Over the previous two weeks, I have watched teachers engage in year level planning and data conversations, where the level of trust and respect for each other was strongly evident, as teacher teams refined the curriculum and pedagogy for the next term’s work. This collaborative planning means that our students are engaging in quality learning opportunities. Teachers are also meeting within their TRIADS, to unpack providing quality Feedback for Learning (our current Curiosity and Powerful Learning Theory of Action), to be a key part of their daily practice.  It is these collaborative empowerment opportunities for teachers that allow us to achieve successful learning for our children.

SCHOOL PARKING

Please note the following guidelines regarding parking around our school grounds. It is vital that as a school community we give a consistent, clear message and keep our children safe. Parking in car parks within the school grounds is only for staff and relevant permit holders.

Parking Guidelines

1. STOP KISS GO- 2 minute zone- Please move to the end of the zone before allowing your children to exit or enter your vehicle. This helps make this zone work efficiently. Do not leave your vehicle in this zone as it significantly impacts the flow of traffic around our school.
   
   
2. Parking options around our school
   1. Front of Dental Building – 1 hour
   2. 1 hour zone on opposite side of Park Rd
   3. 10 minute options – School Rd in front of Junior School
   4. Pool Car Park
   5. Honour Ave parking
   6. Street parking
      
      
3. Parking options for YOSHC drop off and pick up
   1. Pool Car Park
   2. Honour Ave parking
   3. Front of Dental Building –we encourage parents to use the arched entrance in the Senior School. Parents who choose to walk through the Tuckshop car park will see a designated area to the right of the gate as a way to transition safely through the shared vehicle and pedestrian space. After 4pm – Parking in Stop Kiss Go zone is legal.
      
      

HOME SCHOOL COMMUNICATION

At YSS we have a number of communication channels for keeping in touch with our school community. Please note the following about the different methods we use:

SCHOOLZINE App: 1^st place to go for information from the calendar and information is also sent out in ‘feeds’/ alerts relating to day to day events at school. Also has links to our newsletter, website and important forms and documents.

YSS FACEBOOK: Used to send out photos and short messages related to happenings within our school. This is not used as a tool for the school to respond to comments or questions- we ask parents to direct any questions through the school office (via phone or email).

QParents: Used for payments and lodging of absence from school.

STAFF EMAIL: Parent emails to staff are welcomed as a tool for communication. Please be aware that although staff do try to get to emails on a daily basis, their first priority is a responsibility to student supervision and learning.  It is advisable for any urgent information that it is best to contact the school office to ensure the message gets to your child/child’s teacher.

CONVERSATIONS BEFORE CONFLICT

Our Teacher and Teacher Aide teams took part in a ‘twilight’ professional development session last week, with a focus on the skills needed to have a ‘Robust’ conversation. A range of tools were presented to support us in addressing any potential conflict.

Difficult conversations often arise when people disagree with each other- leading to anger, frustration, avoidance or even intimidation. When people disagree it is often how they interpret the ‘facts’ and create different stories (i.e. different ways of interpreting the situation, conversation or event).

In an environment where parents are reliant on trying to interpret a child’s perception of events, we can often put our own school experience over the top of their recounts and end up escalating a problem more quickly than we intend. One useful tool shared with staff was the ‘Ladder of Conclusions’. The following five steps are suggestions help navigate through conflict and step down the ladder to come to a new understanding of how two parties could move forward for mutual success (Reference: Conversational Intelligence).

Step 1: Connect. Set the context by saying you want to ‘process’ the situation together so that you are more able to have a healthy conversation about something that has happened.

Step 2: Share stories. Each person take a turn sharing your stories about the situation (facts, feelings, thoughts, beliefs and conclusions) while listening without judgement.

Step 3: Discover impact. Discover the impact the situation had on each other.

Step 4: Discover ripple effect. Discover the ripple effect it has on others.

Step 5: Partner. Discuss how in the future you can do things differently (i.e. actions and commitments you could make with each other for a better outcome).

The ability to resolve conflict in such a manner are excellent opportunities to model being a self-manager to our children. Modelling how to manage normal emotions like anger, sadness etc in constructive ways is important to help our children to master emotional agility. The school uses programs or strategies such as Bridge Builders and Zones of Regulation to help children learn how to manage emotions and address conflict in constructive ways.  We want our children to be curious about their emotions and accept them as a normal part of life.

DOGS IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS

Many families like to walk to or from school with their dogs. It is important to note that the school is required to file a dangerous dog report to the Brisbane City Council if anyone is bitten. Please help us keep our children and your dogs safe. The following information is found in the Yeronga State School ‘Dogs in School’ Policy:

Dog owners will

1. Ensure dogs that enter the school grounds are not known to be aggressive or dangerous.
2. Bring only one dog onto the school grounds at a time.
3. Ensure that the dog is on a leash and in the control of an adult (short leash) at all times, students are not to be placed in charge of a dog while on school premise.
4. Not tie dogs to fences or buildings or leave dogs unattended.
5. Dog owners will not take dogs onto school verandas or inside school buildings.
6. Dog owners will clean up and remove any faeces from the school grounds.

Students will

1. Be provided with a dog education program.
2. Will be educated in the appropriate ways to approach dogs. Never approach a dog without the owner’s permission.
   
   

LOOKING AHEAD- P&C AGM

The first Yeronga State School P&C meeting is being held in the Resource Centre at 7pm on Tuesday 18 February. The partnership between the P&C and the school is a vital one to help our school to achieve the 2020 Strategic Plan. The School Leadership team and the P&C Executive form a dynamic team to work closely together to provide purposeful governance of the school community.

If you would like to know more about the P&C, please do not hesitate to contact the current P&C Executive members or take a look at their recently updated website (yerongasspandc.org.au). I am looking forward to working with the 2020 P&C to help our school continue to grow from great to outstanding.

Kate Paynter

Acting Principal

Congratulations to our entire community for such a great start to the year. Parents, school staff and students have all worked hard to establish great routines and behaviour expectations that set us up for a positive year of learning.

We have had a Year 3-6 and P-2 assembly in the first two weeks and it was great to see old and new faces at the Prep Welcome Picnic after the first week.

Active School Travel

Active School Travel promotes clean and green, active and healthy school travel modes such as walking, cycling, carpooling and public transport. By leaving your car at home, at least one day a week on our active travel day, we can reduce traffic congestion at the school gate, improve our students’ road safety awareness, create a cleaner environment, and improve our health and fitness!

As part of the Active School Travel program, students participate in their weekly active travel day - Wednesday. EachWednesday, students who actively travel get their passports stamped. When students reach target trips in their passport, they are eligible for an Active School Travel reward. There are lots of great rewards for your children – highlighters, bouncy balls, etc.

Come on, let’s get active!

Student Council

Each year the students in Years 3 - 6 have the opportunity to vote for a class representative to join the student council. This election process took place last week and the successful representatives will presented with their badges as part of the forthcoming leadership induction ceremony (Thurs 20^th Feb @ 9.00am).

Miss Vaggs and Miss McDermott  are eager to work closely with this year’s Student Council Representatives to enable this group to provide a voice for the students of Yeronga State School. These students will also be invited to be part of the Halogen Young Leader’s Day, held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Monday 24^th February. This is an exciting leadership opportunity for our students to hear from a variety of high profile speakers and develop their future leadership potential.

Bridge Builders

Bridge Builders is the school’s conflict resolution and peer mediation program. This program is used in every class and in the playground. The aim of the program is to teach students the nature of conflict, behaviour is a choice, how to respond to conflict, how to manage emotions, how to work out conflict and the role of others in conflict.

Each classroom has the Bridge Builders posters displayed for students and staff to refer to. The Bridge Builder strategies are taught to students through classroom lessons and are reinforced during weekly assemblies. The Peer mediators also help our junior students to remember the strategies during lunch breaks.

The Bridge Builders Peer Mediators are a selected group of Year 6 students who are rostered to be in the junior playground during lunch breaks to assist junior students to care for others and resolve conflict with each other in the playground. The program helps in developing responsible learners who have ownership for their problem solving and focusses on positive relationships.

Assembly

Assemblies have started for the year. These 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 1.45pm (even weeks)

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

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) 6pm Wednesday 12 February. Session to start at 6pm in the Hall, followed by ‘break out’ sessions in classrooms from 30-7.30pm.
• Senior School (Yr 3-6) 6pm Wednesday 19 February. Session to start at 6pm in the Hall, followed by ‘break out’ sessions in classrooms from 6.30-7.00pm.

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 and 4), leadership opportunities (Year 5 and 6), camps and excursion information, assessment, reporting and NAPLAN information (Year 3 and 5).

Time Year 3/4/5/6 (including Before and After School Arrangements).

All students who are not attending Yeronga Outside School Hours Care (YOSHC) should aim to arrive 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 before 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 the 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.

Upcoming Events

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

They include:

• Student Leader Induction Ceremony: Thursday 20 February 9am
• Senior Cross Country: Tuesday 10 March 9am
  
  

Tracy Freeman and Louise Vaggs

Deputy Principals

P&C AGM: Tuesday, 18 February, 2020

The YSS P&C Executive team invites all parents, carers, staff and members of our school community to the 2020 P&C AGM on Tuesday, 18 February, at 6:00pm, in the school Resource Centre (library). At the AGM we will review and celebrate our community's achievements for 2019, vote in the Executive team for 2020, and outline key areas of activity for the coming year.

For information on P&C Executive and other committee positions see the 'P&C Committee roles' page on the P&C website. Please email us at yerongasspandc@gmail.com if you are interested in taking on a more active role in the P&C but would like more information about available roles and responsibilities.  

All nominations for executive positions should be received in writing prior to the AGM, via the P&C Executive Officer Nomination Form - please email your completed form to yerongasspandc@gmail.com.

The 2020 AGM will be followed by our first general meeting of the year. P&C meetings are held the third Tuesday of the month (except December, January, and during school holidays) at 7:00pm in the school Resource Centre (library).

 

2020 P&C membership

All 2019 P&C memberships will lapse at the AGM. Please take a moment (less than a minute, we promise!) to sign up as a P&C member for 2020 at www.bit.ly/2020ysspandcmembership. 

Your membership is a great support to the school through the P&C, and is the best way to ensure you receive our P&C news and communications throughout the year. It also gives you the power to vote at our AGM and general monthly meetings. While we encourage all members to attend meetings if they can, there is absolutely no obligation as we understand how busy life is with children. Your membership will help us with grant applications and allows us to keep you updated with copies of monthly minutes (a key source of news and information for our community).

www.bit.ly/2020ysspandcmembership

‘Just One Thing’

Our P&C 'Just One Thing' survey is a window into the myriad of ways you can get involved throughout the year. You are cordially invited to nominate your 'one thing' you would like to do support our school community this year: www.bit.ly/YSS2020JustOneThing. This is a super easy way for you to nominate the activity/ies that appeal to you - simply tick the option/s you would like to do, enter your details and submit. A P&C representative will be in touch with you at the appropriate time.

www.bit.ly/YSS2020JustOneThing

 

P&C 2020-2023 Planning Survey closing 16 February: Final days to have your say!

Your views are important! ALL members of our school community are encouraged to have their say through the P&C 2020-2023 Planning Survey before it closes THIS Sunday, 16 February: www.bit.ly/YSSPCsurvey2020.

If you haven't done so already, please take a few minutes to complete the survey to help us meet your needs in 2020 and beyond. The information you share will help to shape the P&C's services, initiatives, activities, communications and priorities for the next 3 to 4 years. Your responses will also influence how P&C funds are used to support our children and their school.

 

www.bit.ly/YSSPCsurvey2020    

 

Easter Raffle

Information will be coming home in the next couple of weeks about the Easter Raffle 2020. This is always a really popular event in the school calendar and a great fundraiser. If you’re interested in being involved in a coordinating or supporting role please contact us at yerongasspandc@gmail.com. This is always a highlight on the school calendar and the distribution of hampers in the last week of term 1 is cause for great excitement!

NEW extracurricular activity: Netball from term 2

In response to requests from our community, the P&C is working with Rise Sports to offer netball as an extracurricular activity on Thursdays from term 2. Proposed times are:

•  Thursday 7:30am-8:30am (Grades 4-6)
•  Thursday 3:15-4:15pm (Grades 1-3).

To register your expression of interest (EOI) for your child/ren to attend, please visit: https://www.rise.com.au/yeronga-netball-expression-of-interest/

Rise also offers a range of tennis and sport-based activities, including:

• Tennis Hotshots - ages 3-12 years, before and after school on Tuesday and Thursday morning and afternoons, Prep and Grade 1 pick ups can be arranged. Times: 7.30-8.30am & 3.15-4.15pm
• Tennis Development squad - Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings 7.30-8.30am (application process applies)
• RISE KID fit - Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-10am. Ages 2.5-5 years.

For details of the current range of extracurricular activities offered by the P&C - including art and craft, chess, piano, guitar, and tennis lessons - visit http://yerongasspandc.org.au/index.php/extracurricular/, and contact providers directly to enroll.

Hamish Townsend and Kym Mansfield

Yeronga State School P&C Co-Presidents
ysspandcpresident@gmail.com

School crossings

Today a familiar sight around schools is the School Crossing Supervisor. Their role in the school community is to ensure that the students who cross the road at the children’s crossing do so in a safe manner.

Children crossing flags are displayed near crossings around schools before and after school hours when children are crossing the road. A children's crossing may be supervised.

School crossing supervisors use a hand-held stop sign to stop traffic and allow children to cross the road safely.

When the children’s crossing flags are on display, you must stop at the stop bars and give way to any to pedestrians on or entering the crossing (regardless of whether a crossing supervisor is present or not).

You must wait until all pedestrians have crossed the road and the crossing supervisor has returned to the footpath.

If you need to stop or park (picking up or dropping of passengers) your vehicle must be no closer than 20 metres on the approach side and 10 metres on the departure side of the crossing. These “NO STOPPING” areas are clearly marked with a no stopping sign.  

Remember, road safety is everybody’s business.

QParents

QParents is an online portal that provides parents with a snapshot of information surfaced from OneSchool about their child and allows them to:

• view attendance details, report cards, invoices and a history of payments
• provide reasons for unexplained absences and to notify the school of future absences
• view and pay school invoices online
• update student details including residential and
• postal address as well as medical conditions

Please contact Nikita at nlang67@eq.edu.au for a personal invitation.

Procedure for Late Arrivals and Early Departure

Our school rolls are marked by the classroom teachers by 9:00am daily. If your child is not at school by this time, it is highly likely you will receive an SMS indicating that your child is absent. Your child’s safety is our first priority and therefore any unexplained absences receive our immediate attention. If you receive an SMS, please contact us immediately so we can follow up your child’s whereabouts as quickly as possible. I encourage you to `assume the best’ if you know your child is at school.

All late arrivals (after 9am), from Prep through to Year 6 students, must report to the Senior school office for a ‘late’ slip before going to their classrooms. The school office logs the arrival and you will receive a slip to take to the class teacher. It is important to note that even 5 minutes late each day means your child is missing nearly half an hour of schooling a week. That quickly adds up over the course of a year. Late arrival also disrupts the teaching and learning of all students so please help by being on time.

If your student from Prep - Year 6 need to leave early from school parents must come to the senior office first to sign their student out from school, parents will be given a slip to give to the teacher in class. This procedure is in place to keep all students safe and we appreciate the cooperation of all families in this matter.

Parent Information Session - Junior 

On Wednesday 12 February junior school parents were invited to come to our parent information evening to be informed about the up coming year as well as meeting the class teachers. Below is a link to the Office information that was shared at the beginning of the session.

Parent_Info_Session_Powerpoint.pdf

Kalari – Celebrating Indigenous culture at YSS

‘Wunya yuingin!’ – ‘Greetings friend’ in the local Yugara language of Yeronga! Welcome to new and returning students and parents in 2020 from Kalari.

What is Kalari?

Kalari means ‘message stick’ in Yugara language and is name of the YSS Indigenous Working Group.

Kalari aims to increase the acknowledgement and celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history at Yeronga State School, through inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and in line with school values.

Kalari is made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous volunteer parents and anyone can join! For more information or to get involved about contact Aren Healy at mamaaren101@gmail.com

Update from Kalari – Acknowledgment of Country

An Acknowledgement of Country is made at the beginning of important school events as an act of respect for the continuing connection of Aboriginal Traditional Owners and Custodians to the land on which Yeronga State School stands.

An acknowledgement can be made by anyone – Indigenous or non-Indigenous. However, the first school assembly Acknowledgements of 2020 were particularly special as they were conducted by two of our Indigenous students: Lilah Cox from year 3 at the senior assembly and Neveah Healy from year 2 at the junior assembly. Both girls had rehearsed their acknowledgements during the school holidays and showed great leadership and responsibility in representing their culture to their peers and teachers.

Both girls were very proud of themselves, as were their families!

Welcome back everybody. I hope the Summer Holidays were as exciting or as restful as you needed them to be.

Cross Country Training

Cross Country Training will begin next week with the climax being the School Cross Country on 10 March. Sessions will be on Mondays from 3:15 to 3:45 and Wednesdays from 7:45 to 8:15 with Mr Bateman and Fridays 7:45 to 8:15 with Mr Sutherland (from week 3). These sessions are run free of charge.

A wise once man  said; “a run a day”. Not only has this maxim filled our trophy cabinets with district cross country trophies, but it has also meant that children wanting to participate in other sports had the baseline fitness that made those other sports easier and meant that coaches could concentrate on skills.

Gala Days

Gala Days are well and truly on the horizon. The dates for these very important days are, weather permitting, 6 March, 27 March and 8 May. The sports offered will include Boys and Girls Football (Soccer), Girls’ Softball, Goys Basketball and Girls Teeball. Children need to start committing seriously to training for their chosen sport.

Swimming

Swimming will begin in week 5 (changed from week 4) and finish in week 8 or 9  (a total of five weeks). It will be offered to years 1 to 6 students as we are no longer being affected by the National Athletics in Darwin. Students will need goggles, a bathing cap (No cap no swim), a rashie, togs, towel, sturdy bag, spare underwear & Flip Flops (thongs).These sessions provide high quality swimming instruction across the school. We will be implementing these lessons, in conjunction with the staff of Yeronga Park Pool for years 1 to 4. This means the instructors will take the lessons for all children from Year 1 to 4 to enhance those childrens’ competence in Aquatics. Not only are these children being given expert stroke correction in small ability specific groups, but also water safety knowledge and skills.

Thanks again to Yeronga Park Pool for its continued support. They not only discount our lessons, but also give us our carnivals and various play days free of charge.

The District Swimming Team

Our team for Districts has been finalised for the Eastern District Swimming Trial to be held on 12 February. Congratulations to:, Angus W, George N, Will G, Charlie V, George H, Hayden C, Dempsey Y, Saskia A, Samantha C, Abigail W, Eadie B, Georgie B, Matilda S, Lizzie H, Innes C, Willow H & Alex S.

Senior Cross Country Day 10 March (Reserve Day: 12 March)

As we have a chance of hot, humid weather continuing we have decided to maintain extra safeguards for the impacts of heat.

As well as having drinking water on course we have scheduled a reserve day. This date is noted above. If we deem the heat predicted on the set date to make it unsafe for our students to run then we will move the cross country to our reserve day. Unfortunately we will not be able to make a decision until we are very close to the set date due to the fickleness of the weather. If our reserve day proves to be unsuitable then we will look at a selection trial involving only those wishing to attend the District Cross Country with our School Cross being delayed until the weather becomes more Autumnal. 

All children will be expected, unless medically unable, to participate in the Cross Country. The children who are 8 years old will run a smaller course inside the school grounds. The children who age from 9 to 12 years will be given the option of running a long course (outside the school grounds) or a short course (within the school grounds). Those who opt for the short course will be identified by a fluorescent vest they must wear. The difference between the course options is that the long course option allows children to qualify for the Yeronga State School team for the Eastern Taipans District Cross Country, to compete to be Age Champion and to more greatly help their sporting house’s total.

Please remember that the team for the Eastern Taipans District Cross Country will not be settled for a week or more after the Yeronga State School Cross Country as we may have a number of children absent on the day and our policy is to allow those either absent due to illness or higher representative honours the opportunity to be considered for a place in teams at a later date.

ORDER OF EVENTS FROM 9.00 am

1. Boys Born 2008

2. Girls Born 2008

3. Boys Born 2009

4. Girls Born 2009

5. Boys Born 2010

6. Girls Born 2010

7. Boys Born 2011

8. Girls Born 2011

9. Boys Born 2012

10. Girls Born 2012

Absence From Cross Country

If you know that you will be absent from the Cross Country day and are keen to have a time recorded please see Mr Bateman so that this may be done before the 10^th of March. If you are ill on the day you will need to collect a form from Mr Bateman to have a time recorded after the event to be considered for District Selection. We will be using the times of the top 8 in the 10, 11 and 12 year events for comparisons.

Cross Country Day Helpers

If you would like to volunteer time to help either as a check point attendant or a finish line official your help would be most appreciated. It is always great to have extra pairs of eyes and ears available. We have been blessed, for many years, with wonderful volunteers like Ruth Bennett. Thank you Ruth for so many great years of selfless service.

Rebel Sport Community Givebacks

Just a quick note to publicise our involvement with this scheme and how it works. For some time now Yeronga State School has been part of the above mentioned scheme. The scheme gives the school credit for purchases of equipment at Rebel as anyone who purchases equipment nominates Yeronga State School as the recipient of Community Kickbacks. I have purchased cricket equipment, Footballs and Netballs with this credit. It is an easy way to contribute resources to our school especially if you enjoy spending time and money in sports stores like myself.

Yeronga State School (YSS) District Trial Selection Policy Special Consideration (Years 3 to 6)

The representative pathway for school sport is for children from 10 to 12 years of age. Yeronga is part of a very strong district which consists of 28 schools from Yeronga State School to the Calamvale area. In contact and skill team sports those aged 11 and 12 need to possess the advantages of size and speed, as well as skill on most occasions.  Selectors  will choose those with the skill and the resilience to compete at a higher level. Remember that selectors give up their time for these trials meaning that it is important for us to send only those ready to compete at a higher level. Very seldom is it appropriate to send students for experience. An indicator of readiness for participation at a higher level would be being among the best 3 or 4 players in most games for your club under 12 teams.

In order to be selected to attend a District Trial children should make themselves known to me (Mr Bateman) for either a selection trial with the appropriate teacher or so that they may be given the appropriate forms. Remember that children must give at least two weeks notice that they wish to attend a district trial to allow for a school selection trial to be held in the event of a great deal of interest being shown in a particular sport.

Important Sporting Dates 2020

21/02/2020 – Paper Nominations Squash & Golf (10 – 18 years)

02/03/2020 – District Touch Trial

03/03/2020 – District AFL Trial (Boys)

04/03/2020 – District AFL Trial (Girls)

04/03/2020 – District Basketball Trial

06/03/2020 – Gala Day 1 (10 – 12 years)

10/03/2020 – Yeronga Senior Cross Country (Years 3 – 6)

12/03/2020 – Reserve Day: Yeronga Senior Cross Country (Years 3 – 6)

12/03/2020 – District Netball Trial

13/03/2020 – District Volleyball

13/03/2020 – District Hockey (Boys)

16/03/2020 – District Boys Touch

18/03/2020 – District Hockey (Girls) & District Girls Touch

23/03/2020 – District Cross Country Nominations

27/03/2020 – Gala Day Two (10 – 12 years)

01/04/2020 – District Cross Country

Cameron Bateman
Sports Teacher

Expressing Love

The Raising Children Network www.raisingchildren.net.au is a great Australian resource for help with parenting and looking after our children.  One of the articles available on the website (Relationships with school-age children) talks about once your children begin school, they learn to become more independent, try new things, and take on more responsibilities.  The article suggests that although your relationship changes with this increasing independence and growth, it is still important to give lots of love and attention.

Giving love and attention does not necessarily mean that you have to do grand gestures or spend significant amounts of money.  Children respond to kind words, quality time and our approval.  Simple ways to express love to your child could include:

• Saying “I love you” every day
• Giving lots of smiles, particularly after any period of separation
• Joining in with their play time – lego, drawing, puzzles
• Being affectionate with touch, cuddles and kisses
• Displaying their writing, artwork or building projects
• Having family traditions e.g. movie night, weekend physical activity, etc.
• Leaving notes in their lunchbox or on their pillow
• Praying with them about their future
• Being silly together while you clean, garden or cook dinner
• Sharing meals together

I hope you are inspired this Valentine’s Day to continue to express love to those people important to you.

Chappy Pancakes

Bring the whole family in and join me for a pancake breakfast on Tuesday 25 February.   Follow the yummy smell through the school, and find me at the tuckshop.  The delicious pancakes are generously sized and only $2 each.  Gluten free pancakes will also be available.  Pancakes and juice will be served between 7:30 and 8:30am.  Funds raised from this event will be used towards meeting welfare needs.  Please let me know if you are available to help with this event.

Coming up

25/2    Chappy Pancakes (7:30-8:30am) – a yum start to the day

10/3    “Sub and Drink Deal” Lunch

19/3    Harmony Day Assemblies

Blessings,

Jennifer Bennett

jenniferb@chappy.org.au

Welcome to a new and exciting year of music at Yeronga State School.

CHOIR AND MARIMBA BAND

As many of you may now have noticed, if your child signed up to the years 4 - 6 Senior Choir (Stella Voce), the years 2 – 3 Junior Choir (the Cosmio Singers) or, the Bashasha Marimba Ensemble (for years 4 - 6 students), you were emailed a letter about the details of these ensembles last week. If you believe that your child should be a member of one of these ensembles but forgot to sign on, please send me an email at leeas0@eq.edu.au and I’ll add your child to the roll and forward you on all of the important details.

CLASSROOM MUSIC

Classroom music lessons have kicked off for 2020. This is what classes will be getting up to this term:

PREP – All About Me – students will sing, play, move to and create music about people, places, animas and objects that are in their everyday lives.

YEAR 1 – Music In Our New World – students will use the words of non-fiction stories and songs about the world around them as inspiration for music making and composing.

YEAR 2 – Musical Stories – students will compose, perform and respond to music that tells a story.

YEAR 3 – Musical Battles – students will perform, compose and respond to music with a combat/battle theme. Students will particularly focus on developing their music reading and performing skills through participation in the ‘Recorder Karate’ program.

YEAR 4 – Songs of Australia – students will compose, perform and respond to music using traditional Australian folk songs as inspiration.

YEAR 4/5 – Celtic Heartbeat – students will compose, perform and respond to music by exploring Celtic music/reels in compound time.

YEAR 5 – Exploring Rhythmic Patterns and Descriptive Sounds – students will perform and respond to music whilst exploring a range of newly learnt simple and compound time rhythms and, the timbre of unusual and uncommon musical instruments.

YEAR 5/6 and YEAR 6 – Uke Can Do It! – students will use the ukulele as the primary instrument for music performances and compositions.

Check out the following photos to see how recently, Years 4 and 5 used the names of fruits and vegetables to practise matching the syllables of words to known rhythms.

Yours in Music,

Lauren Easey.

STRINGS

The strings program is off to a great start in 2020. At the end of last year I challenged the strings students to try to remember to keep playing their instruments over the holidays. It’s been wonderful to see so many students come back to school even better players than they were last year due to keeping up their playing at home. Congratulations to Ethan N. for winning the holiday practice challenge by recording the most practice over the holidays.

It’s always lovely to welcome new students to the program and there are 17 new year 3 strings students in the strings program this year. The students were able to take home their school instruments in week 2 and they’re all very excited to start playing.   

We’ve also had our first few Chamber Strings rehearsals for the most advanced strings players at the school.  The Chamber Strings rehearsals have been extended from 30 minutes to 1 hour each week and I’m looking forward to how much more the group will be able to achieve this year with the additional time.


Mrs Tamsyn Eastgate

Bookings now open for our Term1 2020 Group Program

Confident Kids ® + teens is an innovative group program for kids 5-12yrs that aims to boost confidence, emotional resilience, social skills and brain power. Students discover their strengths, and build resilient thinking skills to reduce stress, anxiety, worry, or negative thinking.

Our team of experienced Psychologists will coach, encourage and support your child to be all they can be!  Medicare and Private health fund rebates apply. Individual sessions also available.

Register and Book online today at http://ckbookings.eventbrite.com.au Or contact us at info@positivefamilies.com.au or 07 3096 0450 for more details.