12 December 2018

Across the Principal's Desk...

The End is in Sight

At the end of every year, I marvel at what we have been able to achieve as a school, in terms of the great learning opportunities and outcomes for our students. It is always a huge undertaking, which would not be possible without the exceptional dedication from teachers and all other staff, parents, volunteers and of course our hardworking students. It would take a thesis to outline our many achievements as a school over 2018.

The one thing I notice as I stand out in the school during the mornings, are the smiling faces and positive attitudes of the kids. They skip into school, ready for learning and fun with their friends. Such well-rounded children, enjoying the opportunities, which are presented to them on a daily basis. This doesn’t happen just by chance. I have experienced many schools where this does not exist, for one reason or another. What I can say is that only through the valuable partnerships we forge together between home and school will this culture continue to be evident.

I cannot thank enough the wonderful parents who assist across the school in so many ways, from the School Council and P&C exec/members to the Windsor Fest Coordinators and any volunteers who work in classrooms on a daily basis. You all know who you are and with over 150 parents, grandparents and volunteers in the school throughout any given week, it is a testament to why we have such successful, well-rounded kids. As I always say, education is about ‘the whole child’ and exploring what our students are passionate about, so they are engaged and inspired to learn.

I particularly want to thank the students who have fulfilled leadership roles across the school this year. You have done yourselves proud in your conduct and fulfilment of the role. I want to make particular mention of the School Captains- Max Mackley, Emily Winks, Jack Galt and Sienna Howden. I have worked closely with these students all year and have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow and flourish as leaders.

Congratulations to the School Captains for 2018- Oliver Swift, Lily Allan, Jack Boswell and Francis Fardon. I know they will do a wonderful job. It was also wonderful to catch up with so many parents at our Volunteers ‘Thank You’ breakfast and ACE Awards on Monday morning. As always, it is great to have the school community together to end another successful year.

I wish you all the very best for a safe, relaxing summer holiday period. Farewell to those who are leaving Windsor for various reasons. I hope that our paths will cross again in the future. You will always be a part of the Windsor Family.

Officeworks and Air Conditioning

I wanted to provide you with a brief update about some major infrastructure works being carried out over the Christmas period.

• Air Conditioning is being installed to all classrooms in A Block and Constitution buildings. This is a MASSIVE task that will commence during the first week of the holidays and is anticipated to be completed early in 2019. All internal work is guaranteed to be completed by the time we come back to school on Jan 29, but some work may still need to be completed outside with the large condenser units. Environment Heritage Protection (EHP) have approved these works, which must adhere to the findings and strategies contained in the historical impact report that was approved earlier in Term 4.
• The Officeworks building is being demolished! This is the first step towards our school Master Plan that was approved earlier this term. The building itself will be gone by the new year, but at this stage, the concrete slab will remain. Some trees around the perimeter of the building will also be removed in preparation for the future build. In the new year, we will assess the concrete slab and discuss our next steps with the area. In time (6-18months) the Department will commence works to build a new building (as per our Master Plan) in the Officeworks area. I will of course update you throughout 2019 as information is confirmed from Central Office.
• As a means of minimising and controlling traffic inside the school grounds, an electric sliding gate is being installed into the school, through the Harris Lane entrance. This gate will be automatically opened for early morning ‘drop-offs’ or afternoon ‘pick-ups’ from Helping Hands. More information about the gate and open/closing times, will be released in early 2019.

Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank the School Council and P&C Facilities Sub-Committee members for all of their hard work and dedication over the years in making these projects now a reality. Your collective efforts are GREATLY appreciated by all members of the Windsor school community.

Semester Two Report Cards

All Semester Two report cards were emailed to parents/carers on Monday afternoon. Teachers have worked hard to give an accurate description of every student’s learning achievements throughout the school year. Sharing your child’s report card with them and capitalising on the opportunities to reflect on the learning journey is a crucial factor in establishing expectation and front ending success for the following year. It is important that you share this document with your child and discuss the positives and where to from here. Please contact the office on 3386 4333 if you have not received your child’s report card. Any questions about your child’s report are to be directed to their teacher.

Book Box drop-off in 2019.

Next year, there will be the option for all Year 3 – Year 6 students/families to drop off their child's book packs to their new classroom before the first day of school. Year 3-6 classrooms will be open for an hour on Friday 25 January, for book box drop off from 8.00am - 9.00am.

Have a wonderful Christmas break and I look forward to seeing you again when school resumes on Tuesday 29 January 2019.

Grant Baker
Principal

From the Deputy Principals…

Happy Holidays from the Deputy Principals!

End of Year Concert & Free Dress

This Thursday, students may wear free dress to school for their class parties with a gold coin donation for the Student Council.

On Friday, students may wear something festive for our end of year concert. The concert will end with our traditional sausage sizzle and parents may take students home afterwards. It is imperative that all students are either signed out with their class teacher or at the office before they leave the school grounds.

Please remember to keep watch over our school on the holidays and call School Watch if you notice anything suspicious.

Have a wonderful Christmas break and we look forward to seeing you all back in 2019 for another wonderful year at Windsor State School. School resumes on Tuesday 29th January, 2019.

Roxanne O’Donoghue and Matt Keong

ACE Awards

Our final week launched today with our traditional ACE Assembly where we looked back over the successes of 2018 and recognised the achievements of students at Windsor State School this year. We presented awards for academic achievement, commitment to learning and citizenship. Congratulations to the following students who received awards this Semester.

Student Leadership

Recently, Year 5 students have been involved in the rigorous process of preparing a CV, responding to selection criteria, undertaking interviews and finally awaiting the results of a ballot. We congratulate the successful candidates on their election to the following positions. The Student Executive Leaders for 2019 are:

Pastoral Care & Behaviour

Students at Windsor State School strive to be Confident, Persistent, Organised, Resilient and they Get-Along with Others. This is evident in the number of students persisting to achieve and maintain their Gold, Silver and Bronze levels of Behaviour in 2018.

At Windsor SS, Behaviour is not simply about compliance. It is not about how quietly children sit in the classroom or whether they go about their work unobtrusively. Behaviour is rated according to each child’s ability to make appropriate choices for themselves. This includes their determination to develop Confidence (by being independent, taking risks and developing self-acceptance), Persistence (by giving effort, working tough and demonstrating a positive “I Can Do It” attitude), Skills to Get-Along with Others (like being socially responsible, playing by the rules, thinking first and making appropriate choices and showing tolerance), Organisational skills (planning their time, looking after their belongings and setting short and long term goals) and most importantly, Resilience (which involves self-regulating their emotional thermometer, not catastrophising and bouncing back after a set-back).

I commend all student for their determination to develop and achieve these positive characteristics of a happy and successful person this year. Some children may have had set-backs along the way, moving up or down levels due to choices made. Life is not always easy or fair and we, as human beings, often make mistakes which require us to re-think the choices we make. Students at Windsor learn from mistakes, carefully self-reflect and try to make the right decisions in the future. It is evident from the results below that, throughout the year, students have remembered lessons learnt from Pastoral Care, identified areas for improvement and set goals about how to improve. This year, at the end of Semester 2 in Year 1-6:

• 72% of student achieved their Gold level, an “A” on their report cards.
• 21% of students achieved their Silver level, a “B” on their report cards.
• 7% of students maintained their Bronze level, a “C” or satisfactory on their report cards

Congratulations to all students on achieving these outstanding results in 2018. We look forward to more happy and successful students in 2019!

The Benefits of Boredom

by Melbourne Child Psychology & School Psychology Services, Port Melbourne
‘Children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough that they can hear themselves’ – Dr Vanessa Lapointe

With the school holidays upon us, many parents will be frantically trying to find new ways to fend off boredom for their kids.

And thinking of new and exciting activities to do is always going to be a good thing…

Organised activities involving sports, music or education have proven to be beneficial to a child’s physical, cognitive, cultural and social development.

But there is also something to be said for allowing a child to be left to their own devices, or to experience ‘boredom’, according to Teresa Belton, visiting fellow at The School of Education and Lifelong Learning.

‘Children need time to themselves – to switch off from the bombardment of the outside world, to daydream, pursue their own thoughts and occupations, and discover personal interests and gifts.’

And it doesn’t matter if your child doesn’t have any obvious personal interests or hobbies that they can pursue independently.

‘Just letting the mind wander from time to time is important… for everybody’s mental wellbeing and functioning.’

‘A study has even shown that, if we can engage in some low-key, undemanding activity… the wandering mind is more likely to come up with imaginative ideas and solutions to problems.’

A creative imagination and problem solving ability are important life skills, so it’s good for children to have these moments of ‘boredom’ and having to find ways to entertain themselves.

And it will also encourage the ability to be quiet and mindful as an adult, without the constant need to be on-the-go or entertained.

But how do we handle the ‘bored’ child, and teach them to embrace these moments of free time?

Find out by following the link below:

‘Save the Children’ Christmas Tree

‘Save the Children’ works to support families, throughout the Christmas season, to ease the worries of financial pressure. Each year we, as a school community, give generously by placing a gift under the school Christmas tree so that others can enjoy a happy Christmas. Traditionally, each family provides a present to be placed under the tree and, this year, these will be donated to ‘Save the Children’ at our final Christmas concert. Please wrap the present and write on the tag the gender and age of the intended recipient. Next week, the Christmas tree will appear outside the office; however, presents can also be brought in on the last day of school to be placed under the tree at the Christmas concert. We thank you for your past generosity and seek your support again this year to help those less fortunate. For further information about the work of ‘Save the Children’ in Queensland, you can visit

End of Year Concert

On Friday, 14th December we will hold our annual Christmas concert from 10:00am. Parents usually start to arrive around 9:30am to allow for seating. A sausage sizzle will be held after the concert. If you intend to take your child home after the concert, please ensure that they have been signed out with their class teacher.

Windsor’s Got Talent!

The final Windsor’s Got Talent performance is on Wednesday 12th December from 11.40am. Parents are welcome to come and watch the show!

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

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.

Helping Hands

Hello Windsor Families.

Well it is almost the end of the year again, who can believe it! It has been a very busy year for all of you and holidays are fast approaching. If you are still looking for something to entertain the children during this huge break, we can take care of that for you with our awesome Vacation Care program on offer in December and January.

Some exciting things have been planned such as visits to Inflatable World, Crank Indoor Rock Climbing and Parkour and the Movies. Along with this we have inflatable water slides and splash days, amazing art races, Christmas cooking and craft, science experiments, a disco, wheels day and various community visitors coming to the service for our Community Day. If this sounds like something your child will be interested in, please be sure to check out our program which is featured below in this newsletter.

To enrol and book, try our new online enrolment and booking system using the link below if you are a new parent or haven’t used the service in a while you will need to create a new account. If you use Kidsoft for a younger child that attends day care or you use the service, you can login as an existing user and just link your school aged child to your account.

We would also like to take the time to thank the amazing Windsor School Community for their support this year and we look forward to providing the Windsor families with amazing care in 2019! Have a safe, happy and merry festive season and we will see you all in the New Year.