GOONDI STATE SCHOOL 78 Maple Street, Goondi Q 4860

Ph: 07 40780 444 Fax: 07 40 617012 Student Absence Line: 07 40780466

Email: principal@goondiss.eq.edu.au Web Address: www.goondiss.eq.edu.au

NEWSLETTER

UPFRONTUPFRONTUPFRONTUPFRONT Dear Parents and Carers

As we move to the sixth week of the school term, our school and classrooms are now working very hard in full teaching and learning mode. Our fo-cus remains on setting high standards for our-selves and ensuring our programs are being fully implemented.

We have now commenced our lesson observa-tions conducted by myself as Principal and at times by expert staff from within and outside of our fantastic school. Teachers are observed in class situations, delivering lessons and are then provided with feedback at the end of the day. It allows sharing of how classes are progressing as well as an opportunity for feedback to teachers so that they can continually refine and improve their teaching practice.

This year has seen a great start. Our students have demonstrated high levels of engagement and the in which they have settled into classroom and school routines, whether it be our newest students in Prep or our oldest students in Year 6 has been excellent.

Across our school I have been very impressed by the engagement and enthusiasm of our students as they work on writing tasks. I am pleased to report that this high standard is once again evi-dent across all our year levels and something Goondi State School can be very proud of.

Attendance Attendance is still and will always be a critical factor in student success. Currently we have an overall attendance rate of 95%. To maintain these high levels and for our students to achieve their full potential, it is crucial that we all work together – parents and school, to ensure that every student attends every day.

Finally, can I remind parents that Goondi State School begins instruction at 8:45am . Ideally stu-dents should be delivered to school before this time so that they have an opportunity to organise themselves and be prepared for class.

Being 10 or 15 minutes late each day may not sound like a lot, but multiply that by 200 school days and you have the equivalent of 2 solid weeks of school missed, not to mention the stress it can cause the student as they join a les-son that is well underway.

When it comes to education, getting your children to school every day on time should be every parent’s highest priority.

Regards,

Peter Begemann Principal

6th March, 2019

SCHOOL NEWSSCHOOL NEWSSCHOOL NEWSSCHOOL NEWS

TERM 1 CALENDAR School Events Fri 15th Mar - Student Council Free Dress Day National Day of Action - “Bullying No Way” Mon 18th Mar - P&C Meeting Thurs 21st Mar - School Photos Tue 2nd Apr - Parent/Teacher Interviews

Sport Events Wed 27th Mar - Inter-House Cross Country Tues 2nd Apr - Inter-House Athletics 200m, 800m & Shotput Thurs 4th Apr - Inter-House Athletics Carnival

INVESTING FOR SUCCESS We have now completed de-velopment of our 2019 Invest-ing for Success (I4S) plan. Our school focus will continue to be on using the funding to improve Reading in Prep to Year 3 and improve Numeracy across the board.

As per last year we have set some clear targets and we guarantee that every student will either a) achieve National Minimum Standard for their year level or b) have an evidence-based learning plan in place to address their specific learning needs.

Ensure that the following Reading targets in P-3 are attained:

• Prep – 80% of students achieving Level 10.

• Year 1 – 80% of students achieving Level 20.

• Year 2 – 80% of students achieving Level 25.

• Year 3 – 80% of students achieving Level 28.

Ensure that the following Numeracy targets in Years 3 and 5 are attained.

• NAPLAN Numeracy mean above Australian mean; 50% of students in the upper two bands.

A large portion of the funding will be spent on en-gaging key support personnel to deliver reading intervention programs for those students identified at being at risk of not achieving the National Mini-mum Standard.

GOONDI 5 REFLECTION WEEK The middle week of each term (Week 5) is Goondi 5 Reflection Week. Last week, Year 1-6 teachers took the opportunity to inform students where they sit in terms of the Goondi 5 key levels. The feed-back is based on our Goondi 5:

Being Safe Showing Respect Working Hard and Participating Getting Organised Bouncing Back Students on a “C” level key are demonstrating sat-

Aria / Elliot

Shanvir / Sienna

Kaylee / Hamish

Ethan / Nalu Hogg

Sophie / Cooper

Agam / Elsa

Zaeden / Elise

Italian Jhett

No Photo Available

SCHOOL NEWS SCHOOL NEWS SCHOOL NEWS SCHOOL NEWS Continued isfactory behaviour in these areas, “B” level stu-dents demonstrate very good behaviour and “A” key level students demonstrate exemplary behav-iour.

Students who have achieved an “A” key level at the end of term are awarded with a special Goondi 5 certificate on assembly. Those students who achieve an “A” key level in all four school terms will take part in a special school excursion at the end of the year.

Ask your child to tell you their Goondi 5 key level. They should also be able to explain to you any areas that they need to work on to improve.

ATTENDANCE REWARDS Attendance rewards form part of a range of strat-egies used at Goondi State School to promote regular attendance. Rewards are put in place for individual students and for classes who meet agreed attendance targets. The following are our guidelines and rewards. These rewards are sup-ported and funded by our P&C.

At the end of each term OneSchool data will be used to determine the attendance rates of individ-ual students for that term.

A student who has a term at-tendance rate of 95% or great-er will be awarded with a “Great Attendance” wrist band and go into a draw for a year level prize.

Any student who achieves 100% attendance for the year, will be awarded a special framed Excel-lent Attendance certificate.

At the end of each month the class with the high-est attendance (two categories; P-2 and Years 3-6) will be awarded an Excellence Pennant.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLY-ING – MARCH 15th There is no place for bullying in Goondi State School. Those who are bullied and those who bully are at risk for behavioural, emotional and academic problems. These outcomes are in direct contradiction to our school community’s goals and efforts for supporting all students. At Goondi State School there is broad agreement among students, staff and parents that bullying is observable and measurable behaviour. When considering whether or not bullying has occurred, we will therefore avoid speculation on the intent of the behaviour, the power of individuals involved, or the frequency of its occurrence. Whether bully-ing behaviour is observed between students of equal or unequal power, whether it occurs once or several times, and whether or not the persons involved cite intimidation, revenge, or self-defence as a motive, the behaviour will be re-sponded to in similar fashion, that is, as categori-cally unacceptable in the school community.

Bullying Definition

‘Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in rela-tionships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psy-chological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more per-

sons. Bullying can happen in person or online, and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert).

Bullying of any form or for any reason can have long-term effects on those involved, including by-standers.

Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not de-fined as bullying.’

Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include: • mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)

• not liking someone or a single act of social rejec-tion

• one-off acts of meanness or spite • isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence

However, these conflicts still need to be ad-dressed and resolved.

(The definition of bullying has been developed as part of the National Safe Schools Framework and can be found on the Australian Government's Safe Schools Hub at http://safeschoolshub.edu.au/. The national definition of bullying for Australian schools was developed by the Safe and Supportive School Communities Working Group. This national group includes all state, territory and federal education departments, as well as national Catholic and independent schooling representatives.) On Friday March 15th we will be holding a free dress day to recognise the National Day of Action Against Bullying. Gold coin donations will be col-lected by the student council.

TUCKSHOP Goondi State School would like to thank our P&C and volunteers for the recent tuckshop days run at school. Our students have given lots of positive feedback around how good it was! We would also like to thank our P&C Vice-President, Julie McKay, for coordinating further days. The tuck-shop this year will be run on a volunteer basis.

We would love to keep this valued part of our school up and running. If you are able to offer any time, please contact our P&C via the school. Sad-ly, without volunteers, the Tuckshop will not be able to continue. We need enough volunteers to set up a roster, please help if you can.

INTER- HOUSE SPORTS DAY Inter-house sports day is on Thursday 4 April. We are asking for volunteers to bake items (cakes, slices, biscuits etc) and to assist with the tuckshop sales. This will be the only tuckshop day for the last week. Parent volunteers are needed to make this day a success, so please, if you can help, send a note to the school office advising what you are baking or if you are available to assist on the day, this will be forwarded on to our P&C.

Taylah / Bailey

Austen / Evie

Robbie / Hunter

Willow / Aria

Kiran / Bailee

Italian / Music Lisa / Ava

Kaleeya / Gurdas

Kate / Brooklyn

CLASSROOM CAPERS

Prep Wow, we are half way through term 1 at Prep. We have seen big changes in how organised the children are in the mornings and many of our Prep children are now saying good-bye at the door or gate and walking in by themselves! Prep parent-teacher interviews are being held this week. If you haven’t yet made an appointment please see Tess or Sue to make a time. At these interviews we will be able to let you know how your child has settled in to school and how he/she is progressing. In Letterland we have been learning about Eddy Elephant, Firefighter Fred, Dippy Duck, Uppy Umbrella, Red Robot and Peter Puppy. Our word families are et (net, wet, jet, met, pet) and ig (pig, big, wig, fig, dig). We have also been learning about rhyming words and counting syllables in words. In Maths we have been writing, counting and making groups of 7 and 8. There are many different ways to show numbers. We can use tally marks, dice, counters, ten frames and fingers. Ask your child to show you how! Regards Sue, Anita, Tess and Krissy.

Year 1 Well we are at the half way mark this term and time really is flying in Year 1. In English, we have really been impressed with the huge efforts put into weekly writing tasks. The students are enjoying writ-ing imaginative recounts and are striving to make their writing interesting by using a range adjectives to make their writing pop. In grammar, we have been learning all bout nouns and learning the difference between common and proper nouns. Ask your child to sing you the noun song. In Maths, we have been consolidating 3D and 2D shapes and have been looking at their unique features. We have been building our knowledge of numbers to 50 through the use of MAB’s and have also been practicing writing the number names in word form. In Science this week the students looked at what a healthy and unhealthy habitat looks like. In History, we have been practicing saying our full name, birth date and parent’s names. Leigh, Hayley and Fiona

Year 1/2 & 2 We cannot believe it is week 6 already! Year 1/2 and 2B have been busy consolidating their mathematical knowledge by re-viewing concepts taught so far this term. The maths questions on our homework sheets really help with revisiting these key concepts as well. Last week we completed our mid-term writing assessment “I Walked With Dinosaurs”, in which we wrote thrilling imaginative recounts about encounters with dinosaurs. Our mid-terms will give our teachers a chance to see how we are travelling in writing and provide us with feedback on how we can improve. This week we are already busily planning for our next writing topic “Monkey Business”. If you ask us about this, we would love to tell you some of the problems we have come up with for our stories so far! In History we are continuing to compare and contrast elements of the past and present. This week we looked at roles within the home, and things such as cooking and cleaning, and how technology has really changed the way we get things done around the house. Great to see these lessons igniting some valuable class discussions! Until next time... Jae-Marie, Louise & Jeanette.

Year 3 & 3/4 Hi everyone, The Grade 3 students have been working extremely hard. In Science we have looked at grouping keys and have start-ed grouping things based on their observable features. In HASS we are looking at how people can have different beliefs and values which have an influence on their beliefs. Maths this week sees us reading, writing and representing numbers in the thousands. Next week we will be examining chance and data, predicting the likelihood of events and cre-ating and interpreting graphs. In Literacy we are continuing with the Spelling Mastery program. The majority of children have been very engaged and have shown great results on the tests to date. During writing we are beginning to examine the structure of an exposition. Until next time, Rebecca, Janelle & Lizette

Year 4 We are now over half way through term 1 and rules and rou-tines have been well-established. Last week students com-pleted their mid term key level reflections. Congratulations to the students who have achieved A key level. We are enjoy-ing the students “Sizzling Starts” in their narratives. A Siz-zling Start is when a writer zooms straight into the action to engage the reader. Our Sizzling Starts include starting with action, dialogue or sound. In Maths we are solving word problems and working with fractions. We are also learning about assessing the likelihood of chance events occurring in every day situations. In Tech-nology, the students are very enthusiastic to start the con-struction phase of their Build a Bridge challenge. Some of their designs are amazing. Library day for 4B is Tuesday and 4A is Friday. Please re-mind your child to bring his or her books to school for ex-changing on that day. A reminder that students are expected to hand homework in for marking every Friday morning. Home reading should be for at least 15 minutes every night and recorded on the home reading sheet. Kath, Lisa and Rhonda.

Year 5 Boom! Crash! Smack! The wind crashed against the old house as they were tip toeing up the perilous stairs… Just as he thought he was safe a big brick came crashing down from the force of the avalanche as landed on his leg with a loud thump… Nickey sat on a wooden chair under some trees that bloomed with bright, yellow flowers. The soft wind whispered in her ears… Tom’s arms were waving furiously about and his legs, which he couldn't feel, were kicking about like he was swimming in the air… She pressed herself against the cold, stone wall and sighed with relief. The corridors were pitch black. That was good. That meant that the men with the dimly lit torches were far way. Well, at least far enough away for Lacey to catch her breath… We are becoming creative and imaginative writers in Y5! These quotes are just a taste of the visionary writing we are seeing. We are becoming experts with figurative and de-scriptive language and are building tension in our texts! Regards, Mrs Charge, Miss Wilson and Mrs McClelland.

Community Notices GIRLS GALA DAY - SILKWOOD SOCCER FIELDS March 9th 2pm - 4pm Special Guest - Sara Jones Coinciding with International Women’s Day Bring a friend - Girls Carnival coaches and other female coaches will be facilitat-ing the afternoon. Free sausage sizzle

CLASSROOM CAPERS

Student Council News Time to Get Down! The Student Council are planning a disco night for end of term. Watch this space for details confirming date and theme. Awareness campaigns and competitions are also being organised for the National Bullying No Way Day on Friday March 15. We encour-age all students to get involved.

Italian News The Years 5 and 6 Italian classes at Goondi State School are continuing to build on their Italian language. We are consist-ently speaking, writing and listening to our new words.

Year 5 students are learning how to answer the questions Che classe fai? (What grade are you in?) and Dove vai a scuola? (Where do you go to school?). Year 6 students are creating role plays with their teacher so they can have conversations in Italian. Students are revising and building on verbs learnt pre-viously to make and answer questions in the role plays. Year 5 and 6 students are also learning songs to improve their pro-nunciation.

The bookwork standard shown in their exercise books is pleas-ing. Feedback and assistance is given to students regularly. Continue encouraging your child to speak Italian with you and discuss what they are learning.

Arrivederci (Goodbye) Signora Lazzarini

Guidance Officer The National Day of Action, termed “Bullying No Way” is on Friday the 15th March. It is a timely reminder that respect for oneself and each other is so important. There are many definitions of Bullying and they include a delib-erate and ongoing powering over others. Basically it comes down to treating others like we appreciate being treated— be-ing respected, valued and included. When we speak of bullying situations we consider there to be people in the bullying, victim and bystander roles. No matter what role we find ourselves in, when we consider respect, val-ue and inclusion, it challenges us all to respond appropriately. There are many school and home situations that call us to be-have fairly and respectfully towards others as well as to re-spond assertively when we are being challenged. Let’s keep modelling and discussing friendly, respectful and inclusive behaviour with our young people so that bullying has far less chance of becoming a concerning part of their lives. If there are any concerns, please bring it to the school’s atten-tion. Thank you. Regards, Lilian

Sport Report We are all in full time training now. Juniors are learning and practising their sprints and Ball Games, and Seniors have be-gun High Jump Trials. We are fast approaching Inter - House Athletics Day which will be in Week 10 of this term on Tuesday 2nd April and Thursday 4th April. Cross Country training is continuing for all students. We are training during our morning endurance running time in order to avoid the heat. Inter-House Cross Country is Wednesday 27 March. Tiffanie Bulstrode Health and Physical Education Teacher

Year 6 Greetings parents and carers, Students are continuing to work hard at developing and con-solidating their learning in all subjects for their forthcoming end-of-term tests. Our mid-term keys have been adminis-tered and students are aware of how they need to improve to reach an A key. Personal goals have been set to attain key success. In English, we are continuing with our weekly imaginative historical recounts based on our novel 'Scarecrow Army'. To ensure accuracy in their recounts, we encourage students to continue to work hard on their weekly writing rehearsal les-sons and novel study tasks. In Maths, we will continue our focus on fractions, polyhedrons, statistical data and order of operations. History’s focus will move towards investigating the international influences on Australia's Federation and migrant experiences. Science will focus on renewable ener-gy sources and how many of the Earth's species live in diffi-cult living environments. In Digital Technologies, students continue to research and plan their own designs of Scratch games in order to be able to play their personalized game using the Makey Makey program. Please do not hesitate to drop in or contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for your support. Marica Cunningham, Sharon May and Janette McCelland.

Library News Brand new copies of all eleven titles in the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz are in the library. The first book, Stormbreaker, is a fantastic, ‘edge of your seat’ spy thriller and many senior students who have reserved it are eagerly awaiting their turn. “Stormbreaker is everything that a spy novel should be: action-packed, impossible to put down, fast-paced and yet lined with plot twists aplenty, just so you don’t get too com-fortable in your seat! Horowitz’s excellent writing in Stormbreaker makes it very ob-vious as to why the Alex Rider books have become such a phenomenon, and it is safe to say that they are not going to be forgotten anytime soon – even 15 years after Stormbreaker’s initial publication.” The Guardian Kerry Green (Teacher Librarian)