Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- What's Happening in 2C
- Attendance - Week 3
- Prep Parent Interviews for 2024
- Student Award Recipients
- Student Wellbeing Team News
- P&C News
- Uniform Hours
- Parent and Community Code of Conduct
- Communication
- School Hats
- Quick News
- Port to Park
- Bicycle Safety Program
- Tannum High Celebrations
- Position Vacant
- MESSAGE TO STUDENTS
- RETURNING CALLS TO THE SCHOOL
- Helping Hands
- School Dentist Van
- University of Queensland
Welcome to Week Four. I am excited to join your community while Ms Mackenzie is away. A little about me – I grew up in Gladstone before moving to the United States in my early twenties. My husband is from New Orleans and we lived in Louisiana for several years. My older son Nate was born there. We moved back to Gladstone where my younger son Benny was born. Nate is now at uni in Brisbane a
nd Benny is in Year 10 at Toolooa State High School. We have two Labradors who we adore – Olly and Sunny (Olly is in the photo).
Whilst I am here for four weeks, I look forward to getting to know the Calliope SS community. I have already met some students and staff who have all been very welcoming. Ms Mackenzie told me how wonderful this school is with a supportive P&C, dedicated staff team and fantastic students so I am excited to spend time here leading your school.
Student Code of Conduct
Each week, we will focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct. This week the focus is School Policies that support a safe and supportive learning environment, specifically the temporary whole of student property.
The removal of any property in a student’s possession may be necessary to promote the caring, safe and supportive learning environment of the school, to maintain and foster mutual respect between all state school staff and students. The Temporary removal of student property by school staff procedure outlines the processes, conditions and responsibilities for state school principals and school staff when temporarily removing student property.
In determining what constitutes a reasonable time to retain student property, the principal or state school staff will consider:
- the condition, nature or value of the property;
- the circumstances in which the property was removed;
- the safety of the student from whom the property was removed, other students or staff members;
- good management, administration and control of the school.
The principal or state school staff determine when the temporarily removed student property can be returned, unless the property has been handed to the Queensland Police Service.
The following items are explicitly prohibited at Calliope State School and will be removed if found in a student’s possession:
- illegal items or weapons (e.g. guns, knives*, throwing stars, brass knuckles, chains);
- imitation guns or weapons;
- potentially dangerous items (e.g. blades, rope);
- drugs** (including tobacco);
- alcohol;
- aerosol deodorants or cans (including spray paint);
- explosives (e.g. fireworks, flares, sparklers);
- flammable solids or liquids (e.g. fire starters, mothballs, lighters);
- poisons (e.g. weed killer, insecticides);
- inappropriate or offensive material (e.g. racist literature, pornography, extremist propaganda).
* No knives of any type are allowed at school, including flick knives, ballistic knives, sheath knives, push daggers, trench knives, butterfly knives, star knives, butter knives, fruit knives or craft knives, or any item that can be used as a weapon, for example a chisel. Knives needed for school activities will be provided by the school, and the use of them will be supervised by school staff.
** The administration of medications to students by school staff is only considered when a prescribing health practitioner has determined that it is necessary or when there is no other alternative in relation to the treatment of a specific health need. Schools require medical authorisation to administer any medication to students (including over-the-counter medications such as paracetamol or alternative medicines).
School Opinion Survey
Our School Opinion Survey is open now, but will close on the 18 August 2023. Thank you to those families who have completed this survey. Could I please encourage you to do so if you have not – your feedback is invaluable as we work hard to make Calliope State School the very best it can be.
The survey will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.
Parents/caregivers who do not have access to the internet at home are welcome to complete their survey online at the school. School computers/tablets will be available. Please contact our administration team to organise this.
Leaving School Grounds Before School
Students are not allowed to go to the shops after their arrival at school in the mornings, including after bus drop off. This poses a safety risk. Please remind your children of this rule so that we ensure all our students stay safe.
Some reminders of upcoming events from the calendar include –
Week 4
1 August – P-3 Pie Collection
4 August – strings performing on assembly
Week 5 – Eisteddfod – Instrumental - Good luck, musicians!
8 August – Yrs 4-6 Pie Collection
8 August – P&C Meeting
9 August – ICAS Tech and Writing.
This term, 2C are creating an informative poster about the Eastern Grey Kangaroo including a supporting image, a labelled life cycle and a Venn diagram. Each week we are reporting on a different animal by practicing how to read the research, highlight the nouns and verbs, underline topic specific vocabulary and also using any images for additional information. Next the students, use the nouns, verbs and topic specific vocabulary to construct their own compound sentences about the animal of the week. Lastly, they draw and label a diagram and their life cycles and using this information compare the similarities and differences to another animal. Here are some examples of our work.
Congratulations to 2C who had an amazing attendance rate for Week 2. Their attendance rate was 95.54% for the week! Also, congratulations to the b classes which were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 3.
Remember, every day you are away is a learning day lost.
2024 Prep Parent Interviews are now available.
If your child is attending Prep in 2024 at Calliope State School, interviews are now open for us to meet your family for 2024 intakes. Please contact the office on 49758333 for times and days available.
PBL Focus
This week students are focusing on wearing hats and shoes and the expectations around these systems. All classes will look at why it is important to be sun safe and protect our feet.
If you wish to have a copy of the PowerPoint that the students will be engaging in to reinforce at home, please email jxran4@eq.edu.au.
Student Learning and Wellbeing Support Staff
Each week I am going to introduce a staff member that is at our school to support our students. This information was also shared to all students in our school in Week 3.
Student Pass
Our student leaders have been participating in our PBL meetings and working on a strategy to praise fantastic behaviour at Calliope State School. The idea that they brought was then broken down to more detail. The final idea was that students who are always safe, respectful and responsible are nominated by each classroom teacher to receive some sort of reward. This term the names went into a draw to receive a free pass to the circus. Well done our students who received their reward for fantastic behaviour. The students who were nominated but unsuccessful in the draw will be receiving a different reward by the end of the term.
Hello everyone!! We hope the term is ticking along nicely for you all! How many Prep-3 families had pie for dinner last night?? A huge amount of thanks goes to Lizzy’s Country Bakehouse for supplying our Prep-3 families with an enormous order yesterday! Thank you to all these families for your patience.
Yr4-6 families; it is your turn next Tuesday August 8th Your pie and Lamington orders will be ready to collect directly from Lizzy’s on this day.
We also have our next P&C meeting next Tuesday August 8th at 5:30pm in the Administration Building! Absolutely everyone is welcome to join us! We genuinely would love to see you there and value your opinions! You may wonder what happens at a P&C meeting?! Did you know that you don’t need to be a member to attend? Coming along is a great way to keep informed on what is happening around our school. Decisions made between meetings are tabled. We also hear from our Principal or a member of the leadership team about what is happening, what is coming up and possible ways that we can further support our students. Then new general business is presented and decisions are made. You don’t have to leave with a job or a commitment!
If you can’t make the meeting but still have an idea or comments, we welcome you to make contact with us on: communication.calliopess@gmail.com for our Communication Officer or pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au for our Executive team. You can also follow our Facebook page.
Warm regards,
Heidi, Geoff, Angela and Lisa.
Normal opening hours:
Friday 8.30am to 9.00am
Uniform Shop located at the entrance to the Multipurpose Hall (closes to the oval). Uniform can also be purchased through the QKR app.
As a school, we have a number of ways to communicate with our families.
- School Newsletter – published weekly on Wednesday and emailed to families. It is published on QSchools App. A paper copy can be requested.
- School Facebook Page – Calliope State School
- 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.
- QSchools – please see pictures with this post on how to download this app
- Phone, letter or appointments
- Parent / Teacher Conferences – twice a year or as requested by staff or parents
- 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.
SCHOOL HATS
Parents, can you please check your child's hat has their name on it and not someone elses. We have had many hats go missing and are trying to help families out by finding out their where abouts and returning them back to their rightful owner.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
- ARTICLES FOR OUR SCHOOL NEWSLETTER: If you wish to publish a NOT FOR PROFIT COMMUNITY article in our school newsletter you can do this by sending an email to admin@calliopess@eq.edu.au with all the relevant details. This will then go through our approval process prior to publishing.
- REMINDER TO PARENTS: Reminder to parents and visitors to the school to drive carefully when accessing the front entrance of the school. Please drive slowly, abide by the speed limit, normal road rules and be mindful of your surrounds. We appreciate your attention and understanding.
- COLLECTING YOUR STUDENT EARLY FROM SCHOOL: We realise that, on occasion, students may arrive late for school, or need to leave early; it is hoped that these occasions can be kept to a minimum so that the learning of the student, the class and the routine of the school is not unduly disrupted. In the event that your child is late or leaves early, please ensure that the correct procedure is followed to sign in/out by going to the Administration building signing out on the iPad, collect a slip and present it to the classroom teacher.
These processes are in place so that the teachers and school staff are aware of the movement of students at school. This is for the protection and welfare of all staff and students. It is important to look at the impact that late arrival and early departure have on a student/s education and those around them. It is not only disruptive to learning that is occurring in the classrooms at the time of arrival and departure, it is all time that accumulates to missed opportunities for learning. A student who is arriving late or leaving early by 15 minutes twice a week will miss, in total, the equivalent of 4 days of school across the year.
- RETURNING CALLS TO THE SCHOOL: We ask parents to assist us by checking their message bank before returning calls to the school, to establish which staff member has phoned. Due to the high volume of staff within our school it is not possible for us to identify who may have called you. Please call the member on their direct number if they have provided this as this will free up the office phone lines.
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MESSAGE TO STUDENTS: As you know, schools and classrooms are very busy places!
To ensure our students are fully engaged in their learning, and our office staff are able to complete their multitude of daily required tasks, we ask that parents communicate clearly with their child at the beginning of each day where you will be picking them up from in the afternoon.
As you can imagine it is extremely difficult for our office staff to field scores of phone calls asking for messages to be passed on to children regarding pick-up information.
Should you need to contact your children throughout the day, please do this via the office. These should be emergency situations only. Messages received after 1.45pm may not be acknowledged by the class in time, so please ensure children know their pick-up arrangements.
The Port to Park is on again in 2023. It is a fun run that will be held on Sunday 20 August. Entries are open now! Participants can nominate their school to receive funds as part of the event.
Take in the magnificent views along the 10km Koongo Dash starting at East Shores and winding along Marina Parklands and Spinnaker Park or the 3km Yallarm Family Run, crossing the Marina Bridge and back to East Shores. For those with a competitive spirit or plenty of stamina, why not try both!
Keep updated at Gladstone Ports Corporation Facebook or visit Port to Park for more information.
As you know, schools and classrooms are very busy places!
To ensure our students are fully engaged in their learning, and our office staff are able to complete their multitude of daily required tasks, we ask that parents communicate clearly with their child at the beginning of each day where you will be picking them up from in the afternoon.
As you can imagine it is extremely difficult for our office staff to field scores of phone calls asking for messages to be passed on to children regarding pick-up information.
Should you need to contact your children throughout the day, please do this via the office. These should be emergency situations only. Messages received after 1.45pm may not be acknowledged by the class in time, so please ensure children know their pick-up arrangements.
We ask parents to assist us by checking their message bank before returning calls to the school, to establish which staff member has phoned. Due to the high volume of staff within our school it is not possible for us to identify who may have called you. Please call the member on their direct number if they have provided this as this will free up the office phone lines.
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The new childcare subsidy changes to daycare means childcare subsidy rates have increased. Use the child care subsidy calculator.
au.junioradventuresgroup.com
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Attention - Dental forms can be found on our webpage or in the office. The dental van sent out lots of letters during Week 10 of Term 2, these forms are to be returned ASAP for an appointment to be made and for the dental staff to see your child/children,this term.