Term 3 Week 3 2021

Connection for Success

One of our 2021 priorities is Connection with families and students to improve behaviour and wellbeing. We know when relationships between students, parents and teachers is strong, children have the best chance of success.

Yesterday I walked through the playground and saw so many examples of our wonderful staff connecting with students. They were guiding play, helping them resolve disputes, and showing interest, care and warmth. I am so proud of the work we do building connections with our students to help ensure EVERY student succeeds at our school.

School Photos

On Wed 4 August – Friday 6 August we will hold our annual School Photos. All students should have received an envelope. Your child needs to bring their personalised envelope on the day of their photo with either cash or your online order reference number. If you would like a sibling photo, you need to follow the same process. Your children should go to the hall for their sibling photo at one of the following times.

• Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning from 8:00-8:30am
• Thursday at 12:40 -1:15pm
• Friday first break from 10:15 -11:05am

Students must wear formal uniform for school photo please.

Photos will be delivered to the school for distribution early next term.

Please see timetable for school photos below.

Thank you to all of those who have already completed the Parent/Caregiver Survey. If you have not had a chance to complete the survey yet, please note that the online surveys will remain open until Friday, 30 July 2021. This is your opportunity to provide feedback about what our school does well and how we can improve.

To have your say, check your email for an invitation from the Department of Education titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2021. 

Can’t find your invitation? If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder.

Prep News

It was so lovely to see our happy, smiling Preppy faces this week as I returned from leave! Huge thanks to Miss O’Brien and the Prep team for taking care of all the things in my absence.

Lots of people have asked what I did on my leave and the answer to that is, nothing too exciting! But... I am learning to roller skate. Yes, this could either be the most amazing idea I’ve ever had or the worst, this is yet to be determined. My daughter asked for roller skates for her birthday and on a whim, I thought, I’ll learn with you. So now we both own roller skates. Eeeek!

Learning something new has been fun so far. And challenging. And a bit scary. Tricky. I have had to observe others and see if I can match what they do. I’ve had to listen to feedback. I’ve had to really put myself out there!

Year 3 News

This week our Year 3 students have been working hard at improving their writing by using language features that add meaning. Classes have been experimenting with noun and verb groups, as well as figurative language as they finish the next part of the novel they are reading. It has been fantastic seeing examples of these language features on the Year 3 learning walls within classrooms. I’m sure our students will be referencing these as they attempt to ‘bump-up’ their writing samples this week.

In Maths, our classes are learning about multiplication and division and how to represent number sentences in a variety of ways. Our students have been increasing in confidence as they work with multiple representations of the same number sentence. Students are also being challenged to explain their thinking using mathematical language. I have been so impressed by some of the 4-star explanations that I’ve read!

Electives

Electives will begin on Friday. This term, Year 3 students have the choice to participate in one of:

• Personal training and sports
• Film making
• Coding
• Mango Missions.

I look forward to seeing students beginning their new electives and making new friends, this week.

Celebrating NAIDOC week

To celebrate NAIDOC week, our students have engaged in a range of activities within their classes and have also had the opportunity to participate in some lunch time clubs. One of the popular games that was on offer at break times this week was Weme. Weme is named after a word from the Eastern Arrernte language of central Australia, which refers to ‘throwing something at something else and hitting it.’ The Walbiri people of central Australia traditionally played this game with stones. Check out the fun that was had while playing Weme during break times this week!

On Thursday, we will celebrate NAIDOC week with a whole school parade. We look forward to welcoming our community to this event.

Year 4 News

Congratulations to all of our Year 4 learners who are showing a growth mindset this week. As I visit classrooms, I am so proud of our students and teachers when I see the growth in student writing that has occurred in just three weeks. Our Year 4 students are writing a traditional story set in an Asian country.  Students are learning to use text connectives and sentence beginnings to create pace and mood. The events of the story link to a lesson learned or a moral.

Well done to 4S who are the lucky winners of a class prize and a teacher prize for Uniform Week. The class (and Ms Sheehan) will share their ideas for a prize that would mean a lot to them. Parents, we appreciate all the effort that goes into sending children to school in their complete uniform every day. Our community lets us know that the uniform is important to them, and we value the support.

Electives start this Friday in Year 4. Students voted on their elective preferences last Friday. Whilst we try to give all students their first preference there are always some students who get their second preference. Luckily all the Electives are fun learning opportunities.

This term, Year 4 students are also focusing on demonstrating expected behaviour in Specialist lessons. Our Year 4 class teachers are supporting students to transition to their Specialist lessons, to understand the Specialist Lesson Rules and get to know their specialist teachers even better.

Care for Learning in Year 5 and Year 6

As our teachers and students really start digging into the teaching and learning of our Term 3 units, I have really enjoyed getting into classrooms to observe the work of our students and to discuss with them what they need to do to be successful in their learning. Guided by the Lyn Sharratt Clarity research, I have connected with students and discussed how they are going, what they need to do to improve their work and what strategies they can use to improve their work without going to the teacher. What has been really impressive is the discussion students have had with me about the co-constructed work their class have done on the Bump-It-Up Walls in the classroom. These walls have the big unit purpose highlighted so that students know why they are learning particular concepts. The elements of the scale are clearly labelled with student worked attached to each part of the scale. The aim of this is for students to see what they are achieving and what they can do to improve their work. Great clarity of learning success in Years 5 and 6!

Year 6 Connecting at School Camp

Congratulations to our Year 6 students and teachers for the positive connections built at camp last week. I really enjoyed visiting camp on Thursday and hearing the great camp stories about the new relationships formed. As the buses rolled back into school I certainly met some tired but positive faces. These opportunities will help form some dispositions and attitudes that will serve students well as they begin their journey into high school and adolescents.

Have a terrific week.

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day 4 August 2021

4 August is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. The theme is – Proud in Culture, Strong in Spirit. Children’s Day is a time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to celebrate the strengths and culture of their children. It is an opportunity for all Australians to show their support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, as well as learn about the crucial impact that culture, family and community play in the life of every child. Why August 4th? The date 4 August was historically used to communally celebrate the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families at a young age, without knowing their birthday – the Stolen Generations.

Click here to visit the Aboriginal Children’s Day website

Working with our Community

At Mango Hill State School, we are committed to working with families to engage with local agencies and access services that will benefit students and their families. The Moreton Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (Moreton ATSICHS) is a service providing holistic health care to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Moreton Bay area. A variety of health and social services are available.

Click here to visit the Moreton ATSICHS website

Have a great week.