Evacuation and lockdown drill for Term 2- by Year level groups

Our mandatory emergency drills for Term 2 will be conducted differently in light of the current pandemic and planned return to school of the majority students.

The Building Fire Safety Regulation 2008 requires fire and evacuations drills to be undertaken and this requirement is still in place during the current COVID-19 pandemic with a sensible approach ensuring controls are in place to maintain safety. 

As part of each school’s Emergency Response Plan, alternative assembly points should be considered. We will still use the oval at this stage.  Cones will be placed at several point on the oval to maintain distance between groups. Sanitiser will be available in the first aid kit.

Schools can complete their required drill using staggered options e.g. each individual classroom staggered over a week or by year level.

Ensuring adults maintain physical distancing requirements.

Communications to parents from the school via the newsletter will help alleviate any concerns and provide peace of mind that the fire and evacuations drills are routine and required each year, have been scaled to smaller groups of students to ensure that DoE is complying with the mass gathering restrictions and the students safety is the department’s key focus with an all hazard approach.

Evacuation Drills for this week will be as noted

Year 1 - Thursday 14 May - 12noon approx

Prep – Friday 15 May - 10.30am approx

Students of Essential workers attending in all other year levels – Monday 17 May 10am approx.

We will complete the drills for the remainder of the school when they return to classes.

Cleaning and Sanitising of classroom- daily. Our cleaning staff will continue with the daily precautionary cleaning regime for all areas. Grounds staff will continue to sanitise handrails, bubblers and playgrounds during the day.

Building Project- Pool Change rooms upgrade. Tender process will be completed by Wednesday 13 May. Honeywill Consulting will be managing this process. We may have to move the Year 1 classes from B block due to the demolition noise. Possibly for 1 week. The project manager anticipates this will be from the 18 May for 7 to 10 days. The two Year one classes in B block will be relocated to Music and Art rooms for period of the demolition. Mr Chapman our classroom music teacher and Ms Lee our Junior Lote teacher will visit individual classes for their lessons. Mr McIntyre will be working from B block staff meeting room on the day of instrumental music takes place.

Pool Circulation Filtration pump – replacement. The condition of the main swimming pool circulation pump was identified during the annual swimming pool Condition Assessment as being down on capacity and that it would be a good idea to replace due to age.  

Due to this, DoE corporate have made funding available for the replacement of the main swimming pool pump based on the information from the CA. At this stage the tender is in place and the procurement team are actioning the replacement and we will see contractors asking for access to the pool for inspection and quoting. The will only need to access the plant area where the main pump is located.

As the pump is a different style to the standard, we will need to replace some pipework and the hair and lint vessel attached to the pump. The replacement is a simple process with only minor modifications and disruption to the pool filtration. This job will only take one day and will have minimal impact to the running of the pool.

Pool entrance gates – to be heightened. Mr Rainbow requested the pool entrance gates be heighten to allow more control over entering the area. The entry latch will be heightened as well. Works will commence on Tuesday 9 June after the change room project is completed.

Cleaning Audit by DoE Monday 18 May 5.30am-10am- Wayne Doran our Schools Facilities Operations Advisor will attend NFSS for this audit. He will access all areas of the school.

• Improvement opportunities in relation to cleaning
• Identifying training needs – cleaning or equipment
• Recognising and acknowledging good cleaning practices
• Comprehensive audit report document is emailed to us upon completion of the audit.

Tree removal- completed. Rowan Cassidy will be onsite to complete the final part of these works which includes demolition of the brick garden bed which was damaged by the tree and re concreting this area.

Social Distancing measures for the reception area, photocopier room and staffroom. You will see the reception area looking a little different. We will have sneeze guards installed at the front desk and floor markings will be present. We will have 3 rooms in B block open for staff at lunch times. Hand sanitiser and washing facilities are available in each room.

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

Scholastic Book Club

This week is the last day to order your books and other fun items from the Scholastic Book Club Issue 3 Catalogue.

Ordering

Orders can be made online at Scholastic LOOP Ordering and purchases will be delivered to the school and distributed to students when they return in week 6.

Redgum book club has a virtual catalogue and all purchases placed online will earn money for the school.

Ordering

All purchases made from the current catalogue will be home delivered. The online catalogue closes on the 25 May.

Angela Lamb

Uniforms are currently available from The School Locker website.

https://theschoollocker.com.au/schools/new-farm-state-school/uniforms

Customers have the option to choose DELIVERY to their home for a small nominal fee.

They can also choose PICKUP which would allow them or their student to pick up the parcel from the school office.

I have the opening date for the campus set for Wednesday 27 May which is in line with the hopes the government will lift restrictions on school based learning.  We will operate the online option till then, picking and packing orders each week.

Thank you so much for your understanding and I am very looking forward to things becoming a lot more ‘normal’ as the weeks go on.

Welcome flyer

Online Ordering

Tuckshop Re-opening

Friday 15 May

We are looking forward to the reopening our Tuckshop to support returning students and staff.  

First day back will be Friday 15 May, and returning to Monday, Wednesday & Fridays from 18 May.

Hand sanitizer will be available on the counter and social distancing measures will be encouraged.

Online ordering through Flexishools is our preferred method however over the counter orders are still most welcome.  EFTPOS & cash facilities will be available over the counter.   

Please check out the Flexischools website for our slightly altered menu for the first week back. 

For those of you not currently on Flexischools, following is a brief outline of what will be available in the first week……

Friday 15 May & Friday 22 May

Sausage Sizzle along with toasted sandwiches, salads, etc.

(Chilli Beef/Vege meals will resume Friday 29 May)

Monday 18 May

Fried Rice (pork, vegetarian or vegan) along with toasted sandwiches, salads, etc.

(Sushi will return shortly)

Wednesday 20 May

Pizzas (ham & cheese or plain cheese) along with toasted sandwiches, salads, etc.

(Pasta meals will resume Wednesday 27 May)

I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream!

Every Friday at second break (commencing 15^th May) we will be selling a variety of icy poles, ice creams and frozen yoghurts ranging in price from 50c to $2.00 (see below for price list).  Students enjoy coming up to the counter during second break with their money to purchase icy poles, etc. happy days!

Following is a list of the icy treats  – PLEASE SEND CORRECT MONEY WITH YOUR CHILD AS WE WILL NOT BE HANDING OUT CHANGE, thank you so much.

Quelch fruit juice icy poles  - 50c

Lemonade Icy Twists - $1.50

Calippo Ice Fruit Bars  - $1.50

Paddle Pops (chocolate, choc/caramel & rainbow) - $1.50

Frozen Yoghurts (various flavours) -  $2.00

Thank you and bon appetit

The State Government is offering a prep-aged vision screening program to all primary schools in Queensland under the Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program. This will involve registered nurses screening the vision of children in their first year of formal schooling. Early identification of vision problems can result in better school achievement and health outcomes which lead to more productive and healthier lives in the future.

There is no cost for your child to participate in this prep screening service. You will, however be required to return the parent consent form that was handed out this week. Consent forms need to be returned to your child’s teacher by Friday  22 May. This is a strict timeline and any forms returned after this date may result in the student being ineligible to participate in the program. Please contact your child’s teacher if you haven’t receive a form. Screening will commence at New Farm State School on Monday 20 July.

This service is only a screening test and is only available for prep students. If you have other concerns regarding the vision of your child or other children in a different year level, please have them assessed by an optometrist.

Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions or concerns regarding this vision screening program.

Sandy Chambers