7 March 2025

Important Dates

Principal’s Report

Dear East Ayr State School,

Welcome to Week 6. Last week we recognised our 2025 School Leaders at our Leadership Induction Ceremony. This important community event is a highlight of the Term 1 calendar. We were joined by our Mayor, Ms Pierina Dalle Cort, Mr Craig Whittred, Principal of Ayr State High School and many of our proud Year 6 parents and families to acknowledge our new Student Leaders and Senior Class of 2025. The presentation of the Senior Badges was accompanied by the following pledge:

The East Ayr Seniors of 2025 accept our senior badge and pledge to be healthy and confident leaders.
We will represent our school with pride and we will lead by example.
We will uphold our school values and always strive for success.

Our Senior Students are of vital importance as we work together to create healthy and confident people in our community. They demonstrate the behaviours and values we want to see in our classrooms, playgrounds and outside the school gate. They lead by doing at our Sports Carnivals, Musical and Discos. They help our younger students feel at ease in our school environment. I’m looking forward to another wonderful year of teaching and learning and watching our student leaders finish off their primary school story in style. I know you will join with me to help our Seniors of 2025 have a great year at East Ayr State School.

Congratulations to our School Captains

• Nash Christie
• Allie Boland
• Ayve Cursio
• Xavier Cross

Congratulations to our STEM, Arts and Cultural Leaders

• James Salter
• Hallie Friend
• Ruby Dumaresq
• Hunter Oar
• Hazeman Mundraby
• Dakota Oliver

Congratulations to our Sporting House Leaders

Have a great week.

Regards,
Chris Wicks- Principal

General News

Information about NAPLAN

This March, students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in NAPLAN testing. NAPLAN assesses the skills of all students in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy. We have attached our school’s testing schedule to this email.

NAPLAN tests help you to understand how your child is progressing in the fundamental skills of literacy and numeracy. NAPLAN is also an important tool in helping us to identify how our education programs are working and what needs to improve.

You might hear your child talking about NAPLAN.

When your child comes home from school, they might mention NAPLAN. They might talk about NAPLAN activities they have done in class, including practice tests.

Students don’t need to practise for NAPLAN but we do want your child to be familiar with:

• the online test environment
• the device they’ll use during the test
• the different kinds of questions, how they use their time and how they check their work.

So when your child talks about practice tests, they’re talking about resources like the NAPLAN public demonstration site. This site helps students to become familiar with the different kinds of questions they will see in a real NAPLAN test.

Your child’s welfare is the most important thing.

We do these activities to help your child feel safe, confident and capable. They will know what to expect and what they have to do. Students do not need to stress about NAPLAN. It’s just one part of their school program, and we simply encourage students to do the best they can.

NAPLAN is for everyone.

Across the country, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in NAPLAN. The online tests have many features to enhance the test experience for students with and without disability. We also provide adjustments and alternative test formats to allow students with disability to access the tests and show what they know and can do. Talk to us if you need more information.

Have a go at the test yourself and contact us if you need to know more.

See what NAPLAN will be like for your child by visiting the public demonstration site. Find out more by visiting the department’s NAPLAN page for parents and carers.

ACARA’s student privacy notice on the collection of student information for NAPLAN is also available.

If you have any other questions about NAPLAN, please contact the school on 47830222.

We are excited that your child gets the chance to show their learning in NAPLAN this year.

AFLQ Cup

A big congratulations to the 18 enthusiastic East Ayr boys and girls from Year 5 and 6 who took part in the AFLQ Cup on Monday, 3rd March, at the Murray Sporting Complex in Townsville.

We would like to extend a special thank you to Joel from AFL for providing the team jerseys and visiting East Ayr to teach the students about AFL contact in preparation for the event. Your support was greatly appreciated.

Thank you also goes to Mr Matthews and Miss Lampton for accompanying the students to Townsville.

The students had a fantastic time learning new AFL skills, gaining a better understanding of the game's rules, and, most importantly, having fun while demonstrating excellent sportsmanship. Well done, everyone! Keep up the great work!

Swimming Success!

Congratulations to our very own Lewis who has made the Northern Swim team 10-12years competing in Brisbane at the State Championships on March 23 – 25.  Wishing you all the best Lewis and we look forward to hearing all about it when you return. 

International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on 8 March annually, celebrates the progress made and recognises the work yet to come to achieve gender equality. This year’s theme is a call to action to March Forward for a gender equal future. It also commemorates 30 years since 189 countries adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for gender equality and 50 years since IWD was first recognised in Australia.

To find out more about IWD, visit the link below.

IWD falls during Queensland Women’s Week, 2-9 March. Visit the link below.

Student Resource Scheme

Your child should have received an invoice and paperwork in relation to the Student Resource Scheme. If you have not yet received this, please contact the school office.

Participation Agreement Form - Only new students to the school will need to sign/consent to a Participation Agreement form. This agreement form is also available via QParents. All other students will have had a form completed previously. The signed form applies for the duration of the student’s enrolment at East Ayr State School.

Agreement forms (if applicable), payment form and payment of $70 is now overdue.

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

Burdekin School Sport trials

We have more upcoming School Sport trials. Upcoming trials include:

• AFL Boys born 2013, 2014 and 2015 - Tuesday 11 March at East Ayr SS, 3.30-4.30pm
• Basketball Girls born 2013, 2014 and 2015 – Wednesday 12 and Friday 14 March at East Ayr SS, 3.30—4.30pm
• Basketball Boys born 2013, 2014 and 2015 – Wednesday 12 and Friday 14 March at East Ayr SS, 3.30—4.30pm

Please collect notes from the office. Student MUST bring their signed consent forms to the first trial.

Job Vacancies

Students of the Week

Class Awards

PE Awards

Science Awards

Wellbeing

Healthy and Confident young people are resilient. The means that if they are having difficulty at school, they are able to bounce back. Sometimes, students will worry about a problem and this may impact their willingness to attend school. This can be a distressing time for the child and parents/carers. It is hard to know what is the best parenting approach to this problem. Do you be hard-nosed? Do you try to go in and solve the problem for them? We have a few important messages that may help in these circumstances:

• Listen to your child and encourage them to tell you about their feelings and fears.
• Avoid telling your child to ‘get over it’. Your child may perceive this as you not understanding or not caring about their concerns.
• Form a good relationship with your child’s classroom teacher – organise a time to discuss your concerns and work out a plan to support your child
• If you require more support, speak with a deputy

The Department of Education has a resource that details some strategies to support your child when they are worried about coming to school - https://education.qld.gov.au/initiativesstrategies/Documents/anxiety-about-going-school.pdf

Resilient Families

Andrew Fuller is a clinical psychologist, who works with many schools and communities in Australia and internationally, specialising in the wellbeing of young people and their families. He has written an article titled “Ten Hints for Creating Resilient  Families”. This is an excellent resource and can be found below.

Notices