As the first four weeks of school draws to a close, I would like to celebrate with our community a wonderful start to the school year for Foxwell State Secondary College.

It is already evident that out greatest strength is the partnership that we foster between students, staff, parents, carers and the wider community. This was no more evident than at our recent Twilight Community Evening where we extended an invitation to the community to view the school and be immersed in our very unique and special school culture. Thank you to all families that assisted in ensuring the night was a huge success through either directly assisting, or through attending.

At Foxwell State Secondary College we believe that communication between the school, parents and the community forms the foundation for a positive relationship that empowers students to embrace learning and achieve their potential. 

We will work closely with families to assist you with understanding the ‘language of learning’, including terms used by teachers in the classroom with students about learning progress, school expectations in and beyond the classroom, opportunities for extension activities such as extra-curricular and school events.

We use the platforms Seesaw, Sharepoint and Facebook as well as emails and our school website to keep parents, carers and the wider community up to date with what is going on in the classroom, notices about extra-curricular activities and events, school policies and procedures, the school calendar and celebrations and reminders. 

	Seesaw is an app that all staff and students use at Foxwell State Secondary College. It is a digital classroom tool that allows students, teachers, parents and carers the opportunity to collaborate in an online environment. The vast majority of school communication will be sent to parents and carers through Seesaw. This will include: -       Teacher to parent communication -       School information -       Extra-curricular opportunities and activities -       Updates about school activities and events All students are allocated to the following Seesaw groups (known as classes): -       House group -       Timetabled subjects -       Extra-curricular activities for which they are members Earlier in the term parents would have received an email invitation for their student’s Seesaw classes.
	SharePoint is an app that all students and teachers use at Foxwell State Secondary College.   Students use their MIS ID to sign in to SharePoint where they access daily notices. In the coming weeks we look forward to releasing, via SharePoint our assessment and learning calendar, as well as our school community calendar.
	At Foxwell State Secondary College we use Facebook to showcase school celebrations, as well as for reminders about upcoming events and activities.  We remind parents and carers that Facebook is not a tool for communicating directly with the school. Further questions and queries should be directed to the school via the office. We ask that parents and carers do not send friend requests to staff members, as this places our staff in the difficult positions of declining. Staff will not, at any stage share their personal information, such as their phone number, with students, parents or carers.
	Our school newsletter is emailed to parents fortnightly via Schoolzine. Our newsletter includes important information for families about school events, activities, policies and procedures, celebrations and reminders.  Further to this, urgent and immediate communication is sent to parents and carers by email.
	Important information about school policies and procedures can be found on our school website. Our school community calendar is also available via our school website  homepage.

Kym Amor

Principal

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, provide feedback and to communicate with students and families. Parents and carers can see their own child’s work, leave comments for encouragement and receive/send communication from the classroom teacher.

For parents and carers, Seesaw is primarily used as a way to communicate and keep families in the loop on the learning their child is doing at school. Teachers can send communications to individual parents, or as a class announcement. This may include information about learning, progress and upcoming opportunities and excursions. Similarly, parents can communicate with teachers via Seesaw. 

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. In their House class, the school will communicate whole school messages to both students and parents/carers. Students may additionally be enrolled in Seesaw classes associated with their extra-curricular activities.

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.

We are excited to announce that we are an official NDA School.

At Foxwell State Secondary College we are committed to providing a safe and supportive school community.

This year, the National Day of Action is Friday the 20^th of March and we will be holding activities, both on this day and in the run up to it, as part of our ongoing awareness raising and part of our strategy in building  a community of upstanders.

The National Day of Action is an opportunity for students, teachers, parents and the whole community to take a stand together against bullying and violence.

At Foxwell State Secondary College we believe, bullying is never ok, there is always a better way and that way is, kindness!

At Foxwell State Secondary College, we say, ‘Bullying, No Way!’

All invoices for the Student Resource Scheme have been sent and for families who have elected to pay in full, the due date was the 7th of February 2020.

For families that elected to pay via termly instalments, the first payment of $120.00 was due on the 7th of February 2020.

For families who elected to pay via CentrePay, an authority to deduct form is now available from Administration to begin your deductions. Please contact Administration to complete. 

All families are invoiced the full amount of the Student Resource Scheme at the start of each year. At your child's enrolment interview the payment options for the scheme are discussed and Parents/Carers were given many different options. If you have elected to pay via instalment plan or CentrePay, the full amount of the Scheme is not overdue. Please continue to make payments as per your chosen payment option.

The finance window is open on Fridays, from 8.30am-10.00am. The payment window accepts correct cash payments and EFTPOS. We are unable to process credit card payments over the phone, you will be directed to the secure payments phone number for this option. Our preferred payment option is BPOINT. You can access the BPOINT option by clicking on the link in the invoice you received via email.

We would like to thank all of our families for their participation in the scheme and for their prompt payments. 

If you would like a copy of your invoice or would like to discuss your payment options, please contact Kimberley Knowles - Business Manager - finance@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au or alternativley you can phone the School. 

At Foxwell State Secondary College we are committed to sun safety and being sun smart. We have large areas of shade for our students to access during break times. For when students must be in the sun, our uniform is designed with sun safety in mind and has a hat included, as mandatory, for both the formal and sports uniform.

Our students are required to wear their hat whenever they are outside. This includes both coming to and going home from school.

Each morning students are asked, as they come through the gate, to put their hats on, if they are not yet wearing them. Students without a hat, are required to remain in the Learning Hub during lunch.

Please encourage your child, each morning, to put their hats on as they leave home, that way you know they have a minimum level of sun safety for the day. We appreciate your support in this matter.

Entries have now closed for our students to propose names and justifications for the four Foxwell Houses.

We had some fantastic entries and selecting the most appropriate is going to be a difficult decision.

Thank you for all entries.

We will announce the winning names in our next newsletter.