Newsletter No 7 1 May 2024

From the Principal

Hi everyone

Yesterday 10 students attended the Mt Gravatt District Cross Country event. Each student gave their all over the 2km or 3km course. Congratulations to all students on their efforts. It was really pleasing to see everyone try so hard. Well done girls and boys.

Please be aware that this Monday 6 May is the Labour Day Public holiday.

My thanks to all families for their supporting our ANZAC assembly last week. The floral offerings for the class wreaths are an important part of our traditional assembly. Lest we forget.

Thank you also to our families for their continued cooperation using Salisbury Street to access the school. We have been working with the Narbethong Special School staff to ensure student safety during their construction period. The safest way to access our school is to walk around the perimeter fence (oval) and enter via the Gladys St gates. From 8:30-9.ooam and from 3.00-3:20pm, we have a staff member supervising the access gate at the Narbethong side entry for students using this gate and pathway. The groundsmen at Narbethong and Buranda SS have made changes to the fence and gates to allow for safer student entry here.

I spoke with students on assembly yesterday regarding a few issues with tuckshop. Our wonderful convenor Cass had mentioned that there is quite a bit of food waste each week. Please check in with your children. If they are receiving more food than they can eat, please adjust their order accordingly. I also reminded students that the crockery and cutlery (including the bento boxes) are all reusable and should be returned to the tuckshop after use. Please remind children of these environmentally friendly steps if you order tuckshop. Thanks in advance for your assistance with this.

Please be advised that we have reported a possible fire ant sighting in Gladys St (in the area pictured). The area has been treated and reported to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program. Please avoid this small patch of grass (adjacent to the path approaching the underpass) with your children and pets. Thankfully, these ants are not in our school. Click here for further information about fire ants.

Don’t forget the Stones Corner Festival this Sunday.

Have a great week.

Simon Vaseo

Principal

Fire Ants & ANZAC Ceremony

Upcoming Excursions/Incursions

Headlice

Head lice have been detected in the school. 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.

Philosophy Corner

From Inclusion

Empowering our Children

This week we continue our strength-based approach to neurodiversity with a focus on how we, as educators and parents, can help children recognise their own strengths. To help our children become warriors, not worriers, we need to reflect on our own behaviours to ensure we are giving children every opportunity to develop and grow into confident, independent individuals.

As parents and educators, we often have a natural tendency to want to do things for our children (particularly if they are taking a long time 😊). We want to protect them and shield them from harm, and on occasion fight their battles. Unfortunately, this approach can inadvertently send a message to a child that they aren’t capable of handling challenges on their own. It can also imply that someone will always be there to fight their battles for them, which inadvertently leads to a reluctance for a child to take responsibility for their own behaviour.

It is essential for our children to understand that they can face their worries head-on like warriors. As teachers and parents, it is important to encourage them to take on challenges and reassure them that failure is just a part of the learning process. We need to focus on their strengths, show them that we believe in their capabilities and will be there to support them.

Instead of rushing to their rescue, let’s encourage children to take on challenges independently. This doesn’t mean leaving them alone to struggle, but rather providing them with the tools and support they need to overcome obstacles.

Failure is an integral part of the learning process. It’s important to reassure our children that it’s okay to fail and that every failure is an opportunity to learn and grow. Instead of focusing on the outcome, let’s celebrate the strengths involved in effort and the courage it takes to try.

One of the key aspects of embracing challenges is learning to take responsibility for one’s own actions. When children are encouraged to face challenges on their own, they learn to take ownership of their successes and failures. This fosters a sense of responsibility and accountability, and the recognition of the strength/s it took to face the challenge in the first place.

The first learning objective for any child, should be independence.

                                                                                                            Gavin McCormack

Next time: Warriors seek help. Worriers create obstacles. 

Katherine Austin

Inclusion Teacher

From the Music Room

We’ve had a great start to the term in our new space, with lots of instruments being learnt across the school and some great creativity from the kids. Here are some snapshots of work across the upper school so far this year.

The Year 3/4 and 4/5 students were challenged to perform “Row Your Boat” on ukulele in a group, and to work together to change an element of music on repeat of the song. Thank you to the groups below who agreed to have their performances shared in the newsletter; it is not easy to co-ordinate changes like this and shows focused planning and rehearsal from these musicians.

I have also included some photos of the Year 6 cohort. They are in the process of composing and rehearsing a rhythm for bucket drum that represents something, using specific notation for the four bucket drum sounds we have learnt. I’ve loved seeing some of the ideas they have come up with, including representing an emotional outburst, a boxing match or walking to school and realising you’re late. I look forward to sharing some finished products later in the term!

Audrey, Alaska, Sophie and Hettie changing the tempo by going slower the second time: https://youtu.be/aUDzoxULwz4

Alexander, Ethan, Yohaan, Hugo S and Oliver changing the texture by dropping down to a solo singer then gradually adding others in to thicken the texture again: https://youtu.be/ydF5B0NmE6g

Giulia, Aarna and Josie changing the tempo by going slower and then speeding up again on the repeat: https://youtu.be/_-RmRKXYkKo

Camilla Tafra

Classroom Music Teacher 

Yr 6 Cohort

From the P & C

Tuckshop

Tuckshop this Friday, 3 May, has fried rice and lots of other yummy things.

Orders close on Qkr! at 8pm tonight.

Thanks for everyone who has volunteered to help the tuckshop so far.

We still need more volunteers to make the tuckshop run. If you can spare a couple of hours on a Friday please sign up at this link.

P&C meeting tonight

We have a P&C meeting tonight, Wednesday 1 May 2024, in the school library, starting at 6.15pm.

We’ll be planning for the Winter Solstice later this term, plus making a decision on whether to run a fete next term (Term 3). We have many supporters for the fete and the kids love the fete, but we really need an enthusiastic coordinator to take the lead or we won’t run it. If that might be you but you’re not sure what is involved, come along and talk about it.

If you can't make the meeting in person, please join us via this Microsoft Teams link.

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

From the Community