Principal’s Message

WEEK 5 TERM 2

20 May 2020

We’re Back

Our staff are delighted to be welcoming back all 900 of our students

next week. Before I get to the logistics of this, it is of paramount

importance that I take time to say thank you and acknowledge the

role our community has played in keeping our students happy, safe

and learning. These last few months have been challenging for

everyone, but the energy, optimism, support, patience and

kindness displayed enabled us all to make the most of the situation.

There are still tough times ahead, but I approach each day with a

sense of confidence in knowing we are doing this in a united way. It

is now a bit of a cliché but you could not find a better example of

being in this together than the Samford community.

On behalf of our school I also say thank you to the way our families

have shown great respect for each other by adhering to the health

advice, even though this added an extra load to your work or

personal commitments. Over the last six weeks I have been very

grateful for the words of encouragement, emails of support and

kind words of appreciation that have been shared with our staff.

Please know your support added to our sense of determination and

resolve. There were times where the functionality of technology

reminded us of the importance of a growth mindset and brought out

Pete Persistence.

Our staff have done a tremendous job in ensuring the continuity of

learning for their students as they themselves jumped into the

learning pit. As a school, we come out of this experience with new

skills, knowledge and experiences, which I am very confident will

see us well placed moving forward. We are very excited about the

learning ahead in the last 5 weeks of the term.

Week 6 Logistics

As highlighted earlier in the week, we will continue to request that

parents do not come on site during our revised pick up and drop off

times. We will have staggered start and finish times, with details

outlined below. On Friday, I will email out a final COVID-19 update

with further detailed logistical information.

Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 Students

Drop off time: 8:20-8:40am

School day start time: 8:45am

Finish time and pick up time: 2:45pm

Prep and Year 1 students will use the same drop off / pick-up

zone they have been using for the last two weeks. Parents of

Year 2 students will have their own temporary drive-thru pick

up zone past the crossing at the main entrance (on the left).

Students who have older siblings (in Year 3-6) who finish at

3:00pm will be supervised at this pick up zone until they arrive.

Year 3- Year 6 Students

Drop off time: 8:40-9:00am

School day start time: 9:00am

Finish time and pick up time: 3:00pm

As most Prep - Year 2 students will have departed, students

can use any of the three available drop off / pick up zones

(Pool pick up, Prep pick up (main entrance) and Trentham

Place). In theory, this should be even faster with only 60% of

the regular traffic in any of these areas.

Some key points to note:

If you have children across different grades, all children go to

the pickup zone of the youngest child. Reassure children by

reminding them with a note in their lunchbox

We will be extending the drop off / pick-up zones to increase

the volume of cars that can use these areas.

Bus services will continue to run as per usual schedule.

The Prep gate near the Community Hall will remain closed for

student drop off and pick up.

Trentham Place pick up zone will be open and available for

students in Year 3-6 to access.

It is very important that cars not block access after turning right

at the roundabout. This prevents cars from getting through to

use perpendicular parking and collect their child from the gate.

This speeds up the process for everyone.

Students are to hold onto their school bag rather than have

them on their back while waiting in pick up zones.

OSHC students will be collected as usual.

Preparing To Return To School

Our Prep and Year 1 students have done an amazing job returning

to school and adjusting to our modified ways of working. Pick up

and drop offs have been smooth and they have quickly learnt

additional hygiene measures. This link contains some great

activities for student wellbeing at home. Please also have a look at

some ideas to help your child transition back to school next week.

There are actions you can take in the lead up to this to reduce

anxiety and help your child feel ready to return. We are very

conscious of students’ wellbeing and as such we will structure their

return in a way that supports them to transition back into the routine

of school.

Continued Page 2...

Report Cards

At the end of this semester we will be sending home a report card,

but not surprisingly, this will look a little different. I have asked our

teachers to ensure the focus remains on learning, as opposed to

assessment, with even more of an emphasis on literacy and

numeracy. I am confident you will still find it useful information on

your child’s progress.

Brad Clark

Principal

Welcome Back Everyone!

After weeks of online learning at home, we are so pleased to warmly

welcome back our WHOLE school on Monday! No doubt there will

be lots of stories to share and lots of smiles and laughter as our

Year 2 - Year 6 students re-connect back with their teachers,

classmates and friends here at school.

A few things to remember for the return back to school:

Don’t forget to bring hats and water bottles to school! These

items, along with jumpers and lunchboxes are to be taken home

at the end of each school day for cleaning, and returned the

next day.

Please do not send your child to school if they are unwell. It is

important to advise of your child’s absence via the QParents

app, the absence line or by emailing

admin@samfordss.eq.edu.au as early as possible.

Please be aware of your child’s drop off and pick up time and

location due to our new beginning and end of day format.

The tuckshop will be open every day from 8:30am, serving

pancakes and will operate for 1st break as well.

Playgrounds will be open during school hours only - no before

or after school play allowed.

There will be no school assemblies for the rest of Term 2 until

further notice.

There will also be no inter-school sport for the rest of Term 2,

again until further notice.

I would also like to thank you all for your support and diligence in

helping to keep our school community safe during this time, by

taking the extra precautions needed to restrict the spread of COVID-

19. It is because of this that we are able to open our beautiful school

up again for face-to-face learning for all students so quickly.

Nunzi Hyde

Business Manager

Principal’s Message (Cont…) School Council

Meeting Highlights

Our first School Council meeting

following the term 1 break was

held on Monday - appropriately

spaced around lots of

tables!. Following the recent

elections we welcomed two new councillors - Beth Lack and Felicity

Magee.

Unfortunately one of our Councillors, Justine Bowtell-Harris, has

had to step down from this role, so for those of you that missed out

on a placement on the Council in the recent election process we

will be releasing details for the election for a further Councillor

shortly. We thank Justine and our other retiring councillors, Mark

Gjerek and Chrissy Molloy for all their efforts and contributions over

the last two years on the Council.

At this months meeting we looked at how our new school vision is

already beginning to be embedded into our school. Some of our

school leaders are undertaking an exciting project with the new

values and it has been great to see all the wonderful photos

provided from our families of our values at work during home

learning.

In the upcoming months we will be putting the final touches on the

new 4 year strategic plan which has been the result of collaboration

and consultation with students, parents, caregivers, teaching staff

and community members. We look forward to releasing the new

strategic plan to you all shortly.

Amanda Holding

School Council Chair

School absences contact before 9:00am School absence line: (07) 3430 9160 School email: absences@samfordss.eq.edu.au Advise via QParents OSHC Absence Line: (07) 3430 9145 All student messages MUST be received by 2:30pm

P&C Day 2020

A Very Big Thank You!

P&C Day is the one day a year dedicated to celebrating all the

contributions P&C’s make to school communities. It is a chance to

recognise the fundraising efforts and support that P&C volunteers

provide - volunteering at events, raising money and working in P&C

business operations such as the Uniform Shop and OSHC.

In recognition of P&C Day on Friday, 22 May 2020, Samford State

School would like to express their huge thanks and acknowledge

the amazing work our Samford State School P&C does for our

school community.

In the past 12 months, our P&C have provided funds to create a

nature space area, OSHC demountable, soccer balls, worm farm,

Makerspace roof, chilled bubblers, sandstone blocks in the pick up

zone, rubber soft-fall for the Prep play area, shade sail over the

senior playground, decodable texts for Prep classes, library books,

air-conditioning maintenance… the list goes on!

From the teachers and staff, parents and students at Samford

State School - we say a very big THANK YOU!

Samford State School Community

Administration

P&C Day - Friday 22 May

Back to School for all year levels - Monday 25 May

Chaplaincy Week - Monday 25 May - Thursday 4 June

Chaplaincy Free Dress Day - Thursday 28 May

P&C meeting - 15 June (format TBC)

School Council meeting - 22 June

Interschool Sport (including school training sessions) for

the rest of Term 2 (Term 3 to be advised)

Under 8’s Day - 29 May

Over 8’s Day - Wednesday 12 Aug

Parent Rep meeting for Term 2

School Photos (rescheduled for Week 10, Term 3)

Junior and Senior assemblies for Term 2

NAPLAN 2020 Year 3 & 5 have been cancelled

Choirs and music ensembles for Term 2 until further

notice

School Banking (TBA when re-commencing)

RI and Bahai classes have been cancelled for the rest of

Term 2

(subject to change)

Book Fair / Reader’s Cup Music Events Sporting Events Prep Info Evening Year 5 Starlab (TBA) PAT Awards Year 6 Camp (TBA)

Current as of 20 May 2020

Friday 22 May - P&C Day

Monday 25 May - All year levels return back to school

Monday 25 May - Thursday 4 June - Chaplaincy Week

Thursday 28 May - Chaplaincy Free Dress Day

(dress in your sports house colours)

THIS FORTNIGHT

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop Hours

We understand the new opening hours are out of peak times and

that may cause some frustration but rest assured we are happy to

help in any way we can. If you need to contact the shop regarding

exchanges or advice, please don't hesitate to email

samford.uniforms@gmail.com or phone the office. Purchasing your

goods through QKR may be the most convenient option at this

time.

Winter Uniform Options

Check out our winter uniform options here!

Kylie Neville

Uniform Shop

Tuckshop

0431 092 913

Shop Hours

During COVID-19 restrictions,

our opening hours have changed

Monday-Thursday 9:30am - 2:00pm

Online Ordering through QKR

Tuckshop Hours

Pancakes ($1.50) are being served every morning from 8:30am!

Still accepting cash for over the counter ice blocks etc.

Please support us!

Sarah & Brent Wastie

The Three Little Pigs

Communication

All music families - the music team will send

an email shortly regarding rehearsals and

lessons for Week 6.

Bridget Anese & Mandy Colen

Music Teachers

Music

Connected Learning - Technologies

The Return: Part 2

We look forward to students in Years 2 - 6 returning to school next week. Welcome

back, everyone!

Students bring devices, peripherals (mouses) and cords to their base classroom,

when returning to school. Devices will be collected and checked from there.

Students, please take care of devices in your bag.

Online Learning, Connected Learning

I’ve heard speculation and discussion around how learning might be different, after ‘the return’.

One idea discussed mentioned how we will no longer have such a binary choice of learning

(either offline or online), but a mix of the two.

This is one of our foci at Samford State School. We ask the question, “How can we make best

use of our new skills, knowledge and experiences to enhance learning, now?”

Over the last two weeks, I’ve talked with many teachers about preferred futures - what we want

to keep, grow and improve.

Here is my synthesis of the positive thoughts shared:

In fairness, I want to acknowledge the other side of the rapid learning curve

we’ve all been on. There has been a cost to learning a new platform in a

short period, such as time, frustration and heartache.

Recommendations moving forward will be considerate of time, requirements

(to produce and access learning) and sustainability (how do we stay

focussed on the real work and keep learning thriving).

Mr Clark, teacher representatives and myself are discussing ideas and

planning ways forward. I’m excited about our new learning possibilities!

All the best and take care,

Justin Marchesi

Technology Ambassador

Collaborative: targeted resources, shared responsibility, collective creation

Scaffolded: relevant learning, structured experiences, clarity of intention and activities

Supportive: considered (end-users), targeted, transparent (barriers removed between school and home)

Connected: responsive, personal, challenging, relevant

Library

At The Library

It’s time to dust off the Library bags and search for those library

books ready to be returned to school next week. Our library will be

opened for children to borrow during their scheduled library

sessions, however there will be limited borrowing areas. At this

stage, we’ll be borrowing from display shelves only.

National Simultaneous Storytime

Next Wednesday, 27 May 2020,

we celebrate National

Simultaneous Storytime across

the school by reading Whitney

and Britney Chicken Divas by

Lucinda Gifford along with over 1

million participants throughout

Australia and NZ.

Happy reading!

Debbie, Kerry & Jodie

Library

Golly Gosh - you guys are amazing.

Thank you for everything you do.

We have just been enjoying the

latest movie clip in the last newsletter,

how good was that! We were in great

need of some extra motivation today, so

we have had it on repeat! Some of

those photos - priceless!

Thank you for all the effort to work around all the challenges

given to you. We all appreciate your hard work!

Just a quick note to say how impressed I am at the team at

Samford State School. I don’t know what other schools do but I

have seen Brad at the pick up area several times and well

impressed he takes such a hands on approach to a school of

over 900 students. The amazing staff and teachers colleting

and walking to cars etc is like watching a well oiled machine.

Amazing!! So proud to be part of a school such as this.

I just wanted to say we think you and your team are doing a

great job! I've wanted to reach out earlier to thank you for all

your informative, diplomatic and insightful communications, but

have been super distracted at work, and trying to keep up with

the medical literature around COVID when at home, as well as

home school. We are so lucky here in Australia, and we in

healthcare are very grateful to the public's respect of the

situation, which has no doubt contributed massively to our

success.

Open 8am - 3pm, 7 days/wk Public Holidays 8.30am - 3pm

cafelagarto.com.au

‘Attitude Of Gratitude’

Learning@Home

The Parent Perspective!

How do you feel when you look back through photo albums and videos?

Maybe it makes you smile to be reminded of a good memory. Does a photo

help you to remember how things felt at the time? The way we think about

our lives often changes over time.

I wonder how your feelings about learning at home have changed over time.

How do you think we will remember this time of learning at home during

Covid-19?

We would love to capture your experience of learning at home to include in a video. We can then look back together

and reflect on learning at home during Covid-19.

Deb Rennick

Guidance Officer

Chaplain Joss

Chaplaincy

Create a short video (no more than 10 seconds)

to share what learning at home has been like for

you and your family.

Send your video to share@samfordss@eq.edu.au by Monday, 25 May.

Your video will be shared to the school community so make sure you’re OK with that.

Metropolitan North School Sport

Cross Country @ Home - Met North 2020

Regional School Sport incorporates ‘Every student succeeding is the shared vision of

Queensland state schools’. This vision shapes District and Regional school sport planning to

ensure every student receives the support needed to belong to the school sport community,

engage purposefully in physical activity and share in sporting success. Regional School Sport

should aim to maximise opportunities for all students to participate and excel in their chosen sport

through organised district, regional and state competitions and championships. COVID-19 has

changed the way we do many things including how we learn and how we participate in sport and

physical activity.

It is very important that children and young people continue to engage in physical activity while learning at home. Physical activity not only

has physical benefits, but also benefits for mental health and wellbeing. Including the activities found on the Department ’s learning@home

page into your child’s daily routine will support a balanced approach to learning at home.

Over weeks 3, 4 and 5 this term, students who are learning from home or at school will have the opportunity to download any running app

for their phone or smart watch and submit their time to be considered for our ‘All-Met North Honorary Cross Country Team’. Students may

also get their school to time a run as part of HPE Lessons/Sport time and submit a verified time directly. Students can submit multiple

times and the best time will be used to determine our winners. Medals and certificates will be sent to the winning student ’s school. For this

year only, we will be awarding a Champion School with the largest number of participants.

The distances will reflect those used in previous years:

Cross Country@Home with Met North

2KM: 10 YRS B O YS AN D GIRLS

3KM: 11 , 12 AND 13 Y RS BOYS AND GIRLS

3KM: 13 -19 YRS BO YS AND GIRLS AW D

4KM: 14 AND 15 YRS B OYS AN D GIRLS

4KM: 16 AND 17 YRS G IRLS

6KM: 16 , 17 AND 18 Y RS BOYS

6KM: 18 AND 19 YEAR S GIRLS

8KM: 18 AND 19YRS B O YS

Team Event 4 x 1.5km

Students:

Submit a team of four (while socially distancing – no need to

run this together)

Must submit 4 individual times for each age group and

gender

Must be from the same school, Age and Gender

Nominations forms will be available on our website https://

metnorthschoolsport.eq.edu.au from Wednesday 29 April 2020.

Please complete the forms and email them to

met.north@qed.qld.gov.au by Friday May 22 2020.

For more information, please contact the Met North Regional

School Sport office.

John Picken

Head of P.E.

Changed Hours

Due to the school hours changing for Preps and Year 1’s, OSHC have amended our After School Care

operating hours to start at 2:45pm and end at our usual 6:00pm. This will ensure that we are able to collect

the children from school and start their day with us earlier.

Please note that all enrolments will begin again on Monday, 25 May 2020 so if you do not need OSHC,

please let us know as soon as possible.

Billy Carts at OSHC

The billy carts were built by the children at OSHC a few years ago and are still a much loved part of our program. Normally we only use

the billy carts in our Vacation Care programs, however as a service, we reflected on what the children wanted and we identified there was

a large percentage of children missing out on this wonderful experience. So please make welcome the OSHC ‘Billy Carts’ to the regular

resource list available in our outdoor program. We have one specific for the younger children and one specific for the older children and

the children couldn’t be happier.

To build your own at home with your family, here is an idea of what you

will need to start building your own cart.

Kristy, Jo, Travis & the OSHC Team

OSHC

Community Notices