Barkly Highway State School - Term 1 Week 10

Principal's Welcome

Visitors to our school in week 9!

We celebrated the end of a short term 1 last Tuesday, when the leadership team shared the school’s planned teaching and learning journey for the year with our visitors Kylie Smith (North Queensland - Regional Director) and Belinda Everett (CLaW Lead Principal).

On the tour of the school and classroom walkthroughs, we stopped and chatted to students in –

· 5/6 Red where Mrs Tamihana-Ratana was leading students through collating categorical and numerical data that the students had collected earlier in the lesson,

· Prep Blue where Miss Brebner and Mrs Lewis had their students practising their oral language and writing based on the story “Grandpa and Thomas”.

· 2 Blue where Mrs Liu modelled writing the conclusion of their writing task before students returned to desks to do independent writing linked to Loosey Goosey.

· 1 Blue with Miss Samios who discussed Maths Club, its organisation, implementation and growth across the year levels.

Congratulations to students Hannah, Olivia, Joe, Aubrey, Amirah, Emily, Makenzie who confidently spoke to our visitors, answered Five Questions for Students (5Q4S) and talked at either the Mathematics or English Learning Wall. All students demonstrated some or all of the assessment literate learner traits by articulating what they are learning, how they are going, how do they know and where they can go for assistance when needed. Each of the learning walls included key artefacts of the current units of work including - learning intentions, selection criteria, marking guides, know, do and consideration tables of the current units of work, student developed key features and skills related to the task and examples of student work. Ask your children about the learning walls in their classrooms!

Many of the Prep students also shared their beginning school experiences – Jaxon, Paige, Catarina, Keith, Charlotte, Delilah, Ryson and Brodie. So very proud of our students!

This term we farewell Sandra Gregory (Head of Special Education Services) who is relocating to the coast. Thank you for supporting this school over the last few months. 

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday and we will see you back to school on Tuesday 19 April.

Kind regards,

Fiona Kropp

Deputy's Report

Years 3 & 5 Practice NAPLAN Tests

We have completed our Year 3 & 5 NAPLAN Practice Tests over the past two weeks. The children learned how to use the test site and experienced the conditions of the test, the format of the test and the types of questions they will be answering.

The demo tests are a fun way for students to try out the complete range of question formats available in NAPLAN online. nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

Parent/carer support

As children progress through their school years, it is very important that checks are made along the way to see how well they are learning the essential skills of reading, writing and mathematics – skills that will set them upon the path to success as adults.

NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment, in term 2, that allows parents and carers to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgement about student progress.

Federal, state and territory education ministers agreed to gradually transition NAPLAN online by 2022. NAPLAN online is a tailored test that adapts to student responses, providing better assessment and more precise results. Read the NAPLAN information brochure for parents and carers (sent home with all year 3 & 5 students earlier this term - PDF 133 kb), also available in Simple English (PDF 1 mb). To see the types of questions and functionalities in the online tests, visit the public demonstration site page.

Preparing for NAPLAN

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy skills that students have already learnt through the school curriculum. Teachers will ensure that students are familiar with the test formats and will provide appropriate support and guidance. Excessive preparation is not useful and can lead to unnecessary anxiety. If you have any questions about your child's preparation for NAPLAN, please make a time to speak with your child's teacher.

NAPLAN tests are constructed to give students an opportunity to demonstrate skills they have learnt over time through the school curriculum, and NAPLAN test days should be treated as just another routine event on the school calendar. The best way you can help your child prepare for NAPLAN is to reassure them that NAPLAN tests are just one part of their school program, and to advise them to simply do the best they can on the day.

ACARA does not recommend the use of commercial products, such as booklets and practice tests, to help your child prepare for NAPLAN tests. None of the commercial products currently on the market were endorsed by ACARA. The use of services by coaching providers is not recommended.

Life Education Van Visit

After the feedback from our community – teachers, students and parents – the school has booked the Life Education Educator to visit the school again in weeks 2 & 3 of Term 2 – 27 April to 4 May. Last year, the school hosted a Life Education Van Visit in Term 2. This year, the cost of this program has been covered by our P & C Committee so every child is able to attend. Our school P & C agree that this is a great program for the school therefore are supporting our students’ participation. Please advise the school if you do not want your child/ren to participate in the Life Education sessions next term by completing an Opt-out form located at the end of the newsletter. Also, please see Life Education flier at end of newsletter with information on how to access the Life Education Queensland resources and information.

ATTENDANCE – at Barkly Highway State School Every Day Counts!

This week the attendance for ALL our students was 89% for the year. Our school target is 93% attendance for all students.

Congratulations to the students with 90%+ attendance for term 1.

To acknowledge the importance of attendance over a term, students have enjoyed an extended playtime from 10:10 – 10:25 on Thursday.

As we are nearing the end of term, our teachers are planning activities to ensure that the learning in the classrooms continues until 2:30pm Friday 1st April, the last day of Term 1. This week, classroom learning will be based on the curriculum knowledge and understanding from this term’s class work that may require consolidation or extension.

We continue to promote the message to our students and families that “every day, every student is learning” and we expect to see every student at school enjoying the learning until Friday 2:30pm. Thank you to everyone for supporting the school in this regard.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS AND ASSESSMENTS FOR SCHOOLS (ICAS)

Every year students in Years 3 - 6 (Writing Year 4 – 6 only) are given the opportunity to nominate for the external testing provided by ICAS in the areas of English, Mathematics, Science, Spelling and Writing.

This year we would like to know if you intend on having your child/ren participate in these assessments. Please complete the ICAS Assessment survey via this link to let us know.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZW9VFQ2

Please Note:

• This survey closes on Friday 8 April
• If the survey indicates that we have less than 5 children participating in an assessment, we won’t be registering for that assessment subject this year.

We will be using ICAS’s fully automated Parent Payment System again this year, where parents can pay for the ICAS assessments that the school has registered for, and that you want your children to participate in, directly to UNSW Global. Their website says parents can pay until the dates listed in the table below for each individual test. More information about the Parent Payment System will be provided after we receive the data from the above survey. We will register the school to participate in the tests where parents have indicated there would be 5 or more students participating. Once this has been confirmed, a letter will be sent home to all year 3-6 students with more detailed information in Term 2. In previous years, our school offers these 5 assessments:

Please enjoy a safe end of term 1 holiday.

Looking forward to seeing all our students return after the holidays refreshed and ready for learning.

Cheryl Gallagher

Barkly Highway State School is a Safe and Respectful Workplace

School Culture

Creating a positive school culture

At Barkly Highway State School we pride ourselves on our positive school culture and with your help we can make it ever stronger. You can do your part by speaking positively about the school and its staff. If there is an issue that needs addressing ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns and understand that there may be times when compromises are necessary.

No one benefits from negative comments or gossip about other school community members – including students – whether it’s in person, in writing or on social media.

Recognise that staff are responsible for supporting the whole school community and every student is important. Remember we are working together for your child. Your child, our student. One team.

Year 3 & 4 Class Reorganisation

Next term we will start with an additional class for our year 3 and 4 students. Our 2021 & 2022 teachers and leadership team have carefully considered class allocation for year 3 and 4 students from Term 1 2022, reviewing academic, social needs and also personal interests. Thank you to our students and families for assisting with a smooth transition which will commence from day 1 term 2.

1 Gold Class News

This term, 1 Gold have been learning about Teen Numbers in Maths and how to represent them using MAB blocks, tens frames, words and pictures. We have loved making our ‘Terrifying Teen’ posters which we have displayed around our classroom. 

SES Free Dress Fundraiser

Last Friday, the Student Council held their first fundraiser. Each year the Student Council hold 4 fundraising events, 2 for the community and 2 for the student body. 

The Student Council took a vote and decided to choose a community organisation to kickstart 2022. They chose to support The State Emergency Services and asked Miss Jones (our very own SES volunteer) how we could best support Mount Isa’s wonderful SES team – Water. 

Any child who came in free dress donated a bottle of water. Our Semester 1 Student Council group met with two SES members at first break to hand over our donations.  

Well Done Barkly Highway, you donated 465 bottles of water, a total of 358 litres.  

Library News

Term 1 has been busy in the library and with the end of Term near we ask for all student borrowing to be returned. We do have a number of outstanding books from students. Please encourage your student to return their book on a weekly basis.

We understand accidents can happen and books may get lost. Should a book be damaged, please still return it to the library, so we can either fix it or remove it from the system. Should you be unable to locate a misplaced/lost book, we respectfully ask you to help us financially recover that item by paying the cost at the office.

As always please don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries or questions you may have.

We wish all our Barkly families a restful and safe holidays.

Kind Regards,

Svenja Spitzner-Lewis

P&C Association

End of term 1 already!

Congratulations on everyone making it through this term, and hopefully we see a lot of you at the disco tonight!

Want to say a big thank you to all those who have helped this term, the tuckshop ladies for doing a fantastic job, Nicole in the uniform shop continuing to deliver orders in her own time, the P&C meetings being well attended with new & old faces.

Congratulations too to Mischa, Cameron, Candice & Leah for being nominated and accepting the positions of President, Vice-President, Treasurer & Secretary for another year. It's great to see a full executive for a P&C again, and hopefully we have another great year.

We look forward to next term, with some more exciting P&C activities planned with Mother's Day, Disco, Stalls at our Sports Days, and possibly some other fundraising opportunities in town. The P&C have supported the school already this year with the purchase of a new freezer in the tuckshop, funding the Life Education to come to the school for every child, and purchase of new books for the library.

We will continue to find ways of improving the school for our kids. If you have any other ideas you would like to put forward, please email pandc@barklyhighwayss.eq.edu.au or come along to our next meeting on Tuesday, May 10.

We hope to have more exciting announcements next term, keep up-to-date on the schools Facebook page, and enjoy your holidays.

Regional Director Feedback

“In one particular classroom, I observed Prep students practising their re-tell and making personal connections using a picture board containing engaging pictures from their familiar home environments. Nicole, the Barkly Highway Prep teacher articulated that the innovative pedagogical approach came from collaborative discussions among her colleagues at routine curriculum check-ins. The students were not only feeling safe and learning, but they were having FUN!”

3/4 Green

Thank you Miss Wedrat for organising our classroom airconditioners to be re-gassed.

Thank you also to Mr Kel for ordering and attaching our schoolbag hooks.  We are love, love, loving our classroom!

Events & Flyers

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