28 August 2024

Principal News

Dear Kimberley Park State School parents and carers, 

2025 Enrolments

We are about to commence the transition to 2025 Prep.  If community members are aware of 2025 Preps that have not yet enrolled, can you please give them a prompt.  We want every new member of our school to have an opportunity to be a part of everything from the beginning.

We have created this folding brochure for our local services to support potential families to understand more about learning at Kimberley Park State School.

Update Teacher Absence & National Teacher Shortage

There continues to be a significant and worrying shortage of teachers throughout Australia. We have not avoided this dilemma as a school, however, have been more fortunate than most in securing relief teachers.

Teachers are not immune to getting sick. When teachers are sick, often they are hoping to return the next day but discover they need more time. We are unable to communicate this unexpected absence to families. We will put our energy into securing the most consistent option for the class.  Booked teacher leave that is more than five days will be communicated.

Our focus with staffing will always be to work tirelessly to secure teachers that are experienced, love children and are dedicated to every child reaching their potential. To achieve this, we are employing staff from far and wide, as well as problem solving our complexities of many permanent staff members being on extended, long and short leave for a variety of reasons.  At this stage, we are securing experienced, excellent teachers.

There are days when there are no teachers available for a class. In these unusual circumstances, we will split the class to be as close as possible to their same age peers. Whenever possible the Mentors and Leadership Team will take classes.

With parents and carers, we would very much prefer this to not be the case however we will do absolutely everything to secure the best fit teacher for your children.

We count on our community support.

2025 Class Compositions

Kimberley Park has a long tradition of moving ‘friendship’ groups together in classes from one year to the next.

• Some of the friendship groups are:
  • historical parent friendships
  • friendships that commenced in kindy
  • a genuine attachment which has become stale as children mature
• Why adjust this ritual? Maintaining it could mean children are:
  • prevented from learning the art of making new friends
  • held to a friendship commitment that they no longer enjoy
  • options for friends during their seven years in primary school can be limited more than they would be if the ritual changed

*A friendship can last beyond being separated by classroom walls. 

Proposed Adjustment

• Every child can privately nominate one to two friends as part of a classroom process; there is an understanding that it might happen.
• Parents coming from childcare to Prep are encouraged to think more broadly about their child’s social and emotional growth, by detaching from kindy friends and discovering their own capability. New friendships bring new ideas and ways of playing.

Benefits

• We provide an environment that naturally provides experiences for children to develop social skills through new friendships.
• Class differentiation has so many more options through the flexibility of moving ‘pairs’ around rather than large groups.

Where to from here?

• Teachers are supportive of this progress.
• P & C are supportive.
• Parents are welcome to meet with me at any time to discuss further.

QParents

QParents is a free online app that allows parents to better manage a range of school information.

Parents have 24/7 online access to:

• Receiving and responding to consent requests and automated reminders
• Receiving and paying invoices
• Viewing attendance records and providing absentee notifications
• Academic reporting data

This means:

• no more paper copies of excursion consents!
• no missed payments!
• easy access to report cards!
• no unexplained absences!

Signing up to QParents is easy – click on the emailed invitation link, provide 100 points of ID and you are ready to go.

As QParents is such an efficient way of sharing and receiving information, we strongly encourage all parents to sign up.

From 2025, consent for excursions/incursions/camps will be sent via QParents only.

Paper copies of consent forms will no longer be sent home with hard copies only available by prior arrangement. This is to help reduce paper wastage and improve management of student information.

If you need any help signing up, Bec in the office is more than happy to assist you – she is available during office hours, Monday through Thursday in person, via phone or email.  DON’T DELAY, SIGN UP NOW!

Libby Jordan
Principal

Prep - Year 3 Deputy News

Kimberley Park Comets

Proudly announcing the commencement of our pre-Prep program, Kimberley Park Comets…

We are starting to prepare for 2025 and one of the many Kimberley Park programs we offer is to facilitate the transition to school for our future Prep students.  This program is “Kimberley Park Comets”.

Any students who have enrolled at Kimberley Park for 2025 will be offered a place and Kris Whitman our Transition Co-Ordinator, will be contacting you soon with more information.  If you have a child who is ready to start Prep in 2025 it is not too late to enrol and join the Kimberley Park Comets program.  Please contact the office or download our enrolment package from our website. 

What is Kimberley Park Comets?

This series of classroom visits is being offered to children who have enrolled for Prep 2025 at KPSS and will be run as four one-hour sessions over four consecutive weeks, starting in Term 4 2024. Children will work with a teacher to engage in some fun activities, where they will be introduced to the “Big School” classroom environment and to some school routines and procedures. The sessions also allow children to meet others who will be in Prep next year and gives us a chance to start to get to know everyone.

Meanwhile, parents will attend four information sessions about what learning looks like in our Prep classrooms and how you can work alongside us at home, to support your child’s learning.

We find that the Comets program is very helpful in developing students’ confidence and school readiness and allaying some (very normal) anxieties that children and parents have about school commencement. Becoming familiar with the school environment, meeting some key staff members, beginning to make social connections and experiencing first-hand that school is fun, all help to ease the process of transitioning into Prep.

The focus of the 4 sessions will be Oral Language & Phonemic Awareness, Reading & Writing, Numeracy, and Learning Engagement. We ask you and your child to attend each week for four weeks.

Further details about venue, preparing your child, etc will follow next term, closer to the commencement of the program. Please note that, for legal reasons, children must be accompanied by an adult and the adult must remain on our school campus for the duration of the four 1-hour sessions. While we would prefer that parents accompany their child, so that they can attend the information sessions, we understand that sometimes grandparents or other responsible adults might have to be there in their stead, and that’s quite alright.

If you have questions about enrolling at Kimberley Park, please contact the office for further details.

Janelle Ireland
Deputy Principal, Prep - Year 3

Year 4 - 6 Deputy News

At the time of writing this newsletter article we are over the hump of the term, and as many parents and teachers will tell you, the children are tired. A ten-week term is a long time for primary age children, and it can be hard for people to be at their best every day. 

As a Mum of three I have often picked up my children and they ‘download’ in the car about how everything is hard, friends aren’t always communicating well with each other, and they have lots of schoolwork to do, and as I am an adult, I ‘can’t possibly understand how it is for them’. Sound familiar? I find myself taking a deep breath in and focusing on what they need from me in that moment. It took me years to work out they didn’t expect me to ‘fix’ everything, they just needed to say it all out loud, and for me to listen and sound sympathetic and loving. I do wish I had learned that lesson sooner, our journey home may have felt less stressful.

I have always read extensively on parenting, teaching and supporting young people, and now I listen to podcasts and audiobooks too. Sometimes, something I read really resonates with me and I think to myself ‘a ha! That just nailed it’. Currently I am listening to and reading the book ‘The Anxious Generation’ by Johnathon Haidt. I am finding parts really helpful, and it is definitely worth continuing with.  Essentially the author talks about how hard it can be for our young people to grow up in a world so influenced by social media, how young brains are not wired for that level of responsibility, and how the online world has made young people more disposed to mental health conditions. I am sure that this isn’t news to any parent or carer. What interested me was the question of ‘what is the antidote to this?’ and this author proposes a really simple solution. Play and independent exploration. Again, I’m sure this isn’t news to anyone, and yet I reflected on how much play children today get in comparison to the time people my age spent playing. The author suggests outside play, play using imagination, play that involves some physical risk taking so children can challenge themselves and be in nature. He suggests that risk taking, riding a bike, being with friends, problem solving through play all lead to a healthier mindset, better conflict resolution skills and this leads to improved mental health. 

I haven’t finished the book yet, but it is hard not to agree with children being happier when outside, and all the resulting benefits as opposed to playing on a device and misunderstanding online relationships. 

This has prompted me to ‘be more present’, to intentionally check in with my youngest on how she is using her online time. To remind her that, as we pay for the phone and its contract, that we are responsible for ensuring her safety and to encourage her to disconnect sometimes. I confess I am not looking forward to that conversation, but as I often remind her, the phrase ‘I love you’ doesn’t always sound like ‘I love you’, but sometimes sounds like ‘No, that’s enough’. 

I will continue with the book I mentioned above, and I will continue to check in with our students in Years 4-6 and to remind them of their ‘cyber safe’ responsibility to themselves. They need to be part of the solution. When we all work together to keep our young people safe, they can be assured that we understand and support them. 

Finally, free unstructured play looks and sounds like fun. Scrolling on a screen rarely produces evidence of fun. If every child played freely and learned about human interaction face to face, I am sure their childhood and adolescence would be simpler.

Sian Haywood
Deputy Principal, Year 4 - Year 6

Inclusion News

What is Inclusive Education   

Kimberley Park has a strong, proud tradition within the inclusive education sector. We have built a focused, passionate team who work collaboratively with families and class teachers. Inclusion is embedded in all aspects of school life – within our classrooms, specialist lessons, playgrounds, incursions, excursions and school camps. Inclusive schools reflect the inclusive communities we all live in.

Students experience inclusive education when they can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and/or teaching strategies tailored to meet their unique needs. Inclusive education also focuses on the physical and social/emotional development of our students.

As you can see from the image above, ‘inclusion’ is quite different to ‘segregation’ and ‘integration’. At KP we have an Inclusion Centre, where Inclusion Staff are based, and a Cool Room (the newly built room). If students were situated and regularly taught in these spaces away from their peers, this would reflect segregated education. Integration occurs when students are situated in classrooms with their peers but are generally taught in a separate space within the classroom, with limited interactions. Inclusion is achieved when all students are truly welcomed into their classrooms, with the majority of learning taking place alongside their peers when provided with reasonable adjustments.

On occasion, some students with disability may need more intensive teaching individually or in small groups to access parts of the curriculum. This may need to occur as a reasonable adjustment for some of the school day. Making this reasonable adjustment, when necessary, in order to ensure the student learns, is an important part of inclusive education.

Inclusion is a mindset. It is a way of thinking. It is not a program that we run or a classroom in our school or a favour we do for someone. Inclusion is who we are. It is who we must strive to be. Lisa Friedman: Removing the Stumbling Block

Anne Purdy
Head of Inclusive Learning

Curriculum News

The Changing Face of the Australian Curriculum

Did you know that the Australian Curriculum has been undergoing a transformation for the past few years? 

Each of the eight Key Learning Areas of English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health and Physical Education, Languages, Technologies and the Arts have been carefully reviewed and revised by education experts to ensure that content and learning expectations for all year levels are responsive and relevant to the needs of our changing students and world. 

To ensure that schools are equipped to manage this revised curriculum, titled ‘The Australian Curriculum Version 9’, there is a staggered rollout of each version 9 key learning area.  

Our journey with Version 9 English and Mathematics began back in early 2023. Since then, our staff have been through a step-by-step process of familiarisation, planning and implementation. We’ve walked the path together through many in-school professional development opportunities to enable our staff to feel informed, included and confident in this changing curriculum. We have developed extensive documentation to ensure the entire curriculum for each year level is taught and assessed throughout the year.

We are proud to let you know that we began fully implementing English and Mathematics Version 9 throughout the school from the start of this year. Our teachers have worked extremely hard to ensure a seamless transition for our students to this updated version of the curriculum.

As always, classroom learning remains active, vibrant and engaging in order to meet the needs of our students. Our next piece of the rollout puzzle will be Science and HASS, with many of our Year Level teams already implementing Version 9 in these areas.

Staying ahead of the implementation timelines ensures that our staff and students are well positioned for success.

Cathy Day
Head of Curriculum

From the Mentors

At Kimberley Park State School, we're committed to providing the best possible learning environment for your child. One of the key teaching strategies a teacher can use to ensure that all students achieve academic success is explicit instruction.

This term, during staff meetings and year level meetings, our Head of Curriculum and Mentor Team have been working with all teachers to review this important teaching approach. 

Explicit instruction is a structured, systematic, and effective teaching approach that is designed to help students learn specific skills or concepts. The teacher provides clear, direct teaching of content for students as well as building an understanding of why, where and when the skill will be required in student’s lives.

Research shows that explicit instruction helps improve academic achievement across all subjects. Through clear explanations, modelling, guided and independent practice students work toward mastery under the guidance of their teachers.

Participation in ongoing professional development allows our teachers to share their knowledge and stay up to date with evidence informed practice which benefits all students at KPSS.

Julie George
Mentor Coordinator

Dates to Remember

Term 3

Administration News

QParents App

All excursion, incursion and camp permission forms are now being sent via the QParents App.  If you haven't already, sign up to QParents by following the steps in the invitation email sent to all families.  If you need this to be re-sent, or have any questions regarding the sign-up process, please contact admin.

Payment Reminders:

Medication in Schools

Students may require medication to manage ongoing health disorders or conditions, short-term illnesses or in a medical emergency.

If students need to take medication during school time, parents/guardians are asked to follow these Department Policy Guidelines: 

1. Parent / guardian must complete an authority form for medication to be administered.  These forms are 
available at the school office. 

2. The medication (in its original packaging) with a completed current pharmacy label (that indicates that it is prescribed medication), and/or other written authorisation signed by the prescribing health practitioner.

3. Over the counter medications e.g. ‘Panadol’, cough mixture etc. needs to be prescribed by a medical practitioner (doctor, dentist, optometrist, nurse practitioner) and labelled by a pharmacy with both the student’s and prescribing medical practitioner’s names and dosage amount.  At no time must any medication be kept in student bags. 

4. All doses given will be recorded by the person responsible for giving medication. 

All medication will be administered from Administration where it is stored securely along with the paperwork provided by the parents regarding this.  The only exception to this is Asthma medications, EpiPens and medication associated with diabetes.   Please provide the school with a copy of your child’s Health Plan and ensure it is regularly updated by your child’s health professional.

P&C News

In 2023, the Department of Education initiated the 'Renewal Project', which, among other things, led to the removal of the KPSS Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) building.

This loss hit us deeply. We were forced to move our OSHC into the Inclusion Centre that provides a quiet space for our neurodivergent students across the busy school day. In good faith, we tried this arrangement and it has not worked. 

Our OSHC enrolment numbers have recently surged from 90 to close to 200 children under our new provider, Camp Australia. However, our current facilities are limiting us.

We have the perfect location for our new OSHC building near the school's back gate. It will run alongside the Inclusion Centre maximising the existing ramp infrastructure to ensure we provide access for all abilities. 

The upcoming QLD State Election is a great opportunity for us to advocate for a NEW replacement OSHC building. Please sign and share our petition to show that you stand with us. We need at least 1,000 signatures and we currently only have 423! It only takes 1 minute to sign the petition.

Sign Here TODAY: https://chng.it/DgZdBBPYKL

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. Thank you for your support!

Father's Day Stall

Glow in the Dark Disco

Trivia Night

The KPSS P&C Association

2025 Enrolments

Prep 2025 Enrolments

Enquiries to enrolments@kimberleyparkss.eq.edu.au 

Are you leaving Kimberley Park SS in 2025?

If your child will not be returning to Kimberley Park SS in 2025 (excluding 2024 year 6 students) could you, please complete the attached form and email it to the office. 

Community News

Crossing Supervisors

Celebrating Queensland's School Crossing Supervisors for 40 years of service

This year, Queensland’s School Crossing Supervisor Scheme celebrates 40 years of keeping kids safe as they travel to and from school.

We'd like to say a big thank you to our wonderful School Crossing Supervisors - John and Bradley for everything you do for our students and school community! You do a great job keeping our students and other pedestrians safe as they cross the road in peak drop-off and pick-up times.

Why not say a big thank you the next time you see them on duty! You can also show your appreciation for School Crossing Supervisors by slowing down, following directions and being courteous while travelling in our school zone.

Did you know?

• The School Crossing Supervisor Scheme is operated by the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
• There are more than 2000 school crossing supervisors who operate over 1300 crossings at more than 700 Queensland schools.
• There has not been a single fatality on a supervised crossing since the scheme started in 1984. 

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