Principal's Message

Term 3 Week 3                                                                                                   31 July 2026

From the Principal

Hi Everyone, 

I was very distressed to hear of the tree accident at Guyatt Park. We know that many families were there and of course sadly, some were seriously injured. These types of things are such a shock, so please let us know if you or your children need any support.  Our thoughts are especially with those people who sustained injuries and we hope you physically heal soon. 

Haven't we had a big few weeks? So much has been going on! I want to say a big thank you to Mrs Tara Griffin who was the principal in my absence, whilst I was away on the Year 6 Camp. Mrs Griffin did my job and her own job and many other things extraordinarily well and I am very grateful. Thanks Mrs Griffin! 

It would be remiss of me to not make mention of how extraordinary our Year 6 Children were in Canberra! They were truly exemplary role models and ambassadors for Ironside State School, and we were given this feedback everywhere we went. It was a truly fantastic camp, and I want to thank Mrs Hannah Ersser and Mr Thomas Corbett for all their organising; it is a massive undertaking. I also want to give shoutouts to all of the staff who gave up their time to go away with the children for these five days Interstate – Ms Catherine Priday, Mr Bryan Chow, Ms Lea Benjamin, Ms Katie Paterson, Mr Brett Perrier, Mr Nathan Reardon and Mrs Miranda Sainsbury (Ms Ersser and Mr Corbett camp away too of course).  It was such a memorable and fantastic experience. 

Thank you to Mrs Shelley Lee who has been overseeing all of our Japanese school visits. Both Haga and Sakai have been very successfully welcomed and experienced life in Australia and in an Australian school.  Thank you to the many staff in the Japanese Study Tour Committee also. Thank you to all of you families who are billeting our Japanese visitors as well. Right across the school, so many staff and children are involved in welcoming and interacting with our guests and I thank them all. We have one last school to go and that is Akashi, we look forward to welcoming them next Tuesday the 4th of August at 9:15am. 

Thank you to all parents and caregivers who've managed to get into our Student Progress meetings, I have no doubt you have found them incredibly valuable. Thank you to our wonderful teachers who are facilitating these important meetings. We cannot underestimate the relationships between school and home in giving children the very best education. 

It was wonderful to see so many new faces at our P&C meeting this week. It was also the first week where we had our new executive functioning as a team and they did a fantastic job.  😊 

The Year 4 and Year 5 excursions have continued this week. It was heartwarming to receive an email from the staff at the Pullenvale Environmental Education Centre praising our children's behaviour and attitude towards their learning. I am enormously proud to receive feedback like this.  Well done to our children and their teachers. 

Week 4 is going to be another big week! The Redlands Eisteddfod is on Monday. All the very best to all our instrumental musicians who are performing at this. 

It is our Prep to Year 3 Merit Assembly this Monday and we will have the Year 1 Choir performing, which will be a lot of musical fun no doubt! 

The Australian Maths Competition will also be undertaken next week, and we wish all the children involved all the very best. 

Chappy Roslyn is having her next Chaplaincy Breakfast on Thursday the 6th of August at Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church Hall at 7:30 in the morning. If this is something you want to be involved in, please join us. I look forward to a lovely morning next Thursday. 

Next Thursday night the 6th of August, we have two important information nights happening. We have the Year 5 Camp Parent Information Night and the 2027 Prep Parent Information Night. Both sessions are starting at 6:30 PM. If you know of anybody who would like to enrol their child in Prep here at Ironside State School in 2027, please let them know to come along. 

The Year 6 Senior Shirt for 2027 Design Competition closes next Friday the 7th of August. I wonder what next year's shirt will look like! This is always an exciting competition. 

Interschool Sport kicks off next Friday for Term 3 and I have no doubt we've got lots of excited children ready to get amongst it. Thanks so much to Mr Nathan Reardon for organising it and to all our wonderful staff who are involved in making it all happen for our kids. 

Year 3 are also getting their chance to enhance their learning with an incursion next Friday, as Street Science comes to Ironside State School. Thanks so much to our Year 3 Teachers for organising this great incursion to support our children's learning. 

It was a poignant reminder this week, when a car had been parked across someone’s driveway near our school this week and a bus hit it, to follow the road rules. Please, please, please follow all the road rules. Please go to the traffic lights and the crossings to walk your children across the road; you are endangering their lives, your life and other people’s lives if you don’t. Please, let’s work together to keep our community safe. 

Finishing off this week, I want to say a massive thank you to all of you parents and caregivers who have completed the School Opinion Survey. It is so important that we get as many people as possible completing this survey. Feedback is a gift and we want to hear it from you. 

Have a truly fantastic weekend and week ahead. 

Servabo Fidem 

Keep the Faith 

Angie Kelly 

PS Our Student Council announced the Silent Disco this week.  Get your tickets on Qkr now.  Winter Wonderland Silent Disco, Tuesday 11th August.  Year 1-3 from 3:30-4:30pm and Year 4-6 from 4:45-6:30pm.  $10 a ticket.