Term 4 Week 7 2023
- Principal's News by Ange Padgett
- Team Mango We All Belong!
- Prep News by Kris Olsen
- Year 1 News by Melinda White
- Year 2 News by Kylie Vaughan
- Year 3 News by Ellaine Warner
- Year 4 News by Danielle O'Brien
- Year 5 News by Emma Crawshaw
- Year 6 News by Ben Mills
- Curriculum News
- Sporting News by The PE Department
- News from our Partners
Dear Parents and Carers
Last week I shared the news about Ms Ellaine Warner leaving Mango Hill to take on a position working in the regional office as a director. Although we are still unclear about Ms Warner’s start date, we can advise that Mrs Mieke Munko will be taking on Ms Warner’s role for Term 1 2024. We welcome Mrs Munko and her experience as Deputy Principal.
As we approach the end of the school year, together with the senior leadership team, we have been discussing with staff, the need to continue to reinforce our school values to ensure Mango Hill State School students continue to uphold our high expectations, in particular around student behaviour. The school values of Respect, Excellence, Commitment, Teamwork and Innovation has held the school in high regard within the community. The value of Respect is an area I will be focussing on with our students in these last few weeks. As principal, it is important to me, that students continue to maintain these high expectations. I look forward to continuing the partnerships with families, staff and students in this area.
As a staff, we have spent the last six weeks reviewing the current Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) to determine what our school has done well and what our next steps might be in 2024. The Education Department encourages schools to ensure their AIPs are tight and narrow. The Department requesst the AIP is to be aligned to the Department’s Equity and Excellence strategy. The purpose of an AIP is to outline the strategies and actions, desired outcomes and 12 month targets related to student learning, across the year. Once report card results have been entered, the school will then set targets aligned to the AIP’s strategies. Our school will begin implementing version 9 of the Australian Curriculum in 2025. The new English curriculum requires schools to tweak the way they are currently teaching reading. These actions will form part of our implementation phase next year. Attached below is a draft of the AIP, outlining a summary of the priority areas, proposed strategies and actions. Our school welcomes the community’s input on the attached draft plan. Should you have any feedback, please email jbnf10@eq.edu.au by Monday 27 November.
On Friday we celebrated our annual Mango Hill State School Diversity Day. The whole school parade was a highlight! Thank you to families who were able to make the time to celebrate with us.
Congratulations to all of the students who competed at the Battle of the Brains competition last week. Mango Hill State School students competed together with 40 other schools. Congratulations to the Mango Hill State school Team Red who took out 2nd place. We were very proud of how well the students worked together as a team and represented Team Mango. It was a great event and well run competition by Moreton Bay Council.
On Wednesday 22 November, we will be hosting a Volunteers’ Morning Tea to thank our amazing parents, friends and family members for volunteering their time and services to our school. We really do appreciate all that our community does to support us educate our students. We would love for you to join us at 8.45am in the Wandani Centre.
As we are getting closer to the end of the year, the school has many events to celebrate the 2023 school year. These include:
We are looking forward to celebrating these end of year events alongside our students and their families. We do again, remind everyone, that finding a park will take time and patience. Please continue to be mindful of our neighbours when parking.
Have a wonderful week
Ange Padgett
Principal
apadg6@eq.edu.au
Focus of the Week
The Care Class focus that will be delivered this Friday is ‘Resilience’. We will be consolidating this focus throughout next week.
Throughout Week 8, teachers will be working with students to learn about resilience which is generally regarded as the ability to cope with and bounce back after adversity. This can extend from day to day challenges through to life changing events.
Of our four cares (Care for Self, Care for Others, Care for Learning, Care for our School Environment) learning about resilience focuses on caring for self by growing and demonstrating resilience. It is a continuum, and something that can change over time. We can all learn ways of becoming more resilient and developing a growth mindset.
If you are interested in reading more about developing resilience in children, please go to the following websites https://healthyfamilies.beyondblue.org.au/healthy-homes/building-resilience
Bruno Mars gives advice on Sesame Street about resilience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+pWp6kkz-pnQ
Using the Crossing
It is fantastic to see so many of our Prep students using stop, drop and go in the morning before school. I have seen our students following the Four Cares, by Caring for Self and Caring for Others as they wait at the crossing and listen for the crossing supervisors whistle before making their way across the road.
Our student leaders, older siblings and staff have walked students to the Prep Undercover Area to play in a safe and supervised setting before our 8:15 bell. A reminder that students playing on the Astroturf (artificial grassed area) are required to be accompanied by a parent and wearing a hat. Well done on setting up great morning routines!
Representing Numbers
Although our year is drawing to a close, we are still working hard in Prep to develop and practise our counting skills. This term we have been adding and subtracting numbers together. To help us do this, we have used a variety of strategies to show our understanding of the answer. By providing multiple strategies our students are able to make deep connections between numbers and begin to see links between addition and subtraction.
Last week I had the privilege of watching Prep T in action as they used strategies to solve a variety of word problems. In small groups, students worked together to brainstorm as many strategies as possible to show how they could find the answer. Our Prep students are so clever and proud to showcase their work.
Have a great week
Kris Olsen
Deputy Principal- Prep
kolse55@eq.edu.au
Solving Problems in Year 1
We’re doing lots of reminders about how to solve problems in the world, in Year 1.
Social problem solving is about how we use universal problem solving skills, to solve life problems.
For example:
- Argument about who goes first. How do we choose? Well, we could… draw straws, play paper scissors rock, draw a number out of a hat. Then we take turns. Your turn, then my turn, then your turn, then my turn.
- Dobbing. Is this a Big Problem that needs to involve an adult? Or is this a Small Problem that I can solve myself? How do I choose what is a Big Problem or a Small Problem?
- The Catastrophe Scale. On a scale of 1 to a catastrophe… with a catastrophe being a massive volcano eruption, how serious is losing a pencil? How could we solve this?
- What will we play? I want to play in the sandpit. You want to play soccer. Hmmm… what can we do to solve this? What’s our options? Well, we could choose to play with other people today and meet up again another day, or we could compromise – play in the sandpit first, then join soccer club. Or we could play soccer at first break and the sandpit at second break. So many solutions to this problem!
Solving problems doesn’t come naturally to many of our students, especially if they are surrounded by people who jump in and solve the problems for them… (yes parents and carers, I’m looking at you!). We need to help our little ones to take a deep breath and think about how to approach the problem. There are some things that are too big for them and they will need grown up help… but they are actually quite clever little humans, when we give them the time and space to have a turn themselves first.
At home, you can help to build these problem solving skills by not jumping in immediately. Make suggestions, help them think of the options… but give them the space to have a go.
- Can’t find socks. Hmmmm. Where could you look?
- I’m hungry. There’s fruit in the fridge, you choose.
- I’m bored. Let’s make a list of all the things you could do. Clean the toilet? Vacuum? No? What else could you do then?
- No lunchbox. Hmmm, where did you leave it? How could we solve this disappearing lunchbox problem?
And of course, like everything, the key is PRACTISE. They will make mistakes. They will try and solve Big Problems without us, and involve us in the Small Problems that they don’t need to involve us in. But keep the dialogue going and keep the language going. You’re a problem solver. You’ve got this!
Melinda White
Deputy Principal- Year 1
mwhit37@eq.edu.au
Persuasive Writing in Year 2
Next year in March, our current Year 2s will sit the Year 3 NAPLAN writing test. In the test, students will be provided with a writing stimulus or prompt. Students will then be asked to write either a narrative or a persuasive argument in response to the stimulus.
This term the students in Year 2 have been exploring narrative writing. They have been using their imaginations to create stories that include a beginning, middle and an end with a dramatic complication or problem to be solved.
For the next four weeks, the students will work with their teachers to explore how to write a persuasive argument. These are texts that present a point of view or seek to persuade an audience. Students will learn how the language features they choose can help convince someone else to agree with them.
Look out for some arguments about why your child deserves an extra special Christmas present this year!
Learning in Year 3
Last week, Mrs Padgett and Mr Mills visited Year 3 to speak with students about their learning. Ms Krosman, Ms Gough and I were proud to accompany Mrs Padgett and Mr Mills to 3T, 3B and 3J to ask students about their writing. Students in Year 3 really understand the big purpose of their poems and are making deliberate decisions about rhythm, mood and language features. Well done, Year 3 students. 3K proved themselves to be first rate detectives as they solved Math problems, 3B were superstars as they collaborated together to teach each other how to solve addition and subtraction problems, and 3S created posters in groups so that peers really understood the mathematical language required. We are all kicking goals!
Transition to Year 4
This time of year can be exciting as we start to celebrate the year that was and all of our achievements. We also know that sometimes exciting times, as positive as they are, can make us feel a little bit unsettled. We wonder what will 2024 bring. One good strategy to settle our nerves is to answer our own questions. What will 2024 bring? Well, lots of things will be the same and only some things will be different. If your child is feeling unsettled, consider making a “Same and Different” list. You will find that the “same” column is long and the different column is short. Our teachers are working together to ensure that students start transition processes at just the right time in the right way.
Swimming Carnival
One of the exciting events coming up is our very first turn in Year 3 at going to the Swimming Carnival. Nearly all students in Year 3 will attend the swimming carnival on Thursday 30 November. We’d love to see you there if you are able to make it.
Take care and have a wonderful week
Ellaine Warner
Deputy Principal-Year 3
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
Care for Learning in Year 4
This week I visited 4S and 4J during their Maths lessons where they were learning to solve problems involving the four operations using a range of mental and written strategies. In Year 4, we teach students a range of strategies to solve problems as it supports their conceptual understanding of multiplication, from using less formal strategies such as skip counting and split strategy to more formal strategies such as the written algorithm. It was fantastic to observe students in these classes working with their peers and using a range of resources as they practised some of the strategies that they were less familiar with. Well done 4S and 4J on your engagement and growth mindset this week!
Have a wonderful week
Danielle O'Brien
Deputy Principal- Year 4
dxobr0@eq.edu.au
Eco Marines
Last week our amazing Mango Hill State School EcoMarine Ambassadors attended ‘The Wave’ conference at Brisbane Convention and Entertainment Centre. Many other primary and secondary schools across SEQ joined the conference to celebrate all the wonderful sustainable practices they have achieved throughout the year. Our school now has a whole school Containers for Change program. To date, our school has saved more than 16000 containers from landfill. This is on top of many single use drink cups and lids which are recycled with our local 7/11 store. Well done to our EcoMarine Ambassadors for leading the way with this. We are very gratfeful for Mrs Correlje who has put in many hours to support, lead and plan for all that the EcoMarines do. Keep up the great sustainable practices Team Mango! Together we will create a sustainable future.
Emma Crawshaw
Deputy Principal – Year 5
ewils209@eq.edu.au
Learning in Year 6
During the week, I, along with Mr Olsen and Mrs Vafiopulous, had the pleasure of visiting some of the Year 6 classrooms on a Learning Walk and Talk. Learning Walks and Talks are conducted in every classroom throughout the school once every term. They are an opportunity for us to speak with students and hear from them what they are learning about in their writing unit, how they are going and what their next steps are, as well as where they need to go for help. I was so proud to hear from the students in 6V, 6R and 6M this week, who were able to talk with confidence about their learning and how they were working towards improving their writing based on the feedback they had received from their teacher.
Graduation
Last week, all Year 6 students were sent home with a graduation pack that included the following.
- 2023 Graduation Information note
- Mango Hill Graduation Night Child Minding registration form
- Graduation RSVP
- Graduation Invitation.
If you did not receive this, please contact your child’s class teacher.
Please take note of the key deadlines involved, with RSVPs, pre-ordered food and $20 payment all due by Monday 27 November. Child minding registrations need to be made by Friday 1 December (please note that we have limited capacity).
We are looking forward to a fun night!
Have a great week
Ben Mills
Deputy Principal –Year 6
bxmil3@eq.edu.au
Returning books to the Hub!
Now that we are nearer the end of the school year, it is time to start returning our books! All library books need to be returned as soon as possible. For any lost or damaged books, we ask that you replace the book with another one. For lost AR books, students will need to replace the book with the exact title.
Last week for Accelerated Reader
There is still one more week for AR and lots of students are taking the opportunity to reach their goal! Look at all these eager AR students, quizzing before school this week! AR students do not need to return their books until Week 8 so still plenty of time if your goal is close!
If you have a special goal you’d like to reach, don’t forget to ask as we may be able to extend the borrowing timelines, especially if you are almost at 1 million words or almost at 9.0!
Accelerated Reader Millionaires
Congratulations to Gia who last week reached 1 million words! This is a great achievement and we are very proud of his efforts! Well done Gia!
Congratulations also to Anh who last week finished AR, successfully completing quizzes all the way up to 9.0. This is a very special achievement as you can see by the smile on her face! Well done Anh!
Congratulations also to Vandan who finished AR this week! As you can see from his smile, he is also very proud of his achievement!
Finishing AR is such an example of commitment and perseverance over many years! Well done to all of these students and those who are also super close to finishing as well. We look forward to celebrating all of these achievements in the coming weeks.
Have a fantastic week
Suzette Holm, Jessica Rivett
shol0@eq.edu.au
Physical Education News
MHSS Year 3-6 Swimming Carnival
Later this term our MHSS Swimming Carnival for all Year 3-6 students will be held. Our goal is to ensure all students can participate in a variety of swimming races and have an enjoyable day with their peers.
Day 1: Students in Years 3-4 who are turning 8 and 9 years old in 2023 (Born 2014 and 2015) compete on the first day, which will be Thursday 30 November (Week 9).
Day 2: Students turning 10, 11 and 12 years old in 2023 (Born 2011, 2012 and 2013) will compete on the second day, which will be Friday 1 December (Week 9).
Students compete at sporting events, including at representative levels, in age groups, not in year levels. Therefore, our carnival days run to align with this process.
Below is the initial parent information for both days. Students will receive more information at school in the coming weeks. This will include a permission and race nomination form, which will need to be returned for your son/daughter to attend. There is no cost for parents associated with the swimming carnival days.
Mr Hills & Mr Newell, Miss Hodges and Mr Lisha
Physical Education Teachers
Uniform Shop
Monday - 8:00am-10:30am
Wednesday 1:30pm-4:00pm
Thursday 1:30pm-4:00pm
Friday 8:00am-10:30am
Year 6 senior shirts - If you have a current Year 5 student you are welcome to come in and purchase a senior shirt which they can wear next year upon starting Year 6. We have all sizes available and now stock them year round so you're able to come in at your convenience to try them on and purchase.
Prep parents for next year are welcome to come to the store during our regular opening hours to try on and purchase uniforms for their Prep student starting next year.
Final week of school - During the final week of school we will open an additional morning on Tuesday for anyone who wishes to finalise uniform purchases before the school holidays.
Our hours in Week 10 will be as follows.
Monday 4 December- 8:00am-10:30am
Tuesday 5 December- 8:00am-10:30am
Wednesday 6 December- 1:30pm-4:00pm
Thursday 7 December- 1:30pm-4:00pm
Friday 8 December- 8:00am-10:30am
We also offer online orders. Orders can be placed through our website any time at www.wearitto.com.au/schools/mango-hill-state-school
|
Mango Hill State School - Schools - Wearitto Wearitto delivers high quality uniforms in a way that makes things easy for schools and parents. We create clothing for school, work and play. |
Orders are packed through the uniform shop during our opening hours and an email is sent to let you know when your order is ready to be picked up, or, if you'd like your student to bring the uniforms home with them, email us at mangohill@wearitto.com.au with your student's name and class name and we can get it to them.
P&C News
The final day of canteen lunch orders will be Tuesday 5 December. The canteen will still be open at second break on Wednesday 6 December, then fully closed from Thursday 7 December.
For these last couple of weeks, the canteen is needing some volunteers. If you have an hour or more free in the morning after drop off, please sign on at https://volunteersignup.org/J7D8H
The P&C will be doing a bake sale at the Christmas Carols on the 28 November. We are asking if families can donate a plate of Christmas treats for us to sell on the night. Please email Amy at president@mhsspandc.com.au if you are able to donate. Thank you.