Principal's Message
Ironside State School
Term 4, Week 4 30 October 2026
From the Principal
Hi Everyone,
Happy World Teachers Day! Thank you to our wonderful teachers at Ironside State School! Teaching is such a complex job and is becoming more so as the world changes. Teachers work incredibly hard to be responsive to the varying needs of every wonderful child in their care, to holistically educate them and they do an amazing job. It was wonderful to see so many beautiful handwritten notes to teachers across our school and the different ways that families showed them their appreciation. Thank you also to our fabulous P&C, who gave every staff member a $25 voucher from Brikie and Brikie also topped it up with another $5 - thank you so much to them too. Our P&C Executive also left personalise cards in each teacher’s pigeonhole, it was an incredibly precious gesture, thank you so much! It is lovely to know that hardworking, passionate teachers are so appreciated by the children and our families, our P&C and the broader community. On top of that, our Student Council, hosted a dress as a teacher day today to celebrate World Teachers Day and to raise money for the Reading Out of Poverty, Children’s Literacy Charity - thank you Student Council! It was a lot of fun, and a good deed was done!
Today, on World Teachers Day, my day started by going to Parliament House where selected Ironside State School Strings students performed. Our children were invited to provide the background music for Parliament House for World Teachers Day, and I can tell you, they were outstanding and fantastic ambassadors for our school. I could not have been prouder as the principal of Ironside State School. Minister for Education, Mr John-Paul Langbroek was very forthcoming with thanks and praise. Thank you so much to those children and to Mrs Trudy Weekes.
Congratulations to our Prep to Year 3 Merit Certificate recipients for Week 4, we are very proud of you!
It was wonderful to listen to how far our Junior Strings have come when they performed on assembly this week. Congratulations Junior Strings and to their string’s teacher, Ms Germaine Lo! Next week, on Monday's Year 4-6 Assembly, the Senior Band will be the entertainment.
It was great to be able to catch up with both our Ironside School Council, as well as our P&C this week. I just can't emphasise enough how being part of the P&C makes you feel so connected to your child's school. There were many wonderful things discussed and announced this week. The P&C committed $10,000 towards Home Reading books!! The P&C also committed money to purchase the technology required to start to have online P&C meetings in 2027 to cater for people who can't make the meetings face to face. There are so many wonderful things that happen because of our P&C.
Mrs Tara Griffin, Mrs Gillian Bishop, Ms Georgia Perkins and I went to our final Reading Collaborative Learning Community session for this year yesterday. It was a wonderful day, as we reflected on how far we have come as a Reading Team, furthering this important agenda right across our school. Thank you to my colleagues, as well as Mrs Shelley Lee (who couldn't attend this meeting) for your commitment.
Speaking of reading, Book Fair is happening next week. The Book Fair has been put together by an independent book supplier that we are using for the first time, with a focus on rich texts which support our children's reading development and enjoyment. Thank you so much to Mrs Annika Savauge for putting this all together.
Next week on Monday it is the 2027 BYOD Parent Information Night and it is online. Thank you so much to Mr Thomas Corbett for running this session. I encourage parents of Year 4 students to listen to this important session.
Going to high school can be very daunting and so it is wonderful that next week our Year 6’s have an incursion where Headspace, the organisation, has been engaged to conduct a transition program with our Year 6 students. I hope this goes a long way towards helping to alleviate some of our children's fears as they head to high school. High school is a big step, but we want it to be an exciting one and a successful one. Thank you to Mr Corbett for organising this.
All the best to our Debating Teams for next Thursday night, as they have their final debating competitions for the year. I look forward to listening to their speeches yet again.
Next Friday, I am getting to be one of the judges of the Spring Fair Cake Competition. This is hard but important work, and somebody must do it. I am very honoured to have been asked to taste and judge the cake competition. On Saturday 7th October, it is the Ironside State School P&C Spring Fair. We are going to have a wonderful day. Our organisers have done an extraordinary job, and I look forward to everything the day has to offer.
Sadly, today is Mrs Tara Griffin’s last day at Ironside State School. It is also her birthday today - Happy Birthday Mrs Griffin! As I wrote in correspondence earlier this week, Mrs Griffin is loved enormously by the children, and I know families have been so grateful for her support over the last two years. As you can imagine our staff are very sad to see her go. Mrs Griffin, thank you for every small and enormous thing that you have done for Ironside State School over the last two years. We are going to miss your fun, energy and commitment to children, education and high expectations. We wish you all the very best on your next adventure.
I am on leave on Monday and Tuesday next week and Mr Thomas Corbett will be the principal in my absence - thank you Mr Corbett!
Servabo Fidem
Keep the Faith
Angie Kelly
P.S. A reminder that school starts at 9am and we have supervision from 8:30am. If your child needs to come to school before 8:30am you must enrol them at Outside School Hours Care (OSHC). Likewise, school finishes at 3pm. Children need to be picked up at or just after 3pm. If you cannot pick your child up or your child cannot get home at that time, they need to be enrolled in OSHC. To be clear, bringing your child to school before 8:30am or after 3pm, so that they can play on the playgrounds is not OK, even if you are supervising them. I would ask that you follow these guidelines to support the systems that support that safe operations of our organisation.