Pelican Brief Issue 14
From the Principal
It's hard to believe that this is the last newsletter of the year. I would like to start by apologising as it appears we had some technical difficulties with our previous newsletter and it was not published (as we went to our new format). Therefore, I welcome you to our new format for our Newsletter. If you haven't yet downloaded our app please install this. It is the SZapp and our school code is 4562. All announcements and our school calendar will also be available on this app. I am hoping to have a draft 2023 calendar out by the end of the term.
Our students have had a fantastic last few weeks of the term, a highlight being Bedourie Splash and Arts. Thank you to Leanne and Bedourie State School for hosting such a fantastic week. The students had a blast learning how to play the harp and make claymation figures, along with swimming lessons. An extra big thank you to James, Venessa, Courtney and Nerissa for accompanying our students for the week.
We had a successful AGM on the 2nd November. I would like to welcome all members and congratulate our executive members. Our 2022 President is Nadine Lorenz, Secretary Nerissa Parsons and Treasurer Cortney Nealon.
Our students have been very lucky to be participating in swimming lessons with Sam twice a week. The pool has been quite cold but we have enjoyed every minute. Thank you Sam for your time this term! In other pool news, we have been successful at obtaining a grant for a pool heater! This will hopefully mean that our pool can be used all year.
As part of our HASS unit this semester students were required to investigate waste management in their community. On Monday 21st we went on an excursion to the containers for change depot. We learnt about the process around this and why it is important that we recycle. Thank you Greg for the fantastic tour, our stuents have been taking caps off bottles and making sure they go into our green bin!
Our end of year awards evening will be held on Thursday 1st December. It will be held at school once again this year and will be followed with the P&C and Diamantina Shire Council Community Christmas Tree and dinner. It would be fantatsic to see as many community members. Dinner will also be provided. I hear Santa has been working extra hard and might even pay Birdsville a visit early.
Harmony's Christmas Cafe will be on Friday 2nd December from 1:00pm. Again, it would be fantastic to see as many community members as possible. Our students are very excitedly getting ready for this- our Christmas menu is looking very delicious!
Next week we will also be having an alternative timetable. The students will be going on a couple of excursions around town including the Wirrari centre to write letters to Santa and the Bakery for an end of year awards lunch.
I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to Mr Tait, sadly he only has five more days left with us. We thank you for your dedication to our students and community over the last two years. All the best for your new school and we look forward to hearing from you.
Next year, we welcome Harriet Birchley and her family to our community. A community welcome meet and greet BBQ will be held on Thursday 19th Januray 2023. More details will come closer to the date. I have attached her introduction letter to this newsletter incase you missed our Facebook post last week.
Lastly, report cards will be sent home on Friday 2nd December. I wish you all a very safe and happy holiday. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year, school starts on Monday 23rd January.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Laura
ljgla0@eq.edu.au | 4656 3233
Bedourie Splash and Arts
From Mr Tait
It’s the final newsletter for 2022!
It has been a huge year for all of us and we’ve come so far. After starting this year with just 2 students we have absolutely ballooned to our now wonderful school of 7 smiling faces who show up each and every day excited to learn.
The end of week 8 has been looked forward to by all of us I think, as we have been super busy completing our assessment for all learning areas. We have written some simply fanstastic poems for English and are hard at work practicing to present them to an audience. We’ve all managed to come up with some lively actions to make our poems more exciting too. In Maths we have been all about the money the last two weeks, learning how to calculate change as well as budgeting. In Science we completed our assessments on materials and their properties as well as reversible and irreversible changes. In HASS we got to go on an exciting visit across the road to see our Containers For Change program in action and we’ve since implemented our own recycling bins system at school as part of an investigation into our own waste management.
It’s been a big few weeks and everyone has been working their tails off to get over the line. The effort each student has put in to achieving their learning goals is very much recognised and appreciated and you all should be very proud of yourselves.
This will very sadly be my last newsletter at Birdsville State School. I want to thank Miss Glassey and Miss Ryan for being two of the best principals I could have asked to work with this year. They have made our school a great place where everyone wants to be. I learned from them every day and they have helped me an untold amount as I work to becoming the best teacher I can possibly be. To Miss Venessa for being a fantastic and dedicated teacher aide and making my time in the classroom much easier and much more fun with her constant support, the kids are lucky to have her. Thanks to Alex and Cortney, who have both worked tirelessly to make sure our school is a tidy and pleasant place to learn and work every day. To the parents and community of Birdsville, thank you for welcoming me from the minute I arrived and making me feel like a valuable member of this close-knit community.
Biggest thanks of all is for our wonderful students, who are the reason I love coming to work every day. You are my first ever students as a teacher and that’s something pretty special that you don’t forget. You have all made my time in Birdsville an absolute joy. Getting to share smiles and laughs and learning with all of you every day is one of the best jobs you could ever have in my opinion. All of you are capable of the most amazing things and I wish you all the success and happiness as you continue your learning next year and beyond. I will miss each one of you dearly.
Not goodbye, just see you later.
James
Swimming with Sam
Containers For Change
