28 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers and Community

Earlier this year we had a number of students participate in an international Science competition. We will be presenting the results and certificates at our upcoming Year 3-6 parade this Friday so hope to see you there!

The last fortnight has seen many cool
technology and science experiments and
learning being shared at our school with our
leadership team. We look forward to sharing
with you some of our favourites at our
upcoming Expo 2017 coming up in Week 6 on
Thursday the 17th of August from 5.30pm.

Last year it was a very popular event with
families enjoying our displays and our
illusionist show.

This year we look forward to the showcase of student learning of Science and Technology in the curriculum. This year our local High Schools Kirwan High and Thuringowa High will also be presenting displays and doing a presentation for our families to have fun with science. See you at TCBC!

Our Fun Fair is coming up and our P and C have been busily organising for a successful event. Please contact our P and C through the Facebook Page or contact Tanya Eddy if you are able to donate or help out at the Fair. We are looking forward to your support and a night of fun at The Willows!

Our school staff, students and P and C have been working on our Quadriennial School Review to form our 4 Year Plan. The verification meeting is planned for later this term. We look forwarding to sharing this with you on our website and in our upcoming P and C Meetings.

2017 School Opinion Survey

Parents/caregivers, school staff and a random sample of students are encouraged to have their say in this year’s School Opinion Survey by providing their opinions about what our school does well and how our school can improve.

Access details for the parent/caregiver survey will be sent home next week. Parents/caregivers are welcome to complete their survey online. School computers can be made available if required.

The survey is open from Monday 31 July until Friday 25 August 2017.

Please look out for your invitation letter early next week, contact the school office or visit the Education website .

Does your child require medication during school hours?

If your child requires medication while at school, please ensure you complete and sign an Administration of medication record sheet available from the school’s office.

You will also need to provide the school with the prescription-labelled medication in the original packaging with clear directions for its use. The school may request an accompanying doctor’s letter for certain medications.

For more information visit the  Department of Education and Training website .

Thanks again to all of our parents/community members, staff and of course our students who make our school an excellent school!

Have a great fortnight!

Kind regards
Helen McCullough
Principal

YEAR 5 EXCURSION TO CHARTERS TOWERS

Our year 5 students will be investigating the Colonial period in Australia and significant events in this time period, including the Gold Rush. As a culminating activity Year 5 students are doing a day trip to Charters Towers to further their knowledge and understanding of this era, view some of the equipment used and try their luck at gold panning first hand. All year 5 students have received letters home about this.

Date:

TUESDAY AUGUST 22ND – 5 KRO, 5 DRA, 5ASH
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 23RD - 5AND, 5BIR, 5SMI

Departure time:

Students need to be at school at 7.15am to prepare for a 7:30am departure

Return time:

Approximately 3.45pm. Parents/guardians will be required to collect students from the stop drop and go at the front of the school.

GLOBAL TROPICAL FUTURES PROJECT

Last week in our virtual STEM lesson, the year 6 students collaborated with experts from James Cook University’s Sport and Exercise Science College.

It was a milestone lesson as one of the mentors (Associate Professor Anthony Leicht) joined the students from his office in Canada.

This is ground-breaking technology for our students and we are very proud to be able to deliver these lessons to them.

We are looking forward to this week’s lesson where the students will refine their prototype or phone app design to solve the problem of our increasing sedentary lifestyle.

Below is an aerial photo of the iSee environment. The mentors are orange and the students are green, red and purple.

BOOK CLUB – ISSUE 5

Book club brochures were handed out this week. If you have not received your brochures please check with your child’s teacher.

Scholastic offers 2 easy ways to place your book club orders:

1. Order and pay for your purchases online before the due date for free delivery to your child’s classroom.
   Any orders received online after the due date will be charged a delivery fee and delivered direct to your home address.
2. Complete the order form attached to the book club brochure and return to the school as below:

• place all orders in a sealed envelope clearly labeled Book Club.
• write your child’s name and class on the envelope and on the order form.
• place envelope in the money slot in the Front Office before due date.
• Payment can be made by cash (correct money please), or cheque made payable to the school.

Book Club orders close Monday 31st July.

No late orders will be accepted.

Thank you

Michelle
Book Club Coordinator

WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN

The Willows State School is again participating in the Woolworths Earn and Learn program. The program starts on Wednesday 26th July and anyone who shops at Woolworths from the school community - staff, parents, grandparents, neighbours and friends - can collect stickers for the school. The school has a box located at each of The Avenues and Willows Shoppingtown Woolworths stores and we also have a box located in the office. The school has benefited immensely from this program in past years and we have received great resources for the school for free! It would be great if you could spread the word and get all your family and friends involved to help us out!!

P&C NEWS

Strategic Planning

Our Principal ran a workshop at our last P&C meeting to allow us as parents to contribute to the longer term Strategic Planning for the school.

We spent time workshopping current and future Facilities, Technology, and Reputation at our school. It was very productive, and a well-run workshop (thanks Helen!).

These will continue over the next few P&C meetings, so I encourage all parents to come along and be a part of long term planning for our school.

Fun Fair

Less than a month to our Fun Fair! Friday evening 25th August – make sure you keep it free!

Letters about wristbands are going home through this week. For those new to the school, we have a wide range of rides and jumping castles at the Fun Fair. You can purchase individual tickets on the night, or you can pre-purchase a wristband giving you unlimited rides, for just $25. Check school bags for the letters coming home with further information.

Each year level is also invited to donate certain items towards the Fun Fair – these will depend on the Fun Fair activity your year level has chosen. Letters about these are also going home. Across all year levels, we are asking for donations of bottles of alcohol from parents (not from students!) as prizes at some of our stands. Please take these to the OSHC for secure storage by our P&C staff if you are able to help out.

Our popular Tombola stall would also love donations of glass jars (washed and labels removed), either empty, or full of items suitable for prizes. If you don’t have empty jars, items are still appreciated!

We realise it’s a big ask to our parents and families, but to make the Fun Fair a success and raise funds towards school projects, we do ask for help. Our current fund raising activities will go towards much needed technology and computers for the school.

Please keep an eye out for the wristband and donation letters, and thanks so much for any help and donations you can give. Looking forward to another great Fun Fair!

Father’s Day Stall

Plans for our annual Father’s Day Stall are well underway. Once again, we will run a stall at the school for students to purchase small gifts for their father, grandfather or other fatherly figure. The stall will run from Tuesday 29th August to Friday 1st September. Years Prep to 5 will have allocated class times to visit the stall (but they are welcome to visit in breaks with siblings or if they want more time to browse). Year 6 will not have class times, but will be given priority in break time. A note will go home in the next few weeks with further information.

Volunteers to help run the Stall will be more than welcome. Please message our Facebook page.

Next P&C Meeting

P&C Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month, so the next meeting is 8th August, 6pm in the TCBC.

See you around!

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Welcome back to term 3 Everyone

My first few weeks in the tuckshop have been great and I am feeling very welcomed by everyone. Firstly I'd like to say a big thank you to Robyn Marshall who has been filling in for Megan while she has been away on a family holiday.

Also thanks to a few volunteers, Alanah, Pete, Kwana, Rosie and Emily, who have given up some of their free time to come in and help. Your help has been very appreciated.

We are always on the lookout for new volunteers to help out, so if you can spare an hour or two here and there please come in and say hi.

We will soon be trialling a new 'Lunch Pack' to the menu so please keep an eye out for that in the next few weeks.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Thanks Gaynor, Anita, Megan and Robyn