9 February 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers and Community

Over the course of the fortnight we continued to welcome new families to our school. It is great to see our students and community welcome new faces and point them in the right direction of various places and people at our school. A stand out for me is how our students include new friends in their games and activities and tour them proudly around our school. The favourite places tend to be the most important – Tuckshop, Music Room, Computer Labs, Library, classrooms and play areas.

This Friday (10 February) we formally recognise and celebrate the student leadership group at our school at the School Investiture Assembly. I am really looking forward to sharing this very special milestone with parents/families and working with our student leadership team alongside Mrs Winter and the Year 6 teachers throughout 2017. Already, students in Year 6 are leading the way and modelling ‘The Willows Way’. Keep it up Year 6’s!

Next week (Week 4) class information nights have been arranged and I look forward to seeing you all in our school and finding out the important information about school life and the year of learning for your child/ren in 2017. Our teachers have put together the important information for their classes and year levels so we hope you can join us. If you are unable to come for any reason, please let your child’s class teacher know and any handouts given can then be sent home to you.

2017 Day 8 Outcomes

Our total enrolment as of last Thursday (Day 8) was 1007 students. Considerable growth in our early years (Prep-2) has occurred which is a very positive reflection on our school reputation in our community. Some changes were made quite seamlessly after Day 8 to allow class sizes to be equitable and the formation of a Year 1/2 composite with Mrs Sarah Rabbitt. I thank families for working with our team in the restructure and am proud to say the learning continues with all classes now established, teachers in place and class locations sorted. Thank you to all of our team for assisting with the bulk enrolment processes, individual enrolments and settling students into learning so quickly.

Over the next fortnight we will have a very clear picture of our allocations for all human resources and financial resources and align these to the key priorities of our school – improving student learning in Reading, Writing, Australian Curriculum subjects (focus on literacy demands) and embedding the Positive Behaviour Learning “The Willows Way”. This information will be shared more fully through the Annual Implementation Plan and Investing For Schools Plan and presented at our P and C Meeting on 15 February (we hope to see you there!). These key documents will then be made available on our website.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the school leadership and support team members at The Willows State School:

Our school is very well resourced and there are many people who can assist. Class teachers and the relationship between parents and teachers is very important so please make your class teacher first point of call for any questions or concerns. They are more than willing to assist and if unable to answer your question will redirect you to one of our team who can help. Already we see positive relationships across our school.

School Review and Quadriennial School Review

Last newsletter I briefly mentioned that 2017 is a Quadriennial School Review. Every 4 years, State Schools go through a collaborative process to review the improvement, achievement and identify areas of school improvement for the next 4 years. Our Strategic School Plan for 2018-2022 will be developed this year. As part of the feedback and gathering information process, the School Improvement Unit attends the school. We have members from the School Improvement Unit attending in Week 8 of this term for 4 days.

Our school review is an opportunity to have your say!

The Department of Education and Training introduced new performance reviews for Queensland state schools in 2015. The reviews are conducted by the department’s School Improvement Unit.

The reviews do not rate or compare schools but provide independent and quality feedback to help schools continue to improve outcomes for students.

All schools have a review at least every four years. Key findings from the review are made available to parents and the community on the school’s website.

As part of the review, the review team would like to hear from our school community and I encourage anyone who is interested to have their say. Your feedback is important and will help us continue to deliver a quality education for students.

Feedback can be provided to the review team by phone or in person. All feedback remains confidential.

If you are interested in speaking to the reviewers, or would like more information about the review process, please contact the school office or email Helen McCullough (the.principal@thewillowsss.eq.edu.au) or the review team at SIUMB@dete.qld.gov.au.

Further information about the reviews is available from the department’s website at:

Kind regards
Helen McCullough
Principal

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS

At The Willows State School we believe that communication is very important and we encourage our parents to be positively involved with their child’s learning at home and at school. We start the year with our Parent Information Sessions. Below is a list of dates, times and locations for all year levels. Please note that these sessions are for general information and conversations. If you wish to have conversation with your teacher about your child please organise another time with them

We look forward to seeing you.

ATTENDANCE

Every student in our school is important to us and we are committed to providing personalised education suited to their needs. The very first step in that is maximising learning time and we believe that if students attend every day and every learning minute of the day we are improving their opportunities for academic success.

Students can come to school from 8am. If they arrive at 8am they go to the Main CPA. At 8.15am year 3,4,5, and 6 students are escorted by a teacher to TCBC. Students are expected to be at school in the classroom ready to start work at 8.45am. Students who are late to school are encouraged to complete any work missed in their own time. Please note that lateness and early departure have an impact on student learning.

THE WILLOWS WAY IS 100% ATTENDANCE.

Just a little bit late doesn’t seem much but did you know…….

LEARNING STARTS AT 8.45AM

ASSEMBLY

School Assemblies are a great way to get together for a common purpose. At The Willows we use assemblies to communication information, to share achievement, to reward the efforts of our students and staff, to make links with our community and to talk about “The Willows Way – CARLA”. Every Friday we have an assembly in the TCBC at 2.20pm and parents are welcome to attend. We alternate our Junior (P-2) and Senior (3-6) assembly every week.

Next Assemblies are:

Senior Assembly (combined with Investiture ceremony) Friday 10th of February
Junior Assembly Friday 17th of February
Senior Assembly 24th of February
Junior Assembly 3rd of March

YEAR 6 CAMP

Our Year 6 camp is fast approaching and we will soon be sending more details and medical forms home to complete. Please be aware that final payment must be received by the 22nd of February.

Payment plan details

• An initial non-refundable deposit of $50 with your signed permission form to secure your place should now have been paid.
• A second payment of $100 was due on the 8th of February 2017.
• A final payment of $90 will be due on the 22nd of February 2017. (Full payment must be made by this date).

If you have not secured your place for camp please contact Mrs Winter as soon as possible Camp forms are available from the office.

CLASSROOM VOLUNTEERS - CODE OF CONDUCT INFORMATION SESSION

Parents and carers who volunteer in our classrooms must complete a Code of Conduct information session annually. This year the session is being offered on Monday 20th February at 3:10pm in A Pod (PY/1ZON). Please contact the office if you require further information.

UNIFORMS

Students at The Willows State School take pride in representing the school community by proudly wearing the school uniform, as represented in the photo below.

Our school colours are gold, jade and navy. School t-shirts are available from a number of distributors such as: Tropic T-Shirts, Georgio Clothing, Cueldee, and Lowes.

Students wear navy shorts (taslon, cotton/polyester, open weave basketball type) or skirt/skort as appropriate. Girls wear shorts or skorts for physical education classes and other sports activities. School jackets are also available from some distributors.

School hats must be a brimmed hat that matches the school colours and can be purchased through the school tuckshop. Visors, caps and inappropriate slogans or pictures are not permitted.

All students must wear lace-up or velcro closed-in shoes with short socks at all times while in the school grounds and for all sports activities.

2016 INVESTITURE CEREMONY

We proudly invite FAMILIES OF STUDENT LEADERS and parents of students in Yr 3 to 6 to join with us in celebrating the Investiture of our student leaders of 2016. The Ceremony will be on Friday the 10th of February in the TCBC commencing at 2.15pm. Already our leaders have started to think about their goals for term 1 and we have talked about leadership standards. There will be 10 members of our leadership team attending the Grip Conference on Thursday.

OUR ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICERS

Hello,

Our names are Kimmy and Bailey and we are your 2017 Environmental Officers.

Our role is to inform our community about environmental issues around The Willows State School. Every fortnight at assembly we will do a presentation. We will be leading our green army to take environmental action around the school. We would also like to welcome back Willow the turtle. She had a lovely holiday and is now back at work modelling environmental excellence around the school.

Keep it green. Your environmental officers Kimmy and Bailey.

PAYMENT AND PERMISSION PROCESS FOR STUDENT ACTIVITIES OR CLASSROOM PROGRAMS

Making a payment for student activities or a classroom program doesn’t automatically give permission for your child to participate. A signed permission form must be returned to the school to allow participation. The school must follow this process for audit requirements.

Invoices need to be generated before the permission note goes home to ensure that there are invoices in the system before payments start coming in. The invoice states what the payment is for so, if you wish, a payment can be made before signing the permission form. The permission form should come home a couple of days after receiving the invoice.

It is advisable to have your email address registered on OneSchool as this will allow your invoices to be sent directly through to you by email.

Payments for invoices can also be made through QParents. If you have not registered with QParents and wish to do so, please contact the office.

INTERHOUSE SWIMMING CARNIVAL YEARS 3 TO 6 THURSDAY, 16TH FEBRUARY 2017

During Week 4, the annual Interhouse Swimming Carnival will be held at the Kirwan Aquatic Centre, Kirwan State High School, Hudson Street, Kirwan. Year 5 & 6 - 9:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. and Year 3 & 4 - 12:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Parents are welcome to come along to see students participate.

Please complete the permission form that should have already been received and return it with $6 by FRIDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 2017. No money will be accepted after this date.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

1. Year 5 and 6 students will need to come to school in their togs to ensure the buses leave on time. All Year 3 and 4 students will be changing into togs at school.
2. Buses leave 15 MINUTES BEFORE each session starts.
3. Students will be required to bring a snack to eat at the pool.
4. NO jewellery is to be worn to ensure safety.
5. Long hair is to be secured.
6. If your child suffers from asthma or other allergies such as grass, bee stings etc, send along medication if required (such as puffers) in an envelope labelled with NAME, CLASS, MEDICATION and DOSAGE. Also you are required to complete the relevant information on the permission form.
7. NO money is to be taken to the pool.
8. Please avoid ordering tuckshop for the break when your child/children will be at the pool.

PE DEPARTMENT

TUCKSHOP NEWS

A huge big thank you goes out to our volunteers that have returned to help out this year: Krystal Hahn, Donna Ross, Michele Walker, Allanah Collett, Christine McCurley and Juana Scott. Ladies, we appreciate all the hard work you do in the tuckshop. If you'd like to come help out please come see Rosie at the tuckshop.

Our specials are still on:

Butter Chicken and Rice $5.00
Honey, Soy, Chicken Stir Fry and Rice $5.00
Gluten Free Lasagne $5.00

Cheers
Rosie, Karen, Megan

DEFENCE NEWS

Hello to all Defence Families

The first 2 weeks have been very busy with meeting new defence students and families. Most of the students appear to be settling in and finding their way around the school. A great positive start to the term.

The Welcome to New defence students party was held last Friday and all who attended had a fun time. It was awesome to see so many students attend. A BIG Thank You to the helpers from 6 FAY, who collected the prep students and walked them to and from the party on the day. Much appreciated.

EDUCATION ASSISTANCE SCHEME

All defence families can access financial assistance for education costs incurred as a result of postings. Students may be entitled to up to 14 weeks of tutoring in any subject that has been identified by the school as representing a gap in learning. Defence may reimburse fees for tutoring which is required to fill any gaps in understanding of the curriculum caused by changing schools. Please see me if you would like a form or you can ring the Helpline.

Are you on the DCO mailing List?

Join DCO Townsville mailing LIST NOW if you want to receive all updates from DCO.

Contact them directly at dco.townsville@defence.gov.au or phone 07 4753 6539.

If you have any enquiries or require assistance, the Defence Family Helpline will continue operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be contacted on 1800 624 608 or email defencefamilyhelpline@defence.gov.au

Townsville Gone Troppo Newsletter

DCO Townsville's Gone Troppo Newsletter is available to view on the DCO website and click on the latest edition to download.

DATES TO REMEMBER

*Week 3 Friday 10th February Welcome to All Defence Families Morning Tea to be held in L Pod from 9:00am. All families (new and existing) are welcome for a cuppa and a chat. I am looking forward to meeting you all there. Please RSVP if attending.

“ALL THAT WE CARRY” play will be held at Riverway Arts Centre on 23rd-25th February. Tickets are on sale from the centre. Please note that the classification of the play is MA15+.

CONTACTS

Defence Community Organisation is available to all Defence members and their families.

Contact Defence Family Helpline operates 24-7 on 1800 624 608.
Mates4Mates (Family Recovery Centre) 40 Anne Street – 4771 9600
Support and Mental Health Services for ADF Families
Townsville Community Mental Health- 4433 3000
Centacare-4772 9000
Relationships Australia-1300 364 277
Veterans and Veterans Families – 1800 011 046 (eligibly criteria applies)

DFA Defence Families of Australia – 1800 100 509 www.dfa.org.au
National Delegate for Northern Queensland - nth.qld@dfa.org.au

Remember I am available anytime from 8:00am until 3:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Parents are very welcome to stop by at L Pod, contact me via email (cwhee36@eq.edu.au) or phone (4799 1333). Students can call into L Pod throughout the day.

I look forward to meeting you.

Correna Wheeler