2022 Edition 5 - 09/09/22

Important Dates

Principal's Message - Mrs Meyrick

This fortnight we have prioritised further resourcing and purchases, especially for English, Maths, HASS (Humanities), HPE, Music and Instrumental Music. 

Importantly we have also held our first Staff Retreat. 

We invited all staff who have been recruited and commence this year or next year and undertook 2 days of learning together. We also hosted a Saturday morning family social event. Our team is growing and we now have:

* Specialist teachers for HPE, AUSLAN and The Arts, who will all commence with us next year

* A Schools Officer (Grounds and Facilities) who will commence later next term

* Two teacher aides (one who will commence next term, and one who will commence next year)

* An inclusion teacher and classroom teachers who will all commence next year

We are finalising the recruitment of our Ao2 soon

Our recruitment of our cleaning team will commence later next term and we will start this through the transfer system. Any cleaners already working with DOE, and who are eligible for transfer, are encouraged to ensure their transfer application is submitted and approved ASAP. 

We also all worked together to unpack what it means to be an EPIC Learner in our learning environments, in our eating/play areas and in our community. At our new school;

We are Empowered.

We are Polite.

We are Inclusive.

We are Careful.

We are EPIC Learners!

Our school values will underpin all of our learning and time together and after seeking input from community and family members at our initial Community Meetings, working with our PAG (Parent Advisory Group) and with our staff at the recent Staff Retreat, we have been able to capture four integral components for each of our values. These will form part of our Student Code of Conduct and will be available on our school website and enrolment packs soon. 

We invite you to join us at our next Community Meeting to be held on Monday 12th September 4.30pm-6pm. At this upcoming community meeting, we will be discussing enrolment processes, prep transition, BYOD (Bring your Own Device) options, SRS (School Resource Scheme - fees) and booklists. We look forward to sharing details, introducing you to our Executive Leadership Team and seeking your input on the planning of the above agenda items.  We will be hosting this meeting at the Community Hub at Ripley Valley State Secondary College. All are welcome!

Mrs Wuanita Meyrick

Foundation Principal

Our 'Koala Joeys' groups will commence next term to welcome our new Prep 2023 children. It will run in two groups across 5 weeks commencing Tuesday 18th October.

Tuesday morning 9.30am-11am OR Thursday morning 9.30am-11am

Invitations for this program will be offered to future prep students upon formal enrolment. 

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Yager

 Meet our School Mascot

The gorgeous koala has become a part of our school narrative!  Our school is located on Binnies Road, surrounded by lush, gum trees and situated in a koala corridor. Our town, Ripley, is a part of the koala’s core habitat area and has been identified as a Priority Rehabilitation Area. If you look carefully, you might just spot a koala in the gum trees on Binnies Road!

Our koala will help connect our students, teachers and parents to bring our school community together, promote our school values, and support our motto of passion and purpose in everything we do.

Whilst our Koala does not yet have a name, we have been consulting with our community at community consultation meetings to gather ideas from our prospective students and their families. We look forward to making a final decision in the coming weeks to share with you.

Breakfast Club

We are super excited to announce that we have partnered with YMCA to provide a healthy free breakfast to all students. We will be seeking volunteers in the near future, to help run this amazing program as many mornings as we can. The breakfast club program aims to:

• Maximise behavioral outcomes in the classroom
• Enhance student engagement and school connectedness
• Positively impact student academic performance

By providing students with a nutritious breakfast on a regular basis, students form the habit of eating healthy which prepares them to embark on a journey to a healthy future, experiencing the importance of good nutrition and diet.

Ms Petra Yager

Foundation Deputy Principal

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Swadling

Cultivating Curiosity in Classrooms 

Our children learn best when they are actively engaged in purposeful learning experiences that take account of their interests, strengths, and capabilities. When motivated to learn, children more readily apply themselves to learning tasks. For children, learning is richer and deeper when it occurs in social or group settings that encourage dialogue and discussion, problem solving and responding to the ideas of others. Active learning involves the use of practical, hands-on materials that enable children to represent their thinking, ideas, and understandings. As part of our Age-Appropriate Pedagogies at our New School, we will have areas in each Prep classroom designated to Dramatic Play.  

Research shows that dramatic, or role playing, provides an opportunity for "acting out" conflicts, collecting information about social issues, learning to take on the roles of others, and improving students' social skills. Therefore, we believe that role playing plays an indispensable part in children’s development and offers a unique opportunity for resolving interpersonal and social dilemmas.

Do you encourage dramatic play at home? Making cubby houses out of sheets, going on a magical carpet ride, mud kitchens outside, camping in the back yard…the play and learning is endless. 

Ms Fiona Swadling

Foundation Deputy Principal

Business Manager's Message - Mrs Van Der Zee

OSHC Tender

DOE has floated a tender for the provision of Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services for the New School at Ripley.  Service providers have the opportunity to submit their tender for review over the coming weeks.  The tender will close on 21 September 2022. 

This week, we met with some of the potential service providers on the new school site.  They were shown the areas of the school that the OSHC lease would occupy and following on from this, a Q&A session was conducted. 

We look forward to working with experienced professionals in this field to deliver exceptional OSHC services for the benefit of our community.

Details around the tender can be found on the Qtenders website.

Mrs Danielle Van Der Zee

Foundation Business Manager

Catchment Map and Enrolment Management Plan (EMP)

As many of you already know, our school will have a catchment map and a supporting EMP (Enrolment Management Plan). These are due to be released soon.

The Catchment Map release is a state wide process and is released at one point in time each year. We know many families are eagerly awaiting this information as it helps inform your enrolment to your local state school. Families can use the current maps as a guide, knowing that the boundaries for our local primary schools will alter to place our boundary between existing lines. https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/maps/edmap/ 

The EMP will also be gazetted soon, and will outline the plan to ensure that our school (now and into the future) can cater for the children in our catchment. It also outlines some examples of out-of-catchment enrolments; however, our community should be aware that this is in very unique circumstances as our EMP does not yet include any 'Programs of Excellence' that allow out-of-catchment enrolments to be considered more widely. 

Purchased land or building in our catchment? Your individual circumstances will be discussed with you, including timelines for build construction and evidence of owner occupancy (not an investment property) will be required. In some cases, these out-of-catchment applications may be possible. 

Managing out of catchment enrolments applications is a sensitive issue, and unique to each circumstance, and many families may unfortunately be upset by the outcome. Please know that our staff are here to support you with your applications of enrolment to your local catchment school. While out-of-catchment applications for enrolment at our new school may be considered, they may not all be successful. Our EMP will outline this in more details for families.

Importantly, families who currently have a residential address of Yamanto, Deebing Heights, South Ripley, Raceview, Flinders View and further afar should be contacting their local state school for enrolment and transition information as your residential address is very unlikely to be in our catchment area. You can check the above link to the catchment maps for more information. 

School Tuckshop

The tender has gone live on QTender to secure a supplier to manage our school tuckshop. Interested businesses should locate the information on QTender. We look forward to having a quality food provider to sell healthy foods to our students and staff. 

Instrumental Music - Woodwind, Brass and Percussion

From next year, our Year 4,5,6 students will have the opportunity to be in our Instrumental Music Program for Woodwind, Brass and Percussion. We will have flutes, saxophones, trumpets, trombones, clarinets and a range of percussion instruments on offer. 

If strings is more your style, that is ok; we will also have a Strings program for Year 3 and 4 students (and any students in Year 5 and 6 who already play a string instrument). We are currently finalising our purchasing of string instruments and will provide an update soon. 

Information about registering your interest in joining our Instrumental Music program will initially be available in our enrolment packs, and then as we grow, will form part of our yearly recruitment program. 

School Times for 2023

Our school day will commence at 8.45am and conclude at 2.45pm.

Our before school and after school routines and duty supervisions are still being finalised; however, in providing early information to families, please be advised that should you require care for your child before or after school, you will need to access the onsite OSHC (Outside of School Hours Care) provider or make an alternative arrangement. Our school staff will provide a short supervised time to allow for drop-offs and pick-ups in the mornings and afternoons. 

The sessions during the day and our break times are still being finalised so we will advise when this is complete.  We will have a 1st Break and a 2nd Break where designated play and eating breaks are timetabled. We will also offer students an optional 'Healthy Snack' during the morning session, this is just eaten in class (non-messy, healthy food option) and is not a designated break time and therefore times may vary across classrooms. 

Community Meeting 12th September 4.30pm - 6pm

How to contact us this year

At this stage, you can contact us by email or Facebook message.

Email – principal@newprimaryschoolripley.eq.edu.au

Facebook message – via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/New-Primary-School-at-Ripley-Opening-2023-101781892534671

Later we will have a phone line and pop up sites for you to visit us in person. 

As our team is currently small, please allow a reasonable response time. Your patience is appreciated.

Community News - Ripley Valley SSC P&C Halloween Movie Night

The Ripley Valley State Secondary College P&C have an upcoming Movie Night on 29th October with gates opening at 5.30pm. Free entry with food vans, roaming entertainment, face painting, games and more. There is also a costume competition, so be sure to dress up! The movie screening will be Ghostbusters Afterlife (rated PG). 

Community News - Ripley Valley SS P&C Trivia

Ripley Valley State School P&C are holding their first community Trivia Night. $500 worth of prizes for first place and over $2000 worth of prizes to give away on the night. Tables of 10 and this is an over 18s event open to the community. Follow the evnet on the Ripaly Valley State School P&C facebook page for updates and info. Book your table for Saturday October 15th (6pm start)!

Community News - Ipswich City Council Active Programs

https://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/live/healthy_lifestyle/active-programs/active-kids

Looking to replace your kids screen-time with green-time?

Ipswich City Council's school holiday programs are perfect for getting the kids off the couch and running, jumping, skipping or stretching outdoors.

They have a whole range of FREE activities including athletics, soccer, bushwalking, fishing, yoga and even frisbee. All activities are held in parks and conservation estates and will improve your child’s health, fitness and wellbeing.