From Melissa Boyle Principal
Welcome back to term 3! I trust everyone enjoyed the holidays, a chance to spend time with family and friends.
Wondall Heights State School continues to adhere to the State Government Operating Guidelines for the current pandemic. This includes hygiene practices such as effective hand hygiene, cough and sneeze etiquette, and restricting visitors to the school.
Advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) states that physical distancing is not required for students during classroom activities. However, it is still required between adults. I therefore continue to ask parents and carers to pay particular attention to the requirement for adults to maintain physical distancing of 1.5 metres at all times while on school grounds.
Please do not gather in areas around the school such as carparks, at the school gate or outside classrooms. Please make use of our stop, drop and go area wherever possible.
Staff will be on duty before and after school asking parents to maintain social distancing.
Home School Communication
Parents are not permitted in classrooms, email will continue to be our main point of contact with parents and carers. Please note all staff have 2 school days to respond to parent communication.
Drop off / pick up zone Please note the following guidelines when using the zone:
- The drop off zone is strictly no parking.
- Parents dropping their children off in the morning are asked to drop their children at the drop off zone and move on.
If you wish to use the pickup zone in the afternoon, we ask you do the following:
- Stay in your car.
- Teach your child/ren how to do up their seat belts.
- Move baby capsules to the right hand side of the car so we can enter children safely in the left hand side. Children are not to walk out onto the road to enter the car on the right hand side.
- Have your child’s name on paper on your sun visor to assist us to call children.
- We will put school bag’s on the right hand side front seat, please have the window open. Do not get out of the car to put bags in the boot.
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DO |
DO NOT |
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Dropping children at school 8.45am / collecting students at 3.00pm
To manage the pedestrian traffic around the school and social distancing requirements students in years 2-6 are encouraged to use the drop off and pick up zone. Alternatively, students can be dropped at one of the school gates to enter the school on their own (independently).
When collecting your child/ren, please meet them at a school gate, parents are requested to leave the area around the school immediately.
Prep and Year 1 Parents: We request that only one person enter the school grounds to drop off and collect children.
Parents are not permitted to congregate in the school grounds or sit outside classrooms. If collecting your child/ren from a school gate, please time your visit to the school to arrive as close to 3.00pm as possible.
Cakes to celebrate birthdays due to current health concerns with the pandemic we are not accepting cupcakes or cakes to celebrate birthdays. Parents are welcome to supply individually wrapped treats such as Freddo Frogs or Zooper Doopers and class teachers will hand out to the class at the end of the day.
School Assemblies will continue to be done using digital media. It’s our hope that we will be able to share our assemblies online with the community, we are still working on the logistics.
Sick children attending school It is essential that you keep your child home from school if they are unwell. In accordance with Queensland Health Directions parents or carers of any child showing signs of illness will be asked to collect them immediately from the school.
Road Safety
I have been advised that under Brisbane City Council’s school zone parking compliance activities, Wondall Heights State School will continue to be included on a list of priority schools for inspection.
Your child’s safety is our top priority, I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you about Road Safety around our school.
The area at the front of the school is a two minute set down and pick up area. Please remain in your car when using this area to reduce congestion. This pick up area has been designed with the safety of our children as a priority.
It is expected that all children will be collected from school by 3.20pm.
We encourage students to travel to school where possible in an active way; walking, cycling or riding a scooter. Actively travelling to school is a simple way to promote a healthy lifestyle and reduce traffic congestion around the school. A crossing supervisor is stationed on Radford Road and students crossing Radford Road are asked to use this facility. If students ride a bike or scooter to school, they must wheel their bikes or scooters through the school grounds, and must arrive and depart using one of the pedestrian school gates.
Parents’ cars are not permitted to enter the school grounds without prior permission from the Principal. Gates to the lower carpark and all other school gates are locked after 3.30pm each afternoon.
Whether students arrive by car, bicycle or on foot, in order to promote safety for all students and visitors must use a pedestrian entrance to enter and leave the school. Students must not take short cuts through staff car parks.
Playgrounds
There are two times during the day where students are given the opportunity to play.
Students are able to access the following play areas:
- Prep: Prep Playground at the rear of the school and Library.
- Year 1 – 2 Junior Playground at the rear of the school, Outdoor Learning Area and Library.
- Year 3 – 6: Large oval, Arena and Library.
Please note that no students are permitted to use the school play equipment before or after school.
Every day counts, every minute counts
Does arriving late for school impact on your child’s education?
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If he/she is only missing… |
That equals … |
Which is … |
Over 13 years of schooling that’s … |
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10 minutes per day |
50 minutes per week |
Nearly 1 ½ weeks per year |
Nearly ½ year. |
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20 minutes per day |
1 hour 40 min per week |
Over 2 ½ weeks per year |
Nearly 1 year. |
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30 minutes per day |
Half a day a week |
4 weeks per year |
Nearly 1 ½ years. |
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1 hour per day |
1 day per week |
8 weeks per year |
Over 2½ years. |
It certainly adds up doesn’t it?
It’s important that your child/ren arrive on time to school, so they are ready to start the day and are engaging in the morning routines.
There are a number of students who are having frequent days off that is impacting on their academic progress…
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If he/she is only missing |
That equals… |
Which is… |
Over 13 years of schooling that’s … |
Which means the best your child can perform is … |
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1 day per fortnight |
20 days per year |
4 weeks per year |
Nearly 1.5 years. |
Equal to finishing Year 11 |
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1 day per week |
40 days per year |
8 weeks per year |
Over 2.5 years |
Equal to finishing Year 10 |
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2 days per week |
80 days per year |
16 weeks per year |
Over 5 years |
Equal to finishing Year 7 |
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3 days per week |
120 days per year |
24 weeks per year |
Nearly 8 years |
Equal to finishing Year 4 |
For further information visit: www.education.qld.gov.au/everydaycounts
School Absences
Parents are reminded that if their child is away from School, could they please phone the School early in the morning. Parents can ring our ABSENTEE LINE ON 3906 6460 and leave a message explaining your child’s absence from school.
Extended Absences
If your child/ren are going to be absent from school for more than 10 days you need to complete an Exemption from Compulsory Schooling form. Please call into the Office for the form. Please note that if you’re taking your child/ren out from school through the term, they will miss work and possibly assessments while they’re away. We are unable to guarantee that assessments will be done when your child returns to school, if this is the case the assessment for the Learning Area will be marked as N, not assessed, on the report card.
School Chaplain
Welcome to Lydia Prater, our new Chaplain, to our school community. Lydia will be working at Wondall Heights SS on Monday, Thursday and Friday this term.
Today’s growth mindset quote of the day …
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
Have a great week.
Melissa
