Newsletter 9 June - Week 8 Term 2
From the Principal
Hi everyone
This Friday we will acknowledge World Cleaner’s Day - learning is a messy business. Without our cleaners, our classrooms and playgrounds would soon look pretty rugged. We thank our cleaners Stephen, Dasha, Jorg and Lucas for the work they do for us each day. They often start work in the dark and go home in the dark too. On behalf of the whole school community we say thanks to our wonderful cleaners!
This Friday is the Budgie Cup-Touch Football competition. Nominated students from years 4-6 will travel by train to Coorparoo Secondary College for the Gala Day with East Brisbane, Dutton Park and Greenslopes State Schools. I wish all of our players and teams good luck this Friday.
We have a huge pile of lost property in the baskets outside the ground’s room. Please ask your children to check for – jumpers, hats, tracksuit pants, lunchboxes and drink bottles. There’s hundreds of dollars’ worth of stuff there currently. We will be clearing out the baskets before the holidays. A fair portion of what is in there is un-named.
Please finalise your parent teacher interview times by this Friday as the booking portal will close.
Take care and go the Mighty Maroons!
Simon Vaseo - Principal
School Photos
Students will bring home school photo envelopes today. Please follow the instructions on the envelope and below. Please do not send envelopes to the office.
From the Inclusion Team
Parent Tip 7 from the Inclusion Team:
Select books that are at the right level.
Help your child choose books that are not too difficult. If they are making multiple errors per page, the book is too hard.
The aim is to give your child lots of successful reading experiences and develop confidence.
From HOC
Effort, Outcomes and Progress
As we come to the close of semester 1 students and teachers are very busy completing assessment, and putting the finishing touches on projects and performances. Teachers are busily collating and preparing student folios to prepare for parent teacher interviews.
When we come to discussing student work and reports we tend to focus on outcomes, but it is important to focus equally on the effort the students have applied and the progress they have made. Sometimes the effort seems inconsistent, almost human. Sometimes the progress seems slow. When progress is not immediately evident try to take a wider, longer view. Remember your child as a two-year-old, a four-year-old, or when they first came to school. Think about their efforts to learn and grow socially and academically; about the complex knowledge, skills and strategies that their little minds have already mastered in such a small time. Build on their progress.
Teachers will often explain this to the students as having a growth mindset. This term comes from the work of Carol Dweck. This article from Carol Dweck, titled 'Praise the effort, not the outcome? Think again', helps to clarify the idea of how to frame praise for learners.
In summary,
“praise the effort (as well as the strategies, focus, perseverance and information-seeking) in relation to the outcome – with particular emphasis on learning and progress.
We do this to build ongoing motivation and grit. Reflect with your children to remember where they started, where they are now and what the next step might be. Help them become aware of and celebrate the progress they have already made, then support them with the next step.
World Environment Day
Last Saturday, 5 June, was World Environment Day 2021. The theme was REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE.
We cannot turn back time. But we can grow trees, green our cities, rewild our gardens, change our diets and clean up rivers and coasts. We are the generation that can make peace with nature.
You can see on the website what others are doing around the world to be part of #generationrestoration
At school we can bring lunches that have less or no packaging and be Nude Food Movers. By doing this and putting any rubbish we do bring in the bin, we reduce or eliminate the amount of plastics that float down into Norman Creek from the school. Students, parents and teachers can participate daily in Take 3 for the Sea and ultimately reduce the amount of microplastics in our local waterways. Stopping the problem at the source is the key, and in doing so you restore our creek, river and ocean, creating a better home for the creatures who live there and those higher up the food chain.
Dr Rosie Scholl - HOC
Sports Day
Our Annual Sports Day is approaching and will be held on Wednesday 23 June. Students are to go to their classroom, as normal, for roll marking. Any late students need to visit the office to collect a late slip before heading to the oval.
Our house groups are Aristotle (blue), Plato (green) and Socrates (yellow). The children are asked to wear a t-shirt in their sports house colour on the day with their school shorts and hat. Coloured ribbons in hair and coloured zinc are also allowed. Students should bring a towel to sit on and water bottle. Please make sure all items are labelled.
Sports Day Program - Wednesday 23 June
Time: | Event: |
9.00 | Report to classrooms for roll marking |
9.15 | March Past –Welcome and Traditional Owners Acknowledgement |
9.30 | Sprints (heats and finals are necessary in some age groups) Ribbons given to all competitors |
10.25 | Longer distance race – Prep (1 lap), Yr 1 (track plus 1 lap) Yr 2-6 (track plus 2 laps) |
10.45 | 800m serious runners only (2011, 2010, 2009) |
Tug-o-war will be run by Mrs Blanchfield behind the tents when children have completed their sprints. | |
11.00 | First lunch |
Time: | Event: |
11.45 | 200m (2009, 2010, 2011 only) |
11.30 | Relays |
12.30 | Tug-o-war |
1.15 | Second lunch |
Time: | Event: |
1.45 | Tabloid Events |
2.40 | Tug-o-war (yr 6 students vs teachers & parents) |
2.50 | Clean up area and announce champion team. Presentation of Shield to the winning House. |
Julie Wain - PE Teacher
From the Garden
Well, on Friday our students helped me clean out my room at the school and what a task it was! All of the past Environmental Education resources have been stored in my room for the past five years and I have added a few myself so it was quite something to drag it all out and sift through the pile. I’m pleased to say that we found a lot of gems and cast off a lot of junk. The students also helped weed and water some of the plants in the Fairy Wren Forest.
I was walking past the mangroves of Norman Creek over the weekend and was blessed to catch a little gang of Fairy Wrens hunting at low tide. They are insect eaters and it looked like they were getting a good feed in the glorious, Winter, midday light.
I have been reading a bit of local history recently and was delighted to learn that the Indigenous name for the creek is Coorparoo. There were camps all along the banks and the place was so healthy under their care that apart from the abundant land based wildlife, a couple of Murri men with nets could catch hundreds of fish in a very short period of time with little effort. Amazing.
Mr Bryant - Environmental Education Teacher
From the P&C
Traffic Management Plan
Did you know that Buranda State School has a School Traffic Management Plan?
At our most recent P&C meeting, the traffic issues around Salisbury Street were discussed, including the bridge over the railway and large vehicles exiting and entering Narbethong.
We are looking for your input into the reviewed School Traffic Management Plan, if you would like to raise any particular issues, please contact the P&C on pandc@burandass.eq.edu.au
Salisbury Street Access
Please be aware of the difficulties when using this entrance to the school to drop off/pick up children.
Parents recently completed a Travel Access Survey and on some days up to 50 children are utilising these areas for active travel. We are currently reviewing on whether or not the P&C can potentially look at additional resourcing for crossing supervision for this area via the Safe school travel (SafeST) program.
Where possible please use the Buranda State School designated drop off and pick up areas. Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
Zoe Gill - P&C President
Tribute
Hello Parents and friends of Buranda,
As Mr Vaseo updated via the newsletter last week, the passing of Max and subsequent tragic loss for the McDowall family, has affected many across our small community. For those of you connected with Buranda over the past few years, you would acknowledge how committed the family were to the school and specifically, to the Buranda SS P&C as active members.
For those interested, the funeral details have been advertised, and the family have requested the following;
Dear family and friends
Please, if you are thinking of bringing or sending flowers to Max's service on Wednesday, could we ask you to instead donate to the Australian Marine Conservation Society at www.marineconservation.org.au
Max was dedicated to bettering our planet and we know this is what he would want.
Additionally, the P&C have organised a small tribute for the McDowall family on behalf of our community that will be given to the family at the funeral today.
We are all collectively thinking of the McDowall family.
Zoe Gill - P&C President
Winter Solstice
We are looking forward to seeing you at Our Winter Solstice Event on Saturday 19 June! We will be planting trees around the school from 2 – 4pm – if you would like to participate please bring along your own digging tools to help us add some natives around the school!
On the night we will have food and drinks available from 4pm.
Stay for as little or as long as you like, we appreciate your support in attending this event.
Baked Goods Donation for the Winter Solstice
We are accepting donations of baked goods for this event.
It would be lovely to see a variety of typical food being offered, like we were lucky to have a range of yummy treats in the last event.
Please get in touch with tuckshop@burandasspandc.org.au if you would like to donate or bring your dessert donation on the night. Yum Yum!
Zoe Gill - P&C President
P & C Membership
Are you a member yet? Want to keep up to date with what the P&C is getting up to, receive email updates etc? Use the QR code link to let us know your details.
Zoe Gill - P&C President
Read-a-thon
We will be running the Read-a-thon this year.
We would love your support – more details to come. Please contact Nicole Rayner, P&C Treasurer on pandc@burandass.eq.edu.au or Treasurer@burandasspanc.org.au for further details.
Volunteers – Sports Day
We need volunteers for Sports Day. We will be running a BBQ on the day and would love your support. If you are a keen baker or sweet treat maker we would also like donations or delicacies to sell on the day to our students.
Please contact the P&C, our Secretary Trudy on pandc@burandass.eq.edu.au or secretary@burandasspandc.org.au for more information.
From the Tuckshop
Hello parents,
Volunteers Needed
As you know, most of the tuckshop offerings are proudly cooked and baked on the premises. But we can only keep operating like this if we have enough volunteers to help out each week. We have been struggling in the past weeks to deliver service due to the low number of helpers.
A new volunteer sign-up sheet will be put up next to the tuckshop window so parents can volunteer their time on Thursdays and Fridays. Even if you can only volunteer one hour per term, that's a truly welcomed and wonderful help!
If we don't have enough volunteers, tuckshop is likely to reduce menu items, home bake items on days in which tuckshop is available.
If you want to sign up on our online roster, here's the link:
https://signup.com/go/rqwpybE or alternatively contact Vivian on tuckshop@burandasspandc.org.au.
New menus on Qkr!
You will find that menus for the rest of the term are now available on Qkr!
This week we have Mexican Bowls (Beef and Vegetarian) with vegan and gluten free options available. The baked item of the day is choc-chip muffin.
Missed/non-confirmed Orders
We have had an increasing number of children without a valid Qkr! order in these past 2 weeks. We had students making their own orders, but the transaction was not confirmed and we had parents forgetting or misplacing orders.
It is an incredibly stressful situation for the students, and we want to support them where we can.
Parents and guardians, please double check weekly orders so we can avoid this occuring.
Please note the cancellation policy for orders for tuckshop:
Food waste
Also, we noticed some parents may be over ordering 2nd break items, there's a large amount of excess food especially in the prep area. Our portion sizes are generous, and on 2nd break children have 15 minutes to eat.
Cancellation Policy
Qkr!orders can be placed and cancelled before Wednesday 8pm.
A credit note is issued by Qkr! in this instance.
We are not currently providing any credit notes or refunds for orders cancelled after Wednesday 8pm.
Orders can be cancelled prior to closing under “My Receipts” on Qkr!
Thank you for your understanding.
Vivian - Tuckshop Co-ordinator
Ice blocks
Ice blocks are every Thursday and can be ordered through the Qkr! app. New cards are to be collected from the tuckshop unless the children are in Prep - teachers will hold their cards. New cards must be purchased by 5pm on Tuesday. Please contact Ludivine on ludivinedr@hotmail.com if you have any issues.
From Helping Hands
Big Hello from the team at Helping Hands,
Bookings are open for Vacation care, please see program below. As always, please get your bookings in early so we can staff accordingly. Remember, bookings close once holidays start and you may not get a spot if you haven't booked. This is because of staffing, if we don't know numbers, we cannot staff correctly. We have interesting combinations of children coming to vacation care with time and funding in place to help, however, our inclusion support person is paid from a different place and cannot be used in ratio. So, if you don't book, we may have to say, we do not have space that day. Excursion days fill up quickly and may be capped due to bus size. Again, if I know extra children want to come those days, I can order a larger bus, but only if I know ahead of time.
Just a bit of housekeeping. When you come to collect your child, you must touch base with one of our educators. If we do not see your child go and they haven't been signed out, then we are required to call the police if we can't contact you. You cannot be the emergency contact...that must be someone else and please make it someone who answers the phone. Again, we do not want to have to call the police on parents but if no one answers the phone so we can check on the child, that is our only option. Your children's safety is of the highest concern to us, and we appreciate your help with this. Know that I do worry, and I prefer not to worry all night.
Kindest regards,
Sue Chiswell - Helping Hands Buranda Co-ordinator
ph. 1300 612 462