9 March 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s News

Hi ELSS families and community,

We are off to a flying start in 2020! Students engaged in their learning, inspired to make the school BETTER and empowered to achieve. As we are partners in learning, lets continue to support each student grow and develop into their own unique character. After six weeks we have set the foundations of positive relationships and high expectations. Let’s work together to stay the course.

There are lots of photos I could use to demonstrate our commitment to literacy across all subjects, the below is just a few of them.

It has been wonderful to see families at many different events such as -Meet the teachers and Cross Country. Please continue to talk to me about the schools culture and your child’s learning. Further, I encourage you to share the great work of ELSS with each other and the community.

A huge shout out to the amazing commitment of the staff at ELSS. I have seen them at professional development on weekends, staying for twilight workshops and planning. Your children are in great hands and I am proud of the dedication I see.

Reminder-

Our school supervision starts at 8.30am, please do not drop students at school early, we cannot ensure safety. To support this we have a wonderful before and after school care provider onsite YMCA.

Stop and Go area at the start of each year in EVERY school requires patience and understanding. New families learning the system, students learning our processes and lots of traffic. Outside the school gates is council land supported by Queensland Police.

School uniform: it’s great to see students in full school uniform. Don’t forget to support this with your next purchase of NAVY BLUE shorts, WHITE socks and BLACK shoes to align with the school uniform policy. Student uniform supports- Safety, cost, confidence, school spirit, saves time, reduce distraction, encourages discipline and high school ready.

We are committed to creating a school for your children/our students to thrive. Thanks for support.

The schools 2020 Focus is- An aligned culture of professional learning for EVERY student to succeed at ELSS. Our strategies include: 1. Mindset of BETTER. 2- Whole school Positive Behaviour for Learning. 3- Professional Learning Teams. 4- Culture Foundations: Positive Relationships & High Expectations. 5- Literacy P-2 foundations. The goal is unleashing literacy for every student for a life of choice not chance. Literacy opens doors, provides opportunities and sets up success.

Mr Curran
Principal

Deputy Principal’s News

Student Council Fundraiser

Please help! The first Student Council fundraiser for the year is an Easter Raffle. Staff members have very generously donated chocolates and Easter Eggs to kick start the prizes. If you would like to donate Easter items towards this fundraising, please drop your chocolates at the office. The more donations we get the more prizes we can offer. Last year we ended up with almost 30 prizes. It would be great to be able to offer the same again this year.

A note will go home in the next few weeks outlining how tickets can be purchased. The raffle will be drawn on the afternoon of Wednesday 1st April. Winners will be notified and prizes will be ready for collection on the last 2 days of term.

Harmony Week and “Say No to Bullying Day”

This year Edens Landing State School will be celebrating Harmony Week from 16-20 March. We celebrate Harmony Day to promote diversity and acceptance of other cultures. The idea ‘Everyone Belongs’ is the very essence of Harmony Day. But it’s not just a time to celebrate and reflect. Harmony Day aims to start a conversation about heritage, culture and community.

Our staff and students will be engaging in an assortment of activities over the course of the week to help promote these positive conversations. We are inviting all families to participate in two whole school activities.

1. Family Portrait Gallery in our foyer. The message is “We are all the same because we are all different.” We are asking families to send in a family photo. It can be a photo showing any aspect of your family life with a little caption about your family. You can start dropping your photos to the office this week. They will be returned to you at the end of term as we would like to keep the display in the foyer for the rest of this term.
2. On Thursday 19 March, students are invited to come dressed in culturally significant items. This can be full national costume or something as small as a jade necklace or All Black’s Jersey. Anything which signifies your heritage, culture or community.

Harmony week also coincides with our “Say No to Bullying Day” which will be held on Friday 20 March.

Students are encouraged to wear an item of orange coloured clothing to show their support for this important message. As always, parents are also invited to wear orange. This year our school has committed to every student creating a poster to celebrate our differences and create a more colourful world. The posters will be sent to a National Competition which endeavours to raise the profile of the Say No to Bullying Message.

We look forward to our community coming together to support these worthwhile causes.

Semester 1 Parent/Teacher Interviews

Semester 1 2020 parent/teacher interviews for years Prep- Year 5 will take place on Wednesday 1 April 2020, from 3:00pm-6:30pm. The 10 minute interviews will run in the same format as last year, with all teachers being positioned in the multipurpose hall for ease of access by parents. It is important that your child attends with you as they will lead the discussion about their learning.

Bookings for interviews are open and close on Tuesday 31 March.

TO BOOK INTERVIEWS:

(Link is available school’s web page)

Enter the following code to access bookings and press go:

m5r87

Celebrating Mathletics

Children who are part of the SRS have been given a logon and password for Mathletics. Mathletics is a targeted, rewarding and captivating online resource, which is aligned to curriculum standards. Your child can access Mathletics at home using any compatible computer or tablet device.

There is a weekly target of 1,000 points-a certificate is earned, building through bronze, silver and gold. Go for Gold!

Our first silver certificates this year go to Jack 4H and Arten 4V.

Congratulations Jack and Arten!

Year 3 Cohort

Year three students are busy learning how to write narratives. This week they have been working on interesting orientations for their stories.

Nicole

It was a gloomy, stormy afternoon when a rich cool boy wandered into an old haunted house. Suddenly, the door locked and shut. He screamed for help, a man came and looked up at the old haunted house. He shivered and charged away. The boy cried and cried for somebody to save him. He was so hopeless to get back home alive...

Jordan

It was a foggy night when family came to the creepy, creaky house. A ghost grabbed the mum, dad and sister. The son was all alone, so he tried to dodge the white creepy attacks, but that wouldn't work. He tried to hit the ghost but his fist just went straight through. Suddenly he had an idea...

Year 5 Cohort.

Safety First – Another group of Year 5 students practising safe knife handling skills and appropriate hygiene practices in readiness to create some delicious and healthy dishes in the weeks ahead. This week it was 5K’s turn.

Year 6 Cohort

Due to Year 6 Camp, the Year 6 Teachers will not be able to attend parent/teacher interviews on Wednesday 1 April.

Alternate times are being offered before camp to ensure you are able to meet with your child’s teacher. A letter has gone home outlining the alternate times for Year 6 meetings, please return this as soon as possible. If these times do not suit, please contact your child’s teacher to make mutually convenient alternate arrangements.

If you have not yet returned your child’s paperwork and payment for Camp, please return asap so final arrangements can be made.

Positive Behaviour for learning (PBL)

The focus for Week six continues from week five with “I am safe when I listen to and follow directions.”

Week seven and eight will see teachers explicitly teaching students “I am safe when I keep my hands and feet to myself.”

Yours in Education
Cheryl Gibson
cgibs2@eq.edu.au

Deputy Principal’s News

The children are really getting into the swing of learning, the Preps have been acting out stories, the year ones have been writing recounts, and the year twos have writing narratives. Parents should be very proud of the progress their children have made.

All the students in Prep to year 2 have also been doing daily practice of letters and sounds through a phonemic awareness program called “Heggertys”. Each day the children learn to manipulate the sounds in words, blending and chopping. This will help them in both reading, writing and spelling.

Children’s behaviour in the Early Years

At this stage, children are developing and practising skills and abilities that help them meet new people and make friends. This includes self-regulation and the ability to see other people’s points of view. These skills are great for getting along with others at school.

It is normal for children to be involved in conflicts, as they are learning to be social as much as they are learning to read and write.

Self Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behaviour and your reactions to feelings and things happening around you.

It includes being able to:

• regulate reactions to emotions like frustration or excitement
• calm down after something exciting or upsetting
• focus on a task
• refocus attention on a new task
• control impulses
• learn behaviour that helps you get along with other people.

In Health and PE the children have been learning about the ‘Zones of Regulation’ to help them learn about their emotions and how to self-calm.

For more information of Self-regulation follow the link

Playgroup

Come along and join in the Playgroup fun each Tuesday morning from 9- 10 am. Sign in at the office.

Office News

2020 Student Resource Scheme

Thank you to those families who have returned their Participation Agreement forms and made payments.

For families who have elected to pay using the instalment option, please note that the due date for the first payment was Friday, 7 February. The second payment is due by Friday, 1 May and the final instalment is due by Friday, 24 July.

Education Queensland policy states that account statements are distributed at the end of every month. If you are making regular SRS payments, including by Centrepay or instalments, and there is an invoiced amount unpaid at the end of any month please be aware that you will receive statements as a courtesy notification of the amount owing.

2020 SRS Participation Agreement Form

If your child has not returned their SRS Participation Agreement form, I request that you please do so urgently. The Department of Education changed the form for 2020 so that now one form is on file for the whole of the student’s enrolment at this school. A form for each student must be retained by the school. If a parent wishes to change their participation option for the following school year this can be done by submitting a new form by the end of Term 3 each year.

Unpaid 2019 SRS fees

Please be aware that where a student has unpaid 2019 SRS fees, has not returned a SRS Participation Agreement Form or has invoice amounts owing from previous years, these must be paid in full and forms returned to the office to be eligible to attend Interschool Sport, incursions, excursions and camps.

Working With Children Blue Card

Mandatory Training for visitors and volunteers: Completion of the Mandatory training program is required for all visitors and volunteers in Ed Qld schools, this training is valid for 12 month period and must be renewed upon expiry.

Blue Cards: All visitors and volunteers assisting in classrooms or school programs except for custodial parents must hold a current Qld Working With Children Blue Card, forms are available from the office. Blue card must be carried at all times while on school grounds, please bring your card to the office to be photocopied.

ATTENTION TO ALL CONTRACTORS, VISITORS and VOLUNTEERS INFORMATION and REQUIREMENTS

It is a Department of Education requirement that all contractors, visitors and volunteers working in any school must complete the annual Mandatory Training program. ALL contractors, visitors and volunteers entering the school must complete the Mandatory Training program.

Payment Window.

You can pay for your student's activities or excursions via cash or EFT at Window 1 at the office between 8.15 and 10.30am WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY mornings. Cash WILL NOT be accepted outside of these hours.

Bpoint payments and bank transfers close 3 days before the cash due date listed on the activity information.

PLEASE NOTE that NO PAYMENTS made after 10.30am on the last payment date will... be accepted.

The Department of Education’s preferred method of payment to schools is Bpoint.

Upon the return of a completed Student Resource Scheme Participation Agreement and invoice will be provided for BPoint payment to be made.

Centre pay : Deduction application can be completed via MyGov website. Please ensure the target amount is the full balance amount.

Centerpay Service Provider Number

555-092-104-B

Report Student Absences

Text message your childs absence to 0429 904 926

Text first and last name of your child, date, duration and reason of absence.

to leave a message. Alternatively you may also use the absence email - absences@edenslandingss.eq.edu.au or Text to 0429 904 926. Please record your child's name, class, date of absence/s and reason for absence.

Late Arrivals

Students who arrive to school after 8.50am must report to the office windows for a late slip prior to going to class.

Excursions

When your student is involved in an excursion or activity at school which requires payment an invoice is issued by our system. Some families currently receive their invoices via email which not only helps to alleviate the amount of paper used but also provides all the required information for our preferred payment method BPoint.

The invoices will be sent directly to parents’ emails, we are asking that you ensure your details are current and that you have active email addresses listed at school on your child’s file. Payment of these invoices is only required if you wish for your child to attend the excursion/activity.

*Please note: Due to changes in departmental handling of credit card payments we are no longer able to take credit card payments over the phone at school*

Change of Details

Please email the school on office@edenslandingss.eq.edu.au stating your child’s name and class to confirm your email address and if applicable advise of any contact details that may have changed, to ensure we are able to contact you in an emergency.

Thank you for your continued support

Charmaine Johnson
Business Manager

PE News

Representative News

Congratulations to Isaac who was recently selected in the Beenleigh Zone Rugby League Team. He will now compete at the Pacific Rim Rugby League Trial in the coming weeks. Good luck Isaac!

Congratulations to Matthew who was selected in the Pacific Rim AFL Team. He will now compete at the Regional Trial on Tuesday 17 March and hope to gain selection in the South Coast Team. Best of luck Matthew!

Interschool Sport

As our students prepare for Interschool Sport, training sessions have been scheduled for those involved.

Training sessions will commence from week 5-24 February

Netball- Monday and Tuesday mornings 8:00-8:45 (Miss Linsdell, Miss Mitchell, Miss Trudinger)

Rugby League- Thursday and Friday mornings 8:00-8:30 (Mr O’Donnell)

Soccer- Monday and Wednesday mornings 8:00-8:30 (Mrs Hropic)

Payment and medical form is due Wednesday 11 March.

Hats

Over the course of the year, lessons will be held on the oval. It is essential that your child/ren has a suitable school hat for all lessons. A note will be issued to students who fail to bring a hat to lessons. If your child/ren is unable to take part in a lesson due to an injury or medical reason, please provide a note.

Should you need to discuss anything related to HPE, please contact the following

Ken O’Donnell- kodon30@eq.edu.au (grade 4-6)
Michelle Linsdell- mhlin0@eq.edu.au (prep to 3)
involved.

School Sport Dates

Senior Sports Day (3-6): 29 May
Junior Sports Day (P-2): 11 September

Uniform News

The Uniform Shop is open on Thursday mornings 8:15 am to 9:15 am during the school terms and is located inside the hall between the Tuckshop and Volunteers Room.

Items in/out of stock: There is a sign near the Uniform Shop to let you know what’s in and out of stock. All Sports Shirts are low or out of stock in all sizes.

Sport Shirts: Sports Shirts are limited to 1 per child and have been asked to be warn only on the day that the child/children have PE sports. This is due to the sports shirts not being our everyday polo shirt to wear.

Sports shirt are not being ordered and we are unsure if we will be placing an order in the future.

For more information please contact the Uniform Shop:

uniform_shop@edenslandingss.eq.edu.au

Make sure you like our P&C Association Facebook Page:

If we have any extra open days or we aren’t open one Thursday or if items are out of stock it will be posted on the Facebook page.

For those who cannot make it in during trading hours you can order by FlexiSchools.

Getting online is easy and only takes a few minutes to register. Simply go to the link below and click “Register Now”. You will be sent an email with further instructions on how to complete the registration. Once registered, you can start placing orders immediately. If you have any questions, FlexiSchools provide a great help desk on 1300 361 769, or you can contact them via their website.

There are a variety of payment options supported, including Visa, MasterCard (credit and debit) and Bank Transfer. The system operates via a pre-paid account. FlexiSchools has a cut off time of 4.00pm Wednesday it’s the day before the Uniform Shop is open.

Pick up is between 8:15am - 9:15am Thursdays or will be delivered to your child’s class from 9:15am – 9:30am Thursdays. The system is now available, so we look forward to seeing your next order online!

If you have any uniforms your children have outgrown but that are still in good condition you can donate them to the Uniform Shop.

Outside School HOURS CARE- OSHC

This term is flying on so quickly that we have started planning for the next vacation Care period. Activities will include Kite Making, Clay modelling with Raw Art and an excursion to Fun Fit Play at Redlands

This year we are moving to online enrolments and booking. To enrol you will need to go onto the My Family Lounge App and select YMCA Edens Landing and fill in the enrolment form, Upload Contact and Guardian Photo ID and current Immunisation Records. Once this s completed the service sends the Family an offer which once accepted will complete the enrolment.

There have been a few issues with the App which our IT department is working on at the moment and we thank you for your patience.

We welcome any ideas for programming or any ways the service can link with communities outside the school eg age care, places for excursions, parents the may be involved in clubs , scouting groups etc

Outside School HOURS CARE- OSHC

Opening times:

Monday to Friday
Before school: 6am – 9am
After school: 2.30pm -6pm

Pay as little as $3.50 per session after ccs

YMCA Edens Landing OSHC

P: 07 3805 1233
M: 0459 899 887
ael@ymcabrisbane.org

Important Dates to Remember

What’s on weekly- all Free

Mondays

Breakfast Club 8am-8.30am,

Tuesdays

Breakfast Club 8am- 8.30am,
Running Club 8am-8.30am Senior Oval. Week 2-10, Years 1-6.

Wednesdays

Choir practice 8.15am- 8.45am Music Room. Sign up now
Kokoda Meetings Yr4-6, L Block, 11am Term 1&2 week 2- week 10

Thursdays

Breakfast Club 8am-8.30am,
Culture Club 2.50pm-4pm G Block & Yarning Circle until 26 March.
Student Council Meetings Yr3-6 L Block 2nd break.

Fridays

All school assembly 2.15pm-2.50pm, MPH
Garden Club Yr 4-6, 1pm Garden Shed - Term 1, 21 February – 3 April

Saturdays

Edens Landing Kokoda Kids Training 6.15am ELSS carpark, weekly pre training meetings Wednesdays.

Contact Details

1. Have your contact details changed?
2. Have you moved address?
3. Do we have your current phone number in case of an emergency?
4. Are your emergency contacts still current?
5. Are you receiving our newsletters by email?
6. Do we have your current email address?

PLEASE CONTACT THE OFFICE TO UPDATE YOUR DETAILS

Phone 3826 0333 or Email office@edenslandingss.eq.edu.au

Community News