15 November 2019

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S PRIDE

As we head towards the end of year, it is important that students continue to attend as teaching and learning across all learning areas continues as assessments are finalised for the year. It continues to be very important for children to attend school every day they are well enough to do so. As the weather has become quite warm, please ensure your child has a bucket hat and water bottle for daily use.

Prep Enrolments for 2020 – welcome NOW!

Children are eligible to enrol in Prep in 2020 if they will be five by 30 June in the year they commence Prep. The birth date range to be eligible for Prep in 2020 is from 1 July, 2014 to 30 June, 2015. Enrolments are open and welcome NOW.

Every student needs to complete an enrolment session. We look forward to welcoming your students into our school community.

Is your Prep-Year 5 student transferring to another school in 2020?

We have commenced the process of organising P-6 class compositions for 2020. We would appreciate early notice if your child, or children, will be transferring to another school in 2020. Please contact the school office to advise of your intentions if departing.

Transition statements for 2020 Prep students – school transition email address

Kindergartens are now being notified they can email transition statements to schools on behalf of parents.

The Willows email address for transition statements ONLY to be sent to is: admin@thewillowsss.eq.edu.au Reminder: On the transition statement parent/carer consent form there is a section for the kindergarten teacher to give their permission to be contacted by the school. Without this permission from the kindergarten teacher the school may not contact the service to discuss the transition statements for individual children.

Remembrance Day

I would like to express my appreciation to all members of our school community for their excellent tribute at our Remembrance Day Service today.

Our school band, choirs, student leaders and student speakers did an exceptional job and I was so proud of them, along with the exemplary behaviour of The Willows students. Our guests from RSL, parent groups and Kirwan High all commended our school on a moving tribute.

Thankyou Correna Wheeler, Trish Winter, Barb Anderson, Steve Rose, Fiona Coleman and Trevor Schimke for a fantastic ceremony - a fantastic job all round.

Kind regards,

Helen McCullough
Principal

GENERAL NEWS

Notes and payments

Please encourage your student to return their permission forms and notes directly to the office at the student windows. All payments should be paid direct at the office and not to the class teacher. This ensures that all money is receipted and families are issued with receipts immediately.

Payments can be made at the office every day between 8:00am and 3:30pm, using cash, debit or credit cards.

Direct deposits can be made using the following details:-

The Willows State School
BSB: 064 823
Account: 1022 1460
Reference: (Student's surname and Roll Class) e.g. Brown 2BOU

Important: If you use the direct deposit option, please ensure you USE A CLEAR REFERENCE. We will be unable to receipt your account if we don’t know who the deposit belongs to.

Update of Student Records

It is important that we have the most up to date student records for your child/ren. This includes addresses, contact phone numbers for parents and emergency contacts, and media consents. We are currently updating our student records and all students have received forms to take home for completion.

• Update of Student Records
• State School Consent Form (Media Consent)
• Third Party Website consent forms

Please complete and return all forms to the office ASAP.

Any queries can be directed to the office 4799 1333 or office@thewillowsss.eq.edu.au

Planning for 2020

Is your student returning to The Willows State School in 2020? Forms were sent home last week regarding this. Please return the form, or contact the office via phone or email to let us know if your student is intending on continuing at The Willows State School in 2020.

Academic Excellence Awards – Each Semester (data generated through reporting periods)

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.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Swimming Lessons Timetable

Positive Behaviour Learning

Well Being

10 habits to help strengthen your relationship with your child

We all crave those close moments with our children that make our hearts melt. Connection is as essential to us parents as it is to our children, because that's what makes parenting worth all the sacrifices.

That connection is also the only reason children willingly follow our rules. Kids who feel strongly connected to their parents WANT to cooperate, if they can. They'll still act like kids, which means their emotions will sometimes overwhelm their still-growing prefrontal cortex. But when they trust us to understand, to be on their side, they're motivated to follow our lead when they can.

Researchers remind us that we need five positive interactions to every negative interaction to keep any relationship healthy. And since we spend so much time guiding -- aka correcting, reminding, scolding, criticizing, nagging, and yelling -- it's important to make sure we spend five times as much time in positive connection.

But we're only human. There are days when all we can do is meet our children's most basic needs. Some days it's nothing short of heroic simply to feed them, bathe them, keep an encouraging tone, and get them to sleep at a reasonable hour -- so we can do it all over again tomorrow!

So given that parenting is the toughest job on earth -- and we often do it in our spare time, after being separated all day -- the only way to keep a strong bond with our children is to build in daily habits of connection. Here are ten habits that don't add time to your day, but do add connection. Simple, but incredibly powerful, these habits heal the disconnections of daily life and build emotional intelligence. You'll find that using them daily changes everything.

1. Aim for 12 hugs ( or physical connections) everyday
2. Play
3. Turn off technology when you interact with your child
4. Connect before transitions
5. Make time for one on one
6. Welcome emotion
7. Listen and empathise
8. Slow down and savour the moment
9. Bedtime snuggle and chat
10. Show up

Narelle Thomas
Guidance Officer

Defence News

HELLO TO ALL DEFENCE FAMILIES

WOW what a busy couple of weeks. A huge Thank you and appreciation for the support from our school and wider community for this year’s Remembrance Day Ceremony. Special Thanks to DP Patricia Winter who worked with me to organise this significant event. What a pleasure it was to have Mr John Cox from Thuringowa RSL Sub branch and John Cochrane from Kirwan High School present at our service this year. Well Done to School Captain Jenna C and Vice Captains Tiffany K and Halle-Ray D who presented our service with respect and honour. Brodie Q who read the poem with meaning and Patrick L for being the flag bearer, school choirs and concert band. Thanks to the Year 6 girls who kindly offered to sell poppies on the day. As always it was wonderful to see so many parents present and join our school on this commemorative day. To Remember all who have served and are still serving.

Farewell parties for all defence students leaving the school due to posting will be held in week 8 on Monday 25th November and Farewell for Year 6 defence students will be held in week 9 on Monday 2nd December. Invitations for students will be delivered to students or sent out in Farewell packs which will start to be distributed in the coming weeks. Remember to let the school know if you are posting/leaving this year.

Please remember to sign up to the DCO mailing list for what’s happening for defence families at dco.townsville@defence.gov.au If you have any questions please give me a call at school/email or stop by my room in L Pod any day of the week for a cuppa and chat. Any questions regarding postings and deployments please contact me anytime during school hours.

Our last Kidsmart Deployed has wrapped up and all students who attended had a great time. The students did yoga and jelly belly breathing, a technique to help you relax. All students received their teddy bear on completion. Thank you parents for your support with this program.

Kidsmart Relocation Program in Term 4 WK 8&9 Wed 27th Nov and Wed 4th Dec (2 sessions ONLY after school). If you are being posted and worried about how this will affect your childrens transition to a new school please register your interest NOW. This program assists children with strategies and coping skills related to moving to a new school and making new friends. PLEASE REGISTER BY CALLING OR EMAILING ME NOW. LIMITED PLACES.

POSTING should be through to members and families by now. If you know you are going to be leaving the school at the end of the year, please complete the form sent home and return to school. You can contact me with the details so I can support the student with the transition to a new school and make sure they receive their Farewell pack before they leave. Any questions about schools please contact me.

If you have a partner who has or will be Deployed and your child is not coping with the change please send me an email or call me to discuss your concerns. This time can be very traumatic for a child who is missing this special person. I can talk to them and we can put some ideas and strategies in place to assist with coping at school and home. Remember the 3 “R”’s RULES, RITUALS AND ROUTINES. Always talk to each other and try to keep the daily routine the same. School is a safe and friendly place to come. Also talk to the teacher.

Kookaburra Kids gives kids a break in a fun, positive and safe environment and provides an opportunity for them to meet other kids in similar families and develop new friendships. Anyone can refer a child to the program either online or by contacting the local office during business hours, at the link below or Townsville Co-ordinator Louisa Calvert on 0410 896 923 (Tues & Wed 9-5 and Mon & Thurs mornings). Will keep you posted with activity dates and camps. Donations and volunteers are also welcome. Lots of fun. FREE activities.

Go to the link below for an amazing on-line resource with loads of information for defence members and their families if you are trying to find clubs, groups, activities for children, and what to see and do on their new and present location. A MUST DO.

Tutoring Assistance- There are 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, visit DCO website or collect the forms from me. Also paperwork is required in the form of reports from leaving and gaining schools. More Information go to

DATES TO REMEMBER

Friday 15 November Girls Night In – Pink Ribbon Fundraiser

Saturday 23 November Geckos Annual Christmas Party. The Christmas Party is always popular with families and books out quickly.

Geckos at Lavarack Barracks has a jam packed program of activities for everyone from single members to families. If you haven’t visited the Centre lately, head down and check out the great work happening there. From Boot Camps to Date Nights, there are some fantastic events planned. So you don’t miss out on any of their upcoming events, like “Geckos Family Centre – North Queensland” on Facebook. There are lots of activities happening through DCO and Geckos every month, so keep an eye out. Follow geckos Facebook so you never miss an event.

DON’T FORGET to Register for DCO mailing list NOW at dco.townsville@defence.gov.au

Defence Family Helpline 24/7 1800 624 608

Open Arms call 1800 011 046

Mates4Mates – Email: townsville@mates4mates.org or call the Townsville FRC on 4771 9600

Current or ex-serving members of the Army, Air Force or Navy who have experienced a physical injury or mental health issue. As a direct result of their service can access services from Mates4Mates to assist with recovery. Immediate family members can also access a wide range of support services. The services we provide are:

• Physical Rehabilitation,
• Psychological Services,
• Social Connection Activities,
• (RAC) Rehabilitation Adventure Challenges, and,
• Employment and Education Support Services.

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

Kookaburra Kids Tvl-Louisa Calvert 1300 566 525/0410 896 923 at the link below.

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 who develop these life skills will be ready for the future.

Correna Wheeler
DSM Defence School Mentor

‘IT’S OK NOT TO BE OK, SOME DAYS ARE JUST HARDER THAN OTHERS’

P and C News

What does the P&C do?

The role of the P&C includes helping people come together, making suggestions to/asking questions of the Principal and admin team, 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 in 2020 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 School Banking is every Wednesday! Send your banking wallets, along with your deposit, to the tuckshop in the morning.

Our students really enjoy participating in the Commonwealth Bank School Banking program and to keep this program running we need your help.

The program requires volunteer School Banking Co-ordinators to facilitate the banking and distribution of School Banking rewards. This only takes a small amount of your time one day a week and the Commonwealth Bank will provide support in how to run the program. Your help with the program will greatly benefit students as they develop vital saving skills and also help our school with fundraising.

If you are interested in volunteering for this great program so that it continues to be available to our families in 2020, please contact us.

School House Shirts, Hats and Water Bottles – available from our Tuckshop!

School House polos are available in various sizes in all house colours for $30. For any new families to our school (and our new Prep 2019 families), these are not a compulsory shirt, and if purchased are only to be worn on Wednesdays and official school sports days.

Water bottles are available in all house colours - $5 each.

These hats are a brand new style with a toggle (as sold at The School Locker) available in four different sizes in all house colours on the reverse side - $15 each

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 sending a pm to the page. Alternatively, you can contact us via email at willowspandc@gmail.com

See you round!

Music News (The Pitch)

Willows Warriors

The Adventures of The Willows Warriors

We had a very busy week 5 in the Warriors’ room. We went out into the Willows community and learnt to cross the road with Miss Jan our Lollipop Lady. We made sure we were nice and safe by holding an adults hand, staying behind the yellow line and waiting for Miss Jan to blow the whistle twice, before walking calmly across the road.

Then when we got back to school we got to test drive our new trikes. We practised crossing the road, by getting off our trikes at the crossing and walking them across the crossing. We also stopped at the traffic lights when they were red and rode one behind the other without causing any accidents. Trikes are lots of fun!

Prep News

Science

This term we are investigating the properties of objects that affect their movement. We have been investigating why objects roll, bounce, spin and slide.

Maths

We have been looking at matching numerals, number words and quantities.

Drama

This term we have been investigating drama. We are looking at different roles people play and how their words and voices are used to show this role.

Year 1 News

This Term in Science, Year 1 students are designing a toy that makes sound, and describing the effects of interacting with it. The students have been practicing making different sound instruments and investigating what happens to the sound when a change is made.

To be successful, students will have to make their sound instrument and pose a question to investigate in regards to making a change to the sound.

This term in English, we have been busy learning how to write a procedure for a disgusting sandwich. Our final assessment task requires us to create a multimodal presentation for our sandwich, using the computers.

We have been hard at work learning how to open PowerPoint and Paint, use our ideas and creativity in our work, and practising essential computer skills. Typing, accessing the internet and using programs in different and creative ways will definitely help us in the future!

At home, you are encouraged to allow supervised access to computers or other technology to refine these important skills.

1MAR had fun creating our procedures, as well as pictures for our retells last term. Some fantastic examples are included below:

Year 2 News

Year 2 News

The Year 2 students have been learning to explain the outcomes of everyday events. To be successful they have to be able to describe and explain the outcomes of events using terms such as certain, more likely, likely, less likely and impossible. The students have been using lots of hands on materials such as dice, coloured counters, coins and different types of spinners to investigate the probability of certain outcomes occurring. They have been having lots of fun discovering the chance outcomes for particular events such as which coloured counter would have the best chance of being picked out of a container that had 4 red counters, 2 green counters and 1 blue counter. They were asked which colour was more likely to be picked, which colour was less likely to be picked and which colour was impossible to be picked. It was also interesting to see the outcomes when all the colours had the same number of counters in the container.

Year 3 News

Year 3 Mathematics

This term in year 3, students have been learning all about three-dimensional objects.

We are learning to describe all geometric features of a three-dimension object such as faces, edges and corners.

3PRI made learning fun and created accurate models of 3D shapes to match diagrams. We are going to use our knowledge of 3D shapes to create a model of a guinea pig hutch.

Year 4 News

Year 4 Science

Learning Intention

Students conduct an investigation about how contact and non-contact forces are accepted on an object. They design and investigate their own forces game, make a prediction, collect data and identify patterns. Students identify when science is used to understand the effect of their actions.

Success Criteria

You will know you will be successful when you can:

Explain the relationship between an applied force and it’s effect on motion of an object thinking about:

• How contact and non-contact forces effect movement
• Why speed is affected by the size of the force
• The effects of friction on different surfaces
• Attraction and repulsion between magnets
• Justify how science could be used
• Make a prediction and justify your thinking using your knowledge of forces
• Organise and identify patterns in data thinking about using science understanding to justify

Communicate using accurate scientific language in a formal way.

Year 5 News

The drama is hotting up in Year 5- MELODRAMA that is! Currently our fearless Fives are participating in lessons that explore the fundamentals of the style of acting we know as melodrama. The children have learned that melodrama uses stereotyped characters and larger than life actions and facial expressions to exaggerate the movements of the actors on stage.

This style of acting harks back to a time when darkly lit theatres needed the actors to ‘over-perform’ in order for the audience to see the action. We have also learnt that there are three main stock characters that are frequently seen in melodrama; the sweet and vulnerable Heroine, the brave and daring Hero and of course the cunning and devious, Villain. Currently classes are rehearsing these various roles in order to present a short melodramatic presentation to the class. It is fun to get into character and we can’t wait to dress up, cheer our heroes and boo our villains, as is common in this style of this theatre. Stay tuned to the year 5 space for pics of our performances.

Year 6 News

6EDM have been very busy with our English unit. Our task, ‘Arguing a point of view,’ showed students the cruel life of moon bears and bear farms in Vietnam and China.

Students were given the opportunity to research about moon bears and their natural environments as well as some bears that have been rescued! The students of 6EDM were so passionate about the moon bears, the teacher presented 6EDM their ‘adopted’ bear, Bodo.

Community Events & Notices

My Time

The Smith Family Saver Plus Program