Welcome to week 8. NAPLAN commenced today with Year 3 and 5 engaging in

various tests throughout this week and next week. There will be  no parade this week 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 third strategy is to embed the Collegial Engagement Framework, through Collaborative Inquiry Learning Approach across the school. Each term, each member of the leadership team will co-plan and co-teach with a teacher.

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 School Culture. When a parent has a concern, the school is happy to discuss this concern and work together to resolve the issue. It is not appropriate for any member of a school community to be verbally or be physically aggressive towards staff members or other members of the community. I thank all parents and caregivers who are respectful when addressing concerns and contributing to a positive school culture.

Harmony Day

Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds.  It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.  Australia is one of the world’s most successful multicultural countries and our cultural diversity is at the heart of who we are. 

Harmony week - Everyone belongs

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Australians can choose to wear something orange during Harmony Week to show their support for cultural diversity and an inclusive Australia.

Prep A have settled into their first term of school so well. Everyone has adapted to the classroom and school expectations quickly and are always coming to school with an eagerness to learn.

In English, we have been focusing on two new letters each week. We make a craft which represents the letter we have just learnt for example our letter ‘g’ gumball machines. The students have had lots of fun creating each letter craft while practising their cutting skills. We have also been looking at features of books and learning to explain what has happened at the beginning, middle and end of stories.

In Maths, we have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to sort all different objects into groups of the same characteristics such as sizes and colours.

In Science, we enjoyed going on a scavenger hunt around the school earlier in the term identifying all the living and non-living things. We are finishing the term identifying how living animals have all their needs met within their habitats.

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.

Congratulations to Prep C and 1C who had an amazing attendance rate for Week 7. Their attendance rate was 97.39% for the Week!

Also, congratulations to the 7 classes which were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 7.

Remember, every day you are away is a learning day lost.

PBL Focus

This week students are focusing on being ready to learn. Evidence shows clear expectations and routines at the start of the day, sets students up for success. 

To  address this, all students are focusing on before school routine to be able to start the day with clear expectations. If you would like a copy of the Ready to Learn PowerPoint that the students will be engaging in to reinforce at home, please email jxran4@eq.edu.au. 

Tiered Major Behaviour Data

This triangle graph has been used to indicate the percentage of students at Calliope State School who have repeated  major

incidents. These are categorised into Tier, 1, 2 and 3 – as previously explained in the newsletter. Last week, this support triangle was shown in the PBL meeting. This is just part of the number of supports that we give students at our school in terms of behaviour, social and emotional supports. We are currently sitting at 94.9% of students in Tier 1. This is a great start to 2023.

A huge congratulations to our Calliope SS students who have made it into Port Curtis representative teams. Jaxon for U12s Rugby League, Abbey and Summer for Girl’s Rugby League and Brooklyn for Netball. What a talented bunch of kids we have at Calliope SS. Mrs Betts is very proud!

Our U10s Calliope Rugby League team had a lot of fun at the PJ Marsh Carnival last Friday. The boys and our girl Isabella all played well! Congratulations to Asher for getting the ‘Player of the Carnival’ for Calliope. A big thank you to Vanessa Hough for taking on the coach role, Mrs Mastro for her supporting teacher role, and  all the wonderful parents for their support roles on the day.

A huge congratulations to Brax, for getting selected in the U10 Port Curtis Rugby League team!

This week Mrs Betts has her own achievement to share. Last Saturday she competed in the Mooloolaba Triathlon. It was a tough race with too many hills, but she achieved a PB of 1:36, and crowd-pleasing finish. Mrs Betts did the race with her sister. They swam the swim in the same time but her sister got ahead of her by 3 minutes on the bike. Lucky for all her training at Running Club she managed to catch up to her sister in the last kilometre of the 5km run and they finished with a legendary sprint to the finish line, both tying in time. It was Gold!

Mrs Betts wants to thank all her Running Club buddies who ran with her in the mornings and helped train her up for the triathlon!

The GREAT CALLIOPE SKIP-OFF competition

Students who have made it on the ‘Skipping Wall of Fame’ for skipping non-stop for more than 2 minutes are invited to compete against the elite skippers in the ‘Great Calliope Skip-Off’.

When- First Break next Friday (Week 9)

Where- Hall

Prizes for first, second and third place skippers.

Be ready, be scared! Us teachers are ready to skip your boots off!

Parents are welcome to come watch, or if you can skip, join in!

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. We are volunteers so please be understanding if we don’t respond immediately, please remember that we have jobs, university, and above all else we have children.

P&C and AGM Meetings

Our next P&C meeting will be held immediately after our AGM. Any apologies and agenda items for the next meeting must be sent in an email to secretary.calliopess@gmail.com before midday the day prior to the meeting otherwise we cannot include them at the meeting.

As soon as we get the books back from the auditor, we will be advising the school, parents, and caregivers of the date and time for the AGM. We will be sharing the AGM details via our Facebook page and the newsletter, so please keep an eye out.

At the AGM the current executive team step down and open all positions for a new committee to be voted in. The P&C isn't all about fundraising, it is also about community, support and fun. To be a member of the P&C doesn’t mean taking on a role, it does, however, mean you get to be among the first to hear of the new and exciting things happening in the school. You will also get to have a say in upcoming events.

Tuckshop News

Miss Lisa and Miss Mel are working hard to make sure the tuckshop runs smoothly, they are grateful for the volunteers and are enjoying the fun everyone is having in tuckshop.

QKR

Can everyone please 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 incredibly grateful to the parent volunteers who are now opening the uniform shop at 8:30am and closing at 9am on a Friday prior to parade. Please remember to treat these amazing parents with respect, they are volunteers, and we are lucky to have them.

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

If your child requires staff to administer medication at school, we would just like to remind you of the requirements
associated with the administration of medications at school.

Please note, school staff will only administer medication that:

     • has been prescribed by a qualified health practitioner (e.g. doctor, dentist)

     • is in its original (most recent) container
     • has an attached pharmacy label
     • the pharmacy label instructions match the Medical form.
     • the parent/carer has completed Section 1 of the Administration of Medication at School Record Sheet
       (routine/short-term medication) – copies of these forms are in our office. Please see our friendly office staff.
     • the student has received a dose at home without ill effect prior to the school administering the medication.

N.B. If your child requires more than one medication, you will need to complete a form for each medication.

Please contact the school office if you wish to discuss your child’s requirements further.

Student absences can be advised via:

1. QParents

2. Phoning the Absentee Line – 07 4975 8366

3. Send an email - absences@calliopess.eq.edu.au  

4. Website - https://calliopess.eq.edu.au/

5. Phoning the Office – 07 49758333

6. Send a note to school with your child.

As a school, we have a number of ways to communicate with our families.

1. School Newsletter – published weekly on Wednesday and emailed to families. It is published on QSchools App. A paper copy can be requested.
2. School Facebook Page – Calliope State School
3. P&C meetings –second Tuesday of the month at 5.30pm in the Administration building. Our P&C also have a Facebook page to communicate with our families.
4. QSchools – please see pictures with this post on how to download this app
5. Phone, letter or appointments
6. Parent / Teacher Conferences – twice a year or as requested by staff or parents
7. Class Newsletters – once a term, outlining important dates and curriculum information for the term

Communication is a two-way street, so please avail yourself of these array of opportunities to be engaged in your child’s learning journey and in our school community.

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.