Foxwell State Secondary College eNewsletter

A very warm welcome to our college community for the 2024 school year to our new and continuing families.

We believe that a positive school experience for our young people relies on a strong partnership between school, home and the whole local community.

Parents, carers, and the broader community play a vital role in supporting successful learning outcomes for our children. The research tells us that the most meaningful partnerships are those where schools, parents, students and the community work together to focus on student learning. Parent and community engagement that is effectively focused on student learning can deliver powerful outcomes for our children.

We have a number of wonderful events coming up across the year that strengthen the relationship between our College and parents.

The first of these takes place next week, when parents have the opportunity to provide input into our School Review. Community feedback is welcome, so have your say and support your child’s education. All feedback remains confidential. Please contact the school office by ringing (07) 5555 3333 or by emailing admin@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au if you are interested in speaking to a reviewer. Alternatively, register your interest by emailing reviews@qed.qld.gov.au. More information about the review process is available from the Department of Education website: www.schoolreviews.education.qld.gov.au.

Later this term, there will be an opportunity to attend our Teacher and Family Meet and Greet Evening. This will take place on Tuesday 27th February and we will share more information about this with you in the weeks to come.

Every time you read our school newsletter, engage in student-led conferencs, respond to the School Opinion Survey, help out with homework, pick up the phone, send an email, come in for a conversation, attend an assembly, school event, or a P&C meeting, you learn more about what role our school plays within the community. Thank you for all that you do to support the College.

Reflecting on the previous year always highlights the need for intentional strategies to ensure that every student has the opportunity to be the very best they can be, no matter where they live or what kind of learning challenges they may face. We are proud to share with you our College Vision and key improvement goals for 2024.

We believe in the pursuit of success through individual effort and achievement and the development of twenty-first century skills to equip and enable our learners to make a powerful difference in an ever-changing world.

We will achieve this for our learners through an unrelenting focus on our four College goals, and through our high expectations for students, staff and College community members.

Our students have, and always will be the centre of all that we do here at Foxwell and we are proud to be pursuing success for each and every learner in our school community.

Thank you for your support in helping our young people to meet their roles and responsibilities as students in our College, specifically our College's high expectations in:

Being on time and ready to learn
Demonstrating positive learning behaviours
Dress and appearance
Demonstrating effort by working to the best of our individual abilities at all times

Welcome to our 2024 school year,

Foxwell State Secondary College Executive Team.

Our school is scheduled for a review from February 5-9, 2024.

The Department of Education regularly reviews the teaching and learning practices of Queensland state schools. The reviews are conducted by the department’s School and Region Reviews branch.

The reviews do not rate or compare schools, but provide us with independent feedback so we can continue to improve learning outcomes for students.

All schools have a review at least once every 4 years. Key findings from the review will be made available to parents and the community on our school website.

The review team would like to hear from the school community and I encourage anyone who is interested to have their say. Your feedback is important and will help us continue to deliver a great education for students.

Feedback can be provided to the review team by phone or in person. All feedback remains confidential.

Please contact the school office if you are interested in speaking to a reviewer. Alternatively, you can register your interest by emailing reviews@qed.qld.gov.au.

More information about the review process is available from the department’s website at www.schoolreviews.education.qld.gov.au.

The Foxwell State Secondary College Photo Day is due to occur next Wednesday 7 February.

All students are expected to be in Full Formal uniform for this day. Students without formal uniform or an approved exemption will not have their photo taken on photo day.

All families have been emailed their unique purchase code and purchase options for these photos. If you have not received this email, please check you junk box in the first instance and contact us at the College if you did not via admin@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au.

More information will be shared in tomorrow's Newsletter that will be emailed to all families.

Please ensure that all students are sent to school on Wednesday, meeting full dress standards in preparation for these photos. A reminder to parents to please ensure that your child complies with all aspects of our Student Dress Code for this day, including jewellery.

Our Student Dress Code can be found in out Student Code of Conduct on pages 57 - 63.

Every student and family member has been emailed their unique shoot key for ordering photos by our Head of Year 9, Mr Jason Breese. If you have not received this, please check your junk mail folder, and email admin@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au.

Photo Day Information:

MSP Photography will be visiting our school on Wednesday 7th February 2024. Foxwell State Secondary College has a 100% online ordering system for our 2024 school photographs. The individual package prices are displayed below. The contents of each pack is available online.

Basic Pack: $49

Essential Pack: $52

Value Pack: $57

Classic Pack: $61

Premium Pack: $65

Group Only: $37

Portrait Only Pack: $33

Gift Pack: $14 (only available when purchasing one of the above packs)

How to order photos:

Go to msp.com.au and click ORDER ONLINE.
Place your order using the online system by entering your unique shoot key. This was emailed to each family and each student
Ensure you receive an email with your order reference number to confirm your payment was sucessful. There is no need to return any forms to Foxwell SSC.
Once the photos are printed, they will be sent to Foxwell SSC.

IMPORTANT – Please Read Carefully!

Please check your child's name is spelt correctly when you are checking out.
Ordering will close at midnight on Wednesday 21st February 2024
Please ensure you have placed your order before the cut-off date to avoid a late and archive fee.
If this order is for a split family, please call or email MSP with your order reference to indicate this as MOTHER'S or FATHER'S order so they can label accordingly.
Should you need to place a late order, please call the MSP office and Dial #1 for the late order website details.

MSP Photography are here to help! Please call them on 07 5520 2999 or email: admin.gcnr@msp.com.au if you have any questions.

Interschool Sport begins later this term on Tuesday, 19th March.

Students can elect from one of the following options:

Netball (Girls & Boys)
Touch Football (Girls & Boys)
Volleyball (Girls & Boys)
Futsal (Girls & Boys)
Basketball (Girls & Boys)
AFL (Girls & Boys)
Soccer (Boys)
Table Tennis (Mixed)

In addition, Year 11 students may choose mixed Touch Footbal or Netball.

Students who do not wish to play a sport on these days will participate in an Alternate Program faciliated here at school. The focus of the Alternate Program will be physical activity.

Next week, students will submit their preferences for a sport to participate in for Interschool Sport. Students wishing to participate in the Alternate Program will select 'Alternate Program based at School' on the selection sheet.

Permission forms will then be distributed to Team Coaches, with students needing to collect their note from their Coach. Permission forms are to be returned to their Team Coach or to the College Sports Coordinator, Nathan Croucher. Coaches will post team lists on SharePoint for students to access. Invoices will be issued at the same time.

To attend the Interschool Sport Gala Days, students must have handed in their permission note and either paid the cost in full or begun a payment plan.

Please be aware that our College gates do not officially open until 8am and close at 4pm each day, unless a child is in an authorised program with a member of our staff.

We ask that parents do not drop off their children before 8am as there are no staff available to support them in an emergency. We also ask that all students leave our College grounds by 4pm.

Our college car park has certainly gotten much busier this year. As usual, we encourage all parents to consider the Active School Travel Program where students travel to school via bike, scooter, walking, bus or by carpooling. Should you NEED to drive your child to school or collect them in the afternoon, we ask you to closely adhere to our clear expectations. These include:

Use the STOP, DROP, GO area for just this purpose. There is a 2 minute maximum time limit for stopping so if your child is not visible to you, please leave the zone and enter the car park appropriately. You should not be entering this area before 2.45pm as the bell does not go until this time and students need at least 2 minutes to get from their class to the zone. Please note that hefty fines are possible. If you are entering before 2.45pm, park in the car park to wait for your student.
Follow the arrows and adhere to the ONE WAY parking signs. Under no circumstances should a car drive in the illegal direction of our car park. Our car park is strictly one directional and fines will be given to those who drive illegally; risking the safety of other cars and pedestrians.
Be respectful by always driving to the very first available bay at the front of the first section of the STOP DROP GO zone. Do not stop in front of the school as this causes the traffic to bank back which will delay all other families. At Foxwell, we are respectful to other members of our community at all times.
Strictly adhere to the speed signs. Our children are precious so SLOW DOWN and do not drive while using your mobile phone.
The driver is never to leave the driver's seat if using the STOP, DROP, GO lane.
Be respectful to the staff who are providing safety support to the school community. Follow their directions at all times as they are putting the safety of ALL students first.
If using the car park, we recommend you take the first park you see and fill from the entry as you may go past the last available park and have to leave the school grounds and re-enter which would be very frustrating.
Consider coming to the school at around 2.55pm-3.10pm for the afternoon pick up if possible. This is a much quieter time for collection. Your child will be safely waiting either in the covered seats at the front of the school or they can wait in the air conditioned Learning Hub. You will find things much calmer at this time.
Exit the car park onto Foxwell Road safely.