Barkly Highway State School - Term 1 Week 8
Principal's Welcome
Visitors to our school!
North Queensland A/Regional Director, Kylie Smith, and Mount Isa Centre for Learning and Wellbeing Lead Principal, Belinda Everett, will be visiting our school next week (week 9) on Tuesday, 22 March.
Kylie has expressed an interest in visiting to see and hear firsthand the work happening in our school encapsulating the Project 1000 actions which are being led by K-2 Deputy Principal, Rebecca Cremona. The visit will start with a school tour including classroom walks as well as speaking with teachers and students in areas of interest which are important to showcase the school.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION – ACADEMIC REPORTING
Every opportunity to communicate with our school community builds the school-parent partnership to improve student learning at school. Research shows that parent engagement in school communities can improve a student’s self-esteem, school attendance, behaviour and student achievement. Parent engagement is an important part of the National School Improvement Tool and the School Improvement Hierarchy.
During week 10, all families are encouraged to nominate a time to meet during scheduled Parent-Teacher-Student discussions to engage in a formal opportunity enabling effective communication about a student’s learning to his or her parents / caregiver.
During week 1 of term 3, written Semester 1 academic reports will be released. These reports provide valued information communicating information to parents about student achievement and progress for each learning area undertaken. Families are given the opportunity at this time, if required, to ensure the information is clear and transparent, so they understand: the learning expectations for the student; the student’s achievement against expected standards; how well the student is engaging with the expected learning; and how the student may be able to improve.
Look out for your Parent-Teacher-Student meeting invitation letter for Term 1 which was sent home this week by classroom teachers. Every student will need to return the notification of meeting note identifying preferred timeslots to their teacher.
Parents who are interested in speaking with teachers who are responsible for the following years’ curriculum areas as listed below, can email the teacher and request a timeslot to do this by Friday 25 March for Tuesday 29 March 2:45 – 3:45.
Kind regards,
Fiona Kropp
Deputy's Report
YEARS 3 & 5 PRACTICE NAPLAN TESTS Term 1 Weeks 9 & 10 – Thursday 24/03/22, Tuesday 29/03/22, Wednesday 30/03/22
School Year 3 & 5 Timetable for our Practice NAPLAN Tests this term:
ICT skills – part of the school curriculum for NAPLAN Online
Students do not need to be computer experts to take the NAPLAN test online. Making sure students have computer skills is part of the school curriculum, and teachers will ensure students are familiar with the online test format and the device they will use.
The writing test is not about handwriting skills and NAPLAN online is not about keyboarding skills.
Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper.
To see the types of questions and interactive features of NAPLAN online, try the NAPLAN online public demonstration site, available on the NAP website.
NAPLAN is a Tailored Test
Key features of a tailored test
Your child will be doing NAPLAN online this year. One of the main features of NAPLAN online is that it is a tailored (or adaptive) test.
This means that students receive questions better suited to their abilities, so they can demonstrate what they know and can do.
Tailored tests provide more precise results. Trials of the tailored test design show students are more engaged with tests that adapt to their test performance.
Students should not be concerned if they think that the questions are more difficult than expected or they have previously experienced – this may simply mean that they are taking a more challenging but more appropriate pathway. Harder questions receive a greater weighting so there is no disadvantage in scoring.
This tailored testing approach means that a wider range of student abilities can be tested (compared with the paper approach, where all students answer exactly the same questions).
This video explains how tailored testing works. Further information about tailored testing is on the NAP website..
- Support for parents and carers on the NAP website:
nap.edu.au/naplan/parent-carer-support
BARKLY HIGHWAY STATE SCHOOL IS A SAFE AND RESPECTFUL WORKPLACE:
Collaboration
Two heads are better than one
It’s often said that two heads are better than one, and at Barkly Highway State School we couldn’t agree more. We are a safe and respectful school community and are keen to collaborate with parents to give our students the best possible education.
To do this we need your help. These simple things will go a long way to helping your child succeed:
- make sure your child comes to school every day ready to learn
- ensure they arrive and leave school safely on time and
- read and encourage your child to understand and follow the Student Code of Conduct.
Remember we are working together for your child. Your child, our student. One team.
SAFETY FIRST – STAFF CARPARKS
We ask that you, our parents/caregivers, take the extra few minutes to park or drop off/pick up students in the appropriate areas around the school as this will improve the safety of our students. Please do not enter our staff carparks to drop off or pick up our students and support us with keeping our students safe by using the Stop Drop N Go Area and pedestrian gates for example, on Buka and Bougainville Streets to enter and exit the school.
LIFE ED VAN VISIT TERM 2 WEEKS 2 & 3
LIFE EDUCATION EDUCATOR VISIT
After the feedback from our community – teachers, students and parents – the school has booked Life Education to visit the school again. This year the school is hosting a Life Education Educator Visit in weeks 2 & 3 of next term from Wednesday 27 Apr- Wednesday 4 May. There is free access to the Life Education Hub. Registering to the Hub will provide you access to vital health and wellbeing resources, which compliment the Life Ed Educator visit – including interactive lessons, post visit resources including activities and podcasts. To register simply click here.
Link to life ed hub
https://lifeeducationqld.org.au/life-education-hub/
Link to register at the life ed hub
https://lifeeducationqld.powerhousehub.net/
Library News
Book Fair Update
Unfortunately, our Book Fair which was scheduled for this week, had to be cancelled due to matters out of our control. We apologise for the disappointment this has caused.
On a positive note, Book Club Issue #1 and Issue #2 orders have arrived and have been handed out.
As always, please feel free to contact us with any queries you may have.
3/4 Green
Understanding Our ‘Emotional Thermometers’ and using the ‘Catastrophe Scale’
3 / 4 Green have been learning what our ‘Emotional Thermometers’ are. To a large extent, we are in control of how upset we become and how we react in an unfavourable situation.
Hand in hand with our ‘Emotional Thermometers’ is using the ‘Catastrophe Scale’. This scale allows us to think about our thinking, so we don’t overreact (feelings lead to behaviour). A minor problem is a ‘Glitch’, or, a ‘1’, whereas a ‘Catastrophe’ is a ‘5’.
We aim to boost student’s emotional intelligence so they:
- Can have an appropriate and measured response to situations that may arise,
- Develop their metacognition (thinking about thinking), and,
- Develop their resilience.
These theories also beautifully tie in with our ‘Barkly B Values’: Being resilient, being responsible, being respectful and being a learner.
When 3 / 4 Green first started thinking about our thinking and how we felt about scenarios, we thought (and behaved) as if they were big problems, sometimes even catastrophes. As we’ve developed, we’ve become more emotionally intelligent.
The fictitious scenarios displayed in our photos:
Glitch | I lost my pencil. |
Small Problem | My very close friend and I had ‘words’. |
Medium Problem | We moved towns and I had to: - leave my Grandma, - leave my friends, and, - start at a new school. |
Big Problem | My house flooded. |
Catastrophe | A bushfire wiped out many towns including: - homes, - schools, - workplaces, - buildings, - parks, and, - bush animals. |
Science in 5/6 Blue
5/6 Blue have been learning about natural disasters. After students researched information about their chosen disaster, they were allowed to select how they present their information. Some students made a model, PowerPoint presentation, poster and videos. Miss Connolly was very impressed to see so much creativity and it was amazing to see all the students engage with this task!
P&C Association
AGM Meeting
Don't forget to put in your diary, to come along and be a part of the Barkly Highway SS P&C AGM Tuesday, 22 March 6:00 - 6:30 in the Resource Centre. Everyone's welcome, & although all executive positions will become vacant, we would love to have parents supporting the executive by voting, not necessarily nominating.
Tuckshop
The Tuckshop is open and new menu items are available!
To assist with the COVID-safe operation of our tuckshop, only online orders will be available via flexischools.com.au or the Flexischools App. Order cut-off is 9am each day. Students may purchase pre-packed snacks and drinks at first break using cash.
New to Flexischools? Click the following link for more information https://www.flexischools.com.au/parents
Thank you for your support
Events
Want to know what's happening within the school? Check out our School Calendar to keep up to date.
https://barklyhighwayss.schoolzineplus.com/calendar/1
Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barklyhighwaystateschool
