When I read over past newsletters (as I often do) to ensure I am keeping you informed about important school events and initiatives, it has struck me how each two week period has been responding to another major change school operations this year. We are navigating an ever-changing political and natural world it seems. Tried and true ways of planning, preparing and delivering are being challenged and rapidly transforming. I acknowledge and thank you for your patience and resilience as we prioritise our core purpose, the belonging and continuity of learning for your children at Yeronga State School. As we welcome back our families to our school site, we are also welcoming back children and families who are in distress following the floods. The support offered to families from Chappy and the PandC over the past couple of weeks has been a godsend. I know the community wrap around you have provided each other is an attribute of a resilient community. Your demonstrations of care and concern for friends and neighbours has been inspiring. There are many organisations helping right now. Headspace has some good advice in how to help support young people after exposure to a traumatic event you may find useful at present and I encourage you to continue to reach out to the school should you need to.

Below is a snapshot of the term and the remaining whole school events. When looking back, we are looking forward to prioritise what is urgent and important for our students and staff over the remaining four weeks of term. What is wonderful is that all families are encouraged to be back on site and joining in the upcoming events. Please also note that assembly is now held on Friday mornings in the hall at 9.00am. Prep -Year 2 assembly is held on the even weeks and Year 3-6 on the odd weeks. Please come along if you are able. We would love to see you there! Lookout for information regarding Parent Café in Chappy’s newsletter piece.

Commencing next week are Parent Teacher Interviews. You will have received an invite to book a 15 minute conversation with your child’s classroom teacher over the next two weeks. It is really important that we acknowledge, the progress ordinarily made by this time of term 1 cannot reasonably be expected under the conditions of January, February and March 2022 in South East Queensland. Our teachers are prioritising wellbeing and literacy and numeracy routines. The purpose of the Term 1 interviews are to share information between teacher and parent about each child as a learner. Please remember the sessions are short at 15 minutes. If you are requiring a longer meeting with your teacher I ask that you arrange that directly with them for an alternative time. Due to the tight scheduling the face to face meetings must be kept on time. This term they will be held in your child’s classroom.

For families who have been at Yeronga State School for many years you will know the enrolment growth and the associated changes. One impact has been on the Outside Hours School Care service and the management of increasing demand on the service. A special PandC Meeting is being held prior to the AGM on Tuesday 15 March in the resource centre for members. This will be followed by the AGM and the nominations and election of the incoming PandC Executive. The role of the PandC Executive is vital to the flourishing and ongoing school improvement. If you are passionate about Yeronga State School continuing to be a great state school I encourage you to attend and consider nominating for a position. Whilst the roles are at times demanding in a large school such as ours, the opportunity to have a hands-on contribution to the direction and outcomes of the school is a significantly important and rewarding one. At this point I would like to acknowledge the current PandC Executive and thank them for their outstanding contribution to our school over the past few years; Kym Mansfield and Hamish Townsend, Anna Rimpau, Cedryk Vaquette, Russell Neville, Julia Connors , Amy Smith and Juliet Brooks. There is no doubt they have held the positions through what can unequivocally be considered some of the most disruptive to school operations and community in a generation. Your passion, commitment and support has been exemplary and on behalf of our entire school community acknowledge and thankyou you from the bottom of our hearts for seeing us through. I very much look forward to meeting our new executive to take us into 2023 and beyond.

Facilities Update

The school continues to operate within major construction sites. The PandC funded landscape project is due to be completed by the end of Term 1 (weather permitting). The area between the library and the hall has proved to be very popular as an extension of the library at lunchtimes since this part of the project was handed over at the start of the year. When the works are complete, classes will be involved in an orientation session as well as negotiating the expectations and care of the area. The handover of the new administration, classrooms, curiosity centre and staffroom is on target for the end of Term 2. Delays have been impacted by supplies, weather and other COVID related factors. How we work, move about and play in the surrounding areas and within the facilities will require significant change to routines and procedures. The Year 1 Nature playground will be restored as part of the completion of works. Year 2 and 3 students currently in the old timber buildings will relocate to the new classrooms. At this stage the Year 3 classes in the MA block will stay where they are. The relocation of 9 classes, the entire administration and staffroom will create vacant spaces to accommodate anticipated enrolment growth as well as much needed meeting and collaboration spaces.

New works to commence is the installation of solar panels on the roof of MA and the Resource Centre as part of the state-wide Solar Schools program. The opportunity for students to engage with the curriculum via an app that monitors in real time the school’s energy consumption and savings is an excellent opportunity to connect to real world inquiry learning. Yeronga State School timber classrooms have been nominated by the region for an internal upgrade. A project manager has been appointed and the scope of works finalised next week for tender.

The $85000 state funding for Tennis in Schools project has been approved by the Minister Hon. Grace Grace. This funding along with the commitment from the 2020 PandC members will provide external lighting to the existing tennis courts. I am yet to confirm the timing of the roll out of this initiative and asset upgrade.

As a growing school and neighbourhood, increased pressure on our roads will be compounded to a degree when Parkside Yeronga on the corner of Park Rd and Villa St is completed. The School Traffic Management Plan (TMP) is an initiative of the Brisbane City Council (BCC) to assist schools with managing community traffic issues around the school site. The Active School Travel initiative is another BCC initiative the school is involved in with the aim of passive school travel to and from school. If you are interested in being involved in the development of the school’s TMP I encourage you to contact me.

I do hope this week brings you moments of much needed hope and joy,

Eunice

Eunice Webb
Principal