Carmel McGrath 

Creating a positive school culture

At New Farm State School we pride ourselves on our positive school culture and with your help we can make it ever stronger.  You can do your part by speaking positively about the school and our staff. If there is an issue that needs addressing ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns and understand that there may be times when compromises are necessary.

No one benefits from negative comments or gossip about other school community members – including students – whether it’s in person, in writing or on social media.

Please recognise that staff are responsible for supporting the whole school community and every student is important.  Remember we are all working together for your child. Your child, our student. One team.

Parent Teacher Information Sharing

Each term in week 1 parents will receive the Year Level Term Overview and these have already been sent out for Term 1.  Our main methods of communication are class and school DOJO, as well as schoolzine for the school newsletter and other permissions and payments.  Due to current restrictions our face to face parent teacher information sessions will not be held on site this Term; however, teachers will be making and sending videos about their specific class routines and ways of working over the next fortnight.  In relation to curriculum specific information, students in Years 3-6 will also be accessing and utilising Seesaw for sharing curriculum work with parents and teachers.

Term 1 P&C Meetings

Thank you to parents who attended last week’s first P&C meeting.  This term we will be holding one more general meeting as well as the Annual General Meeting (AGM).  The AGM involves the relinquishing of all executive positions and the voting and electing of our new 2022 P&C Executive.  P&C is a great way to become involved in your child’s school and I encourage you to become involved.  The dates for meetings are advertised in the newsletter.

Health

Just a reminder that anyone who is unwell should stay home until recovered before returning to school. If Covid positive, please notify us and isolate as per guidelines.  If your child becomes unwell at school and is presenting with cold or flu-like symptoms, headache or temperature, you will be contacted to collect your child and given a Rapid Antigen Test. 

Our 2020-23 Strategic Priorities include: 

• Innovation
• Inclusion
• Well-Being
• Curriculum

Our 2022 Explicit Improvement Agenda is improving educational outcomes for all students in Reading and Writing.  Our work in this area is responsive to student needs and aligned with our school and regional targets.  In each year level team, teachers will work together to know their student reading levels and develop high quality consistent practices including Read Write Inc Synthetic Phonics Prep-Yr2 and RWI Spelling Yr2-6.  For improvement in writing, we implement the 3L (Language and Literacy for Learning) program across P-6 as this program focuses on the importance of grammar within different text types.