Welcome – Welcome to Mrs Amy Cocciolone who is joining us as Year 3-6 Deputy Principal.

Parent-Teacher Partnerships for Success – importance of working as a team to support our children.

Parent-Teacher Communication – teachers are your first port of call!

Playgrounds- no students to use before/after school.

Stop, Drop & Go – please review procedure and expectations for this facility.

Welcome

Congratulations to Mrs Pamela Kondys who has been appointed Acting Head of School – Primary at Woodcrest State College this term!

Welcome to Mrs Amy Cocciolone who has joined Wondall as our Year 3-6 Deputy Principal. She can be contacted via email on acocc2@eq.edu.au . Please make her feel welcome at our wonderful school.

Guidance Officer Week

Thanks to our Guidance Officers Sherry Bell and Ashleigh Granzin for your amazing work supporting Wondall and our community. Happy 75 years of doing Guidance work!

Parent-Teacher Partnerships for success

Parent-Teacher partnerships are very important at Wondall Heights State School. A strong relationship between parents and staff leads to positive outcomes for our children.

Staff will be in contact if they have concerns over a student’s learning, engagement or wellbeing. Although it may feel confronting, contact is not aimed to make a parent /carer feel bad or guilty, rather to establish a positive connection to work collaboratively to support the child and ensure there are mutual plans in place to help the child experience success at school.

At times, there may be barriers to a student’s learning, engagement or wellbeing that require further support networks. At this time, teachers will suggest that a larger stakeholder meeting is needed to access the wider school support network and/or external support providers. The ultimate aim is to work in partnership to ensure success for the child.

Parent-Teacher Communication

If you have a concern or query, please consult your child’s teacher in the first instance. Teachers at Wondall Heights State School are always willing to discuss student progress with parents. In order to ensure that the teacher can provide optimal attention to the discussion, please ensure that you make an appointment by contacting the teacher for a mutually suitable time.

We ask that in line with our Parent and Community Code of Conduct, communication is to remain positive, polite, collaborative and respectful in nature. Staff will not disclose details of other students due to privacy and confidentially and parents can be assured that any behavioural incidents will be followed up appropriately, in line with the Student Code of Conduct (found on our school website).

It should be noted that parents should always discuss educational matters with the relevant classroom teacher or specialist teacher before an appointment with the Principal or Deputy Principal.

If you require clarification or need further assistance, please contact the school office and make an appointment with one of our administration team. Please note that our school operates on a 48-hour (business days) response time to parent contacts.

Parents are requested not to approach any student directly.  All concerns and issues must be reported to school staff, and will be managed following school processes.

It is important that the school has up-to-date contact details for parents / guardians, and for alternative emergency contacts in case you are unavailable.  If any of your details or circumstances change, please contact the school.

School Playgrounds

Before and after school, students are not to use the playgrounds unless they are attending WOSHC. We ask that parents support us with this. Outside of school times, the playgrounds are part of the WOSHC hire agreement.

Students arriving early for school, should wait outside the office and then move to the Arena area when instructed by staff.

Stop, Drop & Go

The STOP, DROP & GO facility is offered by the school to support the movement and flow of students into parental care after 3pm. The use of this facility is at the discretion of parents, with the understanding that students must be confident and independent in following the STOP, DROP & GO procedures and expectations, as listed below.

Procedure:

• Parents are to abide by Brisbane City Council signage in the STOP, DROP & GO area.
• One staff member facilitates vehicle flow and movement through the Stop, Drop & Go area. This staff member is not there to ‘police’ the area, rather to support the safe movement of children into cars.
• A second staff member supervises students in the seated area within the school grounds, whilst children wait for their name to be called.

• Each day, different children access Stop, Drop & Go and it is important to know that the school does not keep a record of the students who use the facility. Students are responsible for knowing whether they need to access the STOP, DROP & GO on any given day and are expected to follow the procedures and expectations.
• Prep Students only - a staff member collects students from the Prep classrooms and delivers them to the drop off area at 3pm. The staff member who manages the movement from the class to the waiting area then leaves. Prep parents/carers must inform the class teacher in advance, for this pickup to occur. Prep students using this facility need to be independent and confident in doing so.

Expectations:

• Students who use the facility need to come straight from class and sit on the seats in a safe, respectful and responsible manner.
• Students are encouraged to wait until their name is verbally called by the supervising staff member- this indicates that they can then move to the front of the pickup line and then load into their car when directed.
• Students are not to leave the designated waiting area, if their parental arrangement is to use the STOP, DROP & GO facility.

• If students are not using the STOP, DROP & GO facility safely, respectfully or responsibly, parents may be asked to consider other pickup arrangements.

Tips & Tricks:

• Child’s SURNAME on front passenger visor – this is a quick visual which will help staff to identify cars and call students to the front of the pickup line more quickly and efficiently. EG: SMITH
• Bag Tags – this is a simple idea that helps your child and our staff know the pickup arrangements (e.g. classroom pickup, Stop, Drop & Go, WOSHC), especially if there is confusion at the end of the day. The tag can be as simple as you writing S,D,G on a piece of paper and connecting it like a bracelet at the top of your child’s bag so it is visual. Please see an example sheet of tags, attached.