Beerwah State School

Dear Parents/Carers,

 I can’t believe the first month of the year is already over and we are powering into Week 3.

I would like to thank all parents and carers for supporting your children in these first few weeks to settle into a new school year.

Day 8 was last Thursday.  Our final student number count was 232 students which we are staffed on for the remainder of the year.  This means our increased numbers supported the 10th class model which we implemented at the very beginning of the year.  Again, thank you all for being flexible and understanding around this change in class structure in Week 1.

On Monday, we held our annual Student Induction Ceremony, where our 2023 student leaders received their badges of office.  It was so wonderful to celebrate this achievement with the leaders, their families, students and staff.  Congratulations to all our student leaders for 2023, I know you will be amazing!

The P&C organised a working bee last weekend where we were able to do a lot of tidying and weeding around the A and E block garden beds.  Thank you to the families who gave up their Saturday morning to help maintain our school grounds and thank you to Carolyn Brewer, P&C President for organising this event.

Last week, you will have received a classroom newsletter and classroom behaviour management plan.  Please read the plan carefully as it explains how the teacher will be fostering appropriate classroom behaviour and managing inappropriate classroom behaviour.  It is necessary for you to return the attached tear – off slip to your child’s teacher.  Please discuss this plan with your child to reinforce their understandings.

At Beerwah State School, we value your involvement in your child’s education. Parent and caregiver involvement in every grade has been shown to improve academic performance, attendance, behaviour and social skills. Parent/teacher welcome interviews are one way to be involved in your child’s schooling. We are hosting Parent / Teacher Welcome interviews on Week 4 on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 from 3:00pm in the Hall. Parents/Carers can share with the teacher, key information which will assist in building stronger home, school partnerships for their child’s learning success by completing and returning interview questions about your child which you would have received this week.  Please refer to Mr Deady’s section in this Newsletter for information on booking interviews.  I look forward to meeting many parents/carers at these interviews next Wednesday afternoon.

Have an amazing 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

Oral Language

This is a key element of developing children’s ability to read and write. Regardless of our age, oral language (speaking and listening) is how we learn new vocabulary and build our understanding of language. This short video looks at oral language in more detail. It is primarily focussed on the early years. However, the concept of building language through discussion applies to all ages.

"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

During Parade each week we acknowledge a class from the lower school and upper school by presenting an award for being Kandoo active learners, Kandoo safe, and Kandoo respectful, that reflect our school values. 

LIBRARY TIMETABLE

P&C Meetings

The first meeting will be on Monday 20th February at 6pm in the library. It would be wonderful to see some new parents come along and find out what we have in store for 2023.  If you can’t join in person, you can always zoom in, just email P&C to get the link: pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au.

Volunteering

We are very excited to get the interest of a few new volunteers this term but we still need more. Without the parent volunteers, we cannot offer all of the services & events we have (tuckshop, uniform shop, book club etc). There are lots of little things that are simple to do from home if you can’t come into school. It’s tricky balancing our busy lives but with more helpers, we share the roles to make it easier for everyone.  Please get in touch if you are considering joining us. Don’t forget, the benefits of volunteering are endless, not only for yourself but your children too. Keep an eye on the upcoming newsletters to learn how volunteering benefits you along with the P&C Association.

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

If you haven’t already jumped onto our Facebook page, you should. It’s a great place to see what’s coming up, what volunteers are needed & helpful reminders in case you missed the notification.

It’s also the easiest place to get in touch with P&C.

Just find our page and like us to start following.

BSS P&C Facebook page

Events & Fundraising

We have a great calendar of events for this year, keep an eye on the school newsletters and our Facebook page for updates. The calendar will be finalized at the next meeting.

We will hold our term 1 Parents, Pancakes & Parade on Tuesday 21st February, Pancake Day 2023! Come along to the tuckshop and enjoy pancakes with your children for a gold coin donation. We’ll also have a coffee van in attendance so you can get your morning brew and be ready for the day! As an added bonus, the local Bank of QLD will buy a morning drink for all adults attending with their children. Stay around to watch the children at parade in the hall, see who receives the class awards and hear updates from our acting principal Mr Bowden.

We are also in the planning stages of our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Last year was a huge success with over 500 attendees, and so much chocolate! Even the Easter Bunny comes along to visit. Keep Easter Saturday free, it’s a great morning for families, and we’re seeking volunteers for the day and the planning process. Email or come to the meeting to find out more.

We will hold a major raffle at our Easter Egg Hunt so if any families or local businesses are able to donate prizes: products, services or vouchers, we would really appreciate them.

Also if any family businesses would like to sponsor any of the Easter games at the event, please get in touch as the radio station will be in attendance announcing all sponsors across the Sunshine Coast, and business names will be printed on all posters and advertising materials, and our Facebook page. A great opportunity to promote your business to the wider community!

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.

Our next collection project is the GLAD® Food Care Recycling Program. We are collecting Glad® and other brand snap-lock bags, freezer bags and cling wrap. Please ensure it is clean, then bring it along to the library where we have a drop-off point beside the other boxes along the window. If you use these products in your child’s lunchbox, it’s a great way to dispose of them, rather than putting it into landfill. Now is especially opportunistic as the supermarkets are no longer accepting soft plastic recycling. This program will enter the school into a competition to win some amazing garden beds and gardening products for our kitchen garden so there’s even more reason to save your bags & wraps.

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

Our wonderful book club is back, and the first issue was sent home last week. The brochure has a new look for this year, but ordering is still as easy as before. The best way to order 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. Orders for the first issue are due this Friday 10th February. 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.

Working Bee 

We hold our working bees on the 2nd Saturday of each term from 9.00am -12.00pm. We held our Term 1 Working Bee last weekend. Thank you to all families who attended, as we made huge improvements to the garden beds. No doubt our school groundsman Rob will be very grateful for the assistance. We tidied the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden too so it’s now weed free and ready for the students to start planting.  

Our children can learn so much from nature.  Volunteering at a Working Bee 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 will receive a superstar volunteer badge at parade. There are 8 to collect before receiving a volunteer flag. 

TUCKSHOP

Tuckshop will be open on Friday 24th February (week 5)!!!! All ordering will be via Qkr! which will be made available one week before. We have some wonderful new volunteers and would love to see more, so if you are available to assist on a regular basis, please get in touch as we would like to provide the facility to all children at least one day each week. 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 2.30pm-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

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 

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.

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