Term 4 Week 9 2021
- Principal's News by Tracy Egan
- Whole School News
- Prep News by Melinda White
- Year 1 and Year 2 News by Michelle Alcorn
- Year 3 News by Ben Mills
- Year 4 News by Ellaine Warner
- Year 5 and Year 6 News by Martin Winney
- Inclusive Education News by Ellaine Warner
- Curriculum News by Suzette Holm
- Sporting News by Nick Hills and Tyson Newell
- News from our Partners
- Community News
End of Year Festivities
Over the next week we have the following festivities
Awards Assemblies- Next week we will hold our end of semester awards ceremony. If your child is receiving an award, you should receive an invitation from the teacher. Congratulations to the students who are being recognised! The criteria for awards is below.
Year 6 Graduation Dinner – We look forward to celebrating our Year 6 students next Wednesday evening at Gigum Hall.
Break up Party Day – Next Thursday we will hold our break up party day. Free dress! Teachers will communicate with you regarding what is happening that day for your child’s class.
Farewell Parade – Will be held next Thursday morning at 9am at Gigum Hall. This is our opportunity to farewell our graduating Year 6 students and other students and staff leaving. Parents and carers are welcome to attend.
Year 6 Walk out – This will be held next week on Thursday afternoon. Parents of Year 6 students are invited to gather to watch this walk out.
Clean up Day – This will be held next week on Friday. No formal lessons on this day.
Concert success at Gigum Hall!
Wow! We had a wonderful evening yesterday with our first concerts at Gigum Hall. We had between 600-800 parents and extended family members at both concerts enjoying our prep and Year 3 and 4 class performances and some of the specialist groups also. We are so grateful for this fabulous facility for our community.
A big shout out to the dance and music teachers who worked hard preparing the students. Thanks also to the many staff members working behind the scene on the logistics of the evening.
The children danced and sang their hearts out and entertained us all. We can’t wait for round two tonight with our Year 1,2,5 and 6 performances!
2022 Classes
Next Wednesday parents will be emailed their child’s class placement for 2022. Many, many hours have been spent forming classes ensuring each class has a good balance and taking into account parent considerations. Please be respectful of your child’s class allocation. Students will have time on Wednesday to meet their new teacher (where possible).
Report Cards
Report Cards will be emailed home to parents next Tuesday. Staff have carefully moderated results to ensure consistency across the year level and beyond our school. A reminder that a ‘Working With’ in Prep, ‘Sound’ in Year 1-2 and C in Year 3-6 are all good results and mean that your child is meeting the achievement standard. If you have any questions about your child’s report results, please make a time to see the class teacher.
2022 Staffing
Next week we will farewell a number of staff members who are moving on to new adventures in 2022.
Farewell and special thanks to Maddy Macdonald, Shay Bright, Natasha Hamilton, Renae Roberts, Tammy Keefe, Kristie Henry, Jess Ferguson, Maddie Black, Anita Baker, Mark Thomas, Katrina Duffey, Jamie Pears, Natalie Gentles, Bruce Hamlin, Cassie Stewart, Angela Ray and Adam Grima. Each of these staff members have played a significant role in the lives of our students and we thank them for their outstanding efforts and wish them all the best for their next adventures!
I would particularly like to acknowledge the contributions of Cassie Stewart and Katrina Duffey. As foundation staff members they have travelled far with us from those early days in late 2011 when we prepared to open a school that focussed on building a safe and supportive school environment where every student would succeed. Their legacy will live on in many ways. I am proud of them and their courage to take the next step in their career and life journey. I will miss them immensely and wish them both all the very best.
I will send you a full teaching staff list next week with your child’s class placement.
Have a wonderful week
Tracy Egan
Principal
tegan4@eq.edu.au
Focus of the Week
The Care Class focus that will be delivered this Friday is ‘Saying Goodbye”. We will be consolidating this focus throughout next week.
By saying goodbye, we are Caring for Self and Others. Sometimes saying goodbye to primary school friends can seem an incredibly daunting task, especially if students have known each other since they started school. By discussing what it means to say "Goodbye" we are creating space and time to reflect and also a time to dream about new beginnings and things you want to do next.
The term “goodbye” represents separation or parting but in several languages, it means “until we meet again.”
Student of the Week
What a Great Night!
I was so lucky to MC our Prep dance concert last night. I was so proud I could have cried! What little superstars! Everyone was involved, everyone was trying their best, everyone was having fun. And really, that’s what dance is all about; the opportunity to learn something new, to challenge ourselves, to try our best and to enjoy music with our friends. Yet again, our youngest students show us how it’s done!
I’d like to thank all of our Prep families, for making this year such a positive one. I love how when there’s been problems to solve, you’ve worked together with us to solve them. I set us all that challenge at our Prep interviews last year – that we won’t always get everything right, but that we do care – so let’s work together to be on the same page, to support our Preps to be the best little people they can be. I know our Prep teachers agree with me when I say we couldn’t be more grateful to you for your support. I also want to thank you for being part of the “village” that is Team Mango. So many of you have commented to me about ensuring we meet the needs of all children, not just your own – especially this term, as we prepare to move to Year 1. That it’s not just about your child, but it’s about what is best for everyone. This is such a tricky balance to achieve! To ensure everyone in Team Mango can achieve their best, is tricky work. I applaud our Prep family community for being so mindful of the needs of others and for celebrating the amazing diversity we have in our year level. It really does “take a village to raise a child” and you’ve shown your commitment to this over and over throughout this year.
Once you’ve been in our Prep family, you’re stuck with us. We can’t wait to see the achievements of “our children” as they move to Year 1. We will continue to watch them grow and we love to celebrate their achievements as they move through our school.
Have a lovely week.
Melinda White
Deputy Principal - Prep
mwhit37@eq.edu.au
2022 Prep!
Class teachers have been working very closely with our Inclusive Learning Team and Sector Leader during the past few weeks to carefully place children in balanced classes for 2021. It is a tricky process to ensure children are placed in best fit classes taking into account parent considerations, connections students have with one another and the diverse range of student’s needs. This is really big work, however now that classes are close to being finalised our transition processes are starting to commence At Mango Hill State School we very much value and recognise the importance of providing our learners an opportunity to engage in transitions as a way to help all our students get ready for the following year.
Some of the transition opportunities planned include: having Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 teachers start visiting the Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 classes and our students Meet the Teacher Afternoon. If children require extra transitioning, classroom teachers will be providing extra opportunities throughout Week 9 and 10 to engage with their new teacher, new classroom environment and for our Year 2 students this will also include visiting some of the play spaces in the middle and senior school. Some children will be provided with a social story to read over the holidays to prepare them for the next year level and all students will receive a profile of their class teacher before the start of the new year.
We look forwarding to working very closely with our students to help them prepare for the year ahead.
Have an excellent week.
Michelle Alcorn
Deputy Principal – Year 1 & 2
malco14@eq.edu.au
Year 3 News
This week’s care focus has been on images of the future. What a wonderful time of the for our Year 3 students to be imagining a positive future for themselves, as they reflect on the growth they have made throughout the year.
Although we are at the back end of the year, our learning continues as students strengthen the knowledge, understanding and skills they have developed throughout the year. Year 3 classes continue to practise spelling, writing, reading, number facts and a range of other important skills. In 3F, students have been working on a ‘passion project’ where they research and present on a topic of interest. Students have been sharing with me some fascinating information about gravity, the Romans, the history of soccer and different animals. It is amazing to see our students discovering new information independently.
This term in specialist lessons, our Year 3 students have been earning ‘specialist bucks’. This week, each student has counted up all of the specialist bucks earned throughout the term and will cash them in for a prize from the specialist teachers next week. We are so lucky at MHSS to have so many fantastic specialist teachers helping us to learn Italian, PE, Performing Arts and STEM. I have been so proud to see the outcomes of our students’ hard work in these classes this week, with the End of Year concert on Tuesday night and all of the innovative solar ovens created in STEM.
I look forward to an exciting last week with our Year 3 students as we look ahead to the swimming carnival, Four Cares celebration, awards ceremony and class parties!
Ben Mills
Deputy Principal – Year 3
bxmil3@eq.edu.au
Transitions
All teachers are preparing their students to transition to Year 5. We are discussing transitions in Circle Time, talking about the future in Care Class, sharing story reading with other classes and visiting next year’s teaching and play areas. It is such a pleasure to be part of the Year 4’s journey this year – all the teachers, teacher aides and I are so grateful to know these wonderful students and see them grow.
Learning in Year 4
All classes are still very engaged in their learning, albeit with a holiday theme. I have included some photos for you so that you can hopefully share the sense of this busy and happy time.
Special events
Our Four Cares Celebration day on Monday was a complete success, including being lucky enough to have it outdoors. Last night, our final Year 4 classes were stars in the end of year concert. Thank you to Ms Goodall, Ms Sheehan, Ms Crase and Ms Peno for all their support of their students last night. We still have the Swimming Carnival ahead of us on Thursday and Friday of this week.
Have a fantastic week.
Ellaine Warner
Deputy Principal - Year 4
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
Care for Learning in Year 5 and 6
This week our Year 5 classes celebrated the culmination of their financial literacy Maths unit by hosting their business for Market Day. Students spent Mango Hill dollars on organising marketing and product development as a way of enticing consumers to buy their products. Students walked around with a fake credit card filled with Mango Hill dollars budgeting and buying products. Business owners calculated profits and expenditure. It was great to see the engaged faces of our students as they applied their maths skills and learnings from this term to a real-world context. Well done Year 5!
Transition to Secondary School
Our Year 6 students continued their transition to secondary school this week by attending the Mango Hill State Secondary College and Murrumba State Secondary College transitions days. Students were able to meet their future teachers and see their future classrooms in an attempt to make students feel safe and supported. When I spoke to Zerah she said that she “loved the atmosphere of the day and that it was fun to experience something that was different to primary school.” I think our students are certainly getting ready for the next chapter of their learning journey.
Year 6 Graduation and Walk Out
As we enter the final weeks of Primary School for our Year 6 students we look forward in celebrating our students with the Year 6 Graduation on the 8th of December and the Year 6 Walk Out on the Thursday 9 December.
The Year 6 Graduation commences at 5:00pm with the doors opening to Gigum Hall from 4:30pm. For the formal part of the ceremony students will sit with their class at the front of the hall with parent seating at the back of the hall. Due to numbers students have invited two adults to attend the evening as their guests. Thank you to families that have returned their RSVP. A reminder that this is an event for our Year 6 students and therefore siblings, other than babies in arms, are not permitted at the Graduation. Helping Hands will be supporting the Graduation by offering child minding services for children kindy age and over. Information has been sent home to families regarding this. If you would like to take this opportunity please send your RSVP back by Friday 3 December.
The Year 6 Walk Out is one of the opportunities we provide the whole school in celebrating the achievements of our Year 6 students. Our school community form a guard of honour and clap our students as they parade out of the school for the final time. Year 6 students will start at their Year 6 classrooms with their Year 1 buddies and will parade out to the front of the school. Families are invited to be part of the guard of honour. I suggest you come to school at about 1:30pm to get your spot.
We look forward in celebrating the achievements of our Year 6 students with our families, students and communityHave a terrific week.
Martin Winney
Deputy Principal – Year 5 & 6
mwinn7@eq.edu.au
Teacher handovers
As our students prepare to transition to their new year level, all teachers are preparing handovers for 2022 teachers. Our Inclusive Learning teachers prepare handovers for 2022 Inclusive Learning teachers as well as collaborating on other handovers.
Best wishes to Ms Angela Ray, Ms Cassie Stewart and Ms Jess Ferguson who leave Mango Hill at the end of the year.
We are thrilled for Ms Ray, Ms Stewart and Ms Ferguson who are following their dreams to take on roles in Inclusive Education at their new schools. Thank you for your incredible contributions to our team, be they for a short season or over many, many years. Best wishes for 2022 and beyond!
Have a great week
Ellaine Warner
Deputy Principal - Inclusion
ewarn23@eq.edu.au
Returning all resources
Don’t forget that now is the time to return all library books to the Hub. We are very keen to have all of our resources returned as soon as possible so that we can begin our stocktaking processes and plan for 2022. In the coming days we will run the overdue reports and visit classrooms to collect as many books as possible. For lost or damaged books our policy is to ask families to replace these. This is especially important for AR books which are difficult to source. In the meantime lets keep looking for all the books, you never know where they will turn up. Thank you for your support with this tricky task.
Happy reading
Suzette Holm
shol0@eq.edu.au
Big PE Dates in Term 4
A reminder of our big dates this term in PE:
- 2 December (Thursday, Week 9) – MHSS Swimming Carnival (8-9yrs)
- 3 December (Friday, Week 9) – MHSS Swimming Carnival (10-12yrs).
MHSS Swimming Carnival Information for Years 3-6
Later this term our MHSS Swimming Carnival for all Year 3-6 students will be held. Our goal is to ensure all students can participate in a variety of swimming races and have an enjoyable day with their peers.
In 2020, we have made the decision to split our carnival over 2 days. Students in Years 3-6 who are turning 8 and 9 years old in 2021 (born 2012 and 2013) will compete on the first day, which will be Thursday 2 December (Week 9). Students in Years 3-6 turning 10, 11 and 12 years old in 2021 (born 2009, 2010 and 2011) will compete on the second day, which will be Friday 3 December (Week 9).
Students compete at sporting events, including at representative levels, in age groups, not in year levels. Therefore, our carnival days run to align with this process.
Below is the initial parent information for both days. Students will receive more information at school in the coming weeks. This will include a permission and race nomination form, which will need to be returned for your son/daughter to attend. There is no cost for parents associated with the swimming carnival days.
If you need to contact us regarding any sporting issue at MHSS, feel free to send an email to Mr Nick Hills (nhill96@eq.edu.au) or Mr Tyson Newell (tnewe20@eq.edu.au).
Mr Hills & Mr Newell
Physical Education Teachers
nhill96@eq.edu.au
tnewe20@eq.edu.au
P and C News
The MHSS P&C Raffle closes this Sunday! Do not forget to get your tickets!
Link to ticke purchase below.
Fantastic prizes to win!
Uniform Shop
Uniform shop hours during the term are:
Monday 8:00am - 10:30am
Wednesday 1:30pm - 3:30pm
Friday 8:00am - 10:30am
Online @ www.wearitto.com.au/schools/mango-hill-state-school.
January Hours - Beat the Heat - Make An Appointment! - This year for the first time we are opening an additional week in January to fulfil your uniform needs. January 11-14 will be an appointment only week, where you can avoid the wait in the week before school and choose your own appointment time. Appointments can be made by using the following link. https://wearittomangohillss.simplybook.me/v2/
Mon 6 December - 8:00am-10:30am
Tue 7 December - 8:00am-10:30am
Wed 8 December - 1:30pm-3:30pm
Thu 9 December - 8:00am-10:30am
Fri 10 December - 8:00am-10:30am
Lay-Bys - Reminder that layby payments are due fortnightly and all laybys need to be finalised by the end of this term.
Online purchasing - You can still make online purchases to have your student ready for next year. Online purchases can be easily collected from our shop or sent to your child's class. If you would like it sent to class, just send an email to mangohill@wearitto.com.au with your order number, child's name and class, and we can get it to them. A reminder that all online purchases come through the school shop and as such are only packed during our opening hours.
Aspley - Shopping over the Christmas break? Our retail store located at 41 Kirby Road Aspley stocks a selection of the Mango Hill uniforms for your convenience while the school shop is closed. They are open 8:30am-5pm Monday to Friday and 9am-12pm Saturdays. They can be reached on 3263 5566.
Thank you
Zoe and Rochelle
Closing Date for entries is 12 December
Winners announced 20 December
Deliver entries to Petrie Police Station, Connor Street, Petrie.