“Young people need something stable to hang on to – a culture connection, a sense of their own past, a hope for their own future. Most of all, they need what grandparents can give them. Jay Kesler
It’s lovely to be back at school after a refreshing break in Europe –visiting Greece, Spain and Germany. The hardest part about coming back was leaving our grandson Henry in Germany, as our son Jack and his wife Sarah make their new home in Cologne for the next three years. Grandparents are a special part of our school community at City Beach Primary School, and for those families lucky enough to have the support of their grandparents at drop offs, pick-ups, school events and sport… I know you’ll agree that their love and support is invaluable. The special connections kids have with their grandparents are hard to replace. Graham and I hope that our kids enjoy their experiences and opportunities but miss these connections so much…and that they’ll come back… early!
A smooth return to Term 3 at the start of Week 3 was made possible by the confidence I had in Alison and Amanda’s ability to keep everything on track, by supporting teachers and staff to continue to provide great learning experiences and opportunities for our kids – thank you Alison and Amanda . At the start of the term students in each class received our Third Party Permissions and Acceptable Use of Digital Technologies Agreement for discussion by parents and class teachers with our kids about the responsible use of digital platforms and cyber safety. Please ensure that these forms are returned to class teachers. We can’t wait till we move across to COMPASS as our communication platform @ CBPS replacing CONNECT in Term 4 for parents. This will streamline student notes/permissions with everything online and reduce the need for paper copies – keep an eye out for this change over the coming weeks.
In Week 6 on Monday 19 August, when students enjoy a pupil free day, the staff are looking forward to spending the day reflecting and aspiring as we dive into creating our Future Directions plan for 2025-2027. The School Development Day will also be an opportunity for staff to analyse NAPLAN data, which with our knowledge of cohorts and our context, is one piece of evidence that tells us about student achievement in literacy and numeracy to inform our plans for improvement in teaching and learning. NAPLAN reports for our Year 3 and Year 5 were sent out earlier this term, please remember that teachers are available for appointments to discuss any concerns you may have about your child’s progress throughout the year. Simply reach out to your child’s teacher and make a time to meet and talk.
Thanks to our fabulous P&C who work tirelessly to create fun events for our school and community to enjoy. I’ve got my tickets to Musical Bingo on Saturday 24 August – have you?
I look forward to enjoying a busy, fun filled Term 3 with you.
