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- Across the Principal's Desk
- National Reconciliation Week 2025
- Enrol Now for Prep 2026
- School enrolments @ Windsor
- Facilities Action
- Drop off and Pick up time
- From the Deputy Principals
- School Disco- Thursday 29 May: PYJAMA Theme
- Year 3-6 Track and Field Carnival
- Year 3-5 Camping Program- Expressions of Interest
- Teaching and Learning
- Windsor Week 5 and 6 Award Winners and Choir Performance on Parade
- 2025- Positive Student Recognition
- Library News
- The Sustainable Garden
- ICAS Assessments 2025
- Australian Mathematics Competition- Years 3, 4 & 5
- P AND C Events
- Uniform Shop
- YMCA Windsor OSHC
- QParents
- Consent to Administer Medication Forms
- “Return-It Recycling Program”
- Kedron State High School Expo
- Community Noticeboard - Copy
- P&C - Crown Hotel Partnership
Dear Windsor Community,
Under 8’s Week reminded us all to celebrate play! Prep, year one and year two students enjoyed a morning creating, imagining, problem solving and moving. Developing our children’s curiosity and pro-social behaviours, alongside the strong foundations of literacy and numeracy remain our priority in the early years at Windsor. Thank you to the many parents, grandparents and kindy kids, who came along to share in the morning. As Bandit would say, a person never has the chance to be young again..
Last year we swapped our eating and playing routines during lunch breaks to ensure that all children were encouraged to play. As we now reflect on this change, staff can easily see the positive impact on children. The priority was socialisation and movement followed by eating consciously, calmly (and fully.) We have noted a reduction in playground challenges, more food eaten and a much calmer return to the classroom, with a readiness to learn. Along with less food being thrown in the bin by those students who were previously in a hurry to play, students are also learning to manage their own bodies by eating earlier if they are hungry. Thank you to students and staff for embracing this change and tweaking timings where necessary for individual students. Mid- morning fruit break or ‘crunch’ remains a priority across the school, particularly for those students who are up early for breakfast.
We have hit the half way mark of term two, and how better to celebrate than with a disco tonight! Agan, these after school hours events are opportunities for our children to connect through fun.
Speaking of fun, I want to again recognise Kara and Rhona, two fabulous Windsor mums, who put together a very special event at the Palais, Cloudland for over 170 mums. This annual Mother's Day event just keeps growing and is a great way for our commuity of families to stay connected.
Yours in Education
Shona
Reconciliation Week occurs between the 27th May and the 3rd June each year. The National Reconciliation Week theme for 2025 is ‘Bridging Now to Next’. The theme artwork created by Kalkadoon woman Bree Buttenshaw, shows native plants, which are known for regenerating after fire and thriving through adversity and symbolise collective strength and the possibilities of renewal. Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about First Nation cultures, shared histories and achievements. During the week, our Junior Choir will perform a special song at parade. Within the classrooms, teachers will have age-appropriate discussions about First Nation histories, cultures and achievements. Windsor is a community that works to embed Indigenous perspectives within our everyday teaching and learning and recognises Reconciliation Week as an important week in the school calendar.
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Do you or someone you know have a child ready to start Prep in 2026? Enrolments are open and transition opportunities commence this term so please submit the required paperwork as soon as possible to be on our mailing list for upcoming Prep 2026 events.
https://windsorss.eq.edu.au/enrolments/enrolling-at-our-school
Our junior playground work continues. Student are enjoying the speed at which changes are occurring with the expansion of the fort or house structure taking shape this week. The new drain also promoted some healthy discussions from some year one boys around the importance of the 'underground' work !
The external painting of A Block (Year 2, 3, 4 and administration) has commenced and everyone can now decode the words WET PAINT. The painters are moving quickly and I thank students and families for their understanding as we move around A Block a little differently.
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Windsor Way – First Nations Artwork and Cultural Workshops
Many of those who are part of the Windsor SS community, students, parents, staff, all talk about what a special place and special community we are. We represent The Windsor Way through posters in our classroom and key messaging around the school, but this year we are seeking to go beyond that with the creation of a digital artwork that represents us, and our connections, at Windsor SS. One of our very talented Windsor SS parents, Amani Jhalisa Rodgers, is an Aboriginal Artist who has been working alongside our students this term in the beginning stages of this artwork development. At the start of this term, all students across Prep – Year 6 brainstormed words and feelings about Windsor SS to share with Amani. In Week 4, Amani then met with our upper school First Nations students, discussing these shared ideas from all students and sharing examples of symbols and techniques that can be used in Aboriginal artworks. Together, these students then collaborated on a shared canvas to experiment with painting symbols and express ideas that may be used in the school artwork. The following week, Amani met with our lower school students who also experimented with symbols, pictures and colours to share their ideas in collaborative canvas artworks. We are very much looking forward to seeing the completed artwork and how the students’ ideas have helped shape it. The digital artwork will be able to be used in a variety of ways and across different platforms across our school. We look forward to it becoming a key part of our Windsor SS imagery. For those interested in exploring Amani’s work, you can find her on Instagram @amani_jahlisa_art and as Amani Jahlisa Art across Facebook and TikTok.
Beyond her role as artist, Amani has also generously volunteered her time as a Windsor SS parent to create further opportunities for our First Nations students to connect together with a cultural focus. Fortnightly, Amani will meet with our junior and senior First Nations students, creating opportunity to yarn, create and connect. An invaluable opportunity for our students. If you would also like to be involved in these sessions, whether that be a one off or ongoing, please reach out to Roxie O’Donoghue at rodon60@eq.edu.au.
Term 2 Pastoral Care Focus- “Relationships” with a lens on ‘Getting Along and Organisation’
During Term 2, each Thursday afternoon, our teachers will be conducting Pastoral Care lessons with students that focus on ‘Relationships’. Particularly, we will be looking at the social-emotional keys to success of ‘Getting Along’ and ‘Organisation’.
Parents and carers can support this focus at home by taking opportunities to discuss and teach students about the importance of:
- Following rules
- Thinking first
- Accepting everyone
- Social Responsibility
- Time management
- Setting Goals
The Effects of ‘Over-Parenting’ on Children- Building Resilience
Life at times is filled with stress, risks and adversity, which has the potential to sidetrack kids from developing into happy, healthy adults. What appears to determine the difference between those who continue on successfully and those who do not, is resilience. Our parenting style, and an ‘authoritative’ style in particular, contributes significantly to supporting a healthy family relationship and to building resilience in our kids, empowering them to cope with stress, trauma and general life pressures. To learn more about hints and tips for raising resilient children, please click here.
Junior School Disco 5:00pm-6:00pm
Senior School Disco 6:15-7:15pm
Parents & Carers who would like to stay on site during the disco are welcome to bring a picnic rug and relax on ANZAC Terrace during their child's disco. If there are any budding acoustic guitarists out there, it could be a nice opportunity to 'serenade' the community perhaps ;)
We do, however, really encourage student independence inside the hall, so even though we have a large proportion of parents inside during the first disco of the year for our junior school disco, in line with our school "Keys to Success", please encourage Confidence and Resilience in your student by enabling them to attend inside on their own if they are ready for this developmentally.
The cost for the Disco will be the usual $5.00 per child or $10 for a family of 2 or more. Tickets will be available for purchase in the Junior School Precinct on Wednesday and Thursday mornings in Week 6 via cash or card.
There will be raffle prizes at the disco for students that have pre-purchased tickets.
Tickets are also able to be purchased at the door on the evening, via cash or card, but please be mindful that long lines often form on the evening. Please have the correct amount of cash or your card ready for your child's ticket purchase.
On the evening of the disco, we also ask that you send your children with small denominations of coins or notes so they can purchase food easily. Large notes are not ideal- please consider this.
Food available to be purchased at the disco will be:
|
Pizza slice |
$3.00 |
|
Popcorn |
$1.00 |
|
Chips |
$1.00 |
|
Killer Pythons |
$1.00 |
|
Mixed lolly bag |
$1.00 |
|
Tiny Teddies |
$1.00 |
|
Bottled water |
$2.00 |
|
Sugar free soft drink/ Juice Poppers |
$2.00 |
The theme chosen by our student council is "Pyjamas"
At the end of each disco, students will be seated in class groups and before parents and carers will then be invited inside, to collect their student/s. Students will not be permitted to leave without a parent or carer there to collect them.
We are looking forward to hosting an event that will put a smile on student's faces, and of course raise some funds to support our next round of student council projects.
Please Access Hyperlink to Register Your Child’s Planned Attendance
At Windsor SS, we take great pride in offering a sequential camping program for our Year 3-6 students.
Our Year 6 students are heading to Canberra this year, on a 4-night, 5-day Senior Trip.
Students in Year 3 will undertake an overnight camp, with Year 4 and Year 5 students undertaking 2-night and 3-night camps respectively, as they build towards their senior trip experience.
As a parent or caregiver of one or more students in Years 3-5 in 2025, we are seeking an 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) from you for each of your students for whom you intend on providing permission for to attend one of our school camps in either Term 3 of Term 4 of 2025.
EOIs enable us to calculate the final number of attendees per camp, plan for support staffing, plan for activities and resourcing.
It is essential that we get your expression of interest, to notify us of your intent for your child to come on camp so that appropriate planning can be put in place.
Having the ability to forward plan for the camp, enables us to then accurately calculate the final costs, before invoicing parents/ caregivers (which will take place in early Term 3). The costs indicated in these EOIs are therefore only 'educated estimates' and may vary from the final invoiced amounts (pending variables such as the amount of students responding to the EOI etc.).
If you are yet to do so, please note that to find out more about the 2025 Year 3-5 Camps, and to submit an 'EOI' for each student that you wish to attend, please select the relevant link below:
Please ensure that you complete an EOI for each student for whom you wish to go on a given camp relevant to their year level by no later than Monday 2nd June 2025.
Lisa Heard (Head of Curriculum)
Supporting your early reader at home
When students are learning to read, it is very important that they are able to engage in lots of practice. Ideally, students are practising their decoding and fluency skills on texts containing the code that they have learnt, but sometimes they can still get stuck or need some assistance. The practice students get at home greatly assists their learning in class and builds on the repetition needed for them to be successful. Below are some tips that you might find helpful to get the most out of reading with your child. These have been created by a reading specialist, Christopher Such, and you can read the full article with more detailed explanations here.
- Support your child to decode throughout any words they get stuck on by paying attention to all the letters and the sounds that are represented. [i] Specifically, we want students to apply their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme (letter-sound) correspondences (GPCs). Model this decoding whenever pupils get stuck on a word, and then ask the pupil to repeat what you did (e.g. ‘ch-a-m-p’ –> ‘champ’).
- Keep an eye out if your child takes a guess at the whole word after decoding the first sound or two that is represented within it. This ‘partial-decode-then-guess’ strategy can appear successful for some pupils, but it is counter-productive over the long term, often drastically so. Again, a key aim is to support pupils to use decoding through the entire word as their go-to strategy for recognising any unfamiliar word.
- Where your child struggles to decode polysyllabic words (i.e. words with more than one syllable), model breaking the words into syllables and decoding these piece by piece (e.g. ‘unhelpful’: ‘u-n’ –> ‘un’; ‘h-e-l-p’ –> ‘help’; ‘f-u-l’ –> ‘ful’; ‘un-help-ful’).
- Novice readers often struggle most with blending. If this is a particular difficulty for your child, this is often because of the load placed on working memory: by the time they to the end of the word, they have forgotten the first sound they recognised. Scaffolds can help. Consider progressively blending challenging words by elongating sounds that allow this (e.g. mmmmiiiillllk –> milk).[iv] It can also be helpful to incrementally reveal graphemes, blending each time (e.g. chomp: ch –> cho –> chom –> chomp).
- Where students are capable of decoding individual words without too much help but are still particularly dysfluent (i.e. their reading is stilted or much more stop-start than their peers), give them occasional opportunities to reread sentences, aiming for a little more flow the second or third time around.
- Where your child struggles to the point that motivation or attention becoming a factor, consider taking turns with him/her. This might be on a sentence-by-sentence or page-by-page basis. You should try to read at a pace that is fluent but steady. You should also point at the words as you read them, modelling how to decode particularly challenging words.
- If your child’s reading is relatively dysfluent and/or decoding is still laborious, do not expect them to make much sense of a text independently as they read. Support meaning-making by briefly discussing and summarising what the text has said. If you want a relatively dysfluent reader to independently make sense of a chunk of text, they will probably need to re-read it to the point where it *does* begin to flow.
This week, we take a peek into the learning of students Year 5.
Year 5 Excursion to St Helena Island
Our Year 5 students recently embarked on a fascinating excursion to St Helena Island, Queensland's first penal settlement outside of Brisbane. The day began with a bus ride to Manly, followed by a scenic boat trip across Moreton Bay to the island.
Once on St Helena, students stepped back in time to the 19th century, exploring the remains of the high security prison that operated from 1867 to 1932. They learned about the harsh conditions endured by prisoners, the island's self sufficient community, including farms, workshops, and a sugar mill, and the role St Helena played in shaping Queensland’s colonial history.
Students had the opportunity to examine both primary and secondary sources, deepening their understanding of Australia’s past through firsthand accounts and historical artifacts.
Our return trip was filled with natural wonders as we spotted stingrays, schools of fish, and even a few turtles gliding through the clear waters of Moreton Bay. It was a wonderful day of rich learning and historical discovery.
Choir Peformance
Class of the Week 2D
You Can Do It Awards
Class of the Week 5B
You Can Do It Awards
The Windsor Way & the revised Student Code of Conduct
The 2025-2028 Student Code of Conduct is available on our school website, here.
We would love to share some images of families celebrating students bringing home a card during the year by making a photo collage of celebrations, however they may look in your household. If you would ever like to share an image of either one-card coming home, or a completed set, we would love to see them shared via the below email address!
5_Keys_Collector_Card_Celebrations@windsorss.eq.edu.au
National Simultaneous Story-time (NSS)
On Wednesday May 21, Windsor SS participated in National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS). This year’s story was The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel. It had a lovely message of belonging, home, migration and starting over. It was lovely to see so many students enjoy the beautiful weather to listen to the story being read by Ms Arneil, Mrs O’Donoghue and Mrs Mattsson at various locations throughout the school. It has been a popular title amongst students, with three copies borrowed out already!
Thank you to the parents and students who sent in photos of their cats for our display. Come and check out the display and enjoy reading aloud with your child. The Library is open each morning from 8:30am.
Premier’s Reading Challenge
The Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2025 helps to encourage students to develop a love of reading.
Children and students can participate in the challenge by recording each book they read from May until August 22.
The form can be downloaded and then printed from the following link:
https://readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au/register/Documents/school-reader-record-form.pdf
Students who complete the challenge have their efforts recognised with a Certificate of Achievement which will be distributed in October. We are bringing some house spirit to the challenge this year, more details will follow in the next newsletter
Reader’s Cup
The countdown is on for our Year 6 teams to head off to Reader’s Cup in a couple of weeks. They have been busy reading the stories allocated for Reader’s Cup 2025. Their team names are being decided this week and they are waiting in anticipation for their big day in June.
Overdue Books
Please have a look around your house for any overdue library books. We LOVE it when they come back home to the Library! Currently, there are over one hundred overdue books. Let’s see if we can reduce that number in the next few weeks.
Did you know? ...
Succulents are a great way to start engaging in gardening and sustainability. The Garden Club had left over leaves and parts of succulents as remnants from the Mothers’ Day stall planting. Students popped them on soil plates where they will be kept damp. The leaves and parts will then shoot new baby succulents.
Did you know? ...
Weeding is a constant action the garden requires. Students are careful in identifying the plants which are wanted and those that are not. Once the weeds are collected, they go in the weed bin where all light is blocked off. The collected weeds will sit for months breaking down, destroying all viable seeds or roots. When they have broken down, the weeds can then be added to our Windsor Compost without concern of new weed shoots.
Have a Great 5Rs Week!
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Optional Extension and Enrichment Opportunity (Years 2-6)
In 2025 we are offering the following optional opportunities for students in Years 2-6 to engage in the extension and enrichment opportunity that the ICAS Assessments afford:
- English: 7:45am Friday 15 August
- Science: 7:45am Friday 22 August
- Mathematics: 7:45am Wednesday 27 August
Each optional ICAS assessment incurs a $20.95 charge, which is payable directly to ICAS.
To find out more about the ICAS Assessments, including how to register a child for these optional extension and enrichment opportunities, please click here, or visit/share the URL below:
Our Year 3, Year 4 & Year 5 students who are seeking extension and enrichment are able to register to compete in the 2025 Australian Maths Trusts', Australian Maths Competition.
Our Year 6 students will be in Canberra on their Senior Trip this year during the competition window, and therefore unable to participate.
To find out more/ the link that parents are able to register via is available here.
Teachers may feel free to share with their classes.
The P&C has an exciting events calendar for 2025! Save these dates in your calendar
Windsor Mum's Celebrate.
A huge thank you to our convenors, Rhona Stewart and Kara Hunt, for their dedication and hard work in creating such a fantastic social opportunity for our school community.
We’re also incredibly grateful to our amazing sponsors whose generous contributions helped make the evening truly fabulous.
- Major Sponsor – Laser Clinics Toowong - Frances Graham
- Green Darling Flowers - Nikki Kaplan
- Revolution Hair - Andre Faiva
- Dressed at Windsor
- Body Beautiful - Kate Lester
Stay Connected
Follow WSS on Facebook or check the school newsletter for reminders and updates.
Kind Regards,
Emma Osborne
WSS P&C Secretary
Dear Windsor Families,
I am writing to inform you that I, Mrs. Kayla Philp, will begin my maternity leave on Monday, July 14th, during Week 1 of Term 3, 2025, as I prepare for the arrival of my child. My expected due date is August 12th, and I plan to return to class on Tuesday, January 27th, Week 1 of Term 1, 2026.
In my absence, we are in the process of hiring a permanent Coordinator and an Assistant Coordinator to enhance our service moving forward. I will collaborate with the new Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator to ensure a seamless transition, with your child's care remaining our top priority.
Coordinator - https://www.seek.com.au/job/84420906?tracking=SHR-WEB-SharedJob-anz-1
Assistant Coordinator - https://www.seek.com.au/job/83916579?tracking=SHR-WEB-SharedJob-anz-1
Thank you for your understanding and support during this period. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at awn@ymcaqueensland.org.au.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding.
Parent and Family Feedback
We always appreciate feedback from our families regarding our service. Our goal is to support you and your children by providing the best possible care. We are consistently seeking your input on our before and after school programs, vacation care, menus, and overall service experience.
If you have any suggestions or insights about our programs or services, please share your feedback with us. We are especially interested in your thoughts on child safety practices, as this is a critical aspect of our work. We want to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all families and children within our service.
If you have any concerns or topics you would like to discuss regarding our service or your child, we are always open to a conversation and would be happy to share our thoughts and insights. For more information about our organisation’s commitment to safeguarding children, please visit our website. www.ymcabrisbane.org/about/safeguarding-children
Read LessPlease Check Accounts Weekly for Payments and Permissions
QParents is the main portal for school payments and for school event permissions. The first residential parent listed in One School is invited and the parent who nominated 100% responsibility for fees during enrolment will see any amounts outstanding in QParents (unless you have approached the school to request a split agreement, eg. 50-50 responsibility).
We greatly appreciate those parents who regularly check into their QParents accounts to provide any permissions outstanding and to address any invoices outstanding.
If you need help setting up your QParents Account, we are happy to assist at admin@windsorss.eq.edu.au
For assistance, go to: Q Parents help page: https://qparents.qld.edu.au/#/help or phone 13QGOV
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Please note, that if your child requires to have school staff administer medication for them whilst they are at school, you will be required to follow the processes embedded within the below hyperlink for each child and for each medication that requires administration:
An easy way for parents/carers & families to support our sustainable garden project
The new drive-through pick-up-zone on the old Officeworks site is in close proximity to the purple ‘Return It Container’ situated under the fig trees.
With this container now so accessible, we would love for parents and carers to support our developing sustainable garden project by donating any acceptable containers for change to our school.
If you are placing a bag inside the container, or wish to credit your returns to Windsor State School, you can simply add the Windsor State School code to the bag, and the recyclables within the bag will be credited to our P&C.
The Windsor State School Code is: C10158718
If you would like to learn more about the types of containers that can be recycled, please visit the following website: https://www.returnit.com.au/
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Support the school whilst having a meal at The Crown
The partnership for 2025 has been extended with The Crown Hotel for another year, which means the Windsor State School community can continue to wine and dine and support the school.
How does it work?
Simply order your food and drinks via the App, and ensure you have entered the code: WSS in the backend.
The app can be used at all Aus Venue Co locations and WSS will continue to earn money as part of the agreement. Other venues include Port Office Hotel, The Regatta, The Boundary Hotel, Everton Park Hotel, just to name a few...
App Rewards & Benefits
> $10 Welcome credit for all new members
> 10% off at The Crown Hotel
> Earn 10 points for every $1 spent on the app
> Earn 2000 points and convert for $20 credit
The best part is - every dollar you spend helps to support Windsor State School!
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