Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In response to the region’s advice to best protect our families and children, it is important to understand what we can do as a community to prevent the spread and lessen the impact of this virus.

This week families have received latest advice from the department who are working hard to keep everyone up to date. As per the letter, we advised parents about precautions we have taken at the school so far, including:

• Reminders to staff and students on the heightened need for safe hygiene practices, for example washing hands with soap and water
• Ensuring hand soap and paper towels are available at all times
• Cleanliness of school facilities: These are maintained at the highest standard
• Cancellation or postponement of planned international travel

For further information about COVID-19 and the Australian and Queensland Government’s response to this, please refer to the following links.

• Department of Education – coronavirus fact sheet for parents
• Queensland Health – Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) – Information for Queenslanders
• Australian Government – Department of Health – information for schools, early childhood centres, students and parents
• Australian Government – Department of Health – additional information

In the event that you or your child are suspected or confirmed (by a medical practitioner) to be infected with COVID-19 please inform the school immediately. The school is required to report to the Department of Education, any suspected or confirmed cases of students and staff who have been, or are suspected to have been, in contact with COVID-19. Furthermore, if your child is subject to the self-quarantine period for COVID-19, the school can arrange for the provision of educational material during their absence.

I believe the important message is to inform our children on the importance of hygiene and washing hands etc. Let’s all work together in this difficult time.

P&C executive

Thank you to all families who came along to our special meeting on Monday evening. I was impressed with the urgency and realisation of families that we cannot run school events, tuckshop and improve outcomes for students without a P&C executive.  The great news for our community is that we elected a full P&C executive. This has not happened for a number of years.  I would like to personally thank Matt as the previous president for his hard work and commitment to our school. He and has certainly done his time in this role. Matt and his family have a long history with our school and I am looking forward to our relationship continuing with Matt as a “dad and great volunteer”. Thank you Matt! Can I congratulate the following new members and full executive team for 2020.

President – Michelle Wright

Vice President – Alex Sinclair

Treasurer – Olivia Gordon

Secretary – Kirsten Siggins

I will ensure that I keep families up-to-date over the next fortnight through letters, email and Facebook posts. Keep the handwashing up and stay safe.

I believe in:

Hard Work

Honesty

Transparency

Unexplained Absenteeism

Obviously a lot is going on at the moment with the Coronavirus pandemic happening around the world, but at this stage school is still open for business and it is an expectation that healthy children still attend school.

If you choose to withdraw your child from school, it is vitally important that you let our school office know of your child’s whereabouts and reason for being away. If you do not let us know, our duty of care is to follow up on your child’s whereabouts and to eliminate the chance that your child was sent to school, but something happened on the way. As you can understand this is a difficult and stressful scenario, especially when we are having up to 30+ children a day with unexplained absences. Please call office to notify them if your child is not attending school. 

Jeremy Callaghan

Deputy Principal

Today is National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence.  There are a plethora of resources for schools and parents to access here https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/nationalday

We are also sharing this resource with students: 

At Bowen State School we use the strategies:

STOP: say “Stop” in a firm voice with eye contact

WALK: Walk away from the incident/person

TALK: Tell a staff member immediately. Talk to parents or support staff after telling a teacher on duty/in the classroom.

  This week Bowen State School Student Engagement Hub (SHE) has hosted a range of professional agencies to increase outcomes for students:

• OT4YOU practitioners
• DET Speech Language Pathologists
• Speech and Language Development Australia – SALDA discussions regarding

This allows best practice to increase student success.  The Student Engagement Hub (SEH) is a place where students are referred after class routines/strategies have been implemented/trialled yet the student requires more assistance.  Parents can speak with class teachers in regards to referring their child to SEH.

Stay safe and calm during this time of uncertainty.

Mrs Upkett

dupke3@eq.edu.au

Sports Update

A decision was made yesterday afternoon, by the Department of Education Central Office and QLD School Sport to cancel ALL school sport events. This includes district, regional, state, national, interstate and international competitions, effective from March 17^th.

For Northern Region this includes;

• ALL District Trials – Schools are asked to postpone these trials effective immediately.
• ALL Regional Trials – for Regional teams that have been selected (23 at present) this information will be communicated to the parents of these players via team managers and the Northern Sport Office
• ALL Intercshool ‘Block Sport’ fixtures
• The 11-12yrs Bill Nettle Rugby League Gala Day, scheduled for April 3^rd
• The 10-12yrs NQ Netball up, scheduled for April 3^rd

The above events have been postponed until further notice.

This has been a very difficult decision and not one taken lightly. This decision has been taken in line with the Australian Government directive to minimise non-essential gatherings in order to reduce exposure risks associated with COVID-19, and have also become operationally necessary based on participants; available staff coaches, managers, and supports; umpires and referees; venues; as well as a clear school sport pathway.  

If your child has been chosen to represent a district or regional team refunds will be made directly to you.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

All lesson are underway and students are progressing well. New students need to make sure they are practicing at least 15 minutes a day and senior students should be practicing for half an hour. Senior Band rehearsals have started and although performances are difficult at the moment we are planning on videoing the band for in school performances so they still have performances to do.

IM Levies/Loan amounts need to be paid by the end of Term 1 for students to continue lessons in Term 2 

If you are unable to afford the full amount immediately, please contact the office. Instrumental Music Shirts need to be ordered and paid for by Thursday – they are still $36 as per the note last week. Before you can buy an IM shirt the IM fees need to be paid or organised with the office. If you need another invoice then please contact the school office.

Bands – At this stage only the senior band students are doing rehearsals at lunch time. The beginners will have their own band in term 3.

Mr. Osman is at BSS on Thursday each week. Please contact him if you have any questions.

We have been advised by the council that they will begin works on a footpath in Kennedy Street, opposite our school from Monday 23rd March.  This means there will be heavy machinery in the area and we asking all parents and caregivers to be vigilant when dropping off and picking up students to school.