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Dear Families,
I trust the start of the 2021 school year was a positive one for your child/ren. Thank you for the warm welcome I have received from staff, students and families. I continue to be impressed by the kindness and helpfulness of all. We also welcome new teachers, Chris O’Neill (Year 1) and Corina Lancaster (Year 2) to the team. I am encouraged and energised and know that Chris and Corina are too. We welcome all our new families. May your experience joining the Yeronga State School community be the start of life-long friendships and many happy memories. I encourage you to be proactive participating in the life of the school where you can. We are blessed with a very supportive PandC and school chaplain (Chappy) who are prolific in providing opportunities to be involved and engage.
A successful transition for our students, new and returning is very important to us at Yeronga State School. We work in partnership with our colleagues, parents, caregivers, previous schools and providers, to ensure as smooth a transition as possible is the experience for each and every one of our students. Whilst the comprehensive handover of information pertaining to individual needs of students is vital, we also appreciate that each child is their own person and as they grow and mature, it is my great hope and goal that each child develop a strong self-efficacy and in time confidently advocate independently for themselves and their needs. They learn how to do this through the primary relationships of parents, caregivers and educators. How we communicate expectations and model desired behaviours is how they will learn to do this. Our actions matter.
As a mother of three boys (all now grown men), I noticed how each of them adjusted differently to change. Some of these nuances in their personality, still remain. The oldest one, Luke, always cautious and careful, would focus on preparation and ensuring all his belongings were in order, an avid user of checklists. Shy and reserved, he found his place in the classroom through careful observation. His strategy was to quickly fit in with the order of the classroom and teacher expectations. Sam, our middle son, highly socially motivated was all about the friendships. When starting at a new school, he was the one that within a few days was being invited to play dates. Capable at sports, friendly and inclusive he quickly made his mark with students and teachers. Our youngest, Isaac, was all about fun. Less interested in the tasks outlined by the teacher and more interested in ‘creatively’ engaging with his classmates. Isaac was particularly responsive to his relationship with his teacher. If he sensed he was liked/valued by them, he was highly motivated and achievement oriented. As a mother and educator, I was very aware of the importance of the role of the teacher to each of their success and perception of learning. I knew, it was my role to advocate for them, whilst respectfully, understanding they increasingly had to stand on their own two feet and negotiate independently the expectations, personalities, systems and processes of the world around them.
The classroom and school, is our children’s first foray into the wider world where they learn to self-regulate in order to get along and get ahead. As parents the gradual release of involvement in this is necessary and vital to their growth and sense of self. I encourage you to prioritise conversation with your child/ren each day as a means of checking in. Remember to frame the conversation positively. Direct their attention to what worked well in order to support their positive disposition to school. I also encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher and introduce yourself. A positive relationship with your child’s teacher will go a long way as reassurance to you and your child.
A great resource for establishing positive habits in the home to support child and family wellbeing are the Smiling Mind resources. I encourage you to visit the site, in particular the At Home tab for the science behind mindfulness and practical tips for creating a mindful home.
I very much look for to meeting you all over the coming weeks. There will be many opportunities at assemblies, school pick up, parent information nights and PandC meetings and events for us to touch base. As the COVID guidelines for schools advise, where social distancing of 1.5 metres between adults is not possible, please continue to wear facemasks as a precaution. Here’s to a great year!
Sincerely,
Eunice Webb
Principal
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
On behalf of the Yeronga State School P&C team, we wish all new and returning families a big welcome, a smooth start to the school year, and a terrific 2021! On behalf of P&C members and our community we are delighted to welcome Eunice Webb as our new Yeronga State School Principal, and look forward to working with Eunice, school staff, families and our community to support our children to thrive in their education.
We also invite you to get involved in our school community in whatever way appeals to you. To help you do this we have created the Yeronga SS P&C website and Facebook page. These help you to stay on top of all P&C and key school activities throughout the year. Please 'like' us on Facebook so we can keep you as up to date as possible with key activities for your children and you.
A great way to see the myriad of ways you can get involved throughout the year is our 'Just One Thing' survey. This offers an easy way for you to nominate the activity/ies you would like to support - simply tick the option/s that appeal to you, enter your details and submit. You can also read more about 'Just One Thing' below.
Prep Welcome Picnic
The Prep Welcome Picnic is on this Saturday, 30 January, from 9:00-11:00am in the Prep playground area. This is a great morning and wonderful way to meet other 2021 Prep families in the Yeronga community. There will be mini hot dogs, snow cones and other treats for all so please pop in with your Preppie! Remember to BYO chairs, rugs and drinks.
We'd also love some help with setting up the marquees, and making and serving food items, please. If you have a couple of hours to spare this Saturday, please sign up via our 'Just One Thing' survey (question 5, second option) - you're more than welcome to tick other volunteering opportunities that take your fancy too!
Call for Parent Reps
Teachers are now looking for 2 Parent Reps for each class. Parent Reps welcome new families to the school and pass on weekly emails to the class about what is going on in the school. If you are interested in being a Parent Rep, please make contact with your child’s teacher, or tick 'Pick me!' under the Class Parent Representatives question in our Just One Thing survey, enter your details at the end of the survey and submit.
Welcome to new YOSHC Manager
The P&C warmly welcomes our new YOSHC Manager, Elizabeth Fainga'a, who started work with us on Monday, 18 January.
Elizabeth brings to her role more than 10 years’ experience in the early years education sector, most recently with the PCYC-managed OSHC at Waterford West State School where she led the service as Nominated Supervisor from February 2018. Prior to her time at Waterford West, Elizabeth registered and operated her own family daycare business, and has also previously worked as the OSHC Manager for Groves Christian College.
Elizabeth thanks the Yeronga school community for the warm welcome she has received. She is enjoying meeting and getting to know YOSHC children, families and staff and looks forward to meeting more children and families throughout term 1.
A massive THANK YOU to Cate and Alec (pictured below with Elizabeth) for leading the YOSHC team since the beginning of term 4, 2020. We can't thank them enough for their steady guiding hand which has been enjoyed by children, families, staff and the P&C team.
2021 Tuckshop update
YSS Tuckshop Convenors, Stacey Resetti and Yvonne Starr, extend a warm 'welcome to 2021' for our YSS community and are looking forward to re-opening the Tuckshop on Tuesday, 2 February, 2021 - week 2 of term 1. Prep students will be able to order from week 3, term 1 (and from term 2 will be able to order frozen items).
The P&C will continue to trial opening the Tuckshop on Tuesdays to assess whether there is enough demand from our school community to make it viable to open 4 days a week on an ongoing basis.
Stacey and Yvonne would love to hear from you if you have a couple of hours you would like to volunteer for the Tuckshop during term 1 - from 9.00-11.00am on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, or if you are able to bake some ever-popular choc chip muffins. It is easy to let us know how you'd like to support the Tuckshop via our 2021 Just One Thing survey - volunteering in the Tuckshop is a great way to meet other parents and carers and it's lots of fun!
From Stacey: "Let's make some sandwiches, cook some sausage rolls and muffins, and have some fun along the way. I'm sure 2021 will be a great year - definitely an improvement on 2020!"
Flexischools is the preferred Tuckshop ordering method - for current Tuckshop please visit the P&C website: www.yerongasspandc.org.au/index.php/tuckshop/. To contact the Tuckshop team please email yerongasstuckshop@gmail.com.
Uniform Shop update
A big thank you to our team of P&C staff (Yvonne Starr and Sarah Cordingley) and the wonderful parent volunteers who opened the Uniform Shop each day last week to enable families to procure their back to school uniform needs.
The Uniform Shop is also open extra times during this first week of school as follows:
- Wednesday, 27 January – 8:30 to 9:30am, and 2:30 to 3:30pm
- Thursday, 28 January – 8:30 to 9:30am, and 2:30 to 3:30pm
- Friday, 29 January – 8:30 to 9:30am, and 2:30 to 3:30pm.
After week 1 of the school year, normal Uniform Shop opening hours during school terms will be:
- Monday 8.30am – 9.30am
- Thursday 2.30pm – 3.30pm.
You are also welcome to order via Flexischools for delivery to your child's classroom throughout the year.
If you have any second hand uniform items you no longer need - now or anytime throughout the year - we will be most thankful if you could please drop them to the Uniform Shop to help families in our community. Smaller sizes are especially needed. Thank you so much to everyone who has already generously donated second hand items to assist families to buy uniform items for just $5 each. Your support is sincerely appreciated.
School holiday thanks to YOSHC team
A big thank you to the YOSHC team who entertained our YSS kids throughout the summer school holidays. The holiday program ended on a high on 25 January with an epic colour run hosted by YOSHC's very own Ella and Lola (photos below - for more photos visit this YOSHC Facebook post). The colour run was a huge hit (and a huge mess!), and afterwards the kids enjoyed zooper doopers, a sausage sizzle and a disco.
With a theme for each day of holiday care and activities arranged to cater for all ages, children were treated to imaginative fun for everyone - below is a snapshot of the creative and varied YOSHC summer holiday program:
- The Lorax - a day of Dr Suess
- Construction Craze – children became builders and engineers
- Little Scientists - Street Science incursion
- Flying Fun - a day of flying craft creation and activities from around the world
- Tropical Treat Day – all things tropical including mocktails and pool fun
- Fantasy Frenzy with princesses, dragons, and fantasy games
- Midsummer Madness waterpark excursion
- Kindness Day focused on mindfulness, meditation and helping others
- To the North Pole Rock Climbing Incursion... and many more!
For more information about YOSHC's before and after school, and holiday care programs please visit the YOSHC website and contact the team directly.
2021 extracurricular activities
The P&C and school are pleased to offer a range of extracurricular activities before and after school, making it easy for kids to participate straight from school, including:
- Active Kids Program - 3:15-5:45pm - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (all children welcome and a great alternative to YOSHC for families with children on the waitlist)
- Art and craft - 3:15-4:15pm - Monday and Wednesday
- Chess - 7:45-8:30am - Tuesday to Friday, and 3:15-4:00pm on Tuesday
- Guitar - private and two-child lessons available before and after school, Monday to Friday
- Netball - before and after school Thursday
- Piano - private lessons available before and after school, Monday to Friday
- Tennis - before and after school Tuesday and Thursday.
Please visit the Extracurricular page on the P&C website for all details and contact providers directly to enrol. The attached extracurricular activities flyer also provides an overview of all 2021 extracurricular activities with days, times, and provider details.
If there is an extracurricular activity you think we should consider please feel free to contact the P&C at yerongasspc@gmail.com. We hope your children enjoy the range of activities on offer!
P&C AGM: Tuesday, 16 February, 2021
The P&C Executive team cordially invites parents and members of our school community to the 2021 P&C AGM on Tuesday, 16 February, at 6:00pm, in the school Resource Centre (library).
The P&C Executive team (current team pictured below) overseas P&C businesses (Tuckshop, Uniform Shop and YOSHC) and activities throughout the school year. Executive positions include President, Vice President (usually 2 or 3 people hold this position), Treasurer and Minutes Secretary. There is also potential for a number of non executive positions including correspondence secretary and events coordinators. See the 'P&C Committee roles' page on the P&C website for more information, and contact us at yerongasspandc@gmail.com if you would like more information around roles and responsibilities.
Current P&C Co-Presidents, Hamish and Kym, will be happy to continue in their roles for 2021, should this be the wish of P&C members. This will be our third year of service as Co-Presidents and we will step down at the 2022 AGM (in just over a year). Therefore, we are especially seeking one or two members to nominate for the 2021 P&C Executive team who will be willing to step up to the President (or Co-President) role in 2022. Please contact Hamish and Kym at ysspandcpresident@gmail.com if you would like to find out more about the P&C President role.
Please let us know if you are interested in any of the P&C Executive committee roles - we'd love to hear from you. In accordance with the P&Cs QLD Constitution, 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 2021 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 and January) at 7:00pm in the school Resource Centre (library).
Learn more about your current P&C Exec team here: www.yerongasspandc.org.au/index.php/meet-your-pc-committee/
2020 P&C Membership
All 2020 memberships will lapse at the AGM. We've made it easy for you to join the P&C or renew your membership via our online 2020 Membership form (ideally before 16 February).
It only takes a minute (or less) to complete - just completing the form to become a member helps and there is no obligation to attend meetings (although we'd love to see you if you're able). Your membership will help us with grant applications and enables you to keep updated with members-only communication like meeting minutes and documentation - a wealth of information and source of school news.
What's your 'Just One Thing' for the school this year?
The P&C is committed to ensuring every family has the opportunity to get involved and experience our active and friendly community, which is one of the things that makes Yeronga State School such a great place. Our school is as strong as everyone’s contribution.
We invite every Yeronga SS family to nominate ‘Just One Thing’ during the school year to assist the P&C to make a big contribution to our kids and school, via our Just One Thing survey. There are many different ways you can help to make our school great, big and small. It only takes a couple of minutes to click on your 'One Thing' add your contact details and press 'Done' - easy!
Kym Mansfield and Hamish Townsend
Yeronga State School P&C Co-Presidents
ysspandcpresident@gmail.com
Welcome to 2021
It was great to see many new families as well as some familiar faces at my Welcome Morning Tea on Wednesday for the start of the new year. If we didn’t get to meet, please feel free to come and have a chat with me over the coming weeks. Some of the things I do as School Chaplain is around pastoral care, providing social, emotional and spiritual support, and helping meet welfare needs. I love being part of the wider Yeronga Community, and in particular supporting our students, their families and the staff of this great school.
Life is beautiful
Last year unexpectedly presented us all with many challenges and difficulties. Despite some personal challenges, my family learnt to be more resilient, developed some new skills, had more family time together, and I watched as my children stepped up to help their grandparents. While life was simpler and we experienced some loss, there was still much that was good, and times of happiness. With life, there are many ups and downs, highs and lows, mountain top as well as valley experiences, and even with the difficulties, we can still find things that are positive.
I recently read the book, “The Happiest Man on Earth”, telling the life story of Holocaust survivor, Eddie Jaku. With such a great attitude to life, he says, "I have lived for a century, and I know what it is to stare evil in the face. I have seen the very worst in mankind, the horrors of the death camps, the Nazi efforts to exterminate my life, and the lies of all my people. But I now consider myself the happiest man on Earth. Through all of my years I have learned this: life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful".
Let’s hope that we have a great 2021 together and can make it beautiful!
Coming up this term
16/2 Chappy Pancakes (7:30-8:30am)
8/3 “Sub and Drink Deal” Lunch
Week 10 Chappy Week fun
Blessings,
Chappy Jenny
Facebook and Instagram – Community Chaplain
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