13 August 2025

Principal’s Pride

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Community Members,

Welcome to Week 5 of Term 3! This week we celebrate the mid-point of Term 3 with a range of exciting Science Week lunch-time activities in the library, National Day of Action Against Bullying school assemblies on Friday morning, and 75 Star Reward Activities Prep to Year 6 across Thursday and Friday.

Selected students will also continue training hard to represent our school with pride in the Les Stagg rugby league evening competition (begins for us on Monday, 18 August) and our Student Council continues preparations for their ‘Dress as your favourite superhero' gold coin fundraiser on Friday, 15^th August.

Don’t forget that Book Week is coming up soon! Students have two weeks left to organise their costumes. This year’s theme is ‘Book an Adventure.’ Our school Book Week assemblies and AMAZING staff/student performances will be held on the morning of Friday, 29 August.  All family and community members are warmly invited to attend.

Inter-school Athletics (RED TRACK) Overview

Last Friday, 8 August a team of 88 students represented The Willows State School at the annual ‘A’ Schools Athletics Carnival. We competed against Kirwan SS, North Shore SS, St Anthony’s Catholic College, Annandale SS, Southern Cross Catholic College, Ryan and St Clare’s.

All TWSS participants gave their all on the day, having diligently attended trainings in the lead up. Several students obtained their personal best results on the day. A very big thank-you to our parents for supporting the early training sessions and for also loudly cheering for our students on the day.

The Willows State School has four students selected to trial for The North Queensland Athletics Team on Tuesday, 26 August. Congratulations to the following students for their significant achievements:

August – Multicultural Queensland Month

Multicultural Queensland Month is a statewide initiative encouraging all Queenslanders to celebrate our cultural and linguistic diversity and work toward more inclusive communities where everyone feels valued and welcomed.

For your information, at The Willows State School we currently have students from 18 differing cultures, including Japan, Korea, England, Brunei, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, New Zealand, Qatar, Scotland, South Africa, Philippines, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, UK Channel Islands!  What a great opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate our diversity.

REMINDER: 2025 School Opinion Survey – Parents/Caregivers

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted in Term 3. All families, school staff and students (Year 5 and 6 only) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well and how we can improve.

• Families with one or more enrolled children at our school will receive one invitation to complete the survey. The parent/caregiver to receive the invitation is selected based on information and email addresses in OneSchool. 
• Participation is by invitation only. There is no generic survey link that can be used by all parents. Each link is unique and can only be used once by the parent. One parent per family will receive the survey link via email.  No logins or passwords are needed.
• The survey will close on 22 August.
• The survey invitation email uses the subject line: School Opinion Survey for parents/caregivers, 2025; parents should check junk email folders if it can’t be found. The email will come from the Department of Education, not the school.
• The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete using a computer, tablet or smart phone.
• Parents/caregivers who do not have access to the internet at home are welcome to complete their survey online at school. School computers/tablets can be made available upon request if needed.
• Translations of the Parent/Caregiver Survey are available online at https://intranet.qed.qld.gov.au/ResourceCentre/Statistics/schoolopinionsurveys/Pages/forms.aspx

School-led Review Validation - THANK YOU

This week on Tuesday and Wednesday we had four members of the SRR Validation team attend our school site to conduct several staff, student and parent interviews to ‘validate’ our school-led review findings and seek to identify any blind spots and additional areas for improvement. 

Thank you to all parents and community members who contributed to this process. Your assistance in contributing your voice to envision the future for our school and develop our new Strategic Plan 2026-2029 is much appreciated and vital.

Once the Validation report is received by the school, the findings from this will be shared and an Executive Summary uploaded to our school website for all to read.

P&C Meeting – NEXT WEEK on WEDNESDAY, 20 AUGUST

All parents, grandparents, extended family members and community members are invited to attend our TWSS P&C Meetings held on the third Wednesday of every school term month in the TCBC Conference Room from 6pm. Your support of our school is much appreciated. 

The P&C are currently working on a number of fundraising ventures for our school this term, including the Father’s Day Stall (Monday, 1 September to Thursday, 4 September) and Colour Fun Run (Friday, 12 September). Many hands make light work.

Extra-Curricular School Photos will be taken on Thursday, 21 August and Friday, 22 August - NEXT WEEK

All students involved in extra-curricular photos next week will be given a letter regarding uniform requirements and the photography schedule.  Please note the schedule below:

2026 Enrolments – NOW OPEN FOR ALL YEAR LEVELS 

Our school is now taking enrolments for the 2026 school year, please get your enrolment forms in early, to inform school planning. Should you know of friends or family looking to join our great school, please inform them that they are also most welcome to contact the school for further information and to obtain an enrolment package.

Prospective 2026 Prep students and parents/caregivers may like to consider attending a Willows Warriors Pre-Prep Program session on a Wednesday to support the transition and orientation process to school. Please contact our school office to obtain further information about this free program and the availability of spaces.

DATE CLAIMER: 2026 Prep Bulk Enrolment Interview Session is coming up soon

On Thursday, 21 August (after school) we are conducting a bulk enrolment interview session in the TCBC for all 2026 Prep enrolments who have submitted their enrolment paperwork. If you have a prospective Prep student for our school for 2026, please contact the school office to secure you and your child’s place in this interview session.

Is your Prep to Year 5 student transferring to another school in 2026?

We would appreciate early notice if your child, or children, will be transferring to another school in 2026. Please inform the office by phone on 47 991 333 OR email admin@thewillowsss.eq.edu.au at your earliest convenience.

2026 BYOx Expression of Interest Process

Letters have now been distributed to all current students in Years 3 to 5 regarding BYOx arrangements for 2026. As in previous years, BYOx Parent Information Sessions will be offered in Term 3 and early Term 4 and reminders will be distributed advising interested families of these dates and times.

For your advance notice, the Term 3 BYOx Parent Information Session currently scheduled to be held in the TCBC Conference Room will be held on Tuesday, 19 August at 5:00pm.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about QLearn and hear from BYOx class teachers about digital pedagogy.

Looking forward to seeing all interested caregivers there.

Bullying No Way National Week of Action School Assemblies

This year the Bullying No Way National Week of Action theme is ‘Be Bold. Be Kind. Speak Up.’ 

It takes courage to spark change.

Bullying is everyone's responsibility. It takes a community to be brave and address bullying behaviours, within and beyond the school gate.

Students can be bold, kind and take a stand to support others being bullied. Parents and teachers are there to support children and young people to learn how to behave in a positive way.

In our community and in our school, we want a place where everyone can belong, a place that celebrates everyone, and where bullying is never accepted.

This Bullying No Way Week, we're asking students, schools, families and communities to be bold and say something, be kind and support someone, and be proud to take a stand against bullying.

For more information about Bullying No Way Week and bullying prevention, visit the Bullying No Way website.

On Friday, 15 August, parents are most welcome to attend our Prep to Year 2 National Day of Action Assembly from 9:15-9:45am and our Year 3 to 6 National Day of Action Assembly from 10:00-10:30am in TCBC.

ADVANCED NOTIFICATION - State-wide Student Free Day (Friday, 5 September)

The Term 3 Student Free Day (SFD) has been scheduled by the Department of Education for Friday, 5 September. Please note this date in your calendars – there will be no school for students on this day.

Have a wonderful week.  Our next newsletter for Term 3 will be issued on Wednesday, 20 August.

Warm regards,

Michelle Donn
Principal

Upcoming Events

Year Level Parade Times

Positive Behaviour Learning (Safe, Respectful, Responsible)

Fortnightly Focus

The new fortnightly focus is "We stand against bullying by choosing kindness". This is aligned to the Bullying No Way: National week of action, which is held from the 11th to 15th August 2025.

The theme for this year is “Be bold. Be kind. Speak up.” It takes courage to spark change. This year we challenge our students to spread kindness to squash bullying in our school.

Bullying is everyone's responsibility and kindness is contagious!!

In our community and in our school, we want a place where everyone can belong, a place that celebrates everyone, and where bullying is never accepted. This Bullying No Way Week, we're asking our students, to be bold and say something, spread kindness to counteract bullying.

National Week of Action against Bullying Assemblies – Friday, 15^th August
Prep to Year 2 – 9.15am-9.45am and Year 3 to 6 10.00am-10.30am
Everyone Welcome.

Choose Kindness

Big Thanks to Mrs Menzies for working with the students to create our KIND letters. We are encouraging students to, ‘Be the ‘i’ in KIND’ this fortnight.

Over the next two weeks, Mrs Barra and Mrs Nosworthy will be checking in on the Year 5 students who have collected a passport for the 2026 leadership positions. We are looking forward to seeing where the students are at with completing their passports.

75 Star Rewards – Week 5

Congratulations to all the students who have been frequently caught being Safe, Respectful and Responsible for the first 5 weeks of Term 3 and are attending our first round of 75 Star Rewards.

The teachers and students will have fun celebrating excellent behaviour for learning this week. Some of the activities planned are undercover play, construction, craft, computers, iPads, board games and outdoor games.

Student Council Free Dress Day (Friday, 15 August)

• Friday 15^th August – Week 5
• Dress as your Favourite Superhero to say No to Bullying
• Gold Coin donation
• We are encouraging students to choose kindness and stand up to bullying

General News

Fresh Fruit Friday and Pick of the Crop Update

Fresh Fruit Friday is our Pick of the Crop initiative to encourage healthy eating and fuel our students for learning! Selected Friday’s, students can enjoy a delicious selection of fresh, seasonal fruit—promoting healthy habits and making healthy choices fun. Join us in celebrating Fresh Fruit Friday and helping our school community grow strong and healthy together! A big thank you to Woolworths Willows for supplying a box of fresh fruit each Friday.

Defence News

Hello and welcome to all Defence families/caregivers and students,

What a wonderful start to the week! On Monday we commemorated VP80-Victory in the Pacific with a visit from Scott Klima from the RSL to talk to Year 3 to 6 Defence students. Students then had the opportunity to see an 82-year-old RAAF Jeep. Bruce and Sharon drove the Jeep to school and discussed its significance with the VP80 commemorations this weekend. Students asked a lot of questions and were able to touch the Jeep. There were lots of smiles all around. Special thanks to everyone who supported our event. It is much appreciated.

A reminder to check out the list of activities and displays happening this weekend at Jezzine Barracks and The Strand. It will be lots of fun for the whole family to attend. I hope to see you there.

Check The Upcoming Events below for a list of activities this weekend.

POSTING TIME IS HERE AGAIN, if your family will be leaving the school for another location, please let me know. Phone, email or call into my room for a chat.

Benedict’s, Townsville -The Cathedral School and St Benedict’s Catholic School are seeking a compassionate and proactive Defence School Mentors (DSM) to join their teams. The roles are part of the national Defence School Mentor Program (DSMP), funded by the Defence Member and Family Support (DMFS) Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Defence. For more information and to apply, head to the job ad for The Cathedral School on Seek. The link to the ad for St Benedict’s is in the DMFS Newsletter. Interested? Don’t hesitate - applications close soon!

Education Assistance Scheme is available to access for tutoring within 18months of posting to a new school. This is available for all primary and high school aged children who may require support in Maths and English. Contact the DMFS Helpline on 1800 624 608 for all details on how to apply. With approval your child can have access to 14 hrs of tutoring for both Maths and English through a private tutor. Contact me with any questions. Flyer below with details.

The Partner Employment Assistance Program (PEAP) is again available to partners to claim reimbursement up to $1500 per financial year for a variety of employment services. More details and how to register are on the Defence Website or you can ask me for a flyer. 

Kookaburra Kids is in Townsville, this organisation supports defence kids living in families that are affected by mental illness.  For more details on activities contact Hannah Galliner on 0484 544 451 or check out the website www.kookaburrakids.org.au

Families with Special Needs you can access support through the Defence Special Needs Support Group (DSNSG) or call 1800 037 674.  For more information on assistance measures go to the website or email specialneeds.families@defence.gov.au

For what’s coming up in Townsville for Defence Families see attached flyer or register to receive their newsletter and updates dmfs.townsville@defence.gov.au or follow on Facebook.

Geckos Family Centre-North Queensland is at Lavarack Barracks and is open for parents and families to drop in. Organised daily activities on offer. Follow them on Facebook or phone them on 07 4411 7031 for more details.

TO BE UP TO DATE WITH “WHATS ON IN TOWNSVILLE” CHECK     whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au

UPCOMING EVENTS/DATES TO REMEMBER

Child of the ADF Medallion Ceremony

Come join us for a special medallion ceremony to honour the children of our ADF members. This in-person event will take place at the Wirraway Club at RAAF Base Townsville. This event is a small but important way of recognising the children who go through the emotional, and at times, difficult experience of having a loved one serve in the ADF. Participation in the Child of the ADF Medallion program is open to all recognised dependents of full time ADF members aged up to 18 years of age. Children are only eligible to obtain the medallion once, so if they have already received a Child of the ADF Medallion here in Townsville, or any other location, please do not register them again.

When:             Friday, 19 September
Time:               5.30pm – 7.00pm
Where:            Wirraway Club, RAAF Base Townsville
Tickets:           Eventbrite – Child of the ADF Medallion Ceremony

***This event fills quickly so register now***

Textured Art

ADF members and partners over 18 years, unleash your inner artist at our Art Inspired Laugh and Chat Night, where we will be creating a stunning textured wall art. Get inspired, and let your imagination run wild! Whether you are a seasoned artisan or a curious newbie, you will find joy in every texture and embellishment, creating a unique masterpiece to adorn your wall. Unleash your inner artist and let your imagination run wild in this playful and relaxing environment.

When:             Friday, 22 August
Time:               6.00pm
Where:            Geckos Family Centre, Lavarack Barracks
Register:         Eventbrite – Textured Art
***This event is strictly for adults only (18+)***

VP80 Commemorations

Friday 15 August - VP DAY

• Commemorative Service and Wreath Laying at Anzac Park Cenotaph 10.00 -11.00. Come along and join me in representing our school in this commemorative event.
• Re-enactment of the War is Over Speech-Flinders Street 12.00-12.30.
• Joint US/Australian Commemorative Service-5^th USAF Memorial, Kissing Point, Jezzine Barracks 15.30-16.30.

Saturday 16 August

• Community Open Day at Jezzine Barracks-Historic and vehicle display, Museum tours 11.00-16.00.
• Exercising Freedom of Entry to the City-5^th USAF, along The Strand TBC 15.00-15.30.
• Late afternoon Parade of Veteran Vehicles-Bands of 1RAR and USAF, marching contingent from 3^rd Brigade and RAAF Townsville along The Strand16.00-17.00.
• Aircraft Flypast-Historic Aircraft and Current 17.00-17.30.
• VP 80 Concert-Music of the War Years, Strand Park 17.30-19.00.
• VP 80 Sky Salute-Pyrotechnics Display on The Strand 19.00-19.30.

Sunday 17 August

• 31^st Battalion Assoc Annual Commemorative Service, St James Cathedral, 9.00.
• Pilgrimage to the Townsville War Cemetery-Belgian Gardens 10.00-11.00.
• Historic Sites Tour Self-Guided all day per published map.
• Ceremony at Cowboys Home Game-Qld Country Bank Stadium time TBC.

IMPORTANT CONTACT DETAILS

Defence Family Helpline 24/7 - 1800 624 608 - Need Help give them a call    

DMFS Office at Nathan Business Centre on Ross River Rd, call 07 4430 3879 or walk in  

Open Arms support former and current serving ADF personnel and their family members can use the service – office is at the Nathan Business Centre or call 1800 011 046 www.openarms.gov.au

Mates4Mates – Townsville FRC 4771 9600 townsville@mates4mates.org

Dirty Boots Café now Open from 9am-12.30pm every day, you are welcome to attend for a chat and to have a look around.

The Oasis Townsville for Ex-ADF Community in Townsville  hello@theoasistownsville.org.au

DFA (Defence Families of Australia) NQ Delegate Eden Santos 0418 796 561 nth.qld@dfa.org.au

DSNG Defence Special Needs Group - 1800 037 674  www.dsng.org.au

Beyondblue.org.au www.australia.gov.au

Geckos Family Centre Nth Qld Lavarack Barracks - Contact for enquiries on 07 4446 1238 or follow on Facebook

Kookaburra Kids Charity Organisation Mental Health Service - 1300 566 525   www.kookaburrakids.org.au or contact Hannah Galliner 0484 544 451/1300 566 525

Defence Holidays NQ at Lavarack Barracks (opp the Gym) - 07 4725 3842 admin@defenceholidaysnq.com.au

My office is open for a private conversation and cuppa anytime or alternatively phone me any time on 4799 1333 ext 323, Monday to Wednesday or email me cwhee36@eq.edu.au

Have an awesome week!

Correna Wheeler
Defence School Mentor

REMEMBER AND COMMEMORATE VP 80