3 November 2017

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Welcome to another successful fortnight at our great school!

Over the past terms we have been carefully monitoring the progress and achievement of our students. I am super impressed at the high level of improvement in reading and writing! Often our students will share with us their work and our minds are just blown away by the high literacy and numeracy skills that our youngest to our oldest students present. As parents/carers we should be feeling very proud of our child’s effort and achievement.

Congratulations to every learner at The Willows. Last week our school was 1 in 3 State Schools visited by Deputy Director General, Mrs Patrea Walton, Assistant Director General, Mrs Leanne Nixon, Regional Director, Mr Peter Kelly and Assistant Regional Director, Mrs Melissa Jackson visit our school. We should all be feeling very proud of the school improvement journey, progress and achievements to date at The Willows.

Our visitors commended the work of our leadership team, staff and students on the high level of engagement in learning and the work across the multiple learning areas. Our school captains and vice captains did an amazing job greeting our visitors. On classrooms visits discussions with teachers and students were an outstanding example representative of our classrooms across the school. Top work!

We also provided a small snippet of our Music Department. We had our Rockband, Concert Band and also our senior Choir perform to our visitors and they were in awe! Congratulations kids and Mr Schimke and Mrs Coleman.

Our school is a great state school and we appreciate the commitment, dedication and support that each person brings each and every day to educate our kids. Our team celebrated World Teacher’s Day with all of our staff at a special breakfast on Friday. Thankyou Gaynor, Anita and Megan and volunteers who catered and spoilt us!

Last week we also had members of our team present at the NQR middle leaders forum their work and learning journey around Age Appropriate Pedagogies and the instructional coaching model that our school is leading. Congratulations to Bonnie Stewart and Kayleigh Bradshaw for their commitment to this work. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Deb McCoy, Cameron Tod and Kym Clay for their ongoing support of this work and support of our teachers when presenting this to the wider educational forums. In the coming weeks, this work will be again shared onsite to Forrest Beach SS and also presented for the Bowen cluster schools. It is fantastic to see the work we do shared, celebrated and acknowledged.

Have a great fortnight! Thankyou for being part of our school!

Kind regards
Helen McCullough
Principal

DATE CLAIMER

REQUEST TO OUR SCHOOL FOR INFORMATION

From time to time parents and their health professionals may need our assistance to gather information about learning, attendance, behaviour and general social/emotional. All requests or letters to our school requesting this information must come through the office, addressed to The Principal, Mrs Helen McCullough.

We look forward to assisting parents/carers being proactive and thank you for your cooperation in the process outlined.

CYBERSAFETY IS VERY IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ

“The minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Kik and Snapchat is 13. For Vine, Tinder and Yik Yak it’s 17. YouTube requires account holders to be 18, but a 13 year old can sign up with a parent’s permission”.

These are really important age limits to adhere to for a number of reasons.

1. Children’s personal information is at risk. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) passed in 1998 protects every child under the age of 13. The Act requires that operators of websites and online services provide notice and obtain permission from a child’s parents before collecting personal information — such as name, address, phone number and screen name — from that child. Companies also cannot collect geolocation data that could identify the city street, and any image, video or audio files containing the child’s image or voice. Anything that can identify what the child is using, like cookies, IP addresses or the unique device identifier (UDID) for mobile devices is restricted by COPPA. But COPPA doesn’t work if a 9-year-old claims they are 13. When a social network account is created for a child under 13, or when a child uses a false birthdate, this Federal law cannot protect their personal information from being collected and shared with third party advertisers.
2. Children under 13 don’t have the hardware upstairs to make smart decisions online. Just because kids seem tech-savvy at increasingly younger ages, doesn’t necessarily mean that their brains are developing at the same rate as their digital acumen. Research shows that it takes children about 12 years to fully develop the cognitive structures that enable them to engage in ethical thinking. Before 12 it’s difficult, if not impossible, for a child to fully grasp the impact of their actions upon others, online or otherwise. Yet young children are increasingly joining social networking sites, sometimes even putting themselves in harm’s way by becoming victims of online harassment, solicitation and cyber-bullying before they are ready to respond appropriately.
3. Lying is just plain wrong. Living in a civilized society means we have some implicit agreements: we take turns, play fair, stop at red lights, and hold the door open for old ladies. And we tell the truth. Sure, giving a fake birthdate to Facebook seems like a harmless white lie, but it’s a lie nonetheless. I’d like to believe we can all agree that honesty and truthfulness, online and off, is important.

Cyberbullying is bullying that is done through the use of technology. It is a huge problem for younger students who access social media sites they shoudn’t be. Often students with uncontrolled access to technology aren’t going to tell their parents about cyberbullying for fear that they will be caught. Please monitor your child’s use of technology and keep the lines of communication open. These are good opportunities to discuss cybersafe practices.

Please don’t allow children to access social media if they are not the appropriate age. This is a matter of safety.

THE WILLOWS SHOPPING CENTRE SANTA PARADE

On Thursday the 16th of November our school has been invited to participate in the Willows Shopping Centre Santa Parade. We have been involved in this for the past 3 years and every year we have a growing number of students and families who come. The aim of this activity is to involve our school with the wider community and provide a fun and festive activity for our families. Every year at this parade we showcase our schools involvement in local, regional and global issues. Our students proudly carry signs regarding our community involvement and fundraising ventures. In 2017 we would like to have as many families as possible join us to showcase our school and community spirit.

We meet at 5.30pm at the vacant block across from the Thuringowa building on the corner of Hinchinbrook Drive and Bass Street (right behind the fire station).

As a group we then walk in the parade along Thuringowa Drive to the Willows Shopping Centre leaving at approximately 5.45pm. Once the parade has finished at the Willows Shopping Centre there is always a lovely fireworks display.

If you would like to participate, please come dressed in your Christmas attire. More information will be given about this at our parade meeting prior to the event. We do not expect families to spend money with elaborate costuming. This is a fun, no cost activity. A smile and comfortable walking shoes is all that is required. Interested students will be given permission forms. Forms are also available from the office.

PARENT NEWSLETTER FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICER

Imagine this was a new app. How much would you pay for it? It guarantees to do the following:

• Provide your child with a time for quiet and calmness
• Stimulate imagination and play
• Provide you with opportunities to bond with your child
• Provokes curiosity and discussion
• Provides inspiration, thought and reflection
• Develops an appreciation for art and writing
• Exposes your child to a wide range of language features and vocabulary
• Develops literacy skills and language development
• Helps your child to understand the concepts of print ( left to right, top to bottom)
• Fills your child’s mind with knowledge.

When we look back on our childhood, many of us have fond memories of being read to, of snuggling up and enjoying a favorite story with the people who love us. It is not so much the story that we remember, but the feeling of love and security that it gave us. It turns out that reading aloud; a time-honored tradition in so many families is actually a wonderful way of helping children to reach their full potential. Reading aloud is a great way of engaging with young children.

What happens during the first few years sets the stage for the rest of a child's life. It is a time when a child's experiences irreversibly affect how the brain develops - for better or worse.

Nurturing from a loving parent or caregiver in the early years supports healthy brain development that forms the foundation for success later at school and in life - and one of the best ways of engaging with young children is through looking at books together. Even the youngest baby loves to be held close and hear the voice of Mom or Dad as they read a book aloud.

It is widely accepted that reading aloud is the single most important researched activity leading to language development and promotes early literacy skills.

I remember when my two girls were little, each night before bed was story time. It was such a wonderful time of the day. A family time set aside for enjoying not only the stories, but also each other’s uninterrupted company. The rush of homework, chores, baths and dinner were all over and the wind down began. When the girls were small, we had the usual, ‘Hairy Maclary’, Lynley Dodd, ‘Wombat Stew’, Marcia Vaughan, and ‘Possum Magic’, Mem Fox. Early years at school involved a lot of Roald Dahl’s, ‘Esio trot’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The Witches’ and ‘The BFG’. Then there are my all-time favourite authors, Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings. Who can forget ‘Skeleton on the Dunny’ and ‘Spaghetti Pig Out’? Do yourself a favour, if you have not seen the series, ‘Round the Twist’, go and watch it soon! (The stories are in Paul Jennings book of short stories and on DVD!)

It really doesn’t matter what your child reads, so long as they read! They do not like books? How about cooking with your child and getting them to read the recipe? Buying that flat pack furniture and asking your child to read the instructions? Ask your child to read the TV guide to find what is on television for the night. There are so many way a child can read to you.

Encourage them, rejoice in them and please, foster their love of reading……….. and it is free.

Until next time
Enjoy your week and your children

CURRICULUM

Assessment and reporting

With the end of the 2017 school year fast approaching, our teachers and students are working hard to complete final summative assessments in readiness for Semester 2 reporting. Reports will be distributed on Thursday 7th December. It is really important that students are attending school each and every day up to the end of the term as students find it difficult to catch up as deadlines approach. In the final weeks, teachers will begin to familiarise students with texts and concepts in readiness for Term 1, 2018 so that teaching and learning can start from day 1 next year.

Top quality work

In English our Year 6 students have been learning to argue a point of view about the effectiveness of literary and informative texts in conveying their message. Below is an exceptional example of this writing by Jack from 6 San. Jack’s teacher has been using a gradual release of responsibility to ensure that students are clear about what they have to know and be able to do to be successful. When asked about his learning Jack said, “I was totally clear on what I needed to do to get the A. In some lessons I was a bit confused but the next lesson fixed that.”

Jack 6San Literary Argument

A good literary text including picture books can convey a topic, an issue or a message more powerfully than a good informative text. ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ by Kim Dale, conveys its message about helping moon bears far more effectively than the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’. Both texts use different text structure, language features and visual features to inform the reader about the terrible plight of the unfortunate moon bears. However, the literary text has a lot of advantages as it’s able to represent ideas, highlight important topics and to change attitude.

‘Moon Bear Rescue’ has a much better text structure than the ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ brochure. ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ is a narrative so it has a plot with a character. Because of this you know things about Star and when he gets captured you feel like you have an authentic emotional connection with Star. On the other hand the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ has a layout which is easy to follow but since it doesn’t have a character you can’t relate to the moon bears. This is why the book ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ is stronger than the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears.’

The author of ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ uses evaluative language to impact how the reader feels. This makes the reader feel terribly low for the moon bears plight so you instantly want to stop moon bear farming. An example of this is when Kim Dale says ‘Terrified the cub called for his mother.’ This shows you how much the moon bears need each other so you want the bear farming to stop. On the other hand the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ uses factual information to get the message across that moon bear farming needs to stop. One of the two pieces of evaluative language that is stated is ‘Severe infections’ this tell the readers what happens to the bears in the cages. However the picture book ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ gets the message of that we have to help the moon bears across better than the brochure.

Both the literary text ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ and the brochure use visual features to convey their point of view however ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ does this better. ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ uses a variety of colours such as different shades of browns, natural greens and blues to create emotion. You see the colours go from all bright and happy to a dark and miserable colour and back to happy again. On the other hand the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ uses a water mark behind text and a similar colour throughout the brochure so you don’t develop the emotions like you do when you read ‘Moon Bear Rescue.’ Therefore the book ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ gets the point across better than the ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ brochure.

In conclusion the state of the moon bears is an important issue and gets shown effectively in the two different types of texts. There is no question the brochure makes the reader aware about the plight of the moon bears through the easy to follow structure, authentic images, graphs and the use factual language. However, ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ gets the point across more effectively because it raises our awareness, emotions and feelings on the unfortunate plight of the poor moon bears. The picture book ‘Moon Bear Rescue’ is far superior then the brochure ‘Southern Asian Moon Bears’ at delivering the powerful and important message of that we have to help the moon bears.

THE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE NEWS

Scholastic Book Fair

Our annual Christmas Book Fair will commence on 13 – 17 November. This is an additional service provided by the school to encourage students to read widely and enjoy ownership of books that are specifically designed for their age group. Thank you to all parents and carers who visit our library annually and purchase from the wide selection of books sent to our school by Scholastic. All profits go directly to our school library to purchase new books and resources. Mrs Michelle Wooster (past parent and school volunteer) singlehandedly organises, mans and coordinates this event and we greatly appreciate her energy and commitment.

CityLibraries’ Summer Reading Club – 2017

The Summer Reading Club program is delivered annually in libraries and online from 1 December - 31 January. The programming theme for 2017 is ‘Game On’. Register at your local public library! Children are rewarded for their efforts and receive great prizes. Involvement in the Summer Reading Club is easy, cost effective, suitable for all ages and fun! Happy Holiday Reading!

Library Displays

Mrs Wheeler, our defence force aide, is responsible for our wonderful Remembrance Day display in the library. Sincere thanks.

Overdue Library Books

Please return all overdue library books by the end of week 8. Lost or damaged books must be paid for at the front office. Be aware that students are required to have a zip up, waterproof library bag to borrow from our library.

Kind regards,

Sarah Platt (Teacher Librarian)

WEAR A BEAR

Let’s help The Townsville Hospital Foundation raise money for sick people in North Queensland by buying a pair of Bandi Ears for $4 and wearing them with pride.

Last year The Willows raised over $2000 which is a fantastic effort by our community and all proceeds go directly to the Foundation!

Bandi Ears will be on sale both breaks at the middle CPA until 4th December.

CHAPPY CHAT

Operation Christmas Child

Our school is so generous! Together we have collected enough donations to fill 111 shoeboxes! That is double last year! Thanks so much.

Girl’s Group and Year 6s transitioning to highschool

This term I have started a group for Year 6 girls to give them an opportunity to share their thoughts, concerns and questions they have about the transition to high school in a couple of months. So far we’ve had some great questions and conversations and lots of encouraging discussion where we found that most other girls had the same questions. Gabby, the Year 6 RE teacher from last term is also joining us for the next few weeks which was a lovely surprise for the girls who came along.

If any boys would like to talk about similar things, I would love to run something similar.

Chappy Josh from Kirwan SHS will visit the school soon to introduce himself to those moving there next year for them to have a friendly face when they arrive.

Permissions

I have been sending many letters home for students who sometimes work with me to receive parental permission for this to happen in an ongoing way. If you have any questions or would like to speak with Chappy, please call the school and I would love to chat with you.

2018 planning

I am looking to 2018 and the plans Chaplaincy will have in place to support The Willows school community as well as fundraising opportunities. If you would like to support Chappy in helping run a fundraising event in May 2018, I would love to hear from you.

Christmas Activities

Christmas Assembly – Week 10

To celebrate the exciting Christmas season, I will be running the Christmas Assemblies in the last week of school. Students who don’t attend RE will not be participating and will be given other activities to do. All other students will be involved.

Coconut Cup

Week 4 was our first Coconut Cup Staff vs Students game for the tournament with more games to come in Week 6 and 8. This is a special way for Year 6s to celebrate the end of primary school.

Results from last week – Staff won 8 out of 8 games of Oztag but some of them were very close with many tries scored by the students. I am looking forward to Soccer in Week 6 and Mind Games in Week 8.

Have a wonderful rest of the term,
Chappy Libbie

DEFENCE NEWS

Hello all Defence Families.

This is our last session of the Kidsmart Relocation program, it was a lot of fun. All the students loved Tyler the Turtle the program mascot. A Big Thank You to Jess and Karly from DCO who joined us for the session. I am very pleased to see parents taking the opportunity and encouraging their children to attend these awesome programs which are offered for free here at school. There are so many benefits from children talking to other children who may be having the same feelings and questions around moving. If you were unable to access this program this time please ask at your new school when you arrive.

ALL ABOARD – Parent Connect is taking off. Cootharinga Nth Qld is inviting families with children with disabilities to a FUN FLIGHT DAY on Sunday 12th November. Flyer attached. Be quick as there are limited places.

REMEMBRANCE DAY Ceremony will be held on Friday 10th November week 6 of this term, starting at 10:30am. There are displays in the library and front office around Remembrance Day. The library display has awesome artefacts that thee students can touch by using the gloves provided. All welcome to attend. Look forward to seeing you there.

ARE YOU MOVING SCHOOLS? IF YOU ARE POSTING OUT OR MOVING SCHOOLS THIS 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 too. This information is much appreciated by myself so I have time to give a Farewell Pack to the student. The school also appreciates this vital information for further planning. Look forward to hearing from you.

If you are finding lives challenges overwhelming my door is always open. Don’t forget you are Welcome to come to L pod for a chat/cuppa, any day from 8:00am until 3:00pm. The office can phone ahead to make sure I am in my room or you can email me to arrange a time. Talking with others can help to put things in perspective. See you soon.

Deployments are a part of the Defence Force family lifestyle. PLEASE LET THE SCHOOL KNOW IF A LOVED ONE IS GOING AWAY. 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; and 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.

EDUCATION ASSISTANCE is important for all students. The EAS Education Assistance SCHEME- is where 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?

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.

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 AND ACTIVITIES TO REMEMBER

Military Kids recognition Medals presentation Ceremony is on 8th November at 1800. At Geckos family Centre at Lavarack Barracks. RSVP essential.

Are you looking for a Job? Come and join Employment Pathways Workshops.

GECKOS CHRISTMAS PARTY AND CAROLS ON 25TH NOV 16:30-20:30, $10/child includes food, drink, gift, lolly bag and activities. Bookings essential-

VVCS NQ GROUP PROGRAMS AVAILABLE NOW FOR VETERANS, PARENTS, PARTNERS AND FAMILIES TO ATTEND, CALL 1800 011 046 FOR MORE INFORMATION.

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.

Defence Family Helpline operates 24-7 on 1800 624 608 or e-mail defencefamilyhelpline@defence.gov.au

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 applies)

Defence Special Needs Support Group- 1800 037 674 for local delegate details

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

Have a great week and remember

Correna Wheeler