The community is an important part of our school. We believe that positive relationships are formed when all parts of the community work together and focus on our students and their achievement. This is critical for their success.
Parents, the P&C, volunteers, pre-prep providers, secondary schools and the wider community are all key contributors to our “Petrie School Community”.
Petrie Playtime
Petrie runs a playgroup at school to support families at the school and in the community with pre-school aged babies and children. The playgroup is affiliated with Playgroup Queensland. This is an informal and relaxed weekly get-together of mums, dads, grandparents, carers, children and babies. There is no cost to families.
No child is too young for playgroup. All children from 0–5 years of age, including babies, love new experiences and benefit from developing sensory, social and communication skills through activities at playgroup.
Playgroups benefit a child’s development across all areas: physical, social, emotional, language, cognitive and communication.
Research shows children who attend playgroup are less likely to be developmentally vulnerable when they start school.
Playgroups help adults meet other local families and develop friendships; share experiences and ideas; and play with and nurture their child’s development.
Day:
Thursday, during the school term
Time:
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Where: Petrie SS PCYC building
Pre-Prep Providers
We are focused on collaborating with the day care centres and kindergartens that feed prep students into Petrie. This collaboration involves discussions and visits that help us understand the environments and routines the pre-prep students have experienced, and better enables us to make adjustments to successfully transition them to school.
Petrie runs a comprehensive Transition to Prep program. The day care centres and kindergartens we work with play a key role in promoting and supporting this transition for children who have been enrolled at Petrie for Prep. With the support of these pre-prep providers and the parents, we are able us to get to know the children more before they begin school, and better provide effectively for their needs right from the start of the school year.
Secondary School Partnerships
Successfully transitioning Year 6 students to secondary school is also a priority. The local State High Schools visit students in Years 5 and 6 each year to provide them with information about what high school will be like. Petrie also hosts a parent information evening where staff from these schools visit and outline what their schools offer; and parents have the chance to ask questions. In Term 4, Year 6 students going to a local State High School attend a Transition Day at that school.