27 August 2018

Newsletter Articles

DATE CLAIMER

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Dear Parents/Carers and Community,

The past fortnight has seen many of our students succeeding in a range of extra-curricula initiatives. Our Senior Concert Band did an outstanding performance at the Fan Fare Finals in Brisbane. We could not be prouder of our students for their representation and we are grateful for the high level of support that we have received by our parents, Department of Education and our P and C to support this opportunity. Congratulations to our Music Department – a fantastic result!

We have also seen many of our athletes train over many weeks and perform at Red Track in the last week. The Willows team was commended by many visitors and other state school staff about their excellent behaviour, high level of sportsmanship and team spirit. It is excellent to see The Willows Way shine through inside and outside our school gates. I would like to thank all of our coaches and teachers who assisted with a successful athletics season. Congratulations to all participants and congratulations to the following student who have been selected for North Queensland:

High Jump – Emily and Mackenzie
Sprints – Zade, Alinta, Halle-Ray, Alannah

The Willows State School P and C is an Association who directly works to support the education of each child at our school. It was excellent to see the Trivia Night well supported and those of us that joined certainly learned a little bit and had a great time. Please keep an eye out for upcoming events and fundraisers and if you are able to support through big or little amounts of time, the contribution would be welcome. The next meeting is Tuesday 28th August and I look forward to sharing with you the great work that is happening across our school.

Thankyou for being part of our school improvement journey – we are a mighty team when we work together for our kids!

Kind regards

Helen McCullough
Principal

OUR SCHOOL OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE HAS GONE LIVE AND IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE SCHOOL WEBSITE AND GENERIC EMAIL ACCOUNTS.

Please like and share our school official Facebook Page – this page is directly managed by our school leadership team and is one of the official channels of communication for parents at our school. Head to our school website where you will see the official feed from Facebook and other handy information (dates and upcoming events, tuckshop, booklists etc).

BEFORE SCHOOL PROCEDURES

All students are seated and supervised in the Main CPA from 8am.

At 8:15 am

Yr 3 – 6 students move to TCBC

Prep – Yr 2 students move to Junior CPA

Please remember your hat every day.

Students will have a quiet activity and the opportunity to have some outside movement time prior to learning.

At 8:45 am All students move to classrooms to commence learning.

To help our students we ask that parents and family members model the following behaviours at our school

• Sit quietly
• Listen to the speakers
• Follow instructions
• Keep noise to a minimum

We appreciate you being a part of our Respectful community and modelling our expectations.

The Outside School Hours Care facility is an option for families to book/use and parents/carers who have early starts and late finishing times are encouraged to access this facility.

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 at 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…….

YEAR LEVEL PARADES

This year our students will have year level parades weekly and full school parades as scheduled on our school calendar.

Note the time and place for all year levels.

Prep – Monday 8.45 am in Junior CPA
Year 1 – Monday 12.50pm in Junior CPA
Year 2 – Tuesday 8.50am in Junior CPA
Year 3 – Monday 2pm in TCBC Conference Room
Year 4 – Tuesday 2.30pm in TCBC Conference Room
Year 5 – Mondays 11.40am in TCBC Conference Room
Year 6 – Mondays 2.30pm in TCBC Conference Room.

Parents/Guardians are most welcome to attend.

APPOINTMENTS WITH STAFF

Throughout the course of any day and week, the administrative and teaching staff of The Willows have significant commitments to the Teaching and Learning of our students. If you are needing to see one of the staff, please help us by arranging an appointment time at a mutually beneficial time. This can be done by contacting our office, email or by talking with us.

TELSTRA DIGITAL FUTURES

Congratulations to our Willows Community. Your support in our school has resulted in us being the winners of the Telstra Digital Futures Award. Our school will received 50 x eSmart Digital Licenses, 1 x Digital Maker Party in a Box and $4,000 towards new tech equipment.

Thank you everyone for your support.

SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY

The School Opinion Survey closed on Friday, 24 August 2018.

Thank you so much to all of our families who completed the survey.

Remember your opinion counts. We look forward to sharing the results with you and continuing to improve student learning outcomes.

LIBRARY NEWS

Children’s Book Week/ Month Celebrations – 2018

Children’s Book Week is the longest running children's festival in Australia. The theme this year is ‘Find Your Treasure’. TWSS Book Week/Month celebrations commenced 18 August and will run until Friday, 21 September.

Book Month Celebrations in the Library – 2018

To celebrate Book Week/Month, students are reading award-winning books by Australian authors and nominating their favourites. Winners of this year’s (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards feature in our Book Week display.

‘Champion Reader’ Awards

Students, who have borrowed the most library books throughout the year, will receive a ‘Champion Reader Ribbon’ and a Scholastic Book Club voucher on assembly.

Author Visit – Matt Zurbo

Children’s Author, Matt Zurbo visited The Willows (free of charge) on Thursday 23 August 12:00 – 12:45pm to talk to students about ‘writing’ and ‘life as an author’.

Matt Zurbo - author of Lu-Lu's Wish, Fred the Croc and I Love Footy

YEAR 5 NEWS

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.

Activity details:

Date:

TUESDAY 28th of August – 5ASH, 5DIB
WEDNESDAY 29th of August - 5DRA, 5KRO, 5WRT

Departure time: Students need to be at school at 7.00am to prepare for a 7:15am departure on the bus.

Return time: Approximately 3.45pm by bus. Parents/guardians will be required to collect students from the stop drop and go at the front of the school. Messages regarding any changes to return time will be placed on our facebook page (The Willows State School).

What to bring: Students are to pack a small backpack containing:

• Hat and sunscreen
• Water bottle
• Packed morning tea and lunch. Please ensure that this is substantial to meet their active needs.
• Medical needs to be provided to teacher in a zip locked bag with details. Complete form attached.

What students will be doing: Bus travel to and from Charters Towers. Activities including a visit to The Miner’s Cottage & Gold Panning, Venus Battery guided tour and Museum tour. Short walk to some activities.

If you have any queries please contact Mrs Winter on pwint5@eq.edu.au

Year 6 News

Year 6 Camp 2 to Kinchant Dam

Kinchant Outdoor Education Centre is operated by the Department of Education and Training and is located within walking distance of Kinchant Dam, near Mirani, 40km west of Mackay. Our year 6 camp 2 students will be testing it out this week and staff and students are prepared for the big event. All families have received the information they require. Please ensure that you are packing all requirements. If you have any queries contact Mrs Winter on pwint5@eq.edu.au

Entertainment book sales reward

Prep McL enjoy their reward for selling the most Entertainment books.

Brothers Football Club

Six A Side

Brothers Cricket Club

Sign On