2020 SCHOOL CAPTAIN SHORT LIST

Earlier this week we interviewed many potential candidates for 2020 School Captains. We have an incredibly talented and capable group of Year 5 students and it is always difficult to shortlist with so many worthy applicants. Congratulations to the following students who are successfully through to the next round:

Elyse G

Elizabeth C

Antonia M

Willow H

Madison M

Clementine T

Anna T

Georgia M

Aidan P

Aiden S

Hamish R

Rupert H

Ben T

Jayden F

Next Thursday 14 November, these candidates will present speeches at a special school assembly from 9am. You are welcome to join us. Next Friday 15 November school captain elections will be held, with Year 6 students operating the polling booth. Year 3-5 students and all staff are eligible to vote.

Candidates have rules and expectations that they must meet during this process. No distribution of bribes etc are acceptable (including by family members and friends). Failure to comply will lead to very serious consequences.

We wish all the candidates every success and know that we would be in great hands no matter who is selected.

Lunch Time Lockdown

Last week we had an emergency lockdown at lunch time as part of our emergency response training procedures. The children showed how truly skilled they are, with everyone out of the playground and inside within two minutes. We have reviewed our processes through the Year Level Coordinators meeting and WPHS meeting and will make a few minimal adjustments.

Please remember that if you are on our campus during an emergency drill, you must follow the directions of the adults on site, moving to the nearest open building in the event of a lockdown and to the ovals for an evacuation. We thank you for being such great role models for our children.

School Chaplaincy

Yeronga State School has had a chaplaincy program for over ten years. Chappy Jen is an important resource in our community to support the welfare and wellbeing of staff, students, families and community. Among Chappy’s many tasks are:

• Providing crisis intervention and support for all members of the community
• Partnering with welfare organisations to support families in need
• Social skills program for Year 2&4 and additional support as required
• Facilitating lunch time plays, lunch time clubs and handball competitions
• Coordinating significant school events like camping at school, Harmony Day, tears and tissues, volunteer thank you
• Coordinates the Peer Mediation component of the Bridge Builders program, helping children develop leadership skills and conflict resolution skills

Every three years we apply to renew our school chaplaincy program. We will be discussing this application at the next P&C meeting.

DENTAL BUILDING REFURBISHMENT

Education Queensland is conducting a feasibility study on the Dental Building at present to clarify how it can best meet school needs within a reasonable financial cost. School, P&C Exec, YOSHC and Student representatives will form part of the stakeholder consultation committee. We feel it is important for a school that values student voice to include students as part of our consultation process.

CELEBRATIONS

Congratulations to the Junior School band for their exceptional performance at Music Fest last week. Gaining a Gold Award is no easy feat. Thank you to Mrs Rosewarne for her excellent leadership of the Junior school music program.

Well done to the Touch football team who participate at the recent weekend fixture as a way to develop skills of next generation players. The precision of the feedback and debrief facilitated by Hamish Curness after each game was outstanding and led to some great improvements.

Strategic Team planning day last week included a provocation on the future trends of education. Despite some challenging messages about how technology is being used to monitor student focus and mood and the relevance of reading and writing in a world relying more and more on audio and video messaging, we felt that it affirmed the balanced approach that we are taking with Green space vs Digital space vs Real World experiences to help develop the whole child. The Inquiry approach has allowed our children to engage with critical and creative thinking, problem solving and collaboration in meaningful ways that genuinely increase their skill set. Next year we are exploring ways to measure the Learning Assets to help children set goals to improve here.

Debbie Spanner
Principal