Newsletter - 06/08/2024

Principal News

Week 4 is here and before you know it will be gone again. The last two weeks have been full of fun and engaging activities for students from across the school.

Have you seen the photos of our Year 4 students at Breddle’s Farm? Cuddling koalas, handling snake and lizards and seeing those big crocs. What an experience!

This week we have our Preps going to see a performance of ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ at the MECC, our cultural students (both instrumental and choral) take to the stage in our school hall for our Cultural Night and our Prep – Year 2 students have a wonderful morning of activity at our Junior Sports Carnival.

Next week, the learning fun continues with Science Week where the P&C have combined with the school to offer some really fun learning activities in the lunch hours for the students. More about this later in the newsletter. We are also partnering with Mackay North State High School for a Women in STEM morning tea with some of our Year 6 students attending a morning tea to hear from experts who are working in the science field currently. We can’t wait!

Next week also sees our Choral and Instrumental students compete in the Mackay Eisteddfod. Best of Luck to all of our students. You have been practicing hard and now it is time for your to let your hard work shine.

With all of the wonderful learning and extracurricular activities that are going on at Fitzgerald both within the classroom and beyond, it is really important that we have all children at school. When children are at school on a daily basis:
- Learning happens every day
- Friendship grow
- Confidence is built
- Teachers can support better
- School is fun! Every day brings new activities, discoveries, and chances to shine.

Let's work together to make every school day great day for every student!

School Opinion Survey
The school opinion survey is live with families being emailed a link to complete the survey. The survey is open for parent responses until the 22^nd of August. We would love for parents to complete the survey to let us know how we are going across various aspects of the school. Let us know what is going well and what our next areas of focus will be. At this point, we have 12.1% of surveys completed. We would love for 100% to be completed to give us a really great picture of what our community thinks of our school.

Tracey Adams
Principal

Heath & Physical Education

Junior Sports Day

Prep - 2 students will be participating in the Junior School Sports Day this Friday, August 08, 2025.  The events will be held on the school oval and will include running events, fun races and field events with participation being the theme of the day.  We would like to see as many students as possible wearing their house shirts. 

Parents are most welcome to attend. Some shade will be provided for the students, however they will still need a hat, sunscreen and water bottle. Please mark your child’s name clearly on his/her belongings (hat, jumper, shoes, and drink bottle). The day will commence at 9.15am (approximately) with a March Past. After this, students will break into class groups to be involved in a number of rotation activities as per the program below.

We look forward to a fun day of sports and participation for all students.

Russell Hope
PE Teacher

From the Guidance Officer

Mackay Youth Support Services

A new programme is on offer at Mackay Youth Support Services.

The programme is called “Step-Up” and is aimed at 7 to 17-year-olds who behave disrespectfully towards their parents.

In this case, being disrespectful goes beyond the occasional storm off to the bedroom, this programme is targeted at early abusive or violent behaviour.

Examples of this might include:
- Standing over a parent or sibling physically.
- Early coercion, refusal to participate or behave in an age-appropriate manner unless they are receiving something.
- Gender or other stereotyping: "girls can't play football" or an unwillingness to hear a female's view as her own decision making.
- Damaging property as a means of coercion or intimidation.

“Step-Up” works directly with children, and parents and can be run for an individual family or group run sessions with other families.

Shane Sturdy is the facilitator of “Step-Up” and is happy to discuss the programme with anyone interested on 0447 418 940.

___________________________________________________________

Mackay Youth Support Services also runs “Who's in Charge" which is a parenting programme designed to help parents regain control in their home and can be used in partnership with the “Step-Up” program for the young person.

“Who’s in Charge” and “Step-Up” are both free of charge.

Reclaim Respect and calm in your family

The Who's in Charge? Group is a free 8 week program for parents and carers.  The group aims to:
- Provide a supportive environment to share experiences and ideas
- Reduce the guild and shame which most parents feel
- Offer ideas to help you develop individual strategies for managing your Child's behaviour
- Explore ways of increasing safety and well-being
- Help parents feel more in control and less stressed

Individual sessions also available by appointment

Address
Mackay Youth Support Service
Act for Kids Office
1/121 Boundary Road East, Paget

Contact Karen 0417 223 747, u-nite@myss.org.au

Anxiety Coaching for Parents

EVERY WEEK there is a conversation at school about children having possible anxiety.  Whilst many of these children will not be formally diagnosed, having an awareness of how adults can help at home is invaluable.  Life throws many difficult situations at us and we all need to have strategies to help us be resilient and cope during these difficult times.

This FREE three-part series is brought to you by CatholicCare and The Neighbourhood Hub's Early Connections Program. This workshop is specifically designed for parents and carers of children aged 0 - 8 years and will provide a greater understanding of the problem of increasing levels of anxiety in children to help parents to manage and counter its progress.

You can expect:
- An overview of how a well-honed theory of parenting (what you need to repeatedly do) can assist parents to manage children's worries.
- Coverage of how some misguided policies are making parents and children more anxious.
- The brain, including how the pre-frontal middle cortex and the amygdala operate, and where fear and anxiety originates.
- Commonly misused phrases and cognitive distortions used by children and their peers.
- A helicopter view of what risks we can allow, and which require us to keep children safe.
- Traps and trip wires': what to do when a child's amygdala starts to play-up.
- Memorable strengthening sayings, questioning strategies and mindfulness exercises.

Children welcome and morning tea provided.

Register for your FREE ticket via the link below

Alexia Wotherspoon
Guidance Officer

Music & Instrumental

Upcoming Cultural Events

Cultural Evening
Thursday, August 07, 6pm in the School Hall
All choirs and instrumental groups will be performing

Mackay Eisteddfod at the MECC
Thursday 14^th August: Year 3 Junior Choir, Folk Group, Senior Choir
Friday 15^th August: Year 4 Choir, Senior Choir (Novelty Section)
Monday 18^th August: Beginner String Ensemble, Senior String Ensemble, Beginner Concert Band, Senior Concert Band

2026 Instrumental Program Parent Sessions
For parents of students wishing to join the 2026 Instrumental Program (Strings – Year 3 / Woodwind, Brass, Percussion – Year 4) – parents must attend 1 session for their child to be considered.
- Wednesday 10^th September 6pm
- Thursday 11^th September 2pm
- Friday 12^th September 2pm

Linda Miller
Music Teacher / Instrumental Music Coordinator 

Head of Special Education Services

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) this is currently being collated for 2025. The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019). Parents will receive a letter and information in the next few weeks if your child has been included in this Data Collection.

Children who may be identified in this data, may not necessarily have a recognized disability, but are included because they require some level of support to access all areas of schooling. This could be due to one or more of the following reasons:

• they have a permanent disability of ASD; Intellectual Disability; Vision Impairment; Deaf/Hard of Hearing; or Physical Disability.
• they have academic difficulties requiring them to need support to access the curriculum.
• they have communication difficulties and are on an Individual Speech Program
• they have a medical diagnosis that effects their functioning at school e.g. Epilepsy, Anaphylaxis, Diabetes, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Anxiety etc
• they are receiving Social Emotional support for Anxiety from our School Psychologist or Guidance Officer

Carolyn Berck
Head of Special Education

From the Library

Brittany Kendall          Jo Struthers
Teacher Librarian       Teacher Aide

2025 Premier's Reading Challenge

Reading Challenge ends August 22.  All forms must be returned by this date.

Student Council Pajama Day

Upcoming Events

P&C News

FITZY'S TUCKERBOX MENU

PCYC Fitzgerald Fun Squad

JOIN THE FUN SQUAD AT PCYC FITZGERALD! 

Looking for a fun, active, and engaging way for your kids to burn energy, build confidence, and make new friends? Look no further than PCYC Fitzgerald’s Fun Squad – where every session is packed with excitement, movement, and unforgettable memories!

What’s Fun Squad all about?
It’s a high-energy program designed for primary school-aged kids who love to move, laugh, and try new things. Think obstacle courses, team games, creative challenges, and loads of surprises – all run by our friendly, experienced youth workers and coaches.

Why parents love it:
- Promotes healthy habits
- Builds teamwork and leadership
- Safe, inclusive, and supervised environment
- Helps kids unplug from screens and connect in real life!

Perfect for kids who:
- Have endless energy
- Need a confidence boost
- Want to make new friends
- Just love having FUN!

Sessions run before school, after school and on the holidays! Spots are filling fast – don’t miss out!

Visit the link below to enrol today.  Let your kids join the squad where fun is the goal, and every child is a star 🌟

Community News