14 February 2018

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Last week I had the pleasure of representing our school community at the Nerang State High School Leadership Ceremony. This ceremony provided a wonderful opportunity for me to reconnect with our students who transitioned to high school at the beginning of the school year. This opportunity also provided me with time to reflect on the amazing leadership roles we provide our students at Worongary State School. Parents are cordially invited to join with us on Friday morning at 9:30am where we will present our 2018 school leaders with their leadership badges. I am confident that these students will demonstrate outstanding leadership within their portfolios during the 2018 school year. I also wish to thank and acknowledge those caring and dedicated students who continue to demonstrate exceptional behaviour each and every day for it is their leadership that supports all of our students to achieve their goals. I hope to see as many parents as possible on Friday.

Day 8 Processes

I wish to thank all of the parents who assisted our school to meet our official Day 8 Enrolment Processes earlier in the term. I am currently working with our South East Regional Senior Human Resource Consultant on our finalised staffing. All efforts are currently being made to limit the impact of a reduction in student enrolments. More information will be available as soon as it comes to hand.

Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT)

Over the course of the next few weeks our students (Years 2-6) will complete their online PAT – Math and Reading assessments. As outlined in our last edition of the Pipeline, the PATR assessment tool will be the instrument we rely on to validate your child’s reading improvements. During 2018, we are focused on supporting all of our students to achieve one year’s worth of reading growth for their one year’s work of schooling. These online assessments provide our staff with quality data that they can use immediately to modify their curriculum offerings. Information gathered by these assessments will inform our curriculum modifications (support or extension). Parent wishing to obtain additional information on how their child performed on either the PAT-Math or PAT-Reading are encouraged to contact your child’s class teacher.

Parents’ and Citizens’ February Meeting

The Worongary State School’s Parents’ and Citizens’ Association’s meeting for the month of February was conducted last Wednesday. During the 2018 school year the P&C Association must play a more important role than just fundraising. A strong Parents’ and Citizens’ Association provides advice on ways we can better support our students and parents. Last week’s meeting was again a valuable vehicle for our school community to have input into our 2018 plan. I sincerely thank the many parents who came along and provided advice and guidance. We value feedback from every parent. I encourage all parents to become active members of the P&C Association as your thoughts and ideas will further strengthen our school community. Parents who are unable to attend the meeting are always welcome to email me directly (ldare1@eq.edu.au) with any feedback or suggestions on ways to improve our school community. I hope to see as many parents attending our meeting for March (14 March 2018).

Commonwealth Games Schools Connect Program

In a little more than 50 days the world’s attention will be cast upon the Gold Coast. Our students have been supporting the GC2018 by participating in the Schools Connect Program. Our school was paired with Kingstown Preparatory School (in St Vincent and the Grenadines) through the Adopt a Commonwealth Country initiative. This initiative linked local Gold Coast Schools with every nation and territory in the Commonwealth. I would like to sincerely thank Mrs Elaine Quarman for her leadership of this program within our school. Mrs Quarman’s exceptional leadership has been recognised by the organisers in a published article. I strongly encourage all parents to log click the link below and read about how your children have made a world of difference from the children attending Kingstown Preparatory School.

Parent Information Night

I wish to sincerely thank all of the parents and family members who came along last Wednesday evening to participate in our 2018 Parent Information Night. Last week’s event was one of the best Parent Information evenings we have witnessed for a number of years. I am extremely proud of how well our teaching staff shared their intentions on how we will be striving to improve the educational opportunities for all of our students during 2018. I trust all parents who attended were also suitably impressed by their level of professionalism and attention to detail. I acknowledge the wonderful support of our school’s P&C Association and thank them for providing parents with the opportunity to share in the sausage sizzle. All profits raised from the barbeque will go towards improving our school.

Obtaining information on classroom routines and procedures are essential for a successful year. Any parent who was unable to attend their parent information session are strongly encouraged to contact your child’s class teacher for more information.

School Staffing Structure

In 2018 Worongary State School has aligned leadership responsibilities and support mechanisms to each of the year levels. During 2018 if you wish to raise any problems or concerns we encourage you to speak directly to your child’s class teacher. In the event that the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, I invite you to make contact with the appropriate school leader. In addition to this change, I have also aligned our support teachers to these year levels. These staff will play a critical role in supporting students and teachers to achieve our goals. In the interest of opening additional lines of communication between the classroom and your home environment, I have added the relevant email address for all of these staff members below. Parents are welcome to continue using the class Dojo app as a way of communicating or alternatively email the class teacher directly. Teachers will return calls or emails as soon as they have an opportunity. If the matter is urgent please do not hesitate to contact the office for assistance. I anticipate that opening this line of communication will significantly improve our students’ achievements.

Regards Landon Dare, Principal

Learning Vine Awards

Behaviour

The Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) program was adopted at Worongary State School in 2010. It has assisted our school to create positive learning environments by developing proactive whole-school systems to define, teach, and support appropriate student behaviours. PBL was developed by leading behavioural experts to reduce problem behaviour and increase academic performance. At Worongary State School we implement evidence-based approaches to managing student behaviour to support current issues.

With strong emphasis on data-based decision-making, the program is evaluated regularly and practices are adjusted to make sure the process is achieving effective results with positive behaviour support focussed on teaching appropriate behaviour to all students in the school.

Each edition of the school’s newsletter will contain our Term’s Behaviour Focus as well as the specific rules we will be explicitly focusing on during the next few weeks. We seek the support of all parents to speak to your children about these rules and reinforce how they can positively contribute to our school’s learning environment. Parents wishing to obtain more information on our school’s PBL processes are encouraged to contact the office and speak with our Deputy Principal Mrs Kerry White.

Term Focus

Despite the glorious sunshine, we strongly urge our students to attend school every day. The link below has some fantastic resources you can view with your child about the importance of coming to school each day.

At 8.30am each week day the Central Games area is supervised by staff. Our students are requested to sit quietly. There is an opportunity for our students to attend organised activities on the oval which is taken by Michelle Dumbrell (different year levels on different days).

On Tuesdays toast and fruit is served for free. Thank you to our school captains and other student helpers who assist with serving.

Our first bell goes at 8.50am giving our students the time for them to be engaged in learning by 9am.

Please remind your children to check for their school hat is in their bag each day for the ‘hat on play on’ rule. Please also remind your students that all mobile phones must be handed in to the office before students go to class.

Have a fantastic fortnight.

Thank you for your support.

Regards Kaia Clarke, Behaviour

Read and Grow Update

Our FREE 7 week Read and Grow Program with your 3-5 year old children who are not yet attending school, has begun. If you still would like to attend there is still availability.

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.

Regards Katie Huggard, PrepTeacher

Student Council

During Term Four 2017 Worongary State School held a book drive to collect resources that could then be sent on to Kingstown Preparatory School in St Vincent and the Grenadine, which is our Commonwealth Games partnership school. Just before the end of term, four large boxes were packed full of donations ready to send, with two of them having being posted already. We have recently received news that they arrived safely to their destination and are being thoroughly enjoyed by the students at Kingstown Preparatory School. We would like to thank the families that generously donated items and look forward to posting the next two boxes sometime during this semester.

Excursions

P&C News

What does the P&C do?

The P&C plays an important role in today's schools. P&C stands for Parents and Citizens. This means we are here to work with both the School and also Parents and Citizens of the School Community.

The P&C is run by a dedicated team of Parent Volunteers. The P&C raise funds for the purpose of donating them to the school. By doing this everybody in the school community benefits from having more – especially our children.

The P&C also help in the following ways:-

• Operate the school Tuckshop with the help of parent volunteers.
• Operate the Uniform Shop also with the help of parent volunteers.
• Perform fundraising activities to raise funds to donate to the school. This enables much need equipment and extra resources to be purchased. Many parents donate their time and skills to help our fundraising team.

The P&C also perform important roles such as:-

• Helping to set School Policy and to help make decisions about the day to day issues at our school.
• Bringing parents and the school together to share information about our School.

Last year the P&C raised funds to provide the following:-

• Funds for Technology
• School rewards program
• Building of the Senior Playground
• Growth and Sexuality program
• Bravehearts program
• Swimming Carnival and much more……

It's not just the school we work with. Parents are very important and crucial to our success in raising funds. We encourage contact from Parents – especially if you have suggestions or concerns.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place on Wednesday, 14 March 2018 at 4:30pm in the School Staff Room. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Please note that all P&C roles are declared vacant at the AGM and any parent is welcome and encouraged to express interest in taking on one of these P&C roles. The 2018 P&C Executive Committee members are elected at this meeting.

The AGM is a great way to find out what is happening at our school, so we hope you can attend. The AGM will be followed directly after by the March 2018 P&C meeting.

P&C President Role

• Is responsible for the successful functioning of the P&C Association
• Chairs the meetings & acts as spokesperson in the public arena
• Sets out & supports the P&C’s objectives & ensures the adherence to the constitution
• Supports & encourages volunteers and welcomes all new members
• Communicates with the principal

P&C Vice President Role

• Is the back-up person for the President (ie chairperson, spokesperson etc)
• Assists all office-bearers in their individual roles & at events throughout the school year
• Is a point of contact for the school community and the Principal if the President is unavailable

P&C Secretary Role

• Responsible for a range of administrative tasks
• In consultation with the President, prepares & distributes all meeting agendas
• Documents & distributes the minutes of the meetings and the action register
• Maintains official records
• Prepares papers for AGM

P&C Treasurer Role

• Responsible for the P&C’s compliance with financial accountability requirements
• Receives & deposits monies, retains records, draws cheques and presents accounts

We hope you can join us!

School Banking

On Monday 5 March Ann, the Commonwealth School Banking Co-Ordinator, will be here from 8:00am for anyone who would like to sign up their child or children for Student Banking.

Nerang RSL Helping Hands Initiative

Nerang RSL & Memorial Club understands how hard it is for community based groups to raise funds for many different projects. To assist with community fund raising efforts, the Nerang RSL have come up with an initiative to help members raise funds for their group while they relax and enjoy themselves at the Nerang RSL & Memorial Club.

Purchase a main meal to the value of $16.50 or more from Gallipolis’ Bistro and Bar on any Monday night for dinner and your chosen group will receive $5.00. Worongary State School and Worongary State School P&C have jumped on board this great initiative and would like your help. Have a night off from cooking, head to the Nerang RSL for dinner on a Monday night and help us raise some money!

Upcoming Events

Movies under the stars - Saturday 17 March

Bring the kids and enjoy a family night out under the stars watching Cars 3. Food stalls available on the night.

Colour Fun run will be held on Thursday 29 March. (Last day of Term 1.)

We all had so much fun last time we’ve decided we need to do another!

More information will be available soon.

Kind Regards P&C

Tuckshop & Uniform

Volunteers

Jasmine and myself would like to acknowledge the wonderful regular volunteers who come back year after year to assist in the Tuckshop. Thank you, Lynette, Lizzy and Narelle. Your help is very much appreciated.

We would also like to welcome three fabulous newcomers to our band of volunteers. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to try out something new. We look forward to working with you all again next week Di, Rhiannon and Janelle.

Sushi Reminder

Sushi is currently available each Wednesday by pre-ordering on Tuesdays. Our supplier has a minimum order requirement that we have been struggling to meet so far this year, so I would like to encourage you to take advantage of this fresh and healthy lunch choice. We would like to keep sushi on the menu as it is a great way to add some mid-week variety to your child’s lunch box.

Continue reading below for details on how to order

• ONLINE Sushi orders must be completed on Tuesdays by the normal cut-off time of 9.00am Choose Tuesday as the delivery day in order to access the Wednesday Sushi Pre-ordering menu.
  (Click on the icon next to your choice of ‘1 Roll’ or ‘2 Rolls’ then Flavour for a drop down list of flavours)
• MANUAL paper bag Sushi orders must be handed in to Tuckshop or placed in the Tuckshop baskets in the classroom on Tuesdays by the normal cut-off time of 9.00am
• All Sushi orders will then be delivered to children on Wednesday at the specified break time, First Break or Second Break.

Frozen Treats

With several hot days still ahead of us, please remember that we have plenty of yummy, healthy frozen treats available like:

• Tubs of Frozen Pineapple pieces and Frozen Grapes for just $1.20 each
• Icebergs for 50c each (cubes of frozen yoghurt and fruit)
• A pack of 2 Frozen Orange Wedges for 50c

These items are all available at Second Break via online and manual ordering and can be purchased over the counter at both breaks for students in Years 1-6.
[*NB: Ice cold bottles of water can be purchased at any time for $1.50]

UNIFORM SHOP

Seniors Shirts for Year 6

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

Interschool Sports

Footy socks and interschool sport shorts are available to purchase from the Uniform Shop so come on up and kit your child out in the correct uniform so they can represent our school with pride this season.

Regards Michelle Lee, Tuckshop and Uniform Convenor

Community Notices

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