19 September 2025

Principal's Report

How quickly we have come to the close of Term 3 – this term/year has flown by!

I would like to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our staff – teaching and nonteaching – to the learning pathways of every Camp Hill student, be it curricular or extracurricular programs and activities.

One of the bonuses of being a larger school (while still set on age-specific campuses) is that we can cater for a number of extracurricular programs for our students. The diversity of programs includes The Arts; Music; Sports and of course Academic. I am constantly delighted when I watch one of our students ‘have a go’ at some activity that they find interesting, or indeed challenging. Our students learn much about themselves and others by joining in diverse programs that extend and encourage a range of skill sets. Well done everyone for ‘having a go’.

Term 4 is always a very busy term. In Term 4 we have (certainly not all options available): Life Education program; Year 6 school captains visit to Parliament House; Prep Braveheart incursion; Year 1 Street Science; Group photo day; Prep Ngutana incursion; Choral Honours program; Day for Daniel; Prep to Year 3 author visit; Year 6 trip to Canberra; 2026 student leaders program (including induction); School biannual Musical ( 13, 15 and16 November); P&C Colour Fun Run (21 November); Junior and Senior Swimming carnivals; Year 6 graduation; Carols at Camp Hill and a large number of celebrations across all year levels.

In Term 4 we have some changes to the school leadership team:

• Mrs Wills (Deputy Principal/Senior campus) is traveling overseas for the first 3 weeks of term and will return in Week 4/Term 4.
• Mrs Townsend will be acting in the role of DP/SC during this 3-week period.

• Mrs Tuckett (Deputy Principal/Junior campus) will be taking long service leave for all of Term 4.
• Mrs Fiona Lloyd will be acting in the role of DP/JC for Term 4.

Staffing updates for Term 4:

• Year 5 B – Mrs Irwin will continue in Year 5B until the close of year as Mrs Huntley extends her leave.
• Year 5 C – Mr Peter Branagan will teacher Year 5C on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until close of year, with Mrs Clayton teaching the class on Thursday and Friday

Transitions

As we move toward the new school year a number of our students, and their families, will be preparing for significant transitions into the 2026 school year: Kindy to Prep; Year 2 to Year 3 (across campuses) and Year 6 to Junior Secondary. Each of these transitions is a major milestone for the student, and their family, and is acknowledged by our staff. We encourage families to discuss the coming changes with your children to ensure that they have a clear ‘roadmap’

I encourage families to contact your child’s teacher, or a member of the school leadership team, if you have queries related to school activities. If you wish to speak/meet with your child’s teacher, please ensure you arrange a mutually convenient time for the meeting – teachers have a number of responsibilities additional to their teaching load during the school day and it is important that these commitments are catered for at all times.

While the school will break for Spring vacation from Friday 19 September (returning Tuesday 7 October) the campus will continue to be a busy place, with the OSHC vacation program and some facilities works across the grounds.

I encourage families to continue to watch the traffic safety within and external to our grounds during this vacation period. Unfortunately, we have had some recent experiences of very poor choices in regard to parking around the school – in particular the entrance to the school off Old Cleveland Road (the 4WD that all most blocked off the entrance, in peak hour traffic, posed significant risk to the staff who were leaving the school at 4.40pm).  Thank you to everyone who supports the safety of our community.

I wish everyone a great holiday, be it adventurous or restful, and look forward to seeing you on your return next term.

I am planning some interesting activities with my friends and family (being a grandmother, babysitting is a high priority for me).

Stay safe
Deborah Driver

Date Claimers

Finance News

Hi Everyone

Please see below for upcoming payments.  

PARKING AT CAMP HILL

Please consider the safety of all members of our Camp Hill community when parking around our school grounds.

One person’s thoughtless actions can have a profound impact upon the safety of others.

Please DO NOT drive into the school grounds unless you are authorised to do so – such as accessing Disability Parking.

Thank you for your support for our community.

Administration Processes

Volunteering

At Camp Hill SIPS we love our parent/childcarer volunteers! In Term 4 there are opportunities for parents to volunteer with their child’s class, including swimming.

Before volunteering, all volunteers are required to annually read the following information:

• Volunteer information handbook (PDF, 757KB)
• Mandatory all-staff training program key messages guide for volunteers (PDF, 2.5MB)
• Student protection fact sheet for contractors, volunteers and visitors to state schools (PDF, 144KB)
• Parent and community code of conduct (PDF, 158KB)

and then complete the Volunteer Request form by clicking the link below:

To facilitate a quick sign in on your first visit, it is necessary for the steps above to be completed before your first visit as a volunteer.

Curriculum

Supporting your child with reading at home

The last newsletter contained information about the Sounds-Write program and how reading is taught at school.  During the holidays, you may be wondering how you can support your children at home to further develop their reading skills.

Ideally, parents/carers should be reading a wide variety of books to their children, from classic picture books to non-fiction texts on topics of interest. Books can be from school or public library or home. Reading a wide variety of books to children will provide rich reading experiences that promote a love of reading. The majority of books contain complex alphabetic code knowledge, much of which has not yet been explicitly taught in Prep or at the start of Year 1. Hence, parents/carers should read books to or with their children, rather than getting the children to read them independently. In doing so, parents/carers can;

• model what fluent reading ‘sounds’ like
• model appropriate expression and phrasing (e.g., slight pauses at commas and full pauses at full stops)

Extensive reading is key to developing vocabulary, comprehension and knowledge of the world, two elements that underpin literacy success. Here are some ideas (not exhaustive) of what parents/carers can do when they read to and with children:

• Talk about the book and encourage their children to retell the main parts of the story.
• Talk about the characters, plots and settings of stories and link these to the illustrations provided.
• Discuss what was learnt from informational texts e.g. “What did you find out about spiders?”
• Compare the people and events in the texts with those in their own lives.
• Select several words from the text (that their children would know) and ask them to put the word in a sentence - this is a powerful vocabulary building activity.

Whilst students are learning to read, they will be bringing home decodable (phonic controlled) texts that enable children to practise the skills, sounds and spellings they are learning. Most of the words are words they can decode because they contain spellings they have already learned. The decodable books that children bring home will be from at least one unit behind what they are currently learning in their phonics lessons and will be books they have already read in school with guidance from their teacher. The purpose of practising reading at home is to consolidate their knowledge and increase their fluency.

Rereading is a highly effective way of increasing reading fluency, and even if children seem to find it easy, the additional exposure will not only help with their fluency but also with their spelling.

When children read these books at home, parents/carers should let them have-a-go at reading all the words by themselves. Sometimes, children may need help with a word, but before parents/carers step in, they should give the children a few seconds to work it out for themselves.  If children get stuck, a great prompt to use is: “Say the sounds” (pointing to each of the ‘sounds’ in the word) “and read the word” (slide your finger along, under the whole word). This will be familiar to children who are taking part in Sounds-Write sessions in school.  Some of the words in these 'decodable books' might contain spellings that children have not learned yet. At the back of the book, parents/carers may see a list of the words that children might need help with. When children come to one of these words in a book, parents/carers should simply read it for them. If the word was 'the' and the child didn't know how to read that word, the parent/carer could simply point to the word and say:

“This is 'the', just say 'the' here”.

As mentioned in the last newsletter, parents and carers are encouraged to take the free Sounds-Write course for parents and carers so they can support their children more effectively.

https://sounds-write.co.uk/support-for-parents-and-carers/

Parents are also welcome to access the Sounds-Write app

https://sounds-write.co.uk/ipad-app/

Nicole Vokes
Head of Department - Curriculum

Respectful Relationships Education (RRE) – A Whole School Approach at Camp Hill

Next Term, Prep parents and carers are invited to an information session, on Thursday 30 October at 5pm, to learn more about Respectful Relationships Education. See flyer below for more information about this session.

All Queensland state schools are required to provide health and wellbeing education, including respectful relationships education (RRE), through the delivery of the required curriculum and a whole-school approach to learning and wellbeing.  RRE will be part of the curriculum at Camp Hill as Version 9.0 Health and Physical Education (HPE) is implemented, starting with Prep this year, then into Year 1 in 2026.  Moving forward, the new HPE curriculum (including RRE) will be taught in all year levels by 2028.

Respectful Relationships Education takes a developmental approach to content and delivery.  Age-appropriate learning means that each concept is explored in ways that relate to students’ developmental stage, interests and learning style.  Over the years of schooling from Prep to Year 12, students will be exposed to age-appropriate learning opportunities that help them build respectful relationships, understand consent and understand help-seeking behaviours.

As a parent or carer, you have a primary role in teaching your child the importance of respect and how to build the skills they need to establish safe and healthy relationships.

How can parents and carers talk to our young people?

By having regular conversations about what positive, happy and equal relationships look like, you help your child build self-respect and learn to be respectful to others. ‘Big talks’ about things like consent can be tricky, so it’s often best to make the most of opportunities when they come up. These conversations will assist in building your child’s personal and social skills.

How can parents and families play a role?

As a parent or carer, you play a primary role in teaching your child to treat others with respect, and in helping them set an expectation to be treated with respect. Children and young people need the skills to build safe and healthy relationships with their family, friends, peers, workmates and others, in all aspects of their lives. Parents and families are an important part of our whole-school approach to RRE and have the opportunity to reinforce and model these messages outside the school gates.

By building these personal and social skills and creating a culture of respect, issues such as domestic, family and sexual violence and all forms of violence or abuse, discrimination and harassment are less likely to occur.

Further resources and support

Contact the Parentline Support Service by calling 1300 30 1300 for confidential counselling and support for parents and carers between 8am and 10pm, 7 days a week

Q Parents

If you are a QParents Account Owner, you can notify the school of changes to your student’s personal details.

1. Log in to your QParents account. The My Students page will be displayed. If you are already logged into QParents, click on the QParents logo to return to the My Students page.

2. On the My Students page, click on the student’s name or click the View student

3. Click on the Manage student details link found below the student’s

4. The Student Details page will be displayed.

5. To make changes to the student residential address, postal address or date of birth, click the Edit Student Details

6. The Student Details screen is displayed.

7. Enter the changes you wish to make to the student’s residential address.

8. If the student’s postal address is the same as their residential address, there is no need to enter a postal address. Simply tick the Residential address above is also my postal address

9. If the student’s postal address is different from their residential address, un-tick the box. The Postal details fields will now be displayed, and you can enter the postal address. In future all student mail will be sent to this postal address.

10. If at any time the student’s postal address becomes the same as their residential address, simply tick the Residential address above is also my postal address box and the postal information will be removed. In future all student mail will be sent to this residential address.

11. To update the student’s date of birth, enter the correct date in the Date of birth field, with a format of dd/mm/yyyy (d = day, m = month, y = year). For example, for a student born on the 2 July 1999, you would enter 02/07/1999. For a student born on the 10 November 2003, you would enter 10/11/2003.

12. You can also use the calendar option to enter the date. Click in the Date of birth field and the calendar will appear. To scroll through the months, either click on an arrow or click on the month (e.g. August) and a list of all months will appear. Select the month you require. Click on the year, and a list of years will appear. Select the year you require.

13. If at any time you wish to cancel the process, press the Cancel button and no changes will be sent to the student’s school.

14. Once you have completed all of your changes press the Submit Your student’s school will be notified of the changes to the details and will review the changes before the student’s record is updated. An email will also be sent to your registered email account providing a brief outline of the changes you have requested. Once the student’s school has accepted your requested changes, a second email will be sent to your registered email account, advising you of the outcome.

15. The new details will not appear on the Student Details page until the student’s school has approved the changes. The student’s school is required to verify that all information entered is correct before accepting the requested changes. A message will appear on the Student Details page showing the date and time the change request was submitted to the student’s school. Once the change(s) have been approved by the school, this message will no longer appear, and the new student details will be displayed.

eSafety

Blue Card Changes

You Can Do It

Things to say to acknowledge your child’s PERSISTENCE.

When you catch your child being persistent, say:

•  “You didn’t give up!”
•  “You kept trying, great effort.”
• “Making extra effort helps you learn.”
•  “You sure didn’t give up easily.”
• “Your effort is very important because it helps you succeed.”
• “See. Persistence pays off.”
• “I can see you understand that to be successful, you sometimes have to do things you don’t feel like doing.”
• “The more you practice, the better you become.”

Wishing all families a wonderful end of school term break.

Enjoy the change of routine and perhaps take some time to create, imagine and innovate

News From the Classroom

E-Koala’s New Garden

The E-Koalas have been busy creating a new garden space for our senior campus. I wonder if you can guess where it is...

They have lots of plans for this area, this is just the beginning

P & C News

Disney Trivia and & Party Night

We all have that inner child when it comes to Disney!  Time to have some fun and we are so excited to have our Disney Trivia and Party Night – Saturday October 18.

Get your teams together, choose your outfits and come and party the night away.

Book your tickets online: 

P&C Date Savers for Term 4

• Saturday 18th Oct – Disney Trivia & Party Night
• Tuesday 21st Oct – P&C Meeting
• Monday 3rd Nov – P&C Christmas Raffle launch
• Friday Nov 7th – Tuckshop Thank You Day
• Friday 21st Nov - Colour Run4Fun
• Tuesday 18th Nov – P&C Meeting
• Tuesday 2nd Dec – Carols at Camp Hill
• Thursday 4th Dec – Senior Swim Carnival Meal Deal
• Wednesday 10th Dec – Christmas Raffle Draw
• Friday 12th Dec – Tuckshop Meal Deal

Have an amazing spring break…. And see you in Term 4.

Tuckshop

Exciting times if your child is in Year 2.

Term 4 begins the fortnightly visits to the Tuckshop as part of the transition into Year 3. This allows the younger children to mix with the older year levels as well as practise their decision making and money handling skills. 

• I ask that no more than $3.00 be given to your child in a Ziplock bag or sealed envelope. 
• Go through the menu with your child so they know what they can buy with their money.
• Keep an eye on the CPR email for your child's allotted day.

A huge thank you to the people that have helped in the Tuckshop this Term.

We really couldn't do it without you.  Have a wonderful break and we will see you in Term 4.

Sharyn – Tuckshop Convenor
Tel: 07 3900 9429      Email: tuckshop@camphillpandc.com.au

Uniforms

Well, another busy but fun term has come to an end! Hope everyone enjoys the break from school and gets even a little chance to catch your breath before all the fun and events of Term 4 begin.

Just a reminder - if you have a little person starting in Prep next year and you would like to have my help in sizing uniforms etc (needing to try on items) and getting all your gear sorted then you need to make a booking for an appointment. This link will be advertised and will open to take bookings from the 7th of October. 

Appointments will take place from the middle of November until the end of Term 4 and then again in January just before school returns.

We cannot accommodate this service in normal opening mornings as this time of year is always busy as everyone tries to get uniforms for the new school year.

Once bookings open if you have any issues, please let me know.

Enjoy the break - stay safe - and come back ready for a great Term 4 

Kerri – Uniform Shop Convenor
http://www.schoolshoponline.net.au/camphillipss 

NORMAL UNIFORM SHOP TRADING HOURS
Tuesday and Thursday:  8:15 – 9:30 am

OSHC

We want to say a big thank you those who got the chance to pop in for our special breakfast this morning.

We have a wonderful team of parents who allow us to run this OSHC, and it was nice to give them some acknowledgement.

Enjoy the holidays

The team at OSHC

CROCS SWIM CLUB

A huge thank you to all our amazing volunteers who assisted in the Pool Working Bee on Saturday.

The Pool area is now looking great and ready for PE lessons, learn to swim, squads and of course our first Club Night in Week 1 next term.

Are you interested in joining the Committee? We are currently seeking a Secretary, a Communications extraordinaire and a Vice Chair - so please reach out to swimclubsecretary@camphillpandc.com.au for further information.  We need these roles filled in order to commence our season, thank you.

Registrations are now open for the Camp Hill “Crocs" Swim Club Season 24/25 www.camphillswim.club. 

Friday of Term 4, Week 1 is our first night back in the pool and we can’t wait welcome back previous and new families.

A testimonial from a current Crocs member that says it all ...

"Friday night swim club is such a great end to the school week - a welcoming, social atmosphere, with a little friendly competition. Whether you’re there to swim a PB or to master the basics, there is something for every child’s skill level.

Jack (8 years) and I look forward to swim club every week. From the second he finished his first 25m freestyle, cheered on poolside by his best mates, he has loved every minute of swim club.  Come and see what it’s all about. All of the kids are nervous before their first swim, but once they make it to the other end, they will have the biggest smile on their face. It doesn’t matter if they swim perfect freestyle, a mix of free-breaststroke, or with a kick board, there will be friends and peers cheering them on.”

Swim with the Crocs!

Community News

Holland Park Junior Cricket Club

Tennis For Kids

Gardiner Chess Program

Rollason in Swim Season