Principal's Chat
BE PREPARED - Safety during this upcoming weather event
P&C AGM - we welcome all to the P&C Annual General Meeting 6pm on 18 March
STOP,DROP AND GO ZONE – please adhere to signage and safe usage
NAPLAN - 12-24 March 2025
UPCOMING EVENTS – Check out what is happening in our school!
BE PREPARED
IMPORTANT INFORMATION- SCHOOL CLOSURE THURSDAY 6 MARCH AND FRIDAY 7 MARCH
Tropical Cyclone Alfred is predicted to produce significant rain, strong winds and flash flooding in our community. This weather is expected to continue over the coming days.
I am writing to inform you that Wondall Heights State School will be closed tomorrow, Thursday 6 March and Friday 7 March due to safety concerns and transport networks not operating.
Please keep your child at home on Thursday and Friday.
As part of our disaster management protocol, we follow the advice of emergency services. We always act in the interests of the safety of students, staff and the wider community. This decision is based on an assessment of the current conditions and risks associated with movement in and around our community.
We will continue to provide updates and information to our families via our school website: https://wondallheightsss.eq.edu.au/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WondallHeightsStateSchool , text messaging and emails regarding arrangements for Monday 10 March.
Student absences
Absences due to emergencies and natural disasters and when a school is closed, will not be recorded on a student’s report card.
School re-opening
I will continue to liaise with the Department of Education and emergency services and I will keep you informed of any developments, including when we expect our school to re-open.
Up-to-date information on school closures is available from closures.qld.edu.au. Early childhood service closures are available on the service and temporary closure information website.
Monitoring the situation
Please continue to listen to our local ABC Radio service and monitor emergency services’ social media accounts for updates and advice. Information about current weather conditions can be found on the Bureau of Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au. If you need immediate help, call Triple Zero (000) and remember, if it’s flooded, forget it.
It is incredibly important that you take time to look after yourselves and your families. I encourage you to access the information available for parents and students to support health and wellbeing during these difficult circumstances.
Thank you for your ongoing support and I trust that the impact of this event on our school will be minimal.
To all of our community, we strongly encourage you to stay up to date with the latest weather and emergency advice with the impending weather event over the coming days.
- Follow the government advice pages- Brisbane City Council has lots of emergency information https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/
- Follow the Department of Education page for information on school closures https://www.facebook.com/QueenslandDepartmentofEducation
- Ensure that you check your emails/text messages from the school over the coming days for any information regarding school operations/closures.
On our school Facebook page- we have shared some key contacts and links to government agencies during this time. https://www.facebook.com/WondallHeightsStateSchool/
There is also a simple to read book that you might like to share with your children about the weather event. https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/our-work/birdies-tree-natural-disaster-recovery/birdies-tree-storybooks/birdie-and-the-cyclone?fbclid=IwY2xjawI0dQtleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHYgfUAJ7T5WPdttadZU9pIPwcqth-n8-KIWmDY_-bd73YB8XokI5cMefjw_aem_FeNvzlhP3IODXkEeDXYGkQ
Stay safe during these times.
P&C ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The P&C are holding their AGM on Tuesday 18 March at 6pm in the WOSHC Building. All of the elected positions- President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer are declared vacant and we welcome nominations. Our P&C does amazing things for our school community and we sincerely thank them for their dedication to our school. Even if you don’t want an elected position, any bit of help you can offer, benefits your children, our students here at Wondall, so please get involved.
STOP DROP AND GO ZONE
Just a reminder that the Stop Drop and Go Zone is a 2-minute loading zone between the hours of 8-9am and 2:30-3:30pm on weekdays. Please do not park and leave your vehicles during these times for the safety of our community.
At the start of the year, we also know there is a significant increase in vehicular traffic at our school during pick up and drop off times. It is the responsibility of all road users to ensure our students are kept safe during these busy times. We therefore ask:
- That you park only in designated bays and where legally allowed to- avoid solid painted lines and keep disabled parks available for those with authorised permits.
- The Stop, Drop and Go is supervised in the afternoon. Ensure you follow the instructions from our staff and do not call your children to enter your car before directed.
- A great tip is to write your surname on the left-hand sun visor for our staff to quickly read and then send your children to your car. EG: SMITH
- Consider delaying by 5. The Stop, Drop and Go remains supervised until approximately 3:30pm. Let your children know you will arrive at 3:15pm rather than 3pm (peak time).
- Please have your child enter from the passenger side, there have been a few near misses where students have been observed opening the driver’s side door and nearly being collected by traffic passing through the Stop, Drop and Go zone.
- Please show respect to our staff, who are trying their best to keep your kids safe during these busy traffic periods.
NAPLAN – TEST SCHEDULE AND INFORMATION:
The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 12 March and finishes on Monday 24 March 2025. Schools are advised to schedule the tests as soon as possible within the testing window, prioritising the first week.
Wondall Heights State School NAPLAN 2025 Schedule
This March, students in Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 will take part in NAPLAN testing. NAPLAN assesses the skills of all students in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, punctuation and numeracy.
NAPLAN tests help you to understand how your child is progressing in the fundamental skills of literacy and numeracy. NAPLAN is also an important tool in helping us to identify how our education programs are working and what needs to improve.
You might hear your child talking about NAPLAN.
When your child comes home from school, they might mention NAPLAN. They might talk about NAPLAN activities they have done in class, including practice tests.
Students don’t need to practise for NAPLAN. But we do want your child to be familiar with:
- the online test environment
- the device they’ll use during the test
- the different kinds of questions, how they use their time and how they check their work.
So when your child talks about practice tests, they’re talking about resources like the NAPLAN public demonstration site. This site helps students to become familiar with the different kinds of questions they will see in a real NAPLAN test.
Your child’s welfare is the most important thing.
We do these activities to help your child feel safe, confident and capable. They will know what to expect and what they have to do. Students do not need to stress about NAPLAN. It’s just one part of their school program, and we simply encourage students to do the best they can.
NAPLAN is for everyone.
Across the country, students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in NAPLAN. The online tests have many features to enhance the test experience for students with and without disability. We also provide adjustments and alternative test formats to allow students with disability to access the tests and show what they know and can do. Talk to us if you need more information.
Have a go at the test yourself and contact us if you need to know more.
See what NAPLAN will be like for your child by visiting the public demonstration site. Find out more by visiting the department’s NAPLAN page for parents and carers.
ACARA’s student privacy notice on the collection of student information for NAPLAN is also available.
If you have any other questions about NAPLAN, please contact Amy Cocciolone on 3906 6444 or acocc2@eq.edu.au
We are excited that your child gets the chance to show their learning in NAPLAN this year.
UPCOMING EVENTS
