We’re back and it’s all systems go here at Yeronga State School! It’s been an exhilarating week as we have worked closely with our staff to make the transition in to the new school year and also participated in a range of professional development opportunities. The focus now is on supporting our students and parents to set up for a successful year of learning, growing, caring and achieving.

Last week we spent time on the Student Free Days focussing ourselves on the priorities for our students and on developing the structures around our professional learning teams. It is certainly motivating to be a part of a team that is so dedicated and committed to delivering a challenging and relevant curriculum, through the provision of quality teaching and engaging learning environments.

Assembly

Assemblies have started for the year. We look forward to parents being able to join us again as assemblies are a wonderful opportunity for parents and the school community to come together and hear about the happenings in our school.

This year we will continue to operate our weekly assembly as two groups:

Juniors (Prep – Year 2) – Thursday 2.00pm (even weeks)

Seniors (Year 3 – Year 6) – Thursday 1.45pm (odd weeks)

We look forward to seeing you there. Please ensure that you follow the Queensland Health Social Distancing Guidelines during this time.

Parent Information Evenings

During Week 3 and 4 we will be holding parent information sessions to provide an opportunity for parents to find out year level specific information for the year ahead. Details are as follows:

• Junior School (Prep- Year 2) at 6pm on Wednesday 10 February
• Senior School (Yr 3-6) at 6pm on Wednesday 17 February

Parent Information Evenings are a perfect opportunity to build relationships with your child’s teacher and hear information about the year ahead. Topics to be discussed include school

priorities, Curiosity and Powerful Learning, communication between parents and teachers, home learning, year level curriculum, BYOD (Year 2, 3, 4 & 5), leadership opportunities (Year 5 and 6), camps and excursion information, assessment, reporting and NAPLAN information (Year 3 and 5).

Before and After School Arrangements

All students who are not attending Yeronga Outside School Hours Care (YOSHC) should aim to arrive at school after 8:30am. If students arrive between 8:15am – 8:30am they need to sit under C Block to read or talk quietly. No students should be in the school grounds prior to 8:15am. Parents who need to drop students at school before 8:15am need to enrol in YOSHC. It is a great safety concern to have children who are unsupervised in the school grounds. YOSHC is open every morning from 7am.

After school all students need to be collected by parents/carers at 3pm. Students remaining at school after 3pm must be with a teacher (e.g. sports training), their parent or attending YOSHC.

Parents who are later than 3:15pm collecting their children, will need to collect them from the school office. Please note that the school office closes at 3:30pm. All student and parents who are not part of the YOSHC program need to have left the school grounds no later than 4pm.

We understand that family life often involves unexpected changes to routines. We appreciate the efforts our families make to manage their schedule to work within these times and thank you for your understanding around this very important safety matter.

Help keep our children safe

For your child’s safety please ensure that students only enter the school grounds via the pedestrian gates (not through any of the car parks). Cars are not to park in the school grounds. Street parking is available for parents. We also have a 2 minute – Stop, Kiss and Go area on Park Road.

The safety of our students is our priority, as these spaces have continual vehicle movement it is imperative that no student, even with and adult, walk through these areas. We thank you for your assistance in keeping our school a safe place to learn, grow and have fun.

First Day of Prep

We would like to welcome all the new families to the Yeronga State School learning community. It was lovely to see so many excited (and some a little nervous) faces on the first day of Prep.  The children were all ready to learn and were engaged in play based activities.  A favourite activity was definitely the sand pit area and the sand pit toys.

Visiting Experts

This year we have engaged Kath Murdoch to further our inquiry learning as part of the Curiosity and Powerful Learning we have adopted at YSS.  Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, writer, university lecturer and educational consultant who has worked for many years with teachers and students in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, Canada,The United States, The UK and Europe. Author of 15 books and numerous articles for teachers – including the best selling ‘The Power of Inquiry’ (2015), Kath is widely respected for her work in the field of inquiry-based learning in which she has taught, researched and published for well over 30 years. A key factor in the school engaging with Kath is her continued commitment to classroom teaching, whilst demonstrating and coaching teachers to build a repertoire of teaching practices that have an impact on student learning.

COVID NORMAL- UPCOMING SCHOOL EVENT ARANGEMENTS

The structure of the parent information and special assembly events has changed from previous years due to the Department of Education Industry COVID Safe Plan. Under COVID Normal parents are now welcome on school grounds and into classrooms, however social distancing parameters still remain.  Until otherwise advised there will be no large grouping of parents in halls and classrooms.  Please see the details below for our forthcoming events.

PARENT INFORMATION EVENINGS

PREP- YR 2 Parent Information Evening: TWO SESSIONS- Wednesdays 10 February. 2 sessions (parents will be advised by classroom teachers which session attend). 6.00-6.30pm and 6.30-7.00pm

YEAR 3-6 Parent Information Evening:: TWO SESSIONS- Wednesdays 17 February. 2 sessions (parents will be advised by classroom teachers which session attend). 6.00-6.30pm and 6.30-7.00pm

We welcome the opportunity for parents to meet with teachers in individual classrooms for Parent Information Evenings during Week 3 (Prep-Year 2) and Week 4 (Year 3-6). Teachers will invite one group of parents into their classroom from 6-6:30pm and then a second group of parents into their classroom from 6:30pm – 7pm. The guidelines will be one parent per family (please note that parents are welcome to discuss any exceptional family circumstances with the class teachers).  Teachers will make plans by dividing their class roll in half and will let parents know via class newsletters which sessions to attend.

LEADERSHIP INDUCTION CEREMONIES

The Student Leadership Inductions Ceremonies will take the following format this year:

THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY 9am – Senior Leader Induction Ceremony (School &Vice/ House & Vice/ Music/ Environment/ ICT/ Resource/ Bell/ AST Captains as well as Year Six Senior Leader Badge presentation). The guidelines will be one parent per family (please note that parents are welcome to discuss any exceptional family circumstances with the class teachers). Year 5 and 6 students will attend this ceremony.

FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY 9am- Student Council Induction Ceremony (Year 3-6 Student Council Representatives). The guidelines will be one parent per family (please note that parents are welcome to discuss any exceptional family circumstances with the class teachers). Year 3,4, 5 and 6 students will attend this ceremony.

Upcoming Events

We would love to see you at our upcoming events at the start of this term.

They include:

• Prep Welcome BBQ: Saturday 30 January
• Parent Rep Information Night: Thursday 11 February 7-8pm
• Student Leader Induction Ceremony: Thursday 18 February 9am
  
  

We look forward to working alongside you and your child throughout the 2021 school year.

Kate Paynter and Tracy Freeman