Welcome back to Term 3.  Welcome to all our new families joining us this term.  We have a busy term ahead of us as we celebrate, acknowledge and participate in various activities including NAIDOC week, CQ Shield, RotaKid projects, Road Safety Week, Book Week, and Eisteddfod plus many more.  This week we acknowledged NAIDOC Week with several activities occurring during the week for our students.  The 2024 theme for NAIDOC week is Keep the fire burning! Blak, Loud and Proud.  NAIDOC week is celebrated from 7 -14 July in 2024. 

2024 NAIDOC week theme - 'Keep the fire burning! Blak, loud and proud' | NAIDOC

This Friday we also celebrate 100 days of learning for our Prep students. We look forward to seeing them dressed up on Friday as their 100 year old selves. Congratulations on your fabulous learning journey so far.

 In the last week of Term 2 we brought the Resilience Project to our community.  Thank you to all families who attended.  It was a wonderful time to celebrate as a community how we can be resilient and use the strategies incorporated in GEM to be happy with ourselves and our community.  As discussed, the P&C have purchased family journals.  Each family will receive a journal.  Stay posted for more news on your journal.

https://theresilienceproject.com.au/

School Opinion Survey

This term all state schools across Queensland participate in the School Opinion Survey.  The suite of School Opinion Surveys is undertaken each year by the Department of Education to obtain opinions about our school from families, school staff and students in target year levels – year 5 and 6. The surveys will help identify what we are doing well, and understand where we can improve. The survey invitation will be emailed in the week beginning 15 July and is titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2024.

Each school family will receive one email invitation from the Department of Education to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey. The survey is anonymous, and the results are reported in ways that an individual’s response cannot be identified by the school.

Parents/Caregivers are encouraged to complete the survey. The survey can be completed via computers, tablets or smart phones with an internet connection.

For Parents/Caregivers who do not have access to the internet school computers/tablets will be available. Parents/caregivers who experience difficulties accessing the survey can request a new survey from the School Opinion Survey team via email schoolopinionsurvey@qed.qld.gov.au.

It’s important that as many parents/caregivers as possible complete the survey, so we would appreciate if members of this committee would raise awareness of this survey with other parents and caregivers.

Can’t find your invitation? If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder.

 The survey will close on 16 August.

Whats Happening in July at Calliope State School

Important Dates

12 July - 100 Years of Prep (Prep Students can dress up)

15 July - CQ Regional Shield (Netball and Rugby League)

16 July - CQ Regional Shields (Netball and Rugby League)

16 July - P&C Meeting (5pm at the office) - Everyone Welcome

29 July - Rotakids Badge Presentation on Parade and Lockdown Drill

23 July - 24 July - PCS Athletics

29 July - 2025 Prep Information Session and Walk through. Session 1 @ 9.15am, Followed by Session 2 @ 5pm. Walk through tour @ 4.30pm. 

Port to Park 2024

 Ready, Set, Go! 

 Join us in Gladstone for CQ’s BIGGEST Fun Run, Port to Park!!

 This year will be BIGGER and BETTER than ever, with Olympic Gold Medalist, Sally Pearson back on board as our official Port to Park Ambassador.

 Register now for the 10km Koongo Dash, the NEW 5km Koommonka Sprint and the 3km Yallarm Family Run!

 Make sure you register for Calliope State School and we will benefit from your registration.

 Register today @ gpcl.com.au/community/port-to-park/

Parent Interviews – Term 3

Our second round of parent interviews will be held on Tuesday 23 July (Week 3) from 3.30pm in the hall. A letter will be forwarded to parents from class teachers this week to book in a time. This is a great time to discuss Semester 1 reports.

Prep Enrolment for 2025

Prep Vision Screening

The School Health Nurse will be visiting Calliope State School on Tuesday 27 August and Wednesday 28 August to conduct the Prep Vision Screening. Online consent form information has been emailed home to parents. Paper consent forms are available from the class teacher or school office. Paper forms are due back to the office by Friday 2 August.

We are focusing on classroom and school expectations. Students will be discussing their current classroom rules and adjusting as needed. An activity at home could be to discuss with your child what are their classroom rules, do they have a classroom rule they need to work on for this term and what strategies could help them with this rule.

Gem Chat

When do you feel the happiest? Where are you? Who are you with? Why do you feel your happiest? Discuss these topics as a Gem Chat this week focusing on Emotional Literacy.

The Imperfects Podcast

Follow the link to watch The Imperfects Podcast on The Resilience Project Website -  https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/ 

This week we heard from Poh Ling Yeow who talks about When the Relationship Ends. Have you ever made a really bad decision? Made a call that you couldn’t undo? It’s a fear for many, and for others, living with the reality of a ‘roll of the dice’ gone wrong, is cause for great sadness, and discomfort. But, there is wisdom in mistakes. And for Poh Ling Yeow, learning to own her bad decisions, meant she could move forward with empathy and acceptance. A skill she’s honed through a life of ‘magooing’ to her way onto our screens through Master Chef, into our kitchens through cookbooks, and very much into our hearts. (Ref. Mr. Magoo).

https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/season-6-episode-34-poh-ling-yeow/

Throughout 2024, we will be working closely with The Resilience Project to support the wellbeing of our school community.

The Resilience Project delivers emotionally engaging programs and provides evidence-based, practical strategies to build resilience.

Part 2 Video of the Resilience Project Parent and Carer video series will be sent via SMS this afternoon.  

 The videos are 5-10 minutes long and will walk through the key pillars of resilience: Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness. You’ll hear stories and be introduced to activities to show how these strategies can support our kids' learning and development, and also support you as parents and carers.

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

All motorists must follow School Crossing Supervisors directions at open school crossings (children crossing flags have been placed in the poles on either side of the road at crossings).

The rule is clear and is like any situation where a pedestrian is crossing a road; whether it is at signals, a pedestrian crossing or a children's crossing; the vehicle must wait until all pedestrians and the crossing supervisors are off the roadway before proceeding.

Do not stop or rest in designated No Stopping areas, this makes it difficult for School Crossing Supervisors to view approaching traffic.

This is a timely reminder for motorists to take extra caution when driving and stopping in school zones and for parents and caregivers to ensure your children are aware of the relevant road safety rules.

At the end of the day, we want everyone to get home safely.

For more information on road safety visit the StreetSmarts website https://streetsmarts.initiatives.qld.gov.au/ or contact the Department of Transport and Main Roads on (07) 4931 1656 and ask to speak to your local Road Safety Officer.