Dr Carmel McGrath

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Today we held our very exciting PBL Launch.  Today’s launch was a wonderful celebration of the work the students and staff have done so far to ensure we have a positive, consistent approach to our school wide expectations:

Be Respectful – Be Responsible – Be Safe – Be a Learner

Our assembly on the oval allowed us to:

• see our new garden ornaments of the expectations
• Officially welcome ‘Kookie’ and sing his song
• View the special ‘spirit house’ trophy  and class mascot award
• Present each staff member with a Kookie stamp and colour-in completion sheets

Colour-in competition – students who wish to participate should complete their colouring and put their Name and Class on the back of the sheet eg Jill Hann Year 2 C.  Completed sheets should be handed in to the competition entries box at the library.  Competition closes Monday 19 August 3:20pm.  Winners (categories Year levels - P-1, 2-3, 4-6) will be announced at Assembly on Tuesday 20 August.  Good luck to all students, have fun!

QSR Update

This week external consultant David Curran visited our school to talk to student leaders about the results of the student consultation to date and to facilitate further discussion on common themes.  David is conducting a parent session this afternoon, 3.00-4.00pm in B Block, to add further opportunity for exploring and refining ideas for our key priorities for the next 4 years at our school. 

The next steps are listed below:

Evacuation Drill

This week we will hold our term evacuation drill.  It is important to practise these drills so that we are efficient in exiting the building and assembling in a safe, designated space. 

2020 Prep  Enrolments

Currently we are in the process of interviewing families for next year’s prep students.  To date we have received 50 enrolments and completed interviews for approximately half of those.  Please remind all prospective families to complete and submit their applications as soon as possible as interviews are being conducted this term.  At this stage we predict approximately 100 prep students.  Next term Tuesday 29 October we will be holding our 2020 Prep Open morning. 

Playdates are also planned for …..Thurs 15 August, Friday 13 September, Monday 14 October, Tues 12 November and Wednesday 4 December.

2019 Annual Community Spirit Award

Just a reminder that this year’s ceremony will be held on Tuesday 17 September.  Thank you to those who have already submitted their nomination forms and photos.  This makes our ceremony very special.  Please see attached the nomination form and guidelines.  Please take time to nominate one of our extraordinary parents, students or staff who have made important contributions to our school community over the past year. 

Nomination form and Guidelines

School Opinion Survey

Our annual school opinion surveys went home last week with the eldest child in the family.  The survey sheets each have an individual login code for parents to use in the online completion of the survey.  If you have misplaced or lost your form, there are some spare forms available at the front office. Please complete your surveys by 23 August.

Shine

Thank you to Mr Chapman for coordinating the Shine talent competition for our students this term.  All entries have now been finalised and we look forward to the performances by all our very talented students.  Parents are welcome to attend and watch the performances but are reminded to sign in at the office before going to the hall. 

Heats: 21 Aug, 28 Aug and 4 Sept. Final 11 Sept

Arrive Safe, Leave Safe

As you are aware, parking and traffic management around our school is particularly challenging before and after school.  We have worked diligently with the cooperation of parents using our ‘Look Out’ Program to ensure children are safe and drivers are all following the rules which help the steady flow of traffic. 

If you wish to come into the school to drop your children and catch up with teachers or other families, please allow time to find a park.  Parking in Hawthorne Street where the yellow lines are, is not permitted as this is an area for pick up only as per our ‘Look Out’ guidelines.

Parents must remain in their vehicles and students remain within the school grounds behind the fence until called to their car by the supervising staff member.  This works really well when everyone follows the procedure.  If someone parks in this area, leaves the vehicle and goes into the school, it causes a great deal of frustration and confusion for other drivers.  I would also remind parents that children should not be left unattended in a vehicle.  I would also urge parents to model safe behaviours and use correct crossing zones especially when teaching children how to arrive and leave school safely.

Look Out Information

Look Out Registration

Kay Bradley

Positive Behaviour for Learning (P.B.L.) Launch

We had a wonderful assembly today, when we officially welcomed Kookie to New Farm State School.  Our mascot, designed and named by the students, will be leading the way as we teach and reinforce expected behaviour at school.  Kookie made some visits to classes, the playground and the Pick-up Zone.

P.B.L. FOCUS OF THE WEEK

NBN Works in James Street-

Our James Street entrance will be closed from Monday 12 August to Saturday 17 August. Please seek an alternative entrance to the school. Hawthorne and Heal Street will be open for drop off and pick for this week.

Electrical Safety Program- Wednesday 14 August. School grounds CLOSED.

Parents please be aware that the Electrical Safety Program will be on the school ground on Wednesday 14 August. No access is permitted by Staff or families of the school on this day.

School Watch

The School Watch Program is a partnership between Education Queensland, the Queensland Police Service and the State Government Protective Security Service.  It aims to reduce criminal activity in Queensland schools and encourages everyone to look out for after-hours crime in our schools.  If you see anything suspicious, please don’t attempt to intervene.

Call the School Watch number – 13 17 88

“The ‘Talk About It’ Program for Year 5 & 6 Students that was to have occurred last week was postponed.

This program will now take place in Term 4.  Year 5 & 6 parents will be notified of the new dates in the coming weeks.”

Well done to those students who are well on their way to completing their Reading Record forms. It is so pleasing to see that reading for pleasure is alive and well at New Farm State School. Remember, books read can include those read at home, as well as at school or books read for home reading,

Reading Record forms are available from your classroom teacher, the New Farm State School Library or:

https://readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au/register/Documents/school-reader-record-form.pdf

Once completed, please hand Reading Record forms in to your class teacher. 

Premier’s Reading Challenge Booklists

Students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability. While there is no compulsory reading list for the challenge, the following booklists have been developed to help you and your child select appropriate reading material.

 https://readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au/about/booklists

 The Premier’s Reading Challenge closes on Friday 23 August.

Get the latest New Farm SS notifications straight to your phone.

To keep up with all the latest notifications and news from NFSS, you can download the Schoolzine App from the left side of this Newsletter or Schoozine App.

For further information.

BAND PROGRAM POSITIONS AVAILABLE

The instrumental music recruiting process for students wishing to be in the band program in 2020 has begun. Following the departments policy current year 3 students can apply to participate in the band (woodwind, brass, percussion) program beginning in 2020.

Could you please check that you have received the "expression of interest" form?  The form was emailed to all year 3 parents in week 4 and also given to students by their year 3 class teachers. If you wish your child to be considered for the selection process you need to complete and return it to the office before the end of this term, Friday the 20^th of September.

The class teachers and the office have spare copies.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

BAND PROGRAM: Colin McIntyre, senior instrumental music teacher.

email: cmcin13@eq.edu.au

Looking forward, Colin.

On Thursday the 8 of August, the NFSS Senior Girls Soccer team competed in the Metropolitan North Primary Football Championships. Our team comprised of twelve Year 6 girls. Some of us play soccer outside of school; many of us don’t. However, this didn’t matter – we were all there simply to have fun.

A few weeks previously, we spent, like every other Year 5 and 6 student, three Fridays at Gala Day Sport. We won seven of the 9 games, tied once due to wet weather, and lost one game one-nil. Overall, we came out on top due to brilliant teamwork skills.

When the day of the South East Queensland Primary Football Championships arrived, our team gathered outside the Aspley State High School football grounds. Our games were against Everton Park, and Rainworth, two other schools who won their respective Gala Day events. We were the only three Year 6 girl teams to get through to the Metropolitan North Primary Football Championships.

Despite our heroic defending and striking attempts, we lost both games. Nevertheless, everyone in the team played boldly, worked together and generally had a great day, and we are all very proud of our achievement. Thanks to Mr Conde and Allison for taking us on the day.

Friday 16 August

Parents and carers are invited to attend Prep –Year 2 sports day on Friday 16 August.

Please make sure that your child is in class at 8:45am for registration and a prompt 9:00am start on the oval. Children should come to school wearing their house colours of Binkinba (Red), Teneriffe (Green) and Merthyr (Yellow) for Sports day will run from 9:00am until 10:30am.

We are very limited on space so please ensure that you are mindful of this when positioning yourself to watch the events. The children have put in a lot of effort to prepare for their events and we are looking forward to a fun and exciting day!

Mika, Claudia and Sophie 

63 Year 5 students along with four teaching staff headed off for the much anticipated three-day, two-night Emu Gully year 5 camp.

When we arrived at Emu Gully camp, we began by setting three main goals for the camp. These goals were mateship, teamwork and leadership. We developed these skills throughout the camp and applied them to all of the activities.

The military-themed activities we all participated in tested these skills and goals we had set for ourselves. Some of our favourite activities included the Kokoda Track, the Tunnel Rats of Vietnam and the Bridge over the River Kwai. These activities made us work with people we hadn’t previously worked with and develop mateship and teamwork.

Our three instructors, Linda, Sarah and John had a huge influence on us. They helped and encouraged us to try our very best both during and after the activities. Many of us showed great courage when they were frightened, but we pushed through and tried very hard.

Overall, our camp was an amazing experience for all 63 of us. We hope to bring these skills that we have acquired and developed back to school and to present utilise them next year as New Farm state school leaders.

The Expression of Interest to participate in the ICAS testing has now closed.

Later this week an email will be sent to the parents of participating students to provide online payment details and online practice tests. Completing the practice tests is very important as they provide examples of the type of questions asked in the new online assessment format.

The closing date for payment is Monday 26 August.

DoE Communications team will be attending the P&C meeting tonight, at 6.00pm in the library.

New Farm SS was recently allocated funding to progress with stage 1 of our master plan to deliver a new learning centre to cater for our growing community.

As part of the planning for our new learning centre, the Department of Education is hosting a design workshop in late Term 3, 2019. 

The design workshop will include participants from the school and local community and provide an opportunity to review the master plan and consider design options for the new building before construction commences in 2020.

The department is now taking expressions of interest from parents/carers and neighbours who would like to be part of this workshop. If you would like to participate please return the expression of interest form to the department by email, before COB 23 August 2019.

Click here to download the expression of interest form.

If your application is successful you will be contacted by return email.