Term 1, Week 10 2024

From the Principal - Micheal Grogan

Hello and welcome to our final newsletter for Term one. As always there has been a lot happening around our school. Harmony Day is always one of the highlights of the year at BCSS and this year was no exception. It was wonderful to see students out and celebrating our diverse school community.

This past fortnight also saw our Interhouse Cross Country staged at Downey Park. It was a very windy day making competition tough for our runners, particularly as they came down the home straight into the wind. I was heartened to see the efforts of our students who persevered, challenged themselves and supported their peers to get through the races. Congratulations to Rogers House on their well-deserved victory on the day. That is two in a row for the mighty Rogers!

Lastly, I’d like to say a big thankyou to all our amazing staff. They have once again worked tirelessly to support our learners and one another. We truly have a school community we should all be proud of.

This week we have also seen three students competing at the State Swimming Championships. We can’t wait to hear how they went and share the news of their achievements when we return.

Finally, I’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy autumn break. I hope you get a chance to connect with family and friends. For those travelling, I wish you safe travels and many happy adventures. See you all when we return on April 15.

Farewell

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge some changes to our staff heading into term two.

As may be of you will be aware Miss Lyons and Mrs. Coleborn will be commencing parental leave, with Ms. Christine Adams and Ms. Lanie Heron replacing them. They are both expecting to welcome a new member into their families in the coming weeks. We wish Miss Lyons and Mrs. Coleborn and their families all the best for the new arrivals.

As previously mentioned, Miss Rachel in the office will also be leaving us and replaced by Miss Mahtab and Miss M. We wish Miss Rachel all the best in her next endeavour. We also thank her for the work she has done supporting our school.

Head of Curriculum - Maureen Kelly

ICAS Assessments for Advanced Learners

Each year, at Brisbane Central State School, we offer parents the opportunity for their child/children to sit the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) tests. ICAS is an online academic competition that gives students the opportunity to challenge their higher order thinking and problem-solving skills.  Every student who participates is celebrated and recognised with a printed certificate and an online report of results. Top performers are eligible for one of the highly coveted ICAS medals.  To learn more about this year’s ICAS competition, visit:  (icasassessments.com/products-icas/).  In addition, this video demonstrates the testing platform.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DMCtlAjQHs  

Parents register their children for ICAS and make payment using the online UNSW Global Parent Payment System.  ICAS registrations are open for use by Brisbane Central State School parents and is open until Monday 15 July 2024.  Registrations for the tests will not be possible after this date. 

Brisbane Central school access code is: RHV663

Brisbane Central page link is: https://shop.icasassessments.com/pages/pps

How to participate in ICAS 

If you wish for your child to participate in ICAS this year: 

1. Read about ICAS subjects and prices here: (com/products-icas/)
2. Read the Privacy Collection Statement below.
3. Read the terms and conditions here: (com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-ICAS-Assessments-Schools-TsCs_S2023.V6-1.pdf) 
4. Go to Parent Portal to purchase chosen tests here: (icasassessments.com/pages/pps)   
5. Enter our school’s access code –  RHV663
6. Enter your child’s details, select the subject area tests you would like to purchase, then proceed to payment.
7. After payment is made via the Parent Payment System, you will receive an order confirmation email. Please keep this for your records. 

Please note that the ICAS tests shown for selection are at the school’s discretion.  Brisbane Central State School is offering the English, Mathematics, Writing and Science assessments.   Writing is only provided by ICAS from Year 3, while the other subject areas are available from Years 2 to Year 6.   We will notify parents of the dates that Brisbane Central will run the different ICAS tests after the close of bookings. 

Your child’s ICAS certificates will be delivered to the school about 4 weeks after the close of the assessment period Once we have received your child’s ICAS certificate, we will send it home with your child. The back of the certificate shows ICAS results and the login details, “TAP ID and Pin”.  Use these to enter the Results Portal orti.icasassessments.com/ortiStudent 

Privacy Collection Statement 

The following information is a privacy notification about how your child’s data is kept private and secure. 

ICAS Assessment is owned by Janison Solutions Pty Ltd (We, Us, Our).

To deliver assessment products, Janison will require your child’s School to obtain your consent to provide Janison with certain personal information of students. Janison will collect, store, use, disclose and otherwise deal with such personal information in accordance with its privacy policy (below). We are aware of our responsibility to protect personal information related to children and students from being disclosed when we deliver an ICAS Assessments product. Unless you, as the child’s legal guardian consents, we will not:

• collect any personal information or data of children other than the information we need for the successful completion of an assessment, test, or exam.
• transfer any personal information we obtain from a child in the delivery of assessments and tests to any jurisdiction outside of Australia.
• share any personal information relating to children with any third parties (except for those third parties necessary for us to carry out our Services or provide our Products e.g., medal engraving).
• use any personal information or data relating to children for marketing purposes.

You can view our full privacy policy at https://www.janison.com/privacy-policy/.

We may retain personal information and data relevant to a child for their future purposes or for research purposes by Janison for the duration of the school life cycle of the child. However, if you or your child at any time wish to have their personal information or data removed from our systems, they or you may opt out by simply contacting our Privacy Officer at privacy@janison.com or by contacting icasassessments@janison.com.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Head of Department, Curriculum mkell83@eq.edu.au if you have any questions. 

Maureen Kelly

Head of Department, Curriculum

Library

I’M AUSTRALIAN TOO

These books were only a few that your children have been reading in the library and borrowing.

To celebrate Harmony Day the students used craft as a way of gaining a better understanding of the many different people who call Australia Home!

Their original ideas for decorating their tea cup also highlighted not only their talents but their very distinct characters. The tea cups are truly, ‘magnificent’.

The student’s tea cup display in the library shows how we can come together, have mutual respect, freedom of ideas, enrich our nation and make our library a space where everyone is welcome and ‘everyone belongs’.

PBL

PBL Awards/Students of the Week

Congratulations to the students who received the following awards. Thank you for exemplifying what it means to be a safe, respectful learner!

P&C

Family Movie Night

Cricket Blast

Chess Program

Book Club

Thank you for supporting Book Club. It helps us purchase quality books for our school and everyone to read.