BURPENGARY NEWSFLASH

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF BURPENGARY STATE SCHOOL

/ Website: www.burpengass.eq.edu.au

School Student Absence Line to leave message details: Phone 3491 0366

Number 19 19 June 2015

Dear Parents / Caregivers,

The P&C have distributed SPELL-A-THON CARDS this week as part of their major fundraising venture for 2015. At the June meeting, the P&C voted to commence a major building project for the school in enclosing the P&C Centre into a fully enclosed Hall of which our community can be very proud. Please get behind the Spell-a-thon to start this project off in a positive way. I am just so impressed that the P&C have chosen such a fantastic project that will open up new opportunities for Burpengary students in sport, and the Arts, and for community groups offering extra-curricular activities for our children after school and on weekends.

Today, a physical move of the Senior Library to merge with the Junior Library took place while our upper school was empty at Sports Day, with fine tuning occurring next week. This merge will enable more streamlined resourcing, the improved accessibility of middle school students to challenging and enjoyable reading, and frees up a space for a new, exciting, and different resource centre. By the start of Term 3 this year Burpengary will have one central Library space (located in the old Junior Library) and a new digital learning centre located in the old Senior Library next to the kitchen. Phase 1 of the new centre will have a class set of laptops, wireless digital technology and appropriate furniture and fittings for a contemporary collaborative learning space for students. Subsequent phases will build on state of the art technology to enable Burpengary State School students to be at the forefront of digital learning in what the twenty first Century will require of global citizens. This is a significant and exciting step for our school.

During the next few weeks and ongoing through Term 3, you will be hearing a lot about the transition to a new School Council that will play a key role in the governance and strategic direction of Burpengary State School as one of Queensland’s Independent Public Schools (IPS). Burpengary State School has had a School Council in this governance role since 1996. With the change of legislation surrounding the Independent Public Schools initiative, the old School Council will be dissolved, and a new School Council elected in 2015.

This is a key part of our strategy to engage parents and the community with Burpengary State School. As one of our five priorities in the current four-year Strategic Plan, we have seen the growth in a series of community forums that supported school strategic decision-making in the Out of Hours School Care service (2011), designing our current School Strategic Plan 2013-2016 (2012), informing our behaviour and effort criteria (2014), and now in the election of our new School Council under IPS in 2015. Each forum has grown in the number of parents engaging in this decision-making process. The school Fete (2013) and inaugural Arts Festival (2014) are further evidence of outstanding community engagement where thousands of people participated in each of these school events. Accompanying this newsletter are two documents for parents to assist in understanding what school governance, P&C’s and School Councils are all about, and the relationship between each entity. Please take the time to read them, and I hope they inspire parents to nominate for School Council elections to be held later in the year, or engage with the P&C (not necessarily attending meetings, but just helping out as a volunteer when available), who are doing an outstanding job in supporting the forward progress of resources and facilities for all children at Burpengary State School.

Our Annual Track and Field Carnival is taking place at the time of writing this newsletter, but I would take the opportunity now of thanking Ms Amanda Heathwood, Mr Scott Bowden, Mr Denis Houlihan, Ms Andrea Smith, Mr Ben Turner, Mrs Jenny Simpson, Ms Samantha McGhie, Mrs Sharelle Hall, and a parent by the name of Mrs Nicki Harrison who were all up bright and early helping out (sometimes in the dark!) to set up the carnival at a new venue or get the buses away on time. Thanks to the staff for organising the children and, of course, none of this would have mattered if it were not for the families making the necessary adjustments and sacrifices to get the children to school early to ensure that it all happened smoothly – I just love the way this community works together every time it is needed.

Woolworths Earn and Learn is back for 2015. Starting on Wednesday 15th July, when anybody in our community shops at Woolworths, please collect a sticker for every $10 you spend and once you complete your sticker card, place it in the collection box in the school office. The program ends on Tuesday the 8th of September. Please get on your tom-toms to make sure all of our community is collecting stickers that we can trade for resources in September.

It is vitally important that students are in attendance every day including the last Friday of Term. Reminder that Principal’s Awards for great attendance are tracked from Week 10 in the Term before to Week 9 in the current Term – every day counts!

Keep an eye out for local Morayfield MP Mark Ryan’s launch of the inaugural “Morayfield Magic Family Fun Day” on Sunday, July 26, 2015. There will be great prizes on offer, including autographed books by the acclaimed Australian author, Mem Fox. It will be a day of activity and fun for all ages.

A free, fun & educational program in Burpengary for children aged 4-8 years. See details in Community Notices!

REMINDERS: Semester 1 Reports will be issued to students on Thursday, June 25. Our PREP ENROLMENTS FOR 2016 have climbed quickly to 70. Please tell your friends to get in early! We are desperately short of school shorts in our office uniform supplies – any families who have some at home and can drop them in, they will be greatly appreciated.

To other news…

  1. Coming up:

Description / Year Level / Cost / Payment Due
Choir / Selected students / $30.00
Kitchen Garden / Prep - Year 6 / $ 5.00
St Helena Island / Year 5 / $29.00 / Wednesday 17 June 2015
Arts Workshops / Prep – Year 6 / $ 6.00
Voluntary Contribution / Prep - Year 6 / $25.00

Eftpos is available at the Cashier window on the carpark side of the Admin Office each morning from 8.00 to 11.00am. We encourage families to make use of the electronic payment systems we have operational here at Burpengary (Direct banking, Bpay) so that we minimise the risk of children carrying large sums of money, and you can perform the payment task from the convenience of home. Please keep in mind that we do not carry change.

  1. Please note: The President of the P&C gives notice of a Special Meeting of the P&C to ratify the new Independent Public School School Council Constitution on Monday, July 20, 2015, commencing at 6.45pm in the Staff Lounge. The constitution is available for pre-viewing at the front office for the next month.

The next P&C monthly meeting will be held on July 20 due to the school holidays returning on July 13. The venue is the Staff Lounge and the meeting commences at 7.00pm. All welcome. The next parent-admin chat will be trialled on a new day - Wednesday, July 22, in the Staff Lounge commencing at 9.30am. All welcome.

  1. Library News:

There have been some disruptions to class and individual borrowing as we prepared for the library merger. There may still be some disruptions next week as we finalise the process. We thank you for your patience and understanding and look forward to welcoming you all to our new space!

Holidays in the Moreton Bay Libraries: Don’t forget to visit your local library these holidays for some free fun! Have a look at what is on offer at this link and make sure you book as soon as possible so that you don’t miss out.

https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/general.aspx?id=20009&libID=22439

4. Tuckshop News: Flexischool Tuesday Meal Deal – Meatball Sub (long white roll with meatballs in a tomato pasta sauce, grated cheese on top), bottle of water, and a frozen juice tube - $4.50. Only available by Flexischool online ordering. Please note Tuckshop is a cash only facility – EFTPOS is not available. Flexischools Online Ordering is the preferred option for ordering. Free to register, quick, easy and convenient. Reminder to families of gluten free options available - toasted white bread sandwich, rice cakes, curried chicken and rice, fried rice, corn cob, salads.

22/06 / 23/06
Chris Linnane / 24/06
Sarah Alexander / 25/06
Erin Nothdurft / 26/06
Leonie Lewis

Until next week,

Brad Fox

Principal

COMMUNITY NOTICES

PARENTS VIEWS ABOUT PARENTING SUPPORT PROGRAMS - Researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of Western Australia are investigating perceptions of parenting support programs and what influences whether parents take part in such programs. If your child is aged 2 to 10 years, please follow the link below to complete a 20 minute survey about your perceptions of parenting programs, your child, and yourself: https://exp.psy.uq.edu.au/parentviews/

Or contact Genevieve on 0408 357 311 (email: ), or Louise on 0419 917 998 (email: ). We thank you for your support!

Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Active Kids Free Park Sessions will be running again this June/July School Holiday (Monday 29 June until Friday 10 July 2015). Active Kids Park Sessions offer a range of FREE activities, games and sports run in local parks for residents of Moreton Bay. The sessions are free and don’t require any prior bookings, participants just need a hat, enclosed shoes, water bottle and a snack for a fun morning in the park. The sessions are designed to introduce children aged 3-12 years old to new skills, in a fun and supportive atmosphere. All activities are delivered by experienced and qualified staff in local parks across the Moreton Bay region. For a full schedule of activities and more information, visit www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/activekids.

Get your family active and eating well - Local families can sign up the free healthy lifestyle program called PEACH™ - Parenting, Eating and Activity for Child Health. Registrations are now open for a new group to commence in North Lakes in Term 3, 2015. The program is fun for kids and helps parents and carers make healthy eating and activity a part of every-day life. It is available to families with a child aged between 5-11 years who is above a healthy weight for their age. It consists of 10 group sessions that run for 90 minutes each. The first 9 sessions are held weekly within the school term. Ongoing individualised family support is offered through the second half of the program ending with one final group session. Some of the topics covered include nutrition, relationships with food and eating, changing family lifestyle behaviours and making healthy eating affordable. While the parent sessions are taking place, children enjoy active play with a trained child physical activity facilitator. The program is funded by the Queensland government and being delivered by the Queensland University of Technology. If you would like more information about the PEACH™ program, or to register, please contact free call 1800 263 519 or visit

CRICOS Provider No.: 00608A