Welcome back to Term 3. I trust our school community had an opportunity to relax over the recent holiday period.  

It has been great to see our students back and ready to learn. Classrooms have been highly engaging with our students demonstrating learning behaviours from the first day.  

Semester 1 Data 

In recent data collected by our school from Semester 1 2025, it has been extremely pleasing to see growth in academic performance across our school setting, improvement in our daily attendance and a significant reduction in school disciplinary absences (suspensions) continue to occur. There has been significant improvement in our measure against similar or like schools across the state. I look forward to seeing the outcome of our strategic work continue to build momentum into Semester 2. 

This is inclusive of our commitment to: 

• Better and Brighter Every Day! 

• Well-Being & engagement 

• Culture and inclusion  

• Academic achievement 

• Calm classrooms, calm school 

• Celebrating the pride in our school. 

Prep – Year 2 Key results 

• 66.1% students receiving A-C in English (below expectation against like schools) 

• 32.2% students receiving A or B in English (below expectation against like schools) 

• 74.4% students receiving A-C in Mathematics (at expectation against like schools) 

• 32.2% students receiving and A or B in Mathematics (at expectation against like schools) 

• 85.4% attendance (at expectation with like schools) 

• Suspension rate at 1% (at expectation against like schools) 

Year 3-6 Key results 

• 72.2% students receiving A-C in English (at expectation against like schools – improvement gained) 

• 33% students receiving A or B in English (at expectation against like schools – improvement gained) 

• 79.5% students receiving A-C in Mathematics (at expectation-improvement gained) 

• 38.1% students receiving and A or B in Mathematics (at expectation against like schools – improvement gained) 

• 88% Attendance (at expectation against like schools – improvement gained) 

• Suspension rate at 6% (at expectation against like schools) 

As principal of our school, I am always proud of our work and the results we have observed particularly with massive gains in our Year 3-6 cohorts. I am extremely grateful for the dedication and commitment from our school staff for their role in this positive shift as well as the culture being demonstrated by our students towards their learning. I look forward to our continued growth on our journey to build a better and brighter Berserker. 

Curriculum letters 

Term 3 curriculum letters have been sent home with students from individual classes. These letters outline the focus for key learning areas, key information for the Term ahead and include assessment schedules. Thank you for checking your child’s bag for this important information.  

School Opinion Surveys – We want your feedback! 

This year’s School Opinion Survey runs from 28 July to 22 August 2025. Parents, caregivers and students are encouraged to participate. Your insights will help us know what our school does well and how we can improve. Participants will be emailed a link to access the survey the week before it opens. Survey responses are confidential. The survey usually takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Additional information was also emailed home earlier in the week to our families. More information can be found on the School Opinion Survey webpage or by contacting the school.  

Attendance 

We know that regular school attendance is a fundamental requirement for student learning and each school has an attendance strategy to support this belief. Here at Berserker Street State School, we provide a safe, supportive and engaging learning environment that encourages student attendance. 

We are obligated to know where all students are on a daily basis. Consecutive days of absence must also be reported, and we cannot presume your child is ill. If you receive a text, thank you for using this opportunity to inform us of your child’s illness or other reason they are absent from school. Alternatively, you can report your child’s absence prior to the text message by calling the school directly on (07) 4999 0333 by 10am. 

Students still need to stay home if they are ill and it is expected that parents will contact the school via a phone call/text message. This is then recorded as an explained absence. When the school is not contacted regarding a student absence this is considered an unexplained absence. 

Parents play a vital role in supporting their children to attend every day and we encourage you to reinforce with your child that Everyday Counts and discuss that days missed means learning has been missed.  

Our school can also assist parents if they are having difficulty ensuring your child attends school by supporting to remove barriers impacting your child attending. More information about this can be obtained by contacting us to discuss more. 

Bookfair:

Bookfair was a massive success this week with a total of $3621.30 in items sold. Thank you to everybody who purchased items. Every purchase provides our school the opportunity to raise funds to purchase books for our school library which came to a total of $1086 worth. This is also a great opportunity for our families to purchase books and promote literacy at home. A special thank you also goes to Mrs Karen Rogers for all her time and effort into organising and running a successful Book Fair.

Colour Explosion – Fun run

On Thursday 4th September our P&C will conduct the annual Colour Explosion Fun Run. This event has been extremely fun in the past and a great fundraiser for our school. All funds raised go to directly back to supporting the students at our school. Students also have the opportunity to select prizes for the appropriate level of fundraising they can do. Our school has set the target of raising $10 000.

Help our P&C fundraise today!

Rockhampton District Athletics:

Congratulations to the following students who will represent our school at next week’s Rockhampton district athletics carnival held Monday and Tuesday.

All the best to Logan W, Declan L, Rayne S, Febreze S, Mathias A & Theo C.

NAIDOC

Thursday 14th August, we will conduct our school-based NAIDOC celebration. Mr Mitchell our CEC has been working behind the scenes to organise a great day of events. The theme this year is The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy. We will have numerous community organisations joining us on the day as well as elders from across the community. Students will also have the opportunity to experience activities like traditional games, painting, storytelling and much more.

Nurse Practitioner appointments

Kerinda our school nurse practitioner has been busy with many families taking the opportunity to connect for bulk-billed medical check-ups, referrals and prescribed medication. Kerinda is here every Monday during the school term and you can book an

appointment by contacting the office. Kerinda can also offer First Nations Health Checks so be sure to contact the office to book your appointment today.

Upcoming Key Dates:

12th August: P&C Meeting

13th August: Instrumental music workshop

14th August: NAIDOC Celebrations

20th August: Book Week Dress Up Parade

20th August: Red Food Day – Parmi burger special

27th August: School Performance – It’s a mad world (school covering cost)

2nd & 3rd September: P&C Father’s Day Stall

4th September: P&C Colour Explosion – Fun run

5th September: Student Free Day – school will be closed to students.

12th September: PBL Celebration Day – Sport theme.

18th September: P&C School Disco

19th September: Last Day of Term 3

I hope you have a better & brighter day!

Ryan Gilmour

Principal