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The School Report

Newsletter of Fernvale State School

1605 Brisbane Valley Highway Fernvale Q 4306

www.fernvaless.eq.edu.au PH 54271333 Fax 54271300 Absence 54271360

Issue No: 13 5 May 2020

Dates to Remember

June July 26 Last day Term 2 13 First day Term 3

Further school date claimers will be added once finalised. Dates are subject to change.

From the Principal

As you are aware the Queensland Government has announced a transition back to school-based learning. As per the information I emailed out to all parents yesterday, please find below the important information as announced by the State Government. The Premier has announced that from Monday 11 May, 2020, students in Kindy, Prep, Year 1, Year 11 and Year 12 will be able to return to their school and community kindergarten. This means that next Monday only our Prep and Year One students are eligible to return along with children of essential workers and vulnerable children. For students in Years 2 – 10, the current home-based learning arrangements will remain in place. We will continue to email out our Remote Learning Plan for students in Year 2 to 6 every Friday until further notice. Please note that “Fortnight Two” online resource plans have been added to the Fernvale SS Connect edStudio for those students requesting further learning opportunities online. If low COVID-19 transmission rates continue, students in Years 2 – 10 will be able to return to school from Monday 25 May, 2020. Confirmation of this step will be made by 15 May 2020 by the State Government. I ask parents and carers to pay particular attention to the requirement for adults to maintain physical distancing of 1.5m at all times if you need to be on school grounds. Parents and carers should not gather in areas around the school such as carparks, at the school gate and outside classrooms during this time. Parent and carers will not be allowed to congregate around classrooms or on the school grounds.

Please be mindful that schools are asked to put in place restrictions for parents and carers for any onsite visits.

Please make use of our stop, drop and go area wherever possible or upon collection of children leave the school premises as quickly as possible.

From the Principal

It is essential that you keep your child home from school if they are unwell. In accordance with

Queensland Health Directions parents or carers of any child showing signs of illness will be

asked to collect them immediately from the school.

If your child is in Years 2 – 10, their teacher will continue to deliver prepared lessons and

materials via home-based learning, as they have over the last two weeks. Additional resources

are also available at The Learning Place and learning@home website, which includes details

about Learning@Home TV programs. Learning@home TV, is broadcast on channel 7TWO from

8.30–10.30am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (excluding public holidays) and features

Queensland curriculum-based lessons prepared and delivered by some of Queensland’s

outstanding school teachers. Content will cover English, Mathematics and Science lessons,

along with health and wellbeing segments, and special guest appearances.

In addition, the Department of Education is also launching reading@home TV on Tuesday and

Thursday mornings from 8.30–9.00am on channel 9GO and coding@home TV on Wednesdays

and Fridays from 11.30am to 12.00pm on 10 Peach. Both of these programs begin this week to

further support children in their home-based learning.

The decision to return Kindy, Prep, Year 1, Year 11 and Year 12 back to school is an important

next step towards returning to our regular school routines and I will continue to update you as

soon as any new information becomes available.

Semester One Reporting

Usually at the end of the term every parent would normally receive a Semester One Report card

for every child. At present advice and guidelines on an adjusted and modified Semester One

report has been received in schools. Over the next week or two the School Leadership Team

will be considering the advice and guidelines to determine what our modified school report card

for Semester One will look like. Information will be forwarded to you shortly as we work through

this important matter.

Our staff have greatly appreciated all the positive feedback that has been provided to them over

the last few weeks. My sincere thanks goes to all parents and carers for your support and

understanding during these challenging times.

Kind Regards

David

From the Deputy Principal

Welcome to another lovely week at Fernvale! We miss you! We are enjoying our children attending school and look forward to welcoming you all back very soon. A huge thank you to all our staff for working hard to keep us all safe and well at this time. Our teacher aides wipe down our playgrounds high touch points three times per day. Our staff are constantly wiping down and disinfecting tables, chairs, iPads and all resources used by our children throughout the day. Our cleaners are working hard to ensure our environment is clean and disinfected. We are grateful to all of you, working hard for our lovely school community.

Our QLD Education Department has compiled a number of fantastic resources. One of these is the Wellbeing Activities for Learning at Home. Wellbeing has also been a focus for us at school. We are working hard to support our staff and children. Our teachers are also focussing on the wellbeing of children attending school.

Here our Year 1 children are practicing yoga and mindfulness with the lovely Mrs Aukeela. Cosmic Kids Yoga is free and is a great place to start. Mindfulness develops the whole brain and helps children to understand their emotions and feelings, reducing their risk of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Practicing Mindfulness helps children to notice the positives, and develop a sense of appreciation, gratitude and contentment. All of that equals HAPPINESS! When parents, or other trusted adults, share these activities mindfully with children, there can be significant benefits for developing and enhancing the bonds between children and their caregivers. It is a great practice to do together as a family to strengthen your relationships, and foster a positive environment, and to cultivate a sense of appreciation, gratitude and contentment for you and your children. Developing focus and attention is also a great benefit to practicing Mindfulness. Many of us, including children, spend a great deal of our time multi-tasking. This means that developing neural pathways are not as effective as they could be, this can have significant consequences for learning and behaviour. Learn more about mindfulness here https://www.smilingmind.com.au/mindfulness

Have a lovely week,

Kylie

From the Deputy Principal

Zones of Regulation – Tools/Strategies To support the implementation of the Zones of Regulation program across our school, each week in our

newsletter we will share information and/or tools & strategies that we are teaching our children. This

week we revisit Distraction Techniques - These are mostly utilised during the onset of a panic attack, behaviour outburst or complete shutdown. The purpose is to remove the trigger or remove the child from the trigger(s) and allow them to refocus on something else. This give their mind and body a break allowing them to regulate their breathing and relax their body. If a child gets to the point they need to utilize distraction techniques realize that they will not be able to problem solve right away or even the same day, depending on the trigger.

1. Positive Self-Talk

a. “I have done it before. I can do it again.” b. “Just try the 1st one and see how it goes” c. “I believe in me” d. “I am good at things” e. “I have a good life”

2. Write it down a. If you are stressed about all of the things you need to, do make a list b. If you are worried about what to say to someone, write it down first c. If the teacher is busy and you don’t want to forget, write it down d. Can be a just a stapler or quick note saying “Thank you!” or “Please send student back”

3. Get a Drink a. Warm drink for overstimulated child b. Cold drink for under stimulated child

4. Distraction Tools a. Listen to music b. Watch videos on specific Apps (no YouTube) iTunes-Cat. Videos, Google Play-Funny Cat

Videos c. Brain Teaser Apps d. Talk about their favourite things

e. Read a book f. Have someone read to you g. Draw h. Colour

5. Yoga have a place to do yoga moves to calm and centre the body a. Yoga Cards/Poster b. Cosmic kids yoga – You Tube

6. Set up a Calming Corner/Break Space/Relaxation Station/Chill Town/Chill Out Zone a. Low Light b. Seating-Pillows or Bean Bag Chair c. Visuals of Calming Strategies d. Visuals of system using (5 point Scale, Zones of Regulation, etc.)