Dear Craigslea Community,

Term 1 is almost complete.  It feels like only yesterday that we started our year.  We have so much to celebrate in our first term of 2024.  On Thursday we came together as a whole school to celebrate Harmony Day.  Throughout my short time at Craigslea it is very clear our diversity is highly valued by our community and seen as a great strength of our school.  We celebrated Harmony Day with a whole school assembly followed by buddy class activities.  It was wonderful to see our students talking and laughing together as they worked collaboratively to complete Harmony Day activities.  I would like to acknowledge and thank Mr Kleidon for his leadership of this event.

Also, on Thursday we welcomed our families into our classrooms to share our learning during Term 1 for our first Show & Shine event.  It was great to see so many families join us. Our students were so excited to welcome visitors into their classrooms. Positive connections between home and school are critical for successful school engagement and learning.  We are planning for many opportunities to involve our families in learning in 2024.

Term 1 Learning Round Up
This term we have continued our journey to make the focus of learning more visible to our students through the use of Learning and Bump It Up Walls. As I have shared previously Learning Walls show students what they need to know and do to be successful in their learning. This term our teachers have been exploring ways to co-create learning walls with their students in English.  It has been exciting to see these walls evolve across the term. 

Our students are beginning to share how the learning wall helps them know the next steps in their learning.  Many students shared that the walls give them ideas of what they should include to create a quality piece of work.  Our teachers have found them an excellent resource to provide focussed feedback to students on how they are going.  

Our teachers have embraced this as a whole school practice this term and I would like to acknowledge their hard work, creativity and enthusiasm. 

Parent Teacher Interviews
We will be hosting our Term 1 Parent Teacher Interviews on Tuesday 26 March from 3:15pm in our school hall.  The partnership between home and school is critically important to student success.  Parent Teacher interviews provide an invaluable opportunity for parents and teachers to connect to discuss student learning progress, identify areas of strength and collaboratively set learning goals.  I am looking forward to seeing our families during the afternoon/evening.

Improving our School Environment
One of the focuses of my leadership this term has been to improve our school environment.  We have been working as a team to prioritise projects for 2024 and to seek funding to upgrade our facilities.

Prep Playground Project:  I am pleased to let the community know that we are ready to commence this project after a successful tender process was undertaken this term.  The start up meeting for the project will occur before the end of this term.  This project is able to go ahead as a result of the generous funding of our P&C.  We very much appreciate their support and I am certain our Prep students will be very excited to play in their new playground.

Thank you Jay: Our Schools Officer has been working to replace the timber seating around our classrooms.  This week he completed the seating around our Year 3 building.  

Additional Schools Officer:  An additional part time Schools Officer will commence early in Term 2 to support the maintenance of our school grounds and ensure we are providing environments for our students that are inviting and well maintained.

Administration Building Update: Our administration building refurbishment is getting close to completion. It has been exciting to see this project evolve over this term. The leadership team is hoping to be able to move into their offices during the Easter holidays.  Due to delays with some cabinetry in other parts of the building the full completion date is now set for Week 3 of Term 2.

Positive Partnerships with our P&C
Last week we held the P&C AGM for 2024.  I would like to acknowledge the work of our P&C in 2023 and welcome the 2024 team.  We look forward to working in partnership with these wonderful volunteers to benefit our students throughout this year.

Thank you
I would like to say a very big thank you to our community for their support throughout my first term at Craigslea.  It is always exciting to start in a new school however you have so much to learn and understand.  I am appreciative of the Craigslea team who have inducted me into the Craigslea way and I am in awe of our students who have a strong sense of pride and belonging to their school.  I have enjoyed getting to know them and being a part of their learning journey.

I hope everyone enjoys a lovely Easter break and I look forward to kicking off term 2 on Monday 15 April. 

“People working together in a strong community with a shared goal and a common purpose can make the impossible possible.” Tom Vilsack

Yours in learning

Melanie Rehm

Principal

Heading towards the end of term
As we approach the last week of Term 1, we are reflecting on the learning achieved over the last 9 weeks. Your child has made new friends, connected with new teachers, learned new ways of working and has been learning content from the Australian Curriculum in a range of subject areas. We are so proud of the achievements so far and are excited to see how we can build on this learning next term. We have just under a week to go and we are committed to finishing strong, maintaining our routines and learning.

One exciting variation to this will be the Easter Hat Parade on Thursday 28 March at 9:15am in the Hall. Everybody is welcome, and we look forward to seeing you there as we celebrate on the last day of Term together. 

NAPLAN – Years 3 and 5
Well done, to all our superstars who took part in NAPLAN for 2024. Across the last two weeks our students have demonstrated their understanding in literacy and numeracy tasks. I have been particularly impressed with the resilience and independence our students have shown.

NAPLAN is a point in time test which helps our school celebrate areas of success and helps schools identify areas of improvement. Thank you to all the families for helping students remain calm and relaxed during NAPLAN testing. Congratulations to all Year 3 and 5 students, you should be proud of your efforts. 

Parent Teacher Interviews
Term 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews will be held on the afternoon/evening of Tuesday 26 March, to provide parents the opportunity to speak with their child’s teacher about their progress so far this year.  Interviews will take place in the school hall and have been scheduled to run in 15min sessions from 3:15-8:00pm.  Details on how to book an interview have been previously emailed.   If you are not able to book a suitable timeslot on this afternoon or you require a longer interview time, you can email your child’s class teacher to organise an alternative time. To make a booking, click on the link: https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70103 .

Bookings close Monday 25 March at 9am.

Active School Travel

Walking Wheeling Wednesday’s

Wednesdays at Craigslea, are Walking Wheeling Wednesdays!

What amazing creations we saw this week when some of our students and families got involved in our Bling Your Ride event. Thank you to the P&C who donated some of the prizes on offer.

Next Wednesday is the last opportunity for your child’s class to take out the Golden Boot Award for March, which will be presented to the class with the highest % of bike riders.

When we return after the holidays, April’s Golden Boot will be awarded to the class with the highest percentage of scooter riders.

And mark in your calendars our upcoming events in Term 2:

How will you actively travel to school next Wednesday?

Have a fantastic last week of fun and learning and have an amazing holiday making memories with family and friends,

Natalie

The focus for the fortnight is:

Be safe in all Environments - I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing in the playground.

It is important for all children to be safe whilst at school, this also includes whilst they are playing in the playgrounds during our play breaks.

We have been revising where and when it is safe to play around our school.            

At Craigslea SS:

• We know what areas of the school are safe to play in and have fun.
• We play appropriate games, play fair and be good sports.
• We try to resolve our conflicts with the skills and strategies we have learnt.
• We get adult help if we need it.
• We follow adult instructions and move to the eating area when it is time.

SEL Focus: Over the last few weeks we have been learning about our emotions, what happens in our brains as big emotions take hold and the strategies we can use to help regulate our emotions. Attached is some infomation about the hand brain model we have been talking about in class.

When it comes to increasing attention and on-task behaviour in the classroom, studies have shown the use of fidget tools can have mixed results. Not all fidget tools are a useful addition to your child’s toolbox of strategies to support and maintain focus. As a parent, it can be difficult to know if the tool is having its intended outcome.

Fidgets that demand visual attention or those with a game component that require matching, unlocking, or solving something are poor choices. For the fidget to become a tool instead of a toy, it must work to increase student focus and attention on the task at hand.

When thinking of introducing a tool to support your child’s attention in the classroom, remember to consult with the teacher first. Movement breaks that are occurring in all classrooms also work to encourage positive classroom engagement.

In this edition… 

1. Easter Raffle – closes Wed 27^th March 1pm
2. Term 2 P&C Events – put these in your calendar (or subscribe to ours)!
3. AGM and March P&C Meeting Summary 

Also….

• Beware of parking inspectors, especially in Ballinger Street! Always follow the signs and road markings around the school and don’t get out of your car in the 2 Minute zone. Please remember these rules are in place to help protect our kids and the wider community.
• We are putting together a Tuckshop Volunteer chat where we’ll advertise the times we need volunteers and any jobs that need doing (prepping food, serving the kids etc). You can do as much or as little as you are able to! To join or find out more, email Deb via the tuckshop contacts (tuckshop@craigsleapandc.org.au)
• OSHC Vacation program has been sent out. Some of the activities they have planned include a trip to the movies, John Goss Reserve and doing some construction work with the Young Engineers. Get in touch with OSHC to find out more or book in via the Xplor app.
• Swim club: Congratulations to the winners of the President Trophy – Liliana and Eli. All of our swimmers did so well on Friday night. You should all be proud of your efforts!
• Sustainability Date Saver!! Sustainability group will be holding two sewing bees in term 2 – Sunday 21^st April from 9am and Monday 6^th May from 2pm. Everyone is welcome. They are currently looking for any old uniforms to use for these projects. Please leave any donations at the Uniform shop. More details to come.
• Can you help? Volunteering opportunities available
• P&C Contacts – Get in touch
• Fundraising Opportunities

1. Easter Raffle – closes Wed 27^th March 1pm.

• We have 3 amazing prizes in this year’s Easter Raffle. These include vouchers to the Planetarium, Bunnings, Uber eats, Stella Rossa, Tuckshop etc. There is truly something for everyone!!!
• In an effort to reduce paper waste this raffle is online. To purchase tickets click on this link https://tinyurl.com/cssraffle

Don’t forget to send it to out to family and friends and help us raise funds for our Cold Water Coolers.

• Thank you to all of our generous gift donors.

 

2. Term 2 P&C events

• May 10^th – Mother’s and Other’s Day Stall
• May 18^th – Rockaoke (Adult only event)
• June 21^st – Craigslea Cooler Charge!
• June 22^nd – Bunnings Sausage Sizzle (volunteer link – https://volunteersingup.org/BJLF8 )
• All of these events will require some assistance from our school community. If you haven’t yet volunteered this year why not consider helping out – please get in touch with the P&C for more information on each event. Be sure to also follow our facebook page for more information on all of these events.
• Don’t forget you can subscribe to our P&C Calendar of events with this link http://tinyurl.com/2xkuvtx9 (make sure to Google “How to subscribe to an iCal calendar on <iPhone/Android/Outlook/etc.>” and follow the instructions). This will ensure any changes to our calendar are reflected on your device. 

3. P&C AGM and March General Meeting Summary

• Congratulations to our returning P&C Executive – Joel Miller (President), Raechal Dare (Vice President), Sophie Ni (Treasurer) and Kate Tavendale (Secretary).
• A very big thank you to Charmaine Manewell, who has stepped down from the Vice President position this year. We are very appreciative for all of your hard work organising and volunteering at countless events for the school.
• Congratulations to Elizabeth Lynch for her promotion to P&C Life Membership. Liz has been actively involved with Craigslea State School since 2008 and a member of the P&C since 2010. She has volunteered her time willingly across a wide variety of school activities. As President she organised many events including our 50^th There are just too many things to name! Thank you Liz, you are a very deserving Life Member.
• At our AGM we also elected a Grants Officer!! Thank you Anthony Van Zwieten for nominating into this role. Grant funds have provided numerous additions to our school. We are so happy to have this role filled.
• Melanie Rehm presented an excellent Principal report which included an overview of the School Strategic Planning sessions. Thank you Mel and our amazing teachers – we appreciate all of the work you are doing. We would strongly encourage parents to consider attending future P&C meetings to learn what is going at Craigslea. Remember you don’t need to be a member to attend the meeting and you can join online! Our next meeting is on Monday 29^th

Can You Help?

Help to make Craigslea State Primary School a better place by volunteering for these activities:

1. Tuckshop – tuckshop are always after volunteers during the week. Even if you only have a short amount of free time please reach out and get in touch with Deb (see the P&C contacts below)
2. Mother’s and Other’s Day stall (Friday 10^th May) – If you like online shopping and would like to help find products for our upcoming Mother's and Other's fund raising stall please contact Emily at the uniform shop (see below for contact information).
3. Bunnings Sausage Sizzle – 22^nd June 2024 – click on this link if you can help out https://volunteersingup.org/BJLF8

P&C Contacts

P&C Executive (Joel, Raechal, Sophie, Kate)

enquiries@craigsleapandc.org.au

https://www.facebook.com/CSSPandC

http://tinyurl.com/2xkuvtx9 (link to download P&C 2024 Calendar)

Tuckshop (Deb, Jolei, and Emily)

3350 8744 or tuckshop@craigsleapandc.org.au

Bookshop and Uniform Shop (Emily)

3350 8741 or uniforms@craigsleapandc.org.au

Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) (Kylie)

3350 8724 / 3256 3688 or oshc@craigsleapandc.org.au

Sustainability Group (Jen)

sustainability@craigsleapandc.org.au

https://www.facebook.com/groups/223902536111469/

Swim Club (Andrew)

info@craigsleaswimming.com

Fundraising Opportunities

• Entertainment Books: Craigslea State School link - https://au.entdigital.net/orderbooks/225332?utm_campaign=2021-130521
• We currently have spaces available for advertising on our electronic school sign at the front of the school.  Should you be interested, please contact us via email enquiries@craigsleapandc.org.au