Principal's Report 

Active School Travel Launch

Our recent launch of the Active School Travel program was a wonderful morning for our school community.  We estimate that around 400 people walked or rode to school that day and joined us for a breakfast when they arrived. 

The Active School Travel program is generously supported by the Gold Coast City Council and aims to develop travel habits that assist with traffic around peak times.  There are other potential benefits that we will be embracing and they are fitness, fun and consideration of the environment.

We are deeply grateful to our wonderful supporters who contributed to the launch breakfast:  Gold Coast City Council, Leos Club (Palm Beach State High School), Tallebudgera Lions Club (who also volunteered and made a million pieces of delicious toast), YMCA (our onsite out of hours care service provider) and Woolworths 19th Ave Palm Waters.  Thank you to all community members, parents, carers and staff who volunteered, our Active School Travel Committee, our P&C and the team from the Gold Coast City Council for their work to make this event such a success.

Through ongoing participation in the Active School Travel program, students have the chance to receive prizes, with the focus at this point being on ‘Get Your Fit on Fridays’. 

P&C Executive Team

Congratulations to our P&C executive team who were re-elected at this week’s Annual General Meeting!

I am delighted to announce that our 2023 – 2024 P&C executive team are:

• Lucy Pritchard - P&C President
• Fiona Luke - P&C Vice-President
• Corinne Campbell – P&C Secretary
• James Hill - P&C Treasurer 

Lucy, Fiona, Corinne and James are a dynamic, positive, passionate team who are deeply invested in working to support our school and community.  I encourage all parents and carers to consider joining our P&C to be part of the exciting initiatives that are occurring this year. P&C meetings will now be at 9am on Fridays of weeks 5 and 9 for the rest of the year, making the time convenient after dropping children off for the start of school at 8:55am.

Facilities Upgrade

We are in the planning phase of a facilities upgrade that will see four of the older modular buildings replaced this year. This is wonderful news as the outcome will be 8 larger, more modern classrooms. I will update our families as the plans progress throughout the year.

Collaborative Planning

Each term, teachers are released to plan together to ensure that we provide a consistently, high quality educational program.  Our Curriculum Leaders and Deputy Principal (Teaching and Learning) support teaching teams to develop the planning and assessment, aligned with the Australian National Curriculum and informed by the learning needs of our students.

Collaborative planning will occur throughout Week 10 of this term. When teaching teams are planning, our specialists will take classes to ensure the continuation of learning.

Prosperity Partners

Thank you to Glen Bowie, Positive Energy Tennis Club, who has signed as a Bronze Sponsor through our P&C’s Prosperity Partners program.  He will join our other Prosperity Partners who support our school and enable our P&C to enhance the opportunities for our students, school and community. 

Our P&C’s 2023 Prosperity Partners are: 

Gold Sponsor:  PRD Burleigh (John Fischer and Shelley Watkins)

Silver Sponsor:  Nurse Next Door (Lauren Macdonald and Glen Parsons) and Crick Tweed – Subaru, Mitsubishi and Renault (Ryan and Jodi Harding)

Bronze Sponsor:  Black Mortgage Brokers (Ella Sanderson)

Tally Unity Day

On Friday 31 March, we will hold our annual Tally Unity Day which marks Harmony Day and the National Day Against Bullying and Violence (both fall on other dates).  We combine recognition of these important days into a signature event that celebrates us being united in our respect and appreciation of diversity and commitment to kindness.

This is an inclusive event that allows all students to participate in free activities during the school day, including a disco.  Students may wear an item of orange with their school uniform and school shoes to reflect their stand against bullying and for kindness and respect. Orange socks, hair accessories or t-shirts are great options and need to be sun safe (e.g. no strapless and midriff shirts).

Zoe Harlow

Principal