Welcome to Week One of Term 4. I hope that all our families have had a restful break and are ready for our busy term at Calliope State School.  This term, students will be completing their final units of work in most subject areas and report cards will be issued.  All students will be participating in the school’s swimming program.  The is facilitated by our Physical Education teacher, Cathy Betts and qualified swimming coaches.  This was the preferred model after consultation with families earlier this year. Notes were sent home last term.  Please ensure that these are returned to the school.  Swimming commences next week.

Strategic Planning

Throughout this term we will reflect on our practices, look at our data including the School Opinion Survey and consider the following two questions,

How are all students engaged and improving in their learning ?

How do we know ?

A final school created parent survey will come out this term to ask for parent feedback on ways we can improve to achieve the best for all our students.

I will be sharing data at our next P&C meeting and also asking for feedback. 

2024 Planning

Planning for classes in 2024 begins early in Term 4.  Our first step finalise our anticipated enrolments for 2024.  If you know of families considering Calliope State School in 2024, please encourage them to contact Administration as soon as possible.  Any family who has a Prep student commencing in 2024 is encouraged to contact Administration now to ensure a smooth transition to school. If your family intends on leaving our school next year, could you please notify Administration so that this planning can be as accurate as possible. 

Dress Code

Each week I am highlighting a component of our school Dress Code. 

This week I am highlighting the considerations that were considered when writing our dress code.  Please see the dot points on the image to the right that has been extracted from our Dress Code Brochure.

Hats

Before school and at each break we have multiple students coming to the office and the SLAWC (Student Learning and Wellbeing Centre) asking for spare hats. We ask that all students come to school with a hat so they can enjoy outside play.

Student Code of Conduct

Each week I focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct.  This week the focus is on student intervention and support services where incidents of bullying, including cyberbullying have occurred.

Student Intervention and Support Services

Calliope State School recognises the need to provide intervention and support to all students involved in incidents of bullying, including cyberbullying. 

Students who have been subject or witness to bullying have access to a range of internal support staff, as identified in the Student Support Network section earlier in this document.  Students are, however, also encouraged to approach any staff member with whom they feel comfortable sharing their concerns, regardless of their role in the school.  All staff at Calliope State School are familiar with the response expectations to reports of bullying, and will act quickly to ensure students’ concerns are addressed.  Depending on the nature of the reported bullying incident, a formal plan of action may be developed and documented to support the implementation of strategies to assist the student. 

Students who engage in bullying behaviours towards others will also be provided with support to assist them to use more socially acceptable and appropriate behaviours in their interactions.  This includes counselling, social development programs, referral to mental health services or involvement in a restorative justice strategy.  School disciplinary measures may also be used to reinforce the seriousness with which the community takes all incidents of bullying.  These measures may include internal school suspension, withdrawal from social events or celebrations or more severe consequences such as suspension or exclusion from school.

Learning in 6B

The best part of my day as a principal is when I am in classrooms observing the great learning that occurs in our school.  One day last term I was visiting 6B and was amazed by the design and building of battery powered cars our students were doing for Science.  This group of boys were becoming quite frustrated because the motor was not big enough and it just wouldn’t go.  I told them to never give up.  Along with motivation from Mr Brown and Ms Emma searching stores to find a bigger motor, the boys finally had success.  Below is their story of learning.

Some reminders of upcoming events from the calendar include -

Week 2 – Mental Health Week

10 October – P&C Meeting

12 October – Parent Picnic First Break – RotaKids activities

Week 4 – State Education Week

25 October – Day for Daniel; wear Red

27 October – World Teacher’s Day