WELCOME BACK

It is hard to believe that Term 4 has dawned and we only have 10 weeks to finish the 2019 school year! We are having a very positive year, with classrooms calm and productive.

STUDENT FREE DAY

Monday 21 October is a Student Free Day. Students do not attend school on this day as staff engage in professional learning activities. Yeronga State School staff will be busy:

• reflecting on Kath Murdoch’s 10 practices of an Inquiry teacher
• reviewing concrete, pictorial and abstract representations in Maths,
• under going essential skills training in behaviour, including examining strategies that work for children with ASD, ADHD, anxiety and trauma experiences
• planning for 2020 using the School Improvement Hierarchy
  
  

EXCURSION PERMISSIONS

Recently we have received community feedback in relation to the permissions required for each school activity. The requirement for a completed permission form in addition to payment is a directive from the Department. As much as we would like to streamline the process and use payment as permission our hands are tied.

All staff involved aim to make this process as easy and time efficient as possible. We appreciate your kindness and patience when dealing with Teachers and the Office Team.  

CPL STEM STRATEGIC NETWORK

We need a reliable pipeline of specialist STEM skills; but we also need informed workers, users and consumers who have the curiosity and imagination to be part of the broader STEM economy. This must be underpinned by lifetime engagement for all Australians with STEM, beginning in childhood and constantly renewed as knowledge and technologies expand.

(Office of the Chief Scientist STEM: Australia's Future, September 2014, p21)

A strong foundation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is seen as essential for our students. Children need expertise in the individual subjects as well as opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary action. This means they participate in learning where they apply the discipline knowledge from each area to create solutions to problems or challenges. A key facet of STEM is the opportunity to use the general capabilities of critical and creative thinking and problem solving. At Yeronga State school we have been providing quality learning opportunities in the individual subject area, and have developing general capabilities through the inquiry units. We are linking with fellow CPL Network schools to share expertise and create opportunities to expand STEM in our schools. The Network is currently developing a vision and clarifying purpose to ensure sustainability moving forward. We will have a Strategic Planning session this Thursday.

2020 Enrolments

Please let us know if you are leaving Yeronga State School in 2020. This information helps us to plan staffing and class placements effectively. We appreciate your support in keeping us informed.

YEAR 5 CAMP

School camps are a brilliant time for children to learn about resilience, courage, social skills and their own capabilities. Facing new situations and new challenges continually means that children have to take risks and regularly be outside their comfort zone. This can be difficult at times and children often don’t realise what they have learnt until they reflect later in life.

Parents are sometimes a little surprised when children return from camps as the children are often over tired and can appear ambivalent about whether they enjoyed it or not and often quite non-committal. Be patient. Let them tell you about it when they are ready and really listen to them as they begin to share what they did. You should find that they have been on a huge learning journey and have returned a little more independent. Be incredibly proud that your child has been able to go on such an adventure because you helped them be ready for it.

Next week Year 5 will attend camp, with two classes going at the beginning of the week and two at the end. Thank you to Ms Massellos, Mr Curness, Mr Landbeck and Mrs Paynter for taking the children to camp. Ms Kerri McGuire will be replacing Ms Wise at camp as Ms Wise will be supporting her Year 6 students. I am looking forward to joining the children at the beginning of the week.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PROGRAM SUPPORT

One third of students from Year 3-6 participate in our Instrumental Music program. The Strings program begins in Year 3 and the band program in Year 4. The program is a unique feature of QLD State school education, with students provided with free tuition and great opportunities to learn to perform in an orchestra or ensemble. The current demand to participate exceeds the staff allocation we have for tuition and the IM team recently approached the P&C for support to expand the program.

The Instrumental Music team are very grateful for agreement for additional support annually, in order to expand placements for additional 6-8 students annually. The Instrumental Music program will be all the stronger for this support.

The Green Team

Yeronga State School is a finalist in the 2019 Cleaner Suburb Awards. The Green Team, ably lead by Nicole Deayton are responsible for the many ways our school is seeking to be Cleaner and Greener. Thank you all for your support of these initiatives and efforts in voting to support this application.

Baby News - Harper Marie Hicks

We were delighted to hear that Mrs Kayla Hicks’ baby girl Harper Marie arrived safely on the first Saturday of the holidays. Kayla is doing very well and looking forward to visiting later in the term to show 2H, staff and her past students her beautiful daughter.

Debbie Spanner
Principal