Principal's Piece
Term 2 Staffing – Principal
I have been fortunate enough to work here at Calliope State School, as your Principal, for a year now. Your substantive principal, Moira MacKenzie, has extended her leave and my contract has been extended. I will remain here for Term 2.
Cross Country
It was fantastic to see so many students participating in Cross Country on Monday. A huge thank you goes to Mrs Betts for all of the time that she has put into planning and preparing for the day. I also need to extend a thank you to the staff and students that supported her in ensuring that the event ran so successfully.
COVID
The school community, and especially the staff, need to be commended for supporting one another as our school faces increasing cases of COVID. Thank you to all parents and carers for your support during these complex times and for your open and timely communication with the school. Please be aware that COVID may have caused some disruption to students accessing the teaching and learning throughout the term, which in turn will affect assessment and reporting as we progress through semester 1. The teachers are working hard to support students to catch up with missed content when they return from periods of leave related to COVID.
Regional Office Staff
We are currently experiencing some staff shortages due to staff being unwell. As a result of the large numbers of staff on leave, we had to call on Department of Education, Regional Office staff to support us towards the end of last week. We had the Regional Director and members of the regional Teaching and Learning Team in classes teaching, as well as our own Leadership Team out in classes too. This ensured that we had supervision for all students in classrooms and we could provide staff with their non-contact time for planning and preparation. We are eternally grateful for the support that was offered to us during this time.
Unwell children
Essential to the success of these measures is that if your child is unwell or displaying any COVID-19 symptoms, they must not attend school. I cannot emphasise this message strongly enough – it is critical to keeping our school community safe. Your child, if they have COVID-19 symptoms, can visit your local Queensland health testing clinic and will be given priority access to a free RAT.
Parent Volunteer Mandatory Training
All volunteers at Calliope State School are required to attend a mandatory training workshop before they are able to assist in our classrooms, tuckshop or for school events.
A session will be held on Monday morning, March 28 from 9 – 10am.
Please register your attendance by emailing admin@calliopess.eq.edu.au or calling our school office on 49758333.
Please also note that all volunteers need to be vaccinated and will check-in through the school office.
Social Media and the School Community
This guide offers some information to parents and caregivers about how to use social media in relation to comments or posts about their school community.
The internet, mobile phones and social media provide wonderful opportunities for you to network and socialise online. While these technologies provide positive platforms for sharing ideas, they also have the potential to cause pain and suffering to individuals, groups or even whole communities.
Just as you would discourage your child from behaving inappropriately online, it’s important to remember that sometimes negative comments that parents and caregivers post about their school community have a greater impact than expected.
This guide offers some information to parents and caregivers about how to use social media in relation to comments or posts about their school community. Reputations of teachers, schools, principals and even parents can be permanently damaged — and in some cases, serious instances of inappropriate online behaviour are dealt with by police and the court system.
Crazy Hair Day
This Friday, 25 March, RotaKids are holding a Crazy hair Day. This is to support two of our student leaders who are cutting their long locks for ‘Hair with Heart’. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation on Friday to support this worthy cause and our two brave students.
Staff of the Week Leadership Award – Monique Cheesman
For demonstrating inspiring leadership in her position as cohort leader. Monique supports her team with effective scaffolding to support all students to access the curriculum.
Staff Member of the Week Peer Award – Lee Maycock
You are a ball of energy who puts your all into everything you do around the school. Everyone knows that they will get a friendly greeting as they cross paths with you during the day, and you brighten our days with your can-do attitude and sense of humour. Thank you for all that you do to improve staff and student wellbeing, including your involvement with the social club and the running of the “Jag the Joker” competition, which brings a sense of fun, excitement and friendly competition to the work week. You are a star.
FINAL THOUGHT
Regards,
Coralie Ditchmen
Acting Principal