Beerwah State School

Dear Parents/Carers, 

Welcome to our first newsletter for Term 3.  It’s been so lovely to have conversations with students about all the exciting things they did on holidays! We have had a very smooth and settled start back to school.  As I am conducting my daily class visits, I am seeing classes engaged in their learning and focused on improving their learning outcomes.  As we head into the colder part of the year, can I remind all parents/carers that students need to be in school uniform.  If you are unable to purchase a school jacket/jumper, through the Uniform Shop, please ensure that the jacket/jumper your student is wearing is black.  Please refer to our school website for more details around school uniform. 

NAIDOC Week 

Last week in class students celebrated NAIDOC week by participating in a variety of activities and learning about First Nations and Torres Strait Islander culture. NAIDOC Week occurs annually in July, and celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians all over the country and overseas.  Thank you to Mrs Prior and Ms Blake who coordinated this event across the school.  

MindSET STEM Lessons 

In week 1 & 2, students from the Sunshine Coast University visited our school to deliver STEM lessons to our Year 5 & 6 students.  Our students were very engaged, learning about coding and creating circuits that used code.  Our students created a circuit with LED coloured lights that flashed in time with music. Thank you to Mr Deady for organising this wonderful experience for our students. 

Line-up Competition 

Congratulations to Prep A, Prep/1 & 4/5 who were the winners of our line-up competition for last term.  These classes enjoyed a pizza party on Monday.  I am so thrilled to be able to reward students for excellent behaviour. 

Parent/Teacher Interviews 

Thank you to all the parents and carers who booked parent/teacher interviews last week. This was a very valuable opportunity to gain detailed information about your child’s progress and to give any important information to your child’s teacher.  I received lots of positive feedback from parents and carers on the evening.  

School Opinion Survey 

The 2024 School Opinion Survey will be conducted from Monday 22 July to Friday 16 August. 

School Opinion Surveys canvass the views of parents/caregivers, students in Years 5 & 6 and school staff from every state school on what our schools do well and how they can improve. 

Opinions on the school, student learning and student well-being are sought from parent/caregiver in all families and students (Years 5 & 6) from each state school. 

Our students will be completing this survey at school.  

An invitation to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey will be emailed to one parent/caregiver per family in the week beginning 15 July.  The invitation will be sent from the Department of Education, not the school, and it will have the subject line School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2024.   

Check your junk email folders if you can’t find it.  The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation is received and will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.   

I would ask all parents/carers who receive an email, to complete this survey as the more surveys completed, the more meaningful the data will be for our school. 

Parent/Carer Morning Tea 

Just a reminder that every 4th Monday of the month we will hold the Principal/Chappy, Parent/Carer morning Tea.  You will have the opportunity to have a chat with myself and our School Chappy, Mike Turner over a tea or coffee and also meet other parents.  This is held in our library from 8:30am – 9:00am.  Thank you to those parent/carers who attended last week. 

Have a great weekend. 

Scott Bowden 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our parent-teacher interviews were on Wednesday 10 July. These are a vital opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss children’s learning progress at the half way point of the year. These are always a highly productive evening. 

 A big thank-you to all parents who attended and those who provided us with some ‘two stars and a wish’ information. 

Learning to read information sessions

On Tuesday 16 July we held our parent information session about ‘learning to read P-2’. This session provided up-to-date and research-based information about how we learn to read and the practical impacts of this at home and school. There were great conversations about the day-to-day things we can do to support children as they learn the incredible complex task of reading. 

The ‘learning to read in Years 3-6’ is on Tuesday 23 July at 2:30 – 3:15pm in the school library. This will focus on how children become more fluent and strategic readers in the upper years of Primary school and practical impacts of this at home and school. There will be light refreshments and tea/coffee. 

Student Council - PJ Day

Friday 26 July is a student council fundraiser – PJ day. This is a pyjama themed free dress day that is perfect for the cold winter weather we’re getting at the moment. It is a gold coin donation to participate in PJ Day. Our student council are fundraising for some art work panels that will go onto the toilet doors. 

As with all free dress day, the PJs need to be school appropriate and include closed-in shoes. 

Check out our calendar of events throughout the year, via the school's website at

Beerwah State School

You can sync any event to your personal calendar by clicking to  open the event and click on the  'Add to Calendar' button.  

Check out our Facebook page for more Celebrations and what's happening at our School.

Beerwah State School Facebook page

"Everyone is a reader, some just haven't found their favourite book yet"

BORROWING;

Tuesday 3/4, 4/5, 5/6A, 5/6B, 5/6C                    Return books on Monday.

Wednesday Prep1 , Prep, Yr1/2                        Return books Tuesday

Thursday yr 3, Yr 2/3                                           Return books Wednesday 

If you require a Library bag they are available through the Uniform Shop for $18.00.

If you have any questions with regards to sport, please phone Ms Murphy at the school on 5436 5555 or email jlmur1@eq.edu.au

Janelle Murphy (HPE Teacher)

We are once again participating in the annual Premier’s reading challenge. From 7th of May until the 23rd of August, students record the books that they read at school and home. Students will have access to record sheets from week 4 to start recording their reading. 

The challenge is not a competition but aims to improve literacy and encourage children to read widely for pleasure and learning. 

For Prep — Year 6 students to successfully complete the challenge they must read or experience an allocated number of books based upon their year level during the reading period.

Children and students who complete the challenge will have their efforts recognised through the receipt of a Certificate of Achievement.

Come and join our awesome school community in 2025 Prep-YR6.

Enrolling is easy, see the editable enrolment forms on our school website under the Enrolling tab, email back to admin@beerwahss.eq.edu.au or drop into the school office to collect a pack. Once we receive the completed documents, we will book your meeting and tour with our Principal Mr Scott Bowden. 

2025 Prep Stay & Play Events are a great way to start transitioning your child into prep. See the attached flyer for coming dates and book via email admin@beerwahss.eq.edu.au 

Our Prep 2025 Meet the Teacher event will be towards the end of term 4. An invitation will be posted to all of our enrolled 2025 preps and watch Skoolbag/Audiri for dates & times. 

Kandoo Joeys Playgroup is on every Wednesday from 9-11am for all babies to Pre-prep children, this is a great way to start transitioning your Pre-prep and meet other families that will be joining prep with you!

 Yr1 - 6 Enrolments Open - If you have friends looking to relocate to a new school. We are open to all year 1-6 levels in 2025.

P&C MEETINGS

Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday 22nd July (week 3) at 6pm in the library.  

Come along and join us and see how you can be a part of a really important group of caring parents and citizens who want to make a difference in our children’s schooling lives. 

VOLUNTEERING

Did you know: Volunteering has been shown to improve memory and help with executive function – the mental skills that make-up our active memory, provide for flexible thinking and set the stage for self-control – all skills we require every day. 

According to a new study in the Journal of Happiness, people who volunteer not only feel stronger and mentally and physically healthier. They also report higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. 

The study took it a second step and followed people who began volunteering – monitoring their responses from the time they started volunteering. The longer they volunteered and the more they volunteered, the greater the level of happiness they reported. 

Those sound like a couple of really good reasons to come and join the P&C, put your hand up to help out and stay healthier! 

The P&C Association are an approved volunteer organization with Centrelink (Services Australia) so if you need to complete volunteering hours, the school is a great option. This can be extended to grandparents and other friends, they will need to apply for a Blue Card to volunteer in the school which is an easy process we can assist with. Contact us by email and we can arrange to work out how we can help each other. 

FACEBOOK PAGE

If you haven’t already jumped onto our Facebook page, you should. It’s a great place to see what’s coming up, what volunteers are needed & helpful reminders in case you missed the notification. We’ll also share our tuckshop specials and any meal deal information, so if you don’t see the posts, you might miss out! 

It’s also the easiest place to get in touch with P&C. 

Just find our page and like us to start following. 

BSS P&C Facebook page 

EVENTS & FUNDRAISING

We held a bake sale last week at the inaugural Maker’s Day at the Beerwah community hall. This was a great success and we raised over $600 in just one morning. A huge thank you to all our parents who baked and donated for the event, and to the wonderful helpers who ran the stall.  

Our next event will be the Father’s Day stall in week 8 of term 3. If you are able to assist in the morning, please reach out to P&C.  

RECYCLING PROGRAMS

Don’t forget to keep saving your empty toothpaste tubes and old toothbrushes, also any pens, texters, highlighters and markers that are no longer working. We collect these items to send to TerraCycle who will turn them into useful products. If you’d like to know more, please have a look at their website www.terracycle.com.au. We are also collecting used Glad (or similar) products – glad wrap, zip lock bags etc, but please make sure they are clean.  

Donations can be dropped off to school, collection boxes are available in the library, look out for the notice on Audiri (Skoolbag) for more information.  

The school is also registered to collect drink cans and bottles through Containers for Change. There are bins throughout the school so you can drop off your recycling as you bring your child to school. 

BOOK CLUB

The next issue of book club will be distributed soon. The best way to order is online at www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP all books are delivered to the school and distributed to each child. If you would prefer to order as gifts, ensure you select that option and your items will be available for collection from the office. The due date for orders is always stamped on the front of the brochure so don’t miss out! An extra bonus is that the school receives 15% of all order values to purchase books for our library. Books are such a wonderful addition to any child’s life and there are some amazing prices in the book club. 

Tuckshop will continue to be open each Friday, first break only during term 3. All ordering will be via Qkr! which will be made available one week before. All orders need to be placed by 6pm the Thursday prior so our volunteers have time to shop. The menu can be viewed on the tuckshop noticeboard and on Skoolbag. Each week there is a different special for $5 and additional snacks and drinks can be ordered too. 

If you have a little time on Friday morning to give Sarah a hand, she would be very grateful. Just 20 minutes to chop some fruit, or stick the labels on bags, that would be a huge help. 

pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au  

UNIFORM SHOP

The uniform shop will open each Wednesday afternoon 2.45-3.15pm, or at other times by appointment. 

Now the weather is cooler, black jackets or jumpers are the required uniforms to keep them warm, the uniform shop has stock of these items, including many second hand and free jumpers/jackets. Come along and visit Janie on a Wednesday afternoon to keep your children warm. 

The best way to order uniforms is ONLINE via Qkr! It’s quick & easy & there are no transaction fees. 

Alternatively, an order form can be collected from the Office. Items will then be sent home with the student or can be collected from the Office.  

To ensure orders are processed quickly, once you have placed an online order, please send your details to pandc@beerwahss.eq.edu.au 

Click here to Order Uniforms Online 

Click here to download the Uniform Shop Order Form- 

Did you know that Qkr! Can be accessed from any web browser? If you prefer to use a computer or tablet or unable to download the app, simply go to https://qkr-store.qkrschool.com/store/#/home and set up your Qkr! account to access school payments, uniform shop, and tuckshop ordering.  

Welcome back to another Term of play-based learning at Kandoo Joeys Playgroup. Each month we have a different theme and the theme for July is Physical Play Matters. Physical play provides opportunities for children to develop gross motor skills, social skills, and cognitive functions. It promotes physical health along with building creativity and resilience. As children develop coordination, it enables them to tackle different kinds of equipment without feeling clumsy or awkward and it increases their self-confidence and gives them a positive attitude about themselves.  

Come and join us this month for some fun-filled physical play as we engage in parachute play, bouncing balls, balancing, and playing games.   

Kandoo Joeys is open to all families with before-school-aged children. We open every Wednesday morning from 9.00am-11.00am from Weeks 2-9 of the school Term. You will find us in J Block, next to the Admin Block. Bring along a hat and some morning tea for your little one and come and join in the fun and social connections as your children learn through play. 

For more information contact Linda Merwood at playgroup@beerwahss.eq.edu.au  

Helping Hands provides quality before and after school care. This service forms strong, collaborative ties with the school, children, families, and the local community; to ensure the needs and interests of every child and family are supported. We provide an environment in which children feel safe and have fun. Afternoon tea is included.

We are located in D Block which is next to the Senior oval. For the children’s safety it is a requirement that you park in the allocated staff car park and use the footpaths to walk to and from the Centre. The car park will be open in the morning 6:30 to 7:30 and afternoon 5:00 to 6:00. Outside of these times, you will need to use the normal school carpark located on Old Gympie Rd. Children must be supervised at all times by an adult.

If you have any questions please phone Helping Hands Co-ordinator Sharon on: 0448 083 043, or click on the link below.

Concerns regarding young children with difficult and defiant behaviours? The Management of Young Children Program (MYCP) is available to support you.

The MYCP is supported by Beerwah and Landsborough State Schools (therefore no cost for these families) and is a practical and individualised behaviour support program for parents and carers of young children aged 2½ to 7 years and their families. It is a well-established and evidence based early intervention program targeting children who display defiant or oppositional behaviour with the aim of reducing such problematic behaviours in primary school and beyond.

For more information or interest in participating in the program, please see the school website link or contact the Landsborough State School office 5436 2777.

Our School has our own Skoolbag iPhone and Android App to help us communicate more effectively with our school Parent/Student community. Download the Skoolbag App to receive short messages, reminders and alerts. Parents will also be able to use eForms for absentee notes and change of details.

Click here to visit Skoolbag website