GOONDI STATE SCHOOL 78 Maple Street, Goondi Q 4860

Ph: 07 40 780 444 Student Absence Line: 07 40780466 Email: principal@goondiss.eq.edu.au

Web Address: www.goondiss.eq.edu.au Uniform Shop: www.goondissuniforms.com.au

NEWSLETTER

UPFRONT Dear Parents and Carers, It is hard to believe that we are already in Week 6 and over half way through the first term of 2020. I am pleased to report that we have had a great start to the year and it has been pleasing to see our students settling in to their new clas-ses and setting high standards for the year to come. As you know, next term will see the students in Years 3 and 5 taking part in NAPLAN testing. This year will be Goondi State School’s last year using the paper based tests. From 2021, NAPLAN will be conducted online. The web ad-dress below takes users directly to a public demonstration site where sample tests are avail-able to try. These match the format that the online tests will take next year. https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site The features that can be seen include question types, on screen tools, timers and interactive navigation. The demonstration tests cover a sample of possible questions. Attendance Attendance is a critical factor in student success. Currently we have an overall attendance rate of 95.1%. To maintain these high levels and for our students to achieve their full potential, it is crucial that we all work together – parents and school, to ensure that every student attends eve-ry day. I remind parents that Goondi State School be-gins instruction at 8:45am. Ideally students should be delivered to school before this time so that they have an opportunity to organise them-selves and be prepared for class. When it comes to education, getting your chil-dren to school every day on time should be eve-ry parent’s highest priority. Regards, Peter Begemann Principal TERM 1 CALENDAR School Events

Mon 16th Mar – P&C Meeting

Fri 20th Mar – School Photos

Tue 31st Mar – Parent/Teacher interviews

Sport Events

Wed 25th Mar – Inter-House Cross Country

4

th March 2020

INVESTING FOR SUCCESS We have now completed development of our 2020 Investing for Success (I4S) plan. Our school focus will continue to be on using the funding to improve Reading in Prep to Year 3 and improve Numeracy across the board. Our targets are to guarantee that every student will either a) achieve National Minimum Standard for their year level or b) have an evidence-based learning plan in place to ad-dress their specific learning needs.

Ensure that the following Reading targets in P-3 are attained:

Prep – 80% of students achieving Level 10.

Year 1 – 80% of students achieving Level 20.

Year 2 – 80% of students achieving Level 25.

Year 3 – 80% of students achieving Level 28.

Ensure that the following Numeracy targets in Years 3 and 5 are attained:

NAPLAN Numeracy mean above Australian mean; 50% of students in the upper two bands. We will continue to direct a large portion of the funding on engaging key support personnel to de-liver reading intervention programs for those stu-dents identified at being at risk of not achieving the National Minimum Standard. GOONDI 5 REFLECTION WEEK The middle week of each term (Week 5) is Goondi 5 Reflection Week. Last week, Year 1-6 Teachers took the opportunity to inform students where they sit in terms of the Goondi 5 key levels. The feed-back is based on our Goondi 5: Being Safe Showing Respect Working Hard and Partici-pating Getting Organised Bouncing Back Students on a “C” level key are demonstrating sat-isfactory behaviour in these areas, “B” level stu-dents demonstrate very good behaviour and “A” key level students demonstrate exemplary behav-iour. Students who have achieved an “A” key level at the end of term are awarded with a special Goondi 5 certificate on assembly. Those students who achieve an “A” key level in all four school terms will take part in a special school excursion at the end of the year.

Paige Kyuss

Elise Cohen

Tamati Lucas

Parneet Kai

Madison Cody

Giacomo Yasmin

Jhett Riley Italian

Noah Brooklyn

SCHOOL NEWS Continued At the end of Week 5 ask your child to tell you their Goondi 5 key level. They should also be able to explain to you any areas that they need to work on to improve. ATTENDANCE REWARDS Attendance rewards form part of a range of strat-egies used at Goondi State School to promote regular attendance. Rewards are put in place for individual students and for classes who meet agreed attendance targets. The following are our guidelines and rewards. These rewards are sup-ported and funded by our P&C.

At the end of each term OneSchool data will be used to determine the attendance rates of individual students for that term.

A student who has a term attendance rate of 95% or greater will be awarded with a “Great Attendance” wrist band and go into a draw for a year level prize.

Any student who achieves 100% attend-ance for the year, will be awarded a special framed Excellent Attendance certificate.

At the end of each month the class with the highest attendance (two categories; P-2 and Years 3-6) will be awarded an Excel-lence Pennant.

UNIFORM Just a reminder from our school uniform policy, below is some clarification around the following items. Jewellery & Hair Accessories The following may be worn to school:

Plain sleeper or plain stud earrings

Plain signet ring

Watches

Attendance wristband (one only)

Blue or black hair ties/ribbons/bands Other adornments and jewellery such as neck-chains, bracelets, anklets, earrings with attach-ments etc, are not permitted on health and safety grounds. Novelty/large hair accessories are not permitted. Socks: White ankle length socks

Shirts: Shirts are to be tucked in at all times

(excluding Year 6 Senior Shirt worn on Wednes-day). SCHOOL PHOTOS School photos will be taken on Friday 20

th March. The

photos will be taken by NQ School Photography. Order forms and envelopes will be sent home today allowing you to choose which pack and design you would like to order.

Order envelopes with money enclosed are to be brought to school on the day of the photos. Students are to be in full school uniform (not last

year’s Friday shirt) and we recommend that

students bring a comb or brush to school on the

day to assist with grooming prior to class and por-

trait photos.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST BULLY-ING – MARCH 20

th

There is no place for bullying in Goondi State School. Those who are bullied and those who bul-ly are at risk for behavioural, emotional and aca-demic problems. These outcomes are in direct contradiction to our school community’s goals and efforts for supporting all students. This year the National Day of Action coincides with our school photo day. Therefore, we will be recognising this on an alternative date to be ad-vised.

Bullying Definition ‘Bullying is an ongoing misuse of power in relation-

ships through repeated verbal, physical and/or so-

cial behaviour that causes physical and/or psycho-

logical harm. It can involve an individual or a group

misusing their power over one or more persons. Bul-

lying can happen in person or online, and it can be

obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying of any

form or for any reason can have long-term effects on

those involved, including bystanders.

Single incidents and conflict or fights between equals, whether in person or online, are not de-fined as bullying.’ Behaviours that do not constitute bullying include:

mutual arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)

not liking someone or a single act of social rejection

one-off acts of meanness or spite

isolated incidents of aggression, intimida-tion or violence

However, these conflicts still need to be ad-dressed and resolved. (The definition of bullying has been developed as part

of the National Safe Schools Framework and can be found on the Australian Government's Safe Schools Hub at http://safeschoolshub.edu.au/. The national defi-

nition of bullying for Australian schools was developed by the Safe and Supportive School Communities Work-ing Group. This national group includes all state, territo-

ry and federal education departments, as well as na-tional Catholic and independent schooling representa-tives.)

Tanvir Dylan

Ryley Prabh

Lucas Nico

Taylor Lachlan Italian

Kurbaan Meleah

Aundre Misty

Daniel Charlise

Azalea Elliot

CLASSROOM CAPERS

Prep Wow, we are half way through Term 1 at Prep. We have seen big changes in how organised the children are in the mornings and many of our Prep children are now saying good-bye at the door or gate and walking in by themselves! The children have been joining in on endurance running in the mornings and are getting ready for the school cross country race to be held later this term. In Letterland we have been learning about Eddy Elephant, Firefighter Fred, Dippy Duck, Uppy Umbrella, Red Robot and Peter Puppy. Our word families are et (net, wet, jet, met, pet) and ig (pig, big, wig, fig, dig). The children have been writing about their weekend each Monday and putting pictures in order to tell a story about blocks and puzzles. We have also been learning about rhyming words and counting syllables in words. In Maths we have been writing, counting and making groups of 7 and 8. There are many different ways to show numbers. We can use tally marks, dice, counters, ten frames and fingers. Ask your child to show you how! Regards Sue, Anita, Tess and Krissy.

Year 1 Well we are at the half way mark of this term and time really is flying in Year 1. In English, we have really been impressed with the huge ef-forts put into weekly writing tasks. The students are enjoying writing imaginative recounts and are striving to make their writ-ing interesting by using a range adjectives to make their writing pop. In grammar, we have been learning all bout nouns and learning the difference between common and proper nouns. Ask your child to sing you the noun song. In Maths, we have been consolidating 3D and 2D shapes and have been looking at their unique features. We have been building our knowledge of numbers to 50 through the use of MAB’s and have also been practicing writing the number names in word form. In Science this week the students investigated what diurnal and nocturnal means and what animals fit into each of these categories. Leigh, Hayley and Fiona

Year 2 We have passed the half way point of Term 1. Year 2 students are focusing on practicing their Complication and Resolution paragraphs in Genre Writing and checking they have the features of each paragraph, readying them for their assessment that is coming up rapidly. In Maths we are concentrating on the concepts of writing three digit numbers in words, money matters and using direct and indirect measurements to measure a range of objects. In Science, we are thinking bubbles and exploring ‘fun’ mix-tures and classifying mixture types based on uses. HASS is exploring the students’ world at local scale and learn-ing about Australian states and capital cities. All our best, Miss Mollenhagen, Mrs Hollywood, Mrs Heard and Mrs Spataro.

Year 2/3 & 3 There has been a lot happening in our classrooms! In Science we created ID cards for living and non-living items, which was a popular activity in both classes. Ask your child what object they profiled, and how they decided if it was living or non-living. In Technology we have started looking at the Scratch program and have taken the first steps in coding our own games. Maths in Year 3 this week sees us reading, writ-ing and representing numbers in the thousands. Next week we will be predicting the likelihood of events and creating and interpreting graphs. In Year 2 we have also been learning how to add two-digit numbers using a vertical algorithm with Mrs Begemann. In Literacy we are continuing with the Spelling Mastery program, with most students showing great results on the tests so far! At the moment we are working on Lessons 11 to 15 - these are the words students are prac-tising for homework. Some fantastic persuasive texts were written as part of our assessment, and now we are beginning to look at the structure of a narrative. Thanks for your support with homework! Melanie Worth, Janelle Wirth and Lizette Austin.

Year 4 We are now over half way through Term 1 and expectations and routines have been well-established. Last week students completed their mid term key level reflec-tions. Congratulations to the students who have achieved an A key. We are enjoying the students “Sizzling Starts” in their narratives. A Sizzling Start is when a writer zooms straight into the action to engage the reader. Our Sizzling Starts in-clude starting with action, dialogue or sound. In Maths we are solving word problems and working with fractions. We are also learning about assessing the likelihood of events occurring in every day situations. In Technology, the students are very enthusiastic to start the construction phase of their Build a Bridge challenge. Some of their designs are amazing. Please check with your child to ensure that they have the materials they need for their bridge. Library day for 4B is Thursday and 4A is Friday. Please remind your child to bring his or her books to ex-change on that day. A reminder that students are expected to hand homework in for marking every Friday morning. Stu-dents should read for at least 15 minutes every night and have it recorded on the home reading sheet. Kath, Lisa and Rhonda.

Year 5 Students are continuing to work hard at developing and con-solidating their learning in all subjects for their forthcoming end-of-term tests. Our mid-term keys have been adminis-tered and students are aware of how they need to improve to reach an A key. Personal goals have been set to attain key success. In English, students are now working hard to consolidate and develop narrative writing skills in preparation for NAPLAN. Many students are using their figurative and descriptive lan-guage whilst building tension creatively to become the best imaginative writers possible. In Maths, we continue our focus on converting units of meas-urement, solving equations with unknown values, order of operations and interpreting column graphs to determine sta-tistical data. Students continue to conduct their own research to answer inquiry questions about people’s interconnection with the environment in HASS. Please do not hesitate to drop in or contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for your support. Cheers for now, Marica, Rebecca, Emily & Kerry.

CLASSROOM CAPERS

Italian The Years 5 and 6 Italian classes at Goondi State School are continuing to build on their Italian language. We are consist-ently speaking, writing and listening to our new words. Year 5 students are learning how to answer the questions Che classe fai? (What grade are you in?) and Dove vai a scuola? (Where do you go to school?). Year 6 students are writing and reading simple conversations in Italian between more than two people. Students are revising and building on verbs learnt pre-viously to make and answer questions in the conversations. Year 5 and 6 students are also learning songs to improve their pronunciation. The bookwork standard shown in their exercise books is pleas-ing. Feedback and assistance is given to students regularly. Continue encouraging your child to speak Italian with you and discuss what they are learning. Arrivederci (Goodbye) Signora Lazzarini

Sport News All students are skipping and running hard in preparation for our Inter House Cross Coun-try on Wednesday March 25th. Congratulations to the following boys who were selected in the District Rugby League Team at our recent Gala Day; Treye Budd, Kade Budd, Lewis Broccardo, Ashton Stepanoff, Zayden Kitching-Ely, Mason Sohl and Logan Howard. Tiffanie Bulstrode Health and Physical Education Teacher

Library News Students in Years 3 and 5 have commenced learning poems to perform as part of their speaking assessment this term. Each class will learn two poems, a set poem chosen by this year’s speech and drama Eisteddfod Judge and an ‘own choice’ poem. The students showing the best focus and par-ticipation will then be chosen to compete in the ‘choric speak-ing’ section at the Innisfail Young Performers Competition at the end of May. The Year 5 cohort did very well in the com-petition two years ago and I look forward to working with such talented students. Though choric speaking is a new experi-ence for the Year 3 students I am pleased with their participa-tion in class. Kerry Green (Teacher Librarian)

Year 6 We are half-way through Term 1, and we’ve had some awe-some learning opportunities. To help us further understand the experiences of WWI soldiers, we had an all out trench war: teachers vs students. Where hurdles, bean bags, balls and hoops replaced barbed wire, bullets, bombs and land mines. Some students were lucky enough to also wear ‘webbing’ kindly shared by Mr Binello and there was a war-like sound recording too. This first-hand experience gave us a sensory awareness and empathetic response of charging forward out of the trenches into enemy fire. It greatly im-proved the quality of ideas in our writing as well as our gen-eral understanding as Lillee Barba reflects, “I just can’t imag-ine if what we were doing was real. Those beanbags were bullets and balls were bombs. It is so devastating just to put the real image inside your head.” The Pause program continues to delve into our inner worlds and to ‘understand ourselves more and how your emotions and brain works’ as Azza O’Regan puts it. We learnt that our emotions can be in different zones termed ‘the zones of regu-lation’ and that sitting in red, yellow or blue zone for too long puts us out of balance. Finally, Year 6 has enthusiastically begun composting again and hope that other grades also follow suit, as food scraps are a valuable energy source worth utilising. Aaron Harbour, Rachel Platte and Rhonda Pirini

Community News

Bringing Up Great Kids Date: Thursdays 12th March – 2nd April 2020 Time: 9am-11am or 5pm-7pm Sessions Location: VPG 158a Edith Street Innisfail The Bringing Up Great Kids’ program supports parents and carers to: • learn more about the origins of their own parenting style and how it can be more effective; • identify the important messages they want to convey to their children and how to achieve this; • learn more about brain development in children and its influ-ence on their thoughts, feelings and behaviour; • understand the meaning behind children’s behaviours, and how to respond to children’s underlying feelings and needs; • explore new ways of communicating with children; • discover ways for parents to take care of themselves and to find support when they need it. Bookings are essential Please contact Jolene for further information on 07 4061 7288 or jolene@vpginc.com.au

Uniform Shop P&C Uniforms, is a private company, that operates our Uniform Shop from the school Tuckshop every Thursday morning from 7:45am to 8:45am. Their website is also easy to navi-gate and purchase a supply of uni-forms. www.goondissuniforms.com.au ABSENCE LINE Please call our school Absence Line on 40 780 466 (not the office line) if your child is absent for any reason and leave a message. The school office line is very busy in the morning and this will reduce waiting times.

Community News Interactive Education and Support Group For families and friends coping with a loved one’s substance misuse. Begins 4

th March 6.30pm Cairns City Library.

6 x Family Support Group Sessions conducted by Psy-chotherapist, Melissa Andrews of Rested Minds, Cairns. • Week 1. How Addiction Hijacks the brain • Week 2. Crisis Communication & Response • Week 3. Moving Forward, Hope & Empowerment • Week 4. Impact of Addiction on the Family • Week 5. Dealing with Relapse, Recovery & Rehab • Week 6. Stress Management For more information please contact our SVDP Family Sup-port Program

Kylie: 0437 334 167 E: darrs.cairns@svdpqld.org.au