7 February 2025

Important Dates

Principal’s Report

Dear East Ayr State School,

Welcome to the new school year. I’d like to start by thanking you for your patience and support as we have worked our way through a crazy start to the year. The current weather event has added a bit of extra stress to an already busy time of year. While we have kept our doors open and our attendance rates ticking along, it hasn’t been without challenge. The kids have done a great job to stay dry, cope with very little outdoor playtime, put up with soaked eating areas and to dodge the puddles. Our teaching team have done an amazing job to rise above the challenges and keep smiles on the little people’s faces. We will get a normal day at school in the near future, I hope.

Welcome to our New Staff- What a cracking start to life and work in the Burdekin!

This year we have welcomed 7 new teachers to our team. I’m happy to report that through the recruitment process we have hit the jackpot. I’ve been impressed with their professionalism and willingness to learn all about our community. We welcomed them during a heatwave and in the very first week of school we challenged them with severe rain from a tropical low or two. We have an opportunity to introduce you to a few of our new faces at our classroom meet and greet sessions in Week 3. I look forward to sharing more good news in this space as the year progresses.

Our Plans for the New School Year

Our strategic intent continues to create healthy and confident people in our community. This year is the fourth and final year of our review cycle. This year we are committed to being a high performing team. Our three actions reflect the departments Equity & Excellence plans, they are:

1. Improve English and Maths Level of Achievement outcomes in all year levels
2. Create classrooms that maximise learning time for all
3. Enact support measures to create a culture of success

To achieve these outcomes, we all need to row in the same direction. This is a strength of our community and a healthy challenge for us all moving forward.

Parents and Citizens Association- Our First Meeting is on Monday Night

We are looking for more parents and families to join our Parents and Citizens Association (P&C). If you have an interest or passion for volunteering and contributing to strengthen your community, we want you. We welcome new ideas and really value your time to uphold the traditions and customs of our school. We meet in the Library on a Monday Night at 7PM. We keep it light hearted, relaxed and fun. See you there.

Have a great week.

Regards,
Chris Wicks- Principal  

P&C News

Hi everyone, straight into business – thank you for your patience with getting our long sleeve shirts delivered to your students. We do have a small quantity of long sleeve shirts in the Chook Pen. We are aiming to keep long sleeve shirts in stock from now on. We placed the order this week and there will be a 10-12 week turnaround, so hopefully we will have more in early Term 2. If you are wanting to purchase, please check in with Natasha and Amanda in the tuckshop to see what we have currently available.  

Our delayed shipment of our yellow chook shirts is expected to arrive by the end of this week and ready for purchase next week. We will send out a message to inform that they have arrived – keep an eye on Facebook. 

Each year we place orders for our school jumpers in term 1 so that they arrive before the end of term 2. Please keep an eye out for order forms in your student's bag. We have approached our supplier requesting for our current button up design to be altered to a zip design. More information to come. 

A huge thank you to the new parents and grandparents who have joined our volunteer tuckshop roster and to our returning parents/grandparents. We appreciate your contribution. We are always needing more volunteers, so if you are available to help, please reach out to Natasha in the tuckshop. 

Our first school social is a disco on Thursday 6 March, in week 6. More details to come. 

Our first P&C meeting is Monday 10 February, 7pm in the school library. This is a good opportunity to come and check out the work we do with the school. This is not an AGM so no jobs will be given out ; ) everyone welcome. Looking forward to starting the 2025 P&C year.  

General News

Student Resource Scheme (SRS)

All families should have received an invoice of $70 for the Student Resource fee either through Q Parents or paper copy which was given to students.  If you have not yet received your invoice, please contact the school office.

Participation Agreement Form must be completed either through Q Parents or paper copy (purple form - which is to be returned to the school) when payment is made.

It would be appreciated if payment can be received by Friday 21 February 2025.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please contact the school’s Business Manager.

Centrepay

East Ayr State School offers Centrepay to families who are eligible.  If you wish to participate or re-sign for Centrepay, please contact the school’s Business Manager.

Q Parents

Have you signed up to QParents?  If not, it would be appreciated if this could be done as soon as possible.  The school office will gladly assist you with this process if you have any concerns.

School Leaders’ Induction 

Our 2025 school leaders will be presented with their badges at a school parade on Thursday 13 February. Our school captains, sporting house leaders and school leaders (Arts, Cultural and STEM) will be introduced to our school community. An e-mail inviting parents/caregivers to this induction was sent out last week. 

Also, at this parade all Year 6 students will receive their 2025 Senior badge.  

Mandatory All-Staff Training Program Key Messages Guide 2025 

This guide has been created by the Queensland Department of Education to make sure that all parents and volunteers who wish to assist in classrooms, tuckshop, sports afternoons or carnivals, discos, camps, P & C and excursions understand their responsibilities. We want these parents and volunteers to not only feel safe while visiting our school but also know how to ensure they don’t harm themselves or anyone else. 

For parents who are intending to assist in various ways in our school it is a Department of Education requirement that the Key Message Guide is completed yearly. The Key Message Guide is updated yearly.

 Administering of Medication in Schools

If school staff are required to administer medication to a student during school hours, the parent/guardian is required to come to the office with the medication. For safety reasons, parents/guardians are to provide the medication to the school in person and not send with a student.

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
• Has the batch code on the container matching the batch code on the tablet blister pack.
• Where the dosage of a medication requires tablets to be halved, parents must have pills cut or dispensed in a blister pack by their chemist

You will be asked to sign the Consent to Adminster Medication and an Administration of medication at school record sheet. If the student requires more than one medication, you will need to complete a form for each medication.

School staff cannot administer medication that you purchase over-the-counter at chemists and supermarkets (e.g., paracetamol, eye drops, cough syrup).

When the student no longer requires medication at school, we ask that the parent/guardian collects all unused medication.

School staff are bound by regulations and we hope that all parents will acknowledge and co-operate with these rules.

Thank you for assisting the school in keeping our students safe and healthy.

Before School Supervision 

Classroom doors open at 8.30am. At this time students can drop their bags off. If your child arrives to school before 8.30am, please stay with them OR send them to wait under C Block where supervision is provided at 8.15am.  

Play Equipment 

Students are not allowed to play on play equipment before and after school as there is no staff supervision of these areas at these times. 

Parent/ Teacher Meet and Greet 

These sessions are provided for parents to find out what is happening in their child’s class throughout the year. Teachers will discuss class/year level procedures, homework expectations, excursions/ camps and curriculum content. 

Information regarding the days, times and venues for these sessions was sent to parents this week.  

Meet and Greet sessions are a great opportunity for you to get to know your child’s teacher and their classroom. Decades of research has shown that when parents engage in their child’s learning, both at home and at school, student achievement and wellbeing are increased (Hattie, 2023; Kim, 2022; Sengonul, 2022; T. E. Smith et al., 2020). 

Wellbeing

Healthy & Confident 

This section of the newsletter is dedicated to creating healthy and confident young people, which is at the centre of our ‘flower’  Firstly, lets define these terms: 

Healthy - A state of complete physical, social, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It includes the ability to lead a socially and economically productive life (Australian Curriculum) 

Confident - a feeling of self-assurance arising from an appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities 

Health is often linked solely with physical health (what we eat and how much we exercise). However, the other aspects of health (social, emotional, mental & spiritual) play an important part in our life. Here at East Ayr, we want to ensure that all these aspects of a healthy life are considered.  

Being confident is not about being good at everything. Rather, it is taking the time for self-awareness, appreciating our strengths and accepting ourselves.  

Later this term we will have parent-teacher interviews. This will be a good opportunity to discuss the health and confidence of your young person with our dedicated teachers.  

 Safe use of technology; Social Media & Online Gaming 

In the last few years, here at East Ayr SS we have increasingly dealt with incidents that stem from the use of technology at home. Specifically, this occurs when students are using social media (Kids messenger, Snapchat, Facebook etc) or online gaming (Fornite, Roblox etc.). Recently, state and federal governments have acknowledged the issues and acted to protect students (proposed law banning students from using these sites). It can be tricky to manage our young people’s use of technology. They are addictive devices and this presents greater issues when we attempt to enforce rules and boundaries. However, from my experience here at school, I am convinced that it is a battle worth having. To assist parents/carers in this area, the eSafety Commissioner is the go-to resource. Some great items include: 

Online safety basics – find out strategies that every parent needs to know to keep their child safe online https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/online-safety-basics  

Parental controls - Learn how to use parental controls and other tools to maximise online safety in your home https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/parental-controls 

Gaming – learn about the benefits of playing games online for children, as well as the potential risks https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/gaming 

Webinars – designed for parents https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars  

Subscribe to the eSafety parent newsletter to stay up-to-date with important news - 

Guidance Gazette

Chappy’s Chat

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to the BEST place there is to be = SCHOOL!!

School is a great place because:

• All your friends are here
• People here care for you
• We do lots of fun and interesting activities
• We can play a host of differing sports
• We take part in arts and music and acting and science
• We learn to be leaders and parts of a team
• We have Brekky Club and other great groups to join
• We even get to learn good stuff

Always look for the good in what you find yourself a part of, and East Ayr gives lots of opportunities to be part of great activities.

So, shake off the rain drops (it is true our first week of 2025 had been a wet one!) and be a ray of sunshine and joy for your friends in your new classes.

I pray 2025 will be your BEST school year yet!

Chappy John

Notices