3 May 2023

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Pride

2023 Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) Focus Areas:
Educational achievement
Wellbeing and engagement
Culture and inclusion

Dear Parents, Caregivers and Community Members,

Welcome back to Week 3. It is difficult to fathom how quickly this term is moving. I encourage everyone to especially focus on good health habits over the coming weeks as we move into the cooler months, traditionally the cold and flu season of the year.

Sockable "Crazy Socks" Fundraiser - Opens 2nd May - 16 May

The P&C are running a Crazy Sock fundraiser through Sockables. This year the fundraiser will be all online. Notes have been sent home with all the details. In case you missed the note:

Instructions for families from the P&C are as below:

1. Between 2 May and 16 May, visit the Sockable Fundraising website at the link below.
2. Choose your socks in your child’s size
3. Select ‘The Willows State School’ at the checkout
4. Add your Child's name and class so we can deliver their socks

* PLEASE NOTE: Students can wear the socks for the Student Council gold coin fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House in Week 9 – Wednesday, 14 June – CRAZY SOCK DAY

REMINDER: P&C Mother’s Day Stall – NEXT WEEK – Tuesday, 9 May-Friday, 12 May

Our wonderful P&C are once again running a Mother’s Day Stall for our students to be able to purchase gifts for the special female caregivers in their lives. Gift prices are very competitive, and all profits go towards school fundraising projects which include playgrounds, shade structures and resources.

This year payment can either be made with cash or vouchers purchased through your child's tuckshop account on Flexischools. Please see the P&C information regarding the stall later in this newsletter. Your support of our school is very much appreciated.

Safe ST Committee

Following a number of staff, parent and community concerns expressed about the safety of students as they transition to and from The Willows State School, particularly along Bilberry Street, we are re-establishing a SafeST Committee with all key stakeholders as a first step in developing a road safety action plan for implementing strategies and solutions for The Willows State School.

As you are aware, school road safety is a matter that requires whole of community awareness and commitment. Improving the safety of school travel for all children is reliant on the involvement and engagement of schools (including Parents and Citizens Associations), local government and state authorities such as the Department of Education, Queensland Police Service, Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and bus operators.

The first meeting of representatives from all above listed agencies will occur in Week 6, following some pedestrian counts being conducted in coming weeks. I look forward to engaging with our parent body further around recommended strategies in coming weeks.

QParents

As part of our school’s progression towards online consent management The Willows State School is providing our parent community with the opportunity to register for QParents.

The QParents web and mobile application provides a more convenient, easier way for parents and legal guardians of Queensland state school students to interact with their child’s school.

Registered parents will have secure, online access to their child’s student information, anytime, anywhere, through a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The benefits of QParents

Convenience and time savings for parents

QParents allows parents to connect instantly with their child’s school to access and manage their child’s student information, including:

• Attendance and absence details, as well as the ability to notify the school of an absence
• Academic report cards
• Viewing unpaid invoice details, payment history, and making payments online
• Viewing and updating personal student details, including medical conditions and address
• Enrolment details

Improved administration efficiencies for schools

• Allows schools to streamline their administrative processes and cut down on printing.

What is a QParents Account Owner (QPAO)?

The school will nominate parents or legal guardians for each student to be QParents Account Owners (QPAOs). QPAOs will be able to register for QParents to access and manage the student’s information online, view the student’s information and submit requests to update some of the student’s details.

QPAOs will also be able to invite other people (such as another family member), to view the student’s information. Once invited, these people can register for QParents as “delegated viewers”. A delegated viewer can see the student’s details, but cannot make updates.

Registering for QParents

You will receive an invitation email or letter from us containing your unique invitation code. Simply follow the instructions in that email or letter to complete the QParents account registration process. Initial registration and addition of students to your account must be done on a desktop or laptop computer. Once registered, you will then be able to access QParents using your mobile device (via web browser or by downloading the iPhone or Android App).

If you do not want to register, you may advise us not to send you any more invitations, and your child’s student information will not be available to anyone through QParents. Or, if you want another parent to be the QPAO, you can advise us and we will send them an invitation email or letter with their own unique invitation code.

Identity verification

To obtain full access to student information, as part of their QParents registration users must complete an identity verification process. QParents offers two options for identity verification – online and offline.

For fully online verification (the fastest option), you will need to verify 100 points of the following identity documents online:

If you cannot verify 100 points of the above ID documents online, you may still register for QParents, but you will need to attend the school to verify documentation in person after you have registered online.

Full instructions on how to verify your documents and what you may need to bring to the school will be provided as part of the invitation and registration process.

For more information regarding the online identity verification process, see:

Please note that QParents does not maintain copies or records of any identity documents used for account verification, either online or offline.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) Fortnightly Rule Focus: Let others learn

Over the next two weeks of Term 2 our PBL school focus will be 'Let others learn'. At The Willows State School students let others learn by being safe, respectful and responsible in the classroom. Students will identify what it looks like to let others learn, reflecting on their own behaviour choices and the effect those choices may they have on those learning around them.

We also want to encourage students at TWSS to take responsibility of their own learning as everyone has the right to learn in a safe, engaging environment.

Your continued support in also enforcing these expectations with your child is much appreciated.

‘Time Out’ Poster – Keeping your child and other children healthy

We love to see all of our students at school every day they are well enough to attend. On some occasions however, your child may become unwell. Please view the following Queensland Health ‘Time Out’ poster to see recommendations for keeping your child at home.

Have a wonderful first week in May. Our next newsletter for Term 2 will be issued on Wednesday, 10 May.

Warm regards,
Michelle Donn
Principal

General News

PEEK AT PREP

U8’S DAY

FAMILIES FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

PREP VISION SCREENING

Upcoming Events

Year Level Parade Times

Permission Forms

P and C News

Sockable "Crazy Socks" Fundraiser - Opens 2nd May - 16 May

We are running a Crazy Sock fundraiser through Sockables. This year the fundraiser will be all online.

1. Between 2 May and 16 May, visit the Sockable Fundraising at the link below
2. Choose your socks in your size
3. Select The Willows State School at the checkout
4. Add your Child's name and class so we can deliver their socks

Mother’s Day Stall

The P&C are running a Mother's Day Stall in Week 4 from Tuesday 9 May - Friday 12 May. Each class will be allocated a time and day to visit our stall and purchase gifts for their loved ones. A note with the day your child's class will visit the stall will be sent home.

Small gifts will be available with prices ranging from $1 - $12. Prices are very competitive, and profits go towards helping the P&C fundraise for school projects.

This year payment can either be made with cash or pre-sold vouchers. Keep an eye out on Flexischools as vouchers will be available soon. Vouchers must be purchased by Friday, 5th May.

Can you help run the stall? Tasks are simply helping our students select gifts, checking they aren't going beyond their budget, and generally helping keep the tables stocked. If you can help for only a couple of hours, or even a couple of days, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at willowspandc@gmail.com or visit our sign up page and enter your name in the time slots provided:

Facebook

Did you know that the P&C has a Facebook page? Follow us to view details of upcoming fundraising events, and meeting times:

Positive Behaviour Learning

Willows Warriors News

Defence News

HELLO TO ALL DEFENCE FAMILIES

This was our last long weekend for a while so I hope everyone had a wonderful break.

It has been busy at Kids Club this week with students creating Mother’s Day crafts to take home for their Special Mum. We have also been having fun with dress ups and playing board games with our friends.

Please give me a call if you have a concern or question regarding your child at school.

If you have arrived this year remember that you can access Education Support through Defence for Tutoring. The member must complete forms and then they can be accessed at ADF Pay and Conditions Manual or you can contact DMFS Helpline on 1800 624 608 for more details. This scheme gives students access to 14hrs of tutoring for Maths and English which must be applied for and used within 18 months of posting into a new location. Give me a call to discuss further. I have included a flyer with more details.

The Legacy Centenary Torch Relay has started and will be arriving in Townsville on 27th May. The relay has begun in France and is a 6-month journey worldwide to pay homage and acknowledge veterans’ families. The torch will travel over 50 000km with 45 Legacy Club Stops worldwide. They are looking for Volunteers to assist here in Townsville. If you are interested in volunteering, go to The Legacy Centenary Torch Relay 2023 website for more details. I am looking forward to seeing this event.

If you or you partner are going on exercise or training in the coming months, please let me know so I can be a support for your child while here at school. As this can be a challenging time for children.

Open Arms has released their Group Programs for January to July, so check out their website at OpenArms.gov.au for all the details.

Kookaburra Kids is in Townsville - this organisation supports kids living in families that are affected by mental illness. For more details on activities contact Hannah Galliner on 0484 544 451 or check out the website www.kookaburrakids.org.au

For what’s coming up - DON’T FORGET to Register NOW to receive a newsletter and updates at dmfs.townsville@defence.gov.au or follow them on Facebook.

Geckos Family Centre-North Queensland is at Lavarack Barracks and is open to drop in. They have weekly events on, a huge brand-new playground area outside, stop in and meet the friendly staff for a chat and a cuppa. Follow them on Facebook to keep up to date with the activities and events held throughout the year or phone them on 07 4411 7031 for more details. See flyer below for details.

TO BE UP TO DATE WITH WHATS ON IN TOWNSVILLE CHECK whatson.townsville.qld.gov.au

DATES TO REMEMBER

Coffee Connections. First coffee on us.

When: Tuesday 16 May 9:30-11:30am
Where: BH Café (formerly Bakehouse on Eyre)
Registration: Eventbrite - NFW Coffee Connections

RAAF Base Townsville. ADF Members Meet & Greet. First 10 get coffee on us.

When: Tuesday 16 May 9:30-10:30am
Where: AAFCANS RAAF Base Townsville
Registration: No registration required, drop in for a cuppa

FINANCIAL FUNDAMENTALS & ENTITLEMENTS WITH DEFENCE FAMILY NETWORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE OASIS

The Defence Family Network can assist you to navigate through the financial maze and set yourself up your family's future.

Budgeting skills need to be adapted and finessed as we move through the changes of life.

Unexpected situations can make budgeting difficult, however the expert panel will provide you with tips to manage your money with the aim to improve your financial setting.

Current serving members and partners are invited to a session outlining what entitlements are available, what payments you might be eligible for & budgeting.

Where: The Oasis, 1 Staging Camp Avenue, Oonoonba Q 4811
When: Friday 5 May, 4:00pm-7:00pm
Registration: Via the Oasis Website

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 – office is at the Nathan Business Centre or 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 is currently under renovation

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

8TH WORLD RED CROSS DAY! SUPPORT AND GIVE GENEROUSLY!