11 December 2019

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Welcome to the final Pipeline for 2019,

For a long while, I have considered how we can prepare our Year 5 students to be school leaders. In the past, we have presented them with a badge, caught up with them periodically and, in the end, hoped they do a good job. This year, we decided to do something a little different. Last Thursday, 40 of our 2020 school leaders, along with Ms Thomson, Mr Mullaly, Sam, Josh and myself, participated in a new initiative – School Leadership Retreat. The objective of this retreat was to provide each of our future leaders support for their personal leadership development. Mr Eric Bailey’s leadership presentation was central to supporting our students achieve the objectives of this retreat. Eric’s inspirational story provided a firm platform for our leaders to consider what they can achieve if they apply themselves. This was a tremendous success. The teachers from Numinbah Valley Environmental Education Centre wish to sincerely thank all of our future leaders for their outstanding behaviour and efforts on the day.

This initiative was so successful we have invited Eric back to the school on Wednesday 12 February 2020 to work with the rest of our Year 6 cohort. I look forward to welcoming Eric to our school early in the new year. Parents wishing to find out more information about Eric Bailey are encouraged to download the following:

Thank You

As 2019 draws to a close, I wish to thank all members of our community for your ongoing support during 2019. During the 2019 year, we have continued to progress our school’s strategic plan of “Striving for Excellence”. I sincerely thank all of our parents and community members who have supported our school to achieve key aspects of our strategic plan. I acknowledge and thank our school’s Deputy Principals (Mrs Ready and Mrs White) for their amazing leadership over the past 12 months. I have witness firsthand the care and attention that Kerry and Kelly provide to our staff and students each and every day. I sincerely thank these educators and acknowledge that our school is truly fortunate to have such dedicated and committed leaders.

This year, we welcomed two new leaders to our team. Mr David Clancy commenced as the school’s Head of Curriculum while Mrs Marg Haebich was appointed as the school’s pedagogical coach. These two leaders have played critical roles within our school during 2019. Mr Clancy has expertly led the school’s curriculum framework and supported teachers to strengthen their assessment practices. Mrs Haebich has worked alongside each of our teachers to refine their classroom practices. I am so appreciative of the work that these leaders have contributed to our school. I am also delighted that for the first time our curriculum leaders will be returning after a summer vacation. I look forward to continuing to work with David and Marg in 2020.

Earlier in the year, our school’s permanent Business Manager, Mrs Rachel Zorbas, commenced an extended period of leave. Following a selection and recruitment process, Mrs Tracie Hocart was appointed to backfill Mrs Zorbas. This position is one of the most demanding and difficult positions within any school. This position is extremely complex with accountabilities of Financial Management, Work Place Health and Safety, Human Resources and Asset Management included in their portfolio. I am sure you will join with me in thanking Tracie for all of her hard work. Under her leadership and guidance, our school has implemented a number of initiatives to improve the quality of our school’s facilities, human resource and financial management. Her leadership of the school’s I Block Refurbishment and Basketball Court project are only two out of hundreds of initiatives that Tracy has led that will improve our school for our students and families. I publically thank Tracie for all of her hard work and dedication to our school community.

I acknowledge Ms Kaia Clarke, Ms Michelle Dumbrell, Mr Josh Rogers and Mr Sam Swift for their efforts in supporting our students to make positive behaviour choices. As the backbone of our school’s Positive Behaviour for Learning team, these officers do an amazing job of engaging and supporting our students. I join with our students (98% satisfaction) and parents (88% satisfaction) who acknowledged their achievements through the 2019 School Opinion Survey.

I sincerely thank our dedicated teachers and teacher aides for their ongoing commitment to improving the quality of education your child receives on a daily basis. At Worongary, we are incredibly fortunate to have so many caring and compassionate staff members dedicating their lives to providing every opportunity for your child to succeed. 2019 was an incredibly successful year of learning. Our 2019 Year 5 NAPLAN results were some of the highest we have ever achieved. Likewise, our internal monitoring data and student assessment data provides us all with a high degree of confidence that our future is very bright. I thank all of our staff members for the way in which they have contributed to our school’s improvement agenda during 2019 and trust they will all enjoy their well-deserved summer vacation.

A big thank you must go to our hard working ancillary staff. To our front office staff (Fiona, Jo W and Kerry B), Facilities Officers (Mr T and Glenn B) and cleaners (Ann, Graham, Jennifer, Di and Bim) we all say thank you. Much of these officers’ work happens behind the scenes and without them our school would simply not function as well as it does. I trust everyone will join with me in thanking this team of very hard working and committed individuals.

On behalf of our community, I wish to extend a massive thank you to Rhiannon, Kylie, Tracy, Rob, and Di (your P and C Executives) for their commitment to our school. These hard working volunteers have significantly improved your child’s school facilities. I thank this team not only for their fundraising initiatives but also, more importantly, for their guidance and advice over the past 12 months. I acknowledge each member of the Association for the support they have given to the executive. This team has helped us to achieve exceptional outcomes for our students. We also thank Michelle, Jasmine and our tuckshop volunteers who have worked incredibly hard supporting our students and families in the tuckshop and uniform shop this year. These ladies work tirelessly and are constantly looking for ways to better support our P and C Association, families and students. I thank everyone from the P and C Association and look forward to the opportunities that 2020 will present.

2020 Staffing Update

It is with much sadness that at the end of the school year we farewell a number of dedicated and committed staff members.

Each year the Department of Education implements a transfer cycle. This cycle encourages high performing teachers in metropolitan areas to consider moving to a rural and remote community. This year, Ms Susan Paterson applied under a special transfer process to move to Kowanyama State School for the 2020 and 2021 school years. Having committed more than 15 years teaching and leading rural and remote communities, I understand just how essential it is to have staff with Mrs Paterson’s skills move to regional areas. I acknowledge and thank Mrs Paterson for having the courage to apply for this transfer and share her skills with the broader education community. We wish her all the very best and look forward to hearing her updates.

Last year we released Mr Tom McDonald to undertake a 12-month Head of Curriculum position at South Special School (SSS). The SSS principal quickly identified Tom’s outstanding leadership and he was offered a permanent transfer into this school from 2020. We all wish Tom all the very best at SSS and once again thank him for all he achieved during his period with us. Tom will be missed by all of our staff and many of our students.

In the previous edition of the Pipeline, I outlined that Ms Angela Banks has secured a Junior Secondary position at Palm Beach Currumbin State High School (PBC). Since Ms Banks commenced at Worongary State School in 2011, she has been a valued member of her teaching team. Ms Banks’ transition to this new environment will be seamless as most of her more recent teaching has been in our school’s upper year levels. During her time at Worongary, Ms Banks has built strong relationships with students and families. I sincerely thank Angela for her contributions to our school and wish her all the very best in her future high school teaching career.

This year we have had the pleasure to have Mrs Yates and Ms Cook working in our prep classrooms. Both of these incredibly dedicated teachers worked tirelessly to ensure our 2019 prep students experienced the best possible start to their schooling career. Due to a number staff returning from leave, we were unfortunately not able to offer these teachers a position in 2020. Their dedication and commitment certainly did not go unnoticed and both teachers have secured positions at other schools for 2020. Mrs Yates has accepted a position at Picnic Creek State School, while Ms Cook will be heading to another Nerang Alliance school – Canungra State School. I sincerely thank Megan and Kylie for all they have achieved this year. Our prep team will certainly miss the passion and commitment that both of these staff members bring. We wish Megan and Kylie all the very best at their new schools.

Ms Sims will commence her maternity leave at the end of this week. Ms Sims’ commitment to supporting our Year 5 students has never been more evident than over the past few weeks. With the weather heating up each day, Ms Simms has remained focused and committed to doing the best she can do. On behalf of our entire school community I wish Rianne and Aaron all the very best with the new arrival of their second child. We will look forward to seeing Rianne and her new bub return sometime early in the New Year. All the best Rianne!

Once the official state-wide transfer process has been completed, the staff at regional office turn their attention to the specialists and their 2020 circuits. In 2020, we will see a few new faces join our specialist’s team. Alex Auchere will replace Ms Aichlinn Huang-Ryan as the school’s Band Teacher while Ms Sarah Larmor will replace Ms Donna Futo as the school’s Strings Teacher. For the past few years, we have implemented a very intentional strategy to enhance our performing arts department. Aichlinn and Donna have worked extremely hard to implement opportunities for our students to further develop and enhance their musical skills. I sincerely thank these two visiting specialists for the work they have contributed to our school and wish them all the very best in their new schools.

Mrs Jo Fullerton has worked as our school’s Japanese Teacher for 2 years. During her time at our school, she has primarily worked with our Year 5 and Year 6 students. Mrs Fullerton’s teaching has inspired our students to continue learning Japanese as they transitioned into high school. Mrs Fullerton will continue teaching Japanese at Canungra SS, St Bernard SS, Numinbah SS and Springbrook SS in 2020. On behalf of our school community, we thank Jo for her years of service at Worongary State School and wish her all the best in 2020.

Spot Light on Success - AASCF Nationals

At this time of the year, the Australian All Star Cheerleading Federation (AASCF) host their National Competition. This year the event was held in Melbourne. All Star Cheer & Dance competitions are an incredibly exciting event where sports combine with theatre. Each event is judged not solely upon the sum of its parts, but on the overall entertainment value of superior technical athleticism combined with creative presentation. This year Cierra H’s (5D) team, Lil Dynasty, was awarded a 3rd place in the hip-hop category. This amazing achievement is even more special as this was Cierra’s first year in competitive dancing. We congratulate Cierra and her the Lil Dynasty team mates and look forward to hearing about their future successes.

Medication Collection

All parents are reminded to please arrange collection of medications from the Health Room before Friday. This includes puffers and spacers, tablets and Epipens. All expired medication will be disposed of. Updated permission forms will be prepared for the 2020 school year.

Christmas Donations

Thank you to the large number of parents and grandparents who have so kindly donated to the school’s Christmas appeal. Over the past few days, Ms Kaia and the administration team have been sensitively and discretely distributing these gifts to children across the school. Any of the gifts left over will be passed onto our close partner, ACT4Kids, for wider distribution. We all should be extremely proud our generous community spirit.

Semester 2 Reporting

Semester Two report cards will be issued the afternoon of Thursday 12 December. The report cards will be distributed to all parents via email. Parents who do not receive this report should first make contact with the school’s front office to ensure your email address information is accurate. Parents are encouraged to make contact with your child’s teacher if you would like to receive any additional information on your child’s progress. I sincerely thank all of our teaching staff for their efforts in completing these reports.

The Uniform Shop

Parents wishing to purchase school uniforms in 2020 should be aware that, due to the current demountable being removed over the summer vacation, the Uniform Shop has now moved to under the Central Under Covered Area (beside the tuckshop). Due to this move, the Uniform Shop will be open on the following days prior to school returning:

In addition to these days, the Uniform Shop will operate with extended hours for the first two days of the term. The Uniform Shop’s opening hour for the first week back will be as follows:

The Uniform Shop will then return to the regular open hours from Friday 31 January, 2020.

2020 Class Lists

Just a reminder that your child’s 2020 class and location will be on display outside the school’s office (near the payment window) from 9:00am on Thursday 23 January. These lists will be on display between the hours of 9:00am and 3:00pm on each of the Pupil Free Days. We respectfully request that parents do not contact the office for this information as the office staff will be engaged in a number of back to school processes and procedures.

Keep a watch on our school these holidays

With the holidays fast approaching, we need you to look out for after-hours crime in your school. If you see anything suspicious, call the School Watch on 13 17 88. The School Watch Program is a partnership between the department and the State Government Protective Security Service. It aims to reduce vandalism, theft and arson in schools. Call the School Security Program on 3237 0874 for more info.

Final Note

Next year is looking like a fantastic year for Worongary State School. We will continue to implement our Strategic Plan – “Striving for Excellence”, and extend upon embedding the school’s Pedagogical Framework; strengthening our assessment culture; enhancing our Inclusion Education practices; and advancing our STEAM program. For the very first time, Worongary State School will implement three new Excellence Programs. Students in Year 5 recently have nominated to participate in the following Excellence Programs for 2020:

• Sports Excellence
• STEAM Excellence
• Musical Excellence

Interest to enrol in one of these programs continues to be very strong. I sincerely thank Ms Smith, Ms Jones and Mr Mullaly for their enthusiasm and commitment to advancing these programs. We have already invested heavily to ensure our resources are aligned to these priorities. I am looking forward to creating opportunities for real innovation throughout 2020. I am sure you will agree that these will be exciting years for all of our students, staff and parents.

It has once again been an absolute pleasure to serve as your principal for another year. I wish everyone a very happy and safe summer vacation and I look forward to continuing our work together in 2020.

Save the Date

Learning Vine Awards

To all the beautiful students in 5/6 A (awesome),

Thank you for a wonderful year. You have done an amazing job, not only with all of your effort and work in class, but supporting each other and being excellent leaders and role models for the whole school.

Congratulations

From Miss Banks.

Kind Regards, Ms Kaia

From the Music Room

END OF YEAR CONCERT

Last week, students from our extra-curricula musical ensembles – Strings, Band and Choirs performed for the Worongary Community highlighting new skills developed in 2019. It was wonderful to see the Hall brimming with extended families, friends and even some past students!

A very big thank you to our two Instrumental Music teachers Miss Aichlinn Huang-Ryan (Band) and Miss Donna Futo (Strings) for preparing the students so well. A very big thank you also to Mr Dare, Mrs Kerry White, Mrs Jacqueline McMahon, Mrs Jennifer Thompson, Mr Chris Townsend, Ms Jo Wales and Mrs Fiona Longworth who have supported so many Musical events throughout 2019.

Of course, we must also thank the students for their hard work and effort and our supportive families.

WORONGARY AT THE CONSERVATORIUM

Recently, five Worongary students Jasper M, Sommer W-S, Samara G, Amelia I and Lili B-B were accepted into the State Honours Excellence Program at the Brisbane Conservatorium of Music. These students attended a weekend of intense rehearsals, learning challenging repertoire and meeting many new musical friends. Congratulations students! You represented Worongary with pride!

FAREWELL MS RYAN AND M FUTO

Unfortunately Ms Aichlinn Huang-Ryan and Ms Donna Futo, our Band and Strings teachers respectively, will not be returning to teach Instrumental Music at Worongary next year. Both are needed at their allocated base schools. We thank both Aichlinn and Donna for their energy, skills and knowledge that they have brought to Worongary and wish them every success in 2020.

We look forward to introducing to the Worongary Community our new Instrumental Music teachers in Week 1 and 2.

CONGRATULATIONS 2020 MUSIC CAPTAINS

Congratulations to 2020 Music Captains! We look forward to your service as Music leaders and exemplary role models to our younger students.

Band – Samara G
Strings – Lacey J
Choir – Amelia I

MUSIC EXCELLENCE PROGRAM – YEAR 5 & 6 STUDENTS 2020

Congratulations to the following students who have been offered a place in the 2020 Musical Excellence Program: Samara G, Amelia I, Sommer W-S, Gemaika T, Lacey J, Chloe H, Jayden L, Grace T and Tayah M.

RETURNING SCHOOL HIRE INSTRUMENTS

All students that have hired a school instrument need to return them promptly to the Music Room. Over the break they will be serviced and returned to good working order for student use in 2020.

“Music can change the world because it can change people.”
Bono, U2

Have a wonderful break filled with music!

Yours in Music,
Katheryn Jones
kjone416@eq.edu.au

Read and Grow Update

Read and Grow is a fun interactive story sharing program for parents and children 3-5 year old children who are not yet attending school.

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.

You’re invited to attend our FREE Read and Grow Program with your 3-5 year old children
(It is not compulsory to attend all sessions)

• When: TERM 1 - Tuesday 11 February until Tuesday 24 March
  9am to 9.45am
• Where: Prep A Classroom Worongary State School
• Who: Parents and their children (3-5years)
• Theme: All about families.
  Siblings welcome

Come along and meet other parents and children – all welcome even if not attending Worongary State School

For more information or to ask any questions, please contact Katie Huggard via email: khugg2@eq.edu.au

The program was put together by a speech language pathologist and early childhood teachers. Each week we will read a story and develop language skills through reading, songs, play and craft - practicing the skills we know are important for school readiness such as:

• focusing on key words and concepts
• asking and answering questions
• noticing the print and the written word in the story or title

For more information or to ask any questions, please contact Katie Huggard via email: khugg2@eq.edu.au

Regards Katie Huggard, Prep Teacher

Excursions

Tuckshop & Uniform

Opening Hours

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

Online Ordering Profiles for 2020

When your child joins their new class for 2020, please remember to update their “Schoolshop Online” ordering profiles with their new class, as this does not happen automatically. Please note that Tuckshop and Uniform Shop profiles must be updated individually.

Volunteers

Thank you to our incredible Volunteers for all that you do for our Tuckshop and ultimately for Worongary State School. The gifts of your time and talents are so appreciated. New volunteers, regular volunteers, returning volunteers and executive volunteers – we’re so happy to have had the pleasure of working with you all and look forward to you joining us again next year.

UNIFORM SHOP

Opening Hours

Monday: 8:00am-9:00am
Wednesday: 2:15pm-3:15pm
Friday: 8:00am-9:00am

The Uniform Shop is CLOSED for the remainder of the term
[Please see below for January 2020 ‘Back to School’ open days]

Stock

Please be aware that, as we approach the end of the school year, stock is becoming low in some uniform items/sizes. However, you can rest assured that our back to school orders for 2020 were placed last term and all shipments are on track to arrive in our supplier’s warehouse in December, ready to be delivered to us before school resumes next year. In the meantime, if you require any items that are unavailable at the time of ordering, you are welcome to pre-order your item/s online. All orders will be ready for collection on our back to school open days.

Uniform Shop 2020

In 2020, our Uniform Shop will be located in the Central Under Covered games area. To help facilitate this move, the Uniform Shop is now closed for over-the-counter service for the remainder of the year. Parents can still purchase uniforms via the online ordering system but please note that some items will not be available until 2020 when we receive delivery of stock. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause and trust all families will appreciate the benefits from the wonderful new facility when it officially opens in January.

Additional Information about Online Ordering for Uniforms

If you haven’t already used online ordering you can register an account with Schoolshop Online by following the links on the school website or by inputting Worongary in the search box:

Key things to note about ordering uniforms online are:

• Online ordering is great for busy parents. Orders can be placed online at your convenience.
• Usually, online orders are processed on the next Uniform Shop day. However, for the remainder of this term they will be processed daily. A yellow note will be sent to your child’s classroom via the Tuckshop basket so they know when to collect it from the Tuckshop. Please let your child/ren know to keep an eye out for this.

Back to School Hours 2020

The Uniform Shop will be open for ‘Back to School’ sales in January 2020 before school recommences. Layby orders, pre-paid orders and online orders can also be collected at these times so please save these dates and times in your calendar:

In addition to these days, we are also offering extended hours for the first two days of the term as follows:

Extended Uniform Shop Hours

We then return to the regular open hours from Friday 31 January, 2020.

Seniors Shirts for Year 6

Thank you to those parents who have already arranged their child’s Year 6 Seniors Shirts for 2020. If you are yet to order, please remember that the final date for ordering and paying for these shirts is Monday 03 February, 2020. A copy of the order form is attached here should you still require one.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday.

Kind regards,
Michelle Lee
Tuckshop/Uniform Convenor

P&C News

P&C Monthly Meeting

The next meeting will be held in February 2020. Once this date is known it will advertised via Facebook and pipeline.

Volunteers

A big thank you to all our volunteers who have assisted with events in 2019. We hope to see you at our events in 2020.

School Banking

There is no School Banking this week due to the end of the school year. If your child's bankbook has not come home from banking from Friday 6 December, please check with your child's Teacher. We are awaiting prizes to arrive from Commonwealth Bank and they will be distributed to your child's class when they arrive.

Facebook Page

Remember to join our Facebook page “Worongary State School P and C Association” so you can keep updated with our upcoming events.

Community Notices

As of the start of Term 1 – 2020, the Surfside PM school buses will display a new school number which will be different to the AM and current PM school numbers. We advise all students and parents to check the Surfside School website for updates before Term 1 – 2020

Regards
Justin Russ
School Network Planner

Choose how to add this event to your calendar:

Apple Calendar iPhone, iPad, Mac - Download .ics file

Outlook Desktop Outlook - Download .ics file

Android Calendar Android devices - Download .ics file

Other Calendar Google Calendar, Yahoo, etc. - Download .ics file

Download Event