School Link - 26 April 2023

Principal's Report

The Principal - Dr Shaun Kanowski

Term 2 2023 has commenced with a busy schedule of athletics training in preparation for our Interhouse Track & Field Carnival scheduled for Week 9 of this Term. Lunch time coaching, Health & Physical Education lessons and Friday Futures options concentrate on preparing our students for the athletics season ahead. If there are any parents / carers with an interest, or who have skills in athletics, we’d welcome your input into Friday Futures.

On Tuesday 24 April, our school hosted a school-based ANZAC Day Ceremony to teach our students about the significance of this most important day. Our catering students cooked ANZAC Biscuits, which were distributed to everyone present, whilst Mrs Linda Sharman-Bowman told them the story of the origins of this nutritious treat. Did you know that during World Wars I and II, the wives, mothers and girlfriends of soldiers were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men. Here was a problem. Any food they sent to the soldiers had to be carried in the ships of the Merchant Navy. Most had no refrigerated facilities, so any food sent had to be able to remain edible after periods in excess of two months. A body of women came up with the answer – a biscuit with as much nutritional value as possible. The ANZAC Biscuit was created. At first the biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits.

On Tuesday 25 April, many of our students and staff marched in the town ANZAC Day parade and attended the commemorative service that followed. I’d like to personally thank these students and their parents / carers, as well as the many staff who participated. Your presence was very much appreciated.  

Our Parents and Citizens Association (P&C) met last Thursday 20 April for their April General Meeting. We had a quorum of over 20 participants, which is just fantastic! Thank you to those parents or carers who attended and gave great input into the meeting. As a result, our P&C are investigating electronic forms of payment, so that people don’t need to bring  cash to fundraisers, as well as order and pay for various P&C items for sale online. I encourage as many parents / carers to attend future meetings to ensure that you have a say.

Every Day Counts

"Every Day Counts" for every student. Under Queensland law, you must make sure your child of school age is enrolled and attends school all day, every school day unless they have a reasonable excuse. Illness, doing work experience, competing in a school sporting event or going on a school excursion are reasonable excuses for being absent from school. Avoid keeping your child away from school for birthdays, shopping, visiting family and friends, if they sleep in, looking after other children, minor check ups or care such as hair cuts. Routine medical or other health appointments should be made either before or after school or during the school holidays.

You are reminded that it is a legal requirement to have all student absences explained (an explanation - not a message that "they are away today").
Please use one of the following methods, recording the student's name and reason for absence:
     * SMS anytime to 0429 316 194 (preferred);
     * reply to the SMS sent out each morning a student is absent;
     * call student absence line 4666 7266;or
     * phone the school office.
ClassDojo or emails are NOT to be used to advise of student absences. All unexplained absences are followed up with a formal letter which must be completed, signed and returned to the school. We would appreciate your help in having all student absences explained. 
Percentage of class attendance below:

Calendar of Events

Tuckshop Roster

We thank you for volunteering your time at Tuckshop. Without support from our wonderful volunteers, we would struggle to run. If there are any problems or you are unable to volunteer on your rostered day, please let Serena know with an SMS or phonecall before school. Thank you. 

As you can see from the roster below, we are very short on volunteers. Please consider volunteering some time to help out at the tuckshop.

Bus Zone - NO DROP ZONE!

Parents and carers, please be aware that it is against road rules to park or drop off / pick up children in the bus zone. This is a problem, particularly in the mornings when buses are arriving at school. For your convenience, there are drop-off zones out the front of the school office, opposite the bus zone in Raff Street and parking further down from the bus zone in Raff Street. We ask that you use these areas and not the designated bus zone. Thank you for your assistance in keeping our students safe.

Student of the Week

The following students are awarded certificates for demonstrating our school motto, "Always our Best". Congratulations students!

Did You Know?

To keep students safe, we have a number of policies and procedures we follow. Just a reminder that:

* When collecting students early from school/arriving late, please present at the Office so that your child is accounted for on our ID Attend system.

* If you need to bring resources to your child throughout the day (such as a lunchbox, swimming gear, library bag), come to the Office and we will arrange for your child to collect their items.

* If you child is absent from school, please phone the School Absence hotline 07 46667266, not Class Dojo or emails.

* If your child contacts you to come and collect them from school, please confirm this with the Office. Students have been reminded to come to the Office when contact with home is required rather than contacting parents directly.

Each of these procedures ensures that student absence is accounted for and that students are safe. Thanks for helping us with this very important matter!

A Note from the Library

Welcome back to Term 2.  The library days for your students are as follows:

Magnificent Monday  - Year 4
Tranquil Tuesday - Year 5
Wacky Wednesday - Prep and Year 9
Thankful Thursday - Year 2, Year 3 and Year 6
Fantastic Friday - Year 1

On another note, Book Fair is coming.  Book Fair this year will be held in the school library from Thursday 18 May to Tuesday 23 May and it will be open before school, at second break and after school until 4pm.  There will be EFTPOS facilities available if any parents would like to purchase books.

Look forward to seeing you at the Fair.

Library Borrowing

We encourage all students to borrow from our fantastic school library. Please bring along a bag of some sort to protect your library book while you take it from school to home and back again.

Pictured is Mrs Weier with Matilda from Prep who received her first "Pick of the Box" because she has already borrowed 10 books from the library! Well done. I wonder who will be next to get a pick from the box?

Queensland Olympics Unleashed

Taylor McKeown will be connecting with Years 4-6 students on Monday 8 May at 9:45am, as part of the Olympics Unleashed program. A former Australian competitive swimmer, she is a Commonwealth Games gold medalist and an Olympic Games silver meldalist. 

The students will learn from Taylor McKeown's Olympic journey how to build resilience, the importance of setting goals and how to find what you are passionate about.

Students will hear first-hand about how she overcame challenges to compete in her chosen sport at the very highest level, and how some lessons they’ve learned in sport can help students to be the best they can be – whether that’s in school, at home, on the sporting field or with friends.

We look forward to welcoming  Taylor to Allora P-10 SS!

Sports Report

Congratulations to Claire in Year 10 who has been selected to play for the 2023 South West Queensland State Futsal Team, as part of the National School Futsal Championships, which will take place in Brisbane from 25-28 September. Well done!

Chess Competition in Allora!

G’day to all the Chess Pieces

Upcoming this term (Friday, Week 4), Allora P-10 State School will be hosting its first ever Chess Tournament, run by Gardiner Chess. We welcome all players from this district and look forward to having several dozen Allora students attending. Run completely within school hours at a cost of $10/student to enter, this competition aims to continue the strong tradition of Allora students competing successfully and proudly in Chess Tournaments.

Permission letters for this competition will be coming out in Week 2.

Have a great ‘knight’!

BRAD JOHNSON

Vaping Presentation

Our School Nurse, Mrs Linda Coombs recently spoke to students about the dangers of vaping. Thank you, Mrs Coombs, for conducting this information session.

Warwick SHS Transition Information Session

On Thursday 11 May from 1.30 – 2pm, Mr Corey Wren will be talking to our Year 10 Students about transitioning to Warwick State High School in 2024. Parents of Year 10 students are most welcome to attend this session as well, which will be held in the Hall.

Guidance Officers

Guidance officers provide important support for students and school communities across Queensland.

This Guidance Officer Week (24 April to 5 May), we highlight their role in providing counselling and advice on educational, career, personal, mental health and wellbeing issues for students. In 2023, we recognise and celebrate 75 years of guidance support in our state schools.

Footy Tipping Update

After seven rounds, Robyn Miles is atop the chart on 38, Angela Maguire is close behind on 36, Rachael Heritage is third on 35, Mrs Sharman-Bowman fourth on 32, whilst James Turner and Melissa/Deb are equal fifth on 31. Could all who have not yet paid please do so by the end of Week 9? Thankyou for your support of the competition to raise funds for the annual Year 10 trip.

Have a great weekend.

BRAD JOHNSON