This fortnight we have been talking with students about using the toilets safely and respectfully. We have discussed with students what goes in the toilets and what doesn’t, what we do when we go to the toilet and what we don’t, and we are now appealing to you to help us.

We are hoping you can remind your child about the following simple rules about using the toilets:

Be Safe - Use the toilets to do your business, and then leave. We have discussed that we go, flush, wash hands and leave. We do not play in the toilets, and we definitely do not eat in the toilets. We also wash our hands after, and when drying our hands we use one piece of paper towel and make sure it goes in the bin.

Be Respectful - We should always aim to leave the toilet cleaner than how we found it. Check the rim of the seat after you use it to make sure you haven’t left any surprises. We also flush! We do not put foreign objects down the toilet. It causes blockages and costs us extra money! We NEVER look over the stall to see what someone else is doing, we RESPECT each other’s privacy.

Sometimes we may have an accident. That’s okay, but you need to come and let us know. Great people to come and report accidents to are Courtney, Deb and Julie at the office.

While staff are handing out classroom points to encourage children to make strong decisions in the classroom, and gotchas for demonstrating strong independent behaviours in and around the toilets, conversations on the home front would take the support full circle. 

Be a Bridge Builder – The Importance of a calm mind and calm body

We all need to have a calm mind and calm body to be able to address conflict for a positive outcome. We teach this as part of being a Bridge Builder. Upset feelings are our body’s warning system that something is wrong. Not everybody feels the same about common situations. There is nothing wrong with having strong feelings. Our feelings are what make us unique. However, if we don’t learn to manage our feelings and think helpful, growth thoughts, then we can lose control of our choices and quickly find ourselves reacting to conflict or challenging situations in unhealthy ways that may hurt others or ourselves in the long term. Being able to calm our body and mind down is a sign of maturity and strength.



Tips to teach this skill at home:

1. Help children to recognise what changes happen in their body when they get upset. These are a reminder of the need to start to use a calming down plan.
2. After your child has been upset, discuss what they might have been thinking. Help them to reframe unhelpful thoughts into helpful thoughts, such as:

• “I’m not going to lose my cool over this.”
• “Is there another side to this problem?”
• “I am ok.” etc.

3. Practise calming down skills such as slow breathing, muscle relaxation and counting to distract their mind.
4. Talk to your child about times you have to use these skills. Their greatest lessons are learnt not by what you say but what you do, so provide opportunities to see you calming down.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year in August, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.dese.gov.au/about-us/resources/department-education-skills-and-employment-complete-privacy-policy-0).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact Natalie Marhinin, Deputy Principal – Student Services (nmarh1@eq.edu.au) or call the school.

Religious Instruction

Religious Instruction for the Christian faith has recently started for identified children in Years 1-3. Parents have provided consent for their child to be involved in these lessons.

The school has been approached about the possibility of providing instruction in the Islamic faith. Lessons are 30mins long and would be held 5 times/term on a Thursday afternoon at the same time as the Christian Faith group. Qualified instructors would deliver the lessons from the authorised program Islam RI (https://multifaithsri.org.au/faith-traditions/islamic-ri/). Lessons are for children in Years 4-6. Any parent who would like their child to participate in Islamic Faith lessons are asked to complete an expression of interest/ consent form by Friday 17 June 2022 by clicking HERE.

Parents of students participating in the Islamic Faith program will be advised if the faith group requires funds to cover the expense of materials used in Religious Instruction.

Have a great week!

Sarah Abdy and Natalie Marhinin.