13 may 2015 agnes water state school · p.o. box 238 1 donohue drive, agnes water qld 4677 ph: 07...
TRANSCRIPT
AGNES WATER STATE SCHOOL
P.O. Box 238 1 Donohue Drive, AGNES WATER QLD 4677
Ph: 07 49021333 Email: [email protected]
Calendar of Events
Date Event
Mon 16 May High School Readiness Information
Session – 9:45am Agnes Water
Mon 16 May P&C Meeting
Tues 17 May UNSW Digital Technologies
Thurs 19 May Principal Business Meeting
Fri 20 – Sun
22 May
1770 Festival
Thurs 26 May Bundaberg Show Holiday
Fri 27 May Under 8’s Day
Tues 31 May UNSW Science
Wed 1 Jun Kepnock SHS Overnight Camp
Thurs 2 Jun High School Readiness Information
Session 2 – 2:00pm Agnes Water
Fri 3 Jun Academic Triathlon Debating Day 1
Tues 7 Jun Twilight Teacher PD
Thurs 9 Jun Principal Meeting
Fri 10 Jun Spectra Science Fair
Mon 13 Jun UNSW Writing
Tues 14 Jun A Slice of Vaudeville Performance
Wed 15 Jun UNSW Spelling
Fri 17 Jun Science Fair
Sat 18 Jun Seven Steps in Writing Training (teachers)
Mon 20 Jun P&C Meeting
Wed 22 Jun Report Cards sent home
Wed 22 Jun Celebration Day
Thurs 23 Jun Athletics Carnival Day 1
Fri 24 Jun Athletics Carnival Day 2
Fri 24 Jun Last day of Term 2
Saturday 25 June to Sunday 10 July Winter Vacation
Mon 11 July School Resumes Term 3
13 May 2015
Our Wonderful Head of Curriculum
We are very lucky as a school to have an outstanding Head
of Curriculum that is passionate about developing our
students and staff. Mrs Tankey is always in classrooms
either teaching, modelling best practice, supporting
students or she is working late after school with teachers
and busy making connections to provide awesome extra-
curricular activities for our students. Thanks Mrs Tankey
for the great things you do for our school.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Our school is committed to the
success of all students in our school.
As such we go to great lengths and
expense to ensure our service
provision is exceptional. We invest
heavily in our staffing and develop
strong partnerships with external organisations to
provide opportunities for specialist support that is not
accessible in our local area. One such organisation is
Royal Far West based out of Sydney. Through the use
of web-conferencing tools, students in our school can
access; Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational
Therapists, Paediatric Support and Mental Health
programs. Parents cannot normally access these
services without travelling to Bundaberg or Gladstone.
Having access to this service, while it is at a cost to
parents, enables on-site support and minimises
interruptions to learning caused by student absences.
When we invest in any program of support in our
school, we continually monitor this for value for
money and outcomes for students. Recently we
have been looking at our 12 month outcomes from
our targeted support programs using CogMed
(supporting Working Memory) and Reading
Intervention. These programs in conjunction with
classroom learning have resulted in some outstanding
achievements.
In comparing our student performance between 2014
and 2015 against regional benchmarks, we have seen
a significant improvement in achievement. At the
end of 2015;
There were 70% less Preps, 75% less Year 1s, 72% less
Year 2s and an average of 56% less Year 3-6 students
below Regional Benchmarks in a 12 month window.
We saw an average reading improvement equivalent
to six months of growth in a two month window for
students on reading intervention and through a
consolidated effort between classroom practices and
targeted support our Year 5’s demonstrated an
average 36 month improvement in a 12 month
window.
Not only did we see this improvement for our
students last year, the students who were involved in
support programs have now continued to show age
appropriate improvement.
This achievement is not only ours as a school, but is an
acknowledgement of the effort that parents put in to
supporting their children with daily reading and
regular communication with classroom teachers.
I am very proud of these results and the efforts of all
involved in helping to deliver these outcomes for our
students.
Uniforms
As we enter the cooler months of the year, it is
reminded to parents that school uniform
requirements still apply. Denim does not form part of
our school uniform. Students are also expected to
wear a navy blue jumper. School jumpers can be
purchased from the school and we often have second
hand jumpers available for sale. Target and Kmart
regularly sell plain blue jumpers and tracksuits at very
low costs which are also suitable for school. We had
very few incidences of students being out of uniform
last year during winter and I would like to improve
upon this in 2016. In the office, I have a range of
spare blue jumpers that I am prepared to loan out to
students for the day if they do not have a blue jumper
to wear to school.
NAPLAN
Congratulations to our students during the last three
days of NAPLAN. I am very proud of the effort that
students applied to their testing and their
commitment to giving it a Red Hot Go. The tests are
now sent away for marking and confirmation of
results with individual reports usually released around
late August. The pancake breakfast each day was
definitely enjoyed by the students.
Congratulations Mrs Heenan
Mrs Keryn Heenan has recently been appointed to the
position of Head of Department – Positive Behaviour
for Learning at Northern Peninsula Area State College
in Bamaga. Mrs Heenan’s last day with our school
will be Wednesday 18 May and she will fill this role
until the end of the school year. While it will be sad to
see Mrs Heenan leave for a while, we are very
fortunate to be joined by Mrs Dawn Morton who will
be taking our 2/3B class. Mrs Morton comes highly
recommended with wonderful teaching experience in
the Year 2/3 area. Mrs Morton will begin working
with Mrs Heenan and Mrs Tankey over the coming
days to help ensure a successful transition between
teachers.
GENERAL SCHOOL NEWS
Student Health
In our school we have a couple of students who have
individual health issues, some that can be quite
serious and lead to anaphylactic reactions. While our
school does not prohibit nuts on site, these are one of
the triggers for anaphylaxis. To help support the
wellbeing for all students we regularly remind
students about the importance of not sharing lunches
and making sure they wash their hands after eating. It
is appreciated if parents can assist in reinforcing this
message at home.
Mothers’ Day Stall
We hope every Mother had a wonderful day on
Sunday. Thank you to our families for your support of
our Mothers’ Day Stall and many thanks to our stall
holders for the wonderful gifts for our students to
purchase.
Bundaberg Show Holiday
While our school operates in the Gladstone Regional
Council, it forms part of the Bundaberg schooling area
and is aligned with services that are supported from
Bundaberg, including bus transportation and our
feeder high school of Rosedale. It also aligns with the
Agnes Water Childcare who have operated the
Bundaberg Show Holiday as a public holiday in the
past. Our school investigated the options of moving
our show holiday last year, however the impacts of
this outweighed remaining with the Bundaberg show
holiday as the school has done for the last 25 years.
Agnes Water State School will be closed on Thursday
26 May for the Bundaberg Show Holiday and will be
open in August during the Gladstone Show Holiday.
P&C AGM
Unfortunately not all positions were filled at our P&C
AGM last term. The position of Secretary is still to be
filled and is an important part of ensuring the ongoing
viability of our P&C. We will also be looking for a
treasurer later in the school year. Without a full
executive, we lose all of our P&C Funding, are not able
to undertake fundraising and will have to close our
tuckshop. The P&C is also an important part of
ensuring transparency of school operations in our
school and a valuable way for parents to provide
feedback to the school. If you are able to assist with
our P&C association please do not hesitate to contact
the school as soon as possible. Our next P&C
Meeting will be Monday 16 May at 4:00pm in the
Staff Room.
1770 Festival
Next weekend is the 1770 Festival, commencing at
5:00pm Friday 20 May, with the re-enactment of the
landing at the 1770 Foreshore, followed by the parade
on Saturday 21 May and Family Fun Weekend at the
SES Grounds. Our school will again be participating in
the street march and we encourage all students to
join us for the morning coming dressed as a circus
performer eg. lion tamer or clown. We will also have
a static display set up over the weekend showcasing
the many great achievements of our school. Student
letters will come home on Monday.
HEAD OF CURRICULUM NEWS
Ideas for Writing
You will start to notice in some of our homework
matrixes that children are being asked to complete a
‘Show, Not Tell’ using different ideas. Your child
should be able to tell you all about this fantastic
strategy. It is an activity that we use as part of the
implementation of our school writing program as
discussed in previous newsletters. If they are stuck for
ideas about what to write get them to think of the five
senses associated. For example for a Show, Not Tell
about ‘I am scared’ you could say “My knees were
knocking and my palms were sweaty as I looked inside
the lunchbox that had been in Sam’s bag all school
holidays.” Another great activity you can do at home
to get the ideas flowing is a ‘Paper Conversation’.
While your kids are at waiting for dinner give them a
piece of paper and a pencil and tell them they can’t
talk. They must have a conversation using only writing
– it soon emphasises why we value spelling and neat
writing because they are writing for a purpose and
people need to be able to understand what is written.
These ideas all promote fun and creativity in writing,
getting the ideas flowing and letting them enjoy it.
The staff have all tried these ideas themselves at staff
meetings over the past year, as we know the value of
walking in our students’ shoes.
SPECTRA Science Extension Program
Thank you to all the parents who have been fitting
SPECTRA into your busy home-lives – the students are
so proud of their efforts. I am on a big learning curve –
last week I learnt about a meteor shower that was
happening, I saw a volcanic rock from Japan and I have
a lovely sample of fake snot from one of the Chemistry
students. This extension program is really enhancing
their learning and wonder about the world. Please
remember that you can email me any time for
assistance and I am very happy to print off photos and
work for the students. The Science Fair has been
moved back to Week 10 (Friday 17 June) just to give
everyone a little bit more time. We will send home
more information as it gets closer.
Under Eight’s Day
This year our school is again hosting an exciting Under
Eight’s Day event and we would like to invite parents
and little ones to our school oval on Friday 27 June
from 9:00am to 10:30am for a morning of dressing up,
painting and creating. Please spread the word around
our lovely town – we hope to see you there.
“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Tom
Peters
This week I am celebrating the efforts of Mrs Keryn
Heenan, one of our 2/3 teachers. Mrs Heenan can
always be relied upon to make learning fun, and she
finds so many ways to engage her students. We wish
Mrs Heenan all the best on her adventure north and
look forward to writing letters and postcards to keep
in touch.
Special Thanks
Last newsletter I made special mention about the
mums who helped us sew our recycled rug together. I
would also like to thank Mrs Julie Growcott who
dedicated a lot of time to finishing an additional one
for us. The rug has been delivered and when it is a
part of the record attempt we will be sure to show
you pictures. Kim Cooke, a local photographer has
compiled a beautiful collage of the rug makers – it
truly is a work of art.
Please share what you see – we welcome feedback
about your child’s education…email me at
[email protected] so we can all benefit from the
wealth of knowledge in this lovely community.
Yours in Learning,
Mrs Leigh Tankey
Agnes Water Tennis with Ange Draheim
Tennis lessons before school have now recommenced with Ange at the school. Lessons are also available at Ange’s court on Bicentennial Drive after school on a Tuesday. Lessons are $10 each session. For bookings please contact Ange on 0409 971 401.
Soccer at Captain Creek Soccer has recommenced with Mandy Bassard at
Captain Creek Sport Reserve on Tuesday
Afternoons from 3:30pm to 5pm. The school bus
can drop off at the venue. Please contact Mandy
for registration or further information on:
4974 7186