28 January 2016

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear parents, friends and students,

Welcome back to the 2016 school year. As a staff we are all very excited about what we are doing this year and what’s possible for us to achieve together.

We have called 2016, The Year of Dynamic Lift

Our focus is to create dynamic leadership, dynamic staff, dynamic teaching, dynamic futures, dynamic case management and dynamic partnerships. By leveraging the work of 2015 we will continue to be active learners with a futures orientation.

Our staff have been busy undertaking professional development in a range of activities to support this focus and they are all very excited to be teaching your children this year.

We have had a surge in enrolments in the past few days and this has impacted on our class structure for 2016. The final organisation of classes for this year will not be confirmed until Day 8 figures are submitted to the department on Friday the 5th of February. If we have to create a new class, parents of children who will be affected by this, will be contacted prior to the change.

Over the summer we have been having a great deal of work done around the school.

Of note are the following;

• New entrance on Sandstone Drive has been completed
• Two new sets of refrigerated water drink taps installed
• New P&C approved house signs inside the multi-purpose hall
• Extra fans sponsored by the P&C installed in the multipurpose hall
• G Pod reconfigured to create the Performing Arts Centre
• P Pod repainted and new floors in the bathrooms
• New access to offices in E Pod and F Pod
• Several unsafe trees have been removed

Future work later this term will see upgrades in several other Pods and there will be some minimal disruption while this occurs. A concrete pad with seating will be installed under the shade cover near I Pod in the next few weeks.

This term is not a very long one (9 weeks and the first week is almost complete). To compensate for the shorter term teachers will spread the units of work over this term and the 11 week second term to ensure that students have enough time to learn and engage with the work of the Australian curriculum that they are required to understand. Please contact your child’s teacher for further information or with any concerns you have about your child’s progress.

Some things to note.

Newsletters are online. This is the only hard copy newsletter for the year.

Newsletters are only accessible via subscription.

Parking

We continue to have a policy of safety first. Parking in the vicinity of the school however is limited and unfortunately can lead to danger for our students and legal issues for parents. To keep our students safe please observe the following

• “Drop off” in the Stop and Drop and Go - 2 minutes only
• “Pick up” in the Stop, Drop and Go - 2 minutes only
• Park in designated Parking Bays where students can cross the pedestrian crossing
• Park in the nearby Rugby League Parking Bays and have older students meet you there
• No double parking (illegal)
• No parking on the curb and median strip (illegal)
• No parking or dropping off students in the school grounds unless by prior arrangement with the principal

Assemblies

Assemblies are on Friday afternoons in the CBC (Carol Buchanan Centre) at 2:20pm
Senior assembly (3-6) odd weeks. The first one will be on Friday the 29th of January.
Junior Assembly (P-2) even weeks. The first one will be on Friday the 5th of February.

School times

Students are not to arrive before 8:00am. From 8:00am to 8:15am all students are to gather in the main CPA. At 8:15 am P - 3 are to remain in the CPA (Covered Play Area) and the Years 3 - 6 go to the CBC. Learning begins at 8:45am - students need to be here before that to be ready on time to start learning. School finishes at 2:55pm.

Attendance

100% attendance is The Willows Way. We expect that children are here on time every day unless they are sick or there is another valid family reason to be absent.

Just a little bit late doesn’t seem much but did you know that;

Have a great start to the year.

Jeff

MUSIC NEWS

The first issue of ‘The Pitch’ for 2016 will be published in week 3. Please ensure you have subscribed to our school newsletter to receive up to date information. You will find ‘The Pitch’ newsletter under the tab, ''Music News". The newsletter will inform you of events coming up and news about what is happening with the children involved in the music program.

A meeting has been scheduled to meet the instrumental teachers in Week 1, this Friday, 29th January. Strings will meet Mrs Lloyd at 9am. Brass, Woodwind and Percussion students are to meet Mr Brunskill, Ms Clarke-Flesser and Miss Hill at 1.50pm. All beginner and continuing students are to attend. If you are new to the school and were currently learning and would like to continue, please come and introduce yourself at the meeting. You do not need to bring instruments or requirements to this meeting. A note will be given to your child to give you further information in regards to lessons and timetabling. Please email me if you require further information on fcole7@eq.edu.au

Date Claimer

CHAPPY CHAT

Hello and welcome or welcome back! I am excited to continue being The Willows school chaplain or ‘chappy’ again in 2016! My name is Libbie and I hope you have a wonderful 2016.

I am now located at the back of F Pod so please come knock on my door anytime. I am here Tuesdays-Fridays or call the school to contact me. As a reminder, I am here for students, staff and families if you would like support of any kind.

To all our new families and faces, I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you.

Welcome back to those I met last year, let’s keep having fun and getting to know each other.