31 May 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Thankyou everyone for a fantastic (very busy, productive and rewarding) fortnight at our school! It is excellent to see many big goals in our teaching and learning agenda being celebrated and shared across our school.

The Willows Warriors was launched on Wednesday and Mrs Tropea and Mrs Eddy were fast asleep by 6pm! It was a fantastic start to our initiative of early years, Pre-Prep and the learners, parents and staff building positive relationships and working alongside each other in early literacy and oral language activities. This program continues each week (2 groups every Wednesday) and we encourage families intending to enrol at The Willows in 2020 to connect with us and find out more information.

Our Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival was a fantastic experience for all involved and I am certain that many of us were fast asleep early Wednesday night! Congratulations to all staff, your support was phenomenal! The high level of sportsmanship, enjoyment for sport and participation of our students was fantastic and we can all proudly say…we have been to red track! Thankyou our P.E. teachers, Ms Deuble, Mrs Pilcher and all staff for your work and support behind the scenes to make the day enjoyable and successful.

Under 8’s! Wow! What a fantastic afternoon for students, staff and parents of our school! I absolutely had a blast with the various activities (slime was my favourite, followed closely by kites and Mr Schimke’s mini disco with our Mascots). Our students are very lucky to have the dedicated teachers and support staff to bring the fun this afternoon. Thankyou Mrs Souter and P-2 Teachers for your organisation and work towards our annual and much looked forward to afternoon. A special thankyou also to our student leaders and their teachers for releasing them to assist, they were excellent!

In among our highlights, the excitement and love of learning is noticeable across many of our classes. Across a number of classroom visits this week, I was very impressed to see the focus and improvement with student reading and writing across our curriculum. We should all be feeling very proud of our learners and of our staff. The helicopter view of our school in the classrooms is positive and I congratulate each of you for your work and effort each day. Our school community is appreciative of every teacher and staff member at our school and this was evident in many conversations across the numerous events of the past week. Great work team!

Kind regards
Helen McCullough
Principal

GENERAL NEWS

Woolworths Earn and Learn

Woolworths earn and learn program provides our students with lots great resources. Bring your stickers to school or put them in our school boxes at Woolworths.

Willows Warriors

Te Maire Martin is our Cowboy again this year as part of the Adopt a Cowboy program. Te Maire unfortunately is unwell at the moment and was unable to visit us on Monday 27 May as originally scheduled. The Willows State School community is thinking of Te Maire and wishing him well in his recovery.

SCHOOL WATCH

We need everyone to look out for after-hours crime in our school. If you see anything suspicious, please don't attempt to intervene.

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

The following document outlines the curriculum for Term 2 for all year levels.

We hope that you have enjoyed the many articles from all of our year levels showing you our curriculum, teaching and learning in the classroom. The first newsletter for next term will include a curriculum overview for term 3.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Positive Behaviour Learning

Our Safe, Respectful and Responsible students recently had their Week 5 Reward, acknowledging the students who earnt at least 75 Stars through excellent behaviour. The teachers organised a wide range of activities and joined in the fun with their learners. Activities included; games time, outdoor play, computers and craft. We are looking forward to seeing everyone learning and continuing this fantastic behaviour throughout the rest of the Term. Here are some of our students involved in these activities.

Our mascots; Waldo, Olive and Willow have been extremely busy over the last few weeks attending the junior sports carnival running events, welcoming students as they arrive at school and dancing at the Under 8s afternoon. They are very active at school events and you never know when they will visit us next.

Well Being

FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICER

Helping children cope with fears and worries

Six year old Jessica doesn’t want to go to sleep in her own bed. “You stay with me Mum”, she says. Jessica’s Mum reads another story. Her Mum gives her one more kiss and leaves.

A few minutes later, Jessica appears in the doorway. “I’m scared something might happen to the house. The roof might blow away.”

Mum: “Nothing’s going to happen to the house.”

Jessica: “But I saw it on TV.”

Jessica had not seemed to be bothered about the TV before. Now her parents realize she must have become worried after seeing TV news items about recent events.

Understanding children’s fears

We all get scared for all sorts of reasons, and often our fears are to do with our own uncertainty about what could happen, or events may trigger past experiences that were unpleasant. Sometimes children/ adolescents may have fears that seem unreasonable to adults, but even what may seem illogical to adults, these can be very real to children.

Some fears are very common amongst children, with different sorts of fears appearing at different ages. Preschool children are often afraid of imaginary things like monsters hiding under the bed. In early primary school children are usually more fearful of real things that might happen, like being hurt. Later fears are more typically about possible failure at school or in sport, or what others might think of them.

Noticing when children are afraid

It’s not always easy to tell when a child is frightened or worried. Obvious things that the child responds to immediately, like thunder, are easy enough to recognize, but some things are not as obvious. Children may not tell you they are scared although often they show it through their behaviour. When children are scared or worried they may:

• become clingy or demand that a parent or carer stay close to them
• have sleeping difficulties (or when young want to sleep in their parent or carers’ bed)
• lack confidence to do things they did happily before
• take refuge in the safety of their room in preference to socializing
• avoid situations that make them feel scared or anxious
• ask a parent or carer to do things for them or with them
• complain of aches or pains
• exhibit mood changes for no obvious reason

Helping children to cope with fears

Children need adult support in order to learn to cope with fears. They need reassurance to reduce their anxious feelings, and skills for coping so that they can gradually learn to manage fears themselves.

How parents and carers can help

• Acknowledge how your child is feeling. Naming it, (e.g. ‘feeling scared, threatened), helps the child begin to see fear as a normal emotion that can be overcome.
• Stay cool yourself so you can model positive coping.
• Tell them how you learned to get over fears when you were their age eg. When talking in front of a class how did you cope, and work with your child to come up with some ways of lessening the stress/ anxiety
• Positive self-talk can help children put fears into perspective. For example, “the storms on TV are far away from here our house will be O.K;
• Asking what a respected peer (or for younger children what a favourite hero) might do in this situation
• Learning relaxation skills is often very helpful for dealing with fears – breathing exercises, sitting quietly and focusing your mind on enjoyable tasks
• Help the child put realistic limits around the scary situation eg parents could explain that the TV pictures were about something that happens rarely and only when the weather is extreme; or giving a talk to an audience is only 5 minutes of an entire day and being prepared will make that time go faster
• Since television is a frequent trigger for children’s fears it is important to monitor television viewing to minimize exposure to things that may be frightening.

Learning to cope with fears and worries develops resilience and confidence – important tools for life

Adapted from: http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au

Narelle Thomas
Guidance Officer

Defence News

HELLO TO ALL DEFENCE FAMILIES

“BIGGEST MORNING TEA” was on last Wednesday. I want to send a BIG Thank you to all defence parents who attended. Thank you also for all the yummy food you bought along. Games and raffles were a huge hit with all. Good luck to the winners. It was great to see so many faces come along and support Cancer Research. What a fun get together.

DEPLOYMENTS/COURSES are happening all the time. If you know that you/member will be away for a period of time please contact me so I can support the student here at school. This information is important to the extra support that can offer here at school and to assist in the positive learning and emotional wellbeing of the child at school. This can be an emotional rollercoaster for most students when a loved goes away. It is important that they know they have a support person at school they can turn to when they are feeling sad/upset. We can work together to make this transition as smooth as possible. Please contact me through the school office 47 991 333 or email cwhee36@eq.edu.au. My door is always open for a chat.

POSTING are starting to come through. If you know you are going to be leaving the school throughout/end of the year. Please contact me and the school with the details. I can support the student with the transition to a new school.

Can you remind students that Kids Club/Defence Room in L Pod is open to students every break everyday. Students are welcome to call in for a chat, meet new friends, play games and make crafts. Lots of fun for all students.

There have been some changes to the EAS forms for families to access tutoring for students who have posted in to a new school. You can ring the Defence Family Helpline 1800 624 608 or you can collect the forms from me. Also extra paperwork is required in the form of reports from leaving and gaining schools. Please contact me for more information.

Still trying to find clubs, groups, and activities for children, what to see and do, you must look at the website below, this is an amazing on-line resource for defence member and families to find information on their new location.

Rex D Dog Welcome Packs are available for the first time from Defence Housing in Townsville. If you have just arrived/posted into Townsville and would like a pack for your child, please contact them.

DATES TO REMEMBER

RSL Queensland Employment Program for Partners.

RSL Queensland has launched a new Employment Program to help the partners of current and former Defence members find meaningful employment

Are you a Defence partner and looking for work?

The nature of Defence service can present employment challenges for the partners and spouses of current and former service personnel. Families move extensively while Defence personnel are serving. As a result, partners’ careers are often interrupted, making it difficult for them to find meaningful employment. Tailored to your specific needs, the Partner program will help you open the next chapter in your career.

Changes to Partner Employment Assistance Program

IMPORTANT INFO:

Guidelines have recently been updated. Eligible ADF partners can now access PEAP funding within 2 years of a posting

Posting soon or just posted to a new location, or is your ADF partner transitioning on medical grounds? The Partner Employment Assistance Program (PEAP) can help if you are looking for work or changing jobs. PEAP aims to help eligible Australian Defence Force (ADF) partners with the immediate difficulties of finding employment when they are relocated with their partner as a result of their partner’s service.

WHAT DOES THE PROGRAM COVER?

If you’re an eligible ADF partner, you can apply for funding assistance of up to $1,500 to access professional employment services and re-registration costs. Professional employment services can include: development of a personalised résumé and/or résumé coaching, identification of transferrable skills, employment options and job placement advice, job search techniques and strategies, development of an online employment profile, application and selection criteria coaching, preparation and presentation coaching for interview. Professional re-registration costs include: mandatory fees for professional reregistration where required when moving interstate under state or territory legislation.

ELIGIBILTY

The program’s key eligibility requirements are that you are a recognised ADF partner and are accompanying your partner on posting to a new location. ADF members must have received their first posting notification following completion of their initial training. Applications can be made following the receipt of a posting order and should be lodged within 2 years of the effective posting date.

PEAP Application form -

Completed Forms can be sent to: DefenceFamilyHelpline@defence.gov.au

DON’T FORGET to Register for DCO mailing list NOW for all the upcoming events in your local area.

GECKOS AT LAVARACK BARRACKS is a place for defence members, partners and families to build friendships, socialise and access information to assist with the challenges of the defence lifestyle. Open most days with lots of events organised. A great place to meet other defence spouses and the younger ones can play together. Host of events and activities are organised.

Defence Family Helpline 24/7
1800 624 608

Open Arms
call 1800 011 046 www.openarms.gov.au

DFA (Defence Families of Australia)
Chandelle Derham 0418 796 561 nth.qld@dfa.org.au

Geckos Family Centre-Nth Qld Lavarack Barracks
Contact for enquiries on 4411 7031

Defence Holidays NQ
07 4725 3842 at Lavarack Barracks opp Gym admin@defenceholidaysnq.com.au

If there are any changes with the home dynamics, please be sure to contact the class teacher/or myself so we can best support the student at school. I am available to talk anytime at school. My hours are Monday to Friday 8:00am-3:30pm, phone me on 4799 1333 ext 323, or e-mail me cwhee36@eq.edu.au anytime.

My aim is to assist to empower students at school by developing RESILIENCE, CARING AND TRUST. Students with these life skills will be ready for the future.

Correna Wheeler
DSM
Defence School Mentor

P and C News

General Meeting

Our next meeting will be held 11 June 6pm in TCBC Conference Room.

The role of the P&C includes helping people come together, making suggestions to/asking questions of the Principal, getting to know each other, feeling that you can contribute to the school & having fun during this precious time of your child’s life. The more members we have actively participating in the P&C association the better we can achieve our objectives.

Please consider coming along to a P&C meeting and getting involved – it’s a great way to meet new people and really contribute to your child’s school experience.

School Banking

Don’t forget banking day is Wednesday, so be sure to get your banking wallet to the tuckshop (not the office) each week. There are still Term 1 and 2 prizes still available, so once 10 deposits have been made, send in the rewards sheet marked with the chosen prizes, and they will be sent back to your child’s classroom.

Do you want to get your child involved in school banking? All you need to get involved in the School Banking program is a Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account. You can open an account for your child in one of two ways:

1. Online
   Visit commbank.com.au/schoolbanking and click on the link to open a Youthsaver account.
2. In branch
   Visit a Commonwealth Bank branch with identification for yourself and your child, like a driver’s licence and birth certificate.

If your child has an existing Commonwealth Bank Youthsaver account they can start banking straight away. They just need to bring their deposit in every week on School Banking day using their Dollarmites deposit wallet.

If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2019 School Banking program information pack from the school office or visit:

Entertainment Books

Entertainment Books are once again available through the P&C!

These are great value - a fantastic way to check out most popular restaurants, attractions, shopping, travel and more, and save money along the way.

Available in book or digital memberships, so you can just flash your phone and save! The books are not being stocked at our school this year, so should you want the book, postage can be arranged through Entertainment Book.

Order through the P&C directly at this link -

2019 Fun Fair – 16 August

We are wanting to hear from market stall holders who may be interested in holding a stall at the Fun Fair. We are also after entertainment options, such as performers or sports demonstrators. Please spread the word and contact us if you are interested. Contact us at willowspandc@gmail.com or pm our Facebook page for an application form.

We'd love if you could start collecting glass jars (and their lids) for our Tombola stall. Any size jar is fine, big or tiny, it's all part of the fun. Removing the label would be a great help to us too, and please ensure that the jars and their lids have no smell (i.e. no garlic jars please!)

Perhaps you might also start collecting knick-knacks to fill the Tombola jars. Ideas are: stationery items, chocolates (Freddo frogs, other varieties), USB sticks or small electronic goodies, chalk, novelty games, hair ties, costume jewellery, puzzles, basically anything that will fit in a glass jar. Any foodstuffs will need to remain inside their packaging within the jar.

We will also be holding a Children’s Second Hand Book Stall. If you are having a clean out of your kid’s book shelves, please consider sending the books to us. Please note – children’s books only, no adult fiction.

If you are ready to send in any goodies, please send these to our OSHC.

Thank you!

Colour Explosion

Soon we will be kicking off the School Run4Fun Colour Explosion fundraising! Next week, the students will be provided with a Parent Letter, Consent Form and Sponsorship Form to help raise funds for our great school.

The actual event is still over a month away (it will be held on 28th June), but we will be looking for volunteers to assist on the day of the event, so please keep the date free. It’s going to be an explosion of colour!

Volunteers are required to hold a current and valid blue card prior to commencing activities in/arranged by a school and will need to apply for their own blue card. They must not commence providing child-related activities until they hold a current and valid blue card. The frequency of contact a volunteer has with children and young people is irrelevant. Parent and/or legal guardians of children enrolled at the school are exempt from requiring a blue card.

Any grandparents or other family members who want to participate in the day will need to contact Barbara Anderson, Business Manager to apply for a blue card. Please note that blue cards can take up to 6 weeks to process.

Contact us!

Like us on Facebook to keep up to date with school and P&C events. (Search for The Willows State School P&C.) You can contact us by sending a pm to the page. Alternatively, you can contact us via email at willowspandc@gmail.com

See you round!

Willows Warriors

Wow! What a fantastic start to our Pre-Prep program. It was great to meet the newest members of our school community, their parents and grandparents. We all had a wonderful time singing, reading stories, making caterpillars and going outside to do the obstacle course. The children also gave our new playground a big thumbs up. It was a bit dangerous with all those crocodiles swimming around it.

Prep News

Science

This week we have been learning about the 5 things living things need to survive. We have been growing plants and exploring what scientists would do to check if the living thing was healthy.

Special Days

Last week we had a visit from the RACQ road safety team. They talked to us about crossing the road safely, what road signs look like, mean and sound like and how to be a good passenger.

Athletics Carnival

The preps loved their very first running carnival!!

Year 1 News

In Year One we have been learning to describe the features of 2D and 3D shapes. In 1TRO we have been investigating 3D shapes using different materials and then recording information about their features.

In geography we are learning about why features change. More people moved into our city. They needed more transport to get around to different places. This meant there were more buses and cars. Then we needed more roads to be built to drive on.

Year 2 News

This Term in Geography, Year 2 are investigating features that define places and recognising that places can be described at different scales.

This week we have been designing a playground using simple construction materials, creating an aerial view map, using positional language (eg. next to/ beside/between) and then using our mathematical skills to collect and analyse data about favourite features.

Success Criteria- We will know we are successful when we can represent data and the location of places and their features in tables, plans and on labelled maps.

We can use simple geographical terms to describe direction and location of places.

Year 3 News

YEAR 3 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

This semester, Year 3s are creating a guessing game using the Scratch 2 program for Digital Technology.

Learning Intention: We are learning to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of digital systems and apply skills in defining, designing, implementing and evaluating a digital solution (simple guessing game) using visual programming language.

Success Criteria:

You will know you have been successful when you can:

Describe and justify how digital systems can be used for different purposes thinking about:

• What hardware/software and peripheral devices do
• What they are best used for

Justify how a guessing game can help people prepare for a test thinking about:

• How the specific features suit the purpose
• Design a simple guessing game that works thinking about:
• Writing a series of logical steps using visual programming language (programming blocks?)
• Using branching and user input to engage the user

Evaluate your game thinking about:

• Alternative uses for the guessing game
• How it met the purpose and how it could be improved

The students are enjoying learning new skills and creating a fun game that they can share with their classmates.

Year 4 News

PBL FUN

Awesome Fun was had at our 75 star rewards afternoon. Students have been working for the last 5 weeks on their behaviour choices and it was wonderful to see so many participating. 4NOS and 4MIL had a great time on the new play equipment and gave a big thumbs up of thanks to the P&C for their contribution.

Year 5 News

In Year 5 this fortnight…

We have been doing some work around our fortnightly Positive Behaviour for Learning focus – learn and let others learn. It was agreed that this means we should not be distracting others from their learning but also contributing to group discussions when needed. Following these expectations, we decided to do some role-play around both learning and letting others learn, and what this does not look like…

Understanding our Positive Behaviour Learning fortnightly focus is definitely helping us to get to 75 stars!

Year 6 News

The Year 6’s have been working very hard over the past few weeks in many different key learning areas. In Science students are investigating how to create simple electrical circuits to test different materials to see if they are insulators or conductors.

We have also been working hard to construct the biggest pyramid during our Maths guided inquiry. We investigated the different ways we could determine what ‘biggest’ meant as well as the different ways we could draw and construct our pyramids.

Community Events & Notices

Experiences of Parenting

Are You A Parent of a Child Aged 2 to 12?

The Parenting and Family Support Centre at the University of Queensland is conducting research into parents’ opinions about parenting and parenting programs. If you have a child between 2 and 12 years, we would love to hear your views on parenting and the services that are available to you as a parent. You will need to complete a short survey. To find out more or to participate please visit:

My Time

Hosting Opportunity

Townsville Shell Club Free Holiday Activity

Townsville Shell Club will be hosting its 50th annual Shell Show on the weekend of July 7th and 8th. We invite all students to come along to the Orchid Society Hall on the corner of Charles Street and Bamford Lane, Kirwan (opposite the Red Rooster) and be amazed at the wondrous world of shells in the displays and on the sales tables. Experts are available to answer any questions students may have about their own shells. The displays reinforce many STEM concepts taught in schools by providing concrete examples that will focus on improving performance of students of any age but are so interesting the kids will never know it’s learning!

There are age-appropriate activities organised for children. All children who attend will be given a free bag of shells. The Shell Show will also provide parents with a quiet sanctuary away from the roar of V8 engines while they view the exhibits.

Visitors are welcome on Saturday from 10am to 4pm and on Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Entry is FREE for students and adults only have to pay $2.00.

For further enquiries: call Marian on 4723 4925 or find The Townsville Shell Club on Facebook.

AEIOU Foundation