Indooroopilly State School eNewsletter

Debbie Spanner

Principal

principal@indooroopillyss.eq.edu.au

Welcome to 2025

Students were eager to greet and meet their teacher and peers, as they began the 2025 school year. Thank you for all you have done to ensure they have the necessary equipment and uniforms to set them up for success. I hope they have come home this week feeling excited about the year ahead.

Last week staff participated in three days of professional learning, based on the school foci for 2025. Topics such as English and Maths curriculum and pedagogies, culturally responsive teaching, teaching of handwriting and quality intervention practices were visited by some or all year levels, depending on the topics. Building team agreements for high performing teacher cohorts was also a focus, including onboarding and orientating new staff. It was a very productive few days due to staff professionalism and commitment to the strategic agenda.

The main school priority for teaching and learning in 2025 is the implementation of the newly designed English units of work, as part of the roll out of the new version of the Australian curriculum. These units are designed to include Science of Learning principles, inclusive and culturally responsive teaching practices, as befitting the Indooroopilly SS context.

Staff have spent many hours in the last week setting up their new classrooms and preparing lessons to help set their classes up for a successful launch into 2025. We appreciate the lengths staff go to, helping create optimal learning environments for students.

It was wonderful to have the new ramp opened for the first day of school. Singleton oval is a third completed and the rest will be handed back in the next month. We appreciate how hard Wiley and their contractors have worked to lessen the disruption to school operations. We also appreciate the resilience staff, students and parents have demonstrated as they have navigated such limited access points.

A few other transformations have occurred over the holidays, including a refurbishment of B and C block. Teachers and students are truly delighted with the changes, creating much more effective learning environments.

Swimming pool change rooms have had a freshen up too with internal painting and floors replaced. We know that our children will appreciate the upgrade too.

A reminder to look for alternative ways to travel to and from school if you can, to avoid the lack of parking and busyness of the Stop Drop Go zones. Thank you for your patience and understanding as you work with supervising staff to make drop off and pick up as efficient as possible.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the Parent Information sessions coming up, beginning with Year 2 this Thursday evening.

Yours in education,

Deb

Parent Information Evenings

NEW information added 3/02/2025. Years 3 - 6 sessions will be in classrooms, not in the school hall.

6:00 - 7:00pm, starting in the School Hall before moving to classrooms.

Parent attendance is encouraged at these events. Please meet in the school hall for messages from the school’s leadership. Parents will then be invited to move to their children’s classroom for messages from the class teachers. Students are not expected to attend these sessions.

We highly recommend that at least one parent from each household attends to gain an insight into what your children will be learning and doing in their 2025 year level. The aim of these sessions is to share information, provide an introduction to our class teachers and respond to general questions for the year level or class.

Date	Year Level
Thursday 30/01/2025	Year 2
Monday 3/02/2025	Prep
Tuesday 4/02/2025	Year 4
Wednesday 5/02/2025	Year 3
Thursday 6/02/2025	Year 6
Wednesday 12/02/2025	Year 5
Thursday 13/02/2025	Year 1

Upcoming Events, Week 2 - 3

Date	Event	Location	Times
Monday 3/02/25	Prep Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Mon &Tue 3/2/25 & 4/2/25	Year 6 Bright Futures STEM Incursion
Tuesday 4/02/25	Year 4 Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Wednesday 5/02/25	Year 5 Wildcall Animals Incursion
Wednesday 5/02/25	Year 3 Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Thursday 6/02/25	Year 5 Wildcall Animals Incursion
Thursday 6/02/25	Year 6 Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Sunday 9/02/25	Prep parents welcome BBQ	Details TBA	Details TBA
Monday 10/02/25	District Swimming
Tuesday 11/02/25	Year 6 UPP Aspire Higher
Wednesday 12/02/25	Year 5 Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Thursday 13/02/25	National Apology Day
Thursday 13/02/25	Year 1 Parent Information Night	School Hall then classrooms	6:00 – 7:00pm
Friday 14/02/25	Student Leader Badge Ceremony	School Hall	9:30am

Term 1 Date Claimers, Week 4 onwards

P&C Movie Night - 22/02/2025
P&C Meeting - 24/02/2025
Year 3 Starlab incursion - 25/02/2025
Regional Swimming - 26/02/2025
Student Council Meeting - 28/02/2025
Year 3 Life Ed incursion 4-6/03/2025
Years 3-6 Cross Country - 7/03/2025 EVENT POSTPONED, Date TBA
Year 6 Camp Group 1, 10-14/03/2025
Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN testing window, 12-24/03/2025
Student Council Badge Ceremony - 19/03/2025
Harmony Folk Night - 20/03/2025
Harmony Day Events - 21/03/2025
Year 6 Camp Group 2, 24-28/03/2025
P&C AGM - 24/03/2025
Year 1 & 2 author visit - 27/03/2025
Prep 2026 Open Morning - 28/03/2025
Prep Hat Parade - 31/03/2025

Introduction to the Parents & Citizens Association

The Indooroopilly State School Parents & Citizens Association (ISS P&C) is a vital part of life at our school. The ISS P&C has a productive partnership with the School Leadership Team and its Community to promote the interests of the school and facilitate its development and further improvement to achieve the best possible outcomes for our students.

P&C Operated Facilities

Outside School Hours Care
Uniform Shop
Tuckshop
Tennis Court Hire

Other P&C Activities

Class Parent Respresentatives
Friday night swim club
Clean Green Team
School Magazine
Traffic Management Committee
Indigo! Fair (next event planned for 2026)

Throughout the year, parent volunteers work to organise events that not only raise funds, but also create a sense of community and a welcoming and inclusive environment for all families. Funds are directed to major projects and a significant annual school contribution. This allows the school to provide extra resources for learning and play.

You can join your class What's App group to receive messages from our P&C and the Parent Representative from your class. Contact your class Parent Rep to request an invitation. You can also stay updated by following our Indooroopilly State School P&C Association Facebook Page.

If you would like to be an active P&C Parent Representative, please complete the Application for P&C Membership and email it to secretary@isspandc.org.au.

2025 P&C Membership & Nomination

P&C Meetings are held on the 4th Monday of the month, 6.00-7:30pm, in the school library and/or on Microsoft Teams. All are welcome!

Please join us for our first meeting of the year either in person or online.

6:00 - 7:30pm Monday 24 February (In Library or on Teams)

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 488 208 755 821

Passcode: ddHKvv

Our P&C Annual General Meeting is in person only in the School Library

6:00 - 7:30pm Monday 24 March in the School Library

The evening will provide an overview of 2024 P&C activities before election of the 2025 Executive committee members. All positions become available for election on an annual basis. Nominations are due by 5pm on the Friday prior to the AGM 21/03/2025.

Traffic and Parking News

Bus Route Update

The 714 bus route used by many ISS families has been extended to improve connection between Taringa/Indooroopilly Woods and Indooroopilly State High School. Check Translink for details.

Brisbane City Council Safer Schools Program

School Zone Parking

Parking in accordance with all road rules and signage is important to keep our children and other road users safe. Unfortunately, Brisbane City Council has received an increase in the number of reports of illegal parking around our school. As a result, our school has been added to Council’s Safer Schools Program this term.

What does this mean?

Brisbane City Council’s Parking Compliance Officers will be actively patrolling the streets surrounding our school over the coming term to encourage safer parking behaviours. These patrols will be conducted on foot and in highly visible Community Safety and Regulation vehicles that can identify alleged offences using Automatic Number Plate Recognition and GPS software. Please be kind – they have a job to do.

Amy Howkins

Deputy Principal,

Culture, Connections & Community

ahowk1@eq.edu.au

Welcome to 2025! As always, it is set to be a busy year!

There are already many events on the calendar for Term 1, including:

Parent Teacher Information Evenings
Prep Parents Welcome BBQ
P&C Movie Night
Harmony Folk Night concert and Harmony Day celebrations, including a traditional Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony

Please ensure that you check your emails, subscribe to the school and P&C FaceBook pages and school newsletter to ensure that you are kept up to date with all the events for 2025.

https://www.facebook.com/indooroopillystateschool/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559123083079

School Connections and Belonging

One of the Strategic Plan priorities is Connecting Community. We are invested in how we can encourage connections within our school community beyond the classroom and peer groups. Last year we posed some questions to a selection of students from P-6, specifically related to their school house and the school house system. Some findings included:

Very few students knew who their house was named after; of those who could, very few could identify who these people were
All students could name their house and house colour; most could name the other houses and colours
Very few knew who their house captain is (most of the Year 6 students did)
Only some (fewer than half) knew all their house war cry
Most students said they felt connected to their house, largely due to cheering when participating in events; however, those who did not feel connected had very strong feelings as to why
Over half said they enjoyed participating in events for their house
Those who said they did not like participating indicated it was because the competitive nature of the house was sports-oriented, and it was not a strength of theirs
Suggestions for more interhouse competitions included:
- Debating
- Choral and music events
- Ball games carnivals
- Science / STEM robotics competitions
Other suggestions included:
- Having houses named after females
- Having houses with names that reflected the multicultural nature of our school
- Having houses named after people who excelled in areas other than sport
- Spending time together more regularly as a house, to get to know others in different year levels

We would really welcome your opinion on the house system here at school – it will only take about 3 minutes of your time. Thank you for your input.

https://forms.office.com/r/8P3gkws1TQ

Steve Box

Head of Curriculum

sbox6@eq.edu.au

Sascha Rogers

Head of Curriculum

sroge95@eq.edu.au

Teachers have worked tirelessly in the lead up to 2025 to develop programs in all learning areas that are responsive to the Australian Curriculum and reflective of our Indooroopilly State School context. With the new Mathematics curriculum implemented in 2024 and the continued embedding of our teaching practices in Maths, for 2025 our attention turns to English, with Australian Curriculum Version 9 commencing implementation.

Click on the links below to view short videos from our Heads of Department – Curriculum, Mrs Rogers and Mr Box about what this might look like for us at ISS.

Prep - Year 2 English https://youtu.be/jG-64wkmjeU

Year 3-6 Curriculum Update https://youtu.be/omRRvFjXYpw

Lorenzo Guglielmino

Cecylia Garcia

Allie Masuch

HPE team email- pestaff@indooroopillyss.eq.edu.au

We have another busy year of sport and PE at Indooroopilly!

We are pleased to officially welcome Ms Allie Masuch to our PE team. Allie was working in our team for most of last year and now she will be working with us full-time.

ISS FunDay Swimming Carnival in 2024 

Thanks to all students, teachers, staff and parents for helping us at the end of last year during the Years 1 to 6 swimming carnivals (non-competitive).

All carnivals were a great success, with everyone participating and having lots of fun in the water!

Results for the winning houses in each carnival:

Competitive carnival Years 3-6 = Oxley

Year 3 = Cook

Year 4 = Cook

Year 5 = Flinders

Year 6 = Oxley

The OVERALL WINNING HOUSE for the 2024 ISS Swimming Carnival was FLINDERS, congratulations!

Swimming lessons

Swimming classes will commence on Monday 3 February (Week 2) for Years 1 to 6 students. Please make sure you submit the online permission form below if you have not already done so.

https://forms.office.com/r/UpN6MsajZi

The focus for Years 1 to 6 swimming classes is on water safety, survival, and rescue and lifesaving skills. The lessons this term highlight the importance on being safe and familiar with water, rather than stroke correction. The aim is to have all students of all abilities becoming water safe and water smart.

Prep PE classes are focused on gross motor movements and skills in Physical Education. Students use personal and social skills when working with others in a range of activities. They demonstrate, with guidance, practices and protective behaviours to keep themselves safe and healthy in different activities. They perform fundamental movement skills and solve movement challenges.

Parents helpers: We will need adult helpers in the pool for the Years 1 & 2 students. Please let us know if you would like to help in the swimming lessons. Parents that are able to swim and jump in the water with the students would be ideal.

During our PE lessons, we will be providing students with experiences that are fun, team-based, focused on decision making/thinking and most importantly engaging to all students. This is an inquiry-based approach that allows students to develop their own skills and understanding while being actively involved in the games. We look forward to fostering your child’s development in PE classes throughout the year.

Please see below the swimming timetable for this term (subject to change):

ISS Years 3-6 Cross Country

UPDATE 6/02/2025 - Postponed, new date TBA

Students from Years 3 to 6 will participate in our Cross Country event this term on Friday 7th March (Week 6) at Moore Park. More information will be shared in our coming newsletters.

Interschool Sport (Year 5 & 6)

Interschool sport seasons will be in Term 2 and 3. We will share more information in our next newsletters.

District Sport

We are in the process of nominating students for the District Swimming trials to be held on Monday 10th February at St Peters Lutheran College 50m Pool (Indooroopilly).

Times from the ISS 2024 Competitive Swimming Carnival have been used to select students for the events based on the qualifying times sent to us from Northern Eagles District School Sport.

If your child is new to ISS this year or they were away for the swimming carnival last year and they are a high level, competitive swimmer and wish to be considered for the Northern Eagles trials, please contact us immediately via email so we can consider them.

There are many other district sports coming up this term. If your child is interested in attending any district trials throughout the year, please email pestaff@indooroopillyss.eq.edu.au well in advance before the corresponding trial date.

Note: we can only send a limited number of students from Indooroopilly State School to the trials. If we have a big number of students interested, we will have to hold a trial within the school first.

Please see the current District Trials calendar (subject to change):

Please make sure you keep up to date with all PE and sporting news by reading the school’s newsletter. This is where we will publish all information related to our sport carnivals and district trials.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Margaret Hoey

Music Teacher

mhoey5@eq.edu.au

Cassi Zander

Music Teacher

czand4@eq.edu.au

At ISS we love to sing. We strive to have the opportunity to perform once a term on parade or in a festival or concert. Our choirs have changed a little this year to accommodate other school activities. Choir rehearsals start next week. For more information and to register please click on the link below.

Click here to register for the choirs

Monday
Yr 5/6 Chamber Strings	7:30am	Strings Room	Mrs Harle
Tuesday
Yr 5/6 Senior Strings	7:30am	Strings Room	Mrs Harle
Yr 4 Mezzo Voices	7:45am	STEAM Room	Mrs Zander
Wednesday
Yr 5 Band	7:30am	School Hall	Mr Harris
Yr 6 Grande Voices	7:45am	Music Room	Mrs Hoey
Yr 4 Band	1:00pm	School Hall	Mr Harris
Thursday
Yr 6 Band	7:30am	School Hall	Mr Harris
Yr 5 Cinque Voices	7:45am	Music Room	Mrs Hoey
Friday
Yr 4 Intermediate Strings	7:30am	Strings Room	Mrs Harle
Yr 3 Beginner Strings	1:30pm	Strings Room	Mrs Harle
Yr 5/6 Extension Cantare Voices	7:45am	Music Room	Mrs Hoey
Yr 3 Poco Voices	2:20pm	STEAM Room	Mrs Zander

Julie Bliss

Deputy Principal, Years 3 & 6

jmbli0@eq.edu.au

Years 3 and 6 students and teachers are off to a great start. Since Day 1, they have been revising our school HONOUR values and Learning Assets with a focus on the CONTRIBUTOR asset this fortnight. All teachers have been working towards setting up clear routines and creating a sense of belonging and care in classrooms.

Our first Senior Assembly will occur on Monday with our new School Captains leading the assembly. Year 6 students will enjoy the STEM Bright Futures incursion as well as a personal leadership incursion, Unleashing Personal Potential, in the next two weeks.

As a matter of routine, our teaching teams share resources, plan learning experiences and moderate work for consistency with the goal of reducing variability across classrooms. We highly value our teachers at Indooroopilly State School because they care about their students and work together to be effective teaching teams. When teachers work together cohesively, it creates collective teacher efficacy which has the highest effect size on student learning.

Amongst the Year 6 teaching team

we have a pilot, an archaeologist, a lawyer, a naval officer, an editor, and an international sporting referee. Here is the Year 6 team:

6A - David Frame

6B - Jodie Fletton

6C - Hayley Trowbridge

6D - David Colston

6E - Bridget Slater

6F - Conrad Power

6G - James O’Brien

6H - Sally Green (Year Level Coordinator)

6I - AJ Hughes

Learning Enhancement Teacher - Gaia Noble

It has been wonderful to meet the Year 3 teachers and students as their new deputy principal in 2025. Amongst the Year 3 team, we have a researcher/policy writer, a marketing guru, a writer, a circus performer and a dance teacher.

Here is the Year 3 teaching team:

3A - Gemma Zielke

3B - Rachael Challen

3C - Shelley Clark

3D - Angus Anderson

3E - Lillian Spall(Year Level Coordinator)

3F - Nicky Pentz

3G - Mel Matthews

3H - Kathryn O’Gorman

Learning Enhancement Teacher - Loren Donley

We look forward to working closely with our families to create the best outcomes for all children.

Steve Box

Acting Deputy Principal, Years 4 & 5

sbox6@eq.edu.au

Welcome to a big year of growth and learning in Years 4 and 5. I am delighted to start the year serving as Acting Deputy Principal and working with students and staff to begin 2025 in the most Honourable way possible.

It has been wonderful to visit each classroom this week and see the faces of our learners back and ready for all that lies ahead. We have a fantastic teaching team in these year levels and no doubt you will enjoy the chance to get to know them at the upcoming parent information evening.

Let me introduce our teaching teams who, along with our specialist teachers, will lead your child’s learning in 2025:

Year 4:

4A – Rob Scott and Pat Sullivan

4B – Ethan Bui

4C – Cassie Boin (Year Level Coordinator)

4D – Victoria Jensen

4E – Alice Sinnott and Fran Bourke

4F – Kelly Bradley and Fran Bourke

4G – Howard Yang

4H – Neil Madden and Fran Bourke

4I - Jake Nosworthy

Learning Enhancement Teacher – Mel Korn

Year 5:

5A – Sophie Bell

5B – Ella Webb

5C – Jo Larcom

5D – David Kemp (Year Level Coordinator)

5E – Kirsteen Thomson

5F – Andrew Griffin

5G – Tim Tunks

5H – Sam Donovan

Learning Enhancement Teacher – Jasmine McCrohon

Wendy Fender

Deputy Principal, Years 1 & 2

wfend1@eq.edu.au

We have had a fabulous start to the year! There has been a buzz of excitement as the children discover new elements to the school environment as well as their classroom environment for 2025.

We are delighted to welcome many new faces- students, families and also new teachers for Years 1 and 2.

It has been very impressive to observe the organisational and learning routines that are already being established, and I know Week 2 will be even more amazing!

Our Year 1 Team for 2025:

1A- Judy Bakharia and Brittany Richters

1B- Nicola MacDonald

1C- Lily Collins

1D- Sue Boyce and Brittany Richters

1E- Kat Sotiropoulos (Year Level Coordinator)

1F- Mel Mills

Learning Enhancement Teacher- Katherine Anderson

Our Year 2 Team for 2025:

2A- Simone O’Keeffe and Aly Bates

2B- Grace Bailey

2C- Gilly McAusland (Year Level Coordinator)

2D- Hannah Crittenden

2E- Tracey Wright

2F- Charlotte Thompson

2G- Hajira Bakharia and Aly Bates

Learning Enhancement Teacher- Nicole Smith

Amy Howkins

Deputy Principal, Prep

ahowk1@eq.edu.au

I have no doubt there were some very tired little people (and parents!) on Tuesday afternoon - it was a busy first day for our newest students, and their families.

I am delighted to be the DP for the Prep team this year, and I look forward to meeting many of our new and existing families throughout the year. A great opportunity for our families to connect will be at the Prep parents Welcome BBQ on the afternoon of Sunday, 9th February. Save the date – more information will be going home soon!