Beerwah State School

Dear Parents/Carers,

I can’t believe that next week is the last week of the term. Term 1 has been filled with exciting activities and many opportunities to celebrate our students’ successes. Thank you to all parent/carers for supporting your children in their learning this term. I wish you a very safe and happy holiday and look forward to seeing all of our students on the first day of term 2, which will be Monday 17 April.

YEAR 6 CAMP

Our Year 6 Camp was a huge success last week! Our students and staff had a very rewarding experience. I would like to thank Mrs Craig, Mr Cross, Mrs Bengtsen and Mrs Bismark for all their hard work in organising and running the camp.

FREE DRESS DAY

Tie Dye Our first Student Council fundraiser for 2023 will be a tie dye free dress day on Thursday 30 March. All students are able to wear their favourite tie dye outfits to school on the day. Students wearing tie dye are asked to bring a gold coin donation which will raise money for the Student Council’s school improvement project.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Our P&C will be running an Easter Egg Hunt from 8am – 11am on Easter Saturday 8 April. There will be many games and activities for our students to participate in, as well as lots of opportunities to find chocolate easter eggs! I encourage all families to attend and support this event. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend as I purchased airline tickets 12 months ago to visit my parents for Easter. I will however be spending the day before at school assisting with the setup for the event. I wish the P&C all the best for a very successful day and look forward to checking in via phone throughout the day.

STAFF UPDATE

I am thrilled to announce that I was successful in obtaining the permanent Principal’s position at Beerwah State School. I look forward to working with our students, teachers and parents/carers to support your children to be the very best they can be academically and socially/emotionally.

I have recently been in contact with Mrs Bourke. She will be returning to Beerwah SS at the beginning of Term 2. I would like to thank Ms Geradts for teaching 5A2 this term and wish her all the best in the future. We welcome Mrs Bourke back to Beerwah SS next term.

Miss Sedgman has decided to extend her leave from Beerwah SS for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, Mrs Galland was only available for Term 2 as she is seeking permanent employment which is something we are unable to offer her here. 

I know how important it is for our students to have consistency and I apologise for another disruption. However, I have been able to source a teacher for the rest of the year to teach 4/3A4. Ms Blake comes highly recommended from Eidsvold State School where she has been a classroom teacher. Ms Blake visited our school this week and met some of our students. She has also been involved in a planning day with Mr Deady this week to ensure a seamless transition. She will be spending time with Mrs Galland next week for a successful handover. We welcome Ms Blake to our Beerwah SS teaching team for 2023.

PREP- YEAR 2 EASTER HAT PARADE

It’s coming up to that time already – the end of term, and we would love to celebrate a fantastic term of learning with you with a special end of term Easter Hat parade for Prep, Year 1 & 2 students. The hats will be created here at school. The Easter Hat parade will be held in the Hall on Thursday 30/03/23 at 2:20pm.

P&C ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

We held our P&C Annual General Meeting on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, there were no nominations for the P&C President’s position, Secretary or Vice-President. We did have a successful nomination for Treasurer. Without filling the role of President and secretary, the P&C will no longer be able to function in accordance to the P&C Constitution. I am quite concerned as having no P&C will greatly reduce our ability to fundraise and hold events such as Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls, Book Club, raffles and so much more that the P&C organise. The President position for 2023 will have a lot of support from the School, P&C and previous presidents. This job is highly supported and a new person into the position would be successful. Our current P&C members are a great team who work well together and share the load. Being a part of the P&C would give opportunities for input into decision making and planning for school events. A final decision has to be made at our special meeting next Wednesday 29th March at 6:00pm in our school library. If you would like further information regarding these roles, please contact me at the school for a chat.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Scott Bowden

Student travel to and from school, when they are not with their parents/carers is expected to comply with the school’s Student Code of Conduct. This year we continue to have staggered starts and finishes: P-3 8:50am-2:50pm; Years 4-6 8:55am-2:55pm. Helping Hands staff collect P-3 students from the gate for the afternoon OSHC session.

CAR AND BUS

The main public car park is situated off Old Gympie Road. and is part of the government road system. It has car and bus parking and has also been designed to provide a special space to enable cars to pull up to set down and pick up students.

Looking at the school, the area to the left of the main gate is for drop off of students only.

Signage indicates a “STOP DROP GO ZONE“, “2 MIN PARKING 8am-3:30pm“ and “NO PARKING”.

• Drivers must not double park in the “Drop and Go Zone” nor leave their vehicle unattended during school drop off and pick up times, as posted on the Stop Drop Go signage.
• Please place your vehicle in a SINGLE queue and wait patiently for the queue of cars to move through the “DROP OFF ZONE“ then, after setting down/picking up your passengers, drive from the space with EXTREME caution.
• No passengers should be getting in/out of a vehicle when it is in the single queue. This is a very dangerous practice because of risk of younger students copying the behaviour of older students or adults. The car parks opposite the Stop Drop Go gate are 15 minutes during drop off and pick up time so they are available for drivers to pull into if their student/s are not yet at the Stop Drop Go gate.
• The Bus Zone is located at the end of the Car Park and is a BUS ONLY Zone.
• Signage is in place to notify drivers that this is a BUS ENTRY ONLY. Do not drive into or park in the Bus Zone and keep exits clear.
• Always drive very slowly through the car park.

If students have a concern about a problem on the bus, it should always be reported to the driver in the first instance. If that has not been possible or it is a repeat problem, they can report it to the office when they arrive at school or parent/caregivers should phone the school in the afternoon. If community members have any concern about driver behaviour in the Old Gympie Road car park they are advised to contact Police Link. The school has been advised that police prefer first hand and immediate reporting of incidents.

BIKE

Each rider must register at the office to become a member of our Kandoo Bike Shelter register. They will make a commitment to ride to and from school safely and to keep their bikes or scooters secured. Once registered, each rider will be given a special access code to enable them to secure their bike in the shelter. Students must have a lock to secure their bike/scooter in the racks.

Any children who wish to use the shelter must register prior to bringing their bike/scooter or other form of personal transport to school. This can be done at the office in the days prior to riding to school. Students who registered last year are not required to re-register this year.

Parents and carers are asked to ensure that their children have the capability and knowledge to ride to school safely and that the children can control their push-bike or other equipment used to ride to school. For example, for safety, they must be able to stop safely. They must be able to stop as they approach the school’s Peachester Road entrance and driveway and walk their bike into the shed.

Check out our calendar of events throughout the year, via the school's website at

Beerwah State School

You can sync any event to your personal calendar by clicking to  open the event and click on the  'Add to Calendar' button.  

Check out our Facebook page for more Celebrations and what's happening at our School.

Beerwah State School Facebook page

ENCOURAGING READING AT HOME

Beerwah State School pays for all students to have a subscription to a Digital Library. This is called Sora.

Sora is accessible on any internet capable device and has a wide range of texts from picture books to adult fiction/non fiction.

Children can ‘borrow’ up to 10 books at a time. When a book is ‘borrowed’, children have access to it for one week. It is stored on their ‘shelf’ on the website.

It is free for children to use at home because we have paid for the subscription. To access the digital library, go to the website below and children enter their school username (what they use to log into the computers).

https://soraapp.com/welcome/login/100423/ils/eduqueensland/form/Education%20Queensland

If you have any questions about this please make contact with me via the office.

STUDENT COUNCIL

We are excited to announce our first Student Council fundraiser for 2023.

When – Thursday 30th March

What – Tie Dye free dress day

Bring a gold coin donation to raise funds for our ‘school improvement project’.

INCURSIONS AND EXCURSIONS:

In term two there will be a range of incursions across the year levels. These include:

“Juiced up Groms” (HPE) – children learn about healthy eating and activity choices. At the end of the session, they get a freshly made smoothy.

Dance and Drama (The Arts) – children will learn elements of dance and drama in preparation for our school concert.

Incursions have the advantage of reducing costs for families as there is no need to pay for bus transport, which is often a significant part of the cost in an excursion.

Information about our upcoming incursions will be coming out to families in the near future.

"Everyone is a reader, some just haven't found their favourite book yet"

BORROWING

The Library is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30am. Students can borrow on their class borrowing day, at 2nd break and before school on these days. They must bring their red Library Bag. Library bags are available through the Uniform Shop for $13.00.

WEEKLY CLASS AWARD

Each week we acknowledge a class from the lower school and upper school by giving an award for being Kandoo active learners, Kandoo safe, and Kandoo respectful, that reflect our school values. Congratulations to our winners for Week 8 are PI1 and 5/4E2.

LIBRARY TIMETABLE

NEWS from SAKG

1J2, 21B4 and 2B2 have been in the kitchen and garden this term.

They have been cooking up lots of recipes using our new oven and enjoying eating what they cook. So far, students have made mini quiches and sweet potato sausage rolls (see recipe).

As part of the Technology unit ‘Food & Fibre’, students have also been rating their recipes, discussing their sustainability, healthiness, taste and ease of making.

When in the garden, students have been planting lettuces, tomatoes, celery, capsicum, carrots and rosellas. The vegetables are to promote sustainability in our kitchen garden and the rosellas for a new fruit to try. We have also been planting flowers to attract the bees and butterflies.

1J2, 21B4 and 2B2 will finish term 2 week 3 and 3A1, 43A4 and 54E2 will start in week 5.

A HUGE thank you to P&C for the oven! We love it!!!

If you have any questions with regards to sport, please phone Ms Murphy at the school on 5436 5555 or email jlmur1@eq.edu.au

Janelle Murphy (HPE Teacher)

The P&C welcome Mr Bowden as our Principal, we are delighted to have Mr Bowden on board permanently, he has been very supportive of our small group of caring parents and community members and we look forward to working closely together in the future.

P&C MEETINGS

Thank you to all who attended the P&C AGM on Wednesday. New positions will be announced shortly, please keep an eye on Skoolbag and Facebook.

Our next scheduled meeting will be in Term 2, the date is TBC, again, please keep an eye on Skoolbag and Facebook.

VOLUNTEERING

It has been absolutely AMAZING to see the wonderful parents who have come together to plan our Easter Egg Hunt. So many new faces and enthusiasm! Without parents like these we can’t hold our events. Come along to our Easter Egg Hunt, offer to help out for half an hour, it’s surprising how volunteering makes you feel. Just try…. If you want to find out more, please email pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au or connect through our Facebook page. If you send an email, you’ll get a surprise.

Did you know: Volunteering is Good for Your Health. I can’t share the benefits of volunteering without mentioning that it’s good for your health. Research shows that people who volunteer live longer, have lower stress levels, and are generally healthier. You can’t beat an opportunity that allows you to spend more time with your children AND decreases your stress. This is another great answer to the question of how to get parents to volunteer at school.

Don’t forget: the P&C Association are an approved volunteer organization with Centrelink (Services Australia) so if you need to complete volunteering hours, the school is a great option. This can be extended to grandparents and other friends, they will need to apply for a Blue Card to volunteer in the school which is an easy process we can assist with. Contact us by email and we can arrange to work out how we can help each other.

FACEBOOK PAGE

Facebook is our main form of contact so please follow us and keep an eye out for updates.

If you see one of our updates – for example our Easter Egg Hunt notice, please share with your friends. The more people who attend, the more funds we raise, and the more we can buy for your children to use at school. Everyone’s a winner!!!

We’ll also update you on the Tuckshop or Uniform shop, it’s the easiest form of contact so please keep following.

Just find our page and like us to start following. BSS P&C Facebook page

EVENTS & FUNDRAISING

The Easter Egg Hunt is our annual fete, this year we have more planned than last year. There will be more community stalls, more eggs to hunt, more games, more prizes, more, more, more!!! Please support our wonderful community and come down to the school oval for the morning. Your children will be talking about it for days!!

We have local market stalls attending this year, if you have a market stall, or know someone who does, and you hold your own public liability insurance, please get in touch to hold your own market space. We would love for locals to offer their products and services to other locals.

The P&C volunteers will be selling raffle tickets in the Marketplace leading up to Easter, and also tickets will be sent home with every family, please look out for them and buy them. Who knows, you could win a Nintendo Switch or Matador Smoker – what a win for Easter for the whole family!! Tickets are only $5 each so with a HUGE selection of prizes on offer (see the tickets for details), you can get a real bang for your buck!

WORKING BEE

Term 2’s working bee will be on the 2nd Sunday of the term, as many families are busy with sports activities on Saturday mornings. The working bee will run from 9-12. We tidy the grounds, weed garden beds, spread mulch & plant native plants for everyone to enjoy.

Our children can learn so much from nature and helping it along with a little effort is a great way to connect with other parents, and great for our own wellbeing by connecting with nature.

All children who helped with their parents receive a superstar volunteer badge at parade. There are 8 to collect before receiving a volunteer flag.

RECYCLING PROGRAM

P&C are registered with Terracycle as a collection/drop-off point for various things that normally don’t get recycled. Currently there is a box in the library for the collection of old pens and stationery that no longer works (not pencils). Take a look on their website to see what can be included.

We also have a box for old dental products to get recycled. Sponsored by Colgate, please recycle your old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, dental floss packets, and electric toothbrush heads. Visit www.terracycle.com.au to find out more. Over time we’ll add more boxes to recycle other products. Items can be dropped off anytime the library is open, boxes are beside the window.

It’s a wonderful initiative to reduce our landfill and look after our environment. As an added bonus, P&C will receive funds as we send off our recycling donations. I encourage you to reduce your landfill and contribute to our recycling program. It makes sense for the planet, sense for the P&C, and sense for your environmental conscience.

BOOK CLUB

The best way to order for the book club is online at www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP all books are delivered to the school and distributed to each child. If you would prefer to order as gifts, ensure you select that option and your items will be available for collection from the office. The due date for orders is always stamped on the front of the brochure so don’t miss out! An extra bonus is that the school receives 15% of all order values to purchase books for our library. Books are such a wonderful addition to any child’s life and there are some amazing prices in the book club.

TUCKSHOP

Tuckshop is open Fridays, first break only. All ordering will be via Qkr! which will be made available one week before. Before ordering, please double check your child’s profile & class as we had some orders going to the wrong class.

We’ve been so lucky to have a UniSC student Hannah helping us for the past 4 weeks, she’s almost at the end of her placement but we can’t wait to read her report on how we can improve our tuckshop to reach more of our school community. Hannah has worked hard to find out what our school community looks for in our tuckshop. Thank you to those parents who responded to her survey, your assistance is so helpful and will shape our future tuckshop operations. Of course without volunteers we can’t operate. Without Hannah we shall struggle. If you have an hour or two on a Friday morning, please drop in to give us a hand – it’s fun!

We will get more volunteers next term to take us to the next step – redesigning the menu. They will REALLY need your feedback so be ready to assist. Without parent input we can’t offer the food YOUR children want!

We would love to open before school to offer a breakfast service but this is dependent on volunteers, so if you are available to assist on a regular basis, please get in touch. Also, if you or your child has ideas for the menu, please get in touch as we’d love to hear all suggestions. pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au

UNIFORM SHOP

The uniform shop will open each Wednesday afternoon 2.30-3.00pm, or at other times by appointment.

The best way to order uniforms is ONLINE via Qkr! It’s quick & easy & there are no transaction fees

Alternatively, an order form can be collected from the Office. Items will then be sent home with the student or can be collected from the Office.

To ensure orders are processed quickly, once you have placed an online order, please send your details to pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au Click here to Order Uniforms Online Click here to download the Uniform Shop Order Form-

In 2023 we have lots of fun in store with incursions to our outdoor classroom, a teddy bear picnic, a bear hunt, lots of messy play, and visits from our local library just to mention a few.

Each month we have a different theme and the theme for March is STEAM play. STEAM play is an inquiry-based learning approach that is aimed at children’s natural curiosity that brings together science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics. Through STEAM play children learn to problem solve and develop investigation skills. They do this through exploring capacity using water and different sized containers and cups, making patterns using coloured blocks, measure toys and each other and compare them to see what/who is the tallest/shortest, design games such as a marble run, create different sounds using pots and pans as drums, and by threading beads on a string to create a necklace or bracelet.

Kandoo Joeys is open to all families with before-school-aged children and runs every Wednesday from 9.00am-11.00am in J Block, next to the Admin Block.

Come and join in the fun and social connections as your children learn through play at Kandoo Joeys Playgroup.

For more information contact Linda Merwood at playgroup@beerwahss.eq.edu.au

CHAPPY PIE DRIVE

Thank you to the staff and families who ordered pies from our Pie Drive.  The Pie Drive raised $425.50 for Chappy MIke.  Thank you to Gayle, Tania, Chappy Mike and Nadia for assisting with the pie drive.

We thank you for your support.

   KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

Holiday Camp run by SU Australia

                                                                                            18-22 September 2023

For Boys in grade 5-6

Chappy Mike has taken students from BSS each year for the last 5 years

Check out this link for a video and information

 https://sucamps.org.au/camps/king-of-the-mountain-2023/

Helping Hands provides quality before and after school care. This service forms strong, collaborative ties with the school, children, families, and the local community; to ensure the needs and interests of every child and family are supported. We provide an environment in which children feel safe and have fun. Afternoon tea is included.

We are located in D Block which is next to the Senior oval. For the children’s safety it is a requirement that you park in the allocated staff car park and use the footpaths to walk to and from the Centre. The car park will be open in the morning 6:30 to 7:30 and afternoon 5:00 to 6:00. Outside of these times, you will need to use the normal school carpark located on Old Gympie Rd. Children must be supervised at all times by an adult.

If you have any questions please phone Helping Hands Co-ordinator Sharon on: 0448 083 043, or click on the link below.

Masterpiece Dance is excited to collaborate with Beerwah Primary School to offer convenient and affordable classes straight after school. Students can come straight from class and be picked up from the hall at 4pm. Term 1 will involve a six week trial, starting in Week 5 on Feb 23, that is open to all grades from Prep to Year 6. It will be a fun introduction to Jazz, Hip-Hop and Contemporary. If there’s enough interest, we will potentially split the groups in Term 2 to focus on Prep–Year 2 and Year 3–Year 6 to ensure high-quality classes. Miss Sarah will be the teacher in Term 1 (who actually went to Beerwah Primary School when she was a child!). Sarah is a very experienced and passionate teacher. The classes are $12 per week (normally $16 at our studio for a 60-minute class).

Enrol now: www.trybooking.com/CFNVY If you have any questions, please email admin@masterpiecedance.com.au 

Looking for a fun and healthy activity the whole family can get into? Rhee Taekwondo is more than your average activity. You can get fit and healthy, learn effective self defence and develop self discipline & perseverance, all while having fun.Classes are taught by Instructor Nathan Arrowsmith, who has been personally appointed byWorld Master Rhee, the founder of Taekwondo in Australia.Values such as respect, honesty, integrity, perseverance and self discipline are the foundation of our classes. The many physical benefits of Rhee Taekwondo include increased strength, flexibility, focus, balance, coordination and stamina.The fun happens at 3.30pm every Monday & Wednesday at Beerwah State Primary School hall, and is open to all ages 5 years and over. Come along for an UNLIMITED FREE TRIAL.SPECIAL OFFER: Join in May and get a FREE UNIFORM valued at $80.Phone Instructor Nathan on 0419 496 160 or visit rheetaekwon-do.com for more information.

Concerns regarding young children with difficult and defiant behaviours? The Management of Young Children Program (MYCP) is available to support you.

The MYCP is supported by Beerwah and Landsborough State Schools (therefore no cost for these families) and is a practical and individualised behaviour support program for parents and carers of young children aged 2½ to 7 years and their families. It is a well-established and evidence based early intervention program targeting children who display defiant or oppositional behaviour with the aim of reducing such problematic behaviours in primary school and beyond.

For more information or interest in participating in the program, please see the school website link or contact the Landsborough State School office 5436 2777.

Friday 24th March 2023 from 3:30pm Maleny State (Primary) School Oval

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC    -    ENTRY IS FREE

Dodgems, Round Up, Storm, Super Slide, Jungle Jive, Teacup & Saucer, Pony Rides

Laughing Clown Heads, Lucky Ducks, Petting Zoo, Face Painting, Hair Colouring, Lucky Easter Stockings, Slime

Hot Chips, BBQ Garlic Prawn Skewers, Beer & Wine Garden, Hot Dogs, Fairy Floss, Ice Cream Sundaes, Cakes & Sweets, Curries, Lolly Stall, Second-hand Books

 Packed Entertainment Program, Online Raffle & Fireworks

To find out more and to buy Stalls Tickets and heavily discounted Rides Wristbands, please visit:  www.MalenyPandC.com.au

 With sincere thanks to our wonderful sponsors and supporters:

Our School has our own Skoolbag iPhone and Android App to help us communicate more effectively with our school Parent/Student community. Download the Skoolbag App to receive short messages, reminders and alerts. Parents will also be able to use eForms for absentee notes and change of details.

Click here to visit Skoolbag website