14 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

Classroom Visits

Mrs Pool, Mr Habel and I have been visiting our classrooms across the school. We’d be very disappointed if your child comes home and says, ‘we did nothing today,’ as this is not the case at all. A positive learning atmosphere has been created and the focus of our teachers is on their students reaching their full potential with the students well-engaged in their learning.

Our school has a number of whole school initiatives in place, that are aimed at developing the full range of our learners to further improve. Our teaching staff and teacher aides are focussed on improving our students’ literacy and numeracy skills and building their resilience to be successful in their futures.

Our Teacher Aides are:

ECDP TA – Denise Ormerod and Mandy Brown
Prep TA – Julie Jorgensen and Toni White
Years 1 - 3 Mandy Brown, Robyn Nugent and Tracie Kennedy
Years 4 – 6 Robyn Nugent, Cath Coleman and Mandy Brown

Coles Sporting Schools

Coles Sports for Schools is back to help Aussie kids stay fit and healthy. When you shop at Coles, Coles Express and Coles Online you'll receive Sports for Schools vouchers that our school can exchange for sports gear. The more vouchers you collect, the more sports gear they'll receive. Start collecting today because the race is on!

Please send the vouchers to school with your child to be placed in the collection box in the office by June 15th 2018.

A box is on the counter in the Admin block for your collected vouchers.

First Kids on Mars

Last week 24 eager Year 4 to Year 6 explorers spent two days studying all things about being the first kids on Mars. Working in groups they participated in a number of lead up activities that culminated in the students sharing their solutions around establishing a liveable base and how to sustain a garden area. Along the way they drew a wonderful image of falling from a rocket and learnt about what the ISS and any habitable space station would smell like as well as being given the challenge to grow radish seeds.

These are no ordinary radish seeds! We have 14 radish seeds that have spent 6 months on the ISS and we are only the second school in Australia to have this opportunity to grow seeds from space. This is a huge challenge as that school was unable to grow their seeds into a third week. We will be watching and going all out on plant care.

It was wonderful watching and listening to the students presentations which they did with the Minecraft programme.

Hall Playground

Exciting news - watch this space for updates.

In early March the old Hall playground will be decommissioned and a new super duper playground is planned to be completed by late March/early April.

The funds for this playground have come from the Oval hire to Lendlease during the Sunshine Plaza construction, and from funds raised directly from parents through our small yet wonderful P&C.

A huge thank you!

Kiss and Go – Drop Off and Pick Up Zone Reminder

Primary School Court – right outside the front of the school. This safety initiative is for our whole community and a reminder that when you stop in this zone you are not to exit your car. It is a drop off and pick up zone only.

Police have been monitoring the area and will book parents who stop, park and leave their car. The safest way for all to access this area is to drive to the end of Primary School Court and use the turning bay to head back to the school. Of course, never do a U turn across the traffic lights as this is not safe for our students or parents and it would attract the attention of the Police.

Year 1 Parents – Tuesday February 20

All Year 1 parents are invited to a Home Reader workshop with the class teachers and Mrs Pool.

All Year 1 parents are to meet at 2:40pm February 20 with Mrs Pool at the Mango Tree.

This will give you knowledge and it will develop a partnership between home and school for your child’s reading progression.

Science News

Out with the old and in with the new! The Science Centre in Brisbane is remodelling and the ‘new and improved’ version will open in mid 2018.

Great holiday activities – World Science Festival is on again this year in Brisbane. March 21 – 25 with bookings required for certain events. The street show activities are free and always popular.

Just for fun, a new dinosaur has been discovered. The Mansourasaurus Shahinae, a long neck, is only the sixth dinosaur to have been found in Egypt.

ECDP – Koala Joeys

Routines and Expectations

Wearing the correct school uniform including a broad brimmed hat for play times.

All students should be dropped off at school from 8:20 to 8:30am.

School learning starts at 8:30am sharp.

There are high expectations around student work, personal achievements and behaviour.

For any student absence please call the school before 8:30am on the day of the absence. 5475 1555

Our 4 School Rules are:

All student mobile phones are to be taken to the School Office for safe keeping during the school day. Students collect them at the end of the school teaching and learning day at 2:30pm.

Hats – all students should have a green bucket hat for outside activities including both breaks. Parents please ensure your child’s hat is named.

Toys – all students are to leave their toys at home for play at home and to not disrupt the teaching and learning of the teacher and other students.

School Absence and Text Messaging Service

IT technicians are working on a fault in the student absence messaging service to parents and we hope to have it rectified by Friday.

A reminder:

If your student is absent - Phone the Student Absence Line before 9:00am to advise of any/all occasions when your child/ren will be away from school. This is a 24hr recorded service, you can call it anytime (convenient if your child is up ill during the night!). The Maroochydore State School Student Absence Line number is 07 5475 1555 – then dial 2 and leave clearly state your child’s name class and a reason for your child’s absence.

If your student is late and the class teacher has marked the rolls - Children who arrive after the roll has closed will be required to go to the office WITH THEIR PARENT to collect a LATE SLIP for presentation to their teacher. Legally a child’s explanation for their lateness is not acceptable and is recorded as an UNEXPLAINED ABSENCE.

If/when you receive an SMS message, reply to the SMS with the reason for your child’s absence and their name immediately OR if you believe your child/ren is/should be at school contact the school office immediately to notify us.

Playground Use

It is great to see students and families enjoy the wonderful facilities and playgrounds straight after school. However, I need all of the community to please support this practice in the following way.

If students are to use the playground after school, their parent must be actively supervising their child from right next to the playground.

I appreciate everyone’s support with this.

P&C News

The next P&C Meeting is the AGM on Monday March 12.

All parents are welcome to come along from 8:45am and join in supporting your child’s school. We are meeting in the staffroom in the Administration Block.

Chappy Sam

Monday and Thursday mornings – toast and Milo and a chat with our student community in the forecourt area. Just a reminder to all students – we eat and drink in this forecourt area only. Do not wander off to the playground or around the school.

Term 1 Dates

Welcome to Class to parents by class teachers – Tuesday February 6
The Protectors performance – Tuesday February 22
Vision Screening for Prep Students – Tuesday February 27
Starlab visit – Wednesday March 20
World Science Excursion – Thursday March 21
Parent/Teacher Interviews – Weeks 9 and 10 March 12-23
End of Term – Thursday March 29

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Every day counts

Parents are reminded of the importance of sending children to school every day. Being at school every day is important, with one day absent each week quickly adding up to two months of missed lessons in a year.

Unless your child is ill, it is expected that your child will be at school learning every day of the school year.

More information on the importance of regular school attendance is available in the link below. The videos associated with this link highlight issues often faced by parents and dispel some myths about absences form school and are worth a look.

By sending your child to school every day we are together developing good habits for success at primary school and beyond. When parents do not support developing a solid routine of attending school every day issues of truancy and poor work habits can emerge.

If you have any concerns regarding your child’s attendance, please do not hesitate to contact the school for support.

This week’s rules of the week is – Be Safe. Walking on the concrete is a safe option, walk your bike on school grounds, don’t forget to have your hat for outside play.