Welcome to Week Seven.  We were fortunate to have our local police to assist us with Road Safety activities on Monday.  Special thanks to Mrs Johnston and Ms Smith-Ashton (and 6A) for their organisation of the day’s events. Please follow up with your children and ask what they learned about road safety this week.

We are very excited to have our annual Book Fair alongside our Book Week parade this week.  I have heard many excited comments about costumes so I am keen to see everyone dressed up.  Parents and carers are welcome to come along to our parade, which will be held this Friday at 9:15am.  

As this is my last newsletter, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your warm welcome – I’ve enjoyed being a part of the Calliope community, and I wish you well as you navigate the second half of the year.  Please continue to work with us. I have been privileged to see the dedication and commitment from staff at this school – from the leadership team, teachers, teacher aides, office admin, and our support crew of cleaners and groundsman.  All are passionate about working with you for the best outcomes for our amazing children.

Student Code of Conduct

Each week, we will focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct.  This week, the focus is the school’s, students’ and parents’ responsibilities with regards to the use of mobile and phones and other devices.  We recognise that some students require these devices and that learning to use them appropriately is imperative.

Use of mobile phones and other devices by students

Digital literacy refers to the skills needed to live, learn and work in a society where communication and access to information is dominated by digital technologies like mobile phones. However, the benefits brought about through these diverse technologies can be easily overshadowed by deliberate misuse which harms others or disrupts learning. 

This also extends to Smart Watches i.e. watches that allow communication between school and the outside community to occur and that contain games and Apps which can lead to off-task behaviour.

 Responsibilities

 The responsibilities for students using mobile phones or other devices at school or during school activities are simple: all devices are to be handed into the office upon arrival at school.  It is the responsibility of all students to collect these items at the end of the school day.   

It is unacceptable for students at Calliope State School to:

• use a mobile phone or other devices in an unlawful manner;
• download, distribute or publish offensive messages or pictures;
• use obscene, inflammatory, racist, discriminatory or derogatory language;
• use language and/or threats of violence that may amount to bullying and/or harassment, or even stalking;
• insult, harass or attack others or use obscene or abusive language;
• deliberately waste printing and internet resources;
• damage computers, printers or network equipment;
• commit plagiarism or violate copyright laws;
• ignore teacher directions for the use of social media, online email and internet chat;
• send chain letters or spam email (junk mail);
• knowingly download viruses or any other programs capable of breaching the department's network security;
• use in-phone cameras anywhere a normal camera would be considered inappropriate, such as in change rooms or toilets;
• invade someone's privacy by recording personal conversations or daily activities and/or the further distribution (e.g. forwarding, texting, uploading, Bluetooth use etc.) of such material;
• use a mobile phone (including those with Bluetooth functionality) to cheat during exams or assessments;
• take into or use mobile devices at exams or during class assessment unless expressly permitted by school staff.

 At all times students, while using ICT facilities and devices supplied by the school, will be required to act in line with the requirements of the Calliope State School Student Code of Conduct.  In addition students and their parents should:

• understand the responsibility and behaviour requirements (as outlined by the school) that come with accessing the department’s ICT network facilities;
• ensure they have the skills to report and discontinue access to harmful information if presented via the internet or email;
• be aware that:
  • access to ICT facilities and devices provides valuable learning experiences for students and supports the school's teaching and learning programs;
  • the school is not responsible for safeguarding information stored by students on departmentally-owned student computers or mobile devices;
  • schools may remotely access departmentally-owned student computers or mobile devices for management purposes;
  • students who use a school's ICT facilities and devices in a manner that is not appropriate may be subject to disciplinary action by the school, which could include restricting network access;
  • despite internal departmental controls to manage content on the internet, illegal, dangerous or offensive information may be accessed or accidentally displayed;
  • teachers will always exercise their duty of care, but avoiding or reducing access to harmful information also requires responsible use by the student.

Some reminders of upcoming events from the calendar include –

Friday 25^th August Book Week Parade 9:15am

Week 8 – Prep 2024 interviews begin

Friday 1^st September – Student-Free Day

Congratulations to 6C who had an amazing attendance rate for Week 6. Their attendance rate was 98.38% for the week! Also, congratulations to the 4 classes which were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 6.

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

BOOK WEEK

Book Week has arrived! This year’s theme is Read, Grow, Inspire. With the help of many crafty students our library is overgrown with book vines! In our library lessons we have been reading the shortlisted books and the stand out favourite at Calliope is Lionel and Me by Corrine Fenton and Tracie Grimwood.

Our Book Week dress up parade will be held on Friday morning. Students (and parents!) are invited to come along dressed as their favourite book character. Please remember that clothes need to be sun safe and shoes must be enclosed. Students may change back into school uniform after the parade if they need to.

Have a great Book Week everyone!

PBL Focus

As this week is Road Safety Week, the students are focusing on Road Safety with bikes and scooters and the expectations around this system. Students are our most vulnerable road users because of their unpredictability which can expose them to risk when around traffic. We know that students can be curious and keen to explore their surroundings. However, their limited understanding of safety and tendency to focus on what is important to them can be dangerous. Here are a few basic road safety rules for kids that you can begin with

• know your signals

• stop, look, and cross when able to

• pay attention – listen

• don't run on roads

• always use paths crossroads and pedestrian crossing

• never cross road at bends.

Students will be brainstorming reasons why their bikes and scooters should be walked between the two points noted in the image. They will also be going over to always be wearing a helmet and other safety rules. Please make sure your child brings a bike lock to lock their bike or scooter up at the bike racks. There are two sets of bike racks at our school. One set is closer to the pool and the other is closer to the library.

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

At Calliope State School, we have many teacher aides that support our students. We are lucky that we have some teacher aides that work predominately out of the Student Learning and Wellbeing Centre and support our student when support is immediately needed.

Our teacher aides at our school have the ability to support students with curriculum and behaviour.

Whole School Gauge

  Classes that have completed their Whole Class Stamp Chart this Term are:

The Great Cool Coin Race

The students collect Cool Coins around the school from staff who are showing safe, respectful and responsible behaviour. These come from staff that are not necessarily their classroom teacher. At the end of term, the winners of the upper and lower school get to come in free dress for a day. This is how the race is going so far.

Hi everyone! The mornings have been a little chilly again; seems like a perfect time for a warm Milo before school! Our students can still buy a warm Milo from 8:30-9:00am Tuesdays to Fridays for $1 from the Tuckshop. This very popular and yummy fundraiser will only be running for another couple of weeks.

A big thank you to the community member who donated their can/bottle haul to our Containers for Change scheme last weekend! This was very generous and is much appreciated! You can donate your stash or part thereof by quoting our scheme ID#C10002245 at the Calliope depot.

We would like to wish both the junior and senior choirs the best of luck at the Vocal Eisteddfod on Friday morning. We really enjoyed their performances on parade last week and we’re so happy we were able to subsidise the cost for families for the bus trip into the GECC and back to school again.

On Monday night, our school’s Resource Centre hosted a Mother and Daughter workshop called ‘Glowing Up’. This free event was facilitated by Strong Communities and we are so grateful for the opportunity to work with them and our school’s leadership team to provide such a valuable and empowering workshop right here in Calliope!

With Father’s Day right around the corner, we will be holding our Father’s Day stall next Wednesday August 30th, in the hall. Each class will have the opportunity to visit the stall within class time and the school will release a timetable for this before the day. Items for sale will range in price from $1 to $15. If you happen to have an hour or so free on this day, we would love to have you lend us a hand getting these gifts into our amazing student’s hands for their loved ones. It is honestly always so much fun helping out at these stalls! In conjunction with the stall; we will be running a Father’s Day Raffle! Our wonderful Yr 6 students will be selling tickets before school in the under croft for $1 each. Thanks to Mrs Smith-Ashton for facilitating this!

Feel free to contact us at any time with your thoughts and ideas on: communication.calliopess@gmail.com for our Communication Officer or pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au for our Executive team.

Warm regards,

Heidi, Geoff, Angela and Lisa.

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. 

 Road Safety Week- Week 7

Huge thanks to Mrs Smith Ashton, 6A and other year 6 students for offering their assistance with our Road Safety Week activities. Please see activities below: