Newsletter 14 10 September 2025

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

As we near the end of a very busy and productive Term 3, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the wonderful learning and experiences our students have enjoyed.

This Friday 12 September, we have Budgie Cup Soccer at Coorparoo Secondary College. Selected students are reminded to be at school by 8:15am to prepare and travel to the train station. I wish all students the very best—play hard, do your best, and most importantly, enjoy the day!

Next week our Year 4–6 students head off on camp.

• Our Year 5 & 6 students will travel to Maroon Outdoor Education Centre from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 September. Students are to be at school by 8.00am.
• Our Year 4 students will enjoy their overnight camp to Jacob’s Well Environmental Education Centre next Wednesday 17 and return Thursday 18 September. Students are to be at school no later than 7.20am.

These camps are always a highlight of the year, and I’d like to thank our staff in advance for their organisation and commitment in making these experiences possible.

Today we celebrated Crazy Hair Day to support P&C fundraising for Loose Parts Play materials. Thank you to all families for getting behind this initiative—it’s wonderful to see the creativity and colour around the school.

Last week we held our Cross-Country event, and it was terrific to see so many students giving their best on our unique course, cheered on by their classmates and families. A special thank you to Mrs Wain, Mr Alex and our staff team for organising the day, and to the Helping Hands network for providing ice blocks (and to Ludivine for the pop-up ice block stand)—your contributions made the day extra special for our students.

Looking ahead, a reminder that Friday 19 September is the final day of Term 3. School resumes for Term 4 on Tuesday 7 October.

Thank you once again for your support and contributions to our school community throughout the term. I wish everyone a safe and restful break.

Simon Vaseo - Principal

From the HOD-C

Ditto Show – Prep to Year 2

The students in Prep to Year 2 will have the Ditto Show in the school hall on Thursday the 9^th of October, which is the first Thursday of Term 4. Consent forms must be returned to school before the end of this term (19^th September 2025).

Bravehearts Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Program offers trusted and effective personal safety education for children in early years through to lower primary.

Ditto’s Keep Safe Adventure Program is a fun and effective personal safety education program, curriculum-aligned with the Australian Curriculum, addressing the HPE achievement standard in the strand of Personal Social and Community Health. The Ditto Show educates students about ways of interacting with others, helping them to identify and explore skills and strategies to develop respectful relationships, manage emotional responses and practise strategies they can use when they need to seek, give or deny permission respectfully. The Ditto Show promotes making healthy and safe choices so that students can identify and demonstrate protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies they can use to help them, and others stay safe.

The knowledge and strategies students learn at the Ditto Show need to be applied broadly both offline and online. It is protective and proactive to teach students the responses and strategies to help them in a variety of situations that they may experience or witness, in age appropriate and supportive ways. The Ditto Show is an engaging, friendly approach to help students in the early years to think about their health and safety.

Further resources I would offer parents regarding respectful relationships education include:

• The Respectful Relationships Education Hub,
• Kids Helpline (which has resources for students of all ages and parents),
• eSafetyCommisioner (which has resources regarding online safety for students of all ages and parents starting with online safety basics and includes a section with advice for parents on gaming).

eSafety Commissioner – Technology Use and Online Safety

eSafety is Australia's independent regulator for online safety. They educate Australians about online safety risks and help to remove harmful content such as cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse and intimate images or videos shared without consent.

eSafety offers an Online safety book for parents which covers some of the key online safety issues for young people and includes a range of practical tips and advice on what to do if things go wrong. You can also find a list of important services that can offer extra support. This book is available in multiple languages on their website.

eSafety also has a section of their website devoted to information for parents under the following headings

• Online safety basics
• Safer gaming for families
• Prevent child sexual abuse online
• Focus on under 5s
• Cyber bullying
• Parental controls
• And more …. including advice on Screen Time

Please take the time to familiarise yourself with the eSafety website and resources.

Camps

We are looking forward to both the Year 4 and Year 5/6 camp in week 10 of this term.

The Year 4 camp at Jacobs Well Environmental Education Centre on has a science focus and the students learn about life cycles, food chains and webs and adaptations of plants and animals to their environments. The students also experience a unique walk on South Stradbroke Island where they learn about the history of the local area.

The Year 5/6 camp, provides the students with opportunities to practice teamwork, build resilience, make connections and develop leadership skills. They are also provided with multiple opportunities for critical and creative thinking, problem solving and reflection as they tackle the challenges presented to them by the staff at Maroon Outdoor Education Centre.

Please speak with your child’s class teacher, in the first instance, for further clarification regarding camp requirements.

Upcoming Excursions/Incursions

2026 Booklists

2026 booklists are now available to order! You may place your order in any of the following ways:

1. Scan QR code located below and it will take you directly to the website for Olympia Office Products.
2. Go to www.olympiabookpacks.com.au  and type in the access for your school which is BUR27 and then follow the prompts to place your order.
3. Go to our school website if you would like to download the booklist. Booklist link: https://burandass.eq.edu.au/support-and-resources/forms-and-documents/documents

To ensure your child’s book pack arrives in time for school, orders should be submitted by Friday 12 December 2025.

Early bird orders – place your order by 12 November 2025 for your chance to win a free book pack. – Winner will be drawn and notified by Wednesday 19 November 2025.

Special lay-by options are also available. More details can be found on the booklist or via QR code.

Yr 1 Fire Safety Visit

In Week 7, the Annerley Fire Station visited the Year Ones to talk all about fire safety. Students learned important safety skills, including how to stop, drop and roll, get down low and go, go, go, and the importance of knowing their home address in case of an emergency.

It was a lovely session where students had the chance to ask lots of questions, play with the fire hose, and engage with our friendly firefighters. We were also excited to welcome our Narbethong neighbours, who joined us for the presentation.

A big thank you to Annerley Fire Station for such a fun and informative visit!

Nadia Santoro

Yr 1/2 Classroom teacher

Yr 1 Fire Safety Visit

Change to Gladys St gate

The Bridge Gate (Gladys Street) security has recently been upgraded and is now locked on entry and exit.

Parents and carers can continue to access the school as before. To leave via the Gladys Street gate, you will need to press the button for the gate to be released.

• During school hours: Admin will open the gate.
• Before and after school hours: Helping Hands will open the gate.

The gate will open in the same way as our other secure gates. Please note that the keypad will not allow parent access to the school.

The gate will still be open until 9.30am each morning and from 2.30pm each afternoon.

From the Inclusion Teacher

From The Bonsai Child to Reboot

Over the past term, we have been reflecting on the work of Dr Judith Locke and her book The Bonsai Child. Her teachings have helped us think about the importance of building children’s resilience, independence, and confidence – giving them space to grow into strong, capable young people.

After engaging with Judith Locke’s work, it has become clear just how important Reboot is for our school community. Judith’s message reinforces the need for children to develop resilience and independence, and Reboot gives us the practical tools to make this a reality in everyday life. Now is the time to build on the work we have already begun, to strengthen our focus, and to ensure that Reboot is not only embedded in our classrooms but also shared and supported in our homes. By ramping up our efforts together, we can give our children the consistency and confidence they need to thrive.

Our school has been working with Reboot for some time now, and the children are already familiar with its core ideas. To ensure Reboot is truly successful, however, it works best when we are all on the same page – at school and at home. That’s why our next step is to build a Reboot community, where parents and carers can share in the language and strategies their children are learning.

Reboot helps children (and adults) understand what is happening in their brain and body when they are upset, stressed, or overwhelmed. It provides strategies to pause, reset, and choose a constructive response. This is resilience in action.

In the weeks ahead, we will revisit key Reboot concepts – such as the 5 Faces, the Positive Change Highway, and Power Over – and show how you can use them at home as part of our Reboot community. By working together, we can create consistency between school and home – giving our children the strongest possible support as they learn, grow, and thrive.

Parent Workshops
To help make this partnership practical, we will be running Reboot workshops for parents and carers. These sessions will give you an opportunity to learn more about the framework and how it can support your child at home.

To make sure these sessions are accessible, we’d love to know what times suit families best. Please click the link below to indicate your preferred time.

Your feedback will guide us as we plan these workshops and continue to build a strong Reboot community together.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L5T3WNF

Katherine Austin - Inclusion 

From the Community