6 February 2019

Newsletter Articles

Across the Principal's Desk...

A POSITIVE START TO 2019

It has been wonderful to see so many happy faces of students, parents and staff around the school, all eager to return to routines and school life. The start to the year has been really positive with only a few tears in the prep classrooms and a number of very tired little ones who are adjusting to longer days. I want to thank all parents who have been very supportive of their children and particularly good with stepping back and giving their children some space to settle in. it is hard to know when to let go and allow them to feel a bit uncomfortable with what will be a new experience, however the long term payoff is that they become more resilient and able to adjust to change more rapidly if we avoid being a ‘helicopter’. Mostly it is harder for parents to adjust than for the kids.

On Tuesday morning I watched with great admiration, a parent who had a child that didn’t want to separate from them when entering the lower years. The parent took the child into the classroom, settled him in and promptly left. The child was still crying but soon settled completely after a couple of minutes. That would not have been easy to do, as it tears at our own heart to see our children distressed. Yet it was the right approach, otherwise a pattern of behaviour becomes established and the struggle continues. Of course, if the issue persists and this approach isn’t working, then a chat with the classroom teacher and one of the leadership team may be required.

I would also like to address the issue of expectation from some parents that a classroom teacher will be able to meet with them on a regular basis such as weekly or fortnightly to discuss their child’s progress. For obvious reasons, this is not viable as a classroom teacher has not one but anywhere up to 28 students in their classroom. If every parent had such an expectation, it would be an impossible task. Teachers are very accommodating when there is an issue to be discussed, so making an appointment to see them is a must if something does arise. Regular meetings to just have ‘updates’ about progress will not occur. It might be that a short exchange via email may be a better way to communicate. Please allow a 24 hour turnaround time for emails. We are working to do the absolute best for your child, with finite resources and I am sure you would agree, that a teacher’s time is incredibly valuable when working hard to prepare the best possible learning opportunities for all the students in the class.

There will be multiple opportunities throughout the year to receive updates on a child’s progress and if a teacher believes a child is really struggling academically, socially or emotionally or similarly a parent, contact will be made. We do have well-developed processes within the school to cater for individual needs. We do want to keep the lines of communication open regarding student progress and well-being and a reasonable, measured approach has to be implemented if we are to maintain some balance for teachers and parents alike. Thanks for your support with these matters.

PARENT INFORMATION EVENING

This year’s parent information evening will be held on Tuesday 12 February (Week 3). This is, as always, an opportunity for you to come along and hear about what the year holds for your child in their new year level. The first session will run from 5:45 – 6:15pm and the second session will run from 6:30 – 7:00pm. At this evening, the Year level teachers will outline their programs, the year’s events and provide guidance on how you can support your child’s learning at home. Staff have been busy preparing programs for the new school year and are looking forward to working with your child/ren in 2019.

WELCOME NEW STAFF

Each year we have new staff beginning their time at Windsor. It’s wonderful to have new and experienced teachers and other staff join us as they challenge the way we think and do things, often bringing wonderful ideas and practices to our attention. This year we welcome, or welcome back, the following staff members -

Mrs Sarah Kemp (prep)
Mrs Zara Marshall (year 1)
Mrs Lindy-Jo Free (year 4)
Mr Lloyd Davies (year 4)
Mrs Anna Hall (Inclusion Teacher)
Mrs Janine Wedmaier (Year 3/4 Inclusion Teacher)
Mrs Cindy Anderson (Year 5/6 Inclusion Teacher)
Mrs Megan Wight (Occupational Therapist)
Mrs Jade Hodgkin (EAL/D (English as another Language/Dialect) teacher)

P&C AGM AND GENERAL MEETING

Please note that Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled for Monday 18 February at 7:30pm in the Library. The AGM will be followed by the first general P&C meeting for 2019. The P&C meeting is an opportunity for parents to be involved in the many activities which are undertaken by this very active group. They undertake a variety of social events, fundraising opportunities and look at ways to improve the school environment for our students, both in the physical sense with resources and in supporting many programs and the employment of people across the school. All parents, guardians and community members are welcome. The meetings usually finish by 9pm.

In closing, I know I speak on behalf of all staff when I say we are excited by the start of the new school year. We continue to be deeply committed to an educational vision where our major goals are for each student to cultivate the attitudes, skills and knowledge for critical intelligence; to develop personal character and talents; and to foster a strong sense of community, leadership and respect toward others. We know that by working in partnership with the parent body we can collectively enhance student outcomes and shape a better Windsor State School.

PARADE CHANGES

Please note the following changes have been made to Parade for Semester 1 2019.

Staffing Update

Ross Philipps (our groundsman) went in for his long awaited back surgery on Wednesday. Ross has been waiting for this appointment for over a year now and has been putting up with some severe lower back pain! We wish Ross the very best for a successful surgery and a smooth recovery post operation. Ross could be out of action for 6-8 weeks. We will know more information following his surgery.

In the meantime, Jim Fardon (who you may have seen in the tuckshop last year) will replace Ross for the next fortnight while we find a suitable replacement.

Grant Baker
Principal

From the Deputy Principal’s Desk…

NEW! RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOUR PLAN 2019-2022

In 2018, our School Culture committee reviewed the Responsible Behaviour Plan for 2019-2022. The final document will be endorsed by the School Council and P&C at their first meetings of the year. The updated plan is embedded below for all parents/caregivers to read and will be uploaded with all attachments to the school website post endorsement. Please take your time to read the embedded document carefully and have conversations with your children at home. Thanks for your support!

Pastoral Care: Social Emotional Learning @ Windsor SS

Universal Support for Students

Through our Whole School Pastoral Care program, we teach and assist children in developing the 12 Positive Attitudes (previously known as Habits of the Mind) and 5 Social-Emotional skills (Getting Along, Organisation, Persistence, Confidence and Resilience) they need to reach the top of the triangle. The ultimate goals (see above) are for all children to achieve to the best of their ability, develop positive relationships and behaviour and experience the highest levels of wellbeing.

For all young people to reach the Goals at the top of the triangle, they need to also have moral Character; that is, possess Values/Strengths, positive attitudes as well as social and emotional learning skills. Values generally indicate the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance of different actions. The 6 Strengths are what positive psychologists refer to as ‘Virtues’; categories consisting of different character strengths (see the link below). There are 24-character strengths (virtues) that are incorporated under the six categories:

1. Wisdom and Knowledge: creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, perspective
2. Courage: bravery, perseverance, honesty, zest
3. Humanity: love, kindness, social intelligence
4. Justice: teamwork, fairness, leadership
5. Temperance: forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation
6. Transcendence: appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humour, spirituality

Environment is extremely important; therefore, the efforts of family, school and community are recognised as important in helping young children to attain positive outcomes. The unique contribution of this YCDI! Education is in strengthening the mindset and social-emotional strengths all children need to realise their full potential.

Connie Confident; Oscar Organisation; Pete Persistent; Gabby Get Along; Ricky Resilient help students understand the positive attitudes they need to be successful

The You Can Do It! Education Social and Emotional Learning frameworks (see “The Windsor Way” below) address aspects of the psychological functioning of young people that lead to poor learning, behaviour and social and emotional outcomes. Negative Attitudes and under-developed Character (values and strengths) create negative Social-Emotional Blockers (Anger, Worry, Feeling Down, Procrastination, Not Paying Attention).

Symmetrically, the frameworks also represent the corresponding Positive Attitudes and Character (values, strengths) that support five essential Social-Emotional Skills all contributing to positive Social-Emotional Skills (Getting Along, Organisation, Persistence, Confidence, Resilience). It is important for students to fully understand both sides of the framework to be able to counteract the blockers and develop the positive attitudes and skills (see below).

“The Windsor Way”- based on YCDI Education! Social & Emotional Framework

Code of Conduct @ Windsor SS

Behavioural Expectations

Behaviour at Windsor State School is NOT simply related to compliant/obedient children, our goal is to fully develop all positive attitudes and social emotional skills. Behaviour results on end of semester report cards are directly linked to each student’s ability to achieve a particular Behaviour Level (A = Gold; B = Silver; C = Bronze). Students are encouraged/coached to use the Code of Conduct criteria sheet to strive for positive growth and excellence.

The behavioural expectations criteria (see WSS Code of Conduct below) are used by teachers to teach, encourage, reinforce and coach students to improve and become happy and successful. Teachers use these criteria to directly assess and assign a Behaviour rating at the end of each semester. (see our new Code of Conduct & Positive Behaviour poster below)

The school acknowledges positive role models of behaviour in many ways throughout the year (merit badges; public acknowledgements). This year, we will celebrate students’ efforts and achievements in class and at special parades throughout the year.

ACTIVE SCHOOL TRAVEL

Active School Travel promotes clean and green, active and healthy school travel modes such as walking, cycling, carpooling and public transport. Over the next three years, our school will receive a range of free resources, tools, incursions to enable active travel to and from school.

By leaving your car at home, at least one day a week on our active travel day, we can reduce traffic congestion at the school gate, improve our students’ road safety awareness, create a cleaner environment, and improve our health and fitness!

Students can actively travel and participate in ‘Walking Wheeling Wednesday’ or ‘Fun Fit Friday’. Also, each week on parade, the AST trophy is awarded to the class that had the highest percentage of active travellers that week.

In addition to these incentives, there will be a number of special events this year to help further promote actively travelling to school. These include:

• Term 1: 22nd March – Windsor SS celebrates Ride2School Day “Bling Your Bike/Scooter”
• Term 2: 17th May - Walk Safely 2 School Day “Crazy Socks Day”
• Term 3: 30th August – AST Scavenger Hunt (more info to come)
• Term 4: TBA

QParents

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!

Follow Windsor SS on Facebook & Twitter!

Get the most up-to-date information and school alerts by following Windsor State School on Facebook at the link below 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.

Anxiety in Children – Why Does Anxiety Happen?

Karen Young, an Australian psychologist, has worked in private practice, in organisational settings, lectured and has extensive experience in the facilitation of personal growth groups. She has an honours degree in Psychology and Masters in Gestalt Therapy. Recently, she posted the following on her website:

Anxiety can be a shady character and can often appear in ways that don’t look like anxiety. Because of this, it can be difficult to know when your child is anxious. Anxiety has been doing its thing since the beginning of humans, and it’s brilliant at it. What it’s not so great at is announcing its presence in gentle, clear ways that preserve the capacity for any of us to meet it with a strong, steady, ‘Oh, there you are,’ and an even more powerful, ‘It’s okay, I’m safe – you don’t need to be here right now’.

Anxiety is the work of a strong, healthy brain that’s a little overprotective. It comes from a part of the brain called the amygdala, which keeps us safe by getting us ready to fight for our lives or run for it. The amygdala is instinctive, so if it thinks there might be danger, it will act first and think later – and the unfamiliar, the unknown, humiliation, embarrassment, separation from important people, can all count as danger. When the amygadala is triggered, it initiates a surge of neurochemicals to make us stronger, faster, more powerful, and more physically able to deal with a threat. Sometimes, the amygdala can work a little too hard and hit the alarm button too often when it doesn’t need to. It is NOT a broken brain, but a strong, healthy, capable brain that’s working a little too hard and being a little too overprotective.

Back when the threats we humans faced were mostly physical, the most anxious of us probably would have been the most likely to survive. An anxious brain would have made us more alive to any threats, which would give us the survival edge. Now, the dangers we face are less physical threats and more psychological ones. We no longer face the possibility of being dinner for a furry predator, but we do face very real psychological threats such as failure, rejection, exclusion, humiliation, disconnection from the people we care about – and the list goes on. The brain still fires up in response to threat, exactly as it’s mean to, but when the threats are psychological stressors, the fight or flight response doesn’t serve us so well. When there is nothing to fight or flee, there’s nothing to burn the fight or flight neurochemicals that surge through us, so they build up and cause the symptoms of anxiety.

Karen Young

Read Karen’s full article at:

Curriculum Corner

During the first two weeks of the year, Windsor values the need to build relationships, take time in setting up classroom routines and expectations, and develop a shared understanding of school-wide pedagogies and practices. Students settle into their new classes and year levels by engaging in launch programs for Reading and Writing. The Reading Launch has been in place for a number of years now and last year the Writing Launch was implemented.

The Writing Launch is a two week program designed for all students in years 1 - 6. The purpose of the Launch is to ensure our students have the skills and attitudes they will need for a successful year of Writing. The Launch documents break writing lessons into focused oral language activities, mini explicit lessons, and modelled and guided writing. This scaffolding is then followed by the independent task. As our English blocks follow this Gradual Release of Responsibility structure, the Launch program allows students to practise each component and the roles of teachers and students during these stages in order to establish good habits going forward.

Students also learn explicitly how to give and receive feedback, which is the backbone of the Windsor State School Writing Program. Each student is given feedback using the 2 stars and a wish model. This model provides students with two positive aspects of their writing (stars) and one thing to work on (wish). The ‘wish’ becomes the student’s individual goal.

an example of ‘2 stars and a wish’

The Bump It Up Wall is another important tool to help move students forward. Bump It Up Walls are visual reminders of the expectation of the task, providing annotated exemplars for student referral throughout the writing task. Bump It Up Walls are used from the beginning of the year in Years 1 to 6 and are introduced in the middle of Prep.

an example of a ‘Bump It Up Wall’

The modelling of writing expectations is crucial in providing students with ongoing support and as a reference for informing their own work.

The next few weeks would be a good time to discuss your child’s Writing and other goals being set and how they might go about being successful in achieving those goals. It might also be helpful to use some of the same language (e.g. 2 stars and a wish) when discussing your child’s writing at home or within homework. It is important for students to understand that the knowledge and skills they learn and use within a Writing lesson also apply to writing in other curriculum areas and in a variety of contexts.

Anna Thygesen
Prep – Yr2

Lisa Heard
Yr3 – Yr6

Instrumental Music

WindsorRoos

Welcome back Windsoroos!

At Windsor State School, we are once again very excited about running our Playgroup, the Windsoroos. It is an early years Playgroup, affiliated with Playgroup Queensland, designed to foster parent/carer, child relationships and provide networking connections.

Windsor State School pays the Playgroup Queensland annual membership fee which covers insurance. Every year, all families fill in a registration form and sign the weekly attendance sheet. The information will be kept on file and submitted to Playgroup Queensland. Each week we ask for a gold coin donation to cover the costs of the consumables.

Our playgroup is for families of children, 0 – 5 years, who reside in the Windsor State School catchment area.

Families 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. We begin our afternoon with indoor activities in the Helping Hands area under Constitution Building. Helping Hands is our Before and After School Care Provider based at Windsor State School. They readily and happily support and assist with our Windsoroos.

The Playgroup will recommence on Friday 22nd February 2019 and will continue to operate in alignment with the school terms.

2019 Timetable for the Windsoroos:

As the Early Years precinct will be a learning and teaching environment every Friday afternoon, we ask that the Windsor community respect the students, teachers and the young Windsoroos and stay away from where they are playing in the Early Years Playground. It would be appreciated if you waited under the buildings or the meeting place until 3pm.

For more information about our playgroup, please click on the attachment below.

We look forward to having fun and growing with you and your child/children at the Windsoroos Playgroup.

Tuckshop Opening Hours

Over the next two weeks Tuckshop will be open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during second break only for over the counter cash sales of icy cold drinks and ice blocks.

On Tuesday 19 February we welcome our new Tuckshop Convener, Susan Trenear. Susan has extensive hospitality management and Tuckshop convener experience. Tuckshop will commence full operation from Tuesday 19 February and will be open five days per week.

Further information including online ordering and menu details will soon be distributed.

We would like to thank our previous Tuckshop Convener, Christine Nation, who has moved on to take up a full-time role. We thank Christine for her efforts during Term 4 of last year.

Should you have any queries regarding any of the above please email pandc@windsorsspandc.com.au.

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop is open during the School term on Mondays 2:30pm – 3:30pm and Wednesdays 8:30am – 9:30am. Uniform Shop orders can be placed online using our online ordering system, Munch Monitor. Online orders can be picked up from the Uniform Shop or delivered to your child’s class for them to bring home.

Signing up is very simple; a Munch Monitor fact sheet is available here. As an external supplier with a dedicated account management team they are able to assist with your account enquiries via help@munchmonitor.com.

Please provide any feedback regarding uniforms to the retail sub-committee at retail@windsorsspandc.eq.edu.au.