Year 7 students and their parents/carers are invited to attend our Information Night next Tuesday 16 February. We ask that you arrive at 4.45pm to sign in for the event and then be seated in the Sports Performance Hall for a 5.00pm start. The program, to conclude at 6.15pm, is:

- an address by our Principal, Mrs Amor;

- an overview of our Year 7 Curriculum to be presented by Ms Schroeder, Deputy Principal and the Heads of Department;

- information regarding the role of our Student Wellbeing, Engagement and Learning Team;

- updates regarding Foxwell’s Extra-Curricular Program;

- general information/updates regarding the year ahead;

- an the opportunity to meet your child’s teachers.

We know that this event will be another worthwhile experience for us to further develop our relationship as a community, as we partner in your child’s education at Foxwell State Secondary College. We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening.  

Each term we provide students with an assessment calendar which outlines key dates for upcoming assessment – drafts, final copies, presentation dates, practicals and exams. The purpose of the calendar is to allow students to develop their own personal timelines to support them in meeting due dates. It also allows families to be aware of what their child(ren) may be working on and remind students to stay on track at school to ensure that due dates are met.

Assessment at Foxwell has been designed so that a student can be successful by completing a number of small, bite sized tasks for each subject rather than relying on one or two major pieces of assessment. It is designed that students can be successful without copious amounts of homework, provided that students maximise the use of their time in class.

When viewed, the assessment calendar may seem very crowded, that is because students are preparing and completing small and frequent tasks during class time. This allows our teachers to keep track of student learning, provide frequent feedback to students and continuous reporting to parents/carers. Although multiple items may fall on the one day, students should not feel this is onerous as they will have been provided with sufficient time in class to complete the tasks to a high level.

If you feel that your child is unreasonably struggling with the assessment demands, please let us know by contacting either one of our Heads of Students or our Student Wellbeing and Engagement HoD – Mrs Elle Bullock, emgil0@eq.edu.au.

As a reminder WIN time is available in the Learning Hub from 8am every morning and each afternoon until 4pm if students would like assistance with assessment.

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.

Effective communication between schools, parents, the community and students forms the foundation for developing and maintaining partnerships. Schools also have a responsibility to help parents understand the language of learning. At Foxwell State Secondary College we believe in sharing consistent and ongoing messages of high expectations for all students and their learning. We use a range of communication tools and channels in order to do so.

The primary form of communication at Foxwell State Secondary College between parent/carer and teacher is email. Parents should have received an introductory email from their child's timetabled teachers this week outlining classroom and assessment learning expectations, as well as an overview of the unit student's are currently completing. Staff contact details will shortly be updated and available on our school website. 

Each week, parents/carers receive a whole school communication via email. This communication is powered by Schoolzine. In the email parents/carers are asked to navigate to the attached Schoolzine link.

From Schoolzine, parents/carers can access historical school communications. The school alternates each week between issuing a School Newsletter and a Bulletin. From time to time, we may issue a correspondence mid week, where an urgent matter has arisen. 

In Week 4, students who were successful in gaining a position in a Program of Excellence received a welcome pack. This pack included a welcome letter, Program of Excellence Agreement, and Program of Excellence Handbook. Parents and students are asked to read all information included in the welcome pack, and return the Program of Excellence Agreement, to the program teacher, prior to the conclusion of week 5. 

Students in Excellence Programs are expected to attend two scheduled lessons per week. Lesson one takes place during the students' timetabled Enrich class. This is during period 4 on Wednesdays (1.50pm - 3.00pm). In addition, students are expected to attend a morning scheduled class each Thursday between 7.45am and 8.45am. Thursday morning classes will commence from Thursday 25th February (Week 5). Attendance at both lessons is mandatory and part of the commitment to the Program. Where students are unable to attend a scheduled lesson for any reason, the Program Coordinator must be contacted, ahead of time, to negotiate an alternate arrangement. 

Students enrolled in Foxwell State Secondary College's Programs of Excellence are required to pay the associated fees as outlined in their enrolment interview.  

For further information relating to Programs of Excellence, please contact the relevant Program Coordinator. 

We would like to advise that a Year 8 Camp will go ahead in 2021. At this stage we are finalising a venue, a date and negotiating the best price for our families.

Once the details are finalised, Mr Anderson, Head of Students, Year 7, will communicate this with families and will include camp details, costs and options for payment plans.

We are excited to advise that our 2021 Extra-curricular activities are off to a fantastic start. Students have been notified via their daily notices of many activities already and have made selections for Term 1. If their preferred activity has not yet been advertised, they need to watch the daily SharePoint notices carefully.

It is important that as adults, we support our children to balance the rich experiences that extra-curricular activities offer with the constraints of time and other commitments they may have. The wellbeing of our young people must always be our primary concern. For students’ wellbeing they will have to make choices, it will not be possible for a student to do all activities each term.

This year, our Heads of Students, Mr Braiden Ruge, Year 7 and Mr Dane Anderson, Year 8 will be the Extra Curricular Co-ordinators. If you have any questions or concerns regarding extra curricula activities please contact them directly.

Mr Ruge – bruge3@eq.edu.au

Mr Anderson – dande230@eq.edu.au

Please see attached Calendar for TERM 1 2021

At Foxwell State Secondary College we take great pride in our ability to leverage digital pedagogies, allowing for excellence in educational outcomes.

Our school’s pedagogy and curriculum is specifically designed with iPad placed as the central learning tool for both students and teachers. Teachers use them as an environment to facilitate engagement in the learning process. 

We have a number of digital learning platforms that are already established as normal school practice for both teachers and students. The following information will outline for parents and carers the purpose of each of these platforms.

Parents and carers can assist with digital learning by ensuring that students have downloaded on to their devices each of these apps and that they know and have recorded their username and password.     

Seesaw 

At Foxwell State Secondary College, Seesaw is our main platform for digital pedagogy. Seesaw is a powerful classroom app that allows for meaningful student engagement. It allows teachers, students and parents/carers the ability to interact in an online environment where teachers can deliver curriculum activities for students and provide feedback on work completed. Parents/carers are able to view this work and also interact with their students electronically via the platform.    

Students are members of Seesaw classrooms for the following subjects:  

SharePoint 

At Foxwell State Secondary College, we use the SharePoint application to communicate daily notices and share digital resources with students. It is an expectation that students check SharePoint at least once per day to read daily notices and keep up to date with school wide communications.   

SharePoint can be accessed as a webpage, or as a downloaded application on both student and parent/carer devices. Once downloaded a student’s school email address is required for log in.     

Education Perfect 

Education Perfect is a rich library of interactive, motivating and engaging activities directly aligned with the Australian Curriculum. Content in Education Perfect is carefully scaffolded to allow all students to experience success, while providing for higher order thinking and independent learning.   

In Education Perfect, teachers curate and customise learning activities to meet the needs of every learner in their classroom. Student responses to activities provide teachers detailed insights in to student progress, allowing them to make informed decisions to tailor their student’s learning need.   

Activities in Education Perfect are known as ‘assessments'. These activities do not contribute to summative report card results, rather are tools for assessing student progress to allow teachers to support the individual needs of each student.    

ClickView 

Through ClickView, teachers can curate educational videos from around the world and also produce their own video material. Teachers can create time coded video content, where students are prompted to complete activities at different intervals throughout the stream.    

Notability

Notability transforms iPads in to digital notebooks for students where they can record their learning in both typed and handwritten form. Notability provides students the opportunity to:

• Type, write and sketch on digital paper  
• Type, write and sketch on imported documents such as worksheets  
• Add images and shapes  
• Organise learning into content or subjects areas  

Seesaw is a powerful classroom app that allows for meaningful student engagement. It acts as a digital portfolio tool that allows teachers, students and parents/carers to interact in an online platform. 

In Seesaw, students can capture their learning through the use of creative tools to take photos, draw, record videos and more. Teachers have the opportunity to create activities to share with students and provide feedback. Parents and carers can see their own child’s work and leave comments for encouragement. For parents and carers, Seesaw is primarily used as a way to keep families in the loop on the learning their child is doing at school.

Each student at Foxwell State Secondary College is enrolled in a Seesaw class for each of their timetabled classes. They are also enrolled in a Seesaw class for their House. Students may additionally be enrolled in Seesaw classes associated with their extra-curricular activities.

How to gain access to Seesaw for Parents:

1. From your iOS or Android device, look for an email from your child's teacher. 

2. Choose to connect to your child's journal. If you already have a Seesaw account you can sign in using your existing credentials. If you do not have an account, you will be prompted to download the Family App from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

3. Download 'Seesaw Parent and Family' in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and choose 'I'm a Family Member.'

4. Finish creating your account using your email address or Google account to view your child’s journal

For further assistance, or if you have not received an email, support is available via email at ITrequest@foxwellssc.EQ.edu.au

At Foxwell State Secondary College we use the SharePoint application to communicate daily notices with students. Students are provided time, at the commencement of the day, to read the daily notices. We anticipate that as the year progresses, students will take responsibility for ensuring they have read the notices each day.

SharePoint can be accessed as a webpage, or as a downloaded application. Students have access to download SharePoint through their Intune Comp Portal app, or directly from the Apple App Store. Once downloaded, students use their school email address  to log in and access their notices.

Parents can also access student daily notices via SharePoint. The following video explains the process for parents and for students in ensuring they have daily access to SharePoint.

We endeavour to shortly release the School Community Calendar via SharePoint.

Did you know? Only 46% of Australian parents feel confident about dealing with the online risks their children face and 95% want more information about online safety.

On Safer Internet Day the world comes together with a shared vision of making online experiences better for everyone.

eSafety is the official Safety Internet Day committee in Australia and a leader in the global effort for keeping children safe online. eSafety resources can help you start the chat with your family about being safer online, to raise awareness about online issues and share strategies for staying safe.

The eSafety Commission provides advice for parents and carers to help children have safe experiences online.

A resources which was launched for Safer Internet Day earlier this week is a webinar for parents  - A Parent’s Guide to Cyberbullying and Online Drama

This Safer Internet Day 2021 webinar looks at how parents and carers can support young people to have safe and respectful online relationships and what to do if things go wrong.

It covers:

• starting conversations with your child about their online friendships and positive ways to deal with changing relationships
• understanding the rights, laws and community expectations that govern social media use
• where to seek help if your child is involved in a cyberbullying incident.

The webinar will include case studies, research and targeted advice so you can support the young people in your life to have safe, enjoyable online experiences.

There are two upcoming webinars Monday 15 February 12.30 to 1.30 pm & Monday 22 March 12.30 to 1.30 pm. If you wish to register click here

Alternately you can access a PDF Parent Guide to Cyberbullying and on-line Drama

At Foxwell State Secondary College we believe that parents and carers should have the tools to manage their children’s device usage.

We also believe that parents and carers are partners in learning, and that measures put in place for screen time in the home can assist in managing appropriate device usage and screen time both before, during and after the school day.  

With Screen Time and Family Sharing, Apple provides parents and carers the tools to block and limit specific apps and features on their child’s device. These tools also allow parents and carers to access real-time reports on how much time their child is spending on their iPad, setting limits for usage of the device or specific applications.  

We ask for the support of our parent community by requesting that when parent controls are set up, consideration is given to the following applications and their restriction during the school day: 
 

• Messages 
• Facetime 
• Social Media  
• Specific Games 
• Specific Websites

The following video outlines how to set up parental controls for your child’s iPad (and other Apple Devices). 

We have become aware of a number of students who have social media accounts. Most social media platforms have strict terms and conditions in relation to minimum age, requiring in most instances for children to be at least 13 years of age. Creating accounts with false information is a violation of terms and conditions. This includes accounts registered on behalf of someone under 13. We recommend that parents conduct due diligence before allowing their child to sign up for a social media platform, including being aware of terms, conditions and privacy policies. We also suggest that regular vigilance is conducted to ensure student e-safety. 

Further information is available from the E-Safety Commsioner at https://www.esafety.gov.au/.

Below is the link to download the Broadwater Trials Calendar for 2021.

All dates are subject to change and Students need to nominate with Mr Taylor for further information.

The Student Services counter has received a high numbers of items being handed in as lost property already, including hats, pencil cases, drink bottles and IT equipment. We cannot return them to the children if we do not know to whom they belong.

If you wish to label items of uniform, we do have some laundry markers at the Student Services Counter and are happy to allow your child to write their name on items we know are theirs.

If your child wishes to ‘clip’ their hat to their bag for safe keeping, there are products available on the market which perform this function. One such product can be found at http://klipsta.com

We now have close to 500 children with the same school bag – adding an identifying feature such as a key chain or a ribbon will help your child easily find their bag.

We would also ask that you consider how you can best ‘label’ your child’s Apple pencil/Logitech crayon. Stickers or permanent marker are options. Engraving is available at the Apple Store https://www.apple.com/au/shop/engraving-and-gift-wrap

Any items which are found here at school are stored in the Learning Hub. We will endeavour to return all named items to students on the same day they are found. All items that are not named and are not claimed by the end of each week are either disposed of or donated to the School.