Hello and welcome to our new and returning families. I hope that your child or children have settled in well for the start of the school year. My apologies for the state of our grounds over the first week but unfortunately our groundsman fell sick. He is back at work now and you will see he is quickly getting it back to the beautiful learning environment it was.
Our school is staffed by the Queensland Government based on the number of students that are present in our school on the 8th day of the school year. This is today the 2nd February. We have structured our school based on 19 roll classes and at this point we are looking good and should not have to reshuffle students to meet maximum class numbers.
Over the next few weeks your child's teacher will be organising an afternoon information session. Keep and eye out via email for this invitation. During this time you will get to meet your child's teacher and be given an opportunity to learn about the routines and expectations of the classroom.
At the beginning of every year school's develop an implementation plan that ensures we meet the needs of our Department. This mandate along with local decisions based on our students needs forms our school Annual Implementation Plan (AIP). The following is a brief summary of our AIP.
- Continue
- Focus on reading through Structured Reading Sessions
- Whole Be+ing Initiative
- Enhance
- Curriculum Learning Teams through data based Inquiry Cycles
- Individual Class Adjustments that inform planning and pedagogy
- Create
- Universal Design for Learning to reduce barriers and increase learning opportunities
Swimming lessons for our children commence next week. I am aware that information has previously been sent to parents and I certainly support the concern that the costs are significant. I am particularly keen over the course of the term to talk with you about what can be done to reduce these costs for 2024 as indicators are it will continue to rise. Our school does not make money on swimming or excursions, in fact on most occasions its costs the school. Due to the high cost we have pushed out the payment due date to the 24nd of February. I have made a number of dot points below so you are fully informed of how costs are calculated. Calculations are based on 415 students attending.
- Cost of Pool Entry (415 students x 6 lessons x $3) GST FREE $7470.00
- Swimming instructors (415 students x 6 lessons x $55/hr x 4 instructors) $21780.00
- Swimming carnival pool hire $1696.75
- Bus hire for swimming lessons. Walk to carnival. $11220.00
- TOTAL EXPENSES $42166.75
- Funds provided by Education Department $2250.00
- Funds provided by school to reduce cost $6750.00
- Removed GST from expenses $3154.25
- TOTAL INCOME $12154.25
OUTSTANDING COST DIVIDED BY 415 STUDENTS $72.31
Some points for clarification.
- Whilst we are charged inclusive of GST by the pool we have not passed these expenses on to families.
- Class teachers are present during lessons to increase supervision. Students with disabilities or special medical needs have additional Teacher Aides at the pool to assist with safety.
- Bus has been included at the request of parents in the past who expressed concern for students walking to the pool. We reduce costs by walking to the carnival.
- In the past we swam for 9 weeks but have recently reduced to 6 weeks due to rising costs.
- School provided funds have been taken from other budget areas to reduce the cost of swimming.
- If less than 415 students pay and attend swimming the short fall is funded by the school.
- We do not receive travel funding from the Department because the closest pool is less than 1 km away.
I recognise the need for our children to be capable swimmers and the cost to achieve this is significant. If you have ideas to reduce costs please drop me an email or catch me around the school to discuss.
Wayne