Term 4 Week 2 Newsletter 12 October 2022
From the Principal
It was wonderful to see the students return to school happy to see their friends and ready to learn. We look forward to a busy term with plenty of educational experiences.
Currently our year 5 & 6 students are at Boyne Island for their camp. Keep on eye on our Facebook page to keep up to date with their adventures.
This week I’m away at the State Principal’s conference in Brisbane followed by a couple of days at camp.
Have a great week! Fiona
Attendance
At Thangool we are passionate about building lifelong learners who have the best chance of success. In order to do this good student attendance is essential.
Why does school attendance matter?
Regular school attendance gives students a better chance at life. Students achieve better when they go to school all day, every school day because:
- They have increased access to learning opportunities
- They maintain friendships
- They stay connected to the curriculum progression
- They develop self-efficacy as a learner
- They have better long-term life outcomes.
Our attendance rate to date is 89.7% well below our target of 94%. Children should be at school every day if they are well. If your child is having difficulty attending, please discuss their needs with your child’s teacher. I am also always happy to assist, so please let us know if you need support.
Planning for 2023
In term 4, we will be busy planning resources and staffing for the 2023 school year. We would appreciate you keep in contact with the administration team about your child’s enrolment (if changing) for 2023.
If you know anyone who is wishing to enrol or thinking about enrolling and would like a tour please encourage them to contact our school as soon as possible.
This information ensures our planning and resourcing of staff is as accurate as possible for 2023.
To support our students with our transition program within our school, we are in a position to release our classroom teachers for 2023 (subject to change as dependant on day 8 numbers):-
Prep- Mrs Ellen Brewer
Year 1- Miss Sally Mableson
Year 2- Mrs Sharrie Van Itallie
Year 3- Mrs Amanda Bowkett
Year 4- Mrs Leanne Lawson
Year 5- Miss Jessica Dean
Year 6- Miss Charmaine Symes
Our staffing provides a wealth of experience and stability for our students and families.
Road Safety
In a world-first road safety initiative, new speed camera technology will soon target speeding drivers at selected school zones across Queensland. Everyone has a role in keeping our roads safe. It is imperative drivers reduce their speed to the signed 40 km/h speed limit and be aware of activity by students on or near the road. Speed cameras will only operate during school zone times at the selected schools. Parents, and carers dropping off or picking up students are urged to comply with school zone speed limits. Those who slowdown will not be penalised.
Volunteers in our School
We love having Parent Volunteers at our school, however it is important to remember to follow our sign in process at all times. This is a requirement by Education Queensland and all classroom volunteers, tuckshop volunteers, P&C volunteers and visitors need to sign in via our electronic system in the office. It is important that volunteers/visitors wear their sticker at all times so that our staff know that you have followed the correct processes. In the event of an emergency or evacuation, it lets our staff know who is on site and provisions are made to ensure the safety of our volunteers/visitors too. All parents/visitors should sign in via the office except during drop off and pick up times.
Student of the Week
Welcome Back everyone!
Our students of the week for Week 1 as as follows;
Prep:
Benji: For working diligently and embracing new challenges
Year 1:
Emelia: For communicating clearly and solving problems.
Year 2:
Sunny: For his excellent writing about embracing challenge.
Year 3:
Millie: Outstanding participation during all class discussions
Year 4:
Benjamin A: For being a capable learner
Xander: For applying himself to be a capable learner
Congratulations to everyone this week!
PROSPER - Social and Wellbeing Program
From our HOC - Head of Curriculum
Reading Comprehension
Effective readers understand the purpose of their reading and adjust their reading behaviours (skimming, scanning or reading closely for detail) according to that purpose. They learn that texts look different according to their identified purpose, context and audience. Readers’ understanding of the features of different text types helps them make meaning. Proficient readers monitor their understanding as they read, integrating new information with existing knowledge and experience. They focus on relevant parts of the text to distinguish important content from minor detail. They make and monitor predictions and evaluate content as they read. For this to happen, they learn to adjust their reading strategies, pace and vocabulary knowledge, as well as their strategies for decoding and chunking to read the unfamiliar. The explicit teaching of comprehension strategies include:
- Predicting and activating prior knowledge
- Questioning
- Visualising
- Monitoring and clarifying
- Making connections
- Inferring
- Determining importance
- Summarising and synthesising
From our Guido
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to Term 4! I hope you all had an enjoyable break and were able to rest and re-charge, and are ready to participate fully in what the final term of the school year has to offer. Queensland Mental Health Week (QMHW) runs from 8th – 16th October this year. It is designed to raise awareness of individual and community mental health and well-being.
QMHW is a time when we can think about and reflect upon our own mental health and well-being. We don’t necessarily have to have a lived experience of mental illness to be impacted by mental illness. The most important thing we can do for our own mental health and that of others, as well as our community as a whole, is to recognise when there is a concern and to encourage help-seeking behaviours, when it is necessary to do so.
This week also provides us the opportunity to understand the importance of mental health in our everyday lives. It affects all aspects: how we think, feel and behave. It also determines how we manage stress, relate to others and make choices. So, it is quite important!
The following organisations may be of help (as well as those appearing at the bottom of this message):
- Banana Mental Health Team (Biloela Hospital): 4992 7000 / 4992 7045
- If it is an emergency, dial ‘000’.
The following sites may also be useful:
https://www.mentalhealthbiloela.com has links to the various services supporting Biloela;
https://mentalwellbeing.initiatives.qld.gov.au has useful information regarding looking after our own, and others’, mental health.
I am at Thangool State School every second Friday (odd weeks of the term). I can be contacted by calling the school on 4990 0333, if there is anything you would like to talk about regarding how to support your child.
Remember to not only keep an eye on each other, but to look after yourselves as well – ‘me-time’ is valuable in getting our perspectives in order, recharging our batteries and being able to support our family and friends when they are having challenges. As they say on the airlines, “Fit your own oxygen mask first, before assisting others.”
David Reeves
(Guidance Officer)
Beyond Blue Kids Helpline Lifeline Australia
www.beyondblue.org.au www.kidshelpline.com.au 13 11 14
1300 22 4636 1800 55 1800
Project Club News
Our Project Club will be holding a Colour Explosion Scavenger Hunt Fun Run on Friday 11th November 2022. This will be a family afternoon and parents are welcome to come and join in the fun. Our Project Club will be using this fundraiser to purchase more Lego Robots (to replace ageing robots) and BeeBots for our school. Parents should have received an email yesterday with the details and students will bring home a copy of the fundraising booklet over the coming days. A link to the electronic copy of the booklet appears below. We thank you for your continued support of our Project Club.
Project Club will also be holding a series of Meal Deals (Week 3, 5 and Week 7). Our first meal deal will be held next week. As always, orders via the QKr App are preferred.
P&C News
Please see below flyers from our P&C.
Community Flyers
