What does Week 7 look like in the Middle Years?

After a very unusual and interesting few days, we are back on track to complete the term. None of us anticipated what the cyclone would bring to SE Queensland, let alone 4 days off school as the community recovered from its effects. I hope that none of you were significantly affected by the wind, rain and subsequent localised flooding in and around Ipswich.

This week sees swimming start for Year 4 which will run through to Week 9. Please make sure that you name all of your child’s belongings as this is the time that our lost property skyrockets due to unnamed and unclaimed clothing. You would be surprised at the number of children who manage to misplace their clothes, towels, uniform, socks and undies. While every effort is made by your child’s teacher to not have items left unclaimed, it inevitably happens. Please make sure that you pack a large plastic bag for your child’s wet clothes to go home in otherwise there will be a very wet and stinky school bag coming home to contend with. It is also a good idea to pack your child’s swimming bag yourself so that they can participate without having left something at home like their swimmers, towel, thongs, goggles, etc.

Parent Teacher Interviews are this Monday the 17^th of March from 2.45pm to 5.30pm. Many parents have booked their 10-minute timeslot already which is great to see. If you haven’t yet done so, please book it online as soon as possible. You can choose to come in and have it face to face or over the phone. The choice is yours.

NAPLAN has been pushed back to commence next Monday the 17^th of March for our Year 3 students due to the interruption caused by TC Alfred. The children will sit 4 sessions – Writing, Reading, Language Conventions (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and Mathematics. Any child that is absent for a scheduled test will have the opportunity to make it up on their return to school as long as it falls within the time period allowed by the testing authority. We only have a set number of days to allow this to happen so I encourage you to have your child at school every day next week and on time as the tests start at 9am sharp. When students arrive late for their test, they often experience unnecessary anxiety because of this. That can be easily avoided by having them at school for an 8.30am start.

Finally, our Year 3 Street Science incursion for Year 3 has been postponed for a second time due to the cyclone and will now occur on Monday 31 March in Week 10.

See you on the crossing…

Shane Hancock

Deputy Principal – The Middle Years