Dear Families,

Welcome back to Semester 2. It is lovely to see the children and staff again. We certainly become a family of sorts and in a community like ours, that doesn’t take long. I trust you enjoyed the slower pace with your children over the break.

People comment to me all the time about the great reputation of Yeronga State School in the community. The commitment of the students to learning and the inclusive culture that has been established over time is a testament to the staff who work hard at explicitly teaching the ‘Learner Assets’ of collaborator, communicator, thinker, researcher and self-manager. Yeronga State School like all schools is diverse in the families and children it serves. This diversity is a strength and provides us all with opportunities to celebrate difference whilst learning to work, live and play together for a better world. Learning, caring, growing and achieving together!

This week we celebrated National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Celebration. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Did you know Kalari is group of Yeronga State School first nations families and staff who meet regularly to share talents, ideas and develop strategies for strengthening and celebrating culture in our school? Another example of a great community celebrating and building on its strengths. I look forward to seeing the images captured from our special day of celebrations.

This week you will have received a link via email inviting you to complete the 2021 School Opinion Survey. Parents, students in Year 5 and 6 and all staff are invited to complete the survey online between Thursday 15 July and Friday 30 July. If you do not find your email over the next couple of days, please check your Junk folder. The SOS results data is valued information for school improvement planning. Some items are historical and provide a trajectory of school improvement over time. Other items are new and capture school community opinion relating to emerging priorities. Thank you for your participation and support.

You will notice the demolition of the internal structure of the Queensland Health Building in readiness for its refurbishment starting to make itself quite known at present. There are times when the works impact on the daily operations from the school. From time to time you will receive a message advising you of any works that may impact on your movement to, from and about the school. It is anticipated ground level works (school administration, staffroom and 3 classrooms) will be completed at the end of this year and level 1 (Curiosity Centre and 6 classrooms) completed ready for Term 2 2022.

Please look out for your invitation to book in a time to meet with your child’s classroom teacher this term to discuss their Semester 1 academic progress. These meetings are important touchpoints to ensure you as a parent have a clear understanding of how your child is progressing against the year levels standards and what areas they need to focus on in order to improve.

Have a great week,

Eunice Webb

Principal

Engagement and Wellbeing Survey

We know that wellbeing and engagement are important parts of your child’s life at school. The department and Yeronga State School are looking at ways to collect information on these important areas so we can support our students in the best way possible.

The Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing (QEW) Survey is designed to measure how state school students view their wellbeing and engagement. Results from this survey will tell us about students’ levels of wellbeing and engagement. This information will allow us to better support our students and meet their needs. Students in years 4-6 took part in this survey last term.  The results of this survey are being collated and will be provided to Yeronga State School shortly. 

Rubbish around the School

A reminder to the school community to please be mindful of the rubbish that’s left around the school.  There are plenty of bins available for general waste, recycling and Containers 4 Change.  Let’s keep Yeronga beautiful!

Yeronga Yabby ‘Snap Snaps’

Introducing the YERONGA YABBY.  The Yeronga Yabby will replace the current ‘thumbs up awards’.  Students will receive a ‘Snap Snap’ from staff to recognise positive student behaviour aligned to our school rules and learner assets.  Snap Snaps are collected in the class ‘aquarium’ and when the ‘aquarium’ is full, the class receives a reward to be negotiated between students and class teachers.   Let’s get SNAPPING.

	Safe	Respectful	Responsible
Collaborator	I speak up	I listen to others	I do my share
Communicator	I consider my audience	I speak with respect	I am honest
Thinker	I think positively	I think with curiosity	I think objectively
Researcher	I access appropriate information	I consider who the information may upset	I use information appropriately
Self-Manager	I act safely	I am  polite	I accept consequences

Active School Travel

It is lovely to see so many children actively travelling to school on Wednesday morning.  The AST captains are noticing that the children are requiring more prizes as we are progressing through the year – this is exciting!!

There will be a prize drawn at the end of term for the most active class – so keep stepping towards reaching this prize.

The individual prizes that were drawn at the end of Term 2 went to (insert drumroll):

Lyla 6M and Archie 6HW 

100 Days of Learning in PREP

It has been an outstanding 6 months of Prep so far and we are looking to start Term 3 off in an exciting way!

Last year we started a new tradition at YSS!!

It was celebrating our children reaching the magic mark of being Prep students for 100 days.  This year we are choosing to celebrate 100 Days of Prep on the first Friday of Term 3 (Friday 16 July).

On Friday 16 July, your child is encouraged to dress in what they think it would look like to be 100 years old – walking sticks, glasses, hairnets, outfits, etc. During the day the children will engage in activities that relate to the number 100.  It really is a joyous occasion and there will be cake, so please if you do not wish your child to have a slice of cake please let your class teacher know.

We look forward to seeing some very old children on Friday 16 July 2021

ICAS 2021

Please see below the details for the 2021 ICAS Assessments for school.

SZapp - Have you downloaded it?

Dear Parents

We'd like to remind families that the Szapp is a very important app to have on your phone for school updates. This is the primary way the school will communicate urgent messages to all families. 

If you haven't downloaded the app to your phone please do so via the instructions below. 

Year 6 students will be attending the Queensland Museum excursion next week on Thursday. 

Year 1 - Big Bang Payment Due Tomorrow

2021 Fete fundraising outcome and survey

We are delighted to announce that the 2021 Fete raised an impressive $90,000! Combined with the community building and fun created by the Fete, this is a terrific outcome for our school community. 

Thank you again to everyone - Fete Committee, stall convenors, parent, family and community volunteers, sponsors, children, teachers, school leaders and YOSHC staff - for your contribution to this major initiative for our school. Our next Fete will be in 2023. 

To help with planning and to make the 2023 Fete another wonderful celebration of our school community we invite you to take a minute to complete the Fete feedback survey. This will help the Fete Committee to understand what you liked about the Fete and whether there are any changes you would recommend. We promise it won't take long: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2021yssfete.

Your feedback is valuable. Thank you to those who have already completed the survey.

Save the dates - Term 3 150th events and Trivia Night!

Thanks to the wonderful efforts of our 150th Committee, term 3 will bring to our community several highly anticipated Yeronga State School 150th birthday celebration activities in the coming weeks. For more information about 150th events please visit https://yerongass150.com/events/ and follow www.facebook.com/YSS150:

• Alumni Roll Call by Decade - Saturday, September 11, 2021 – from 10:00am
• Yeronga State School Bush Dance - Saturday, September 11, 2021 – 5:00pm
• 150th Ball Games Carnival - Tuesday, September 14, 2021 – 9:00am
• Staff Function (Past and Present Staff of YSS) - Saturday, October 9, 2021 – 2:30pm – 6:00pm

The date is also set for the ever popular YSS Trivia Night in term 4. Book the babysitters and mark Saturday, 13 November on your calendar for a themed night of fun!

Bush Dance Invite

We are so excited to announce that a Family Bush Dance will be held at the school on the 11th of September as part of our 150th Anniversary. The children will be learning some traditional dances in their PE classes this term and there will be a live band to call and teach the dances on the night. Join us for some delicious food, a drink at the bar and of course DANCING! Come dressed in your country best and dance till the cows come home! A formal invitation and details for tickets will follow. 

Extracurricular activities update

With two new extracurricular piano teachers and a change of days for chess, the P&C has updated the extracurricular activities flyer and web page for anyone seeking 'on school campus' before and after school activities for your children. For the complete list of before and after school extracurricular activities offered at YSS by the P&C please visit: http://yerongasspandc.org.au/index.php/extracurricular/. These include:

• Piano (private lessons)
• Guitar (private and 2-child lessons)
• Chess
• Art and craft
• Netball
• Active Kids Program
• Soccer (Football)
• Tennis.

Download extracurricular activities flyer here: http://yerongasspandc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021ExtracurricularActivities_Yeronga-State-School-P-and-C_FIN_20210627.pdf

Welcome back to school for term 3!

New Beginnings…

Having a holiday and starting a new semester gives us all opportunity to reset, restart and refocus.  Life often presents us with new beginnings: a new year, a new season, a new financial year.  We can also have other sorts of new beginnings with a new teacher, new job, new friends, new house, new diet, or new routines.  As we develop, grow and learn, we can try new things, go on new adventures, discover new interests, skills and talents.  If we are willing, these new beginnings can bring opportunity to stop, turn around, and even turn a new leaf. 

No matter what difficulties and challenges you find yourself facing, embracing the something “new” can help you to start again and have hope that things can be better, or to keep pressing on through the difficult and challenging times knowing that a new beginning is within reach.  So be kind to yourself and let the past go. You may need to close old doors, move past offence, forgive where needed, accept change, be thankful for the good things in your life, while being optimistic that you can develop resilience and strength through the lessons you’ve experienced through the old.

Enjoy your new beginning!

Chappy’s Movie Night …

I hope you can join me for Chappy’s Movie Night screening the 2014 movie 'Annie' that is coming up soon in week 3 - Friday 30 July in the school hall.  It will be a special night combining with Music Week’s “Yeronga’s Got Talent” contest, with the finalists of the competition performing at the movie night.  For the entry price of $10/person, you also get a sausage sizzle, drink, enjoy craft and activities, and see the best in show for Yeronga State School.  Please see the attached flyer for registration details.  And thank you for supporting the fundraising needs of the Chaplaincy Office!

Please note: This event is still dependent upon the unfolding COVID restrictions. Adults and any children 12 yrs and over will be required to wear a face mask when on school grounds. Any changes and updates will be sent out via the SZapp. 

Coming up…

30/7 Chappy’s Movie Night

30/8 Sub and Drink Deal

Next term…

16-17/10 Chappy’s Camp at School

Blessings, Chappy Jenny

Nude Food Day prizes

Well done to everyone for the massive effort on Nude Food Day in week 8 last term.  Over 350 students came to school with no rubbish at all and we halved our normal amount of rubbish on the day! 

As always, our sponsor, The Source Bulk Foods at West End provided two giant amazing jars of package-free treats for the winning classes.  The winning Senior School class was 4N and the winning Junior School classes were a tie between Prep 3 and Prep 4.  They also get to take the glory and enjoy the Golden Bin trophy as the winning classes!

Three individual winners were drawn from the names of students who brought no rubbish!  We drew the Senior School individual prizes on assembly, but unfortunately the junior school assembly was cancelled in the last week.  Those prizes will be drawn on the next junior assembly.

Make No Rubbish Monday

Every Monday is now Make No Rubbish Monday!  Why?  To reduce the amount of rubbish in our school, to teach our students good habits for the future, to eat less packaged food and make healthy fresh food choices!  Many of our families bring Nude Food every day, but we’d love everyone to get on board for our Make No Rubbish Mondays! 

Library Recycling Hub

It was fabulous to see how many people have been donating plastic lids to the library recycling hub!  I will be able to deliver hundreds of lids to Ocean Crusaders who will recycle them.  HOWEVER, there were lots of the wrong type of lids and many dirty ones in there.  PLEASE, if you’re going to donate lids, make sure they are clean, the white insert is removed and that they are the right type of lid!  Please see the picture for the only lids that are accepted.

We also accept, batteries, phones, cords, e-waste, felt pens, ink cartridges and bread tags in the library recycling hub! 

The Green Team

NAIDOC week 2021 – ‘Heal Country!’

This week we are celebrating NAIDOC week 2021! NAIDOC week is a time each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. 

Heal Country! is this year’s theme and includes calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage. Read more about the Heal Country! theme here 2021 theme | NAIDOC

One thing you can do to help is to learn more about the land you live and work on. Here are some other great tips on how you can get involved in NAIDOC 2021 Top 20 tips to get involved this NAIDOC Week | NAIDOC

You may also wish to get involved through our new ‘Friends of Kalari’ group where we’ll discuss Indigenous perspectives and themes through a book / film club – if you’re interested email kalari.yss@gmail.com

Yuggera word of the week

This week’s word is ground or country:

Dhargun (DHAR-gun)

What is Kalari?

Kalari means ‘message stick’ in Yuggera 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 YSS, through an inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and in line with the YSS school values.

Kalari is made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous volunteer parents. For more information contact Aren Healy at mamaaren101@gmail.com

ASSEMBLY TIMETABLE

Thank you to the following students for nominating to provide their fellow students with some pre-assembly musical entertainment. Please see the roster of performers below for Term 3:

MUSIC WEEK

In week 3, we will be celebrating all that is musical at Yeronga State School. Over the week, all of our extra-curricular ensembles (Band, Strings and Choir) will be out and about performing for the school community. I have also had a couple of parents nominate to perform before school and in lunch times. Thank you so much to these people. If there are any other Yeronga SS family members keen to join in the celebrations by volunteering to perform as acoustic “street entertainment” before school (8:30 – 8:50am) on Monday 26/7 or Wednesday 28/7, I would love to hear from you via email at leeas0@eq.edu.au. Solo acts and duos/trios/quartets ensembles etc. are all welcome. Please see below for the current schedule of performers (which is subject to change due to weather events etc):

YERONGA’S GOT TALENT

Yeronga’s Got Talent is coming up quickly and auditions are being held on Thursday and Friday this week. Thank you to all auditionees for your hard work and dedication. You will be notified early next week as to if you have successfully made it to the Yeronga’s Got Talent Final on July 30. Don’t forget that Yeronga’s Got Talent will commence at 6pm in the Yeronga SS Hall and will be promptly followed by Chappy’s Movie Night.  

MUSIC CONGRATULATIONS 

Congratulations to Brian Z, our school strings captain on receiving an A+ for his grade 6 violin AMEB exam. This year Brian has also been selected to be the concertmaster of the Queensland Youth Orchestras’ Junior String Ensemble. Well done, Brian, these are outstanding achievements! 

Congratulations also to strings players Ariel M, Indigo M and Rhys J who this year are playing with the Young Conservatorium Overture String Orchestra.  

MUSIC DATE CLAIMERS

October TBC – Music Fest (Strings, Junior Band, Senior Choir)

Friday November 19 - Big Play (Senior Band, Junior Band, Strings)

Friday November 26 - Big Sing (Junior and Senior Choir)

Running Club

Running club will continue this term on Tuesdays, from 3:15 to 3:45 and Thursdays from 7:45 to 8:15. Mr Sutherland will hold his sessions on Fridays from 7:45 to 8:15. Remember that all of these sessions will occur on the main, or years 3-6, oval.

Representative Sport Congratulations

Regional Touch

Congratulations to Lily S who was successful in being selected for the Met West Regional Touch Team. We wish her success and hope that she will be our next state representative of 2021. Go Lily!

Yeronga State School Athletics

Final Scores in the Inter-house Championship

It was close all the way through, but in the end Paterson finished too strongly. The final scores were;

Evans: 718           Kendall: 880        Lawson: 797       Paterson: 959

Congratulations to Paterson on ending a generation long trophy drought!

2021 Age Champions

Congratulations to the following great athletes;

9 Years Girls

Mollie W

9 Years Boys

Lati H

10 Years Girls

Aggie W

10 Years Boys

Finn S

11 Years Girls

Samantha C

11 Years Boys

Angus W

12 Years Girls

Asha R

12 Years Boys

Leo C

Oliver W

Athletics Thank yous

Thank you to all our students who competed and behaved in an exemplary fashion. Thank you to all of our parents who came to watch and officiate. Thank you to all of our school staff members who either officiated, administered, adjudicated or supervised. Your contributions were, as always, excellent. Without all of this help Athletics carnivals cannot be run successfully. Thanks again to everyone.

Important Sporting Dates Term 3, 2021

19 &20/07/2021 – District Athletics

21/07/2021 – District Girls Cricket

22/07/2021 – District Boys Cricket

27/08/2021 – Gala Day 1

14/09/2021 – YSS Ball Games (Reserve Day 17/09/2021