14 September 2016

Newsletter Articles

Principal's Report

Term Three has been extremely demanding but also very rewarding. Throughout the term there have been many highlights, both in and out of the classroom and I congratulate students, staff and others involved in making this term such a success. Year 5 leadership camp last week was an opportunity for students to take on challenges, step outside their comfort zones and see who has what it takes to be a student leader in 2017. Congratulations to the Year 5 students for stepping up to the challenges of camp and thank you to the staff for providing an opportunity for students to learn and practise the skills of leadership.

Over the past fortnight, we have seen many students excel, both within the curriculum and through extra-curricular activities. Last Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of watching the Year Six Debating team in action at Round 3 of the Queensland Debating Union Primary Competition. Congratulations to Lily C, Rosie H, Luca G and Saul C for taking out the win by only one point. These students presented outstanding argument and rebuttal on a very difficult topic; that school instrumental programs should focus on modern and pop music rather than classical music. Thank you to Mrs Vincenzi and all parents involved for their work preparing our students.

Year 6 QDU Debating

Last week also saw our talented instrumental music students participate in the Northside Honours Camp. From all accounts, the camp was very successful and students represented our school in a very positive manner. Thank you to the students for their efforts and to our Music Staff, Mrs Fanning and Ms. McCullough for your total dedication to our students.

This year, our major improvement focus areas are writing and the integration of ICTs across the curriculum. To become an effective writer requires persistence! It's easy to give up; however, our students are showing that their persistence and enthusiasm is paying off. It was very satisfying, this term, to see that all their hard work has been rewarded with strong improvement in our 2016 NAPLAN results for writing with 61% of Year 3 and 27% of Year 5 students in the Upper 2 Bands, significantly above the State and Nation. This data demonstrates a significant improvement from previous years and I thanks teachers and support staff for their expertise and determination. I have been impressed by the persuasive, narrative and informative pieces of writing collected across the term. Particularly impressive are the modes in which writing has been presented. Mrs. O'Donoghue and I are seeing some really creative ways of using iPads and other digital technologies to present work, further engaging students in the writing process. Keep up the great work Windsor Writers!

We also have some motivated children coming before school to work with Mrs. Moore and our dedicated teacher-aides to improve their reading. It's lovely to hear that voracious readers are emerging from these morning sessions. Likewise, Mrs. Kemph has been providing opportunities to challenge and extend students this term at Mini Festivals, OPTIMINDS and through the Queensland Academies on-line courses. Over the past fortnight, two teams enjoyed success at the Northside Middle School Literacy Olympics. Congratulations to our first place champion team of Rosie H, Regy C, Naomi H-S and Campbell G on your success. Well done also to Lily C, Sienna T, Dan B and George S on a tightly contested fourth place. We also had two victorious teams emerge at OPTIMINDS. Congratulations to Harry K, Kalen M, Charlie W and Cohen N on amazing the OPTIMINDS judges with your invention, the "Pongling Machine"! See Mrs. Kemph's article below.

I applaud all staff and parents for your commitment to improving outcomes for our learners. That is "The Windsor Way" as we know it. I am constantly impressed that, in every classroom, teachers and students are striving to improve. Students are engaged, focussed and motivated towards success.

I'd like to again thank the parents in our community who frequently go above and beyond, often balancing their own careers with supporting the school in various ways, whether it be in classrooms or by organising community events. I'd particularly like to thank the volunteers who work daily in classrooms to assist our children in achieving success. Your service to the school is invaluable. Thank you to everyone who attended the Working Bee on Sunday, new plants have been planted to rejuvenate our gardens around the Harris Lane entrance and 50 cubic metres of mulch has been spread over the gardens. What an effort, the school will be looking amazing for WindsorFest!

Don't forget that Windsorfest Spring Fair is approaching quickly, Sunday 16th October…at the end of this week we hit the 1 month countdown! This is our major fundraising event for the year and the children are very excited. Twelve months ago, we had no one to organise this event; however, in typical Windsor SS custom, we now have a wonderful team! The Windsorfest committee is working extremely hard to make this year's event the best we've ever seen. I'd like to thank all members of this P&C subcommittee for their hard work and determination so far. Much time goes in to organising a large event for the community and I'd like to encourage others who can assist to come to meetings every Monday night in the library.

Cash donations for Windsorfest are also most welcome via EFT transfer (Windsor SS P&C Association BSB: 064-114 Acct No: 00900697 Payment Ref: WFest Donate). We appreciate your support in ensuring the success of Windsorfest.

Please remember this week that "Every Day Counts"! Teaching, learning and assessment will continue to the last day of school on Friday 16th September. Please consider that your child may miss important assessment if they are absent from school during this time. We greatly appreciate our community keeping an eye on our school over the holidays. Please phone School Watch on 131788 if you see any unusual activity on the school site. School will recommence on Tuesday, October 4. Monday, October 3 is the Queen's Birthday Public Holiday. There will be a student free day on Monday, October 17.

I wish everyone a safe and happy break and hope everyone, staff, students and parents get a chance to rest and recoup for the last term.

Matt Keong
Principal

Prep 2017 Enrolments

Our planning for 2017 is well underway and it is very exciting to see so many new enrolments for 2017. Windsor State School is approaching 100 new Preps, in-catchment, rapidly. We are now planning for Transition Day that will take place on Friday 18th November from 9am-11am. Invitations will be sent out to all in-catchment enrolments who have now had interviews. If you have a child starting Prep in 2017, live in-catchment, and have not submitted your enrolment forms to the office, I ask that you do this ASAP to ensure you don't miss Transition Day.

Currently, we have an out-of-catchment zone waiting list of over 40. Regrettably, I am now certain that Windsor SS cannot take any enrolments from outside our catchment boundaries.

If you know of people who live in our catchment and intend to enrol at Windsor SS in 2017, please ask them to contact Admin on 38664333 to arrange an interview asap.

Planning Classes for 2017

We are well underway with our planning for the 2017 school year. I urge all families to ensure they have returned their enrolment intention form as soon as possible. Early in the new term, we will begin our individual class plans for 2017. Our teachers use their knowledge of students, their educational and developmental needs in planning fair and equitable classes for the new school year.

Parents who believe they have information that needs to be shared about their child's development may email me at Matthew.Keong@eq.edu.au with this information. Please ensure the subject line of the email is: Classes 2017.

Requests for individual teachers and the need to be with friends are not required nor considered.

Playgrounds after school

It is great to see students and families enjoy the wonderful facilities and playgrounds straight after school however I need all of the community to please support this practice in the following ways.

If students are to use the playground after school parents must be actively supervising from right next to the playground. Playgrounds are also only available for use after school until 3:30pm, this is 30 minutes after school is finished. From 3:30pm all playgrounds are required for our after school care program and as such must be vacated. Please remember that all playgrounds are 'off-limits' before school. I appreciate everyone's support with this.

POLICE LINK

Report a 'Hoon' around our school and keep our kids safe!

The safety of our children is paramount! I have regularly written about dangerous situations and the illegal use of our pick-up zones by the community members and how antisocial driving behaviour can result in accidents with irreversible consequences. We saw an example earlier this year, with a 'near-miss' on Harris Street.

Beyond the leadership we provide from Windsor State School administration and the monitoring by Qld Police, every member of this school community shares a responsibility to monitor the behaviour of other members of this school community. Queensland Police have advised that they rely on the community to assist them with their policing work and will act on notifications from the general public regarding what they call 'hooning'. They have a "Hoon Online" facility on the Policelink Website.

If you witness any driver of our community illegally using the pick-up zones or driving in an unsafe manner, we invite you to submit a notification online at:

The Policelink website accepts submissions with photos or videos as well, if you happen to have your mobile device at hand (and are not driving at the time!).

Your submission can be made anonymously by checking the box on the online form.

You may also notify police by telephone or in person at our local police station – Stafford #33641800

The online form and it takes approximately five minutes to complete.

Just as in the workplace, where all employees share the responsibility for ensuring the safety of themselves and their colleagues by calling out unsafe work practices, all members of the Windsor State School community share a responsibility to ensure the safety of their children and others in the community.

We welcome you to join with us in helping to maintain a safe environment for your children and other parents by reporting any incidences to Policelink. Similarly, if you decide to save a few moments in your day by illegally using the pick-up zone and thereby put the lives of your community members at risk, you may be reported by any member of this community.

If you have any questions about how to use the Policelink website to make a report, please contact Admin.

WindsorFest

Mega Raffle

Do you have unsold tickets? Please return them to the school office asap!

New selling dates – can you volunteer a couple hours of your time to sell raffle tickets at Lutwyche Shopping Centre? 1st Oct & 8th Oct, pick a time via the RAFFLE SELLING ROSTER!

Rides Tickets

Unlimited ride wristbands for sale now!

Tickets on Sale Now!

Click here for details on all the rides included with each option and to buy online now. Also keep an eye out for our pop up ticket stall before and after school in term 4!

Can you Make Jam?

We have jars! Email meganangliss@bigpond.com to arrange collection of jars!

Stalls

Donations

Place your donations in the little wheelie bins at the Constitution Rd entrance and outside of the Uniform shop.

DON'T WANT TO LUG AROUND HEAVY ITEMS?? NO WORRIES, HOW ABOUT DONATING SOME CASH INSTEAD:

EFT transfer your donation to: Windsor SS P&C Association BSB: 064-114 Acct No: 00900697 Payment Ref: WFest Donate

Deputy Principal's Report

As Term 3 nears its completion, teaching, learning and assessment continues across the school. This week, classroom teachers will be engaging in school-based moderation.

For each Australian Curriculum subject area, there is an achievement standard outlined for each year level/juncture. These standards outline the knowledge, understanding and skills that students should demonstrate at that year level to achieve a 'Sound'/'C' standard. Moderation is a process by which teachers engage in a professional dialogue about how evidence in student work demonstrates at, above or below the Australian Curriculum achievement standard for the year level. Processes for moderation occur within the school to assist teachers in not only making judgements on student learning, but also to further inform planning, teaching and assessment. A main focus of moderation is consistency, to ensure that teacher judgements on student work are comparable across the year level. This week, year level teaching teams will be taken off class together for half a day to engage in these rigorous moderation practices for the subjects of English and Mathematics.

At Windsor State School, we use a portfolio approach to assessment. Therefore, to moderation, teachers bring portfolios of student assessments that show range and balance of the Australian Curriculum knowledge and skills taught across the semester in each of the focus subject areas. Overall results are determined by making an on-balanced judgement using the evidence provided in the student portfolios.

Teachers continue to plan and implement key learning experiences and assessments right up to the last day of term on Friday 16th September. Remember, "Every Day Counts"! Just a little bit of time away from school may not seem much but…

I wish everyone a happy school holidays and I look forward to seeing all the students back at school on Tuesday, October 4 after a well-deserved break.

Roxanne O'Donoghue
Deputy Principal

Free Dress Day – Wear Pink for Breast Cancer Research

Bring a gold coin and wear pink this Friday (the last day of term). Funds raised will support Breast Cancer research.

Pastoral Care Focus

Encouraging Kids to Take the Perspective of Others

Most children are not renowned for empathy. When it comes to seeing another child's perspective or understanding their feelings, a very young child's ability to empathise is yet to develop. Coming to understand that others have thoughts, perceptions and feelings that are separate from their own, along with the ability to explicitly infer these mental states in others, are important developmental milestones for kids.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia undertook a study to see if parenting practices contributed to a child's ability to empathise. The study investigated whether more empathic mothers are more likely to encourage their child to take the perspective of others and whether this would be associated with increased child empathy and prosocial behaviour.

Key findings:

• The development of children's cognitive empathy skills is influenced by parenting practices.
• Mothers who more regularly take the cognitive (thinking) perspective of others are more likely to encourage their child to do the same, and this facilitates a child's ability to take the cognitive perspective of others.
• The development of cognitive empathy skills enables children to become more responsive to cues about the thoughts and feelings of others, and this heightened sensitivity facilitates sympathy, which motivates prosocial behaviour.
• In the interests of their kids' prosocial behaviour, parents should encourage their children to take others' perspectives as well as practising warm/sensitive/responsive parenting, particularly in infancy.

Things you can do:

• Discuss book or media stories as opportunities for kids to practise recognising the perspective of others – what do the characters in the story think, believe, want or feel?
• Play games where you the parent pull a face or act in a certain way so that kids can identify and empathise with the emotion or body language being displayed. Then give the kids a turn and you do the guessing.
• Role model tolerance and acceptance of diversity.
• Talk about how beliefs, thoughts, desires, and emotions can motivate behaviour.
• Be selective with terminology when assessing inappropriate behaviour of others.
• Initiate discussions about other kids living with disadvantage and disability.
• Help your kids to understand that the world doesn't revolve around them – encourage chores and helping around the house.
• Encourage talk around the 'how would you feel' theme by helping kids discover what they have in common with other people. Encourage them to tell you how they would feel if they were that person being victimised, bullied, or ignored.
• Raise awareness of ways that kids can help other kids – simple acts of sharing, caring, helping, cooperating.
• Help kids develop an A-Z of feeling words.

Source: Farrant, et al., Infant and Child Development 21: 175-188 (2012).

Day for Daniel

Friday the 28th of October is Day for Daniel. For a gold coin donation, students are invited to wear red to school on this day to support the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. The foundation aims to help raise awareness about child safety and protection. It aims to help empower children to Recognise, React and Report if they feel something is not right.

This is not just a 'Free Dress Day'. If your child does not wish to wear red to school on this day, they are to wear normal school uniform. Wearing red could be anything from a complete red outfit to a red hair ribbon!

The Breathe Project

Just Breathe…These simple words have been flying around our school this week along with one simple breathing technique. This technique aims to enhance mindfulness and wellbeing and reduce stress and anxiety.

The Breathe Project is an independent health promotion initiative empowering youth, schools and communities with one simple breathing technique. The project teaches students and teachers how to practically use this technique and integrate it into the classroom.

This term, Breathe Project Founders Kat & Bodhi dropped in to educate Windsor SS students and teachers on how to breathe correctly and they also encourage parents to join the project.

QParents

Our school now has QParents. Parents should have received an invitation email or letter by now and it's great to see that so many parents have registered already.

If you have not received an invitation, please advise us immediately. QParents will soon become an integral part of how we communicate with parents. Get on board to enjoy the ease and convenience that QParents offers.

Help us become more 'paper-less' by registering for QParents now!

School Stuff

Now that everyone is back at school with all their Booklist items for the year, Schoolstuff is entering their low season. From the 15th February through to the 4th October, they are open from 9am to 4pm Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays. There are three simple methods for filling orders through Schoolstuff:

• ONLINE: Go to www.schoolstuff.com.au at any time to place your order. You can either have your order despatched to your chosen address or it can be collected from our warehouse. Orders are despatched on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays.
• PHONE: Call us on 33917000 and we will place the order for you.
• RETAIL STORE: Visit our store at 81A Caswell St East Brisbane for an instant service. Our staff will pick and pack your order for you while you wait. The store is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays 9am -4pm throughout the year, including school holidays.

Master Teacher's Report

Master Teacher Update

Last week, I actively participated in professional development activities for Master Teachers, at the Horizon's Conference. It focused on the strategic direction for State Schools and how the work of Master Teachers is fuelling system change, to ensure every child is succeeding.

Patrea Thomas, the Deputy Director-General of State Schools, stated "Every school day is a precious day of learning. Students have to be at school to learn. Students have to be at school to perform".

When you read about the learnings and exciting activities always happening throughout our school, I know that you will agree/support? with Patrea's statement.

Reading

Before school Reading Intervention

The before school reading with Mrs Moore ends this week.

Term 4 Dates:

Writing

Great writing from 3B

Prep Writing Highlights

During the past two weeks our Preps have been extremely busy, with their Fathers' Day Breakfast, Nudgee Beach excursion, using … and finalising their Term 3 assessment.

Prep ICT Highlights

Preps have been enhancing their learning with the Osmo.

Our Playgroup, the Windsoroos

The Windsoroos was launched on Under Eights' Day earlier this year and began on Friday 27th May. It is an early years Playgroup, affiliated with Playgroup Queensland, designed to foster parent/carer, child relationships and provide networking connections.

Parents, carers, children and babies meet together each Friday from 1.30 to 3.00pm in our relaxed Early Years Precinct to share knowledge, seek advice and gain invaluable support.

Our playgroup now has 30 registered children, but our weekly attendance is around 14 children.

After a recent meeting, it was decided that Windsoroos Playroup will continue to operate in alignment with the school terms, but for only 8 weeks each term. Playgroup will commence week 2 of each term and finish week 9 of each term. Our last day for Term 3 was Friday 9th September 2016.

2016 Term 4 dates:

It's not too late! Anyone interested in participating in the Windsoroos Playgroup can:

• contact the office staff on 3866 4333 and leave their details or
• email admin@windsorss.eq.edu.au with their details

Happy Holidays

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy break and I look forward to seeing you all again in Term 4.

Jan Moore
Master Teacher

Enrichment Update

OPTIMINDS

Last Sunday, 5 teams of Windsor Students battled it out at the Optiminds Challenge Day held at Aviation High School. It was a hard but fun slog! Again I would like to thank the parent facilitators: Simon Warburton, Tracy Mills, Kirsten Winter, Amanda Keane, Tal Taylor, and Todd Winks for helping these teams in a very difficult challenge. We have a super result with Team 1: Freya S, Samantha S, Anna W and Sasha D-K receiving the Spirit Award. A very prestigious award celebrating the team's ability to collaborate in the Optimind spirit – with fairness and respect.

WINNERS!!!!

For the FIRST time in Windsor State School history Team 6 – Charlie W, Kalen M, Cohen N and Harry K won the Science and Engineering category. An absolutely wonderful achievement. The boys' hard work and commitment contributed to this success. The thinking behind this challenge is super clever. Take a look at the 'Pongling' machine below. The boys now have the option to participate in the State Finals in October.

** REMINDER **

Don't forget the Year 3-6 Science Festival Thursday September 15.

We look forward to observing the exciting experiments and hearing about what is happening and why! (Scientific Justification)

On Tuesday we will meet with those participating in the fair to run through the day's proceedings.

DO NOT TRY ANYTHING WITHOUT YOUR PARENTS PRESENT!

LITERACY OLYMPICS

Another first place. Windsor is on a roll. On Thursday 8 Sept, two Year 6 teams attended the Wavell State High Literacy Olympics. Teams competed in a number of literacy and arts based activities that were both interesting and engaging – everything learning should be. It was a fabulous day with a fabulous result. Team 1 – Naomi H-S, Rosie H, Campbell G and Regy C won first place in the Year 6 division. A super result considering there were 36 teams involved. At time of printing, the other results were not finalised but Team 2 – George S, Dan B, Lily C and Sienna T did an outstanding job and should be very proud of themselves.

MINI FESTIVAL CELEBRATION

A few weeks ago, Windsor State School hosted the Mini Festival Celebrations. Over 200 students and their parents from the City Cluster Schools attended. These students showcased the work they had been doing in Mini Science, Mini Writers and Mini Thinkers program. Congratulations to the below students.

Enjoy the holidays everyone! They are well deserved.

Warm Regards
Emma Kemph

Windsor Seawolves Swimming Club

The Windsor Seawolves Swimming Club provides a safe, fun and challenging environment in which every child can improve their swimming capabilities. The Seawolves organise a program of events directed to all levels of ability so that all can participate and enjoy the sport of swimming, together with their friends and family.

Club nights are held every Friday night from 6:15pm in school terms 1 and 4.

Details for the 2016/2017 season are:

• Term 4: 7 October 2016 – 9 December 2016.
• Term 1: 3rd February 2017 – 17 March 2017

Membership is open to all children from pre-prep to high school age. You don't have to attend Windsor State School to join. A 'tadpoles' event is held at the beginning of each club night for those children not yet able or confident to swim 30m.

You can join the Seawolves at the Club Sign-on Night, Friday 7 October 2016 6pm - 8pm (free swim and BBQ) or at any time during the season!

Pool usage fee for the Seawolves season is $90 per family, although this year we are offering an early-bird fee $80 per family – the process for early-bird registration will be uploaded to our website in the near future. (A half-season fee of $45 per family will apply to those who join in Term 1).

For further information, please see our website below or email: seawolves@windsorsspandc.com.au