Term 4 Week 3 2021

Off on Camp

And we’re off!  As you read this, Year 4 will be having the time of their lives on camp at Runaway Bay. Students have been well-prepared by their teachers at school and we know parents have been busy doing an awesome amount of preparation at home. Parents, rest assured. All of our wonderful staff who are at camp for either the entire camp or part of the camp will be supervising our children with care and giving lots of gentle reminders too.

This week, I spoke with some of the students about what they were looking forward to the most about camp. Check out a few of the responses below. Look out for photos on Facebook as camp progresses. 

Some of our Year 4 students are staying at school and are being welcomed into Year 6 classrooms. We are excited for them too as they will get to meet new friends in those classes and spend a few days as “honourary” Year 6 students.

Finally, huge thanks to our parents for signing papers, submitting forms, going shopping, overseeing the packing etc and of course to our class teachers – Ms Black, Ms Cosmo, Ms Baker, Ms Sheehan, Ms Goodall, Ms Peno, Ms Evans, Ms Crase, Mr Thomas and Ms Vos – our Inclusive Learning Teacher, Ms Ferguson and our supporting staff of Ms Rayne, Ms Stig, Ms Brown and Ms Ecker, for their commitment.  We are all thrilled to experience camp with your children.

Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6

It has been another great week to be in Year 5 and 6 classrooms this week. This week I had the pleasure of working in 6V. Mr Vlieg and his students picked a question from their data pre-test that they struggled with and then did some focussed instruction to bump up their understanding of expected frequency. It was great observing students collaborate with each other as they supported one another to improve their knowledge. It was also great observing the interaction between Mr Vlieg as he guided his students with open-ended, probing questions to draw out the knowledge of the students. I also had the pleasure of working with 6O as they developed their knowledge of number patterns. Students collaborated together to model a response for their peers and as a class developed a co-constructed success criteria for the lesson. Students then continued to collaborated with one another in representing their understanding of the task. What was observable in both classes was the connections between the students and teachers and how this helped create a positive, learning culture. Well done 6V and 6O!

Student Leadership 2022

As our school continues to grow we have reflected upon our student leadership positions to ensure that the full diversity of our school is recognised as well as our cares and values. Student leadership forms such a vital role in ensuring students have voice and agency within the school. Attached are all the leadership positions for 2022. Teachers will go through these positions with their students this week so that students are fully informed of the responsibilities of being a leader. Students will then be presented with their Student Leader Passport. To be considered for a captaincy position students must complete their passport and hand it into the office by Friday 5 November. From there Ms Egan and myself will interview the candidates on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11November and also get our Year 5 students to shortlist their selections. The successful candidates who make it through the interview and initial voting stages will then present their speech to the Year 5 and 4 students on Tuesday 23 and  Thursday 25November. The Year 4 and 5 students and teaching staff will vote and we will announce all of our captain positions at the Year 5 award ceremony on Tuesday 7December.

In previous years all students that completed their passport received a Student Leader badge. To add some responsibility to the attainment of the badge, as of 2022 students who wish to receive their badge will have to commit to two or more of the responsibilities outlined in the attached document. This is therefore ensuring all of our captains and leaders contribute to the positive Mango Hill State School culture. Good luck Year 5s.

Have a terrific week.
Martin Winney
Deputy Principal – Year 5 & 6
mwinn7@eq.edu.au 

Student Wellbeing

We celebrate Children’s Week from 23 to 30 October with the theme for 2021 being ‘Children have the right to choose their own friends and safely connect with others’.

Choosing friends and safely connecting with others is an essential part of a child’s growth and learning. With the right guidance, children and young people can choose friends and social connections that will help them flourish in their personal and social development.

At Mango Hill, students have the opportunity to develop the skills to connect with friends in their weekly care class where students spend time exploring ‘Problem Solving in Play’, ‘Filling our Buckets’, ‘The Four Cares in the Playground’, ‘Using the High 5’ and ‘Communication with our Friends in the playground’. Students also have the opportunity to attend a variety of lunchtime clubs to help them connect with others who share the same interests.

Have a great week