Assessments in full swing

All classrooms are busy with assessments for the curriculum learning undertaken this term. The results of Term 1 and Term 2 assessments will inform the Semester Reports which will be sent to parents on Thursday 22 June.

Attendance at school is most important during this period of time and I encourage parents to plan appointments and holidays outside the school term times.

Before School Procedures

Students should be dropped off to school no earlier than 8.10am unless they are attending a supervised activity and they are to sit quietly at the Administration Block until 8.35am when the bell will sound.  The children then walk to their classroom and wait quietly for their teacher’s arrival. 

Teacher supervision is not provided before school.  If parents are wanting to drop their child off earlier to school, Helping Hands Outside School Hours Care service is provided on site.

If parents are walking their children to school and they arrive before 8.35am they can walk their children to the Administration Block and they are welcome to sit in the Gazebo.

Parents attention to these procedures is appreciated.

Walk Safely to School

Last week we had the biggest contingent of families Walk Safely to School. It was such a thrill to have our school featured on Channel 9 showing a healthy and active school community at Robertson. Thank you to all parents who take the time to walk with their chidren to school for this occasion and also for our weekly Active School Travel program.

Parent Cyber Safety Session

We will be hosting a ThinkUKnow presentation on Thursday 8 June at 6.00pm to 7.30pm and ALL parents, carers and teachers are encouraged to attend.

ThinkUKnow Australia is an evidence based education program delivered nationally to prevent online child sexual exploitation.

ThinkUKnow Australia is a partnership between the Australian Federal Police, Microsoft Australia, Datacom and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The program is delivered in collaboration with policing partners New South Wales Police Force, Northern Territory Police, Queensland Police, South Australia Police, Tasmania Police, Western Australia Police, as well as Neighbourhood Watch Australasia.

The presentation will be delivered by a local law enforcement member and an industry volunteer. The presentation is pro-technology and addresses topics including self-generated child abuse material, online grooming, sexual extortion, and importantly encourages help seeking behaviour.

This is a fantastic opportunity for you to learn more about young people and the online environment, and how, even from an early age, you can help them to be safe and responsible users of technology.

For more information, you can visit www.thinkuknow.org.au or contact Mel Kennedy in the office.

For bookings, please click on the following link.

https://robertsonss.schoolzineplus.com/event/102

School Garden Club

This week the garden club planted seeds for the first time supported by our teachers Mrs Priestley, Groundsman, Mr Ryan and Teacher Aides, Ms Mathenson and Ms Verma.  The vegetable seedlings planted in our garden beds have really taken off.

How refreshing it is to get out into the beautiful sunshine and watch our garden grow.  Enjoy the photos of our gardeners at work.

School Council Chair's Report

Your pilot community forum was a moving success. With the tireless help of your school council members, invigorating and transformative brainstorming took place on the land of Yuggera people.  It was on this land, your school council had the honour and opportunity to design Robertson State School’s future together for our children, on Tuesday 16 May 2023.

The exhilarating forum ran for one and half hours.  On a wet and cold evening like last Tuesday, the air was warm, our energy was positively strong. Engagement was happening with everyone. Contributors wanted to have more time and more opportunity to share and to bond, despite the fact that the forum already went over time. Thoughts were expressed that time had passed with lightning speed.

In the framework of appreciative enquiry, each of the empowered parents and teachers shared their dreams in the following three conceptual questions:

1. What do our children/students look like in 10 years?
2. What do our teachers look like in 10 years?
3. What do our community (parents and carers, P&C, and peripheral service providers) look like in 10 years?

Together, we brainstormed, building on the strong foundation of what is already going well at our school: academic excellence, music brilliance, and bilingual innovation. Empowered participants also summoned amazing problem-solving skills to share their ideas on strategies to arrive at the above-mentioned dreams.

Parents, carers, teachers and staff were sitting closely together, conversing together, vibing simultaneously. Boundaries were softened as each of us discovered how common and consistent our goals were - our children have always been, and will continue to be, at the centre of this overarching dream.

Concrete suggestions were written on the butcher’s papers while parents passionately voicing out their ideas: we would like our children to grow into their future selves, authentic and proud, confident yet empathetic, empowered and empowering, hardworking and happy. We would like our children to be physically and mentally fit to stand with the world, making lifelong differences. The list went on, ranging on desirable characters as well as concrete projects for our children in the long run.

One of the key outcomes of this forum is to highlight the importance of being an ally in designing dream and progress, i.e., parents being allies of teachers, teachers being allies of parents, parents being allies of other parents, and teachers being allies of other teachers. Most importantly, parents, carers, teachers, and staff need to be allies of our children.

Acknowledging the success of this pilot program, your school council is busy planning for the next phase of this great consultation. The ultimate aim is to reach as many of you as possible. Your input will be invaluable at determining the strategies of Robertson State School in the next three years.

I’d like to give special shout out to your school council team. Thank you very much:

Matt Taylor: our lovely and thoughtful parent;

Carey Halfpapp: our delightful and wise parent;

Mel Kennedy: our hardworking and dedicated P&C President and Communications Manager;

Zoe Grafton: our hardworking secretary who goes above and beyond;

Shae Robinson: our helpful and supportive Vice Principal;

Belinda Cremin: our wonderful and insightful teacher;

Margaret Berry: our inspirational ally, our Principal.

Most importantly, thanking each of you for turning up, together we define the future culture of our school, together.

Please stay tuned.

Summer Hu

School Council Chair

School Review Week 10

We are currently in preparation for our School Review which will take place in the final week of Term 2.  The School Review will inform our next four year Strategic Plan along with other feedback from our parents, staff and students.  Two or three school reviewers from the Education Queensland School Improvement Unit will analyse school data and interview students, staff and parents.  See the cycle of review below. 

The school will be assessed using the nine Domains of the National School Improvement Tool.

See below