Beaudesert State School Newsletter

I hope this edition of our school newsletter finds our families safe and well. Many families would have certainly faced challenges during the recent weather event and my thoughts are with you all.

Our Guidance Officer, Maree Brown, and Chaplain, Jade Cocks, are on hand when school opens to support our students and families. Please do not hesitate to call our office and make a request for your child to speak with them.

Our school has water damage to some classrooms that we are working on rectifying today and the majority of our staff continue to be cut off from school. Once I know further information around our school opening date, I will communicate with our community again.

We are already mid-way through the school term and are excited to see restrictions lifted for the school week beginning 7th March. We really look forward to welcoming families back onto school grounds and partnering with you to provide the best possible opportunities for your child at our school.

Last year our school met our target for English A-C achievement across the school and for this we are very proud. In 2022 we have lifted our goals to:

a. 85% of students achieving a A-C in English

b. 50% of students achieving a A-B in English

c. 100% of students in Prep and Year 1 achieving a A-C in English

These high expectations and school goals are what we will be working towards as a school team this year and I look forward to reporting back our progress at the end of each semester. You can help us by ensuring your child is at school every day with the only exception that they are sick. We really appreciate your support with this. This year our Deputy Principal, Ms Gauld, is leading the Student at Risk: Attendance team who will be closely monitoring student attendance and providing support to our families where needed.

Parent teacher interviews will be held on Monday 21st March from 3:10pm – 7:00pm in the following locations across our school:

a. Prep – Year 2 Hall

b. Year 3 – Year 4 Library

c. Year 5 – Year 6 R Block

You can make a booking via our SOBS system. Please call the front office on 5540 1111 if you require the link to be resent to you. There are 5 questions you may like to ask your teacher when you sit down and meet with them. These include:

1. What is my child learning?

2. How is he or she doing?

3. How do you know (how she or he is doing)?

4. How can he or she improve?

5. What supports can I provide and can you provide if she or he is struggling? When will we check in again?

We welcome you asking our teachers these questions and look forward to authentically partnering with you this year.

5 Questions to ask your child

There’s nothing worse than when you ask your child how school was and you get the answer good or what did you do today and the response is “nothing”.  Below are 5 questions you can ask your child to ascertain what they are learning about at school.

1.       What did you learn today?

2.       How did you do?

3.       What did you do if you didn’t understand?

4.       How can you improve on your learning?

5.       What are you most proud of?

You may find that these questions create opportunities for conversations with your children

PAYMENT REMINDERS

Year 4 - 6 Swimming - $17.50 payment due 24th February

As always we have a mountain of lost property piling up at school. A lot of it is unnamed which makes it extremely hard to get it returned to the rightful owner. If your student has lost any items direct them to the lost property bins which are located near the undercover area at the end of the year 6 classroom block or you're welcome to pop in for a look yourselves. Please check there if your children are missing any of their belongings.

PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL BELONGINGS ARE CLEARLY LABELLED!

Well last weekend was certainly interesting! I trust you are all safe and as dry as you can be. It is easy for both ourselves, and our children to become overwhelmed with all that has been happening in the world. Can I encourage you to spend time with your children, allow your children to express their feelings and let them know that you are listening. It is important to acknowledge the struggles and difficult situations we face and the anxiety that may come from all of the uncertainty in the world and provide a safe place for children to voice their concerns. One great way that we can encourage our children to hold onto hope and see good, in even bad situations, is to look for ways that we can practically help others. This can be as simple as baking some cookies to drop off to someone, writing a card or drawing a picture to post to someone or donating items to help those who may have lost belongings. It can also be in recognising the help others are offering and giving, encouraging our children to see how others have been helpful and kind can renew their faith in people and spur them on to make a positive difference in the world themselves. This is certainly something I see happen when we face crisis such as the flooding last week, there are some amazing people in our town who rise up and provide for others so beautifully, whether that is in accommodation, food, or in the clean-up. I am so thankful for them and it not only encourages me, it also challenges me to look for ways I too can help others.

Let’s work together and look for ways that we can help others today.

It has been a busy start to the year in regards to sport and we've certainly hit the ground running with a whole lot more to look forward to in 2022! 

On Friday 18th March we have our Senior Swimming Carnival for Year 3 (born in 2013) - Year 6. Please see the attached document below for all the relevant information. This has also gone out via the SkoolBag app. If you do not have this, I highly recommend downloading it as it is my primary way of communicating “what’s on” to the community. 

To all the students who have trialed so far this year- thank you! I have been very impressed in the way you have played/swum, but mainly how courteous and respectful you have been. I am very proud of you all. 

Unfortunately the recent weather event has played havoc with the upcoming Rugby League and Touch Football trials but we hope to have them sorted as soon as possible. As previously mentioned keep an eye on Skoolbag for the latest information.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to ask.

Mr. Ed Brimelow 

HPE Teacher

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances the tuckshop will be closed again this week (2nd - 4th March) We apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding. We will continue to keep the school community updated via Skoolbag.

A reminder that we have a new, slightly reduced menu. Please note that some foods are only available on certain days. Refer to the new menu for this information. If you did not receive a new menu, please ask your child to collect one from the office or the Tuckshop.

Volunteers needed for this year. Please contact our Tuckshop Convenor, Michelle at the Beaudesert Snack Shack if you would like to volunteer at any time from Wednesday through to Friday. Even just for an hour or two to help with preparation or stay for the whole day. Whatever time you could spare would be greatly appreciated. COVID rules will need to be followed.

If volunteers are not available to help, we may need to move to a more limited menu where substitutes will be provided.