Term 1, Week 6 - 1st March
Principal Message
Hi families,
Thank you for another great couple of weeks at Winton State School. It is hard to believe we are already at the end of week 6, the term is certainly flying by. We have had some interruptions with weather, NAPLAN practice and sport however the students have taken it all in their stride and made us very proud. Thanks also to families for your patience and understanding with some necessary changes to daily routines to accommodate these events.
In the event of wet weather and pick up at the staff carpark, can we please ask that this operates as a drive through and families don't park at the end of the turn around. This ensure cars are able to get back out of the driveway and don't block the road. If this occurs, we will always have staff helping to direct students safely to cars as they are able to drive through past the undercover path.
Well done to students who have attended Central West trials recently. We have had Rugby League and touch recently. Students, whether they were selected or not, represented themselves and our school community with absolute pride.
Congratulations to students in years 3,5,7 & 9 on a successful NAPLAN practice this week. The online delivery of NAPLAN presents some challenges for all schools, especially a small school with no onsite tech support. We are confident following the practice this week that we are aware of potential issues and will have these resolved for a smooth delivery of the real deal in week 8.
Our P & C Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 21st March at the Winton, arrive from 5pm for a 5:15pm sharp start. The P & C is an important voice in our school community and it operates most effectively with a good representation of families and community members. This is also a good opportunity to meet other families of our school and share your ideas to support the best opportunities for our students, your kids. Thanks in advance for your support in forming a strong P & C for 2024.
Attendance is essential for students to be successful learners, and again I congratulate students and families on outstanding attendance so far this year. Please remember to notify the office if a student will be away for a day, this ensures we know all students are safe and accounted for each morning.
As we commence Autumn, it is timely to consider winter uniform items. Students are required to wear plain colour bottoms, including track pants for winter. The same applies for jumpers, a plain school coloured jumper. These can be either blue, black or maroon. Winter and the cooler months are still a little way off, however getting in early will help with accessing these popular uniform items. We do also have school bucket hats available in S/M size for both houses. It is a requirement that students wear enclosed shoes everyday, sneakers or similar. Crocs or closed toe sandals are not appropriate.
We have some exciting facilities work happening at the moment. Our science lab is progressing well and we hope to be moving into that early after the Easter break. We also have an external refurbishment of our three highset buildings. This will include repaint of all existing painted surfaces, new flooring on the balcony and stairs, replacement of balustrade and handrails and a refurbishment to the old music room. This work is due to commence in the next week and will cause some access interruptions at times.
Our school library is up and running now, you may have noticed students bringing books home. Please encourage them to read at night, 10 minutes a night is a great start.
This year we have put a few new systems in place to increase our communication home with families, especially regular updates from classroom teachers. I hope you are finding the additional communication helpful, and feeling informed about your students learning journey. If at any time you have questions or concerns please contact either the classroom teacher or myself so we can work together to support your students success.
Thanks for your ongoing support, take care.
Meggin
Key Calendar Dates
Thursday 7th March - Year 7 & 10 immunisations
Friday 8th March - Parade @ 8:50am
Friday 8th March - Gather the Girls (Outback Futures) @ 1:45pm (session 4)
Wednesday 13 March - NAPLAN – Writing (9am)
Thursday 14 March – NAPLAN – Reading followed by Conventions of Language (9am)
Friday 15 March – NAPLAN – Numeracy (9am)
Friday 15th March - Parade @ 8:50am
Friday 15th March - Bring the Boys (Outback Futures) @ 1:45pm (Session 4)
Art @ Winton SS
P-1-2
We are applying what we have learnt about Pablo Picasso’s cubist portraits to create self-portraits. Students have made line drawings from photos of themselves and are now showing their knowledge of complementary colours to paint them in fun and interesting ways. Our little artists are having so much fun they have even nicknamed Picasso, Pavlova Picasso!
3-4-5
In our unit about pet portraits, we are currently putting our knowledge of colour theory to the test. We have learnt about artist, George Rodrigue’s famous ‘Blue Dog’ series, with each student learning to draw the shape of the Blue Dog. However, everyone’s painting will be different as students create their own unique background showing they can use harmonious colours. There is a lot of laughter in our art room as we paint and share our progress, but especially when we watch insta reels of DJ-ing Dachshunds, Doxie Din and Puppy Jay for colour (and rhythm!) inspo!
6
Our inner and outer self-portraits are coming along. Students started the process showing they can draw themselves using proportion and measurement. Next, they showed they could mix skin tone and hair colour. Their outer selves are almost finished!
7/8
In our portraiture unit, students have been learning continuous line drawing techniques to create portraits of famous musicians like Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Bruno Mars. It is not always easy to let your inhibitions go and trust the process in art, but when our students allow themselves to do so, they can surprise themselves with some stunning results. Their portraits are still in progress, and I am excited to see them finished. Included in the photos are works by two of our students, Beau Hasted (Yr 8) and Kaelen Ogden (Yr 7). Well done!
9/10
Skateboard deck preparation is underway. Students are using the story of Spinifex Boards in the Northern Territory to influence their skateboard logos and board designs for our own brand of ‘Winton Boards’. It is inspiring to hear and see each students stories of connection to our town and land come to life in their designs.
Senior VAP
Year 11s are working on a new unit about their “Inner Self”. Having experimented with different media and analysed portraits by a number of artists, they are now developing ideas for an experimental series of works that represent themselves and their personal interests. Our Year 12s are progressing a series of resolved landscape paintings.
Prep-2 Photos
3-4-5 Art Photos
Year 6 Art Photos
Year 7-8 Art Photos
Year 9-10 Art Photos
Senior VAP Photos
YEar 7/8 DAT
The 7/8 class made their own DIY hydroponics planter from milk and soft drink bottles. We planted pumpkin seeds in the top and used rags to provide a wicking mechanism to draw the water up to the soil. The pumpkins germinated quickly and we planted them out in the garden in the orchard.
Year 11/12 ISK
The 11/12 students have been hard at work creating a foot stool from a technical drawing. It’s been challenging interpreting the information from a picture, and transferring this to their timber.
Year 11/12 Agricultural Practices
The students conducted soil testing to determine the best location and pH for plants to grow in. They tested a variety of soils from our growing areas, and found a mixture of results. Interestingly the soils that had no plants or weeds growing in them were high alkaline (purple results) whereas the soils that were taken from garden beds or under plants were around pH 6-7 (green).
Leadership Retreat
What's happening in Hospitality
The Year 12 Hospitality class has been busy perfecting their coffee making and trying new recipes for café style foods for their café next term. This week we decided upon Macarons, all students were excited to try these tasty treats.
Japanese
The Japanese students have been learning how to introduce themselves, how to say they like or dislike something, and starting to count using kanji. We have been practicing asking questions and answering ‘hai’ for yes or ‘iie’ for no. We have been playing games to help us remember, here we are playing ‘Bingo‘ and ‘Guess Who’.
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.
The Resilience Project @ Winton
We are very excited to share that Winton State School has partnered with The Resilience Project. The Resilience Project is delivered in over 1500 schools in Australia, and now we are on board too. This is a research based program that is built on the pillars of GEM; gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. This is a high quality program that we are pleased to be able to deliver in our school. More information will come, there is a brief welcome for parents included here.
Healthy Recipe from Nurse Nikki
Easy Savoury Bacon Slice (Easy, 0:25 Prep, 0:45Cooking,
6 Servings)Ingredients
- 4 bacon rashers, chopped
- 1/2 cup cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup milk
- 4 spring onions, chopped
- 1 tbs plain flour
- 5 eggs
- 400g canned corn
- 1 tsp mixed herbs
Method
- Fry bacon.
- Whisk flour, eggs and milk in a bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well
- Pour into a lightly greased oven dish.
- Cook 180C for 40 minutes or until set and golden.
** A really easy lunch box snack that will last all week! Can be eaten cold or hot!
Community Events
