Calliope State School eNewsletter

Teacher Aide Week

This week is Australian Teacher Aide Appreciation Week.

We would like to thank our wonderful teacher aides – we value and appreciate everything you do for our students and for our whole school.

Road Safety Week

Last week was Queensland Road Safety Week. A big thank you to our wonderful staff and Queensland Police Officers who supported these activities.

R U Ok? Day – September 12

Ask R U OK? Any Day!

September 12 is the National Day of Action and we encourage you to Ask R U OK? Any Day of the year – because a conversation could change a life.

Students are encouraged to wear yellow on Thursday September 12^th to raise awareness for this cause.

Prep Enrolments 2025

Prep Enrolments for 2025 are now open!

Enrolment packs are available from the school office.

End of Term Parade

Our End of Term 3 Parade will be held on Friday September 13.

All parents and caregivers are invited to share this special parade with us.

Classrooms will be open after parade for parents and caregivers to see the amazing learning our students have been doing.

We also invite you to bring your picnic lunch and rug to have lunch time with your child/ren.

Dates to Remember -

Wednesday 4 September	Teacher Aide Day
Thursday 5 September	Prep-Yr2 PBL Celebration Teddy Bear Picnic
Tuesday 10 September	P&C Meeting
Wednesday 11 September	Yr3-6 PBL Celebration -Obstacle Course
Thursday 12 September	R U OK Day - Wear Yellow
Friday 13 September	End of Term Parade & Open Classroom

Parents, we have seen a lot of students attending Calliope State School, wanting to borrow spare hats. Could we ask that you speak with your child around using their hat and when finished placing it in their bags so the hat doesn't get lost. Could you also check that your child has a named hat for school. Thankyou with your help in this matter.

CSS_Student_Dress_Code_.pdf

CSS_Student_Dress_Code pdf 293.63 KB

If you have a child enrolling in Prep at Calliope State School in 2025, we are running an additional information session for parents on Thursday 3 October at 9.15am.

This will be a repeat of the information session run earlier this term. Please see details on the flyer and contact the office if you would like to attend.

Prep_Info_Session_Flyer_October.pdf

Congratulations to 3A who had an amazing attendance rate for Week 8. Their attendance rate was 96.42% for the week!

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

1B have had a busy Term 3, both inside and outside the classroom. In English we have been travelling around the
world learning about different countries and finding lots of fascinating facts along the way. We have been writing
sentences about the cool places we visit and even needed a passport to get on the plane for our trip. During Maths
we have been learning about measurement and took on the challenge of finding different ways to measure some
really big things! Outside of our learning space we have also been getting involved in the fun of Book Week, coming
dressed as lots of our favourite characters.

PBL Lesson this week

We are focusing on strategies that support us to de-escalate. Many strategies have been discussed; for example meditating, deep breathing, yoga, colouring etc.

Gem Chat

What is mindfulness? Sometimes things can be TOO exciting and make your head spin! Slowing down and taking big breaths can help a lot.

The Imperfects Podcast

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

Have you ever felt excluded? Or like you don’t belong? It turns out that belonging is a fundamental human need. To thrive, we need to feel safe, we need to feel welcome, but very importantly, we need to know the tribe has our back.

In this Academy of Imperfection, Hugh, Ryan and Josh chat to founder of Good Human, Rana Hussain. Rana is a host of The Outer Sanctum podcast, a board

member of Reconciliation Australia and consultant to a plethora of elite sporting clubs on bettering their diversity and inclusion strategies.

In this episode, she shares how to get curious in a respectful way, why listening is everything and how to live a life true to your identity. Ohh and there’s a pretty incredible love story in the ep as well!

Rana, it was an absolute joy, and you definitely left us better than you found us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sm17cBXrdo

Positive Behaviour Comparison Data

Action Type	End of Term 3 2023	End of Week 8 Term 3 2024
Positive Behaviour	836 positive Behaviour records	405 positive Behaviour records
-Awards (Teacher Aide Certificate, Cool Kid Certificate, Classroom Cool Kid, Principal’s Award)	295 awards	170 awards
-Good News Letter	32 letters	83 letters
-Contact Home (Positive email home, positive phone call home, e-postcard)	60 contacts home	22 contacts home

Hi Families,

Not long now until we all can enjoy some deserved family time over the school holidays.

The P&C would like to give a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers and organisers who helped with this year’s Father’s Day stall. It was great to see so many smiling faces and excited children selecting their special gifts for their loved ones. The day was a success, and we appreciate your involvement.

We hope all our Dads, Step-dads, Grandad’s, Uncles and role models had a very special day!

Senior Shirts

Information on how to order will be sent home to the Year 5 families this week. If you have any questions at all, please email the Uniform Coordinator at uniformshop.calliopess@gmail.com

Uniform Shop

We are urgently seeking volunteers to help pack orders weekly/fortnightly on a Friday for 1 hour (8:30-9am). If you are available and have completed your mandatory training, please email uniformshop.calliope@gmail.com

New school hats have arrived! These will be available for sale soon…. Watch this space. The old hats are still available while stocks last.

Next P&C Meeting

Our next P&C meeting will be next Tuesday September 10^th at 5:00pm in the Administration building. Even though Term 3 is coming to an end, there is still so much going on around the school next term and even beyond into next year!

There are many ways to get involved and coming along to a meeting doesn’t mean you need to become a member or leave with a job to do. Sticky beaking is welcomed and if you want to find out any specifics on what the P&C is up to or how we spend fundraising money; all this is discussed at meetings.

Our treasurer gives a report at every meeting that provides all the details about funds in and out! If you would like a vote on how we spend and allocate fundraising money, we would love to have you come along to a meeting and fill out a membership form.

Our objective is to continue this great work and keep kicking goals in all areas of strategic planning, fundraising, school improvements and community engagement. We would genuinely love to hear from the school community with any thoughts or ideas you have on how we can all work together to keep making progress in these areas. You can contact us on communication.calliopess@gmail.com for our Communication Officer or pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au for our Executive team.

Warm Regards

Geoff, Jason, Angela & Lisa

ATTENTION ALL SUPER BOYS & GIRLS!! It’s National SUPER HERO Week

National Super Hero Week is celebrated from the 2nd - 8th of September, So dust off those capes and join us at our Calliope Playgroup this Thursday!

Date: 5th September

Time: 9:15am - 11:15am

Location: Calliope SS in the instrumental music building & prep outside play area

Take a look this weeks fun activities for everyone to enjoy:

Show off your Super Powers on our Super Obstacle Course
Make your own Super Hero mask
Spider-web Painting
Make your own mini Super Hero
Water, Messy & Sticky Sensory Activities
Rescue the animals - Can you save them?
Group Story Time
Music Time with Singing & Dancing and MORE
We also supply a free morning tea for all attending

Our friendly facilitators are dedicated to creating a safe and inclusive environment where all families feel welcome and supported. Keep an eye out for them in the ‘Be Kind’ shirts and always reach out if in need.

No registration required | We will sign you in upon arrival.

Make your next refund count/We will sign you in upon arrival.

Make your next refund count

Support Strong Communities with Containers for Change QLD

Did you know you can turn your next Containers for Change refund into a gift that keeps on giving? By donating your refund, you'll help us continue providing services to children, families, and our community.

Here's how you can make a difference:

Collect eligible containers: Gather your eligible bottles, cans, and containers that you’d usually recycle.
Take them to a return point: Find your nearest Containers for Change collection point in Queensland.
Use our Member Number: In person, when you return your containers, quote or scan our member number C11487776 to donate.

Create or log in to your containers for change account, set your preferred payment method to 'a good cause' and search for us under registered charities. Then use your own member number when returning and your refund will be donated to us.

Feel Good: Your refund will be directly donated to support the programs and services that uplift our community.

Every container counts, and with your help, we can continue to provide the support to local children, families, and the community

Thank you for your generosity and commitment to making a positive impact

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.
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.

QParents

QParents is a secure, online portal that is free for all Queensland state schools to use and provides parents with quick, easy access to their student information including:

student and parent contact details
attendance details
report cards – all report cards (past & present) are available to view and upload
invoices and payment history
Online consent management

The student information displayed in QParents is surfacing information that is already recorded and managed in One School. The benefits of using QParents for schools and parents include:

a faster, more efficient way to communicate with parents regarding student information
a secure, convenient and automated process for parents to pay school invoices
significant time and effort savings for both your school and parent community
an innovative online communication tool that’s free of charge for both schools and parents to use.

How do I register for QParents?

You will be sent an email inviting you to register for QParents. You will then be able to register via the secure QParents website: qparents.qld.edu.au using the unique invitation code contained in the email. You will require each child’s unique EQ ID and you must verify your identity by providing 100 points of identification. If you cannot verify your identity online, you should contact your child’s school for assistance. The school will review your registration and approve your account. You will then be able to access the QParents app.

Please note: if you have not received the QParents invitation email, please send correspondence through to admin@calliopess.eq.edu.au with your full name, student/s full name & DOB to request your QParents invitation.

Did you know that you can apply for an exemption for your student if they are needing to take leave from school for a period of more than 10 consecutive school days for an exceptional circumstance?

Please read the attached information sheet below for more information relating to this. The exemption form is also attached. These forms are also printed and available from the office.

If you are wanting to apply for an exemption, you will need to complete the form and have a discussion with your classroom teacher or organise a meeting with the Deputy Principal of the year level your student is in. You can do this by phoning the school office. They will then discuss the exemption with you and make the decision as to whether the exemption will be approved or not.

Exemption Form Policy Information

CalliopeSS_Exemption_Form_2024_Application_for_exemption_for_a_child_or_young_person_enrolled_in_a_queensland_state_school.pdf

CalliopeSS_Exemption_Form_2024_Application_for_exemption_for_a_child_or_young_person_enrolled_in_a_queensland_state_school _pdf 149.32 KB

Info_Session_Yr7_2025.pdf

Navigating the online world with our kids can be super tough for parents. Knowing what apps are appropriate, managing screen time, and addressing the issues that come with social media use can be complex to say the least. Schools and families play a collaborative role in ensuring that kids can access the internet in a safe and healthy way. Below are some top tips from Rebecca Sparrow, who works with students, schools and is a member of the Queensland Government’s Anti-Bullying Taskforce.

BEFORE YOU HIT SEND – SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS FOR PARENTS

By: Rebecca Sparrow

STEP 1. BASIC ONLINE DO’S & DONT’S

Don’t use your child’s photo or real name when setting up apps or certain social media accounts.
Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know in real life.
Don’t agree to meet up with people you don’t know in real life.
Don’t chat to randoms online – even if you think they’re kids. Social media and gaming apps are stalked by adult predators looking for children to groom.
Don’t give out your address, school or phone number online to anyone. And don’t share your passwords!
Most importantly – check the privacy settingson the platform or app you are using (see tips below)
Follow Susan McLean– Cyber Safety Expert, Dr Kirsty Goodwin – Cyber Safety Expert and Code9 Parent on Facebook to get regular updates on the latest dangerous and dodgy apps and safety tips for your tech devices.

STEP 2. SECURE YOUR DEVICES

You want to stop strangers from finding out where you live, work or go to school which they can easily do from the photos and videos you post. Turn off Geo-Tagging on your camera. Otherwise, geographical information is added in the form of metadata to photos, videos, SMS, websites. Go to LOCATION SERVICES and turn it off for your camera and any apps that don’t need it.
TURN OFF Frequent Locationswhich can tell anyone who picks up your phone where you live.
If your device gets stolen or your friends decide to play a prank by hacking your account you want to be able to stop them from accessing your device! Have a pin number on all your devices. And don’t tell your friends your pin numbers or log in details.
Again to stop people accessing your accounts – set up Two-Step Verification On Accounts: Facebook: Account > Settings > Security > Login Approvals Apple Google Twitter
Set up restricted viewing on Google, YouTube, your Mac or PC.
For younger kids (10 and under) Use YouTube Kids, Kiddleor Safe Search Kids (powered by Google). Remember: no amount of net filtering replaces parent supervision!

USEFUL LINKS

Social Media Platform Safety Centres: FULL LIST of contacts

FACEBOOK: Basic Privacy Settings and How Can I See What My Facebook Profile Looks Like To Other People? YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

INSTAGRAM: Privacy & Safety Tips for Instagram

SAFE SEARCH ENGINES FOR KIDS: YouTube Kids, Kiddle, Safe Search Kids

Who’s Chatting to Your Kids?: https://www.police.qld.gov.au/policelink-reporting/reporting-cybercrime/children-and-the-internet/whos-chatting-to-your-kids

The advantages of helping kids navigate the digital world – The Atlantic

15 Useful iPhone Hacks including setting ‘Do Not Disturb’ on your phone so you can’t receive messages while you’re studying

More iPhone hacks including getting more storage

How to save data on your iPhone: the small hack that can make a difference to your data use.

USEFUL APPS

HELP ME The Denise and Bruce Morcombe Safety App. Download this app for 99cents and any person can call for help at the push of a button. “The ‘Help Me’ button sounds a warning and allows you to send off an SMS text to two (2) nominated ‘safety’ numbers, as part of your Trusted Safety Network. Included in the text are GPS co-ordinates from where the text was sent, so the sender can be located or a last known place of contact is indicated.”

OurPact Free parental control app that limits screen time and access to apps and sites.

Colour Therapy Popular free colouring-in app

Canvsly: a clever app to help you digitally store your children’s artwork

YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

Set up a Google Alert for your name and email address so you can keep track about what’s said about you on-line.

The resume is dead: your next click might determine your next job – The Guardian

Your digital footprint matters – Huffington Post

CYBERBULLYING

The most important thing to remember if you are being cyberbullied is that you’re not alone and there are adults who can help you.

Keep evidence of the bullying (save emails, take screenshots of messages or posts), delete and block the bully and report the problem to the Safety Centre of the platform or app (you can find a full list here). And most importantly tell an adult you trust. And keep telling adults until someone does something to help you.

Office of the eSafety Commissioner

How To Take A Screenshot On Any Device

Report Cyberbullying: Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner

Legal Aid Queensland: Laws surrounding cyber-bullying and what to do about it.

The National Children’s and Youth Law Centre, can provide free legal advice for anyone under 18, or anyone acting on their behalf.

Bullying No Way website for kids, teens, parents and teachers

HOUSEHOLD INTERNET AGREEMENT / PARENTAL CONTROL APPS

FREE OurPact parental control app that limits screen time by blocking internet and app access.

How To Find Hidden Apps on Your Child’s Phone

RESOURCES FOR YOUR TEEN WHEN THEY NEED HELP

ReachOut

Headspace: National youth mental health foundation