What a wonderful Week 1

How good it was to be back at school, see our students’ smiling faces again and experience the wonderful and rich work that is happening in our classrooms. It was a wonderful start to the new semester. I know the COVID-19 issues are far from over and as much as we try, they do still have an impact on our school. However, the focus of our school continues to be positive and on student learning. We in Brisbane, are faring so much better than the people in Sydney and Victoria at this time. The mask wearing and associated restrictions I outlined in last week’s newsletter – listed again below - remain in place until Friday 6:00am (at this stage). I once again ask and thank everyone in our community for their co-operation. As we have proven throughout this pandemic, we will deal with any distractions or obstacles with a solution focus to ensure we maintain our core business. With Week 1 completed, I am extremely optimistic about the remainder of this year and the positives we will achieve. Whatever happens around us, we will continue to work with you to ensure the best learning opportunities for every student, every day.

Mask wearing

In regards to masks, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer has confirmed that children are not required to wear masks while on school premises. Specifically, the following advice applies to school sites when COVID-19 restrictions are in place that require the wearing of face masks by the general public (currently local government areas in South East Queensland until 6 am on 23 July 2021):

• Students are not required to wear a face mask when on school premises or when travelling on dedicated school transport but may choose to do so.
• School staff are not required to wear a face mask when working with children but may choose to do so.
• ​Adults, including volunteers and family members, are required to wear a face mask if they cannot maintain physical distancing from each other while on school grounds and to wear a mask when entering any buildings or classrooms.  Please note, to maximise their workplace safety, teachers may use their discretion and minimise parent/carer/adult numbers in classrooms or restrict adult access to classrooms completely for this week.  We thank you for your understanding.

More general information about wearing face masks is available on the Queensland Health website.

Contact tracing

Current pick-up and drop-off arrangements remain in place along with our Green Zone restrictions both before and after school. QR codes and the Check-in Qld app are not mandatory for schools and we have elected not to use these. The check in app is only for contract tracing and does not contain a legal declaration component about the health and contacts of visitors. To maintain our high safety standards, we ask all visitors to classrooms/school events and all non-parent/carers i.e. friends and extended family members, to complete a COVID declaration form anytime they are on site. Parents and carers who are just dropping-off or picking-up in mornings and afternoons, do not need to complete this declaration. All information collected on these forms is kept and used in line with Dept of Health and Dept of Education protocols and will be destroyed when no longer required.

Staffing

I would like to welcome Ms Jessica Smyth to our team who is replacing Faye Berry on 3F. Over the holiday break, Mrs Berry was successful in winning a STLAN (Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy) position at another school and will be acting in this new role for the remainder of the year.

Mr Paul Kelly has requested sick leave for the first half of this term to address some ongoing medical issues. Mr Kelly undertakes our Head of Curriculum/PYP Co-ordinators role and during his absence this role will be filled by an existing staff member. This replacement process has not yet been completed at the time of writing this newsletter; I will provide details of his replacement next week.

School Opinion Survey reminder

Thank you to all of those who have already completed the Parent/Caregiver Survey. If you have not had a chance to complete the survey yet, please note that the online surveys will remain open until Friday, 30 July 2021. This is your opportunity to provide feedback about what our school does well and how we can improve.

To have your say, check your email for an invitation from the Department of Education titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2021. 

Can’t find your invitation?  If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder.

STARS – Prep Transition

Planning for next year is well underway with approx. 115 students already enrolled for Prep in 2022. Beginning school marks a time of great excitement, change and sometimes stress, for children and their families. At Rochedale, we have an extensive Prep Transition Program for all children who are commencing school the following year, helping make the significant transition from home, preschool or day care to Prep as smooth as possible for children and their parents. Today we commenced our STARS program, which introduces children and parents to our school setting in a supportive way over the semester, helping children to be ready to begin school next year. Our STARS program is facilitated by Mrs Heidi Burns. Each Monday she will welcome our 2022 Prep students and parents and work with them to ensure a smooth transition and a positive start to school life next year. If you are yet to enrol your child for Prep next year, please do so as soon as possible so that you too can take advantage of our transition program.

Learner Profile:  Attribute focus for the week – Principled – students respect the rights of others and take their own responsibilities seriously. Students arrive to school on time, return from breaks and get to all classes on time. To achieve this goal, students must be principled for the entire term.

Kind regards
Keith Graham
Principal

Rochedale Opti-MINDS Teams 2021

At Rochedale many opportunities are provided to our students for extension and enrichment.  The OPTI-Minds challenge is one of these opportunities. 2021 will be Rochedale State School’s 17^th year of involvement in the Opti-MINDS challenge.

Opti-MINDS is a 6-week challenge process held in term 3 each year.  In 2021, Rochedale State School is entering 3 teams from the Year 6 cohort in the challenge.  It is a dynamic CELEBRATION of innovation, talent and creative problem solving which EMPOWERS participants to THINK, CREATE & COMMUNICATE.

Opti-MINDS Aims:

• to foster creative responsiveness – a “CAN DO” culture;
• to provide challenge, enrichment and stimulation;
• to foster flexibility, innovative thinking and functioning;
• to promote complex thinking and creative problem solving strategies;
• to develop a practical understanding of cognitive and meta-cognitive processes;
• to encourage reflective thinking and self-directed learning;
• to facilitate empowerment and responsibility;
• to promote an understanding and appreciation of self and others;
• to harness and celebrate difference;
• to develop effective communication and collaborative thinking skills;
• to foster cooperation and teamwork;
• to promote enterprise and initiative;
• to stimulate a spirit of exploration, investigation, experimentation, and a love of learning;
• to provide a collaborative link between education, community and industry;
• to foster wellbeing;
• to promote UNASHAMED EXCELLENCE! and
• to promote a sustainable future for all.

Participants work in a team and select 1 of 4 challenge choices (in the categories of Science Engineering, Language Literature, Social Sciences and new in 2021 Media Communication) to solve and present their most creative solution in a 10-minute dramatic performance, to a panel of judges.  This year, due to COVID restrictions, the teams will film their performance and send through to a panel of judges.  The teams will also participate in a spontaneous challenge, given to them on challenge day, which they will also send through to the judges.

The teams…

Congratulations to the following students who were successful, through a selection and audition process, in gaining a position in one of the OPTI-Minds teams. 

Today the challenges will be released by OPTI-Minds and the students will be able to see which interests them most. The final teams will be decided this week based on the categories. Let the fun begin!

A huge thank you in advance to Miss. Rosentreter, Mrs. Cradden and Mrs. Bardak, who will be dedicating many lunchtime breaks to assist the teams during the 6 week challenge preparation.

We wish all teams the very best for Opti-MINDS challenge day in week 7!

Jessica Rigby
Deputy Principal Year 2 / Head of Diverse Learning and Enrichment

Welcome to Week 2 of Term 3!

Premier's Reading Challenge

A reminder to all our keen readers out there that the Premier's Reading Challenge ends on Friday 27 Aug with all record sheets to be handed in to their teacher or the library by this date. Well done to those that have completed the challenge already and to those that are setting their own reading goals beyond the challenge requirements. 

Keep it up everyone. Happy Reading! 

Captain Read It

Congratulations to our Captain Read It Winners from Week 1 of Term 3

Prep J           Ruh A
1J                  Kayu P
2P                 Zayaan S
3A                 Isabelle W
4F                 Ellie B
5B                 Anabel M
6C                 Bettina P

Have a great week!
Jackie and Lorraine

Hi Rochedlae State School Community,

Term 3 is up and running and I’m excited for all the wonderful inclusions that this next 9 school weeks bring. We have both our year 4 and year 5 camps during week 4, so we will definitely be hoping for clear skies and no lockdowns that week.  School camps are a great opportunity for students to become a little more independent, through spending a short period of time away from their family, while having new experiences in a safe and fun environment with their cohort.

The SUPA club lunchtime parent consented program for year 5/6 students will hopefully start back in week 3. If your child would like to join they are most welcome, all are invited and they can get forms from me at any time throughout the year. We do have a 40 student capacity in the RPAC for this program.

This term our chaplaincy fundraiser is a pie drive - we have never had a pie drive before, but who doesn’t enjoy a sweet or savoury pie in winter. We thank you so much for supporting chaplaincy at RSS, if you are able to go online and buy a pie or two we are most appreciative.

Hampers are available at any time when RSS families are in need, please email

sue-ellen.murphy@suchaplaincy.org.au  

It is a blessing to care, encourage and journey with you as you raise children to become adults.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Helen Keller

Kind regards
Chappy Sue
RSS Chaplain

Dear Rochedale SS families,

The ROCHEDALE STATE SCHOOL CHAPLAINCY COMMITTEE is running a Homestyle Bake fundraiser, which is now open for orders.  We would love your support, to help raise funds for our school’s Chaplaincy program.  We will receive $2 back for every product sold! 

Orders and payments can be placed directly with Homestyle Bake via their online ordering system as per the instructions below.  Online orders must be placed before 2.30pm on Tuesday 27 July 2021, and delivery will be to the school on Wednesday 4 August 2021. 

HOW TO ORDER

Go to https://www.homestylebake.com.au

• Click on ORDER ONLINE
• Click on “Register“.
• Fill out registration form (using your name and address).
• Check your email for registration confirmation.
• Click link in email.
• Check email for a 2nd welcome email that contains your unique USER ID (you are welcome to use the USER ID provided or login using your email address instead).
• Go back to the website and login.
• Use Fundraising code: FROCHEDALESSCC040821 & click on GO (MUST USE THIS CODE TO ENSURE THE FUNDS GO TO OUR SCHOOL AND THE CORRECT MENU IS DISPLAYED).
• Do not enter a delivery date, it will automatically be set (04/08/21).
• Place order by typing a number in the quantity box for how many you want for each item *(you do not have to place “0” for items you do not want).
• When finished ordering, click UPDATE CART for a final price.
• When you are ready to pay, click CHECKOUT to take you to the payment screen.
• Enter child’s name and/or class (number) in the CUSTOMER ORDER NUMBER FIELD, choose payment method and follow prompts through to click on CONFIRM ORDER (If purchasing for friends or family you can do separate orders under your name and put their name in the CUSTOMER ORDER NUMBER FIELD (this means their orders will be packed separately from yours, but will be delivered with yours).
• Check email for order confirmation and if payment is successful, you will receive a second email.

If you are having difficulties, you can watch this YouTube video on how to order:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA7LtG6L6r4&feature=youtu.be    

Please note that while you are also able to collect orders from your friends, family, and work colleagues, we ask that you place these orders under your name (as mentioned above).  Please do not give out the online fundraising code, as we would then have people outside of our school community coming onto the school grounds to pick up their orders on delivery day.

Please see the attached menu for products and prices, however we are using online ordering only (so please don’t return the paper form!)

Thanks so much for your support

Kind regards
Andie Eames (a.eames@optusnet.com.au)
RSS Chaplaincy Committee Chairperson

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.