As Term 2 draws to a close, it will be one to remember! As the Principal of Calliope State School, I am proud of how our entire Calliope school community has come together to support each other during this difficult time in our world.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to our parents, students and staff for the way that everyone has evolved with the changes to learning and school operations. Learning at Home was a first, with our students, parents and school staff all rising to the challenge!

I would like acknowledge the school staff who regardless of their positions in the school have gone above and beyond to support our students and community with these adjusted conditions.

The holidays will be well deserved for all.

School Operations                       

As the restrictions across Queensland continue to ease in line with the ‘Roadmap’ so will some of the school operating procedures that have been put in place.

At the time of writing this week's newsletter and the emerging situation in other states, our current arrangements will remain in place for the first two weeks of Term Three.  This will give us adequate time during the first two weeks to review the national situation, as well as our local arrangements.

• This means access to the school site will remain restricted to staff and students.  This is particularly important in relation to maintaining the safety and wellbeing of staff and students. 
• Pick up and drop off arrangements will continue in their current form.
• Term Three is the flu and cold season and the wellbeing and health of our staff is paramount at this time also. If students or staff are unwell, they are to remain home or away.  This is based on the current guidelines and advice from Queensland Health.
• Parents and caregivers who need to access the site are to do so through the front administration gate and come to the front office window, where our office staff will assist.
• Parades will remain virtual until further notice, to ensure that our staff are able to observe physical distancing requirements.
• We will continue to encourage hygiene practices such as washing hands with soap and having hand sanitiser available for use.  If students have allergies, parents are to advise their child's teacher.  Additional cleaning during the day will take place to high frequency touch point surfaces such as handles, light switches, desks, toilets, taps and sinks.
• Students should be arriving close to the commencement of the day at 9am and not before 8.15am, as NO supervision is provided.  Please make alternative arrangements if your work commences before this.
• School Banking will not resume.

  With some revised processes in place we look forward to the return of:

• Instrumental bands, choir, extra curricular activities and some regional sporting events. More information about these will be shared next term.

We thank everyone for your continued understanding of this, as the health and safety of all remains our number one priority.

Under 8s Day

With smaller groupings, our P-2 students are celebrating Under 8s activities this week. Thank you to the year level staff for arranging their exciting events.

2020 School Opinion Survey and Schooling During COVID-19 Survey

Parents and Caregivers are invited to participate in this year’s School Opinion Survey and have a say about schooling during the COVID-19 lockdown.  You are also given the opportunity to provide feedback about our school more generally. Remember that when answering the questions, it is about the 2020 school year.

Participation in the survey is anonymous and you are encouraged to take this opportunity to have your say.  The survey form has been designed so that it can easily be completed on a computer or smartphone. The online survey will be available until Friday, 17 July 2020, and should take less than five minutes to complete.

To access the survey, please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:

Parent survey – https://survey.qed.qld.gov.au/form/Parents-HaveYourSay

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the survey.

P&C Meeting

A short meeting of the P&C will be held on Thursday at 2:30pm. If you would like to attend, please notify pandc@calliopess.eq.edu.au in advance.

A big thank you to all who have purchased cookies, in the cookie dough fundraiser!

Holiday Travel

Please ensure that you follow all directions issued by Queensland Health regarding holiday travel, particularly if you are ‘crossing the borders’. There are several declared ‘hot spots’ in other states with mandatory quarantine requirements now in place. To stay up to date with health warnings you can go to https://www.health.qld.gov.au/

 School Watch

With the school holidays commencing on Friday, we ask all of our community to keep watch on our beautiful school and report any concerns to School Watch on 13 17 88 or police.

Have a safe and relaxing break with your families and we look forward to welcoming students back on Monday 13 July.

Regards 

Mark Wright 

Principal

Sadly, we had a very quiet run on the PE front in Term 2. I was very happy to get the students back into PE lessons half way through this term and we have been enjoying lots of sport and games in each year level. Here is what we have been up to in Term 2:

Prep have been practising their catching and throwing skills in ball games.

Year One have been practising their dodging skills in tag games.

Year Two have been building up their strength and having fun with the scooter boards.

Years Three to Six have been refining their skills and participating in the athletic activities of running, jumping (high and long jump) and throwing (shot-put and discus).

Even though we were unable to hold an Athletics Carnival this year, we have still had fun, practised our technique, and had a bit of friendly competition in year levels. Below are some of our Athletic Stars for our competition during lessons.

Week 8

Congratulations to 6B who had a great attendance rate for Week 8. Their attendance rate was 97% for the week! Also congratulations to the three classes which were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 8. 

Week 9

Congratulations to 3B who had a great attendance rate for Week 9. Their attendance rate was 96% for the week! Also congratulations to the nine classes which were at or above our school attendance target of 94% for Week 9. Remember, every day you are away is a learning day lost.

Week 10 is here and the Positive Behaviour for Learning lesson this week is: Responsible – Celebrating Success. It’s been a huge term and there are lots of things to celebrate, which is why it’s important that we take time to actually look at how far we have come and to take pride in our accomplishments. At school, as in life, you don’t always have to be the best, you just have to do your best and somethings we can celebrate include:

• If we have improved a grade, even if it’s going from a C- to a C it’s still progress;
• If we have had less BRR’s this term, or less Buddy Room referrals;
• If we have received more Cool Coins and stamps on our Stamp Chart; or,
• If we have improved our handwriting, our spelling, or even our bookwork.

Please take a moment to ask you child about where they have progressed this term and share in their celebration.

Fantastic Fun Friday was on last Friday in classrooms across the school. Each class experienced a different reward for their group effort and you can see some of their activities below. Well done in particular to Mrs Sellin who took her class to Movie World, Sea World and Dreamworld all in one session!

Reminder that Calliope News is on Facebook every Tuesday at 9.00am. Please like and share it.

Thanks.

Brian Rowe

Student Welfare Teacher

Each year the University of NSW conducts assessment tasks (competitions) for children across the South Pacific in a variety of subjects. The objective of these competitions is to help parents gauge the progress of their child against children in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. These competitions are not compulsory, but are open to families willing to pay the cost to have their child participate in the task.

There are a variety of competitions to enter. Parents can enter their children in as many of these as they choose. We encourage parents to talk to their children to consider taking on this challenge. Children should consider tackling the subjects they demonstrate confidence in. eg: if they’re good spellers, try the spelling competition. We will be offering the competition to students in years 2-6. All tasks are online.

Once again our P and C is recognising the achievements of students in last year’s testing by sponsoring the cost of those students in the tests that they were successful in. Those students receiving this sponsorship were emailed their letters last week.

Any other students who would like to complete an ICAS test will require entry/permission forms. All forms are to be emailed home and emailed back to school for 2020. If forms are required, please email Kylie Kettle at kkett3@eq.edu.au for them.

Payment is required by Friday 3 August

Week 10 already and what a term it has been. One for the record books, that is for sure! Again, we want to say a huge, sincere thank you to all of the awesome staff at Calliope State School. The teaching, leadership, cleaning, organisation and support to parents this term has been ACE and we hope everyone has a restful and happy holiday. Stay safe out there and we will see you for a terrific Term 3.

Tuckshop

This week, Tuckshop will be open First and Second Breaks. The whole menu will be available at First Break and ice creams, slushies, snacks and drinks will be available at Second Break. We are still cashless, due to COVID procedures, so make sure you place all orders on the Flexischools App.

Cookie Dough Fundraiser

This fundraiser closes THIS FRIDAY, 26th of June. Orders are to be submitted through www.cookiedough.com.au please. If you haven’t registered already, there is still time! Enter the website address and search “Calliope State School” to create your ordering profile. After the ordering period closes, families will be able to order their prizes, by logging in through their online account. The prize orders are strictly due by Tuesday 30th of June. Don’t forget! :) All money raised for our P&C will be used to support our children’s learning within the school setting.

Containers for Change

Thank you to the families who donate their cans and bottles to the Containers for Change scheme. Please, if you have any of the items on the left below, feel free to put them in our can cage. All money goes back to the school to help our kids. If you prefer to take your containers in and donate the refund to the P&C, contact us to receive the P&C’s Scheme ID. See below for eligible containers.

Have a fabulously, fantastic week and an even better holiday. See you in a couple of weeks.

Your P&C Team

Tenielle, Sian, Bec & Kate