Newsletter No 1 24 January 2024
From the Principal
Welcome to the 2024 school year
Students and staff have enjoyed a great start the 2024 school year. Our air conditioned classrooms and learning spaces have assisted in coping with the warm days. A special welcome to all of our new families in prep and across the school.
This Friday January 26th is the Australia Day Public Holiday. School returns on Monday January 29th.
Parent information night will be Tuesday 6th February. Sessions are with your child/children’s teacher in their classrooms at the following times:
- Prep - Year 2/3: 6.00pm - 6.30pm
- Years 4/5 & 6: 6.30pm - 7.00pm
Please refer to the 2024 Parent Handbook on the Website under Forms and Documents for all the information you need.
Classroom music will commence this week. Instrumental music will start next week for Year 4 and in Week 3 for Years 5 and 6.
Swimming has started, too (Years 1-6). Please ensure students have the appropriate swimming gear; tog bottoms, sun-shirt, bathing cap, towel, googles (optional) - all clearly labelled in a durable bag. Preps will begin swimming in Term 4.
Before parents are able to volunteer in classrooms they must complete the Mandatory Training - Key Messages guide that will been emailed by the class teachers. Please complete the declaration on page 17 and show office staff, who will verify and stamp declaration. Training is valid for 12 months. Please sign in/sign out at the office each time you volunteer.
You will be able to register your interest for 2025 Prep enrolments on Tuesday 6th February through our school website.
Phones - Away for the Day 2024
From Term 1 2024, all state school students must keep their mobile phones switched off and ‘away for the day’ during school hours.
Wearable devices, such as smartwatches, can be worn however notifications must be switched off so that phone calls, messages and other notifications cannot be sent or received during school hours.
Why are students being asked to put their phone away for the day?
This approach is being implemented in all Queensland state schools to help:
- reduce distractions in the classroom
- increase face-to-face interactions between students
- promote student health and wellbeing
- reduce the potential for student exposure to negative impacts of the digital world, such as cyberbullying
At Buranda State School- all such devices should be checked into the office for safe storage through the school day. Devices can be collected at the office after 3pm when the school day concludes.
It may be helpful to consider if it is necessary for your child to have a phone or similar device at school. During the school day, any messages children may require from home should be phoned through to the school administration office.
For any questions please see the FAQs here.
We thank you in advance for your continued cooperation.
Last but not least - I’m pleased to inform you that Mrs Curry had a beautiful baby girl early in the holidays. They are all doing well!
Have a great week
Kind regards
Simon Vaseo - Principal
Student Late/Absence Notification
Please advise the school if a student is late or absent by the following methods:
- Text 0428 679 117 before 9.00am, with the date of absence, name, class and reason for absence
(e.g., sick or late due to appointment) - Phone the office on 3435 1222 before 9.00am
- Email admin@burandass.eq.edu.au as well as class teacher/s
Medication
If your child has a medical condition that requires staff to administer medication, parents must complete a form from the office. These forms are updated every year.
Please note, school staff will only administer medication that:
- has been prescribed by a qualified health practitioner - e.g. doctor, dentist
- is in its original container
- has an attached pharmacy label
We are unable to adminster medication that you can buy over the counter such as paracetamol, eye drops, cough syrup, unless it has been prescribed by your child's qualified health practitioner and is clearly labelled, as above.
Please ensure your child’s medication has not expired before handing it in to the office. Parents are responsible for ensuring all medical information is up to date.
Drop Off/Pick Up Zone
Please familarise yourself with our drop off/pick up and parking procedures.
The drop off/pick up zone is open from 3.00pm - 3.20pm. Any students not collected will be brought to the office and parents contacted.
- Drop off and pick up is in Martin Street. Please follow the directions of the staff member on duty.
- Gladys Street is the best place for parking, if you wish to come into the school to drop off or collect your child.
- No parking in the staff car park or Metro South office building (next door on Cowley St).
- Please ensure your child is aware of where they are to be collected.
Parent/Carer Contact Details
There are times when we may need to contact parents and carers. Do we have your most up to date contact details? If not, please contact the school on admin@burandass.eq.edu.au so we can update our records. These details include parent/carer’s name, address, phone number, email address and emergency contact details. Please remember to contact the school if any of these details change. The newsletter is emailed to all parents fortnightly on Wednesday's. Printed copies are displayed around the school on noticeboards. We also upload them to our school website.
From the Music Room
Welcome back to school for 2024 and to the new students, a very warm welcome to Buranda! I'm looking forward to starting music lessons with half the school this Thursday and to meeting our new prep learners next Friday.
This term students across the school will be using instruments including glockenspiel, djembe, ukulele, unpitched percussion, bucket drums and of course their voices, as well as listening and responding to music, learning to create with sound and represent their creations using graphic notation, and learning about the elements of music.
I'm excited to share the videos from last year's music concert with you soon, I'm hoping to have these published in the next newsletter once I have finished editing the visuals to ensure student privacy is respected.
Ms Tafra
Classroom Music Teacher
School's Back
School Zone Safety – Advice for Motorists
With school back, it's a timely reminder to drivers to slow down in school zones and pay attention at children’s crossings.
Coming back after holidays it can be easy to forget what to look out for. School zone signs are displayed as you approach the school and shows both the speed limit and the times you need to reduce your speed around the school. Childrens crossing are identified by children crossing flags, which are displayed near crossings before and after school hours.
When the crossing is supervised, you as a motorist must:
- wait until all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders have crossed the road and the crossing supervisor has returned to the footpath
- abide by the direction given by the School Crossing Supervisor.
If the crossing is unsupervised, you as a motorist must:
- give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a children’s, pedestrian or marked foot crossings
- give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on or entering a road you’re turning into
- give way to pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders on a slip lane
- give way to pedestrians in a share zone
- travel at a speed allowing you to stop safely at a crossing if needed
As a driver, it's important to make sure you give way to all pedestrians, bicycle or personal mobility device riders such as skateboards, e-scooters. You must also give way to pedestrians using a motorised mobility device such as a motorised wheelchair or a mobility scooter.
Some of our most vulnerable road users are children getting to and from school, so it’s important to slow down and abide by the crossing rules, as it won’t make much difference to the trip time, but it could very well save lives.
Visit the Street Smarts website to find more information about what to do at pedestrian and children crossings.
Head Lice
Head lice have been detected in the school. The parents/carers of all students are being notified via this letter.
It is extremely important for you to check your child’s head for head lice and/or eggs TODAY. Keep checking every 2 days until there are no head lice found for 10 consecutive days.
If you do find head lice and/or eggs, commence effective treatment immediately and be sure to complete the process of treatment. This will help prevent head lice from spreading. Teachers will reduce head-to-head contact activities while head lice are known to be around.
From the P & C
Welcome
Welcome to all new and returning children and parents for 2024.
First Meeting
Our first meeting for 2024 will be held on Wednesday 7th February 2024 in the school library, starting at 6.15pm.
If you can't make the meeting in person, please join us via this Microsoft Teams link.
Events for 2024
We will run one major P&C event each term. Come along to our first meeting to discuss what we should plan for 2024.
In Term 3, we have a choice to either run a school fete or a Colour Run. Our last school fete was in 2022 and traditionally, we’ve aimed to hold a fete every second year. If we are to run a fete this year, we’ll need an enthusiastic coordinator and support from parents.
Tuckshop
Tuckshop will run on Friday again this year but will not operate in week 1 or 10 of Term 1 due to public holidays.
Orders close at 8pm Wednesday for the Friday of that week. Please ensure you have the correct class selected in your student's profile in Qkr or their tuckshop may not make it to them.
There are some new Android phones that don't support the Qkr app. The company is aware and working on fixing this. Until this is fixed you can still use Qkr from a laptop/desktop site at this link.
We need volunteers to make the tuckshop run. If you can spare a couple of hours on a Friday please sign up at this link.
There are slots available all year so lock in what works for you. Grandparents or older siblings are welcome but they will require a valid Blue card. Cass can talk you through the process. Free and relatively easy.
If your child has dietary requirements please contact Cass directly at tuckshop@burandasspandc.org.au to discuss suitable options.
School Chooks
Thanks to Mr Bryant, Jodie and Tristan for caring for the school chooks over the holidays. They’re looking very healthy.
Warm regards
Chris McGrath
P&C President
E: president@burandasspandc.org.au
M: 0432899097
P&C website: https://www.burandasspandc.org.au/
P&C on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurandaPandC