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Did you hear the bees are busy at Bowen State School?
This week there was great excitement in the vegetable garden with our newly housed stingless native bees. Students, parents, and staff were highly engaged by the reason for the swarming over several days. Luckily, our resident bee experts Michelle and Belinda from Stackleroth Farms were able to reassure us about this natural occurrence, and thankfully our bees have sorted out their differences, and harmony has now returned to the hive.
Students understand the importance of our bees in helping pollinate our vegetable garden and how they are crucial to our environment. Thank you to Stumpy, a Grandfather from our school, who made a safe and secure bee house that takes pride in our garden.
This week, we drew on local knowledge and support to investigate a problem, and it certainly gave our 500 students an exciting week of additional learning and facts. Thank you to Kerry Cockrem, who dressed as a bee for the Book Week parade. Her explicit messages to all the bees to Be Respectful, Safe, and Friendly may have worked a treat. Let’s wait and see! Thank you, Kerry.
DRD 2024
This year, the Don River Dash is ramping up to be another huge success. We are proud to host the Micky Thompson team and their visit next Thursday morning, which will include riders, buggies, a coffee van, and prizes. Check out all the information on the school Facebook page for details about the morning. It would be great to see as many families as possible come along to join in the action. Thank you to Wanita Sparr from the 2024 DRD committee for once again bringing all this together for our school and families.
Supervisor Visit
On Monday, we were delighted to host Natalie Taylor, Acting Supervisor, while Helen McCullough is currently relieving above level. We were able to visit classes from the P-2 space and celebrate the growth of students at the end of their English unit. Students were able to clearly articulate the steps and goals they undertook to ensure they were moving forward in their learning. Natalie commented on the strength in students talking to the learning walls, the use of age-appropriate practices, and the ownership of learning by both teachers and students. The opportunity to host the Regional Supervisor is a great way to reflect on the work we have invested in this term and look forward to the next lift in Term 4. We thank Natalie for her respectful conversations and feedback to the Leadership Team and Teachers.
Principal
As we get closer to the next holiday break, it is essential that students continue to attend school as they will be completely their end of term assessments and teachers will be starting to introduce content for the Term 4 units of learning.
Proud Day for Our Year 6 Indigenous Students
Last Thursday, nine students travelled to Townsville to participate in the Junior Indigenous Youth Parliament. Students delivered a prepared brief (one minute speech) on motions about Eminent Indigenous Australians or matters of local interest. Our students spoke passionately and confidently about the contributions of Sam Thaiday and Eddie Mabo, and the challenges for local Indigenous youth. This was a unique opportunity to learn about the parliamentary process, meet local and state Members of Parliament and hear about issues that matter from peers in other communities.
While at the venue, students were also lucky to meet and watch the Melbourne Storm football team do a warm up training session.
A special thank you to staff who supported the students to write and practice their one minute speech.
Year 5 Camp Fundraising
Previously our Year 6 students attend camp at the beginning of their year. Through consultation, the camp has been moved to now being held for Year 5 students in Term 4. To support this change the Year 5 students have been fundraising. The Crazy Socks Day and the very successful Fancy Dress Disco held last week have raised approximately $1000. Thank you for supporting our students.
Please Help Our Library
Currently we have 480 overdue books on loan to students. Please help us by searching with your child to find any books that may in ‘hiding out’ in your house.
Deputy Principal
We are almost at the end of Term 3. Students have worked so hard this term in completing their learning and assessments. English presentations have started, and students have learned to share their ideas with their peers, developing their confidence and presentation skills. In Maths, we have been busy practising equal sharing. Mrs Kerr and Miss Smith love being examples to show the children that it's unfair if we don’t share equally—we can be great drama queens! In Prep S we have also been learning about length, mass and capacity.
This week 3/4J went on a walking excursion to the front beach. We scoured the foreshore for things to use for our Visual Arts sculpture.
We found lots of treasures, some natural and some manmade... somehow a Hermit Crab even made it back with us to the classroom!
Miss Turner had to return it to it's natural habitat, the front beach, in the afternoon as we couldn't use a living creature to create our sculptures.
Whilst we were there, we also searched for examples of weathering, erosion and deposition. We saw chemical weathering on the rusty metal poles along the jetty and erosion caused by the movement of the water and wind.
The students in 6M have been busy engaging in research for their HASS unit. Students are required to complete a portfolio that compares Australia to an Asian country of thier choice.
In addition, students have been working hard on creating a persuasive text addressed to a local councillor. The purpose of the text is to convince the council that action should be taken in regards to a topic of their choice, such as, upgrading the Grey's Bay boat ramp, building a local BMX track, and expanding the water park at the front beach to make it better suited to older students.
