The Biddeston Bulletin

The Newsletter of the Biddeston School

Thursday 21st May 2020 2020/12

2425 Cecil Plains Road Biddeston

Via OAKEY Q 4401

Phone (07) 4691 6145 Email: principal@biddestonss.eq.edu.au Web Site: www.biddestonss.eq.edu.au

Newsletter articles : staffbss@biddestonss.eq.edu.au

Mobile Phone : 0409 896 233

Our Key Priorities: Oral Language as the Foundation for

Reading

Reading

COMING UP SOON May 10 Mothers Day

CHECKLIST Recycle your newspapers at Biddeston – any day! PLEASE

ensure that ONLY newspaper, magazines & junk mail are

deposited in the bins – definitely NO plastic of any nature,

cardboard or shredded paper or ANY FOREIGN MATTER.

NO soiled baby nappies to be placed in ANY bins

at the school.

At Biddeston State School

every THURSDAY from 9-11am

(Re-Commencing Thursday 4th June within Guidelines)

in May to

01 07 12

William Strasser Tennyson Devine Sophie Patch

CONGRATULATIONS To

Tom Fiechtner For

Being an Active Learner

Dear Parents, Families and Community Members,

We look forward to welcoming our Year 2-6 students back to school on Monday 25th May. We will take time to transition students back into school life and routines, learning in a classroom and playing with others. This may include more frequent breaks, play opportunities and well-being activities, alongside classroom routines and learning activities. We are confident that the students’ experiences with learning at home have contributed positively to their continued growth and development and we will continue to see and measure their progress and achievement into the future. Student well-being is our top priority while we return to normal delivery of education.

If you have concerns about your child’s well-being, we are able to provide support through specialist staff and counselling with the guidance officer. Please contact your child’s teacher to discuss.

Thank you to parents for observing current guidelines in waiting outside the school gate of an afternoon, dropping your child at the gate of a morning and reporting to the office when entering. We have appreciated your support in these current times. This will continue until further notice.

Congratulations to Leslie sporting house for winning the daily photo challenge over the past five weeks. We’ve had some fun and there have been many wonderful photos. We will share the photos at a presentation later in the year. Thank you to all who participated in this novel way to check into learning at home each day. Check out our school’s Facebook page to catch a glimpse of some of the photos.

Playgroup will resume on Thursday 4th June (Week 7). Due to current restrictions, we will only be able to allow 10 adults to attend. The playgroup will be held outside only, depending on weather. If it is a wet day, it will be cancelled as inside is not an option. If you would like to attend playgroup please let us know your intentions by calling the office before Wednesday 3pm to assist us with planning. School number: 46916145. If we have more than 10 intending to attend, we will make up a fortnightly roster so no-one misses out. Thank you for your understanding. From 12th June, and subject to the Stage 2 health advice, we may move to up to 20 adults in attendance with appropriate physical distancing.

We still have some outstanding forms to be filled in and sent back giving consent (or not) to Reading Eggs,

PM eCollection and Studyladder (Prep/Year 1 only). Please return these promptly for your child to continue to access these resources.

Our specialist teachers have come back to school with PE and German commencing last week and Music, violin and piano lessons commencing next week.

A cold snap is predicted for tomorrow (Friday), so we thought we’d do something fun with a PJ/tracksuit/onesie day. Send in your photos from home too!

Winter school uniforms will be available to be purchased by appointment only. Please contact Abbey or Jeanette if you need school uniforms. Hygiene and social distancing practices must be observed at this time also.

There are to be two P&C meetings held next month, with the first one on Tuesday 2nd June at 3:15pm and the second on the 23rd June. There will only be 10 people permitted to attend the first meeting. The meeting will be held outside in the COLA. From 12th June, and subject to the Stage 2 health advice, we may move to up to 20 adults in attendance with appropriate physical distancing.

Achievements to celebrate! At the end of Term 1, 28% of students had already achieved the end of year benchmark for reading. Our target for this year is 80% by the end of the year, so we will be working hard to ensure our students are making progress with their reading. Student attendance for Term 1 was 93.4%.

Carbal Hearing will be visiting school on 23rd July. This is for indigenous children but this service can be accessed by non-indigenous children from P-6. There is a fee for non-indigenous children of $25, this covers the first initial test and a follow up test if required. Please contact the school if you would like your child to access this service.

Children’s Health Queensland (CHQ) is running a vision screening program for Prep children in Queensland schools. A Registered Nurse will be visiting our school on Wednesday 12th August to provide this free screening service for Prep children. Good vision is important for children’s educational, physical and social development. The earlier a problem is picked up the better the treatment outcomes. If you have not returned your Prep child’s form, please do so or contact the office for a new one. The return of the students to school will necessitate the following changes to ensure the safety of students, staff and families due to an increased number of visitors to school. Parents and visitors are not to enter

the school grounds unless visiting the office OR by appointment. Parents are not to walk to classrooms but are to drop their child inside the school gate between 8:15am and 8:45am OR walk them to the office. Students will be delivered to parents of an afternoon, with a staff member walking them to the double gates on Biddeston-Linthorpe Road or to the gate on Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road. Parents are asked to not congregate in the car park or outside the gate, and to continue to practise social distancing. If you need to discuss concerns or questions with your child’s teacher or the principal, please call to make an appointment over the phone or with email. Face to face meetings for parent teacher interviews will not be held this term, however we are only ever a phone call or email away. As with the last two months, staff and students will continue to engage in social distancing and hygiene practices. Each classroom has hand sanitiser and all basins are equipped with soap. Students are asked to bring their own water bottle, although drinking bubblers can now be used to fill water bottles. The P-3 playground and high-touch points around the school will continue to be cleaned thoroughly and daily. Posters reminding of hygiene practices are on display in the school. Students and staff must wash or sanitise their hands before entering the classroom and before eating. Sneezing and coughing must observe hygiene etiquette. If your child (in attendance) is unwell they are to stay at home until they are well. If they become unwell during the day you will be contacted to collect them to take them home.

Due to the current education model with most of Term 1 as face to face learning and the first part of Term 2 as learning at home, we are having to adjust our assessment and reporting. This will affect our report cards for this semester. We are planning our assessment and reporting to reflect both of these learning models. We envisage this to include reporting on English, Maths, Science and HASS only, with an A-E grade and a comment. Behavior and overall comments will be included. Reporting will comprise of evidence and information from both, face to face learning and engagement with learning at home. Thank you for sending back completed student work. It has been wonderful to see the students and families engaging with learning at home so positively.

Have a wonderful (wet) weekend!

Kind Regards, Sharon

P&C Association The next monthly P&C Meeting to be

advised

P&C Contacts: President: Ian Speed 0402 227 206 Vice President: Matthew Patti 0400 331 340 Secretary: Haley Darr 0403 217 997 Treasurer: Mel Patch 0448 494 639

General

Fundraising

Uniforms Abbey Bess 0497 873 023 Jeanette Ziebell 0419 481 532

Tuckshop Wendy Edmondstone 0427 756 570

We wish to acknowledge the

sponsorship of the following

businesses.

For all your livestock, merchandise, insurance &

livestock finance needs,

see the team at Nutrien Ag Solutions,

Toowoomba

Branch Manager

Guy Pitman 0428 740 151

Livestock & Auctions Plus Specialists

Simon Booth 0438 756 245 Andrew Costello 0429 485

191

Stud Stock Colby Ede 0417 265 980

Merchandise Manager

Robert Wiemers 0407 736 198

Insurance Ceri Martin 0429 685 847

Livestock Finance

Robert Moncrieff 0408 296 952

Toowoomba office situated at

388 Taylor Street, Toowoomba

Phone 07 4637 3000 Fax 07 4637 3022

www.nutrien.com.au