Calliope State School eNewsletter

2024 Week 4 or Term 4, Week 11 (December 9 to 13)

I have a very important message to all families, especially to all those families who are organising travel at the end of the school year.

Explanation
Every 6 – 7 years, our school academic calendar requires a recalibration and in doing so we have an extra week added to the school year. Normally we have 10 weeks of learning per term, amounting to 40 weeks for the year. This year we have 41 weeks in the academic calendar. This is being resolved in 2024 by making Term 4 and 11-week term. This year, while our academic school year finishes on Friday 6^th December, there is one more gazetted week that our gates will be open. This is what is being called Week 41 (or Week 11 of Term 4).

Resolution
In Term 4, beginning on Monday 30^th September, the Department of Education has given permission for all schools to continue with the 10-week academic term FOLLOWED by a week of supervision of flexible programs not directly connected to the Australian Curriculum. Therefore, all school learning, programs and events will be completed by Friday 6^th December. In this school, that means by Friday 6^th December, we will have completed:

All learning necessary for the year
All ceremonies (e.g., Year 6 Graduation, End of Term Parades and Open Classrooms)
All prep and high school transition days
Allocation of 2025 classes and classroom transition activities

Report Cards will be sent home via email on Thursday 12^th December.

Therefore, in Week 11, from Monday 9^th December, any students still attending school will be involved in supervised alternative activities and not their regular class-based programs. It should be noted:

Students may not necessarily be supervised by their regular teacher
Students will be combined into diverse groups varying ages depending on the students who are present at school
There will be no formal learning of the Australian Curriculum
Activities will comprise of tasks that a multitude of age groups can participate in
Groups of teachers will be taken offline to work on deep planning and preparations for 2025 in line with the Australian Curriculum
Uniform is still expected to be worn each day

Day for Daniel – Wednesday 23^rd October

https://danielmorcombe.com.au/day-for-daniel/

Australia’s Largest Child Safety education and awareness day – a day to Wear Red, Educate and Donate.

We encourage all students to wear red and bring in a gold coin donation towards the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

World Teacher’s Day – Friday 25^th October

World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the immense effort and dedication that teachers put into their work.

We’ve put together some fun ways you and your children can join in the celebrations and make it a day to remember for your teachers.

https://worldteachersday.edu.au/

Grandparent's Morning – Friday 1 November

Grandparent's 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, Grandparent's Day recognises the significant contribution that grandparents make to their families and communities.

https://www.dcssds.qld.gov.au/our-work/seniors/grandparents-day

At Calliope State School we will be celebrating Grandparent’s Day on Friday, November 1. Grandparents are invited to a fun morning with us.

9:10 – 10am - Parade

10:00 – 11:00 - Morning Tea for grandparents only and then Classroom Visits and Activities

11:00 – 11:30 - Picnic Lunch on the lawn
Grandparents are invited to bring their own lunch to share with their grandchildren.

Mana Incursion – Tuesday 5 November

Mana – The Spirit of Polynesia incursion is being held in our school hall on 5 November.
Mana – The Spirit of Polynesia embodies dance, music, multicultural themes, history, geography and the importance of learning about heritage and the power of self-belief and respect. Our wonderful P and C have fully funded this performance for all students (Prep to Year 6). You will receive information about the incursion and the consent form on QParents. If you require support with QParents, please see our friendly Administration staff.

Prep Enrolments 2025

Prep Enrolments for 2025 are now open!

Enrolment packs are available from the school office. If you haven’t already booked in a time, please book one as soon as possible through our school office.

Intentions for 2025

If you are intending on leaving Calliope State School in 2025, please let our friendly office staff know, as we are in the planning stages of our classes for next year. Please email our office staff at admin@calliopess.eq.edu.au

Planning for classes in 2025 begins early in Term 4. Our first step is to finalise our anticipated enrolments for 2025. If you know of families considering Calliope State School in 2025, please encourage them to contact Administration as soon as possible. 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.

2025 Class Placement Request Forms

Use this form if you have any issue/s influencing your child’s learning that may impact on class placement decisions for 2025. Teacher requests will not be taken into consideration. The form can either be collected from the office or email admin@calliopess.eq.edu.au to request a form. Please place the form in an envelope marked “CONFIDENTIAL to the Principal.” Forms need to be returned by Friday 25^th October at 3:15pm. Please note that forms received after this date will not be processed.

Swooping Birds

Spring is breeding season for birds, and some species are quite protective parents!

We currently have some resident magpies outside of the school grounds and some plovers in the out-of-bounds area on the back oval. Students are reminded that they are to stay away from these areas and not to do anything that would provoke a response from these birds.

Uniforms

Just a reminder about our Calliope State School Uniform Policy. It is an expectation that all students enrolled at our school adhere to this policy, that has been collaboratively designed with our Calliope State School P and C Committee.

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2024

Calliope RSL Sub Branch will conduct a Remembrance Day service at the Calliope Cenotaph beside the RSL Hall, Stirrat Street, Calliope on Monday11^th November 2024. The service will commence at 10.30am and conclude at 11.15am. Veterans, returned and serving service members, community representatives and members of the public are cordially invited to attend the service and may lay a wreath if they wish. Complimentary cold bottled water and soft drinks will be available for service attendees.

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

konnichiwa

Japanese culture is fascinating and is seamlessly woven into classes. Steeped in traditional culture and modern technology, Japan is an exciting and culturally diverse country with famous landmarks such as Mt Fuji and the Golden Pavilion, and traditions including Japanese tea ceremony, calligraphy and sumo.

By participating in Japanese language and cultural activities, students experience the rich diversity of the Japanese language and culture through their study of Japan.

Last Friday, October 18th, Calliope State School participated in the Primary School Touch Football Gala Day. It was an enjoyable day filled with games, and the sportsmanship shown by our two teams was truly great to see. We are grateful for the support of everyone who came to cheer us on.

RotaKids are holding a free dress day on Thursday 7 November. The theme is ‘Rainbow Colours’. Students wearing free dress are asked to bring a gold coin donation and all funds raised will be going to the Calliope Scout group.

Our combined classes have taken it upon themselves to create their own style of a good newsletter/gratitude notes. I created a mini version for them and they present them like a good newsletter. This began when we did gratitude notes last term in TRP. We just thought we'd share.

Join us for a day of fun and celebration of our 5th Birthday at our Community Family Fun Day ??

? Saturday, 26th October

? Calliope Rodeo Grounds

? 9 AM – 1 PM

✨ FREE ENTRY ✨

Bring the whole family along for an exciting day packed with free kids' activities and entertainment!

? Face painting & henna tattoo

? Petting zoo with farm animals

? Inflatable obstacle course

? Craft activities

? Free sausage sizzle

?️ Food & Coffee vans

? Emergency service vehicles

Plus, a special character appearance for the little ones and local services will be available to connect with on the day.

Sign in at the gates and join in on the fun! We can't wait to see you there ?

Prep Open Afternoons

Children enrolled to attend Prep at Calliope State School in 2025 are invited to attend an Open Afternoon at the school with a parent. You are welcome to come along on Friday 22 November or Friday 29 November from 2.00-3.00pm. Please contact the school to book in.

The School Dental Van has arrived. If you wish for your child to see the School Dental staff, please complete a Dental Form which can be found in the office, on the school's website or by clicking the QR Code in the attachment.

If you have urgent bookings or would like to make a booking, you are welcome to call 49207556.

QR_code_GLADSTONE.pdf

Please see attached a form to update student details. If you require your child details to be updated please complete and return to the office.

CSS_Update_Student_Details_Form.pdf

Have you registered for Qparents Yet?

Our consent forms are now going online to Qparents. It's important to register now!

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.
Payment history.
Online consent management.

The student information displayed in QParents is surfacing information that is already recorded and managed in OneSchool. 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.

Please see attached Calliope State School book list for 2025. There has been a slight change to the original list communicated. The only change is the reduction in the amount of A4 Botany Book 18mm ruled for Prep. Thankyou

2025_booklist_.pdf

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.

This year Helping Hands is running a Christmas Food Drive, collecting donations for Roseberry Hub Gladstone.

2024 CALLIOPE STATE SCHOOL P&C ASSOCIATION

PIZZA DAY

The dates for this term’s Pizza Days are as follows:

Prep – Year 3 on Monday, 11 November 2024

(including the Year2/3 class)

Years 4 – 6 on Monday, 18 November 2024

Please ensure that all orders are placed on QKR. There are no paper orders.

ORDERS CLOSE, FRIDAY 25 October 2024 @ 3.15pm

We cannot accept late orders.

Many Thanks

Calliope State School P&C Association