15 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL

Attendance

School absenteeism and truancy can impact significantly on students' learning and wellbeing.

Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.

Why is regular attendance at school important?

Regular school attendance will mean that your child gets a better chance at life. Your child will achieve better when they go to school all day, every school day:

• they learn better
• they make friends
• they are happier
• they have a brighter future.

Under the law, you must make sure your child is enrolled and attends school on all school days unless there is a reasonable excuse. Schools must monitor attendance of students and follow up with parents and caregivers any unexplained absences.

If your child does not want to go to school, or is missing school without you knowing, contact your school immediately for assistance and support.

Worongary State School will:

• monitor student attendance
• notify you if your child has an unexplained absence as soon as practicable on the day of your child's absence and continue to follow-up with you as practicable
• use effective teaching strategies to engage your child in learning
• help you with strategies to encourage your child to come to school
• provide support for families.

More information is available via the link below.

Attendance data for Term 1 2017

Our current attendance rate is below our target of 95%. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need assistance to help ensure that your children are attending school every day.

DOJOS

It is very pleasing to see that students are starting to earn their Bronze Dojo badges. The happy smiles on their faces as they receive their badge tells us that they value this recognition of their Worongary behaviour. They are being Safe, Respectful and Learners. Congratulations to all of you.

GET THE FACTS ON ONLINE SAFETY

Do you know how to keep your children safe when they are using social media or playing an online game?

Did you know?

• Today’s children spend more time on the internet than they spend watching television
• 97% of households with children aged under 15 years have access to the internet
• 80% of parents are worried their child will be exposed to online pornography
• 78% are worried their child will be bullied online
• 68% are worried their child may become addicted to being online

Do you know:

• The risks that exist when children are gaming online or using social media?
• How to protect your children from these risks?
• Tips and tricks to stay safe online?
• The services and products which can help you?

What’s the story on keeping your kids safe online?

Think about the amount of time you spent teaching your children how to cross the road safely. You told them about looking to the left and right, pedestrian crossings, “green & red men” and lollipop ladies. You taught them not to talk to strangers. You knew they needed to learn how to stay safe. You held their hands and walked beside them when they were learning.

But we give them access to the digital world of gaming, the internet and social media with not a lot of hand holding. We ask children to cross a digital highway on their own and hope they make it to the other side in one piece without finding something or someone nasty on the way. They might think they know everything there is to know, certainly the technology doesn’t scare them, but they don’t know all the risks.

It’s important that as parents we learn as much as possible about this digital highway before we let our children loose in that world. We need to know how to navigate it, how to stay safe so we can teach our children.

What are your top tips for parents and carers?

The first tip is to start the discussions early, the sooner you have the conversations and set appropriate expectations the easier it is to establish healthy on line behaviour for your children.

Overall, follow these five steps:

• Talk to your child about staying safe online and keep the discussion open as they grow up.
• Monitor your child’s time online, particularly younger children.
• Set house rules – what’s okay to do and what’s not, how much time is ‘online’ time and what kind of personal information is okay to make public.
• Consider using filters or other technological tools to help limit exposure to potentially harmful or distressing material.
• Model the kind of positive online behaviour you would like your children to use.

More advice can be found via the link below.

SEEDLINGS

I am looking forward to meeting many of you on Sunday (weather permitting) as we move the garden beds and start setting up the wicking vegetable garden beds. One of my hobbies is gardening, I personally grow a lot of vegetables at home, so am looking forward to seeing our students – your children, and you, coming together to learn how to do this more successfully.

P&C COLOUR RUN 31 March 2017

Thank you for your support of the P&C Colour Run. We are looking forward to a fun and financially successful day. If the junior school raises over $1,000 Mrs White will run, if the senior school raises over $1,000 Mrs Ready will run and (oh dear) if the whole school raises over $5,000 I will also run. Good luck with raising your sponsorships. It has been brought to our attention, however, that some students are going door knocking and are asking people that don’t know them to sponsor them. We do not encourage this and would prefer that children seek support from friends, family and possibly your work mates.

PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS – WEDNESDAY 22 MARCH 2017

Communication between parents and teachers has a valuable influence on a child’s education. In fact, research shows that parental involvement and a positive connection between home and school has a high effect on learning outcomes. This meeting is an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress, raise any concerns and share the next learning goals for your child.

Parent Teacher Interviews provide opportunities to:

• Share information about your child’s progress, interests and needs
• Foster positive and respectful relationships between home and school
• Improve communication with your child’s teacher
• Let the teacher know if you would like to become involved in classroom activities
• Schedule a follow-up interview if required

Worongary State School Parent-Teacher interviews will be held on Wednesday 22 March, from 3.15pm - 6.00pm and 6.00pm – 7.45pm. To make an appointment click on the link below. All interviews will take place in the school hall. You are asked to be punctual to your appointment and to keep to the allocated times to ensure that all parents are able to access the teachers they wish to speak to. If you are unable to attend a meeting on Wednesday 22 March please feel free to contact your child’s teacher to make an appointment to meet.

HARMONY DAY AND NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLYING – FRIDAY 17 MARCH 2017

Harmony Day celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. The National Day of Action against Bullying highlights the right of every student to come to school and feel safe and free from bullying. Whilst disagreements are common amongst children, bullying is not tolerated. Please feel free to visit the following website below for more information about bullying and how you can help your child. If your child is being bullied at school please contact your child’s teacher, Mrs Ready, Years 3-6, Mrs White Prep – 2, the guidance officer Ms Bellamy or myself.

To help raise student awareness we are inviting all students, parents and staff to wear orange on Friday 17 March. This is not a free dress day nor is it a fund raising day.

JUNIOR PLAYGROUND

Work is progressing on the junior playground. The children are intrigued by the work being carried out and are finding the earth moving machinery very interesting. We are still hopeful that the work will be completed on time. After the wall is completed we will be installing some new play equipment and soft-fall. We are all looking forward to seeing the children enjoying the completed playground.

P & C 2017

The Worongary State School P&C held their AGM yesterday evening. Congratulations to the re-elected President Ann-Marie Maclachlan, Vice President Neyomi Miller and Treasurer Tatiana Paki. Thank you to outgoing Secretary Heather Doe and Shadow Secretary Kath Welch. Yyour hard work is acknowledged and much appreciated. Congratulations to the newly elected Vice Treasurer Michelle Hayward and Secretary Jessica Ratcliffe.

The P&C have decided to meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 4.30 pm in the administration staffroom. All members of the school community are invited to become members and join this dedicated and friendly team.

AIR CONDITIONING

This summer has been extremely hot and we cannot deny that the high temperatures have made our classrooms very uncomfortable for our students and our staff.

At yesterday’s P&C meeting it was decided to investigate installing air conditioners in our classrooms. Mrs Linda Norton will be leading a working party to survey you to determine the level of interest in raising funds to install these systems. The cost of air conditioning the classrooms is substantial and fund raising and parent contributions will be sought to raise the necessary funds if you decide to go ahead with this project. When the survey is sent to you I urge you participate and I also invite you to join Linda and the Worongary Air Conditioning Working Party.

WORLD CLASS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

I have just had the pleasure and privilege of attending, with a team from Worongary, a high powered 2 day conference in Brisbane. There were teams from all over Australia as well as from Singapore. Our presenters are the world renowned and respected educational practitioners and researchers, Mike Mattos and Dr Anthony Muhammad (pictured). They provided us with stimulating and, at times, challenging data and strategies to develop our schools into collaborative teams with the aim of better providing all our students with the curriculum and pedagogy they require to achieve the best outcomes.

Regards Marilyn Moballe, Principal

BEHAVIOUR

Parents and carers

The national definition of bullying for Australian schools says:

Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert).

Bullying of any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders.

Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not defined as bullying.

Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:

• mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
• not liking someone or a single act of social rejection
• one-off acts of meanness or spite
• isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.

However, these conflicts still need to be addressed and resolved.

Parents and other carers have a key role in preventing and responding to bullying.

You can:

• Learn what bullying is and what it is not. This is the first step in talking about how to prevent or respond to bullying with your child. 'Bullying' is a word that is used for lots of things that are not actually bullying. These other behaviours may be just as serious, but may require different responses.
• Talk about bullying with your child at home to make it easier for them to tell you if something happens. Make sure they know what bullying is and how they can respond. Help prepare your children to prevent online bullying and to know what to do if it happens.
• Start when your child is young to guide them to develop the social and emotional skills they will need to build positive relationships throughout their lives, including problem-solving skills .
• Recognise the warning signs of bullying . Although there may not be an issue, you should talk to your child if you have any concerns. Raise the topic generally if you don't want to ask directly. Be aware that many times children and young people won't ask for help, so it is important to know what to look for.
• Learn about how to respond appropriately if your child tells you about bullying . You can reassure your child by remaining calm and being supportive.
• Find out as much as you can about what has happened by talking calmly with your child. A good understanding about what has happened can also help you in communicating with the school about the situation.
• Read about strategies that can help . Practising strategies at home with your child is a good way to prepare them to use them at school.
• Contact the school if bullying has occurred and the school needs to be involved. Read about how you and the school can work together to support your child, whether your child was bullied, bullied others, or witnessed bullying.
• Get involved in what your school is doing to prevent bullying.
• Learn about relevant state or national laws about bullying.
• Find resources for parents on online safety on the Student Wellbeing Hub about supporting your child to be safe online.
• Find additional assistance if, after working with your child and your school, you need more information or help to address the situation from outside the school.

PBL Focus Behaviour

Term Focus

Term 1 Week 7 and Week 8 Focus

CURRICULUM CORNER

This week I am continuing our reading journey and specifically some tips around creating a love of reading. I grew up in South Australia and was fortunate to have Mem Fox as a lecturer for a short time at the university I attended. She is a brilliant author and also passionate about the importance of reading to children and the many benefits that it has. I have included Mem Fox’s “Ten read-aloud commandments” - you may have already seen these, however they are a great reminder.

As a mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, they still remember our story reading sessions. We read not only at the end of the day but at various times throughout. Reading at bed time for us as a family was always a great way to unwind and settle into the night. No matter what had happened throughout the day in our lives, it was always a positive way to finish our day and curl up together with a favourite text. Mem’s commandments are aimed at young children, however older children still really like to be read to. I remember one of my sons in particular loved and enjoyed one of us reading to him well into his upper primary years.

Ten read-aloud commandments

1. Spend at least ten wildly happy minutes every single day reading aloud. From birth!
2. Read at least three stories a day: it may be the same story three times. Children need to hear a thousand stories before they can begin to learn to read. Or the same story a thousand times!
3. Read aloud with animation. Listen to your own voice and don’t be dull, or flat, or boring. Hang loose and be loud, have fun and laugh a lot.
4. Read with joy and enjoyment: real enjoyment for yourself and great joy for the listeners
5. Read the stories that your child loves, over and over, and over again, and always read in the same ‘tune’ for each book: i.e. with the same intonations and volume and speed, on each page, each time.
6. Let children hear lots of language by talking to them constantly about the pictures, or anything else connected to the book; or sing any old song that you can remember; or say nursery rhymes in a bouncy way; or be noisy together doing clapping games
7. Look for rhyme, rhythm or repetition in books for young children, and make sure the books are really short.
8. Play games with the things that you and the child can see on the page, such as letting kids finish rhymes, and finding the letters that start the child’s name and yours, remembering that it’s never work, it’s always a fabulous game.
9. Never ever teach reading, or get tense around books.
10. Please read aloud every day because you just adore being with your child, not because it’s the right thing to do.

I know with our busy lives, it is difficult to try and fit everything into our day as there is so much on all of our plates. Reading books with our children has so many benefits! Give it a go!

Until next time……
Try and find some time to share a book or books with your child/ren this week!

Regards, Leslie Ward, Head of Curriculum

Read and Grow Image/readandgrow

Read and Grow is a fun interactive story sharing program for parents and children. Throughout the program we will learn to listen, sing songs, share books and play together. This is a great way to develop your child’s oral language skills and help prepare them for school. Click the link below for more information. Time 9.00am Tuesday mornings. This is a 6 week course, but you are welcome to join in anytime. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like some more information.

Excursions

Tuckshop and Uniform Shop

Opening Hours
Monday-Friday: 8:30am-2:00pm
Closed: Entire last day of each Term

Tuckshop Basket Competition

To encourage respect of the Tuckshop baskets and subsequent hygiene for food ordered, we are currently running a Tuckshop Basket Competition. Classes get points for bringing their baskets up to the Tuckshop on time in the morning and extra points for keeping them in a clean and tidy state. In the last week of the term, we will present the classes with the highest points in both Junior and Senior school with a Frozen Treat Medley as a reward for their efforts. Top 3 rankings on the leader board are announced at assembly each week.

Easter Meal Deals

Easter Meal Deals will be running from Wednesday 22 March – Thursday 30 March. Please see the attached flyer for details.

Tuckshop is closed all day Friday 31 March 2017.

Morning Sales

Please note that the Tuckshop has a small float to start us off in the morning, so we would appreciate if parents could have small notes and change if coming up to order first thing in the morning. Finding change for multiple $20 and $50 notes in the morning has been an issue lately.

Over the Counter Sales

We would like to remind you of the following points in regards to Over the Counter Sales:

• Over the Counter sales are available to students in Grades 2-6 only. If your child is in Prep or Grade 1, online ordering or manual ordering on a bag is the only way to order.
• Over the Counter sales are available at Big Lunch only.
• The highest denomination we accept from children at over the counter sales time is a $5 note. If they present anything larger than this, unfortunately they will be unable to purchase.
• Children are to purchase items only for themselves – they are not permitted to purchase for friends.

Please ensure that your child/ren understand these guidelines to avoid disappointment.

Uniform Shop News

Opening Hours
Monday: 8:00am-9:00am
Wednesday: 2:15pm-3:15pm
Friday: 8:00am-9:00am
Direct Dial number: 5502 4409

Seniors Shirts

Seniors Shirts have now been ordered and are expected to arrive early in Term 2.

Interschool Sports

Footy socks and Interschool Sport shorts have now arrived so come on up and kit your child out in the correct uniform so they can represent our school with pride this season.

Kind regards, Michelle Lee Tuckshop/Uniform Convenor

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