Barkly Highway State School - Term 2 Week 8
Principal's Welcome
Safety of our school’s facilities relies on our school community prioritising the need to report any suspicious activity outside school hours. It is of great concern that our school continues to have groups of people – primary, secondary and young adults, trespassing on the school grounds, on foot and on bikes. They are moving around the grounds, on the verandas and around the buildings, outside of school hours. Many of the exterior doors have been replaced making our classrooms more secure.
Last Sunday afternoon, a neighbour reported trespassers to School Watch after sighting them on the grounds. Later that afternoon, a staff member preparing for the following day, reported other trespassers to the police. The police attended very quickly and with the assistance of a police dog, located and removed the trespassers from the grounds.
Many of the trespassers who enter the grounds say they are taking a short cut or just having a drink, however, with the recent wilful damage to the school, if someone is located on the school grounds, they could be blamed for recent damage and could find themselves taken to the local police station to be collected by parents. Please encourage others to stay out of the school grounds.
Don’t forget – KEEP OUR SCHOOL SAFE
If you see anything suspicious around our school, please ring School Watch on 13 17 88.
JCU Academy of Modern Language Holiday courses
Grant Dale, Assistant Regional Director
Global Opportunities, DE International in partnership with JCU Academy of Modern Languages is offering a School Holiday Online Language Course for students in Years 6 - 12 learning French, Japanese, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian and Spanish (Spanish course is available to students in Years 10 - 12 only). DE International will fully fund the program cost for state school students (scholarship application attached) For more information, please see: https://events.jcu.edu.au/JCUAMLHolsOnline
Kind regards,
Fiona Kropp
Deputy's Report
Supporting our Students to Learn, Achieve and Reach their Full Potential
Click on the links listed below to access a range of resources available to assist parents in supporting their child’s schooling, specifically to support appropriate behaviour, both in the home and school environment:
- Student Wellbeing Hub
- Raising Children Network
- Online awareness: Information for parents and caregivers (PDF, 4.5MB)
- Social media and the school community (PDF, 1.2MB)
Spark their Future
Spark their Future is a website for parents and carers to find practical tips, information and support to help disengaging young people to get the most from their education.
Parents can also seek confidential counselling, training, support and information from the following organisations:
Beyond Blue
Phone: 1300 22 4636 (24 hours, 7 days a week).
Chat online: between 3pm–12am, 7 days a week via the online chat page.
Email: get a response within 24 hours via the email form.
Visit the Beyond Blue website for more information.
Lifeline
Phone: 13 11 14 (24 hours, 7 days a week).
Chat online: between 8pm–4am, 7 days a week via the online chat page.
Visit the Lifeline website for more information.
Parentline
Phone: 1300 30 1300 (cost of a local call) 8am–10pm, 7 days a week.
Information: Tip sheets from a range of over 100 topics is available online.
Yourtown
The Yourtown Parentline Cyberbullying support training has been designed for use by all adults including parents, carers and grandparents who are:
- nervous or fearful of using the internet or new devices
- anxious about their children using the internet
- concerned cyberbullying may be impacting their child
- concerned their child may be engaging in cyberbullying behaviours
- would like to learn how to identify when cyberbullying may be impacting their family unit
- would like supportive, practical information around starting uncomfortable conversations.
The training is free and available online for completion on a range of internet enabled devices, including smart phones.
The training program is specifically designed to be a pocket ready resource which can be easily accessed via any smart phone or tablet, with easy navigation and practical, supportive information.
Please visit the Parentline website to access the online training and eResources.
Prep/1 Green
In Science, in Prep/1 Green, we are looking at different materials and their properties. We have been growing some pea plants and have recently had some birds trying to sabotage our healthy baby pea plants. In order to solve our bird problem, one of the students suggested that we make a scarecrow to keep the birds away. WHAT A FABULOUS IDEA!! We designed and constructed our scarecrows, and discussed the shapes we used in our creations (2D for Prep, 3D for Year 1). We tested our scarecrows against elements of weather (wind and rain), and had to reflect on which materials worked well, and what we would change.
5/6 Red
5/6 Red enjoyed their visit to the 'Life Education Van' with Harold and Jordy. It was a fun educational lesson that had all students interested and engaged.
"I really liked it because it was fun and we were able to learn about things that harm our bodies" - Lillian
"I like learning about our liver and how much it is able to process in an hour" - Sophie
The students enjoyed creating and performing their skits where they were practicing strategies that could prepare them for situaions where they may feel peer-pressured.
As I walked out of the Life Education van after our amazing lesson with Jordy, the Grade 6 students decided they would salute Harold as a final goodbye.
It was an enjoyable last lesson for the students who move on to highschool next year.
P&C News
The P&C would love any helpers during the school's Athletics Carnivals to help with the extra work in the tuckshop or to man the snacks stall held in the oval shed.
Any help is appreciated, and we always try to work around you, so you will still see your child/ren participate! Please email pandc@barklyhighwayss.eq.edu.au if you can help!
Also, any feedback or suggestions for our P&C to consider or take to the school, please email pandc@barklyhighwayss.eq.edu.au.
Medication in Schools
Having medications on school sites requires schools to implement systems to keep staff and students safe. All medications should be kept up at the office and must be prescribed by a doctor and clearly labelled with a pharmacist label. Parents must hand in and collect their childs medication from the office to ensure safety within our school. Please ensure all children that have asthma or anaphylaxis have a current annual medical action plan in place written by a doctor. These then get handed to the office to keep on your child's record.
It is important to keep your child's medication up to date to ensure their continuous success.
NOTICES
- Dollarmites Student Banking - Last day Wednesday, 23 June.
- Strings Instrumental Music lessons - Cancelled Friday, 11 June.