Welcome to Week Four of Term 4. How lucky are staff at Calliope State School.  On Monday our P&C provided, the most impressive morning tea to recognise World Teachers’ Day.  Staff were still able to nibble on Tuesday.  Thank you to our amazing P&C for your acknowledgement.

Next week the Year 5 Leadership Applications close and are due into Office by 4pm on Monday, October 30. We celebrate Grandparent’s Day on Monday and Tuckshop Day on Friday.

World Teacher’s Day

Queensland celebrates World Teachers’ Day annually on the last Friday in October (27  October, 2023).  World Teachers’ Day is an opportunity to celebrate and thank Queensland teachers for their important role in our communities and for the positive impact they have on the lives of students.  This year’s theme Teaching – where the future begins applauds the innovative and inspirational practices teachers use to help create better futures for their students. 

Date Claimer: Tuckshop Day - 3 November 2023

Our school will give special thanks to our tuckshop workers and volunteers on Tuckshop  Day, Friday 3 November 2023. 

Please see the attached fact sheet that contains information about acknowledging and thanking our tuckshop workers and volunteers, becoming a school volunteer and smart healthy food and drink choices

Tuckshop Day (education.qld.gov.au)

Grandparent’s Day

Grandparents Day is a chance for grandchildren, children and the community to thank grandparents for their love and support.

Celebrated annually in Queensland on the last Sunday in October, Grandparents Day recognises the significant contribution that grandparents make to their families and communities.

Grandparents Day | Seniors | Queensland Government (www.qld.gov.au)

At Calliope State School we will be celebrating Grandparent’s Day on Monday, 30 October.  Grandparents are invited to a fun morning with us.

9:10 – 9:30 School Choir 

9:30 – 10:00 Morning Tea

10:00 – 11:00 Classroom Activities

11:00 – 11:30 Picnic Lunch on the lawn

2024 Planning

Planning for classes in 2024 begins early in Term 4.  Our first step finalise our anticipated enrolments for 2024.  If you know of families considering Calliope State School in 2024, please encourage them to contact Administration as soon as possible.  Any family who has a Prep student commencing in 2024 is encouraged to contact Administration now to ensure a smooth transition to school. If your family intends on leaving our school next year, could you please notify Administration so that this planning can be as accurate as possible. 

Safety for our students – school gates

A gentle reminder that the gates are shut at 9.10am for the safety of our students. 

Please if you are entering the school grounds ensure you shut the gate behind you and don’t leave it open.

Dress Code

 Student Code of Conduct

Each week I focus on an aspect of Calliope’s Student Code of Conduct.  This week the focus will continue to be on Appropriate use of social media.

Is it appropriate to comment or post about schools, staff or students?

 Parental and community feedback is important for schools and the department.  If you have a compliment, complaint or enquiry about an issue at school, the best approach is to speak directly to the school about the matter, rather than discussing it in a public forum.

 While many schools use social media to update parents of school notices, the department prefers that parents contact schools directly with a compliment, complaint or enquiry due to privacy considerations.  Imagine if your doctor, accountant or banking institution tried to contact you to discuss important matters via Facebook.

 If you have raised an issue with a school or know that another person has, consider refraining from discussing those details on social media, particularly the names of anyone involved.

 Keep comments calm and polite, just as you would over the telephone or by email.  If you encounter negative or derogatory content online which involves the school, hinders a child’s learning and/or affects the school community at large, contact the school principal.

 Possible civil or criminal ramifications of online commentary

 A serious instance of inappropriate online behaviour may constitute a criminal offence and become a police matter.  For example, online content may substantiate the offence of ‘using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence’ (Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s. 474.17).  School staff may contact their union or obtain personal legal advice if they feel that online content seriously impacts their reputation.  Defamatory online content may give rise to litigation under the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld).

 What about other people’s privacy?

 If you upload photos of your children, be mindful of who might be in the background.  You might be happy to share your child’s successes with your friends and family via social media, but some parents are not.  If you are tagging or naming students, consider that other parents may not want their child’s name attached to images online.

 What if I encounter problem content?

 Taking the following steps may help resolve the issue in a constructive way:

• refrain from responding;
• take a screen capture or print a copy of the concerning online content;
• if you consider problem content to be explicit, pornographic or exploitative of minors, you should keep a record of the URL of the page containing that content but NOT print or share it. The URL can be provided to the school principal, or police, as needed for escalation of serious concerns;
• block the offending user;
• report the content to the social media provider.

Some reminders of upcoming events from the calendar include -

Week 4 – State Education Week

25 October – Day for Daniel; wear Red

27 October – World Teacher’s Day

Week 5

30 October – Grandparent’s Picnic

3 November -Tuckshop Day

Week 6

6 November – Prep & P/1 Excursion, RotaKids Melbourne Cup activities @ first break.

Celebrate Grandparents Day on Sunday 29 October

Grandparents Day is an opportunity for Queenslanders to say “thank you” to grandparents for their care and support and for sharing their knowledge, experience and traditions with younger generations.

A child’s interactions with their grandparent are often their first interactions with an older person. High quality relationships between grandparents and young people help to create and foster positive attitudes toward ageing and older people and combat ageism.

Celebrate and thank the grandparents in your life, in person or virtually by:

• downloading and sending a free e-card
• cooking or sharing a favourite meal
• reading a book or playing a game
• talking about your family history.

For more ideas about ways to celebrate the grandparents in your life, including free downloadable resources, visit qld.gov.au/grandparentsday

Grandparents can also be primary full-time carers for their grandchildren – safeguarding family connections. More information about support available for grandparent carers can be found here: at qld.gov.au/seniors/grandparenting

 

Reminder to Parents - Please help in reminding your child/ren that all toys are to remain at home, we don't bring toys from home into the school grounds. 

If toys are brought to school, they will be sent to the office for your child/ren to collect at 3.15pm. 

 

 

Congratulations to 2A who had an amazing attendance rate for week 3. Their attendance rate was 97.89% for the Week!

Also, congratulations to the 2 classes that were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 3.

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

Hi everyone!! Can you believe it is only 2 months until Christmas?! We’re so excited to be running a Christmas raffle this term! Our very wonderful P&C member, Crystal, has secured over $8000 worth of prizes!! Tickets will be on sale from next Monday October 30^th and will cost $2.50 each or 5 for $10. Keep an eye on our Facebook page as we thank all our wonderful sponsors between now and when we draw 12 amazing prizes on parade on Friday December 1^st. Where can you buy tickets? On the QKR app, at the Tuckshop through Breakfast Club times (8:35-9:00am) to staff to parents only, at participating local businesses and at upcoming Gladstone and Calliope markets events. You can also collect a book from our school office to sell at your work place! We greatly appreciate your support in our last fundraiser for the year. All profits from our fundraisers go straight back into funding educational ventures and experiences for all of our wonderful students. How the money is spent is always discussed and decided at our monthly P&C meetings. Our next meeting is Tuesday November 14^th at 5pm.

This Friday is World Teacher Day! We would like to extend our warmest thanks to all our wonderful teachers here at Calliope SS! Our teachers play such an important role in our community and we are so grateful for the positive impacts they have on the lives of our children.

2024 Senior shirts for our current Yr5 students will soon be available to order on QKR. This will be your only chance to order for next year as there is a substantial minimum quantity for us to place orders. Shirts will be $40.00 each and orders must be submitted by close of business Thursday 23^th November. Keep an eye in your child’s school bag for a note with all the details.

We can be contacted 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.

Congratulations to our sporting champ Brooklyn who has made representative level in  two sports this year.

Brooklyn was selected in the CQ Bulls touch football team and recently played at the ‘Door Dash’ National Touch Championships on the Sunshine Coast. Brooklyn also was selected in the 2024 Capricorn Star Netball Squad.

What a champion!  

Toy World Cup this year was once again an epic event. Calliope teams took the fields, excited and nervous. Our students demonstrated sportsmanship and class as well as great skill. It was a round robin of hard fought matches, with us victorious, drawing and unfortunately some losses. We were Calliope Cool Kids in all ways and made the school proud.

We would like to send a special thank you to all of the parents who withstood the heat to come and support and a massive thank you to Alex who took the boys team. What an awesome group of young sports men and women we have at our school.