Welcome to Week Five of Term 4. We celebrated Grandparent’s Day on Monday.  It was great to see so many Grandparents attend our school and participate in activities with their grandchildren.  This Friday we acknowledge Tuckshop Day.

Tuckshop Day - 3 November 2023

The daily efforts of our tuckshop workers and the many volunteers who support our students and our school have been tremendous this year. We should remember to say please and thank you every day, but on Tuckshop Day, Friday 3 November, we will say a very special thank you to this wonderful team. Our tuckshop provides a great service that helps out families who have to juggle many different tasks at the start of each day and some good food helps the students study and play 

through the day.

We don’t take their hard work for granted and it is great to see parents putting up their hands and getting involved with our school. Thank you everyone.

Please see the attached fact sheet that contains information about acknowledging and thanking our tuckshop workers and volunteers, becoming a school volunteer and smart healthy food and drink choices

Tuckshop Day (education.qld.gov.au)

Grandparents Morning

Grandparents Day is an opportunity to show our love and appreciation for all the things our grandparents do for their grandchildren and families. It’s a special day for connecting with family and a reminder of the role senior citizens can play in raising children.

Calliope State School were thrilled to be hosting Grandparents’ Day on Monday. This is a unique opportunity for children to share all of the amazing experiences they participate in here at school with someone special, their Grandparent/s (or special friend). 

Thank you to all the Grandparents or special friends that came and made this day so special. It was lovely to see so many grandparents here. 

2024 Planning

We are now well into our planning for 2024 class structures. Please continue to encourage families to contact Administration as soon as possible if they are leaving our school next year. Any family who has a Prep student commencing in 2024 is encouraged to contact Administration now to ensure a smooth transition to school.  We are also encouraging any families who will be commencing at Calliope next year to let administration know.

Dress Code

Student Code of Conduct

Each week I focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct.  This week the focus will be Restrictive Practices.

Restrictive Practices

School staff at Calliope State School need to respond to student behaviour that presents a risk of physical harm to the student themselves or others.  It is anticipated that most instances of risky behaviour can be de-escalated and resolved quickly.  On some rarer occasions, a student’s behaviour may continue to escalate and staff need to engage immediately with positive and proactive strategies aimed at supporting the student to manage their emotional arousal and behaviour.

In some very rare situations, where there is immediate risk of physical harm to the student or other people, and when all other alternative strategies have failed to reduce the risk, it may be necessary for staff to use restrictive practices.

 The use of restrictive practices will always be as a last resort, when there is no other available option for reducing immediate risk to the student, staff or other people.  Restrictive practices are not used for punishment or as a disciplinary measure. 

 The department’s Restrictive practices procedure is written with consideration for the protection of everyone’s human rights, health, safety and welfare.  There are six fundamental principles:

1. Regard to the human rights of those students
2. Safeguards students, staff and others from harm
3. Ensures transparency and accountability
4. Places importance on communication and consultation with parents and carers
5. Maximises the opportunity for positive outcomes, and
6. Aims to reduce or eliminate the use of restrictive practices.

 Very rarely restrictive practices will be planned and staff will employ, when necessary, pre-arranged strategies and methods (of physical restraint/ mechanical restraint/ clinical holding) which are based upon behaviour risk assessment or clinical health need and are recorded in advance.  The use of planned strategies will only be where there is foreseeable immediate risk consistent with the Restrictive practices procedure.

 Seclusion will not be used as a planned response and will only be used in serious circumstances for managing an unforeseeable situation in an emergency.  It will be used for the shortest time possible and in a safe area that presents no additional foreseeable risk to the student.  In such emergencies, a staff member will observe the student at all times and seclusion will cease as soon as possible.

 Following the use of any restrictive practice, a focused review will help staff to understand how they responded to the risk in any incident that involved the use of a restrictive practice.  Staff will consider whether there are other options for managing a similar situation in the future.  This strategy works well for reducing the use of restrictive practices.

 All incidents of restrictive practices will be recorded and reported in line with departmental procedures.

Some reminders of upcoming events from the calendar include -

Week 5

30 October – Grandparent’s Picnic

3 November -Tuckshop Day

Week 6

7 November – Prep & P/1 Excursion, Rotakids Melbourne Cup activities @ first break

Week 7

Year 6 Camp

14 November – P&C Meeting

14 November – Year 5 Leadership Shortlisting Announcements