11 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers and Community

This week we finalised the preparations for the Garbutt Magpies Cup. Mr Theodore and the AFL players have been busily training and preparing for this. Part of the Garbutt Magpies Cup is the program Boys to Men – an initiative from the Magpies and their sponsors to engage our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with Elders in our area and share the inspirational stories of respect for self and other, perseverance, working hard to achieve goals and teamwork. We welcomed Uncle Alec Illin, Randall Ross and Leon Stubbs to our school to talk to our team around the enjoyment of sport and being good sports. The Boys to Men Program can be found on the Garbutt Magpies website below

A very special thankyou to Ms Deuble, Mr Theodore, Mr Tod and Ms Cathy Hughes for assisting to make our participation for the first time in this initiative a success.

Friday our Athletics Team participate at Red Track (A Athletics). The team have been training with Ms Deuble, Mr Schimke and Miss Williams and we are looking forward to hearing about our athletics successes in the coming newsletter. Good luck to all of our athletes and a special thankyou to all of our supervising staff and spectators for your support of the Mighty Willows Team.

Naplan

In the next fortnight the NAPLAN individual student reports will be distributed. Parents are welcome to make a time with their child’s class teacher to discuss these. Overall our Reading Results in Year 3 and 5 have improved and there are a number of good news stories that the preliminary results are showing. The school data will be ready for our teachers to look at in depth over the coming weeks. Well done to all students for their participation in NAPLAN 2017.

Science & Technology Expo 2017

We continue to see 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. Bring along the whole family for a great afternoon out.

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!

Fun Fair

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

School staff, a random selection of parents 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 have been sent home with students, and 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.

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

SCHOOL UNIFORM

Our school is a large team and we rely on our team to be dressed in their uniform daily. Please assist us to make sure that school shorts are navy blue and that the school uniform shirt is worn. On Wednesdays our Sport Shirts are worn with blue navy shorts. At no time should football shorts be worn unless on a designated free dress day. Thankyou for taking pride in our school and thankyou to our parents who support our standards each and every day.

MOBILE TELEPHONE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Parents we need your help with this message – please talk with your child/ren

All students who carry a mobile telephone or electronic device to school must hand this into the office each morning. Students who are found with these items in classrooms or playgrounds will have the device confiscated.

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.

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP COMES TO THE WILLOWS

The Rugby League World Cup is an international Rugby League tournament, contested by national teams of the Rugby League International Federation. The first world cup tournament was held in 1931 in France. So far three nations have won the competition Australia - ten times, Great Britain - three times and New Zealand once. Australia, France and New Zealand are the only teams to have played in all tournaments. Last Monday our students got to see the cup first hand and it was a very popular display. Thank you to Mr Sanim who organised this opportunity.

PREP ENROLMENTS 2018

Enrolment packages are now available from the office for Prep aged children for 2018. Eligible children must be turning 5 before 30th June 2018. Please bring the child’s Birth Certificate and Lease/Rates Notice when you pick up your package.

WOOLWORTHS EARN AND LEARN

The Willows State School is again participating in the Woolworths Earn and Learn program. The program started 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

2018 Book Packs

This year, the P&C are once again organising a book pack service, where most of your school books and equipment for 2018 are available for purchase through the P&C. We are once again partnering with Kookaburra for this. Further details will be available in the coming months, but we expect a home delivery service, as well as local pickup option, combined with online ordering and payment. This year we will be offering local pickup at our own school.

Watch our P&C Facebook page for updates as they come to hand!

Fun Fair

We’re all excited about the Fun Fair - Friday evening 25th August. Make sure you keep it free!

But we still need help. If you have glass jars at home that you aren’t wanting, could you please wash them, take off the labels, and bring them into the school for our Tombola stall? It’d be even better if you could fill them with donations ready for the stall! Or, if you don’t have glass jars, can you help with donations for us to fill empty jars? Come see our Tombola stall on the night – buy a ticket, you might win a jar full of goodies!

Don’t forget to pre-purchase your wristband for rides and jumping castles! $25 each, for unlimited rides on the night. The P&C receive a portion of this, so you’re helping us as well. Check school bags for the note that went home last week.

We also need help on the day – for the setup team who start at around 8:30am, as well as on the night to operate stalls. We’d love to hear from you! Lots of jobs to do, from putting up tents and setting up power and lights, through to stall preparation and wrapping prizes. Please get in contact via our Facebook page if you can help.

Father’s Day Stall

We are calling out for help at our Father’s Day Stall! Can you spare a few hours (or more!) to help out at the stall itself? Our coordinators will be there to run it, so it’s an enjoyable social time interacting with our students, helping them choose their gifts and sending them to our cashier. It’s a great way to meet and chat with other parents.

The stall runs from Tuesday 29th August to Friday 1st September.

If you can help, please get in contact via our Facebook page.

Next P&C Meeting

P&C Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month, so the next meeting is 12th September, 6pm in the TCBC.

See you around!

TUCKSHOP NEWS

Hi Everyone

We have had another busy few weeks in the tuckshop and have had help from some wonderful volunteers. A big thank you to Rosine, Juana, Cassie, Emily, Michele and Krystal. Your volunteering helps us run the tuckshop smoothly. We are always looking for new volunteers as we all know many hands make light work.

Our Willows Fun Fair is approaching fast with only two and a half weeks to go. We are also calling for volunteers for the evening of the Fun Fair so if you can spare half and hour to an hour please let us know. We will be doing a roster system.

We will be closing the Tuckshop after 1st break on Friday 25th of August so we can get organized for the evening. PLEASE NOTE NO SECOND BREAK WILL BE AVALIABLE!

Thanks and have a great week.

The Tuckshop Ladies
Gaynor, Anita and Megan

DEFENCE NEWS

Welcome all Defence Families.

I would like to give a BIG Thank You to Brooke who did a wonderful job while I was away and Thanks to all the amazing students who made her feel welcome in our school.

Week 5 is here already and that means we are half way through the term. How time flies. There are so many activities happening it is hard to know where to start. You must come along to the Defence Community Fair at Jezzine Barracks Parade Ground this Friday night starting at 5:00pm until 8:00pm. There will be exhibitors from sporting clubs, volunteer organisations and education groups. I will be there so please stop by and say HI.

As you know it is posting time again. Most of you already know if you will be moving at the end of the year. Please make sure you contact the office/classroom teacher and DSTA to inform of students last day of school and where you will be moving to. This information is much appreciated by the school for further planning.

If you want to know about upcoming DCO programs, events, and activities or information about events and services in the wider North Queensland community you need to be on the mailing list. You can e-mail DCO office in Townsville dco.townsville@defence.gov.au and leave details, name, member name, address, email, mob/home number, children’s names or collect a form from me. I have attached a copy of the form below.

It is that time of the year again. Deployments are a part of the Defence Force family lifestyle and the impact of a parent’s absence due to a deployment can have a huge impact on the whole family, especially children. Sometimes, children lack the language to communicate or understand their feelings and can often express themselves with behaviour that is inappropriate or out of character. At TWSS we aim to support students during parental absence due to a deployment by:

• engaging the children in a variety of activities that allow them to identify the emotions they may feel during a parental absence
• share their experiences with other defence children who may also have a parent away
• read books especially written to help children cope with deployments
• create craft items at Kids Club to help the child communicate with the absent parent

Make sure you let your child’s teacher and DSTA know if you or a partner will be away for an extended period of time. Having this knowledge will go towards supporting the student at school.

IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS 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. We may reimburse fees for tutoring required to fill any gaps in understanding or curriculum caused by changing schools. You have 18 months from starting at a new school to access and complete the tutoring. This scheme is very beneficial for students’. Please see me if you would like assistance to complete the form. Or you can ring the Helpline for updates 1800 624 608.

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

Defence Community Fair – Friday 11th August Jezzine Parade Grounds from 5:00pm-8:00pm-exhibitors from sporting clubs, volunteer organisations and education groups as well as food and drink stalls, live demonstrations and rides.

Discounted Prices on First Aid Courses are available now read attached flyer for more details.

Centacare is offering a program for sibling with Special Needs – Townsville first program for 8-12 years who have a sibling with a disability. Build skills and resilience and talk to other peers. Please contact Centacare for further enquiries 1300 672 273 flyer attached.

ADF families and Dogs are invited to a fun day out on Sunday 20th August – flyer attached.

The Lavarack Barrack Open Day and Trail Run-will be held on Saturday 2nd September. Gates to open at 8am, gold coin donation on entry. Run for legacy 10km/21.2km, 5kmshort course and obstacle course. Registration closes 1st September at trybooking.com

Yoga Classes @ Geckos on Mondays 18.30-19.30 cost $5/session

Bootcamp Tuesdays and Thursdays @Geckos 18.00-19.00 cost $10/session.

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 www.dva.gov.au/vvcs (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 L Pod or contact me via email or phone. Students can call into L Pod throughout the day.

School Office on 47 991 333 or via e-mail - Correna Wheeler on cwhee36@eq.edu.au

Stay safe and have a great week
Correna Wheeler