7 February 2025

From Taylor Haley, Principal

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Wow! What an amazing start to the 2025 school year we have had!

A very warm welcome to our new and returning families. It has been wonderful to see the smiles, enthusiasm, and energy of our students as they settle into their new classrooms. I have been inspired by the many warm interactions shared between students, parents, and staff over these first few days. Our school community is truly special, and I am excited to see what this year will bring for us all.

Our eager new Prep students have begun their school journey with wide-eyed excitement, filling our classrooms and playground with laughter and curiosity. These first few days have been all about learning routines, making new friends, and laying the foundations for a lifelong love of learning. This first year of school is just as exciting for parents as it is for our littlest learners, and we look forward to watching them grow and flourish.

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership. I look forward to a fantastic year ahead!

New Classroom Teachers for 2025

Each year we have the pleasure of welcoming new teachers into our great school and this year is no exception. Below you will see a very quick welcome from our four new classroom teachers for this year.

I am Maddy Kisto (Mrs Kisto) and I am on year 4 this year. I am very excited to be teaching at Surfers Paradise and have felt so welcomed by everyone. When I am not teaching I love spending time at the beach with my Husband and cavoodle, Charlie or playing saxophone in a rock ‘n’ roll band. I am looking forward to being able to meet more of the SPSS community.

I’m Nicole Bradshaw and I have been teaching for ten years and I am excited to be here at Surfers Paradise State School. I am a kind, patient and supportive teacher, who is teaching Year 4 this year. I love spending time at the beach with my family, dog and friends.

Hello! My name is Mrs Kellie Bell and I’m excited to be teaching Prep in 2025. I’ve been teaching for 24 years and I’m a big Gold Suns and Brisbane Lions supporter. I am married with two grown up children and a dog named Bobby. When I’m not at school I like walking my dog on the beach and spending time with my family and friends.

Hi! My name is Amanda Attwal and I am very excited to be joining the Year 2 team at Surfers Paradise SS. I have two children of my own, a 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter. I look forward to meeting members of our community throughout the year.

NAPLAN 2025

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national proficiency standards. NAPLAN will commence on 12 March 2025, in Term 1. Visit nap.edu.au for more information.

What will your child be learning this term?

All parents are able to access their child’s curriculum overview for the term on our website.  I encourage you to read these and discuss with your child what their goals are as the term progresses.

The attached parent overviews give a description of planned learning areas and assessments for Term 1. Included on the overviews are the events relative to each year level, please mark them in your calendar.

Our Head of Department – Curriculum (HOD – C), Mrs. Jen Walkedene will introduce herself in future school newsletters.

Keeping Our Kids Safe: Driving Tips for School Zones

School zones can be busy and risky areas, especially during pick-up and drop-off times. As motorists, it’s our responsibility to follow road safety rules to protect children and teach them safe behaviours.

Here are key guidelines:

1. Stick to the 40 km/h Speed Limit:
   Enforced in school zones during specified hours, this helps slow traffic and ensures safety.
2. Be Alert:
   Watch for pedestrians, bike riders, scooters, and buses. Always give way to pedestrians at crossings and be cautious around bus stops.
3. Use Drop-Off Zones Properly:
   Stay in your car, limit stops to 2 minutes, and ensure children exit and enter via the footpath side.
4. Avoid Parking Hazards:
   Never double park, block driveways, or stop in bus zones or near crossings. Obey all parking signs to create a safe environment.
5. Focus While Driving:
   Keep distractions like mobile phones away. It’s illegal to use a handheld phone even when stopped.

By driving carefully and following these simple steps, we can all help make school zones safer for our children. For more tips, visit https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/safety/school-road-safety/safe-school-travel-safest

Let’s work together to ensure our school community remains a safe and welcoming place for everyone.

Kind regards
Taylor Haley

School Gates

Reminder to parents and carers when entering and leaving our school grounds, please ensure you close the gates on Hobgen Street and St Andrews Avenue at all times. This is to ensure the safety of our students. 

Calendar 2025 Term 1

This calendar is for reference only and is subject to change. Please check with your child’s class newsletter for any changes to times and dates. If you are unsure, please contact your child’s teacher or the school office during business hours.

Inclusive Education Workshops

Online workshop – Inclusive Education: What it is, and why it matters for your child

Wednesday 12February 2025 – time 10am to 11:30am

For more information and to register for this free online workshop, please click here 
To view and share on FB, please click here

This online workshop will focus on the basics about inclusive education – the definition, what it looks like, and why it is so important to all children, with and without disability. Join us online as we discuss the evidence in favour of inclusive education, the policies and supports that work towards inclusion at school, and tips on how parents can work confidently and effectively with their child’s school for an inclusive education.

This workshop is relevant for parents and carers of children with disability of school age, or younger, who are wanting to know more about inclusive education. We also welcome any interested supporters or community members wanting to learn about the importance of inclusion in schools.

Face-to-Face Workshop – Inclusion and Belonging at the Local School – The Parent Advocacy Toolkit

Gold Coast – Wednesday 11 June 2025, save the date!

This workshop is designed to give parents/carers of children with disability the information they need to feel informed about inclusive education for their child. It aims to equip family members with confidence to have conversations with their child’s current or prospective school, about the supports and adjustments their child needs for school inclusion.

Supported Attendance 

Please note that financial support is available to enable regional attendees to travel to our face-to-face workshops. This includes travel support (petrol/airfares) and accommodation. To apply families should contact educationproject@cru.org.au

Inclusive Education resources

Everything is available on the website cru.org.au/our-work/inclusive-education/resources-fie/ 

• All factsheets, including the new factsheet in PLAIN ENGLISH, can be found here: FACTSHEETS
• *BRAND NEW* VOX POP – ‘WHY INCLUSIVE EDUCATION MATTERS’ – Click HERE TO WATCH AND SHARE
  A Vox Pop video capturing the opinions of 27 students, parents, people with disability, teachers and other professionals.
• NEW – ‘Curriculum Inclusion for ALL : Real-life stories of inclusion of Queensland students with disability’ – Click HERE
  A digital collection of real-life curriculum inclusion stories shared with CRU by students, families, and educators in regular school settings across Queensland.
• ‘It’s My Learning I Have a Say’ – Click HERE
  Released early in 2024, this video shows how two students are consulted about reasonable adjustments, and why this is important to them.

Building Capacity for Lifelong Inclusion - 2 day event
Friday 14March and Saturday 15 March 2025
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre – find out more here: Lifelong Inclusion

This two-day event will gather and connect people with disabilities, family members, friends, workers and allies to focus on building our capacity for lifelong inclusion. Speakers will include Emmy Award winners and disability rights advocates Dan and Samuel Habib, Australian human rights advocate Thomas Mayo, and Professor Bruce Bonyhady who was one of the key architects of the NDIS.

Sessions across the 2 days will be on the topics of Inclusive Education, Employment Inclusion, Supported Decision Making, ‘Behaviour’ and Sensory and Movement Differences, Establishing a Home of One’s Own, Respectful Support, and Friendship, connection and freely given relationships. View and share on FB here: CLICK HERE

Prep Vision Screening

Please refer to details below regarding vision screening being offered to our prep students.

Chess Club term 1

Chess Club with Gardiner Chess will be held on Wednesdays from 3pm to 4pm in the school library and will start on 5 February 2025.

Our first inter-school Chess Tournament for 2025 will be here at SPSS in Week 9.

Any enquiries to Mrs B in the library. Everyone is welcome!

Music Ensembles 2025

Our music program includes choir, strings and band. 

Please refer to details below for the current timetable.

From the Music Team
Mrs Kelly, Mrs Cardno, Mrs Hampson and Mr Strand

Environmental Club

The Environmental Club operates every Friday at first break, meeting in classroom 5C.  Students from Year 3 to year 6 are welcome to join.

Our main focus is recycling 10 cent drink containers to raise funds for environmental purposes eg. animal adoptions, tree planting, purchasing recycling bins and other initiatives.

Pink Bins - The club has purchased pink bins for our students to recycle 10 cent drink containers.  If your family would like to donate 10 cent containers from home, please contact our office staff to arrange a delivery date.

Our club motto of our club is:  "Do something small, start something big" 

Our aim is to make all students aware that we can all contribute to making our school more environmentally conscious.

Regards
Mrs Carroll and The Environmental Club students

Year 6 Senior Shirts

Our year 6 students have the opportunity to purchase a 2025 Senior Shirt. Students are able to wear the shirt as part of their daily school uniform. The cost of the shirt will cost $30 and you can order multiple shirts if you would like.

Only ONE order will be placed with the external company producing the shirts.
There will be no additional orders made throughout the year.

Sizes available are as listed below.

Sample shirts will be available for students to try on in their classroom to confirm their correct size.

It is recommended that students try on the shirts as the Senior Shirts are a different make to our current school polo’s.

We are unable to exchange shirts for an alternative size if the shirt you order does not fit your student when received. If you prefer to come and check the sizing for your child personally, shirts will be available at the uniform shop from Wednesday 5 February through to Wednesday 12 February 2025.

Payments must be made by Wednesday 12February 2005 direct to our uniform shop or via Flexischools. No late payments can be accepted.

Year 6 Camp

Sport – Broadwater District Sport

Please refer to the attached calendar for Broadwater District Sport.  This calendar may be subject to date changes.

BROADWATER DISTRICT SWIMMING TRIALS

Interested and competitive swimmers born in 2015, 2014 and 2013 will be trialled during your child’s PE swimming lesson.  Students who qualify for Districts will receive nomination forms from Mr Gee. Friday 21/2/2025 is the date of the district trials and will be held at the Gold Coast Aquatics Centre in Southport.

Students selecting a sport will receive information before the trials from Mr Gee.

Students must have very good knowledge and game skills of the sport.

If you have any questions, please contact our HPE teacher, Mr David Gee dgee3@eq.edu.au

Student details update

Please let our office staff know if you have any new information to share eg. home address, phone numbers or parenting arrangement.

Details can be emailed to admin@surfersparadisess.eq.edu.au or please visit the office.

Bus Pass Amnesty

Kinetic have advised that there is a bus pass amnesty from 27 January to 28 February 2025.  This will allow students to travel without a bus pass during these dates whilst 2025 bus passes are printed and distributed from Kinetic to Gold Coast schools.

School travel information

Student ticket options including GoCards

School transport assistance

Bus pass information and application

Year 7 Enrolment Information Evening

Current Year 5 students (Year 6 in 2025) interested in enrolling at Keebra Park for Year 7 in 2026 are invited to attend our Enrolment Information Evening on Tuesday 25 February 2025.

Please register your attendance via the link:

Out of Catchment form:

Enrolment form:

Scholarship Application form:

Bus Service Changes

School bus timetables have been updated for 2025.  Please scan the QR code below for new departure times.

Website for journey planner:  https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/journey-planner

Community Notice Board

The school is happy to advertise some local events and business ventures. However, we do not necessarily endorse them to you. It is the responsibility of individual parents/caregivers to ensure that they themselves are satisfied with all services offered before they involve their children.