As Term 2 draws to a close, it will be one to remember! As the Principal of Calliope State School, I am proud of how our entire Calliope school community has come together to support each other during this difficult time in our world.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to our parents, students and staff for the way that everyone has evolved with the changes to learning and school operations. Learning at Home was a first, with our students, parents and school staff all rising to the challenge!

I would like acknowledge the school staff who regardless of their positions in the school have gone above and beyond to support our students and community with these adjusted conditions.

The holidays will be well deserved for all.

School Operations                       

As the restrictions across Queensland continue to ease in line with the ‘Roadmap’ so will some of the school operating procedures that have been put in place.

At the time of writing this week's newsletter and the emerging situation in other states, our current arrangements will remain in place for the first two weeks of Term Three.  This will give us adequate time during the first two weeks to review the national situation, as well as our local arrangements.

• This means access to the school site will remain restricted to staff and students.  This is particularly important in relation to maintaining the safety and wellbeing of staff and students. 
• Pick up and drop off arrangements will continue in their current form.
• Term Three is the flu and cold season and the wellbeing and health of our staff is paramount at this time also. If students or staff are unwell, they are to remain home or away.  This is based on the current guidelines and advice from Queensland Health.
• Parents and caregivers who need to access the site are to do so through the front administration gate and come to the front office window, where our office staff will assist.
• Parades will remain virtual until further notice, to ensure that our staff are able to observe physical distancing requirements.
• We will continue to encourage hygiene practices such as washing hands with soap and having hand sanitiser available for use.  If students have allergies, parents are to advise their child's teacher.  Additional cleaning during the day will take place to high frequency touch point surfaces such as handles, light switches, desks, toilets, taps and sinks.
• Students should be arriving close to the commencement of the day at 9am and not before 8.15am, as NO supervision is provided.  Please make alternative arrangements if your work commences before this.
• School Banking will not resume.

  With some revised processes in place we look forward to the return of:

• Instrumental bands, choir, extra curricular activities and some regional sporting events. More information about these will be shared next term.

We thank everyone for your continued understanding of this, as the health and safety of all remains our number one priority.

Under 8s Day

With smaller groupings, our P-2 students are celebrating Under 8s activities this week. Thank you to the year level staff for arranging their exciting events.

2020 School Opinion Survey and Schooling During COVID-19 Survey

Parents and Caregivers are invited to participate in this year’s School Opinion Survey and have a say about schooling during the COVID-19 lockdown.  You are also given the opportunity to provide feedback about our school more generally. Remember that when answering the questions, it is about the 2020 school year.

Participation in the survey is anonymous and you are encouraged to take this opportunity to have your say.  The survey form has been designed so that it can easily be completed on a computer or smartphone. The online survey will be available until Friday, 17 July 2020, and should take less than five minutes to complete.

To access the survey, please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:

Parent survey – https://survey.qed.qld.gov.au/form/Parents-HaveYourSay

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the survey.

P&C Meeting

A short meeting of the P&C will be held on Thursday at 2:30pm. If you would like to attend, please notify pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au in advance.

A big thank you to all who have purchased cookies, in the cookie dough fundraiser!

Holiday Travel

Please ensure that you follow all directions issued by Queensland Health regarding holiday travel, particularly if you are ‘crossing the borders’. There are several declared ‘hot spots’ in other states with mandatory quarantine requirements now in place. To stay up to date with health warnings you can go to https://www.health.qld.gov.au/

 School Watch

With the school holidays commencing on Friday, we ask all of our community to keep watch on our beautiful school and report any concerns to School Watch on 13 17 88 or police.

Have a safe and relaxing break with your families and we look forward to welcoming students back on Monday 13 July.

Regards 

Mark Wright 

Principal