Term 2 Week 2

Principals Update

Welcome back to term 2, I hope everyone had a great Easter break. The 150 birthday celebrations were great, and I thank all our students who attended the parade. Also thanks to our student leaders who attended lunch with the Governor General and Senator McDonald.  We also had an outstanding display of respect from our students at the ANZAC parade, and I thank all for their support. Our school leaders looked professional and spoke well at the dawn service. There is so much to celebrate about our great school and the term ahead is shaping up to be a cracker.

Term 1 has shown some highly positive improvements in literacy across all students from Prep to Year 10, predominantly through our adoption of the PLD program.  To further extend this, we are encouraging students to increase their reading, Campbell sent an email home today with information about this.  Research shows that regular reading has a profound impact on literacy development, it only needs to be 5-10 minutes. 

On the 15th May we have an exciting visit from the Honourable John-Paul Langbroek, Minister for Education and the Arts. Joining him is Sharon Schimming, Director General (Department of Education) and Kay Kirkman, Regional Director.  This will be a quick visit, however we are looking forward to being able to showcase the wonderful progress our school is making, and most importantly our wonderful students.  Students will be bringing home a media consent form for the visit, can families please return ASAP.

We have reviewed our newsletter distribution processes, from this term we will send a newsletter home in weeks 1, 5 and 10.  We have so many platforms to share work and updates with parents now, engagement with the newsletter is declining.  The newsletter will provide a learning update from each teacher, along with my update and other key information.  I do encourage primary parents who haven’t yet created a Seesaw account to do so, and also QParents.

We had some staff changes to start the term.  Stacey Sheather is on leave and we farewelled Grace Elliot and Jaxi Allan.  After 8 years of service, Toni Lenton is now enjoying retirement. We thank these staff for their service to our school and community and wish them all the best on their next adventure.  We welcome Alyssa Williamson to our teacher aide team. We are still looking for a cleaner to join our wonderful team, if anyone is interested please ask them to contact the office and speak to either Danielle Taylor or myself.

Next Friday (9th May) we are recognising ‘Do it for Dolly’ day.  There will be a range of activities run by Chappy Sheree during breaks and students are encouraged to wear free dress in the theme of blue.  We have some prizes for best dressed and most engaged in the activities for the day. More information about the day will be communicated via Facebook.  We would be grateful if families could reiterate the message of ‘being kind’ at home also.  This is one of the key themes of this important occasion and something we are always working on at school also. 

Thanks as always for your ongoing support. We are looking forward to the term ahead and will distribute another newsletter in week 5.

Take care,

P/1/2 Report

Year 1 and 2 have started their learning journey with information reports. We are learning all about plants including labelling a plant, describing its appearance, and showing its life cycle so that we can write an information report at the end of the term on a chosen plant.

In Maths, Prep-1-2, are exploring all things number. Preps are learning about partitioning quantities up to 10, Year 1 are learning about partitioning two-digit numbers, and Year 2 are learning about partitioning three-digit numbers. Year 2 are also learning about time and have learnt o’clock and half-past time.

3/4 Report

The 3 / 4 class has made a fabulous start to term 2 and have been really engaged in all of their learning. Find below some key information around the focusses of each learning area to encourage learning conversations back home. 

English

Students have explored information texts, through researching an animal and discerning the information through a report which they then presented to class. 

Math

This term in math, students are exploring Odd & Even numbers as well as addition and subtraction problems. Further, students will develop the skill of partitioning numbers to solve problems which is the ability to break numbers down into smaller, more manageable parts to solve problems to make calculations easier. 

Science

Students are looking at living vs non-living things and understanding what living things need in order to survive. 

Health

Students are exploring safe vs non-safe situations and how to handle friendship situations in a safe manner. 

Technology

The ¾ class are exploring sustainable garden techniques and later this term will begin to design and create their own garden as a class. 

HASS

Students are following the journey of Burke and Wills and uncovering their importance in Australia's History. 

Year 5/6 Classroom Update

The Year 5/6 class have hit the ground running this term, diving into Holes by Louis Sachar. We’ve been analysing characters, settings, events and themes in depth.

In Mathematics, we’ve been exploring prime, composite and square numbers, as well as factors, prime factors and multiples.

In Science, our focus is on Earth and Space Sciences—an exciting area full of big questions and discoveries.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the term and the fantastic enthusiasm students continue to bring to their learning.

Mr Clarke

Yr 7/8 and Yr 9/10 Science

Both classes are working on the Physics Unit of the Science Curriculum (v8.4) in Term 2.

The Year 7/8 Science class are progressing well through the Physics unit which is focussed on understanding the different types of forces encountered everyday. Work to date has involved recognising how forces affect most everyday activities. Next week, a series of practical activities will be completed in the Science lab.

The Year 9/10 Science class are working steadily through the Physics unit which is focussed on investigating all forms of energy and specifically light, sound and heat. Progress has been in the identification of the types of energy in the real-world. Next week, a series of practical activities will be completed in the Science lab.

Yr 7/8 and Yr 9/10 Maths

Both classes are working on the unit of Shape and Measurement of the Maths Curriculum (v9.0) in Term 2.

Slow progress is being made in the Year 7/8 Maths class which has focussed on reviewing and investigation of some geometry introductory concepts. In future weeks, the class will be learning about the properties of shapes.

The Year 9/10 Maths class has made solid progress on the Shape and Measurement unit with the focus being on using and understanding Pythagoras Theorem and Trigonometry ratios. Work in the coming weeks will continue on using Trigonometry ratios to solve common real-world problems.

Yr 11 General Maths

Very good progress has been made in the Unit 1 in the General Maths syllabus by the Year 11 students. The General Maths Unit 1 which has elements of shape, measurement, algebra and financial concepts is expected to be completed by the middle of Term 2. An exam will follow and is likely to be conducted during Week 6 of Term 2.

Yr 11 Biology

Work for the Year 11 Biology students to date in Term 2 has focussed on revision for the data test assessment in Year 11 Biology. This assessment was completed during Week 2. The other work focus has been understanding metabolic reactions in cells involving respiration and photosynthesis. In the upcoming week, more experiments will be conducted.

Yr 7/8 and Yr 9/10 English and HASS

7/8 + 9/10 English students are learning the art of persuasion (7/8) and satire (9/10) and in 7/8 HASS students are investigating landscapes and landforms; specifically, their key features and the geomorphic process that create them.

HPE

All students have hit the ground running at the beginning of term in HPE by commencing their unit on athletics. We are eagerly preparing for our interschool athletics carnival on Friday Week 8.

Learning Overview- Ms Christopher

Art:

• Lower and Middle Primary – preparing collage animal habitats and dinosaur landscapes to incorporate media arts elements (e.g., stop motion and soundscapes)
• Upper Primary and Junior High School – focus on clay work
• Year 9 – completing final spraypainted night scene landscapes
• Senior VAP – completing final artwork commissions for clients

5-6 Humanities: civics and citizenship with discussions this week focussed on tomorrow’s Election.

Essential English: how workplaces, workers and jobs are represented in the media

Reading Diary Log

Good Afternoon All, 

Starting this term, we have introduced a 'Reading Diary' for the students to utilise both at school and at home. The purpose of this is simply to encourage our students to read. Students will be provided with time at school each week to loan out a book from our library. The reading diary and book will travel to and from school and home each in the students' bags. Students may also read a book from if they wish to do so. 

Whilst encouraged to read both at school and at home, this will not be a mandatory task, and time will be provided at school from 8.00-8.30am each morning to also read at the school library with a teacher or teacher aide. 

The reading diary is then filled in by the parent or teacher/aide whom the student reads with. There only needs to be 1 signature per line and does not need to be check or signed by both parent & teacher. 

Students from prep - Grade 10 will in particular be encouraged that this be completed as a simple homework task, however, is not mandatory and consequences will not be used for being incomplete. Positive verbal reinforcement will be used however to continually encourage and recognise students for regularly reading. 

Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask Campbell Evans through cseva0@eq.edu.au

Do It For Dolly Day

Next Friday the 9th of May, Winton State School will be proudly taking part in Do It For Dolly Day, a national day of kindness and awareness to help create a safer, kinder world for our young people.

To show our support, we’ll be holding a blue themed free dress day and we encourage everyone to wear their most creative blue outfits! There will be a prize for the best dressed, so don’t be afraid to go all out in support of this important cause.

To top off the day, we’ll also be holding a sausage sizzle lunch – a great way to come together as a school community and continue spreading kindness and connection.

Let’s stand together against bullying and help spread Dolly’s message of “Speak, Even If Your Voice Shakes.”