Dr Carmel McGrath

Welcome Back to School

Welcome back to all students, families and staff. We are pleased to have enrolled 70 new Prep students and approximately 35 other students across Year 1 – 6. We also welcomed new staff members to our New Farm team, including Ms Sarah Hilton on Year 2 and Ms Hannah Price on Year 4. We are currently awaiting Day 8 census to confirm or adjust the class allocations which will then be set in place for the remainder of 2025. Staff are now organising their parent / teacher information sessions and details of these sessions will be communicated in the coming week. Details will be sent out via Dojo and Schoolzine.

Swimming

Swimming lessons begin in week 2 for Years 1-6. In terms 1 & 4 our Physical Education lessons focus on swimming, with the exception on Prep who swim only in term 4. Permissions and payments are required for participation. If you need any financial assistance for any events, please contact our Business Manager Stan Williams on businessmanager@newfarmss.eq.edu.au

Attendance

Every day of school attendance counts and research tells us those students who attend 85% and higher are more likely to achieve better results and have better social networks among peers. While attendance generally is over 90%, the ideal is 95%. While I understand that appointments are at times unavoidable, I would appreciate if you could be mindful of avoiding early departures from class. 

Arrival times – students should arrive near 8:30am.  Our Schools Plus service uses our area until this time so if you are not attending Schools Plus, please do not arrive before 8:30am as there is no formal supervision before this time. From 8:30am, the designated before-school play areas include, the oval, netball court and the upper section of the prep play area (for Prep students only). 

For late arrivals after 9am, Parents please remember to send your child to the office, where they can obtain a late slip to present to the teacher. 

For early departure before 3pm, for an appointment or similar, parents must go to the office, sign their child out and wait for the child to come to the office.

For absences such as illness, please ring through to the school office, email the school on absence@newfarmss.eq.edu.au or send a message through QParents before 8:30am.

For longer-term absences, such as family trip overseas for emergent reasons, please see the office staff and complete a submission for exemption. Please note holidays may not be granted under ‘exemption’ and recorded as ‘holiday’.

Please also remember that regular attendance is paramount to high achievement. 

Attendance + Effort = Achievement

Communication

Our main forms of communication are:

1. Class dojo - messages may not be addressed during the school day as teachers will be teaching.
2. Schoolzine – this is an email platform for sending correspondence such as the fortnightly Newsletter and SMS reminders.
3. Email - the best way to communicate concerns, complaints, after school arrangements or appointments for meetings - please email the administration, who will direct your email to the relevant staff member administration@newfarmss.eq.edu.au
4. QParents - this app allows parents to notify of attendances, pay invoices, sign permissions, view report cards and school photos. If you need assistance with setting up Qparents please either email adminisation on administration@newfarmss.eq.edu.au or visit our admin staff in the office. 
   
   

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 when interacting with staff. If there is an issue that needs addressing, please 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.

Student Code of Conduct

The New Farm State School Community, aims to actively and responsibly pursue, promote and maintain a safe, respectful and inclusive learning environment for all. 

This New Farm State School Code of Conduct for Students is designed to facilitate high standards of behaviour, so that the learning and teaching in our school can be effective and students can participate positively within our school community.

From time to time, students may require support to follow our New Farm State School rules and to manage their relationships with their peers. Normally, teachers will be well aware of any issues that arise from day to day and will endeavour to contact families with any concerning behaviour.

If you would like to raise any concerns regarding student behaviour or expectations related to any of our policies, please do not hesitate to email the class teacher in the first instance.  

Uniform Expectations

We expect all our students to wear their Sunsafe, school uniform with pride; travelling to and from school, at school and when representing New Farm on excursions and special events. It is an expectation that students will wear:

• closed in shoes that are predominately black in colour
• plain socks; black, blue or white
• polo shirt with school logo
• shorts, skorts or school dress
• a school hat, for all outdoor activities
• hair, that is shoulder length or longer, tied up or back using a plain hair band or hair tie
• naturally coloured hair (not dyed).

The following jewellery is permitted at school:

• studs or small hoop earrings
• jewellery of personal religious significance
• a digital or analog watch for timekeeping and step monitoring.

On cooler days, students may wear:

• maroon zip top with school logo, maroon vest, long sleeve tees, blue or black tights, maroon track pants or bootleg pants.

This Uniform Policy is part of our enrolment agreement and is approved by our P&C.

There may be times when your student is unable to wear the correct uniform for a variety of reasons. If this situation arises for your family, we ask that you contact the class teacher to let them know.