Gr8 way to end the week!

What a wonderful middle session last Friday was with teachers, families and students enjoying themselves undertaking the various activities for Under 8s Day. It was so good to be able to welcome parents back on school site in numbers for events such as this after last year’s COVID interruption. The weather was perfect and the children were very engaged in what they were doing, interacting with their friends and having a great time. Special mention must go to our Acting Prep-Year 1 Deputy Principal, Miss Michelle Rossiter, for her organisation and coordination of the event, enabling Mrs Wardle to seamlessly return back to school - and Under 8s Day - after her 5 week’s long service leave. The day was most enjoyable to watch and I would like to give a big thank you to all involved including Mrs Rigby, our incredible teachers, staff and Year Five helpers who put together and ran such an excellent event.

Car parking

The only downside of Under 8s Day was some complaints we received from neighbours about cars parking where they shouldn’t. May I once again remind everyone to please respect the parking rules in and around our school. The Brisbane City Council has earmarked our school for parking patrols and one neighbour has stated that they will have vehicles towed if they park on their private property. If you are driving and parking, please do the right thing and follow all rules. This includes dropping off and picking up only in our designated drop off/pick up area; not just anywhere in the carpark. Additionally, please do not use the turning circle in front of Admin for drop off or pick up as this practice places our students in the Green Zone in danger. As I have stated before, surely our students’ safety is worth the couple of extra minutes of your time it takes to do the right, safe thing. Thank you.

Glass containers

Recently we have had a number of students bring glass containers to school for their lunches. Unfortunately, when these are dropped they shatter and leave glass shards in the playgrounds/eating areas; this has happened on more than one occasion this term. In the interest of safety, we do ask that the drink bottles and lunch containers you send to school are plastic or metal so that they can survive an accidental drop.

Resource Scheme

In addition to the personal book-lists parents are asked to provide for their children, Rochedale SS also operates a resource scheme. The money from this scheme is used to purchase the online access each child is given, each year, to complement the class learning program. This access includes programs such as Reading Eggs, Literacy Planet and Mathletics. Thank you to all families who have paid this year’s resource scheme. Payments are now due to ensure your child has the online access necessary to undertake their classroom activities. Parents who elect not to take part in our resource scheme must provide their own child’s online licences. Please note that our scheme does not run at a profit and all funds are directed into student resources. By utilising the school’s bulk buying power, we are also able to keep costs down. If school monies have to be diverted to cover these basic access costs then other programs and initiatives will suffer. Parents who choose not to take part in our resource scheme and then do not provide their child’s access forcing us to divert committed funds, may not be additionally burdened by the school with offers for extra-curricular, non–compulsory activities which incur additional cost.

Maintenance update

• The new ROSHCA building is in the final stages of fit out and will open this week to give our service some much needed, additional indoor space.
• The solar panel program has now moved to the Year 6 Block and is expected to take another 2 weeks to be completed.
• The junior playground experienced a delay last week with a concrete pour, but at least the weather has been kind. We are hopeful to be able to open this new area by the end of next week.

School Council nomination of parent rep.

Rochedale State School is an Independent Public School (IPS) which provides us with greater autonomy, flexibility and decision making at a local level. A key component of this local autonomy is our School Council. The Rochedale State School Council is made up of staff, parent, school, P&C and community representatives. The maximum term of service for our parent and staff reps is two years and both of these positions will soon be finishing their time on our School Council and be up for re-election. Our School Council is looking for a parent rep to serve for the next two years – Term 3, 2021 to Term 3, 2023. The role of the parent rep is to provide a parent perspective to the Council and commit to a once a term meeting during school time. Nomination forms for the parent rep position, will be available from tomorrow at our school office. The nomination period will be open for two weeks with nominations closing on Friday June 11. Nominees’ information will be shared with the school community via the school newsletter with the election of new School Council parent/carer representative taking place in the last two weeks of this term. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding School Council representation or the nomination/election process.

Learner Profile: Attribute focus for the week – Inquirer - This week students should construct a question of inquiry which interests them and find the answer to it. It may be done as part of the whole class Unit of Inquiry and related to the class program or may be something of independent interest to the student. Students should discuss and they share their actions with their teacher. 

Have a terrific week
Kind regards
Keith Graham
Principal

Thank you for the warm welcome back I received from many parents and students last week – Rochedale State School is the best school in the universe and it is great to be back! What a week it was though – culminating in Under 8’s Day on Friday. Thank you to Miss Rossiter who paved the way and did the lion’s share of the organisation in my absence. It was a marvellous day – with brilliant sunshine, many families able to visit and join in and beaming smiles from the children as they engaged in a number of fun activities. This year the format was a little different from what we have done before, with the teachers escorting their classes around the events and parents joining in. COVID has been a game changer for many processes these past two years, but Under 8’s Day, despite the change in format, was still a great day to celebrate our precious members of Prep – Year 2. This time last year, we could not even contemplate organising the day, so it was marvellous to be able to invite our community along and celebrate what it means to be Under 8.

Meanwhile, in the classrooms, the Prep students are learning about changes in the weather and how these changes affect people. This is a Science Unit and it is a perfect time of the year to introduce it, as they will be observing the changes around them. We begin to have colder mornings, shorter days, chilly breezes and cool showers which all affect how we dress and the activities we undertake. To demonstrate how weather affects people, the children will draw themselves in a particular weather scenario and dress themselves in certain clothing then explain the choices they made, especially what they need to do, if the weather changes. They are also building onto their vocabulary by reading interesting stories like “Big Rain Coming”, using the mathematical language of chance – ‘Is it likely or unlikely to rain today?’ and developing a knowledge of the properties of some materials in the process – for example, umbrellas and raincoats need to be waterproof!

Year 1 students are also engaged in a Science Unit and are investigating the properties of materials and noting how they can be physically changed according to those properties. The children are predicting, experimenting and exploring the types of changes possible and while doing this, will be expanding their vocabulary accordingly. Words like transparent, brittle, tough or weak, rough or smooth, hard or soft, flexible or rigid, absorbent or repellent will be used as our young scientists observe and experiment with the materials. It is an exciting unit which will culminate in the children designing a specific article (like a dog house) and discuss why they have used the particular materials chosen, according to their properties. It is wonderful to hear their reasoning and capture their thought processes. The children are also honing their writing skills and learning how to write a procedural text. Lots of fun activities are happening in the classroom as the children go through the practical process of how to make something and then write about it.

Rochedale State School is such a wonderful place because every single day, is a day of learning. And like Mr Graham said on parade on Friday – I know I am successful if I know more at the end of the week than I did at the start of the week, that’s what being an inquirer is all about.

Wishing you well and hoping you too, know more at the end of this week than you did at the start of the week.

Denise Wardle
Sector Deputy P – 1)

Dear Parents/caregivers,

With the change of season, from Autumn to Winter, and the half way mark of the year approaching it’s a great time to reflect upon achievements met and challenges still to overcome. Reflection is a strong human characteristic. We do it throughout our whole day.

As adults we may ask ourselves simple questions from; What shall I cook for dinner?  How could l have tackled that task in a different way? What is the best way to get home on a cold wet night?  Reflecting on our day is a natural part of our routine – even if we are not physically stopping to consider it.

At school, we often ask the children to stop and consider what they have learned in a specific lesson or how they improve their learning. We sometimes may ask how best can they be friends with their classmates, or how they can include someone into their game. These are important stepping stones in preparing them to consider not just how others feel, but how we think back on a situation or a day and take time to reflect upon it and maybe find room for improvement.

Often in our busy lives we forget to just pause and ‘smell the roses’. Its often good to just take time, turn the TV, computers and radio off and take 15 minutes to just sit and chat.

As the saying goes: It is important to look back, so that the way forward is even clearer.

Have a great week
Best Wishes
Paul Kelly
PYP Coordinator

Hi Rochedale State School community,

Thank you so much for your support during ‘Chappy week’.  It was wonderful to look out over a sea of yellow last Tuesday. Your gold coin donation helped to raise $1104.55, we are so grateful. This money will be used only in our school for the purposes of pastoral care, programs, resource for students, hampers for families in need and ensuring chaplaincy remains in school to support our RSS community.

Some interesting QLD primary and high state school chaplaincy statistics:

Enjoy your week as we enter our winter months!
Kind regards
Chappy Sue

Welcome to Week 7 of Term 2!

Captain Read It

Congratulations to our Captain Read It Winners from Weeks 6 of Term 2

Prep J            Diana Y
1K                  Oliver R
2F                  Gina H
3G                  Sava K
4K                  Vincent B
5C                  Hamish M
6R                  Charli B

Have a great week!
Jackie and Lorraine

Visit by Registered Nurse for Free Prep Vision Screening at Rochedale State School

Dear Parents,

Good vision is important for a child’s educational, physical and social development. Vision screening checks for common eye conditions that may impact your child’s ability to see and therefore impact their learning and development.

A Registered Nurse will be visiting the school on Monday 26, Tuesday 27, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 July to conduct vision screening for children in their Prep year.  Parents, you will be sent a consent form in a confidential envelope by your child’s teacher.  Parents do not need to be present for screening, however if you would like to be, please contact your child’s teacher to arrange this. They will be able to tell you closer to the dates, the time and day that your child’s class will be going through the screening process. I have watched this many times and the administering staff’s warm, friendly approach quickly puts children at ease and they happily engage in the process.

If your child’s vision is screened, you will be advised of the results in writing. If a vision concern is found, you will receive a phone call from the nurse to discuss referral to an eye health professional for further assessment. If a vision concern is identified and your child requires glasses, eligible health care card holders may be assisted with free basic glasses through the Spectacle Supply Scheme.

Participation in vision screening is not compulsory. If you do not wish for your child to participate in screening, please complete the consent form and indicate that you wish to decline screening.

Consent forms were sent home with your child last week. Please return these to your child’s class teacher by Thursday 10 June.

If you have any questions, please contact the Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program on 1800 687 372 or Mrs Wardle.

Denise Wardle
(Deputy Principal P-1)

ABSENCE LINE 3340 8388 or

text 0427 890 693 (24 hours)

*******IT IS NOW A REQUIREMENT THAT ALL STUDENT ABSENCES BE REPORTED ON THE DAY OF THE ABSENCE TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE*******

To report a student absence, please call the absence line on 3340 8388 or text our SMS line on 0427 890 693.  These lines are both open 24 hours a day.

When recording an absence on either our phone line or SMS line, please state the following:

1. Your name
2. Student's name
3. Student's class
4. Reason for absence

Please speak clearly and slowly and help us with spelling of names when calling the phone line.