20 July 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Pride and Key Messages – Michelle Donn

2022 School Explicit Improvement Agenda (EIA):
Every Student is a Reader and a Writer – Aim for the ‘A’
Inclusivity: Everyone Counts!
Wellbeing and Engagement for All

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Community Members,

Welcome to Week 2 of Term 3. It was an absolute pleasure last week to re-connect with staff and students. It was also pleasing to see students in Week 1 transitioning in a safe, responsible and respectful manner around the school. Thank you for your partnership in reiterating with your child school rules, routines and conduct expectations to assist us to continue to maintain a safe, calm and productive school learning environment for all throughout the term.

Thank you for your support of our NAIDOC Week activities last week. Special thanks to Mrs Nosworthy and our NAIDOC Committee for their coordination of these. There were many colourful and artistic NAIDOC shirts on display last Friday. Later in this newsletter you can see some photos of our students engaged in their NAIDOC activities last week. These were also shared with our school community via our school Facebook page. Don’t forget to remind your child the NAIDOC artwork competition is still open for entries.

This week we have Prep Vision Screening and our Year 4 students will participate in an excursion to the Materials Recovery Facility.

Academic Excellence Awards – Semester 1

The Semester 1 Academic Excellence Awards will be held in Week 3 on Wednesday, 27 July. Parents of student award recipients should have now received an invitation to this event. We look forward to seeing as many parents/caregivers attending as possible to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of their children.

The Academic Excellence Awards CRITERIA are as follows:

Bronze Award – 4 or 5 ‘A’ ratings
Silver Award – 6 or 7 ‘A’ ratings
Gold Award – 8 or more ‘A’ ratings
Academic Excellence Medallion – Straight ‘A’ ratings

2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge

I am delighted to invite all students to join in the 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge (PRC).

The PRC is not a competition but a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. Students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability and record books read during the reading period, anytime between now until 26 August.

To complete the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
• Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
• Years 5 to 9 must read at least 15 books.

Experiencing books can include shared reading, listening to stories, or reading picture books. The aim for the 2022 challenge is to engage more students to read than ever before! Last year saw more than 168,000 children from around the state participate.

For suggested books or for more information about the PRC, please visit: readingchallenge.education.qld.gov.au

Reader record forms for interested students will be available upon request from class teachers.

Every student who completes the challenge will receive a Certificate of Achievement signed by the Premier. I look forward to seeing as many of our students as possible take part in the 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge.

2022 School Opinion Survey – Parents/Caregivers

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted in Term 3. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (5, 6) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well and how we can improve.

This year the Department of Education is running the state-wide School Opinion Survey process for staff, students and parents/caregivers as per 2021 procedures. I have included some information below for your reference:

• Families with one or more enrolled children at our school will receive one invitation to complete the survey. The parent/caregiver to receive the invitation is selected based on information and email address in OneSchool.
• Participation is by invitation only. There is no generic survey link that can be used by all parents. Each link is unique and can only be used once by the parent. One parent per family will receive the survey link via email. No logins or passwords are needed.
• Parent survey invitations will be sent over a number of days in the week beginning Monday, 11 July. The survey will close on 12 August. The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation has been received - you do not need to wait until the official open date of 18 July.
• The survey invitation email uses the subject line: School Opinion Survey for parents/caregivers, 2022; parents should check junk email folders if it can’t be found.
• The survey will take approximately 5 minutes to complete using a computer, tablet or smart phone.
• Parents/caregivers who do not have access to the internet at home are welcome to complete their survey online at school. School computers/tablets can be made available upon request if needed.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
• This information assists schools to:
• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal ( https://www.nccd.edu.au ).

If you do not wish your child to be included in the NCCD data collection or have any questions about NCCD please contact the school. Data submission in Queensland state schools is required to be finalised by 5 August.

COVID-19 Positive Cases notification to school community

Over the past week we have continued to be notified of positive test results for COVID-19 in our school community.

May I remind you to continue to:

• monitor yourself and your family for COVID-19 symptoms that can include fever, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose, headache, fatigue, diarrhoea, vomiting or nausea, loss of smell and/or taste.
• stay home if displaying any symptoms, or feeling unwell. You should attend your local Queensland Health testing clinics where students are prioritised to get a free rapid antigen test (RAT).
• Continue to follow all Queensland Health advice .

If students become symptomatic while at school, you will be contacted to collect them. You will also be provided with a free rapid antigen test (RAT) to administer at home.

2023 BYOx Expression of Interest Process

The Willows State School is continuing to grow the successful introduction of the BYOx laptop program for students in Years 4, 5 & 6 in 2023.

Participation in the program is voluntary and we are currently seeking expressions of interest from families of current students in Year 3, 4 and 5 who may be interested in participating in the BYOx program at The Willows State School in 2023.

• Students who are currently in the BYOx program do not need to attend an information session and will receive a program re-commitment letter in Term 3, 2022. This will give the student and family the opportunity to elect to stay in the program in 2023 or opt out for 2023.

Parent Information Sessions – first one Thursday, 28 July 4:45pm

Parent Information sessions will be held in Term 3 for interested students and families. To participate in the BYOx program interested parents and students must attend a session to receive more detailed program information.

Please complete the survey below if your child is interested in participating in the BYOx program in 2023 and indicate which information session the family will likely attend.

Please note that completing this survey does not indicate a firm commitment to moving forward into the program.

Survey Link:

DATE CLAIMER: 25 Year Anniversary Celebration – Whole School Assembly

On Friday, 12 August from 9:15-10:45am a special whole school assembly will be conducted in the TCBC to celebrate the achievements of our school over the past 25 years! We would love our parent community to come along and help us celebrate this special milestone.

DATE CLAIMER: P&C Fun Fair – Friday, August 19 – Term 3, Week 6 – 5-9pm

Please note this date in your calendar NOW. Please also view the more detailed information provided by the P&C later in this newsletter regarding year level stalls and requests for donations over the coming weeks. Your support with donations and volunteering at our Fun Fair is much appreciated. Please contact the school should you be able to assist in any way. All funds raised go back into facilitating the enhancement of our school facilities and resources for your child.

Term 3 Calendar

Please view the calendar date claimers included within this newsletter for upcoming dates of significance for your children. Additional information/permission notes will be distributed to relevant student groups regarding specific events. Please ensure you adhere to all payment and/or permission deadlines to avoid disappointment for your child.

Have a wonderful week. Our next newsletter for Term 3 will be issued on Wednesday, 27 July

Warm regards,

Michelle Donn
A/Principal

General News

STUDENT LEADERS FOR 2023

This semester, our Year 5 students will be completing the selection process for student leader positions for 2023. Interested Year 5 students have collected student leader passports to complete and submit for selection. These passports include several pages regarding their school commitments to be completed by students and verified by staff.

Students are asked to have these pages completed and then submitted with an application letter on Monday the 12th of September. Students are then shortlisted for interviews and leadership positions for 2023 are announced later in Term 4.

Our student leaders need to demonstrate excellent personal conduct, leadership qualities, good citizenship and show evidence of a long-term commitment to their role. Some discussion at home may support your child to decide which of their daily or weekly activities and commitments will help them to complete the passport and best demonstrate their commitment, community spirit and leadership skills.

It is important to understand that only students who have completed the booklet, written a letter of application and submitted these on time, are eligible for selection as a School, Music or Sports Captain for 2023. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact your child’s class teacher.

2023 ENROLMENTS – NOW OPEN FOR ALL YEAR LEVELS

Our school is now taking enrolments for the 2023 school year. Please get your enrolment forms in early. Should you know of friends or family looking to join our great school, please inform them that they are welcome to contact the office for further information and to obtain an enrolment package.

Prospective 2023 Prep students may also like to consider attending our Willows Warriors Pre-Prep Program on a Wednesday as a great transition and orientation process. Please contact our school office for further information about this.

Prep Vision Screening at The Willows State School – 19-21 July, 2022

The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program aims to optimise the health and wellbeing of Queensland children during their transition to primary school, with a key focus on vision screening for prep students. This program is a state-wide initiative and offers free vision screening to prep students in state, catholic and independent schools.

Registered nurses based in communities across Queensland work with the support of Children’s Health Queensland to deliver the screening service and capture important data about the health of Queensland children.

At The Willows State School the vision screening process is scheduled to take place on 19, 20 & 21 July. Consent forms will be emailed to parents/carers for completion online. If you require a printed copy of the consent form please contact our office.

Vision screening is vital in early childhood, particularly for conditions such as amblyopia, or a ‘lazy eye’ which, if not detected and treated early, can lead to blindness. Vision loss can result in children struggling at school and having poor learning outcomes and can also lead to behavioural issues and difficulty with concentration. The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program provides the opportunity for visual abnormalities to be detected early and, in turn, minimise the impact on a child’s learning.

If visual abnormalities are found during a child’s screening tests they will be referred to an eye health professional for further assessment. The Primary School Nurse Health Readiness Program will follow-up with parents/guardians to discuss the outcome of this further assessment.

Upcoming Events

Positive Behaviour Learning

Defence News

HELLO and WELCOME TO ALL DEFENCE FAMILIES

Week 2 - Thank you for getting notes back to me for Mosaic Art. Monday 11th was super fun for Year 4-6 Defence students who attended the creative Mosaic art Project in L Pod. Rachel and Paul were ever so helpful and all students who came spoke about how cool it was, how much fun they had and could they come back next Monday. Monday 18th was our last session getting creative and now the art will be completed by Shed 3 and presented to our school at our 25th Anniversary Assembly on 12th August. It looks amazing and we all can’t wait to see the finished product.

Most postings should be out now, so if you have been informed that you are leaving this year can you please contact the office. This is important so I can talk with the students about their move to a new school. If you have any questions about what to do and where to go, please give me a call. Remember, Friday 29th July there will be a Defence Parents Afternoon Tea from 2-3pm with Open Arms representatives present where they will discuss support services available to all Defence members, spouses and children. Please come along for a cuppa and a chat. You can contact Open Arms on 1800 011 046 for support.

Looking for Child Care? The Coral Sea Child Care Centre in Kirwan is part of the One Tree Defence Child Care Unit, offering priority access for Defence families in Townsville. Additional information about this service can be found by visiting One Tree Community Services website.

Emergency Support for Family Scheme (ESFS)

Defence Member and Family Support (DMFS) can provide short-term financial assistance to an ADF member’s dependants in an emergency or crisis situation. This support is given when the member is absent from home for service reasons or unable to care for their dependants for a medical reason. The emergency event must be unforeseen, sudden and be beyond the immediate coping mechanisms of your family. The ADF member, their dependants or the member’s Commanding Officer can seek emergency support under ESFS by contacting the Defence Member and Family Helpline on 1800 624 608 or our office on 4430 3879.

Defence Families of Australia are looking for your support. They are looking for several local families to participate in a photography project to highlight some of the unique benefits and realities of Defence family life in a natural and candid way. Each shoot may take around three hours and is proposed for June/July 2022. It sounds like fun for the family. There is a flyer attached with contact details.

If you just posted into Townsville this year or in the last 18 months, your children may be eligible for Education Assistance. This is available for students who move to a new school due to a posting. You have 18 months to apply and use the Education Assistance. If you have posted in this year and would like your children to benefit from some extra tutoring, you can do so NOW. Just contact the Defence Member and Family Helpline 1800 624 608 or email education.supportprograms@defence.gov.au for the form. I have copies of the Education Assistance form at school that I can have the teacher sign and return home with student upon request. One hour of tutoring per subject (Maths and English) for up to 14 weeks can be accessed. Reports are no longer required to access this service. Please contact me if you have any further questions about the form. This is a valuable resource to assist students with their learning and therefore assist with their transition into a new school. This builds self-confidence and resilience in children. I am always available to answer any questions about your student’s transition into their new school. You can ring the Defence Family Helpline on 1800 624 608, visit DMFS website or collect the forms from me. For more information go to the link below:

Geckos Family Centre at Lavarack Barracks is excited to announce that large renovations will occur to the internal facility from 5 May – 30 June, 2022. The internal facility will be closed for this set period over this time. All weekly groups, school holiday activities and special events will continue (at various locations). The playground will remain open for families to utilise throughout this period. Check out their Facebook page to keep up to date with the activities and events held throughout the year or phone them on 07 4411 7031 for more details.

TO BE UP TO DATE WITH WHATS ON IN TOWNSVILLE CHECK THE LINK BELOW, or follow on Facebook or call 07 4411 7031.

DON’T FORGET to Register for DMFS mailing list NOW at MemberandFamilyHelpline@defence.gov.au or follow on Facebook for updates.

DATES TO REMEMBER

TIME TO DINE, PARTNERS NIGHT OUT, FRIDAY 22 JULY - Fancy meeting other spouses and enjoying a partners only night out? Take the time to dine and join us for dinner at the Bohle Barn. Meet new friends, catch-up with old ones, soak up the live entertainment, relax and unwind. Tickets to this event are essential and are limited so book now!

This is a self-funded activity. Attendees are responsible for the cost of purchasing their own food and drinks.

Where: Bohle Barn, Bohle
When: Friday 22 July - 7:00pm

COFFEE CONNECTIONS CAFÉ BAMBINI FAIRFIELD THURSDAY 4TH AUGUST- ADF members and families in Townsville, we’d love to see you at Café Bambini - Fairfield for Coffee Connections in August. Whether you’ve been in Townville for a while now, or have just arrived, everyone’s welcome. This is a self-funded activity. Attendees are responsible for the cost of purchasing/providing their own food and drinks. Children are welcome under parent/guardian supervision.

Where: Café Bambini – Fairfield
When: Thursday 4 August, at 9:30am-11:30am.
Registration: Eventbrite - Coffee Connections

IMPORTANT - Contacts

Defence Family Helpline 24/7 - 1800 624 608 - Need Help give them a call

DMFS Office at Nathan Business Centre on Ross River Rd, call 07 4430 3879

Open Arms support former and current serving ADF personnel and their family members can use the service also call 1800 011 046 www.openarms.gov.au

Mates4Mates – Townsville FRC 4771 9600 townsville@mates4mates.org

Café now Open from 9am-12.30pm every day, you are welcome to attend for a chat and to have a look around.

The Oasis Townsville for Ex-ADF Community in Townsville hello@theoasistownsville.org.au

Dirty Books Café – 1 Staging Camp Avenue, Oonoonba – 07 4759 8777

DFA (Defence Families of Australia) – NQ Delegate Larissa Ostermann 0418 796 561 nth.qld@dfa.org.au

DSNG Defence Special Needs Group - 1800 037 674 www.dsng.org.au

Beyondblue.org.au www.australia.gov.au

Geckos Family Centre Nth Qld Lavarack Barracks - Contact for enquiries on 07 4446 1238 or follow on Facebook

Kookaburra Kids Charity Organisation Mental Health Service - 1300 566 525 www.kookaburrakids.org.au or contact Hannah Galliner 0484 544 451/1300 566 525

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

My hours are Monday to Friday 8:00am-3:30pm. Please phone me anytime for a chat on 4799 1333 ext 323, or email me cwhee36@eq.edu.au. I look forward to meeting you.

Correna Wheeler
Defence School Mentor

I LOVE PEOPLE THAT HAVE NO IDEA HOW WONDERFUL THEY ARE AND JUST WANDER AROUND MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

P and C News

The Willows State School P&C Fun Fair on August 19 from 5pm-9pm

The countdown is on to The Willows State School Fun Fair happening in Term 3! Our year levels have all nominated to caretake a different stall and over the coming weeks we will be asking for small donations from our whole school community to help each year level. Thank you to everyone who has already donated items for our fun fair. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Cent Sale Donations Week 1 - Week 2

In Week 1 and 2 we are calling out to all local businesses for a donation to our Cent Sale. Please get in touch with us if you are interested in donating to our Cent Sale. Prizes can range from vouchers to hampers to products from your business. We are able to offer acknowledgement and promotion of your business at the event and on our Facebook page to show our appreciation.

If your establishment is able to help in any way, we would very much like to hear from you. We can be contacted via our P&C email address pandc@thewillowsss.eq.edu.au

All donations can be given to class teachers, dropped directly to the office or directly to the OSHC.

Glass Jars

Please keep your glass jars! We will accept any size, clean and with the label removed if possible.

Music News (The Pitch)

Prep News

Prep July Newsletter

English

In English, Preps are learning to listen to, innovate on and create a rhyme using written and spoken communication and learning to communicate an opinion about a familiar rhyming story and identify the use of rhyme.

Mathematics

In Mathematics, Preps are learning to answer simple questions to collect information and make simple inferences, connect events and days of the week, and explain the order and duration of events.

Science

In science preps are learning to suggest how the weather affects themselves and other living things and share observations about the weather.

HASS

In HASS this Semester preps are learning to identify, represent and describe the features of familiar places, and suggest ways to care for a special familiar place.

75 Star rewards activity

To celebrate getting 75 stars, preps had a board game afternoon. Prep students brought their favourite board games to school. Everyone had lots of fun.

100 Days of Prep

Year One News

Welcome to Term 3! We have gotten straight back into some big learning and have settled in nicely.

In English, we have gotten into all things poetry. We are looking at poetic features and even building our presentation skills with practising our upcoming poetry recitations. We know that to make a strong presentation we need to use a clear voice that gets louder or softer depending on what we are saying and how to use our faces and gestures to make what we are saying more entertaining for our audience.

In Maths, we have a big term ahead. Some classes have started looking back at counting patterns such as the 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, how we can show them in different ways and even how we can problem solve using our counting knowledge. Other classes have begun working with time and o’clock and half past.

In Science, we have looked at what features help us recognise whether a landscape is natural, managed or constructed.

Year Two News

Welcome to Term 3 - halfway through the year already!

This term in English, Year 2 are focusing on procedural texts. We’ve been reading George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, and students will be writing a procedure to help George make something for Grandma. Throughout the week, students have explored different procedural texts and discussed the text structure of a procedure: Title, Aim, Ingredients, Equipment, Method. When writing their ingredient list, students have been using adjectives that match the aim of their procedure, whether it be something disgusting for Grandma, or something delicious! Students have also explored a range of equipment, and action verbs they will be need to use when writing their method.

Once the procedure has been writing, students will be drawing or finding images to support their text, and presenting their procedure to the class. We can’t wait to see all of the things Year 2 will make for Grandma!

Year Three News

It is great again to see all the Year 3’s back again and ready for learning in Term 3. Again, we have a full term of learning planned.

This week in Science we have been sharing what we know about heat and learning what senses we use to observe heat and how to observe heat safely. We have taken a walk around the school grounds to observe heat. Later in the term students will be engaged in a variety of experiments in Science and learning how to effectively collect data.

In English this week, we have continued on from last term our study of the novel Kumiko and the Dragon. Students in Year 3 are working on developing their inferential comprehension skills in both text and visual features.

In line with the school’s PBL focus, the Year 3s have also engaged in a variety of activities to celebrate NAIDOC week.

Year Four News

This term in Science the Year 4’s are doing a unit called ‘Here today, gone tomorrow!’ In this unit students will learn about the Rock Cycle, weathering and erosion and how human and nature impact the change in our landscapes over time.

Last week students got to observe metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rock up close. Some of the favourites were obsidian as it appears in Minecraft and Pumice because it is so light.

Year Five News

Lighting up the class!

This term in Science our Year 5 students are investigating the concepts of light. They will learn about how light travels, reflection, refraction and shadow. They will use this knowledge to help a magician in his show create a fantastic trick. So far, we have identified how light travels through an experiment. The students got to witness how light rays move with stencils. They were able to see how the light has taken on the shape of the stencil and how the rays have changed.

Year Six News

Welcome to Term 3!

From analysing author choices in English, to exploring natural disasters in Science, Year 6 have a very interesting term ahead.

In 6D MAR, we have begun our Maths unit with the Cartesian plane, and have been learning how to plot co-ordinates using our x and y axes.

We used markers to create a Cartesian plane outside, found our co-ordinates and discussed how we knew we were in the correct location. We even played a fun game of Battleship to practice using our skills!

Our work with the Cartesian plane is similar to our current HASS unit, which involves using latitude and longitude to locate cities on world maps. 6MAR have been very interested in learning about the world’s countries, and are looking forward to finding out more!