5 September 2018

Newsletter Articles

Father’s Day BBQ

Thank you to all our dads who attended our Father’s day BBQ last Thursday. It was a wonderful sight to see our forecourt area full of dads and children enjoying a bacon and egg sandwich, whilst putting paper aeroplane making skills to the test! Thank you Chappy Sam for all your organisation and to all those who pitched in to help the queues move and settle the hungry tummies!

Swimming – Term 4

Even though the mornings are chilly we are planning our Term 4 swimming programme. Learning to swim and reinforcing these swimming skills are vital, especially living so close to a major waterway and the ocean.

Our Prep to Year 5 students will be attending swim sessions at Cotton Tree Pool with their class teacher and qualified swim instructors. A note is being finalised as all the swimming arrangements are confirmed and Mrs Pool shall add it to our Facebook posts.

For our Year 6 students will attend a surf awareness programme at Mooloolaba Beach.

Bright Minds

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected for science and engineering challenges at Maroochydore SHS on Thursday.

India, Nate, Jack, Brandon, Jett, Hope, Zoe, Yarik, Dom and Leah

Regional Athletics

We wish Elle and Jaime all the best as they compete in the Sunshine Coast Regional Athletics Carnival at the University of the Sunshine Coast on September 11 and September 12. Challenge yourself to run faster, jump and throw further than you ever have!

Bongo Brothers performance

Monday 9am – 10am

Our Prep to Year 6 students will attend an engaging performance by the Bongo Brothers on Monday morning in the Hall.

Weekly awards will be presented after the performance.

Parents are welcome to attend with a quick call to the Office so that we have some chairs out for you.

Personal Safety & Your Child - Bravehearts

Personal Safety and Your Child information

R U Okay Day

Thursday September 13.

Something we all should be well aware of and not put off asking that someone you know. This important day provides an opportunity to highlight the value of checking in on each other and supporting people if they are struggling.

NAPLAN Survey

The Queensland Government is undertaking a review of NAPLAN in the Queensland context, to better understand the impacts NAPLAN is having on learning and teaching within the state.

The first stage of the Review, conducted in June 2018, focused on consultation with parents.

The second stage is now underway, with consultation extending to students, teachers, principals and other key education stakeholders across Queensland.

Queensland students in years 3 to 10 are now invited to provide feedback on their experiences with NAPLAN, via an online survey. Students wishing to participate will require the consent of a parent or carer, who can assist with completing the survey at home.

The survey link is available below:

This project has received ethical clearance from both the Australian Catholic University and the Department of Education. Further information on the student survey and the Review are provided within the survey link.

Staff PD

Last evening all school staff completed the final twilight professional development session. This was based around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and had learning, construction, testing, modification and reflection phases. The launching of water rockets across our school oval was quite a sight!

However, teacher learning doesn’t stop there with Mrs Pool and a number of teachers attending a Play, Wonder, Learn Conference on Saturday. Mrs Hill and Mrs McFadzen attending an English moderation session next week and Mr Maish will spend a couple of days during the holidays attending a Schools of the Future: Inquiry, Design and Innovation STEM Conference.

Staff Car Park Area

BE Safe – is one of our 4 school rules.

Could all parents and students ensure they DO NOT use the staff car park area as a thoroughfare or a place for dropping off or picking children up from.

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.

Be Responsible

Please reinforce with your child the idea that we do not solve disagreements by being physical. That we use our words, walk away or seek a teacher to assist.

Rule: Be Responsible Buzz Phrase “I Choose to Defuse”

• I say STOP if someone or something is upsetting me.
• I WALK away from the situation to a safe place.
• I TALK to someone I can trust.
• I CONTROL myself and keep my COOL.
• I can solve problems in a calm manner.

Resilience in this context means that students need to take responsibility for their own actions. Regardless of what bad things we experience or others may do to us we are still responsible for how we react. It is not acceptable to justify our inappropriate behaviour as a result of someone else’s behaviour towards us.

School Absence and Text Messaging Service

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/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.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Every day counts

Semester 1 Whole School Student Attendance Rate – 88.0%

Our whole school target is 94%

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.

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.

Term 3 Dates

September 9 – Bright Minds No. 3
September 11 and 12 – Sunshine Coast Regional Athletics – Sunshine Coast University track
September 12 – MSHS Program of Excellence letters sent to students.
September 21 – last day of term 3

Year 6 Important Dates