Term 1 Week 8 Newsletter 15 March 2023

From our Principal

It is hard to believe we are coming to the end of term 1 already. We have a lot on in the final 2 ½ weeks before the Easter break.

NAPLAN starts today for our students in year 3 and 5. It is wonderful to see them just taking it all in their stride as another day and activity. The testing will start with the Writing task on Wednesday 15 March. Year 3 will complete their writing task by hand while the Year 5 crew complete their writing task on the computer. Writing is followed by Reading, Conventions of Language (ie Spelling + Grammar and Punctuation), Reading and Numeracy. If students are absent for any of the tests, they have the opportunity to complete the missed task/s by Friday 24 March. For further information about NAPLAN 2023 please head to www.nap.edu.au/naplan.

On Monday 20 March we have Caroline Blakley here doing observations in all classrooms and doing a school data sweep on our behaviour management. We will use this information to reflect on our practices using our Good, Better, How feedback.

Next week myself and Sammi Jo Hyland will be attending a Dare to Lead workshop in Brisbane to continue to develop our skills and knowledge.

Have an awesome week

Fiona

Week 10

Monday 27 March, we have our first prep transition afternoon as well as having 2 teams competing in the local interschool touch competition.

Tuesday afternoon we will be holding Parent/Teacher interviews as well as our walkthrough for cross country.

Wednesday is Playgroup.

Friday is our interschool cross country and fun run event.

Attendance

Our current attendance is 93.8%. Our school target for attendance is 94%. It is extra important that students are at school every day (unless unwell) so that they can participate in the teaching and learning that happens every day. Attendance also plays a crucial role in friendship and social and emotional development.

 Remember, EVERY DAY COUNTS!

School Mission Statement/Capable Learner

Our school mission statement forms the basis of all decisions made by the school. Our first question in all we do is always “what impact does this have on our students?”

Medication at School

From our Head of Curriculum

Week  8— Homework Policy

Our school has evaluated the effectiveness of some long-established teaching practices and this includes homework.  Using the research of John Hattie, we have examined our homework policy and the impact it has on improving student outcomes.  John Hattie states that homework has an effect size of 0.29, (0.15 in primary schools).

An effect size is a measure of impact.  The higher the number, the greater the impact, with the best teaching practices having effect sizes greater than 0.4. 

John Hattie states in regards to homework, “The key is that this highlights the importance for schools to now evaluate the effectiveness of its primary homework practice… there is an invitation (indeed an imperative) to try an alternative set of practices re. homework – and evaluate their impact on learning, involvement in learning, and increasing the students (and parents) understanding about the language of learning.”

Therefore, based on this research, we have re-evaluated our approach to homework, and following a trial and feedback from our Thangool families, students, teachers and the community our focus is on implementing activities with higher effect sizes.  These activities include across the school: 

Reading

Exposure to reading – 0.43

Re-reading – 0.53

Reading comprehension – 0.54

Phonics 0.57

It is important to note that reading is not classed as homework and given how critical reading is to all aspects of a successful life, every child will still be involved in reading activities every night.

While in the upper years, in preparation for high school, students may be exposed to projects that relate to extra curricula activities that focus on:

Note-taking 0.51

Self-regulated learning 0.59

Outlining and Summarising activities 0.71

Roles and Responsibilities

Teachers can help students establish a routine of regular and independent reading by:

Ensuring this at home reading policy is implemented and setting reading on a regular basis

Clearly communicating the purpose, benefits and expectations of all reading activities

Checking reading progress regularly and providing timely and useful feedback

Providing reading materials appropriate to students’ learning needs

Providing opportunities to develop organisational and time management skills through reading

Giving consideration to other academic and personal development activities (school based and other)

Discussing with parents and caregivers any developing problems concerning their child’s reading progress

Developing and sharing reading goals with students and parents/caregivers.

Parents and caregivers can help their children by:

Reading to them, talking with them and playing games

Supporting students with their reading goals

Helping their children to complete reading tasks as required

Helping their children to manage their time

Contacting the relevant teacher to discuss any concerns

Students can take responsibility for their learning by:

Knowing their reading goal and next steps

Being aware of discussing reading expectations with their parents or caregivers

Accepting responsibility for the completion of tasks within set time frames

Seeking assistance when difficulties arise

Organising their time to manage their reading and participation in extra-curricular activities

Reading Expectations (Time on Task)

Prep – 10 minutes x 4 per week

Year 1/2 – 15 minutes X 4 per week

Year 3/4 – 20 minutes X 4 per week

Year 5/6 – 30 minutes X 4 per week

P&C News

On Monday night we held our AGM. It was wonderful to see so many new faces at our meeting.

I would like to personally thank our outgoing 2022 committee for their dedication and hard work in supporting our school and all students. A special thank you to Leisa Vickers and Amanda Mastroieni for many years fulfilling roles on our P&C.

Congratulations to our 2023 committee:-

President-Amanda Hicks

Vice-Michael Lawson

Secretary-Leonie Wardle

Treasurer-David Hicks/Lisa Jensen

Tuckshop Convenor-Melissa McGovern

Uniform Coordinator-Tania Muirhead

Fundraising Coordinator-Catrina Stevens

Grants-Matilda Fairley

RREAP parent rep :- Debbie Schulter

Sports News

Our Interhouse Cross Country will be held on Friday 31st March 2023 at the Thangool Rec Reserve grounds.  For our new families, the Thangool Recreation Reserve is located diagonally opposite the BP service station in Thangool (behind the tennis courts).   Students will participate in a walk through of the course on Tuesday 29th March during last session.   On Friday, 31st March 2023, students will be walked up from Thangool State School at 9am supervised by Thangool School staff members,  Please ensure that all students are at school by 8.30am.  The Cross Country will commence at 9.00am.  The older students will start the day (3klm and 2klm) events before moving onto the younger years.  Our Prep students will participate in an obstacle course event.  The P&C will be holding a Meal Deal at the conclusion of the Cross Country and before winners are announced. I have attached the maps of each course for you to look at. 

Representative Sport News

Expressions of Interest are due for the following sports;

Rugby Union - 28th March 2023   - Trial Date: 20th April 2023

Tennis (Yellow Ball) - 2nd May 2023 - Trial Date 18th May 2023

Project Club News

Project Club will be holding a Fun Run Fundraiser in conjuction with our Cross Country.   This fundraiser is an annual event for our Project Club and they are using the funds raised to support our Gardening Club and to purchase technology resources for our classrooms.  Every student who raises $10.00 is eligible to receive a prize.  This year the class that raises the most money will get to have a Water Balloon fight at the completion of the Cross Country.  So far our Prep class is in the lead with just over $1000.00, followed by the Year 5 class. Fundraising closes on Friday 31st March 2023 and prizes will be delivered early in Term 2. 

Student of the Week

Congratulations to our Students of the Week and Behaviour Award recipients for Week 6 & 7.

Prep:

Loxley - For settling into routines

Laken - For settling into routines

Indie-For improved confidence and being willing to embrace challenge

Year 1:

Willow - For settling into routines by completing tasks quickly to be ready for learning

Jedd- For showing diligence in all learning areas

Year 2:

Thomas- For embracing challenge and demonstrating persistence and team work in the mud pit

Leo- For embracing challenge and demonstrating persistence and team work in the mud pit

Wyatt- For embracing challenge and demonstrating persistence and team work in the mud pit

Levi - For working diligently i all learning areas. Keep up the amazing work!

Year 3:

Henry- For actively participating in class discussions and being a capable learner.  Well Done!

Willis- For listening to feedback carefully and aiming to improve your work.  Super effort!

Year 4:

Thea- For being a capable learner and a bucket filler

Blayne- Awesome spelling and number fact growth

Year 5:

Alexis- For displaying persistence in all her work this week!

Year 6:

Bailey- For showing persistence to achieve your learning goals

Isabella- For taking on feedback to improve your outcomes

Year 3 Author Visit

Our Year 3 class were visited by two authors who shared some tips with them about writing stories. Please see the flyer below for more information on their visit.  

SEL Happenings

This term students have been continuing to embrace challenge through a variety of activities in our SEL program. Each activity acts as vehicle for learning to practice some of our dispositions such as persistence, resilience and communication.  

It is important to remember that students will be faced with challenges of working in a team and conflict does arise. This provides opportunities to reflect and work through conflict. Dealing with conflict, learning to encourage others and practicing clear communication are all life skills. As the year progresses, students will move through the various stages of group development as they go through the highs and lows of learning to work in a team. Below are some of our Year 5 and 6’s in action. Keep an eye out for our Year 4 students in the next newsletter 😊

Rugby Union Donation

Thank you to the Biloela Rugby Union Club for their generous donation of rugby union gear to our school.  The equipment was funded through St. George Footy Grants to encourage active and increase participation in physical activity.  Biloela Rugby Union Club will be holding its junior program for primary school children beginning next term beginning, Friday 28^th April.  Please see the attached flyer for further details.

Cross Country Meal Deal

Prep Transitions 2024

Date Claimers

Community Flyers