From the Principal
Dr Carmel McGrath
It has been a very pleasing start to our school year with student enrolments settling very quickly and classes getting on with their core work. Thank you to all parents for organising your child’s book resources. If you have not yet finalised all the resources please prioritise the text books as a matter of urgency so that students are able to focus on their learning from the outset.
Curriculum Focus
Over the next fortnight, parents should be receiving the class newsletter for term 1 highlighting the curriculum focus, special events and days as well as class rules and teacher contact details. Further information will be presented at our annual parent teacher information session in week 3.
Enrolment Census – Day 4 & Day 8
Education Queensland has extended our annual Day 8 census to Day 13 but numbers are settling now.
Our 2019 Day 8 enrolment total was 504 students.
Today our enrolments were 555 students so I predict our numbers and classes will remain stable at this stage, unless we have a very large intake next week.
Swimming
In terms 1 & 4 our Physical Education lessons focus on swimming, with the exception on Prep who swim only in term 4. Swimming lessons will begin next week. Thank you to parents for completing the permission and financial aspects of the lessons.
Assembly
This week we held our first assembly and our 2020 Year 6 captains began their duties, confidently and well organised. Thank you to Ms Loudon for helping the captains prepare for their roles. Parents and carers are always welcome to attend our weekly assemblies in our hall Tuesday mornings at 9:15am.
Next week in addition to our regular morning assembly, we are also holding a special 2:30pm afternoon assembly for the Chinese New Year and the annual Lion Dance performance. Thank you to Mrs Chen for arranging it.
Staffing Update - Leadership Team
Congratulations to Kay Bradley for her successful appointment as permanent Deputy Principal at New Farm. Currently we are also advertising for the recruitment of a Head Of Department (Curriculum) for 2020. The focus of the new HOD role will be implementation of the Australian Curriculum particularly the Arts this year, as well as leading the review of our pedagogical framework, and embedding systems for moderating student work.