5 March 2025

Principal’s News

Important update: please refer to email and text communication relating to cyclone Alfred. 

Recently three of my five children started university for the first time, and amongst much of the preparation and anticipation, has also been a lot of ‘outside their comfort zone’ moments. The saying that the magic begins when you are outside your comfort zone has always resonated with me, as this has held to be true on many occasions over the years (as long as it is not too far outside!). The importance of equipping our students with the skills to be resilient and to preserve is important in so many aspects of life. This skill cannot just magically happen at 18 years of age. So many of our families are wonderful at supporting and guiding our students to be wonderful, resilient and kind young people and this will put them in good stead for the years to come. We see this in action at Kenmore South every day. Thank you for the partnerships our families enter into, with our teachers and school, to teach our students to become well rounded individuals.

NAPLAN

Next week on Wednesday 12-Friday 14 March our Years 3 and 5 students will be participating in the annual NAPLAN testing. We ask that parents ensure their child/ren is well rested, has a good breakfast, and has all of the necessary items required. Years 3 and 5 parents would have been sent emails recently with further details. We know our students are well prepared for these tests through the quality teaching and learning conducted throughout the year.

P&C AGM

The P&C association is a vital link between parents, the community, and the school. Its roles and responsibilities include:

Operational Responsibilities: Managing and operating the School Uniform Shop and Tuckshop, known as the Lunchbox, providing a convenient and accessible service for parents, students and school staff.

Fundraising: Organising events and activities to raise funds that support additional resources, infrastructure improvements, and educational enhancements.

Community Engagement: Fostering a sense of community by organising social events and creating opportunities for parents to connect.

Advocacy: Representing the collective voice of parents in discussions with the school on matters affecting the school community.

Volunteer Support: Encouraging and coordinating parent volunteers to assist with various school activities.

Membership and Voting: To receive P&C communications and have voting rights, parents and community citizens must be voted in as P&C members. There is no cost to be a P&C member. This democratic process ensures that the P&C represents the diverse voices of our school community.

As parents, your involvement in the P&C can contribute significantly to the success of our school community.

Important P&C Announcement: AGM and Executive Nominations

We are excited to announce that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Parents and Citizens (P&C) association will be held on Tuesday 18 March this year. At this meeting, all Executive positions will be open for new nominations. The current P&C Executive encourages our community to consider these positions for the 2024/25 term.

AGM Details:

Date: Tuesday 18 March 2024
Time: 7pm
Location: Staffroom (Admin block)

Your participation in the AGM and consideration of Executive roles are crucial for the continued success of our P&C association and, by extension, our school. We look forward to your involvement and the positive impact we can make together.

Parent Think Tank

All parents are invited to an upcoming Parent Think Tank to provide feedback to the school. Parent Think Tanks are offered in most terms each year. This forum provides an opportunity to speak with the Principal about any general concerns you may have, offer suggestions and ideas, or add your perspective on current events and activities. This term’s Parent Think Tank will be on Friday 21 March at 8:30am in the Library. All welcome.

Kersley Road Stop, Drop and Go Zone

Parents are reminded that the Stop, Drop and Go zone in front of the Administration Block is a 2 minute pick up/drop off zone only. Parents who park for too long may be asked to move on and come back and join the queue. Pedestrian stair access to and from our Stop, Drop and Go Zone is now open on the western side of the Administration building. Students and families may use these stairs to make their way directly to/from the Tiger Turf area when required.

Tour and Talk

Our first Tour and Talk is on Thursday 13 March 9:30-10:30am. This is an opportunity for prospective parents to take a tour of the school and ask any questions they might have. Please meet at the School Office. Tour and Talks are offered every Thursday of Week 7 from 9:30-10:30am and all future students and families are invited to attend.

Volunteers at Kenmore South

Thank you to all the people who came to the recent Volunteer Training morning. The volunteers were instructed in school protocols, Code of Conduct and Student Protection. This training is required by all persons wanting to volunteer in any capacity at our school and is done annually. If you were unable to attend the morning, it does not mean you can’t volunteer! Please ask at the office for the handouts. A form in the handout needs to be completed and returned to the office. We look forward to enabling you to be part of our large, valuable volunteer group.

A reminder that all volunteers MUST sign in and out at the office, receive a badge/lanyard to identify you and then sign out and return the badge at the end of your session.

Thank you for your time– you are appreciated.

Warm regards
Georgina Allardice
Principal
Kenmore South State School

Parent/Teacher Interviews

This term we are offering Parent/Teacher Interviews in Weeks 9 and 10 (24 March – 4 April). This is a great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress. Parents will be sent a link to arrange their bookings. The booking process will open on Friday 7 March at 4pm and close on Friday 21 March at 3pm. If you wish to make a booking after this time, please contact your child’s teacher or the school directly.

Parents/carers with a child in a class with a permanent part time teaching arrangement will only need to book one meeting time, but may request follow up with the teaching partner at the time of the meeting if required.

We recommend accessing the booking system via your PC as it may not be supported on all phones. Also ensure that you are using an updated web browser, as out-dated versions may not display the bookings website information correctly. If you have any issues or would like support, please contact the school office on 3327 0888 or Schoolzine on 1300 795 503 or via their online chat function.

All meetings will be conducted in your child’s classroom but if you would like to meet via Teams, please arrange this with your teacher separately.

We value a partnership with parents in providing the best possible education for children and hope that you will be available to discuss your child’s progress.

Halogen Young Leaders’ Day

Dr Guy and Ms Thomas had the pleasure of taking our new 22 Year 6 Student Leaders to Halogen Young Leaders’ Day on Monday last week. We were so proud of their enthusiastic participation, respectful behaviour and insightful comments throughout the day. Please see the student leaders’ article and photo later in the newsletter.

Harmony Week

Harmony Week is being celebrated in Week 8 (17-21 March). This special week promotes inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians. Family members are encouraged to share something special from their culture (e.g., game, celebration, song, dance, tradition or food) during this week with their child/ren’s class. If food is brought to be shared, all ingredients must be labelled so that teachers may check for student allergies. All food needs to be dispensed in a food-safe manner. Please contact your child’s teacher to arrange a suitable time if you would like to visit the class during this week.

During Harmony Week, the Student Council is holding a special assembly on Wednesday 19 March at 2:15pm in the Hall. Students are encouraged to wear orange or cultural dress on the Wednesday and bring a gold coin donation or donate through Qkr! to raise funds for Inora, our World Vision sponsor child. Parents are also warmly invited to attend this special assembly.

Warm regards,
Nat Thomas

Junior Years Deputy Principal News

Dear Kenmore South Families,

As we come to the end of Week 6, we are looking forward to welcoming some very special guests next Friday afternoon in Prep – our wonderful grandparents for Grandparents Day! Grandparents play a vital role in the lives of our students, offering love, wisdom, lessons and a strong connection to family traditions. If a grandparent is unable to attend, we encourage students to invite another special person in their life to join this special celebration.

We are also excited about our upcoming Active School Travel ‘Ride to School’ Day on Friday, 21 March. We encourage students to ‘bling their bike’ and ride to school to support National Ride to School Day and promote active student travel. It’s a great opportunity to get active and have fun on the way to school!

Finally, I want to extend my best wishes for safety to all of our families over the next few days and into the weekend as we experience the weather impacts of Cyclone Alfred. Please take care and stay safe.

Kind regards,
Andrew

Sporting News

Congratulations to Khloe M who recently competed in the Little Athletics Regional Championships at UQ.  Khloe came away with a new Championship record in the 10 and under 200m with an impressive time of 29.58s.  She also came second in the 100m (14.5s) and 4^th in the HJ (1.20m).  Well done Khloe!

If you have a son/daughter who has an achievement in outside school sport that you would like to share, please contact Kim Shields - Term 1 only (kshie25@eq.edu.au) or Mrs Karen Luck (Term 2 onwards).

Congratulations to the U9 and U10 Boys Futsal team who recently competed at the Brisbane Metro Regional Futsal Competition.  Both teams thoroughly enjoyed the day and showed excellent skill and sportsmanship in their 5 rounds of game play.  Both teams will now progress to the finals on Tuesday 1^st April.   

A big thank you to all the wonderful parents who transported and cheered on our students during the day.  A special mention goes to Jared Bezuidenhout and Paul Flick who mentored and managed the teams during the day.  

Netball news

Eight Kenmore South State School students, including Elsie B, Scarlett K, Hannah L, Khloe M, Lauren J, Mabel S, Sheena A and Abigail J, put in strong performances at the Northern Eagles District Trials on Thursday March 6th.  This is a very competitive sport with large numbers in attendance and the girls did an exceptional job to be selected on behalf of our school to attend.

We wish to congratulate Lauren J, who has been selected for the 10-12 years girls' netball regional trials!  We wish Lauren the best of luck and look forward to seeing her continue to shine on the netball court.  Keep up the great work Lauren!

Upcoming District and Regional Trials:

Monday 3/3 -  NE District Trials10-19y Boys Squash
Wednesday 5/3 - NE District Trials 11-12y Boys Rubgy League 
Thursday 6/3 - Regional Girls 10-12y Netball Trials
Monday 10/3 - Regional Girls 10-12y AFL Trials 

Years 3-6: Come along and join us for Run Club on Tuesday mornings at 8am!

Halogen Leaders Day

Monday the 24th of February, was Halogen Young Leaders Day. Student leaders joined us from schools all around Queensland. As we walked in, we were lucky enough to see dancers from Dance Curriculum! It was amazing seeing everyone so synchronised, it was like seeing an ocean of rainbows. After the dancers, we had our first speaker, Ms. Sam Mostyn, who is the Governor-General of Australia. She started off by teaching about how to move forward as a leader, how to show initiative in a democracy and the importance of finding a way to lead our school and country to a better future. Some of the key points were to look after future generations and to always engage with your peers.

Our next speaker was Kasey Rainbow. She taught us to always be ourselves and to expect plot twists in life. They don’t mean that your story is over, just that it’s changing and can have a positive outcome. She also showed us that being unique makes us awesome and creates diversity. She showed us the power of resilience and the importance of never giving up. Kasey is an author and artist, who creates about her emotions and the inevitable ups and downs that we all

experience. She finds that writing poetry helps her get through the difficult times. She added that every time she experienced a roadblock or had an overwhelming emotion, she wrote it down and created a story about it. She also designed little critter characters to represent that feeling. After a few years she had hundreds!! Miss Rainbow is teaching the youth of today to respect everybody for who they are.

Dayne Zorko plays for the Brisbane Lions and he taught us to never give up on our dreams. He explained that if you really want something you should never give up because there are a million different ways to get there. He stressed the importance of goals, as there is no way to achieve your dreams and reach your potential if you haven’t set goals. He told us about his journey to playing in the AFL and the sacrifices that he had to make. Early mornings and late nights were spent training so he would hopefully one day be drafted in the AFL. People knocked him down until he felt like he didn't even want to play football. But he got back up and kept trying and eventually he was picked to play for the Brisbane Lions and he even captained the team for 5 years. The other key point that Dayne focused on was the importance of listening if you want to be a good leader. Everyone has a voice and if you don’t listen to your peers, you’re not a good leader.

Next, we had our last speaker of the day, Todd Hazelwood who won the Bathurst 1000 last year. We learnt from him that just because you have a small roadblock in your life doesn’t mean you have to give up. He told us to never believe the doubters and instead use that as motivation to prove them wrong. Todd also told us to surround ourselves with good people who will support us in times of need.

The wonderful speakers each demonstrated different perspectives on leadership and the Year 6 leaders learned so much from them. We learnt that everybody has a voice and they all need to be heard. We learnt that we need to be our authentic selves. We learnt that even if your dreams look far away now, things will get better. Lastly, we learnt to surround ourselves with good people because they will make us reach our fullest potential and will never judge us.

Thank you to Kenmore South State School for the wonderful opportunity to develop our leadership skills.

Nudgee Beach Excursion

The students of 3A and 3B had an outstanding day at Nudgee Beach Environmental Education Centre! They engaged with First Nations artefacts through a scavenger hunt and learnt about the lifecycles of local animals and plants through collaborative activities. Students investigated connections between the lifecycles of the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly and the Birdwing Butterfly Vine and determined how this butterfly species can be protected and brought back to Brisbane. At the beach students explored the marine environments and discovered how First Nations People utilised the life cycles of different species. A highlight at the beach was the discovery of numerous soldier crabs and yabbies! The students highly enjoyed the experience and the weather conditions were absolutely perfect.

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Student of the Weeks

Prep A: Ashton H and Sienna S

Prep B: Ryan G and Mia D

Prep C: Theodore S and Zelda P

Prep D: Liam A and Fionn H

1A: Hakeem G and Hamish M

1B: Isabella S and Julian P

1C: Leo V and Eliana C

1D: Felix W and Bethany H

2A: Sara K and Gabrielle E

2B: Ella R and Evelyn T

2C: Finley P and Harper H

2D: Zoe D and Nessa O

3A: Hannah R and Harper W

3B: Nick E and Isabella R

3C: Olive W and Diyana R

3D: Eloise H

3E: Kaitlyn D and Nika K.H

4A: Nethra S, Isabelle T and Aeryn S

4B: Zanthe T and Madeleine F

4C: Lily N and Mariella K

4D: Aralae P

4E: Alexander W and Faris G

5A: Elijah U and Kingsley B

5B: Ewan W and Jayden Q

5C: Nicholas K and Jack W

5D: Oskar BD and Lucy J

6A: Zara P and Archer F

6B: Lucinda S and Marlow B

6C: Oliver H and Zoe G

P & C News

P&C Update for Week 6, Term 1: Gratitude, Updates, and More!

Welcome to Week 6 of Term 1! We’re excited to share some important updates from the P&C and express our gratitude to everyone who helped make the start of the year such a success.

A Huge Thank You for the Welcome BBQ

The 2025 Welcome BBQ was a fantastic evening, and we couldn't have done it without the support of our amazing volunteers and school staff. A special thank you to:
Michael, Mechelle, Tiarra, Catherine, Clemence, Ben, Aurelie, Josh, Eli, Wendy, Hannah, Chris, Huxley, Scott, Lily, Heather, Meagan, Zoe, Ruby, Ben, Sophie and Michelle for your incredible help on the night.
The PCYC Fun Squad staff, who graciously ran the BBQ and donated all funds raised to the P&C—what an awesome collaboration!
Juliette, Warwick, and our school cleaning staff for setting up the grounds and ensuring everything ran smoothly.
And a big thank you to our school principal, Georgina, for her support and presence throughout the evening.
We are thrilled to congratulate Thea's family for winning the Welcome BBQ raffle! A huge shoutout to Dr Christian Rowan and his office for generously organising and donating the beautiful raffle basket prize.
It was a wonderful community event, and we are so grateful to everyone who contributed!

P&C Supports a Lunchbox Upgrade

Exciting news for our school tuckshop, The Lunchbox! The P&C has purchased a brand-new glass door fridge and freezer, bringing our food service space up to an efficient best practice level. We are committed to providing the best facilities to ensure smooth operations and healthy food options for our students.

Get Involved with the P&C

If you’re interested in getting more involved this year, 2025 P&C membership forms are available. Reach out to Meagan at pandc_secretary@kenmoresouthss.eq.edu.au to request a form. We welcome anyone eager to contribute to our vibrant school community!

Upcoming AGM

Don’t forget our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is on Tuesday, 18 March 2025 at 7pm in the school staffroom. This is a great opportunity to meet other parents, learn more about what the P&C does, and share your ideas. We encourage all families to attend! We’re also accepting self-nominations for the 2025 Executive Committee. Nomination forms are available from Meagan, so be sure to submit yours before the AGM!

Exciting Projects for 2025

A reminder that the P&C is donating $130,000 to fund the following improvements:

• Nature Play Upgrades: Astro turfing, landscaping, and re-planting – $50,000
• CPA and Prep-Year 1 Seating: Upgrading benches to aluminium and adding new seating – $40,000
• Yarning Circle: Constructing a yarning circle using timber from the front carpark trees – $15,000
• Cricket Nets and Pitch Upgrade: Improving the surfacing of cricket nets and pitch – $30,000

Supporting Chappy Denise

The P&C continues to proudly support Chappy Denise and all her wonderful projects. Her commitment to providing community support for students, their families, and staff is invaluable, and we’re excited to see the positive impact she will continue to make in 2025.

Design a Brick Fundraiser

For those who participated in the 2024 Design a Brick fundraiser, an email with a link to submit your engraving details has been sent out. Please ensure the form is completed by Friday 14 March 2025.

Each brick/paver allows for 3 lines of text, with a maximum of 17 capital characters per line (including spaces and punctuation).

Please complete one form for each brick purchased.

Stay Connected

For regular P&C updates, be sure to follow and LIKE our Facebook page.

We wish everyone a successful and happy remainder of Term 1, and we look forward to seeing you at upcoming P&C events!

Peta Wilson
P&C President

Term Dates 2025

Term 1: 28^th of January to 4^th of April 2025
Term 2: 22^nd of April to 27^th of June 2025
Term 3: 14^th of July to 19^th of September 2025
Term 4: 7^th of October to 12^th of December 2025

Upcoming Dates

March 6th-7th - School closed due to Cyclone Alfred

March 12th-14th - NAPLAN

March 13th - Tour and Talk at 9:30am

March 14th - Grandparent's Day Prep 2:10 - 3:00pm

March 20th - Parent Connect 6pm. Topic: Intervention, Enrichment and Extension

March 21st - Active School Travel 'Ride to School' Day

School Communication and Publicity

All requests for articles or information to be placed in the school’s newsletter, Facebook Page or school website are to be directed to Publicity@kenmoresouthss.eq.edu.au Deadline for the school newsletter is the Friday prior to distribution. Newsletters are sent out on the Thursday of every even week during the term. File types submitted are requested to be in .jpg format for photos and Word format for text.