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29/07/2020

BE SAFE BE RESPECTFUL BE RESPONSIBLE

UPCOMING EVENTS

DATE

27-29/7 Life Education Incursion

7/8 Jeans for Genes Day Student Council Fundraiser

10/8 Ekka Show Holiday

20/8 School Athletics Carnival (more information in next edition)

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

School Curriculum Work No school is ever perfect but let’s face it we are up there!!! Kylie (Our Head of Department Curriculum – HODC) and I have been engaging with our staff in reviewing our core business in the space of Literacy and Numeracy. Our dedicated staff are looking across the school to complement our work in these areas by making obvious some common processes and practices in all classrooms across the school. This assists students in knowing high expectations and clear routines as they relate to our work programs in Literacy and Numeracy. I have engaged the services of some specialised consultants to support our school’s journey in how we do the following core learning elements in literacy and numeracy. Literacy Development of a common literacy block across the school with clear expectations on the teaching of spelling backed by exploration of writing strategies and the introduction of reading squads in every classroom every day across the school. Numeracy Investigating and designing a numeracy block with common elements across the school that are driven by the latest and best researched teaching and learning practices. We will also be engaging with a numeracy expert from Griffith University who will train all staff and support our journey in this area. A key part of mathematics is a child’s ability to understand the number concept strand. This will be a major part of our work as a school team and will assist us and the children to understand and focus on the next part of learning that is required for students to reach their full potential. I’m also currently studying my Master of Education in Inclusion and will be working with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) specialist academic staff to develop, explore and apply

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critical leadership practices and processes to support all learners with a focus on the Inclusive Learning Practices required in schools to meet best practice international legislation. Show us the Money! We are currently applying for a $4000 grant from the Inland Rail project to support the urgent need of purchasing a new fleet of computers for our children. Our current resources are dated and a much needed review of this purchasing is underway. I wondered what relationship if any we have with the local quarry and if there’s anyone out there who can help us to see if we can get some sponsorship from them as well? If you have links, I’d love to know! COVID updates We continue to be cautiously managing the COVID crisis with direction from the health officials. This impacts on our “normal” activities for any event at school including graduations, sports days, classroom visits and so on. We are consulting with students to make the most of our obligations around COVID management but to still deliver on our core events for them. I will be seeking further advice and having further interactions with a board of students from our school to monitor this area. It’s important that we continue to deliver business “as usual” for our children and we are attempting to do that in every space. Thank you to the parents who have fed back to us around the year 6 graduation and we appreciate this is a very difficult one for us all to manage but again my focus is on consulting with our children to acknowledge the complexities and to come up with a shared plan together for this event. I know that as a school we can make the most of this and give our children the very best we can at this time. Welcome We welcome Mr Jonathan (Jon) Opie to our school for the rest of the year as a teacher who will focus on assisting us to develop and support teachers in assessing and implementing various personalised student learning programs. Jon will also assist me in setting up some additional targeted programs for students. We are currently investigating a kitchen garden program and I’m keen to explore an equine therapy service as well as the possibility of a reading dog service. (The dog doesn’t read but the children read to the dog and we carry out therapy as well.) Thank you once again for the privilege of being a part of the Peak Crossing Family. Kind Regards, Andrew Cummings Principal Peak Crossing State School Stop, Drop & Go Zone

During these difficult times, schools have had to make decisions to ensure community safety including utilizing Stop, Drop & Go zones at school drop off and pick up times. This has been working very effectively and we thank parents and caregivers for their co-operation and understanding. However it has been brought to our attention that some parents are not using the STOP, DROP & GO ZONE correctly. We have had reports that, rather than just dropping students off and moving on, some parents are parking in the zone and walking their children to the gate. This results in congestion in this area,

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and prevents the smooth transition of students into the school. If you want to walk your children to the front gate, please park in the designated car parks or across the road. Thank you for your co-operation to ensure a smooth transition at drop off and pick up times. We appreciate your support and understanding in these unprecedented times.

Kids’ Lit. Quiz Peak Crossing State School usually sends a team of four students to the

Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School to compete in this quiz in March.

Unfortunately, this was not to be this year due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The organisers worked to provide an online competition last Wednesday

and our students participated in the event. (Thanks to Mr Eldridge for his

tech. support.) Thomas R, Ava, Lacey and Charlize from the Yr 5/6

classes represented the school. They competed in 8 rounds of

questions covering topics such as Nursery Rhymes, Orphans, Metals and Realms etc.

Thirty teams competed, mostly comprised of high school students this year. Our students did well

and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Other extension activities are: Maths Challenge each Monday at second break and Readers’ Group,

Wednesday at second break.

Chris McLellan

Jeans for Genes Day

The Student Council will be holding a Jeans for Genes Day fundraiser on Friday 7th August. Students are asked to wear their jeans to school and make a gold coin donation. This national event supports the Children's Medical Research Institute and helps find cures for children's genetic diseases, cancer and epilepsy. The Student Council would appreciate your support of this very worthy cause.

Did you know……… that 1 in 20 kids face a birth defect or genetic disease? That’s more than one in every classroom! Most of us know someone who has had cancer or struggles with cystic fibrosis, autism, or one of the other 6000 genetic diseases. Our school can help by raising money for research this coming Jeans for Genes Day on Friday, August 7th.

Welcome Back Healthy Harold!

Our students have thoroughly enjoyed this week’s visit by

Life Education. This program provides valuable

information to guide students towards making healthy

choices now and into the future in a fun, child-friendly

way. It was a pleasure, as usual, to get reports from the

visiting service that our children are some of the best

behaved and most respectful they have serviced.

Pictured at right is Mrs King’s Year 2/3 class participating

in their session with Healthy Harold himself!

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Tennis Coaching Vacancies!

Tall Gums Sports Centre has advised that there are some vacancies if any

students would like to receive coaching. Tennis coaching lessons is held on

Tuesday mornings 8:00am to 8.45a.m.. Cost is $15 per student per week.

Please email tallgumssportscentre@bigpond.com if you have a child

interested in commencing lessons or call Tall Gums direct on (07) 5464 5599.

Behaviour Focus

Our School is a registered Positive Behaviour Learning School which is an evidence based whole-

school approach to creating a safe and supportive school environment. Our school-wide

expectations (rules) are for students: ‘Be Safe’, ‘Be Respectful’, and ‘Be Responsible’. What it

looks like to be safe, respectful and responsible across all areas of the school is taught explicitly to

students. We hope the high expectations we set will assist students in demonstrating the expected

behaviours at home and in the wider community. Each fortnight our school has a targeted behaviour

focus that is explicitly taught, practised and reinforced.

Our behaviour focus this fortnight is:

Week 3 & 4: ‘I am responsible when I play appropriately in different play areas’.

Important Uniform Shop News

Due to the current circumstances, the uniform shop will not open to our families except for online orders. The process that is required is as follows:

Email Trish at trishanddoug@live.com.au with your order (order form is not required)

Please list child’s First/Surname/Class on order

Make Payment via direct deposit only, please email receipt with your order

The order will be delivered to the school office and handed out to your children

Orders will be processed each Monday morning until further notice

Please contact Trish via email if you require any further information regarding the order

process.

Visitors

Just a reminder that all visitors, spending time at the school to assist with any school-based

activity, must sign in and out using the Visitors Book kept at the Office. This is an Education

Queensland requirement to ascertain who is on the school premises at all times. Your

assistance with this is greatly appreciated.

Lost Property

If your student has misplaced anything during the term, please ask them to take the time to

check our lost property box. Please check your student’s belongings and make sure they

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are clearly named so that they can be quickly returned if they are misplaced. Thank you

for your co-operation.

i-Pods, iPads & Telephones

Any student who brings an iPod, iPad or mobile phone to school must sign it in at the office before

school. These devices are stored securely until students sign their device out at the end of the

school day at 3:00pm.

Dogs in School grounds

Please note that as much as we all love dogs, dogs are not permitted to come in to the school grounds.

We have some students who are frightened of dogs and some students who are allergic to dogs.

Please make sure that dogs are not brought on to the school grounds before, during or after school.

Thank you for your cooperation.

School Grounds and School Watch

Just a reminder, that unless prior permission has been sought, nobody should be entering the

school grounds outside of school hours. Anybody entering the school grounds outside the

normal scheduled school hours is risking being prosecuted for trespassing. If you see anything,

or anybody acting suspiciously outside of normal school hours, please contact School Watch

on: 131 788; or Policelink on: 131 444. Alternatively, in the event of an emergency,

contact 000.

P & C NEWS NEXT P & C Meeting – TBC

Sports Information

On the 19th August, three of our students will be participating in the

Western Rangers Netball Trial. We wish Jorja Crocker, Casey

Bassingthwaighte and Lara Christensen all the best for the trial

Date Event

19/8 Western Rangers Netball Trial

20/8 School Athletics Carnival (more information in next edition!)

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