We are all looking forward to welcoming back the Year 2 to 6 students on Monday 25 May, 2020. The staged return to school over the past weeks has provided time for us to develop and implement arrangements to ensure the return can be made safely. The Kindergarten, Prep and Year 1 students will continue with the drop off and pick up procedures that have been in place for the past two weeks. Students from Years 2 to 6 will be greeted by staff outside my Office in the mornings and will then make their way to their classrooms. In the afternoons, students will be ready for pick up at the drop off/pick up area at the front of the school. We ask parents not to congregate in or around the school, in the car park, at drop off and pick up or outside classrooms. If parents choose to continue their child’s learning at home, both supervision and continuity of learning are their responsibility. Teachers will be teaching face-to-face within the classroom environment and not be expected to lead dual (face-to-face and home-based) modes of teaching and learning.   Show Day Holiday The Maleny Show has been cancelled for 2020 due to COVID-19, however, as it is a gazetted Show Day holiday for the Caloundra area, next Friday 29 May remains a public holiday and the school will be closed. You Can Do It Program This term we will be continuing to implement the You Can Do It Program in the Junior School. The main purpose of the program is to support communities, schools and families in a collective effort to optimise the social, emotional and academic outcomes of all young people. Its unique contribution is in identifying the social and emotional capabilities that all young people need to acquire in order to be successful in school, experience wellbeing and have positive relationships including making contributions to others and the community. The program focuses on building the social, emotional and motivational capacity of young people. It encourages prevention, promotion and intervention efforts in order to build the social and emotional strengths of young people. Confidence, Persistence, Organisation, Getting Along and Resilience are the social and emotional strengths that provide the five foundations of the program. These foundations are nourished and supported by 12 positive Habits of the Mind (Ways of Thinking). In the program, the patterns of thinking that enable young people to manage their own learning, emotions and behaviour represented by the 5 Foundations are made explicit. We will focus on each of the 5 Foundations and 12 Habits of Mind throughout the year. Our focus for the next two weeks is on the social and emotional capability of persistence. Students will be involved in discussions about what strategies and behaviours help us socialise appropriately. They will be reminded that persistence is: Trying hard and not giving up Not letting others distract them from their work Finishing their work on time Trying their best even if it’s not their favourite activity Checking their work carefully. Persistent thinking is: Trying their best Working hard until they have finished I can do it! It would be appreciated if you could support this program at home as it helps reinforce the importance of these social behaviours. Class News from 2LS Year 2 students have been working very hard at home and school with their online learning. When asked about what was the best part of online learning all of the students agreed that it was our daily roll call sessions where we could see each other and hear about what our friends have been doing. Students also enjoy our afternoon Show and Share sessions where we catch up in small groups. It has been wonderful to be able to share different things from home that we would normally never be able to bring to school, like all of our pets, plants in our garden, fishing off our pontoon, cubby houses and even backyard playgrounds and Ninja Warrior courses. To celebrate the last week of online learning we are looking forward to a fun theme day each morning, such as pyjama day, crazy hair day, wear your favourite sporting team gear, crazy hat day and of course on Friday it is PARTY DAY! Students have been using the See Saw learning platform to access daily videos to explain lessons and activities. They have continued reading every day in a guided reading session with Miss Sneesby and over the five weeks have written interesting creative writing pieces, procedural texts to explain how to cook different things and information reports about Australian animals.