ARD SCHOOL VISIT/ PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Mrs Kerri Jones, Assistant Regional Director, met with the Strategic team and visited classrooms across the school at the end of the first week of term. Kerri was very impressed with the quality of teaching and learning, professional learning opportunities and high level of active and purposeful student engagement she observed. Kerri’s feedback was that Yeronga is a school that has a culture that strongly promotes learning through high quality teaching, student agency, inquiry and collaboration is affirming for all of us.

The re-establishment of the Early Years network, consisting of local schools, kindergartens and child cares, to facilitate quality transition plans for local Prep students, was impressive to Kerri. Tracy Freeman is busy leading this work. The inclusion teacher role description and our approach to Inclusion, led by Kate Paynter,  also brought praise.  The school improvement agenda – Creating Curious Risk taking Writers and Deepening our Inquiry Stance is lead by a passionate, focused and highly skilled team, with special mention to Liz Kemp (Writing Coach/HOC) and Clare Triggell (Inquiry Coach), whose core business these priorities are.

TRAVELLING ROADSHOW

Last week teachers across our school visited each other’s classrooms to share their inquiry practice.  Shared language, split screens, learning assets, stages of inquiry, visible thinking routines were all evidenced across the school. It was incredibly affirming and worthwhile as teachers identified strategies to develop their inquiry approach further. Teachers have asked could they do it again so we will look for an opportunity early next term to explore our Writing priority.

INSTRUCTIONAL ROUNDS

Next Tuesday over 20 practitioners from fellow Curiosity and Powerful Learning schools will be visiting Yeronga State School to provide feedback on our progress with the transition to an Inquiry approach. This is a wonderful opportunity for our teachers to share their practice to help other schools deepen their learnings too. I look forward to sharing with you feedback from this session.

EARLY YEARS NETWORK

Yesterday early year teachers from childcare, kindergarten and local state and private schools attended the second EYN meeting, facilitated by Tracy Freeman. The intention of this group is to build understanding of each  other’s context and facilitate quality transitions. The recent AEDC Data identified emotional maturity as a priority for children in our local area. This team of practioners brainstormed some possible strategies yesterday to help address this in all our contexts. We will share some ideas around how you can support this in the future.

YEAR 4 CAMP

Last week I went to Camp Goodenough for the first time and I was very impressed with the quality of food, accommodation and organisation. It has been run by the same family for over 35 years, with the third generation currently becoming involved. They take significant pride and care in every aspect of the camp. Yeronga State School has been attending the camp for 26 years and I can see us attending for many more.

It was such a joy to attend camp and get to know the Year 4 children some more. They were courageous and resilient, challenging themselves on all the activities on offer. It was lovely to see them encouraging and supporting each other, cheering on their successes and commiserating with their misses. I hope they have come home and shared many great tales.

Thank you to Mr Ryan Henry, Miss Amy Ward, Mr Josh Newby, Mrs Gemma Chase and Mrs Kerri McGuire for their dedication, commitment and willingness to make sure the camp could happen.

PARKING

The safety of our students is of paramount importance. There should be no parking at all in our school grounds. The YOSHC car park continues to be of concern as parents and children drive and walk through this space.  We have established a pedestrian walking area and encourage parents to use it. There should be no one driving in or out of this car park in the morning or afternoon to drop or pick up children.

Beginning this week, there will be a concertina barricade across the space in the afternoons as part of YOSHC and the school’s continued efforts to keep our children safe. Thank you for your cooperation in following these guidelines.

DOGS ON THE SCHOOL GROUNDS

We have added signage to our school as part of our dog policy. The need to keep dogs on a leash and clean up after the dog applies in and out of school hours. I have been contacted regularly by the public with concerns about owners allowing dogs off their leash in our school grounds after hours. I have given authorisation to the authorised personnel from Brisbane City Council to issue fines for failure to follow council dog laws. Please be aware that the fines can be as much as $266. There is a dog park at the back of the school that can be used for off leash time.

Debbie Spanner
Principal

The first three weeks of Term Three have flown by in a flurry of ‘finding out’ and fun! It was great to hear all of the stories from the Year Four students as they returned from a fabulous time at camp. We also revelled in witnessing the sense of achievement and pride as the Prep, Year One and Two students took part in their Athletics Carnival.

Chappy Movie Night

It was lovely to see many families attending and engaging the movie night last Friday. Children enjoyed watching the movie, eating a hot dog and even having a visit from our very own Santa.

A huge thank you to Chappy Jen for organising such a wonderful community and family minded event.

Yr One Fire Ed

Last week the Year 1 students hosted the fireman from Annerley Fire Station.  The fireman came out and spoke with our children about the importance of being safe.  The children were left with a few things to remember and practice before the next visit where they get to look at the fire engine (very exciting for our little ones).  They need to be able to recall their home address and the number to ring in case of an emergency – so please help your child remember these details.

Active School Travel

We have a busy term ahead for Active School Travel.  The Bike Riding Train (Bikeman Stu) and the Walking Train (2 teachers per week)  are still happening for the term. Please see the timetable below for the teachers who will be travelling with the Walking Train for the next two weeks:

Week 4 – Deb Cowie & Leanne Ford

Week 5 – RNA SHOW HOLIDAY

Week 6 – Rachel Brown & Debbie Quinn

What’s On in Active School Travel this term

• Please keep an eye out for the AST maps that will be coming home by Friday of this week. The map has different AST routes that you can take to school.  The maps will be accompanied by a ‘Scavenger Hunt’ sheet – complete this on your way to school or the weekends to be in the running for a prize supplied by Nicole Johnston.  This needs to be handed back in to the office by Friday 9^th  There will be an upper school and lower school prize to be handed out at assemblies during Week 6 and Week 7.
• Nicole Johnston and the Lions will provide a breakfast for all Active School Travellers on Wednesday 28^th Wear your craziest pair of socks to celebrate upcoming Father’s Day to get double stamps.
• Free Scooter/ Bike session run by BCC for classes that win the AST trophy the most in Term 3. The sessions will be held in Term 4 for the winners of the class trophy.
  
  

Head Lice

The presence of head lice can be a common occurrence in the community.  We have had some reports of children having head lice this term so could we ask that you check your child’s hair and treat it if necessary.  Please click on the link if you would like to learn more http://conditions.health.qld.gov.au/HealthCondition/condition/14/165/351/Head-Lice

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent teacher interviews are a wonderful opportunity for you to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss their progress and learning goals for the year.

Interviews will be held during weeks 5 and 6 and an e-mail has been sent out during the week, advising you of how to book. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear about your child’s progress.

We would love to see you at our upcoming events - mark the dates in your diary!

They include:                   

-Prep Information Sessions at 9.15am and 6pm (12/8)

-Life Education Parent Information Session for Prep- Year 2 (13/8 at 1.50pm)

-Parent Teacher Interview Evenings (15/8 and 19/8)

-Cybersafety Parent Information Evening for Year 4-6 (3/9)

All the best for the next two weeks!

Kate Paynter and Tracy Freeman

Deputy Principals

Trivia Night - 17 August

Our annual YSS Trivia Night coordinated by school parents, Rachel and Simon, is a huge highlight on the calendar of FUN events for parents. Themed 'At the movies', the organisers have created a video to help inspire us for the evening - how many 'YSS celebrities' can you spot?:

https://www.facebook.com/YerongaSSPandC/videos/801815483548241/   

Please see the attached flyer for more information (and a chuckle!).

• Date:  Saturday, 17 August 2019
• Time:  Doors open 6:30pm, (trivia to finish by around 10pm, doors and dancing close at midnight)
• Location:  YSS School hall
• Tickets:  $10 per person, online via Flexischools (www.flexischools.com.au)
• Details:  Drinks for sale on the night (discount for those who bring their own cups), BYO food. 

o Loads of prizes including best dressed table (max 10 peeps).

o Tickets are booked individually not by table so just book for yourself, rock up and find some friends on the night...

o Please contact rackllmack@gmail.com.au if you have any questions.  

NEW Extracurricular Performing Arts Class from Wednesday, 31 July

Inspired by the popularity of the new extracurricular music classes, the P&C is excited to welcome Carleon Russell as the teacher for our brand new Performing Arts classes offered on Wednesday afternoons. Carleon has been teaching music for most of her life, and performance arts, drama, and musical theatre group classes for the last seven years. She tailors her curriculum to suit the children's interests, and classes offered at YSS will include drama, singing and fun theatre sports. Class details (please see attached flyer for more infomation):

• Wednesday afternoons - all ages 3:15-4:15 pm, $20.00 per child

• Yr 3-6 extension 4:15-5:15 pm +$15 (younger siblings welcome, also +$15 each).
• light afternoon tea, all props and equipment included
• to book contact Carleon on 0498 063 489 or dramawithcarleon@gmail.com

New P&C Extracurricular Activities Flyer

With the growing popularity of extracurricular activities offered by the YSS P&C, a new flyer has been created to capture the details for all activities in one place. There is at least one extracurricular activity class offered every school day and the full suite of activities includes:

·  Chess

·  Performing Arts

·  Guitar

·  Private piano lessons

·  Art and craft

·  Tennis.

Please see the attached 2019 Extracurricular Activities flyer for more information and contact providers directly with questions or to enrol.

THANK YOU to the 57 families who donated $6,300 to the 2019 YSS Building Fund Appeal to help us to fund air conditioning in classrooms for grades 1 to 3. Your generosity is sincerely appreciated - please keep reading below for an update on the air conditioning for our school.

Fete Update and Survey

We are delighted to announce that the 2019 Fete raised just over $80,000. Combined with the wonderful 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 and family volunteers, sponsors, kids, teachers, school leaders and YOSHC staff - for your contribution to this major initiative for our school. 

Our next Fete will be in 2021, our school's 150th year. To help with planning and to make the 2021 Fete event more enjoyable for our school community we invite you to take a minute to complete the Fete feedback survey. We promise it won't take long: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019YSSFeteSurvey.

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

Air Conditioning Update

At the P&C meeting on 16 July we celebrated the installation of air conditioning into three more school buildings over the June/July holidays with P&C members and the Fete Committee team. Light catering was funded through a gift voucher 'won' by the P&C Executive team for completing a P&C Queensland survey and the meeting was held in one of the newly air conditioned classrooms in A block (5/6W).

Air conditioning has now been installed into the classrooms for all children in Prep, and grades 4, 5 and 6. This is the result of a massive planning, fundraising and logistical effort over many years by many parents and families within our school community. At the July meeting Debbie Spanner reported that there was much excitement from the teachers and children who came to school on the first day of term 3 to newly air conditioned classrooms. THANK YOU to everyone for making this possible.

The outstanding Fete fundraising result and generosity of families through the 2019 Building Fund appeal provided the confidence for members at the July P&C meeting to approve the extra expenditure needed to air condition the rest of the school. If all goes to plan, air conditioning will be installed into classrooms for children in grades 1, 2 and 3 during the September/October holidays, so our whole school will be air conditioned by the time the 2019/20 summer hits.

A massive THANK YOU to our entire school community for making this possible. Our children and their teachers will enjoy a much more comfortable learning environment in the height of summer, and we are assured that the air conditioning will be used responsibly and sustainably as possible.

Woolworths Earn and Learn Results

Together our school community collected a massive 34,500 stickers through the Earn and Learn promotion. Thank you to everyone who submitted stickers and to Carolyn Adams and her family for collating and sticking every sticker onto sheets for submission. 

We have been advised that the stickers we collected have enabled the school to order a set of 4 BlueBots (small robots to help kids learn coding) for the Library, as well as sporting equipment that includes 4 sets of 40 half cone markers, 9 netballs and 10 ball launchers. Woolworths have advised the supplies will be delivered sometime during term 4. 

Hamish Townsend and Kym Mansfield

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

Junior Athletics Day: 23 July

Congratulations to all on a great day. It was wonderful to see so many parents along to support their children as they participated in the Athletics and novelty events. A massive thank you to our teachers and teacher aides who did a great job ensuring that all children had the opportunity to participate in all of the activities. A big thank you to Mrs Freeman who was our announcer for the day and did a great job keeping the day on track. Lastly thank you to our Prep to Year Two students who did a great job throughout the morning.

Rebel Sport Community Kickbacks

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.

Gala Days

The remaining dates for these very important days in Term 3 are 23 August, 6 September and the 18 October. Children need to begin considering their options which include Softball, Netball, Touch and AFL. Early in term 3 they will need to choose a sport and commit to training as they will be required to attend all of the Gala Days.

New District and Regional Representatives

Extra congratulations to Willow H, Joshua S and Maggie S who was selected in her second regional team; the 1500m in Athletics.

Best of luck to Hayley R and Mr C who are off to the Longreach to compete in and coach at state Touch. I am sure both of them will do very well.

Congratulations to Mia G who was selected to attend the Met West Regional Girls Cricket Trial.

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

Important Sporting Dates

10 to 12 Years Girls Regional Cricket Trial: 6 August

10 to 12 Years Boys District Cricket Trial: 12 August

Gala Day One: 23 August

10 to 12 Years Boys Regional Cricket Trial: 26 August

YSS Ball Games Day (Prep to Year 6): 19 September

Cameron Bateman
Sports Teacher