Barkly Highway State School - Term 2 Week 6
Principal's Welcome
REVIEW REPORT
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to each and every one of you for your active participation in our recent school review. Your valuable feedback, insights, and suggestions will be crucial in guiding us towards improving the quality of education that we offer to our students.
The collaborative effort that we have put forth as a community is a testament to our shared commitment to the success of our students. Your dedication to their education is heartening to know that we have such a supportive and engaged community behind us. The review team acknowledged this in their feedback at the exit meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Once again, I would like to thank you for taking the time and effort to participate in this process. Your input has been invaluable, and we look forward to working together in continuing to improve the education that we provide.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance was a “marker” that was discussed during the school review as an appointment key improvement strategy as we move into our future school plan for 2024. It was noted that while our attendance is 5% more when compared to this time last year, our data indicates that we have a downward trend with 30% of our students having an attendance of less than 85%. Too many children have a continuing disruption to their learning every week which we have been challenged to improve. How can you support your children with improving their attendance every day of the school year.
We know how important education is for your child's future. That's why we want to encourage you to make sure your child attends school every day. Attending school regularly helps your child develop important skills, like reading, writing, and math. It also helps them build social skills, make new friends, and learn how to work collaboratively with others.
We understand that sometimes things come up and your child may need to take a day off school. However, it's important to remember that every day counts when it comes to your child's education. We want to make sure your child has every opportunity to succeed in life, and attending primary school regularly is a crucial part of that. So please, make sure your child attends school every day and never misses an opportunity to learn and grow.
Thank you for your cooperation in having your child / children at school every day.
Kind regards,
Fiona Kropp
Deputy's Report
CELEBRATING MATHEMATICS LEARNING in our classrooms
Our staff’s Maths Professional Learning Community this year, is focused on building our capabilities to teach using Open-ended and Inquiry based learning activities to improve the mathematical problem-solving ability of our students.
Highlighted below is some of the Open-ended Inquiry based Mathematics learning that’s been happening in years 5/6 Blue, 5/6 Green, 5/6 Red, 4 Blue, 1 Blue and Prep Blue recently:
Cameron Alley (5/6 Blue’s class teacher – see photos below) has had his students answering open-ended questions about Time, for example, “If a marathon went for 1 hour and 20 minutes. What could be the start and end times?
Yvette Wehlow (1 Blue’s class teacher – see photos below) has had her students answering open-ended questions about Shape, for example, “When I put my hand in my Secret Box, I can feel some things with curved surfaces. What might they be?”
Rachael Kane (5/6 Red’s class teacher – see photos below) has had her students answering open-ended questions about Number patterns, for example, “Choose your starting number and…
· “Subtract 0.03 each time”
· “Add 4 each time”
· “Multiply by 10 each time”
· “Add 0.025 each time”
· “Subtract 1/5 each time”
Amelia Wood (4 Blue’s class teacher – see photos below) has had her students solving problems using their knowledge and understanding of the language of mapping to create pathways to get from one location to another on a simple map.
“Carly has been hiking but needs to get home for her sleepover with Emma.
It is only early in the morning though and Carly wants to see as much of the National Park before she gets home.
Identify the many different paths using scale that she can take to ensure she sees as much of the park as possible.
Ensure to write your answers in the correct measurement!”
Rebecca Samios (Prep Blue’s class teacher – see photos below) has had her students answering open-ended questions about Number, for example, “How many ways can you represent the number 3 and number 10?”
Kasenka McGilchrist (5/6 Green’s class teacher – see photos below) has had her students answering open-ended/inquiry questions about Number, for example, “Can you solve the equation to collect evidence to help Detective McGilchrist find the suspect? 4_+_ _ = 9_ -_ _”
I plan to continue to share more of the effective research-based practices that our teachers use to improve our students’ learning outcomes.
RECOGNISING P&C MEMBERS IN OUR SCHOOL
Friday, 19 May was P&C Day and we took this opportunity to recognise our P&C volunteer superstars who have been active within our P&C for 6 years or more. We presented them with a Certificate of Recognition for their support and hard work at our whole school parade on Monday.
We’d also like to publicly thank all of our school's dedicated P&C members/volunteers for the tireless work they do each year to improve educational facilities, resources and student outcomes in our school. Thank you to all members of our P & C for volunteering to be part of our school P & C, whether you just joined our P & C this year or have been active member for multiple years. Our school celebrates your inspiring efforts!
Not all our hardworking volunteers were present for our parade on Monday 22 May, so we will present Certificates of Recognition to the rest of our P & C members who’ve been active for 6 years or more at our next P & C Meeting on Tuesday 13 June. We’ll be meeting in the school library from 6:00. All parents & citizens of our school are welcome to attend.
STAY FLU FREE in ’23.
Influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial viruses, can result in significant disruption to schools. There are things you can do to help protect yourself and your children:
- Getting vaccinated is the most effective way to prevent children and adults from getting flu, becoming seriously ill with flu or passing it on to others.
- Stay at home when sick – see the Timeout brochure. See attached to end of newsletter.
- Practicing good hand hygiene wash hands regularly with soap and water or use alcohol-based cleanser
- Practicing good respiratory hygiene cough or sneeze into a tissue or your arm, throw tissues away and clean hands
- Clean surfaces regularly
- Ensure good ventilation.
KINDY IS CHEAPER FOR MANY QUEENSLAND FAMILIES IN 2023
We know kindy offers lifelong benefits. From 2023, going to kindy is cheaper, and many families will see savings. For some it could be free.
The new savings mean that families who receive Family Tax Benefit will see a reduction in their fees. Being eligible for Kindy plus means kindy may be free or very low cost for families who need it most. If your child is already enrolled in kindy, it’s not too late to ask about your kindy savings. Check with your kindy and find your kindy savings at www.qld.gov.au/Kindysavings.
5/6 Gold Class News
5/6 Gold have had a fantastic start to Term 2! We have been exploring advertising in English. Students have been sharing figurative language and evaluative adjectives on our class word wall. They have all put in their best efforts when completing their final advertisement on a holiday destination.
Prep Gold Class News
In Prep Gold this term, we have been learning how to retell events from a familiar story. We are also budding as little authors and are using all the letters and sound rules we know to write sentences about the stories we are reading to present to our class. Here are some of our authors displaying their amazing writing and one of our children writing her sentence (WITH amazing pencil grip might I add!). Prep is an exciting year level with so much social, emotional and academic knowledge blooming.
Library News
Bookclub Issue # 4 has been handed out this week, with orders to be returned to school by Friday, 26 May.
National Simultaneous Storytime was celebrated on Wednesday, 24 May with our students reading and enjoying ‘The Speedy Sloth'.
The Premier’s Reading Challenge started a couple of weeks ago and we are seeing many books being recorded, as well as some avid readers already having completed the challenge. Keep up the great work! Please ensure you return the signed consent form, for your student to be able to receive a certificate later in the year.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries you may have.
Kind regards,
Svenja
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
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