Term 1, Week 4 - 16th February

Principal Message

Thank you for another wonderful couple of weeks at Winton State School.  The year has certainly started very smoothly, and we thank you for your support in this.

I was really pleased to take our Student Council to the Winton Shire Council chambers meeting on Thursday.  It was a good experience for our students to observe the structure of the meeting and hear some of the agenda items.  They represented themselves, their families and our school with pride and respect.  The Student Council have also done a great job running our weekly parades.  

Congratulation to our students who attended the Central West trials for netball, and to Liberty who was selected to represent North West in the upcoming carnival.  In the next few weeks we have more trials occuring for Touch, Rugby League and Netball.  PLease check in with Darcy Clarke (PE Teacher) if you have any questions.

A reminder, breakfast club closes at 8:30am.  This is important to ensure that our staff working at Brekfast Club can be at their classes on time to support your learners when the school day starts at 8:50am.  If you student is attending breakfast club, please ensure they do so before 8:30am.  After this, they will be supervised in the shared area as normal, or our early years students will be taken to their area.

NAPLAN is coming up in week 8.  Please keep an eye on communication about testing dates, and upcoming practice dates.  If you would like to explore an exemption, please contact Pammy, however I would encoruage all students who are able to participate in the exams.  We use lots of data to inform our whole school decisions, and teachers planning and preparation.  NAPLAN, when used with other sources of data, is really helpful for our school in many ways.

We made good progress with school uniform to start the year, however still have work to do on this.  Can you please ensure students have enclosed shoes, plain school coloured bottoms (either royal blue, maroon or black) and either a school cap or any bucket hat.  Wearing our uniform correctly and with pride sets a high standard for our school, and sets a positive tone for learning.  

Attendance is key to student academic success, and we are so please with a great rate of attendance so far this year.  Can I please encourage you to keep up this great work at home, to ensure students are at school on time every day for learning.  If a student is going to be absent, please notify Maria in the morning so we can account for them each day.

We are working on scheduling a P & C meeting in the near future, please come along to that.  P & C plays an important role within our school, not only to support our students and community, however to contribute to the direction of the school.  I really value parent involvement and perspective on school operations and strategy, and look forward to having a strong P & C for 2024.

It has been great to see so many families at Friday morning parades, reminder this is every Friday at 8:50am.  Thanks for your ongoing support.

Take care,

Meggin

Calendar Dates in the next fortnight

19-23 February - The Big Red Truck visits

Wednesday 21st February - Central West Netball (10-12 years) -Longreach

Friday 23rd February - Parade @ 8:50am

Monday 26th February - CW Rugby League trials - Blackall\

Friday 1st March - CW Touch - Longreach

Friday 1st March - Parade @ 8:50am

Early Years update

Our early years class have had so much fun.  We celebrated pancake day, valentines day and our grade 2 students read us a book during story time. Thank you friends for another fun couple of weeks.

Year 3/4/5 News

In Science, our year 3,4 & 5 studnts had to work out how important our opposable thumbs were.  In their investigation they had to time each other do an activity with their thumbs then tape their thumbs down and retime themselves doing the same activities.  Some of the activities the did was tie their shoelaces, build a tower of 10 blocks, undo and do up buttons on their shirt, and write their name.

Year 11/12 Industrial Technology Skills

We started the term learning about and practising orthographic and isometric drawings so that we could better understand how to read and interpret building plans. The students then challenged themselves to draw an isometric projection of an object in the room. John chose a wooden mallet, Scarlet chose a piece of PVC pipe, and Jovi, Reece, and Charlie chose rectangular objects. Our first project of the year is to build a small step stool from a given plan. 

Year 7/8 DAT

The 7/8 students have started work on their skills project for this term - an acrylic phone holder. This is the students’ first time working with acrylic. We are very fortunate to have Mr Aaron Bahr leading us through the necessary skills and we are learning a lot about accurate measuring and cutting along the way. 

Guidance Officer - Mr R

Here are some tips getting back to school routine during the end of the holidays.

Come on, admit it. You intended to keep a schedule, but when the kids slept in you liked the extra quiet time.  Not living by the clock was a refreshing change of pace, but school has started and you know the kids and you need to get back into the groove.

First, let me assure you, it's healthier to have a flexible schedule than a rigid one. So have no guilt about your Christmas holiday schedule. Just realize that the school schedule is a big change and you may need to assist the children in making the transition.

Like so many things in life, back-to-school time is an exercise in regaining balance. So here are some tips for making the transition a little smoother:

1. Ideally, before school starts, start moving back to the school-year bedtime by half-hour increments.
2. At the same time, have the children wake up earlier each day, until they have gotten up at their regular school time for about a week.
3. Make a conscious effort to re-establish regular mealtimes and talk about their day.
4. Teach your children how to plan and pack a healthy lunch so they (and you) can be more independent. Brainstorm lists of the healthy foods they like.. Children can choose one item from each category to create a variety of healthy balanced lunches. If they really want something unhealthy, limit it to one item each week, so it's a special treat, not an everyday food.
5. Take them grocery shopping so they can pick out healthy foods for their lunch. The more children are involved and making choices, the fewer power struggles you'll get into. They will also establish healthier habits and lifestyles, which will follow them into their adult years.
6. Have them plan a way to remember their homework, lunch and backpacks each day. Also, when they will do their homework, play, eat, and do other activities. The goal is to complete responsibilities while maintaining balance, using good time management skills. Sound familiar? That's what you have to do at work! Well school is children's "work" and they need to take responsibility for it so they will be prepared for the real world. Planning for them deprives them of these learning opportunities. Teaching skills and letting them figure out a plan meets the goal.
7. Encourage them to organize their bags in preparation for that first big day. Again, this is their responsibility. Provide the necessary supplies so they can be organized. You can tell them what you would do, but need to let them figure out what works for them.
8. Have school items ready for the first day. This will give them something to look forward to.
9. Have children choose no more than two after-school activities per season, so they don’t overdo themselves. Maintaining balance requires setting priorities and making choices.

Are you seeing some patterns in these tips? Effective transitions happen gradually and help prepare children for the impending change. By involving them in the planning and giving them choices about how the change occurs, they will manage the transition and change better. They'll also learn important life skills and be more independent, responsible and confident.

Every parent wants that --- and future employers will value it, too!

Year 7 & 10 Immunisations

Immunisations for our year 7 & 10 students are coming up (7th March), consent forms have been distributed.  Please ensure you return the consent form by Wednesday next week 21st February.  Consent forms need to be returned even if students are not participating in the immunisation program.  Please contact school if you have any questions.

NAPLAN

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual assessment for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Practice Tests:

NAPLAN practice tests will be taking place in week 6 - in period 1 of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (29February to 1 March). This will simulate the testing conditions so that students are ready for the actual tests. We encourage students to attend these days.

Actual tests dates are:

• 13 March - Wednesday – Writing
• 14 March – Thursday – Reading followed by Conventions of Language
• 15 March – Friday – Numeracy
• 18 March – Monday – Catch up test session

Tests will start at 9am and will take between 40-65 minutes depending on grade level.

If your child is absent, they can be expected to take test/s during our morning catch-up sessions held on Monday the 18^th. The writing test will take priority for the students that are absent on Wednesday.

Students may be withdrawn from the testing program by their parent/carer. This is a matter for consideration by individual parents/carers in consultation with their child’s school. School staff must not influence parents/carers to withdraw their child. Withdrawals are intended to address issues such as religious beliefs and philosophical objections to testing. Please speak to the school if this is something you wish to pursue.

We hope to see all eligible students sitting the NAPLAN tests and giving it their best go!

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