IMPORTANT NOTICES

What if my child is unwell?

Any child who is showing signs of illness or feeling unwell, should stay at home.

If a child is showing signs of illness at school, the school will contact the parent or carer to collect the child.

Dr Carmel McGrath

ANZAC Day

Thank you again to all parents and community members who attended this year’s school ANZAC Day ceremony.  Our students demonstrated respectful behaviour throughout the morning and when laying their class wreaths.  Special guests included Hon Grace Grace, Councillor Vicki Howard, RSL representative and on trumpet, and community guests including Returned Services personnel.  Special thanks to Ms Cath Eurell for coordinating this year’s ceremony, the Year 6 student leaders for hosting the event, Mrs Wendy Maslen for her speech, and Ms Davis for leading our choir’s singing.

Lockdown Drill

Each term we practise both our lockdown and evacuation drills.  This term we are introducing a slight change to the procedure for lockdown.  We will introduce a music only recording to be played for the duration of the lockdown drill in place of the previous 3 short alarm blasts which would begin the drill.  The music will play on loop until the drill concludes.  This will help clarify for staff and students that the drill is over and regular lessons can recommence. 

Police Pipe Band Visit

Thank you to Ms Norman who organised the Police Pipe Band Visit last Friday 19 April.  The students and staff absolutely loved the morning’s stunning performance.

Dinosaur Dig Area

Thanks to the generous fundraising of our parents and P&C donation, we have now had the Dinosaur Dig area installed on our oval.  Students of all year levels are thoroughly enjoying the new addition to our playground. 

We are also very pleased to announce that we have appointed a project manager for the memorial playground project from our P&C donation of $150 000.  Business Manager Stan Williams is working with EQ Infrastructure adviser, Project Management and P&C Executive to progress the development of the new playground project.  More information will be shared as we progress.

Upcoming Events

• P&C AGM Wed 01 May
• Labour Day Public Holiday Monday 06 May
• Parent – Teacher interviews 9^th and 10th May
• Gala Days – 11, 17 and 21 May
• Term 2 Lockdown drill week 3 and Evacuation week 4
• Choir and Dance Performances at Teneriffe Festival Saturday 25 May
• P&C Trivia Night Saturday 15^rd June
• Last Day Term 2 Friday 21 June

Melinda Norman

AEDC Data Collection

Building a national picture of child health

From May 2024, our school, along with thousands of others across the country, will participate in the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC).

The AEDC is a teacher-completed census (similar to a questionnaire) which provides a comprehensive picture of how children have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school.

The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative and is completed nationally every three years.

Children don’t miss any class time while the AEDC is completed, and parents/carers don’t need to supply schools with any new information.

The data collected through the AEDC is used by schools, communities and governments to better understand children and families’ needs, and identify the services, resources and support they need.

AEDC data is reported at a school, community, state/territory and national level. AEDC results for individual children are not reported and the AEDC is not used as an individual diagnostic tool.

Some teachers have found that completing the AEDC made them more aware of the needs of individual children and their class, and that the data was useful for planning for transitions to Year 1 and developing programs.

Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, however the AEDC relies on all schools with children in their first year of full-time school participating in the collection. Parents/carers don’t need to take any action unless they choose not to include their children in the census.

To find out more about the AEDC and how it is being used to help children and families visit: www.aedc.gov.au.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mel Norman (HOD-C) at mnorm36@eq.edu.au.

 

Queensland Police Pipes and Drums

Queensland Police Pipes and Drums visited our school last week and we all enjoyed the entertaining Kops in Kilts program. If you would like to join one of Australia’s most successful juvenile pipe bands, please contact the Queensland Police Pipes & Drums by email at Pipes&Drums@police.qld.gov.au or telephone 3253 3800.

 Curriculum Term Overviews

All Curriculum Term Overviews have been sent to families last week. These documents outline what is being taught to your chid this term. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at mnorm36@eq.edu.au.

If your child/ren have a medical condition requiring regular or emergency administration of medication, please make sure you have supplied school with the following:

1. A CURRENT Action Plan for Asthma and Allergies – these are to be reviewed on a yearly basis, if your current action plan expires by the end of March 2024 please arrange a new one.
2. A 'Consent to Administer' form – providing guardian consent to administer the provided medication, detailing when, why and how much medication is required to be administered at school.

IF YOUR CHILD/REN SELF ADMINISTER THEIR MEDICATION THIS NEEDS TO BE CLEARLY DISPLAYED IN BOTH THE LETTER FROM THE DOCTOR AND IN THE ACTION PLAN

Parents are also required to provide a letter detailing their consent for their child/ren to administer their own medication.

1. Medication must be in the original container and must have a pharmacy label with your child’s name and the prescribing Doctor/Dentist’s details.
2. If required, Parents will need to fill out an “Administration of Medication” form. If your child requires more than one medication, a form for each medication will need to be filled out.

Providing Medication to the School

Parents are welcome to drop medication to the Admin Office between 9am – 3pm daily.

Students are not permitted to transport their own medication. An adult must attend and provide medication and complete any require consents.

For all emergency medication, once it has been received and recorded by administration, all medication (e.g. asthma medication, anaphylaxis medication) will be put into a labelled box and stored in the administration building First Aid Room.

If your child/ren’s medical status changes (e.g. asthma action plan no longer relevant, allergy severity decreased etc) please let the school know via email through firstaid@newfarmss.eq.edu.au so that we may update our systems.