Dr Carmel McGrath - Principal

Year 6 Leaders’ Induction Ceremony

Congratulations to all Year 6 students on receiving their student leadership badges at our Induction Ceremony on Monday. We were pleased to see so many families in attendance and thank our special guests the Honourable Trevor Evans, Andrew Kilgour from New Farm RSL and Belinda Hill representing our P&C.  Class teachers Fatima Zayn Al Abidin and Hayden Lawrence did a wonderful job preparing the students for the ceremony which was enjoyed by all. 

P&C AGM – Tuesday 12 March 6-7pm All welcome!

 Professional Development

Leaders In Learning

This week our Year Level Coordinators, Lesley Burridge, Julia Forsberg, Cristian Arredendo, Philip Davies, Rachel Fletcher, Steve Conde and Fatima Zayn Al Abidin, will attend the first of 4 Leadership Professional Learning Days. The series of sessions focus on building the leadership capability across our school. This week’s session ‘Leading Highly Effective Staff Teams’ focuses on the key aspects of highly effective teams. Teamwork is essential in our busy school. The better that people work together and are aligned, the better outcomes the school will achieve. Highly effective teams are more efficient, effective and consistent.

Phonemic Awareness Workshop

Seven of our Prep and Yr 1 teachers will be attending a whole day Phonemic Awareness workshop on Saturday 30^th March. This workshop provides instruction in daily teacher-led oral word play activities to help students develop the decoding skills essential to become proficient readers. Working together in this way demonstrates commitment towards improving the consistency of programs within our school.

 Reading in Classrooms

This week the leadership team will be visiting various classes during reading time to support teachers with feedback and coaching on their programs and student learning.

They will also release teachers to enable them to watch other teachers during reading time. This is a positive way for teachers to learn from one another and develop more consistent high yield strategies.

 Traffic Around Our School

Thank you so much to everyone who has been helping improve the smooth running of our drop off and pick up areas. The processes were established in consultation with our P&C and our neighbours as part of our ongoing Master Planning and Traffic Management planning. Staff volunteer for these duties, but we need everyone’s cooperation with our procedures for this to be successful.  The school’s LOOK OUT program will soon be on our website for your reference.  These expectations are also outlined in our school Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) matrix which was compiled after lengthy consultation in 2018. 

Arriving: Over the past week I have noticed the majority of children being ready to get out of their cars with their belongings and drivers should not leave their vehicle.  This really speeds up the process, so thank you. If you do wish to get out of your car and enter the school, please use an alternate area, such as Hawthorne or Annie Streets.

Leaving: Students should also enter the car from the curb side only as entering from the driver’s side has caused a great deal of concern for student safety. We ask that drivers do not get out of their vehicles in these pick up or drop off zones. If you feel you must, please try to arrive early and find a park in an alternative area, but please beware of yellow lines.

 Full School Review

On 28^th, 29^th March and 01 April we will be participating in our Full School Review.  Every Queensland state school is reviewed by the School Improvement Unit (SIU) at least once every four years.  These reviews are an important part of how the department supports and monitors schools.  The review team will be in our school during this period visiting classes, talking with staff, student leaders, parents and our community and school partners. 

 By the end of the review the team will present us with their findings and make recommendations for our next 4 year period. This dovetails nicely into our Quadrennial School Review which is also scheduled for this year.  With the Review Findings we will then develop our new 2020-2024 School Strategic Plan.  This plan informs the Annual Improvement Plan which forms the planning for our annual budget.

 To register your interest in participating in our review, please contact admin@newfarmss.eq.edu.au or email the SIU at siumb@qed.qld.gov.au

 Also see facts sheet attached.

 School Photos – Monday, 18^th March

• Y1 EXCURSION - Nudgee Beach – 20-21^st March
• Harmony Day – Thursday, 21^st March
• Full School Review (SIU) – 28 March – 1 April
• Last day of Term One – Friday, 5^th April
• Friday 19 April– GOOD FRIDAY
• Monday 22 April – Easter Monday
• First Day Term Two – Tuesday, 23^rd April

This week, every child at NFSS will come home with a NEW Home Reading folder. We have implemented this Home Reading Program to encourage reading, create excitement and foster the learning partnership between school and home.

 The folder will contain 3 items –

1. Reading book/s – books may be chosen by the teacher or the student
2. Borrowing Card – for students to record the reading they complete each night
3. Record Card – to keep track of how many nights of reading have been completed

 When a book is taken home, the title and date need to be recorded on the Borrowing Card. The Borrowing Card includes three columns (TO, WITH, BY). We ask parents to tick the appropriate box each night. This is - did you read the book TO your child, did you read the book WITH your child or did your chid read the book BY themselves.

 The number of nights recording system is simple. All you do is complete a reading session with your child and then sign the numbered Home Reading Record Card. Although students may read several times and/or books per day, only one reading session of 10-15 minutes may be signed off each day. This card will remain in your child’s home reading folder.

 An exciting and motivating element of the program is the presentation of certificates to reward the efforts of our students. Certificates will be presented to students when they reach increments of 25 (25, 50, 75, 100 etc) nights.

Including the holidays and weekends there are over 300 nights before the last week of school this year. Instructions are in the folder, however if you have any questions you may email me (rsieb7@eq.edu.au) or see your child’s classroom teacher.

Happy reading

Rachael Siebuhr

Library News 

We have had some exciting developments in the Library space over the holidays. Construction works are nearly finished which means our library will be up and running very soon. We are hoping students will be able to begin borrowing next week (Week 3) but we will keep you posted. Just a reminder, all students will require a library bag for borrowing.

A very big thank you goes out to all of our wonderful volunteers who have popped in to help us get things sorted out. We really appreciate your efforts. We look forward to seeing you all in the library very soon.

ICEBLOCKS

Ice blocks will now be available during first break on Fridays.

TUCKSHOP OPENING HOURS

The tuckshop is open on Monday, Wednesday & Friday

We have different specials available on each of those days:

• Monday - homemade pies and sausage rolls
• Wednesday - pasta and pizza
• Friday - sausage sizzle and nachos

In addition to that, we have a great range of sandwiches, salads, snacks and drinks. Please see the menu’s below!

You can order via Flexischools (up until 8am) or over the counter (up until 9am). We accept cash and EFTPOS over the counter.

First and second break (if we are open) - come to the counter for fruit, snacks, cookies and drinks!

Menu Term 1

Please note - Flexischool orders must be placed by 8am on the day of order.  If you have placed an order and your child is not at school a refund can be made by notifying Flexischools by 8am of that morning.

TUCKSHOP VOLUNTEERING

Each week one class will be responsible for finding volunteers to help out on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we need the help of at least two volunteers per day.  Each class will get a turn at volunteering and this will run in rotation through out the year.

We would like the class reps to organise the volunteer roster amongst the parents and helpers, we will be starting with Year 6 classes.  Ideally we would like to have all of next terms volunteers in place by the end of this term so if you are free to help out let your class rep your know your availability as soon as possible.

Vanessa, Rachael and Leanne

Parents can you please remind your student/s , "no students are to be on the verandahs before school and all students are to wait  under the library building, on netball court or on the oval until the 8:45 bell goes."

Jabiru - Join your Prep child at our FREE stay and play afternoon

Jabiru is proud to be the provider of school age care at New Farm State School.
We want to give preppies and their parents and carers a free chance to check us out!

NEW FARM STATE SCHOOL AMATEUR SWIM CLUB:        All Welcome!

This is a FUN night where children aim to IMPROVE their personal best times each week. Points are awarded as times improve, culminating in a trophy night at the end of term 4.

WHEN:                Monday nights, 5.15pm (5.30 start)

                            Feb 11^th -Apr 1^st, total of 8 weeks Term 1

                            Oct 15^th- Dec 3^rd, total of 8 weeks Term 4

WHERE:               NFSS School Pool

WHO:                   Swimmers who can swim at least ½ lap unassisted. Parent/carer MUST attend please.

COST:                    $35 per term or $60 both terms if paid together. (Flexischools or Cash at Sign On)

TO REGISTER:     Please complete and return the attached registration form via email  nfss.swimclub@hotmail.com. PLEASE DON’T USE PREVIOUS YEARS JOTFORM!!!

  SIGN ON in person by the NFSS netball court:

Wednesday Feb 6^th              8:30–9:00

Thursday Feb 7^th              2:45-3:15             

Friday Feb 8^th                   8:30--9:00

You MUST be registered by Friday 8th of Feb to swim at the first meet, however, you can join anytime through the term.

PLEASE NOTE SWIM CLUB DOES NOT PROVIDE ANY LESSONS OR INSTRUCTIONS. CHILDREN MUST BE ABLE TO SWIM AT LEAST I/2 A LAP UNASSISTED.

For detailed information, please read the attached ‘Swim Club 2019 Season Information’ booklet.

Further inquiries, please email Susie Levy: nfss.swimclub@hotmail.com 

The Bouncing Back Handball Festival outside the Powerhouse is a great free community event for New Farm families with not just handball, but also a DJ, bouncing castle and heaps of other activities.

After 4 years, a number of the committee members’ children have grown up, so new energy is needed on the committee if the festival is to continue.
The festival will be held on May 26 this year if there are parents from the local schools who are able to help - please contact Kris Webb on 0407 594 064 if you’re interested.