Term 4 Week 6 2020

Preparing for 2021

It is that time of the year when we are working hard to ensure a strong finish to the year and also plan thoroughly for 2021.

We are currently planning our end of year events including the awards ceremonies, farewell parade, graduation dinner and break up party day. Further information will be provided about these events in the coming weeks.

At this stage we anticipate approximately 1460 students in 60 classes will be enrolled to start 2021. We are planning for 10 Prep classes, 10 Year 3 classes and eight classes in all other year levels. Despite our school becoming very large, we want to maintain the feel of a school small and I know our Deputy Principals work hard to get to know all the students in their sector. They talk with me about the students and we track the progress of each and every one of them.

We have recruited approximately 13 new teaching staff members and look forward to welcoming them to an induction day later this term.

We are also planning our beginning of 2021 events and will share information about these events before the end of this year.

COVID has certainly made planning events far more complex, however we are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students and the entire school community. Thank you for your patience, support and understanding as we attempt to find safe ways for families to engage in these special end of year events.

P & C Meeting

Thank you to the parents and interested parties who attended our P & C Meeting this week. It was great to have Priscilla and Shauna from Helping Hands OSHC and James from MSP Photography also attend, sharing information and seeking feedback.

We shared our Student Code of Conduct, Homework Policy and Gifted and Talented Policy that were all endorsed by the P & C members. These will be available on our website soon.

We also discussed the upcoming swimming carnivals and the wish of some parents to attend as spectators. An email was sent yesterday to parents of Year 3-6 parents, gauging interest in parent attendance for a fee to cover the extra costs associated with adhering to the COVID Safe guidelines. If you are interested in attending, please ensure you send your response to Jasmine Benfer by Thursday afternoon. We hope to finds a positive solution where parents can attend but also meet our obligations to ensure student safety.

Have a wonderful week
Tracy
tegan4@eq.edu.au

Focus of the Week

Values are core aspects of a person’s character, values, beliefs and attitudes that guide your behaviours – both big and small. Knowing our values and following them, helps us be the person we want to be.

At Mango Hill we have the 5 values of:

RESPECT – COMMITMENT – TEAMWORK – INNOVATION - EXCELLENCE

In care classes on Friday students explored values by answering questions like:

• What do you stand for?
• What matters to you?
• What do you believe in?
• What do you feel most strongly about?
• What are your values?

It has been wonderful this week to celebrate NAIDOC with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Our students have been busy learning about these cultures and celebrating their history.

The 2020 theme, Always Was, Always Will Be. recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. To all our students and families who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, we celebrate with you.

All of our students have had a ball learning and respecting these cultures.

Diwali

Just a reminder that next Monday, our students will learn about the Diwali festival, the Indian festival of lights. This is a celebration of which many of our Mango Hill students participate. On Monday, some of our Club activities have included some Diwali activities. We are so happy to have such diversity within our community!

Look How Far we Have Come 

It’s that time of the year where we are pulling all our learning together, wrapping everything up and “showing off” how far we’ve come! In Maths, we are working hard to finish our Number unit and Time unit.  In English, we are working hard to finish our writing and reading assessments. Our students are tired (as are we!), but we know that every minute of learning counts. 

We are also welcoming our new Preppies for visits each week. Lead Kindy, Mango Hill Goodstart and Capers at Mango Hill have visited our school for excursions.  Each Friday, over the past few weeks, transition visits have occurred for the many Preps who will begin with us next year. If you are aware of families in our catchment, who have not yet enrolled, please encourage them to do so immediately, as we are working to create our classes for 2021 over the coming weeks and accurate numbers help this process.

Have a lovely week!
Melinda
mwhit367@eq.edu.au

Time, Time, Time…

Our Year 1 and 2 students are working on Time and Duration during Maths this term. What an important life skill to develop!

Year 1 students are focused on telling time to the half past but also matching analogue clocks with digital clocks and times with activities they do each day e.g. 2:30pm is when school ends. They are also engaged in learning about duration through evaluating every day activities and matching time units to these activities e.g. it takes about half an hour to get ready for school. How can you help? Talk about time, how long an activity takes, and practise reading o’clock and half past times on clocks.

In Year 2, our students are extending their reading of clocks to the quarter hour (to and past). Our students are reading digital and analogue clocks and using the language of quarter to and quarter past the hour. Duration is a concept also explored in Year 2 where they are able to apply their knowledge of time to problem situations. At home, our Year 2 students could perhaps read you the time on the clocks you have at home, and work out how long certain family activities take on a clock or on a calendar.

Have a great week!
Gabrielle
gdoug7@eq.edu.au

Last Week of Swimming and Beginning our Last English Assessment Piece 

Last week of swimming for our Year 3's this week and what a wonderful 6 weeks of learning to swim it was. Students loved their time at the swimming pool and continued to build on the skills in the water. Thank you to all of our year 3 teachers who helped the transitions to school and the pool go so smoothly!

Back in the classroom we have all been busy writing our first draft of our poem in Year 3 and advertisement in Year 4. We have worked with our peers to give feedback using the scale which has really helped us critically reflect on not only our peers writing, but to also self-reflect on our own. Peer conferencing has helped us to bump up and edit our own work before conferencing with the teacher prior to publishing. We are really proud of our growth mindset!

Have a lovely week
Michelle
malco14@eq.edu.au

Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6

This week I had the pleasure of reading some fantastic Year 6 diary entries. This term students have been deconstructing the text, My Place. Using the text as stimulus students have developed their ability to craft an engaging diary entry that provides the reader with clues as to time and place. This week I read some great writing about the difficulties of 2020 including, of course, the impact of COVID-19, the challenges of @Home Learning and the excitement of going to high school. It was great getting inside the head of some young writers. Well done Year 6!

Year 6 Transition to Secondary School

As the year draws to a close we are ensuring our Year 6 students are supported to effectively transition to secondary school to continue their learning journey. From November 23 to 26 students attending Murrumba State Secondary College will be invited to a range of transition days culminating with their full transition day on the November 30. Students attending Mango Hill State Secondary College have their full transition day at the College on the November 23.  Between Weeks 8 and 9 all Year 6 students will participate in the Welcome to High School week in which students participate in an alternative timetable that looks similar to that which students will experience at secondary school. Students will develop skills in reading a timetable, transitioning between classrooms for different subjects and begin to develop interpersonal and learning skills needed to be successful during their high school years. As part of this transition students will also be invited to attend the Year 6 excursion, in lieu of camp, on Tuesday 1 December (6D, 6B, 6H) or Wednesday 2 Decmeber (6K, 6V, 6T, 6K).

Have a good week
Martin
mwinn7@eq.edu.au

Sleep is essential for growth, immunity, learning and memory and is important for helping a child heal and recover. Healthy sleep means a good quantity and quality of sleep, with regular sleep routines.

Queensland Health advises that primary aged school children generally need around 9-11 hours of sleep a night. More information and advice regarding healthy sleep for children can be found here: https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/fact-sheet-healthy-sleep-children/

Take Care 
Ellaine 
ewarn23@eq.edu.au

Book Fair Coming Soon!

As the year draws to an end we are excited to announce one more special celebration of books! From Monday 23 November until Friday 27 November we will hold a Scholastic Book Fair in the Hub.

There will be lots of books for students to purchase, with 30% of the profit from all sales going towards new books for our Hub collection. The Hub will be open before and after school, as well as at first break for all students to visit the Book Fair.

We look forward to seeing lots of happy customers!

Accelerated Reader

We are very excited to have added several more posters to our special AR display in the Hub. Late last week Lachlan reached 1 million words and as you can see from his smile, he was so very proud of this super achievement. This week we have also celebrated with Anika and Ipshitha, who have both reached 2 million words.

All three of these super readers have been working consistently with persistence throughout the year and we are so pleased to be able to add their photo to the Millionaire’s wall. Congratulations to Lachlan, Anika and Ipshitha!

NAIDOC display

As part of our NAIDOC celebrations, we have a special display of indigenous tools on loan from the Queensland Museum. Pop on down before or after school, or at first break to see some of these items including fire sticks, knife stones and woven baskets; and also learn some indigenous words. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Premier’s Reading Challenge books

As part of the Premier’s Reading Challenge, we were the lucky recipients of $500 worth of books from The Book House. Here is the lucky winner Prithuvi with some of his friends balancing just some of our new books. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Premier’s Reading Challenge and we look forward to processing these books ready for the new year!

Timeline.pdf

Timeline _pdf 349.47 KB

Robo-Olympics @ Moreton Downs State School

Last Thursday, 18 of our students from across Year 4-6 went to Moreton Downs State School to take part in the Robo-Olympics. Students worked in small teams to complete a range of challenges against teams from other school. Some of the challenges they participated in included:

• Tug of War
• Sumo Wrestling
• Relay Racing.

Our students represented Mango Hill State School exceptionally, displaying our school values of Teamwork and Innovation.

Thank you to Miss Balaam who worked with students during break times to build their robots and practise some of the challenges. A special mention goes out to Armaan (Year 6) and Saksham (Year 4) who both received an award for persistence and problem solving skills on the day. Well done to all of our Mango Hill robotics team!

Have a great week 
Suzette and Ben

P & C Updates 

Last night was the final P&C general meeting for 2020. Over the coming newsletters I will summarise some of this year's P&C 2020 achievements and challenges. In the meantime, November 11 is the one year anniversary of the SOLE Cafe, with the smiling Bec serving her very first coffee onsite. Since then, the cafe has gone from strength to strength, proving to be a critical backbone in keeping MHSS staff and visitors fed and caffeinated. It also helped keep our P&C staff engaged and working during the COVID induced canteen shutdown earlier this year. 

Here are some stats for you. In 12 months of operation, the SOLE Cafe has: 

• served over 18,700 hot drinks 
• made 6,652 cafe meals 
• sold over 3,200 snacks, slices & chocolates 
• completed over the counter sales that have topped an impressive $90,000.

With continual refinements and new offerings, I am sure SOLE Cafe will continue to be a great operation. Together with the canteen, it aims to be a continual fundraising channel for the P&C, whilst being a great community service for our students, staff, parents & carers. I'd also like to thank Tracy, the Leadership team, the Student Leaders and the wider school community including Helping Hands and MBRC for their support. Thanks to the P&C staff last Friday on Annual Tuckshop Day. The lovely drawings, cards and smiles from the students all day really made the team feel special. 

I would like to finish off with a bit of fun - this week saw Bec receive a little gift that I think suits her perfectly! Thanks to the caring staff member for recognising our canteen & cafe team. They really do work hard to look after you all.

Thank you 
Renee