Welcome to Week 10 – This week the school had its annual Under 8’s Day.  I had the pleasure of being able to see the amazing day come together for our Calliope students.  Not only were there great engaging activities for our Under 8’s, this morning also provided a great leadership opportunity for our Year Six students to prepare and host an activity for Calliope students.  This would be one of the best Under 8’s days I have ever attended.  A huge thank you to Raelene, our team of teachers, our P&C, Helping Hands, Strong Communities, Calliope Police and Fire Services and everyone else involved.  This will be a memorable learning experience for all those involved.

Mystery Person @ Assembly

Did you know that our Mystery Person at assembly has become a very exciting event for our students?  Last week our Mystery Person was Indianna Jones.  He came all the way to Calliope State School to watch our assembly and discover the class that walks in beautifully, that sits and listens throughout the assembly and stands proudly to sing the National Anthem.  The class that is chosen by the Mystery Person gets to sit in the VIP seats the following week.  I wonder who our Mystery Person will be this week.  Please consider coming to our assembly this week for our Principals Parade.  Students who are demonstrating high qualities of being safe, respectful and responsible in each class will receive an ACE Award which is given out each term.  You will also get to see our Mystery Person and be able to visit our classrooms after to celebrate NAIDOC week.  We are looking forward to seeing parents this Friday.

Student Code of Conduct

Each week I will focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct.  This week the focus is Differentiated Responses

Class teacher provides in-class or in-school disciplinary responses to low-level or minor problem behaviour.  This may include:

• Pre-correction (e.g. “Remember, walk quietly to your seat”)
• Non-verbal and visual cues (e.g. posters, hand gestures)
• Whole class practising of routines
• Ratio of 4 positive to 1 negative commentary or feedback to class
• Corrective feedback (e.g. “Hand up when you want to ask a question”)
• Rule reminders (e.g. “When the bell goes, stay seated until I dismiss you”)
• Explicit behavioural instructions (e.g. “Pick up your pencil”)
• Proximity control
• Tactical ignoring of inappropriate behaviour (not of the student)
• Revised seating plan and relocation of student/s
• Individual positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviour
• Classwide incentives
• Reminders of incentives or class goals
• Redirection
• Low voice and tone for individual instructions
• Give 30 second ‘take-up’ time for student/s to process instruction/s
• Reduce verbal language
• Break down tasks into smaller chunks
• Provide positive choice of task order (e.g. “Which one do you want to start with?”)
• Prompt student to take a break or time away in class
• Model appropriate language, problem solving and verbalise thinking process (e.g. “I’m not sure what is the next step, who can help me?”)
• Provide demonstration of expected behaviour
• Peer consequence (e.g. corrective feedback to influential peer demonstrating same problem behaviour)
• Private discussion with student about expected behaviour
• Restorative Conversation
• Problem Solving Conversation
• Redirection for inappropriate behaviour
• Warning of more serious consequences (e.g. removal from classroom – Buddy Class or Alternative space)

 Parent Survey

Our school is always looking at ways to improve.  Our last parent survey from last term heard parent voice to increase our swimming program with a strong preference for the School’s PE teacher to facilitate the swimming program.  This year all grade levels will participate in the swimming program in Term 4, facilitated by Cathy Betts and her team of swimming coaches. Parent Voice from the survey also requested better communication of upcoming events.  We have introduced a calendar into our newsletter that can be printed out and put on your fridge.  We are also looking at other ways of communication with our community. 

On Wednesday next term, a survey that reflects your opinions on Term 2 will be emailed to all parents.  This survey will dig deeper into how we can best meet the needs of our community.  There will also be consultation with our community to see if there is support for a chaplain and/or student wellbeing officer in our school.

Please know that the platform used for these surveys, “Survey Monkey” keeps your identity private.  The school does not know your replies.  I have been open in sharing our last survey whit our P&C executive.  The survey in anonymous.

 Enjoy your Holidays

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.  Take the time to enjoy this special time with your children.  A great question to ask your children each day is “What are three things that have gone well today?”  This teaches our children to reflect positively on their day.  It is also a great question for ourselves.

Parent and Community Code of Conduct

Parents and other visitors to schools support safety by ensuring their communications and conduct at the school and school activities is respectful.

Approaching other students in the school grounds to discuss concerns with them is not appropriate in any school.  Please refer to the Parent and Community Code of Conduct and request a meeting to discuss any concerns about your child’s education – allowing staff time to prepare and appreciating our time may be limited.

Upcoming Events Calendar