Kay Bradley Acting Principal

It’s been so lovely to see everyone back, to what we hope will be a more ‘normal’ term three. As you may know Dr McGrath will be taking some family leave for the first four weeks of this term and I will be in the role of Acting Principal.  Our Head of Department, Melinda Norman will be Acting Deputy Principal during this time.  

I’ve included some of the changes to arrangements for drop off and pick-ups that were communicated in week 10’s newsletter.  It is vital that parents move off the school grounds as soon as possible and remain socially distant whilst at school; this is especially important for the Prep group.  Prep students should be dropped off as close to 8.45 a.m. as is possible and staff will be present to supervise students so parents are asked not to wait in school. We will be monitoring the situation and will continue to take advice from Queensland Health Department.  

• Change to Drop Off Arrangements from the Beginning of Term 3 

 The following arrangements will be in place from the 13 of July: 

• Hawthorne Street and Heal Street will continue to run as ‘drop off’ zones with no parking. 
• Parents are welcome into the school, but adult social distancing should be practised at all times. 
• If you wish to drop your student/students off in school, do so as near to 8.45 a.m. as possible and leave the school grounds, promptly.  
• The ‘Prep train’ will still be operating from the Heal Street ‘drop off’ zone, but students will be taken to the Assembly hall until the 8.45 a.m. bell when they will be escorted to the Prep classrooms.  

• Prep classrooms will not be open until 8.45 a.m. but teacher aide staff will supervise students who have been dropped off close to 8.45 a.m.  Prep parents are asked to drop their student/students off as close to 8.45 a.m. and to not remain on the school grounds. 

• Change to Dismissal Arrangements from the Beginning of Term 3 

The following arrangements will be in place from the 13 of July: 

Preps will continue to be ready for collection, from the assembly hall and from the Hawthorne pick up zone, from 2.50 p.m. We ask that parents of Yr1-6 do not arrive at the pick-up zones before 3 p.m. as Prep parents need to have access from 2.50 p.m. 

• All other year levels will be dismissed at 3 p.m., from classrooms, not the oval. 
• Hawthorne Street and Heal Street will continue to run as ‘pick up’ zones, with no parking. 
• Parents may come onto the school grounds to collect students, but adult social distancing should be practised at all times. 
• Parents and students should move off school grounds as quickly as possible. 
• Adventure playgrounds are only available to Jabiru students, after 3 p.m.  Playtime for students and social ‘catch ups’ for parents, take place off school grounds. 

• The bottom gate on Heal Street is now part of our ‘pick up’ zone; pedestrians should use other access and exit points at our peak dismissal time. 

• Further Adjustments to COVID arrangements 

• Food/ice blocks for birthdays will be allowed, but parents should ensure teachers are given at least one day’s notice.  This will ensure we can check any allergy concerns, prior to distribution.  Food arriving without notice, will not be distributed. 
• Face-to-face meetings can be arranged, with suitable social distancing in place.  Some teachers may still request telephone meetings.  
• Assemblies for the time being will remain ‘virtual assemblies’.  

Dogs on School Grounds 

Whilst dogs are an important part of life for many of our families and may be included in the walk to and from school, they are not allowed on school grounds.  We ask that all dogs remain outside the grounds and if they are tied up, they are not at the gate where children will have to walk past them. As much as you may trust your own dog, it is an EQ directive that animals should not be on the school grounds without special permission from the Principal.   

Melinda Norman Acting Deputy Principal

• Report Cards

All report cards will be emailed to parents at the end of week 3 and will look a little different due to the flexibility regarding the period of Learning from Home for some students. English, Mathematics, Science and Humanities and Social Sciences are the only learning areas reported on for semester one.  Prep students will receive a comment only for each of these learning areas.

Ensure your email address is up-to-date to ensure you receive this information. Should you wish to update your details, please email admin@newfarmss.eq.edu.au by Friday 17 July.

Complete the Change of Details form.

• Curriculum Update

During the last three weeks of term 2 all teachers were involved in curriculum planning sessions. These sessions are vital for teachers to work together and review our quality curriculum. It was wonderful to work with such dedicated teachers to plan the next steps of our curriculum journey to ensure lessons are highly engaging for all our students.

Applications for enrolment in 2021 are now open. We accept applications the year prior to starting school.

Please complete the following forms and submit to the office or email: enrolments@newfarmss.eq.edu.au

If you have any further queries please phone 3358 7333 Monday Tuesday or Friday

Expression of Interest form

Prep Interview booklet

Checklist to help collect supporting documents required for the application.

Margaret Davidson

Scholastic Book Club

Scholastic Book Club Issue 5 is out now so students will be getting a paper brochure from their teacher. This catalogue has a focus on home learning, creative arts and coding activities. You will also find many books under $5.

You can view Issue 5 catalogue and order your books here.

Scholastic Book Fair

Our Scholastic Book Fair is back on this term! It starts on Friday 3 September, week 8, continuing through to Thursday of week 9.

Scholastic provides fiction and non-fiction books, stationery and posters for sale. New Farm State School gets a percentage of the sale which will go towards new books for the library.

More information will be provided closer to the date.

Premiers reading challenge

All students can pick up a Premiers Reading Challenge form from the library to list all the books you read over the holidays and any books during term 3. When students have filled in the form please return it to the library to be registered for a certificate.

Place Premier Reading Challenge – student-record-form here.

Top Borrower of the Week

Our top Borrower for Term 2 week 10 is Alma  from 2MA.

Alma borrowed the most books in week 10 out of all students in the school. She found the Rainbow Magic book series and was super keen to read the next book in the series. 

Well done and congratulations Alma for your huge enthusiasm for reading!

Happy Reading!

Angela Lamb

We have some very excited Year 4 students in New Farm. Our BYO iPad program is up and running. Our students have been busy discussing the participation agreement, connecting to the managed school Wi-Fi, changing their wallpaper to the school background and much more. The Year 4 teachers have been very impressed by how the children are supporting each other and providing them with a few expert tips.  

Cyber Safety Event (Tomorrow Night) 

Dear Parent/Caregivers, 

Tomorrow, Brett Lee from Internet Safe Education will present to students, teachers and parents. Student sessions will focus on the topics listed below. 

After school, teachers will be learning about how best to keep their students safe online. Then in the evening (6pm) Brett will present a webinar to all parents. Please see the flyer attached to this newsletter and watch the video from Brett. https://vimeo.com/426874621/ff2f1b543e  

Click the link below to join the webinar at 6pm.  

 https://event.webinarjam.com/register/124/ml07ns30  

This is an event not to be missed.  

Kind regards, 

Nick Fenton| STEAM Coach 

POSITION VACANT

The School Locker Campus Shop located in the grounds of New Farm State School is looking for a uniform shop convenor. School Term hours consist of two 3 hour shifts per week on a casual basis (total 6 hours). Extra hours the week before each school year starts would also be required. 

Successful applicant would possess competent Computer skills, excellent communication, customer service skills, working independently and time management essential. Full training provided. 

Interested in joining The School Locker team:  please APPLY by emailing Nicole Rapp on Nicole.rapp@theschoollocker.com.au including a cover letter and/or resume. 

The Community and Charity Project group was very pleased to have raised $630.45 from the free dress day in support of the Queensland Ambulance Service and our front line health service providers.

The allocated Disabled Car Park bay in Heal Street is not to be used by drivers who do not have a Disabled Parking sticker displayed. We have parents whose access to this car park space is essential. Do not park in this space at any time for any reason unless you have the Disabled Parking sticker displayed. This is the respectful, responsible and safe thing to do.

Please return all outstanding Read Write Inc and levelled home reading books to school to ensure we have enough variety of books for our young readers this term.  

The students competed in their second online Evening Debate for 2020 on Tuesday 23 June.  The topic was "that every student should be required to take cooking classes".

The teams included: