Education & learning - Carindale Connect

Mayfield State School gets grants for new playground

Education & learning, local business No Responses » Tagged with: CUA, Emma Hinchcliffe, Mayfield State School, Steve Minnikin

Sep 222013

We went along to a special assembly at Mayfield State School this week to see the school presented with two lots of funding – one from a Queensland Government grant and one from a CUA grant.

The monies will go towards installing a new playground at the school.

Steve Minnikin MP, Member for Chatsworth presented a cheque for $31,818 that the school obtained from Gambling Community Benefit Fund (GCBF).

The GCBF was established in 1994 by the Queensland Government to provide funding to community groups in Queensland. The fund receives money from gambling taxes and distributes these funds to not-for-profit community groups.

“Thanks must go to the school’s dedicated P&C Association for their role in securing this funding,” Mr Minnikin said.

Mayfield State School also won $5,000 from CUA, after its nominated school project received more community votes than seven other schools across Carindale in the CUA Community Care 2013 program.

The community was asked to vote with CUA Community Care on the nominated projects at local schools.

Emma Hinchcliffe, Customer Service Specialist at CUA Carindale, said the response to their Community Care program this year has been incredible.

“We are delighted to present the $5,000 grant to Mayfield State School to go towards the development of their project and hope the children get value and enjoyment out of the new playground equipment for many years to come,” Ms Hinchcliffe said.

Head of the schools P&C, Dan Glass, acknowledged the role of social media in getting the community behind the campaign. He said one of the mums, Samara Phillips, was a key part of driving the campaign.

This is the third year of CUA Community Care, a program linked to CUA’s sponsorship of the national adidas School Fun Run program – a long-standing healthy initiative designed to raise funds for school while making fitness fun.

Lend Lease greening up Belmont State School

Education & learning, Environment 2 Responses » Tagged with: Belmont State School, Lend Lease, Mandy Morrison, Noel Seawright

Sep 222013

A group of Lend Lease employees spent Wednesday 19th September at Belmont State School, planting trees and tidying up to beautify the grounds.

Carindale’s Belmont State School was just one of the organisations helped during Lend Lease’s 18th annual Community Day.

Lend Lease Community Day encourages all employees around the world to give something back to local communities.

The initiative helps to develop strong community partnerships, giving employees a chance to apply skills where they are most needed. It also helps to build strong camaraderie and teamwork.

Employees are invited to nominate a project and create small teams to work with the community group or cause.

Activities can include helping senior citizens, homeless people, people with disabilities, the environment, working with children/youth and animals.

When I arrived at the school I saw the Lend Lease team undertaking all sorts of tasks. It was a hot day but there was plenty of friendly chatter and laughs. They were moving soil, dressing up the gardens with mulch, planting, tidying up and more. The plants were Mock Orange for the hedges and Red grass.

Mandy Morrison, team leader of this particular group said the Belmont State School project was chosen because, as an independent Public School, the school places a strong emphasis on establishing and furthering community links.

“This project allows Lend Lease to help establish the local community partnerships by giving back to the local school community, with the manpower and assistance to beautify the grounds,” Mandy said.

Belmont State School is one of the first schools in Queensland to be selected as an Independent Public School. School Principal Noel Seawright says that this provides more autonomy to make decisions locally through the school council. We wrote more about what this means here.

Get involved in the PCYC, says Sergeant Beard

Education & learning No Responses » Tagged with: Blue light disco, Carindale PCYC, David Beard, George Kambouris, Living on Wheels

Aug 152013

Sergeant David Beard speaking at the monthly Carindale & Eastern Suburbs Community Forum at Pacific Golf Club.

Sergeant David Beard, Branch Manager of the Carindale PCYC (Police & Citizens Youth Club) provides a down to earth approach to working with the community.

At the Carindale & Eastern Suburbs Community Forum last month, Sergeant Beard outlined some of the challenges facing youth and the positive role that the PCYC plays for all ages.

In his early days of policing, he saw that the same juveniles were getting into trouble, going through the system and that “nothing much was changing”.

An opportunity came up to relieve at the Pine Rivers PCYC and that’s where he felt he could do a lot more to help kids.

He started playing ping-pong with the kids and integrating with them on a social level. He says that lead to the kids opening up to him.

Queensland PCYCs are different in that each one has a Police Sergeant as its Branch Manager. Sergeant Beard has been at PCYCs for 13 years and 11 of those has been with the Carindale PCYC. Continue reading »

Ed Dept. says Whites Hill College oval ‘surplus to requirements’

Education & learning, Environment, Politics No Responses » Tagged with: John-Paul Langbroek, White's Hill State College

Jun 272013

Locals have started receiving responses back to their letters to the office of John-Paul Langbroek MP opposing the sale of the Whites Hill State College oval. One of these responses has been provided by a local resident for publishing (below). You can add your comments and questions at the bottom of this post.

Dear [name removed]

Thank you for your emails dated 18 June 2013 to the Honourable John-Paul Langbroek MP, Minister for Education, Training and Employment opposing the potential sale of land at Whites Hill State College. The Minister has asked me to respond on his behalf.

The concerns you have raised about the sale of portion of land at Whites Hill State College have been noted. I can assure you that the decision to dispose of surplus land is not one made lightly.

However, the Government is committed to ensuring that our school facilities are appropriately maintained and that Queensland children are provided with learning environments that allow them to achieve positive educational outcomes that prepare them for successful futures. This is why we invested $300 million in addressing maintenance backlogs left to us by the Labor Government.

Part of this is ensuring that our school facilities and the land around our schools are fully utilised. This includes identifying areas where there are surplus facilities or land and freeing this to enable us to reinvest in the facilities that we need. Continue reading »

Kevin Rudd on sale of school land and school mergers

Education & learning, Politics No Responses » Tagged with: Balmoral State High School, Coorparoo Secondary College, Ian Kaye, Kevin Rudd, Steve Minnikin, White's Hill State College

Jun 182013

The following is a speech made by Kevin Rudd MP, Member for Griffith, 17th June, in Federal Parliament. You can add comments at the end of this post.

I recently advised the parliament of the Queensland Liberal National Party government’s plan to privatise school playing fields at both Balmoral State High School and Whites Hill College and to force the merger of two local southside schools, Brisbane State High School and Coorparoo Secondary College. Today I want to update the House further on recent developments. Continue reading »

We want to keep our school oval: local resident

Education & learning, Environment, Politics 5 Responses » Tagged with: Ian Kaye, Kerryn Loose-Jones, Steve Minnikin, White's Hill State College

May 172013

The following is an article by local resident Kerryn Loose-Jones. You can add your comments at the bottom of the page.

After receiving a response to my letter to Ian Kaye, member for Greenslopes, and attending the Whites Hill State College P&C meeting to listen to Steve Minnikin, Member for Chatsworth (my electorate), talk about the sale of our much loved and used school oval, I feel that we are just going to keep hearing the same thing until sitting members feel the heat of the locals’ unrest!

There are many reasons why we as a community want to keep our school oval:

it is used weekly by the Gateway District High Schools and the Lytton District Primary schools for inter-school sport;
it allows for growth into the future and ensures plenty of room for sports and all children to be able to participate at the same time, unlike at some other local overcapacity schools;
it is part of a precious Sugar Glider Corridor and regularly has koalas and other native wildlife in the well-established trees that form the surrounds of the playing fields;
Brisbane is already well behind both Sydney and Melbourne cities with the amount of green space in the inner city areas and the sale of this green space is in contradiction of the Brisbane City Council plan. Continue reading »

Letter from Ian Kaye re Whites Hill State College oval

Education & learning, Environment No Responses » Tagged with: Ian Kaye, Kerryn Loose-Jones, Steve Minnikin, White's Hill State College

May 172013

The following is a letter written by Ian Kaye State Member for Greenslopes to local Kerryn Loose-Jones which she has given permission to publish here.

Dear Kerryn,

Thank you for your email regarding the Whites Hill College oval on the southern side of Samuel Street. The information provided by the Education Department at this time is included below. Continue reading »

NAPLAN time

Education & learning No Responses » Tagged with: NAPLAN

May 142013

naplan preparation If you have children in years 3, 5, 7 or 9 they will be doing NAPLAN testing this week. These students will be tested in the areas of Reading, Writing/Language Conventions and Numeracy.
NAPLAN is the National Assessment Program that assesses Australian school students in Literacy and Numeracy.

Reading: A selection of various reading comprehension tests. (Including stories, poems, factual and instructional texts)
Writing: Students will write a persuasive text.
Language Conventions: Spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Numeracy: A wide range of mathematical concepts are tested. (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry and Statistics and Probability)

Love it or hate it, NAPLAN is happening in every school, in every state at the same time around the nation. While some Secondary schools place high importance on NAPLAN results as part of their application requirements, most schools see it for what it really is: a “moment in time” test. Students who participate receive individual reports on their results as well as information about how well they performed compared to other students in their year group. Continue reading »

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