Dear Dalby State School Families,

Welcome to the 2025 School Year!

As the new school year starts, I would like to welcome all our new Preppies who have joined DSS! I would also like to welcome all our new students, staff, families, and guardians who join us as well this year. In our staffing, we welcome Miss Lauren Vidler who joins us for 12 months from Sunnybank Hills State School, Mrs Robyn Troe who has returned from leave to job share with Mrs Amanda Fermor, Mrs Naomi Cleary who is working with Mrs Mellisa Cover, Miss Danielle Leggett who joins us in her first year of teaching, Mrs Deb Buckley who has returned for Term 1 to backfill behind Miss Nikita King. Miss King is currently backfilling behind Mrs Tammy Kavney who has taken leave for Term 1. We also welcome Miss Ashlee Brock who has transferred in from Winton. As you may also know there have been some changes in the Administration at the school for Term 1 as well. Ms Mona Anau has taken on an Acting Principal role at Dalby State High School while Dr Dean Russell has taken on the Acting Principal role at Harristown State High School in Toowoomba. I have taken on the Acting Principal role for Dalby State School and Mrs Penny De Waele has also taken on the Acting Deputy Principal role behind myself.

As of today, our total school enrolment number is 489 students. This number is closely to what we had indicated for the school year, and we are still fielding enrolment enquiries and applications. We foresee that we will not have any significant changes to our class structures with these enrolment numbers. We will continue to update our school community as we finalise our enrolment numbers for the Day 8 and Day 20 collections.

Unfortunately, our P&C Meet & Greet was postponed due to the unpredictability of the weather. However, we will be hosting the P&C’s Meet & Greet next Wednesday 12^th February from 5.00pm in the Year 1/2 Eating Area. I certainly encourage all our new and existing families to come along and meet new families, hear how you can help the P&C with events, fundraisers or even join the P&C and grab a sausage on bread as well. This is open to all families to come along.

As we rely more and more on mobile phones and mobile devices, I would like to remind both parents/guardians and students about the Student use of mobile devices in Queensland State Schools. Queensland State School students must keep their mobile phones/mobile devices (mobile devices include mobile phones, wearables such as smartwatches, handheld devices and other emerging technologies which have the ability to connect to telecommunication networks or the internet) switched off and 'away for the day' during school hours. Notifications on wearable devices, such as smartwatches, must be switched off so that phone calls, messages and other notifications cannot be sent or received during school hours. The decision to implement a consistent, statewide approach to putting mobile phones away during the school day is based on the advice of Ms Cheryl Vardon AO, former Queensland Family and Children's Commissioner, who completed an  independent review of Queensland's approach to mobile phones. We will continue to outline to our students that mobile phones and mobile devices are to be switched off/notifications turned off whilst they are on the school grounds.

Warm Regards,

Scott Bach

Term 1 2025

Week 1

The Cleaner's Award for the cleanest classroom in Week 2 has been awarded to

4B!

Lesson and Break Times

Student Absence

Parents of students who are absent without explanation at 9am roll marking will receive a text message alert. This message requests parents to contact the school either by phone, return SMS or email to confirm the absence and reason. If you know that your child will be absent from school or is sick, please use one of the following options to inform the school. You can also notify in advance of appointments or family holidays.

If your child is away from school, you can phone the Student Absence Line 24/7 on (07) 4672 3660 or the school number (07) 4672 3666 and follow the prompts leaving student name, class and reason for absence and the duration of absence, you can fill in the information on the Absentee form on the schoolzine link on the school newsletter, or on the downloaded Schoolzine app or email: absences@dalbyss.eq.edu.au.

Late to School

Students are required to arrive at school between 8.30am and 8.55am each day. School commences at 9am and concludes at 3pm. If a student arrives after the start of the school day, he/she must present to the Front Office for a late slip.

Exemptions from Schooling

Students who are absent from school for more than ten consecutive days (because of illness or family holidays) require an exemption.

Principals may approve exemptions from school of less than one year where there is an appropriate reason and/or it would be inappropriate for the child to attend. These measures should be discussed with the principal.

Hi all,

Welcome to the new school year, I hope everyone is excited to be back. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Karl Pumpa and I am the Dalby State School Chaplain.

You might be wondering what a school chaplain does.  The official tagline for my role is “to support students, staff and parents socially, emotionally and spiritually”.  Basically, I’m here to be available for students to talk to me about anything.  Whether they’ve just had a bad day or would like to talk about something more serious, I am here to help. 

My role isn’t to offer a counselling service but a listening ear to anyone in the school community who would like to chat and/or work through an issue confidentially.  I will also be running targeted programs to promote student wellbeing as the year goes on. 

I also run some lunch time activities. Chess Club is on Wednesdays both breaks in the art room and players of all skill are welcome.  The “Peoples Club” is on Fridays, which is simply an organised game for students looking for something to do in break time.  Grades P-3 can find me under the big tree in the playground at first break and grades 4-6 can find me in the MPC at second break. 

I’ll see you around the school on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Chappy Karl

As a bonus, here’s a joke to make your kids eyes roll:

Q: What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A: A gummy bear

Tuckshop Update-

The Dalby State School Tuckshop will be open for business 3 days a week (Mon, Wed & Fri.) Orders are to be placed by 8am for same day delivery. 

• Students and Staff will be able to place orders online via - Qkr App
• Bag orders are welcome, they will need to be filled out at home and placed in the container provided- no ordering over the counter 

Visit the website to see how you can shop online and delivery options on www.wearitto.com.au alternatively uniform order forms are available in The Front Office and can be placed in the box provided next to the uniform shop. Any further questions please email dalbyss@wearitto.com.au 

Uniform Policy

Dalby State School is a full uniform school with a School Dress Code. The school community has designed and supports all students wearing this uniform to show pride in our school.  It is a recognised fact, that when students are wearing a uniform they gain a sense of belonging and greater awareness of their role and expectations.

Formal uniform is worn on a Monday and is compulsory for years 4 to 6 and preferred for all other year levels, otherwise the school uniform can be worn. The School uniform is worn Tuesday through to Thursday and Sports uniform on a Friday.