Term 2 Week 5 2024

Such a big week in Year 1 Land!

This week, we’ve explored Nudgee Beach. Nudgee Beach is one of my favourite places in Brisbane to take kids for a weekend adventure. It’s fairly local and there’s so much to do and see. Mangroves, crabs, fish, birds, the ocean… and horses too, if you’re lucky to spot them swimming in the ocean.

Our students have loved being outdoors with friends and learning all about the Nudgee Beach animal habitats. Maybe you could go again one weekend and have your Year 1 show you around? It would be such a wonderful speaking and listening opportunity to experience together. They’d be the “expert”, sharing the knowledge that they’ve learned with you.

Our Mother’s Day and Special People Stay and Play afternoons were so special. We loved playing with our loved ones! We also thoroughly enjoyed attending the Mother’s Day stall and choosing something delightful to gift our loved ones. Huge thanks to our P&C and parent volunteers for helping us to choose!

Have a lovely week

Melinda White
Deputy Principal- Year 1
mwhit37@eq.edu.au

Learning About Self-Regulation in Care Class

This term in Care Class all across the school we are learning all about our bodies and self-regulation.  Self-regulation is the ability to control and mange feelings and emotions.

We have been exploring what stress is and how it might feel in our bodies. Students sorted cards to show how the body feels when it is relaxed versus when it is stressed.  They pinpointed on their own bodies where they feel stress and have identified triggers in their life that make them feel stress.  Take a look at this great work from the students in 2L.

While talking about stress, we’ve also been talking about strategies we can use to calm our body down.  Students have decided on as a class msome strategies they can use to help them be centred so that they are ‘Ready to Learn’. 

Ways you can help at home…

• Consider naming and noticing how your body is feeling across the day.  ‘I’m just going to take a moment to notice how my body is feeling.  My heart is beating normally.  My body is still.  I’m feeling calm today.’
• Use strategic questioning to support your child to name and notice how they are feeling across the day.  This could be particularly powerful when unpacking conflict situations. ‘What was going on for you when you were angry?  What were you feeling in your body in that moment?  How is your body feeling now that we’ve talked and solved this problem together?’

We are looking forward to continuing our work in this space across the term so that we have the language to talk about how our body is feeling in different states.

Mother’s Day Stay and Play

The Year 2s have loved having their special loved ones join them for our Special Person’s Stay and Plays.  It has been great getting into classrooms and seeing these special people be pampered and showered with love.  Check out these great photos from the 2R celebrations.

Kylie Vaughan
Deputy Principal- Year 2
kvaug3@eq.edu.au

Wellbeing / Attendance

As we reach the mid-point of Term 2, it is a timely reminder to check the attendance rate of your children. Student’s attendance rate can be viewed in QParents. 

As you can see in the example below, low attendance can add up very quickly.  While it is very easy for a student to have 6 days off due to illness, vacations or appointments, the attendance rate in this example has already dropped 91%.  If this continues through the year this will equate to missing approximately two weeks of learning.

If your child’s attendance rate is under 85% please make an appointment with your class teacher or contact the office so we can put in the appropriate supports to assist.

Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.

Year 5 Camp

Thank you for your patience while we have been finalising camp details.

We are excited to inform parents and students that Year 5 camp will consist of a range of fun and exciting activities.  Some of these activities are classified as high risk activities and require parental permission and for the camp to follow specific guidelines as outlined by Education Queensland.  High risk activities include all water activities such as pool games, body boarding and fishing.  Other high risk activities include rock climbing (artificial walls), archery and a giant swing. 

Camp is a great opportunity for students to challenge themselves in a controlled environment and gives children an opportunity to shine.  I can’t wait to attend.

Mango Hill competed in the Pine Rivers District Cross Country trials last Wednesday.  In wonderful conditions, runners made their way to Pine Rivers Park to compete against the 22 other schools in the district. 

Students were extremely excited and nerves were definitely present.  The course, which consisted of laps around Pine Rivers Park, was in excellent condition with 10-year-old competitors completing 2km and 11- and 12-year-old competitors completing the 3km course.

The attitude that Mango Hill runners displayed prior, during and after running was excellent.  All competitors completed their race to the best of their ability with many students happy to improve on their performance from the MHSS Cross Country.

Mango Hill had three runners finish in the top eight, which qualified them for the Pine Rivers District team to compete at the Metropolitan North Cross-Country Trials later this term.  Jayda K (2^nd – 12 year Girls) had a fantastic race to gain her second podium finish at a district event.  Cloudia (4^th – 11 year Girls) and Emilia (6^th – 11 year Girls) also ran fantastic races to gain their selections.

Well done to all the Mango Hill runners and a special thankyou to the parents who came on the day to cheer on our team.