19 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

Across the Principal’s Desk…

The Term Ahead

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope that everyone who had the chance to take a break had a happy and relaxing time. Students and staff have come back to school looking and sounding refreshed and ready to go. Welcome to our new families. I know the Windsor Community will make you feel welcome and help you to settle in. This will be another busy term, with the Year 6 camp to Canberra, NAIDOC Week, Science Week, P&C Trivia Night, along with many other events to look forward to.

Windsor's Year 4 Pilot BYO iPad program

Year 4 students and families returned an EOI form last week, identifying if their son/daughter would be participating in the Pilot BYO iPad trial, that commences in Week 5. It has been very pleasing to see that roughly 92% of students and families are very keen to be involved - with a few outstanding forms still to be handed in. This is a tremendous indication that the school community are well and truely behind this initiative and are looking forward to the implementation and future developments of this Digital Technologies program.

This coming Thursday, the Year 4 teachers, members of the Leadership Team and I will be working on further developing this program, discussing focus areas around practitioner inquiry, the Digital Technologies curriculum and much more. I look forward to sharing updates and documents about this initiative with you as they develop.

On Thursday 27 July from 7.15pm in the Library, we will be hosting an 'information evening' about the Pilot program for our Year 4 families. To ensure we cover what you need to learn about and answer any questions you may have, please complete the following RSVP.

BIG Metro Region PD event - this Wednesday in the hall

Regional Office used our Hall on Wednesday (all day) for an 'Inclusive Education' professional development. There were roughly 230 teachers and school leadership teams attending this event. People began to arrive around 7.30am as it commenced at 8.15am. I advised our guests of parking in the surround streets, not to park in the 'stop, drop, go' zones and encouraged them to 'car pool' or catch public transport. I apologise for any disruption this may have caused for parking on this day.

Full STEAM ahead

We have started our journey to implementing a wonderful STEAM program at Windsor State School.

With the successful application of the Advancing Queensland Grant we are able to create a MakerSpace that will motivate, engage, and challenge the thinking of our students through the use of coding, designing and making.

Last term, the community was engaged in a think tank session that highlighted the expertise we have right at our fingertips. This session also highlighted we are all on the same STEAM page. We all want the same outcome for the students of Windsor State School. We all want these students to be able to communicate, collaborate, think critically and creatively and be able to solve real world problems. These students are our future.

Senior & Junior Athletics Carnivals

I would like to congratulate all of our students for the wonderful sportsmanship, determination and effort that they exhibited at both the senior and junior athletics carnivals late last term. All students attempted each event with enthusiasm and a positive attitude to try and achieve their very best. It is this effort and spirit that makes for an enjoyable carnival. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the staff and parents for assisting at these carnivals last term. It was greatly appreciated and allowed the carnivals to run smoothly and on time. Congratulations to Wilson who won overall on 2204 points, Lutwyche coming second on 1896 points and third was Maynard on 1795 points.

2018 Prep enrolments

We are just reminding parents that all children who are starting Prep at Windsor in 2018 need to be on our list.

Currently we have 65 'in catchment' students on our list. Many thanks to all who have ensured that their child is enrolled. We also have 30 on our 'out of catchment' list.

Remember, we don't automatically know that a child already attending the school has a younger sibling/s, so please contact the office on 3386 4333 or go to our website to obtain an enrolment form.

2017 Voluntary Contribution information

Please click here to view the letter that was sent out in February this year.

Thank you to everyone who has already contributed this year. Payment can be made by direct deposit into the school bank account BSB 064 114, Account 00090145 or by EFTPOS or cash at the office.

Grant Baker

CALL OUT!!!

In week 5 we are celebrating Science Week. A group of budding artists are creating a sculpture from recycled materials. If you have anything at home that could be useful please bring to the Enrichment Room this week. Items such as: Bottle tops, used bubble wrap, toilet paper/handy towel rolls, masking tape, duct tape, cans (dried out), string, ribbon, used bits of cardboard, newspaper, egg cartons.

Thanks for your support. We look forward to unveiling our creation in week 5.

Emma Kemph
The Arty Recyclables

from the Deputy Principal…

Family Education Programs – ALL FULLY BOOKED

Please find below information about Family Education Programs that are being facilitated in the school Hall during Term 3. These family sessions will take place on the following dates and will cover:

Tuesday 18 July 2017, 6:00-7:30pm – Family Education – Bodies and feeling safe (recommended for Year 4)
Tuesday 1 August 2017, 6:00-7:30pm – Family Education – Preparing for puberty (recommended for Year 5)
Tuesday 29 August 2017, 6:00-7:30pm – Family Education –Introduction to reproduction (recommended for Year 6)

All of these sessions are now fully booked with a current waitlist. If you would like your child to join the waitlist, please return the EOI Form to the office.

If you have any questions please contact me at the school or contact True Relationships and Reproductive Health directly on 3250 0240 or check out their website at the link below.

STUDENT COUNCIL DISCO

The Student Council welcomes everyone back to the New Year with a Disco on THURSDAY 3RD AUGUST, the last Disco for 2017. This Disco helps to raise money to support student council projects at the school.

The theme of this disco is: MOVIE/CARTOON CHARACTERS

Students are invited to dress up as a movie or cartoon character of their choice.

Tickets will be available in the Early Years Precinct, before 8:50am in the week leading up to the Disco ($5.00 single ticket; $10.00 family ticket- 2 or more). Pre-purchasing tickets makes it quicker and easier to get into the disco.

The Disco times are as follows:

Prep-Year 2 : 5:15pm-6:30pm
Year 3-6 : 7:00pm-8:30pm

All Prep-Year 2 students must be accompanied by their parent/guardian at all times during the Disco. Parents/Guardians, you are responsible for your own children. Teachers will supervise at the Year 3-6 Disco. Parents are not required to stay at this Disco, but must collect students promptly at 8:30pm. Food and drink will be on sale at the Disco.

National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (the national data collection) is an annual collection that counts the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to disability and the level of reasonable adjustment they are receiving.

The national data collection counts students who have been identified by a school team as receiving an adjustment to address a disability as defined under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (the DDA).

Report Cards

Semester One Report Cards have now been emailed out to parents. If you have not received a copy of your child’s report card, please contact the Office. If you have any questions about your child’s report card, please direct these to your child’s class teacher.

Year Level Newsletters

Year level newsletters are being distributed via Schoolzine over the first two weeks of school. If you have any questions regarding the content of a year level newsletter, please contact your child’s class teacher. If you have not received your child’s year level newsletter by Week 3, please contact the Office to ensure that all contact details are up to date and accurate.

School Opinion Survey

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted 31 July to 25 August 2017. All families, school staff and a random sample of students will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what this school does well, and how this school can improve.

This fortnight, access details for the Parent/Caregiver Survey will be sent home with students. School computers will be available, upon request, for parents/caregivers who are unable to complete the survey at home.

Survey queries or requests for translations can be directed to admin@windsorss.eq.edu.au or (07) 3866 4333.

RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOUR & CODE OF CONDUCT

We know that there are two dimensions of social and emotional development, positive and negative. A negative mindset acts as a barrier to positive outcomes and consists of the blockers, outlined below. Sometimes our emotions can be overwhelmingly powerful and these negative blockers can lead to behavioural, emotional and learning problems in children. Our major goal is to weaken negative Habits of the Mind and offer students coping skills and strategies to eliminate the Blockers. We want to strengthen the positive Habits of the Minds, at the same time, and provide students with knowledge and skills to develop the 5 keys to success.

Feeling Very Worried - (like Worried William)

Feeling very worried means that you worry a lot about whether other people like you and what your friends and others think about you. You can also feel anxious about your school work or other achievements and you can spend a lot of time worrying about mistakes or having to do things perfectly.

Check out the link below.

This short video that was shown on parade this week focuses on the benefits of making mistakes and learning from these mistakes. This video provides another resource to spark discussion, with parents and teachers, around strategies to deal with negative “blocker” thinking. When children can understand, identify and realise that strong emotions are a normal part of life they will be able to develop the mindset and skillset to manage these and bounce back.

Click here to watch the video

Active School Travel

Driveways can be dangerous places. Make sure your children stop, look, listen and think before crossing a driveway. Please ensure that if you are walking in/out of the school with your child that you use the footpaths around the school, as walking through the carpark areas poses unnecessary risks for children and adults.

Remember the AST Crew’s four steps to safely cross the road are:

STOP - at least one metre from the kerb
LOOK - right, left and right again
LISTEN – for the sound of close traffic
THINK – is it safe to cross and am I holding and adult’s hand?

Parents, please practise these steps with your children EVERY TIME you cross the road.

As adults, we lead by example so it’s essential that we do the right thing when we cross the road. This year, everyone will have more opportunities to practise their road crossing skills when they leave the car at home and actively travel to and from school.

Follow Windsor SS on Facebook & Twitter!

Get the most up-to-date information and school alerts by following Windsor State School on Facebook and Twitter @Windsor_SS.

You can also access important school information and alerts, including Facebook/Twitter, via the QSchools app! Download it now and keep informed of everything that is happening at our school.

QParents…please get on board!

Our school also has QParents. Parents will receive an invitation email or letter to register this week. Prep parents will also receive a Student ID card containing an EQ ID number to register.

If you do not receive an invitation (QPAO), please advise Admin ASAP. QParents is one of the ways we communicate with parents, get on board to enjoy the ease and convenience that QParents offers.

QParents is also the means by which parents access Student Reports. It is important to register now as printed reports are no longer sent home at the end of each Semester. Help us become more ‘paper-less’ by registering for QParents now!

Windsor dad Michael Powell, father of Jaime in grade 6 and Oliver in grade 3 is planning to swim the English Channel. He will do this as a soloist.

My time is getting closer. I will be swimming at the end of August 2017. My tide window opens 27th August which means I could go straight away or spend some time waiting for the right conditions. Worst case I might not even get a swim but so far the Channel weather has been looking good this summer.

I will be leaving on the 17th August to spend a few days before hand getting acclimatised.

I have been training for this specific event since March 2016 and have clocked up just on 2,000km in the pool and open water.

In order to give some broader meaning to my swim I am raising funds for Foodbank Qld and in particular their School Breakfast Program which provides over 200,000 breakfasts the last year to ensure kids from unfortunate backgrounds have a meal to start the day and help them with their ability to learn.

Foodbank have organised a fundraising event for the Thursday 10th August from 6 – 9 pm at the Newstead Brewery Milton. See attached poster or below. Organise a party to come along it should be fun with beer and wine tasting and comfort food on offer. There will also be raffles and auction.

I’d love it if you felt you could support the cause and come along for the event or simply support at everydayhero.com.au - Michael swims to fight hunger

On the day you can track my swim at the link below.

My boat is called Masterpeace and you can track its movement and therefore me for the whole time it will take. Pack sandwiches for the day because it could take anything between 15 – 20 hours.

Thanks for your support.

Yours in the corner
Michael

Calling all young artists!

Children aged between 5 and 18 years are encouraged to share their voices and submit a piece of art celebrating ‘What does safety, love, joy, hope, trust and family look like to you?’

Selected artwork will be showcased in the Queensland Family and Child Commission’s Hear Me, See Me Art Exhibition during Child Protection Week in September.

Please encourage your child to put on their thinking cap and get creative! Entry is free and closes 23 July 2017. For more information visit the link below.

Pam Godfrey
Teacher Librarian

Helping Hands

Welcome to Term 3!

Hello from Erin and Elise, who are the new leadership team at Helping Hands Windsor. As a brief introduction, we both have strong backgrounds in the drama and the performing arts, between us have over a decade of experience in an OSHC setting, and are both mums to toddlers! Our Educator team is Kylie, Dani, Marisa, Keely, and Simonne who have extensive OSHC experience between all of them. Please come and introduce yourselves to our new faces, as it’s important to us that our educators have strong relationships with our parents, as well as our children!

Vacation care was great fun, with excursions to Putt Putt, and Chipmunks. Bricks for Kids visited the services and facilitated a learning experience about robotics using Lego bricks and circuitry. We are keen to hear suggestions for the upcoming Vacation Care period, please do not hesitate speak to us about any ideas you might have!

The kids have settled in to the new term with a few new toys in our space. The introduction of our Magnetic Geoblocks has so far appealed to children across all grades, as a means to explore creative engineering of structure and objects, with minimal limitations.

Coming up this term is a child led toy drive. Ava F came to us with the idea to collect and donate old toys to sick children. We’ve identified Ronald McDonald House as a way to impact our local community. Dates and collection points to come.

We are looking forward to being part of the Windsor Community for Semester 2!