Dear Families,

Today is PandC Day! Around the state, schools are acknowledging the role of parent and community volunteers who are members of Parents and Citizens Associations. PandCs form a vital role within school communities. Little known to many are the responsibilities worn by executive members who commit unpaid hours and personal time to ensure their local school is a thriving educational service to its community. PandCs are the reason most schools have uniform shops, tuckshops, after school services, school halls, beautiful grounds, major events such as fetes and financially supported enrichment of the school facilities, equipment and programs. Another vital service provided by our dedicated parent volunteers are social cohesion of the community and as an advisory and consultative forum for parent voice in the school decision making. On behalf of our staff, families and students, I express sincere gratitude to our past and current serving members of Yeronga State School PandC and thankyou for your role in making Yeronga State School the school of choice in our area. Thankyou!  

Since 2021, the gradual move from the BYOD to school owned iPADs has proved successful in Year 2 and 3. In Year 2 and 3 every student has access to a 1:1 device for accessing online and digital teaching and learning at school. In Year 2 and 3 these devices do not go home. In 2024 Year 4 students will commence use of the 1:1 school owned iPADS under an Equipment Hire Scheme as students in Year 4 will commence bringing the school owned device home for homework activities.  By 2026 all students in Year 4-6 will be using school owned iPADS under the Equipment Hire Scheme. Advantages of the school owned device supports greater supervision of student use, maintenance and equity. PandC endorsement of the Equipment Hire Scheme fees including the breakdown of fee structure will be tabled at the June PandC meeting.

Semester 1 reports will be emailed to parents on the last Wednesday of Term 2. The student report card provides a learning area rating on a five-point scale against the achievement standard. The semester report card is required to meet the requirements of the Queensland Curriculum and Reporting Authority Reporting to Parents Guidelines. The report is a summary of a student’s achievement against the assessed elements of the learning area that semester. The learning area comment is developed by the Year Level Teachers reflecting the assessment tasks that semester. A folio of evidence is used to make the overall achievement judgement. Parent Teacher interviews are an opportunity to discuss at a deeper level the individual progress of the student. The next Parent Teacher interviews will be scheduled for early in Term 3.

Year 5 and 6 students have engaged in interschool sport GALA days this term. Students have enjoyed the opportunity to complete with students from other schools in the region. The sports this semester are basketball, soccer and T-Ball. Students have completed training and coaching at school each week on a Friday. We have successfully had two interschool GALA days this semester with the third make up scheduled for this Friday. Students have been impressive with their team spirit, sportspersonship and sharing the wins and losses with teams and coaches. Playing fields have been at Sunnybank State School, Runcorn State Highschool, Calamvale Community College and Indians Baseball Club. Interschool sport provides an opportunity for students to experience a variety of sports and to meet and compete alongside students from other schools.

This coming Friday 26 May our whole school will commemorate Sorry Day. This year we will commence with a performance (approximately 50 minutes) from Sean Choolburra a Girramay, Kalkadoon, Pitta and Gugu Yalanji man. Sean will be sharing, story, dance and song with the students. The ceremony will finalise with a quiet reflection from the students and classroom activities focussing on the core messages of reconciliation. Reconciliation Week is 27 May – 3 June.

We look forward to a wonderful day tomorrow at the YSS 2023 Fun Fair!

Have a great week,
Eunice