Welcome to Week 7.  Students are now working steadily on assessments for their learning areas.  NAPLAN is administered from Wednesday of Week 8.  There will be no parade in Week 8 to ensure the smooth running of NAPLAN. 

Annual Implementation Plan (AIP)

Our Priority for 2023 is “Calliope State School embraces Equity and Excellence for All”. We have three strategies to achieve this. This week I will continue to focus on our first action, Approach to Pedagogy. Our second strategy is to embed Visible Learning (Hattie) using Learning Walls and the 5 questions (Sharratt) to develop assessment literate learners. Students are able to access learning walls in their classrooms to understand what is required for their assessments. To further develop student understanding of their learning, five questions are asked,

1. What are you learning in this session?

2. In relation to the what you are learning, how do you think you are going – At, Above or Below achieving the lesson intent?

3. Why are you learning this?

4. How do you know you are achieving at, above or below?

5. How can you achieve/improve the learning goal of this lesson? What can you access to help you improve? (Sharratt 2008-2019)

 Parent and Community Code of Conduct

The Parent and Community Code of Conduct (PDF, 386KB) (the Code) describes the ways in which parents, carers and visitors should conduct themselves while on Queensland state school grounds, at school activities, and when interacting with others in the school community. We welcome parents and other members of our diverse community into schools across Queensland.  Working together with their school community, school staff support the learning and wellbeing of every student, and are entitled to a safe work environment. Parents and other visitors to schools support safety by ensuring their communications and conduct at the school and school activities is respectful.

There are three elements of engagement.  They are Communication, Collaboration and School Culture.  This week’s newsletter focuses on Collaboration.

Scooters

A reminder to all of our students and community that scooters are not to be ridden at all in school grounds. Scooters are also not to be ridden in front of the school from the bridge to the end of the pool.  We have had some close incidents where both adults and children have collided with students riding scooters in these busy areas.  Please keep everyone safe by reminding children to walk scooters in these areas.

Awesome 1A have settled into the school year amazingly! We are embracing all our classroom routines and loving the challenge of new work! In English, we have been delving into the beginning, middle and end of stories and empathising with the characters emotions and feelings. We felt very sad when Koala Lou was sitting all alone on her branch and discussed times when we felt all alone. What a great term we are having!

PBL Weekly Lesson

Using objects appropriately, is our PBL lesson this week. On Friday, our students also engaged in the Calliope News where they watched a skit and listened to information about the focus of the week. On Tuesday, our students will look at 3 questions that can help them with safe use of objects. They will discuss where and how different objects are to be used safely. If you would like a copy of this week’s lesson, please email jxran4@eq.edu.au.

Week 6 Whole School Triangle Data – Major Incidents

Our data is fantastic at the moment with only 4.37% of students with 2 or more major incidents by the end of Week 5. This means that 95.45% of students have been involved in 1 or less major incidents and all students have been involved in 5 or less incidents. The triangle to the left represents the end of Semester 1 2022 major incidents. We are currently a quarter of the way through the semester.

2023 Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN timetables

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that Calliope State School students in Year 3 and 5 sit each year.  NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.  The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 15 March and finishes on Monday 27 March 2023. See the below timetable for the testing and catch-up dates for Year 3 and 5 students at Calliope State School. 

For more information, please contact Naomi Hughes, Deputy Principal and NAPLAN coordinator through the school office.

Cross Country- Monday Week 10

Just a reminder Cross Country is coming up in Week 10. Mrs Betts is holding Running Club on the back oval on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings (8:30am) in preparation for this. On the day, there will be age champion medals for 9,10,11 and 12-year old students. Students that are 10,11 or 12-year-old who place in the top five with a suitable time will get the opportunity to compete at the Port Curtis Cross Country Trials on Friday 21^st April (Term 2, Week 1) at Benaraby State School. For Port Curtis trials, all runners must be able to complete their distance without walking.

We are looking for volunteers to man checkpoints on the day. If you have completed the school’s mandatory training and would like to volunteer your time please email Cathy Betts (cbett49@eq.edu.au).

P&C News

The P&C love hearing from parents and caregivers, your questions, ideas, and suggestions are always appreciated. You can contact us either on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeSSPandC, or our email address: pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au.

P&C Meeting & AGM Meeting

Our Next meeting will be held with the AGM at a date to be advised.

As soon as we get the books back from the auditor, we will advise the school community of the date and time for the AGM on Facebook and in the newsletter with 14 days notice. We thank you for your patience.

At the AGM the current executive team step down and all positions for a new committee are opened for the voting process. The P&C isn’t all about fundraising, it is also about community, support, and fun. Please consider joining the P&C, not everyone has to take on a role, and as a member who attends meetings you are often the first to hear of new and exciting things happening within the school.

Tuckshop News

Our kids are so lucky to have Miss Lisa and Miss Mel working hard to provide them with good nutritious food. I know that our hard-working tuckshop staff can always use extra hands. If you’d like to volunteer and join the fun in tuckshop, please contact Miss Lisa via our Facebook page or pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au. 

QKR

Can everyone please take 2 minutes to check your child/ren’s details on QKR. If we don’t have the right details, we cannot guarantee that your child/ren will receive their tuckshop or that the uniforms you order will go to the right class. We ask this so you don’t have to deal with an upset child that didn’t receive their lunch or get their new uniform.

Uniform Shop

We are trialling having the uniform shop open on a Friday morning before parade. Opening at 8:30am and closing at 9am for the rest of the term. The uniform shop will be run by parent volunteers, please treat them with the same respect and courteous behaviour you would also appreciate being treated with. Please be patient as we work out any teething problems.

Otherwise, orders can be done on QKR. Please note that orders take up to 3 business days to fill after the day of order. These items are then taken to the office, and the students are contacted to collect them. If you haven’t received your uniform order, please check, if it has been three days, that it’s not in your child’s school bag and that it’s not in the classroom. Please remember if you have any concerns contact us via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CalliopeSSPandC or email uniformshop.calliopess@gmail.com 

Volunteer Reminder

As parents ourselves we know how hard it is to fit everything into life. We appreciate that you all understand how hard we work to support our families in every aspect of life as well as working outside of the home or studying. We would like to take this opportunity to ask for support for some extra understanding that things might take a little longer than normal as we prepare for the AGM and the handing over of roles to the next Executive team. Please treat us with the same thoughtfulness and support you would like to receive.

Tenielle, Bec, Kate, and Geoff

Thursday the 23^rd of February, saw two sessions of French cricket been played. We had a great turn out for both senior and junior cricket. Students had a great time and didn't want to head back to class. The school was a fabulous array of pink, with a total amount rasied of over $400.00, which has been donated to the McGrath Foundation. Thank you to our amazing community for your support. A massive thank you to Calliope Police for joining in with our cricket matches and Marni from Rotary, supporting the junior cricket match. 

Head lice are common in children (particularly between the ages of 3 - 11 years) and have nothing to do with personal hygiene or cleanliness. 

While head lice don't carry disease, their bites can cause itching and skin irritation. 

To reduce your child's risk of getting head lice, you can ensure long hair is tied up, discourage the sharing of brushes and combs and minimise head-to-head contact with others.

Remember, anyone can get head lice. These critters have no preferences for hair colour or type, age or ethnicity.

Thank you to parents who have returned 2023 medical notes back to us at school. As a reminder, if your child is required to take medication at school or should their medication / dosage change a new 2023 consent to administer medication is required.

For medication to be administered at school or during school-related activities, there must be medical authorisation for the student to have that medication, and the medication must be in its original container with intact packaging.

Examples of medical authorisation include:

• a pharmacy label with both the student’s and doctor’s name on it;
• a signed letter from a doctor;
• a medication order from a dentist;
• an Action Plan signed by a doctor or nurse practitioner.

See below for examples of health conditions, medications and associated documentation:

The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program will be screening at Calliope State School commencing on Tuesday 18^th April 2023. They are a Queensland Government service that offers Free Vision Screening to all children enrolled in Prep.  If your child is in Prep and you would like their vision screened, you will need to complete a consent form. 

 The following video explains the benefits of having your Prep child’s vision screened- “What is Prep Vision Screening?”

 Please click on the following link to access the Online Consent Form and Parent Information Letter: https://visionscreening.health.qld.gov.au/ParentalConsent/0912VOe2

** Paper copies of the consent form are available from the office. 

 Please note: The consent form link will close on Friday 31^st March 2023. 

Students can win prizes and have their art exhibited in an art gallery setting*.

QParents 

Calliope State School provides parents with access to a convenient, online parent portal called QParents.

The QParents web and mobile application provides an easier way for you to interact with our school. Parents will have secure, online access to their child's student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

QParents provides secure, online access to student information such as:

• Attendance details

• Report cards

• Student photo

• Consent Form
  
  
• Payment History

The benefits of QParents

Convenience and time savings for parents

• Parents can view or update their child's details and report absences without having to call the school or come into the office.
• Secure 24/7 online access.
• Available anytime, anywhere — access QParents on your smart phone, tablet or computer on a web browser or using the app (iPhone or Android). 

Greater transparency of information

• Improves accountability between parents and schools by providing parents with timely access to their child's information online.
• Allows parents to engage more deeply in their child's schooling.

Improved administration efficiencies for schools

• Allows schools to streamline their administrative processes and cut down on printing.

What do you need to do to get started?

The office will be send out emails inviting parents or guardians to become a QParents Account Owner (QPAO) for their student at the beginning of their enrolment at the school. QPAOs will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student's information online, view the student's information and submit requests to update some of the student's details.

QPAOs will also be able to invite other people (such as another family member), to view the student's information. Once invited, these people can register for QParents as “delegated viewers". A delegated viewer can see the student's details, but cannot make updates.

When you receive your invitation email, simply follow the instructions to register your QParents account. The process should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Initial registration and addition of students to your account must be done on a desktop or laptop computer. Once registered, you will then be able to access QParents using your mobile device (via web browser or by downloading the iPhone or Android App).

Invitations sent by email will only ever come from no.reply@qparents.qld.edu.au. You will not be invited to register from any other email address or organisation.

If you do no not want to register you can just ignore the invitation and your child's student information will not be available to anyone through QParents.

Identity Verification

To obtain full access to student information, as part of their QParents registration users must complete an identity verification process. QParents offers two options for identity verification – online and offline.

For fully online verification (the fastest option), you will need to verify 100 points of the following identity documents online:

If you cannot verify 100 points of the above ID documents online, you may still register for QParents, but you will need to attend the school to verify documentation in person after you have registered online.

Full instructions on how to verify your documents and what you may need to bring to the school will be provided as part of the invitation and registration process.

If you don't have sufficient documents, or are unsure, you may still be able to register. For more information on the online identity verification process, see https://qparents.qld.edu.au/#/identityInformation .

Please note that QParents does not maintain copies or records of any identity documents used for account verification, either online or offline. 

EQ ID

You will also need to have your child's EQ ID (their Education Queensland identification number) in order to complete your QParents registration. You can access this via the school office.

Safe and secure

QParents is a secure portal that meets strict industry standards. The Department of Education and Training considers student information to be confidential (it is classified as PROTECTED by the Department). Only people with the right to access information about their child will be given an account. Additionally, as part of the registration process, 100 points of identity or equivalent will need to be presented to prove that the person who is registering is the person the school invited.

Further information

https://qed.qld.gov.au/about-us/department-apps/qparents

As we start a new year, police would like to remind parents and caregivers that the areas marked in yellow below on the map are ‘No Stopping’ areas, which means that you can’t pull up and wait an extended period of time for a car to leave a car park or stop to drop your children off.

These areas are clearly signed and marked with a yellow line.

Also a reminder that the Stop, Drop and Go area is limited to 2 minutes for the loading and unloading of passengers. Police have and will continue to issue fines for vehicles stopped along the yellow lines and parked in the Stop, Drop and Go area for an extended period of time.

The maximum penalty for these offences is 20 penalty units (one penalty unit = $143.75) and can attract
3 demerit points.

To avoid the end of school traffic congestion, consider parking a bit further away and walking to collect your children or delaying pick up for 5 – 10 minutes.

Remember school staff will be at Stop, Drop and Go until 3:30pm.