teachers from Park Ridge and Fig Tree Pocket State School visited our school to learn about our Prep/1 Investigations and Inclusion Models. The teachers visited our classrooms and spoke with students about their learning. Some of the feedback from the teachers were "The students were able to talk in detail about their learning" " We couldn't believe how engaged students were as they were happy to answer our questions but could barely look up as they were so involved in what they were doing"
Our Inclusion Model is best practice in terms of the level of support available to all students in a year level. Through the employment of an additional 0.8 Targetted Learning Teacher and doubling the teacher-aide allocation for each year level, it allows us the opportunity to differentiate the teaching and learning for individuals and groups of students. We have had much interest around the state in learning more about how we financially resource this model and how we use the concept of inclusion to improve teaching and learning in our school for all. We are working all the time to improve the effectiveness of the Targetted Learning Teams so it is great to have other schools visit to contribute their ideas on our next steps.
The work of our staff has recently been acknowledged by a shout-out from the Department of Education.
Snuggle Day
Snuggle Day is organised by the Student Council to raise funds for the P&C - $1310.59 was raised. It is a day where staff and students can wear their pyjamas to school and enjoy a special tuckshop treat where 366 Hot Chocolates, 255 Ginger Bread Men and 479 Chocolate Wafers were sold. Days like this are loved by the whole school because there is nothing better than hanging out in your pyjamas all day!
Student Councillors
Thanks to our semester 1 Student Councillors who have been a fabulous group of class representatives eager to bring the student body together in learning and in fun.
Semester 2 Student Councillors were finalised by class vote this week. These students will take on the role in week 6. This delay is due to the fact that we were unable to get started with the Student Council until start of Term 2. Semester 1 Student Councillors are still encouraged to wear their badge to school given their late arrival.
Congratulations to the following students for being prepared to take on the responsibility as voted in by their classmates.
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Roll Class |
Semester 2 |
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3C |
Grace |
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3D |
Jack |
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3H |
Kester |
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3HB |
Niklas |
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4HN |
Ben |
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4M |
Jairus |
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4Y |
Peter |
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5D |
Trisha |
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5M |
Kerubo |
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5W |
Tiarni |
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5/6J |
Lincoln |
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5/6W |
Maddelyn |
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6F |
Evelio |
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6K |
Ehblu |
Cross Country winning House
Congratulations to Webster House for the most points accrued for Cross Country participation.
I was buoyed by the effort of the children in all races. Like no other year, I think the participants’ attempts to run all the way was outstanding. So much courage. Congratulations to every child who entered a race.
Beaming House Captains Cooper and Taylah accepting the shield from Mr Heidrich
Kubbi Play
Playtime in the Kubbi has been very productive for these year 2 students. Olivia and Sofia have been busy constructing their robot, Violet. She apparently has a house and a baby coming very soon. She’ll certainly be a busy robot!
