Term 1 Week 10 2021

Staying Safe

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for their support this week. Most families have been able to stay home with the lockdown, keeping safe and enjoying an extended holiday.

We have had around 140 students at school the past two days. These vulnerable children or children of essential workers are being supervised by staff. We thank their parents for following all procedures to ensure everyone’s safety.

The staff are also using these few days to review the term, finalize assessment marking and plan for term 2. I am very grateful to see them using this time so wisely.

Just like everyone, we are very hopeful that the situation is quickly contained and we return to school on April 19 as planned. I will continue to communicate with you as any further announcements are made over the coming days and weeks.

Buy a Brick Success

I would like to thank the P&C for their ‘Buy-a-Brick’ initiative and a massive thank you to all parents, staff and community members who supported this initiative. All orders have been collated and sent to the builders for production.  A massive 558 bricks were ordered, raising $13,643.10!!! Allocation of these funds will be discussed at the next P&C General meeting on Monday, 10th May. 

Term 1 Celebrations

Despite an unusual end of the term and disappointment with missing our Junior Cross Country, Showcase and Fancy Hat Parade, it has been a very successful term. Our celebrations include:

• Supporting 232 new preppies and just over 100 new Year 1-6 students to settle into our school community.
• Welcoming many new families and students into our school and forming new friendships and connections. Such kindness shown by many existing students and families to welcome our new friends!
• Seeing students focus on their learning and improvements in literacy and numeracy.
• Watching our 13 new teachers settle into the school and contribute so positively.
• Seeing some of our facilities projects come to completion including our Prep turf area, new stop, drop and go at the back of the school, new bike racks, additional staff car parking, office renovation and some increased air-conditioning (with more to come later this year).
• Watching our new hall emerging from the ground.
• Joining together for full school parades to see our Student Leaders presented with badges and to celebrate ‘We all Belong Day’.
• Observing the growth mindset, success and enjoyment of students at some of the special events including the Year 6 mosaics, chess, sci-connect, robo-olympics, martial arts clinics and senior cross country.
• Celebrating our success at the Inclusion Scan and Assess!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful staff, fabulous students and supportive families for working together to achieve so much this term.

Wishing you all a safe, happy Easter holiday. We look forward to seeing you in Term 2.

Student of the Week

We made it!

Term 1 is done!

Well done Team Prep – Families, Teachers and Aides and our Preppies.

It’s not quite the end to Term 1 that we anticipated, and we are certainly sad our Fancy Bonnet Parade isn’t going ahead.  We know there will be many more opportunities throughout our Prep year where we can gather together and celebrate our learning.

As we turn our attention to holidays, I wanted to share some ideas for you and your families to share over the break.

• Podcasts / audio books – in our house, we love these!  We listen to longer books in the car, podcasts around the house.  Our favourites podcasts include: Storybots, Story Pirates, Six Minutes (and the other ones by Gen Z Media), Fact Detectives, Bedtime Explorers. 
• Walks / adventures.  It’s so easy to make anything into an adventure and topic of conversation.  We have a creek near us that doesn’t even run most of the time!  But in our house, it’s our “secret hideaway adventure spot” and we ride our bikes and have a secret, spy adventure there.
• Day trips.  We love Sandgate, Redcliffe, Shorncliffe, Nudgee Beach, Boondall Wetlands, Southbank, the Museum (you have to book, but it’s free!).

 If you try any of these things over the holidays, I’d love to hear about it!

 Thank you all for your support and care across Term 1.  We are so proud of how our little ones have settled.  I hope you’re as proud of your little one as we are!

What a busy Term 1 it has been for us all! While it is disappointing that the final week has been cut short for so many of us, it has been a wonderful opportunity to take stock and reflect on the successes and celebrations for the term. Over the past 10 weeks, we have watched our students grow and adapt to the changes that the new year brings. Our Year 3 students have transitioned from the junior school into senior school, adjusting to new timetables, playgrounds and support staff. All students across Year 3 and 4 have had to adjust to new classrooms and teachers. This change can be significant for many children and their families but as we see Term 1 come to a close, it is clear that through the combined support of teachers and parents, our students are feeling calm and confident about the year ahead.

This past week, I was lucky enough to visit 3T and 3E during their Maths lessons. Both classes were exploring efficient ways to solve addition and subtraction problems. In 3T, Miss Turnbull challenged her students to work together to solve a ‘number trail’ by using the most efficient strategy to solve a range of problems. In 3E, Miss Hutton had student experts working with their peers to teach them how to use the compensate strategy. It was so exciting to see how many students were successful at using this strategy by the end of the lesson. Amazing work 3T and 3E!

Our Cross Country on Monday was a huge success. It was wonderful seeing so many families come to support their children participate in the big race. Thank you to all who volunteered and in particular, thank you to Mr Newell and Mr Hills for their organisation of the event!

Holiday Learning

The school holidays are an important time to stop and rest, to take the pressure off and enjoy the company of family and friends. Fun and enjoyable ways that students can continue practising some of the skills that are most important to their learning during this time are through reading books and practising number facts. Both of these can be done as a family! Consider setting regular times to read together during the break or make a game out of practising number facts. Your children may be able to share a couple of their favourites from class this term.

NAPLAN online

Last Thursday, students in Year 3 and 5 sat the NAPLAN online practice test. It was an opportunity for us to test our networks and for students to familiarise themselves with the NAPLAN online platform. There will be a parent information session for NAPLAN online early in Term 2. Keep an eye out for this in the Term 2 parent overview when it is sent out. A reminder that all students sitting NAPLAN require the NAP lockdown browser app. Students can use the app before NAPLAN to complete demonstration tests and become more familiar with the platform. For more information regarding NAPLAN online please go to https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site . If you have any specific questions regarding NAPLAN in the lead up to the tests in mid-May, you are welcome to email me at bxmil3@eq.edu.au

Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6

It has been a great start to 2021 and I am so proud of the achievements of all our students across both year levels. Both year levels have really applied their learning to craft engaging narratives within their English units. I was thoroughly entertained and captivated when reading their writing. I observed great use of noun and verb groups and strategic use of different sentence types to hook in the reader. I look forward to reading the Year 5 persuasive writing samples and the Year 6 analytical responses in Term 2. In maths I was the proud of the work I saw students produce in terms of measure, factors and multiples and so much more. Next term we turn our learning to concepts like fractions and decimals. In terms of connection it has been inspiring walking through classrooms to see the smiling faces of students engaged in learning which has been reflected in fantastic behaviour and attendance data. I wish all of the families in Year 5 and 6 a safe and happy school holidays. I look forward to working with all students, families and staff in term 2.  

Movement Breaks

Students, like adults, require regular movement breaks to keep them engaged and on-task so that they can achieve their best learning.  Vigorous movement has been found to effective for a break.  Even five minutes of vigorous movement can have a big impact on student attention. Some great movement breaks teachers use are:

• Dance (https://www.gonoodle.com/ )
• Jumping on a mini-tramp
• Star jumps
• Running on the spot.

After a movement break, our teachers will frequently complete a quick calming activity such as deep breathing to refocus their students so they are ‘Ready to learn’.  You might like to try some movement breaks followed by a calming activity with your children at home over the break.

On behalf of the Inclusive Learning Team, best wishes for a safe and happy holiday.  We look forward to seeing your children and you again in Term 2.

Buddy Classes

This year, all 61 of our classes have a buddy class.  This connects students across the school to create a sense of community for our students.  They can make a friend or at least get to know some students from different year levels.  Below are a couple photos of a recent buddy class visit