Bowen State School eNewsletter

World Teacher and Staff Appreciation Day

This week I would like to acknowledge that today Friday is the nationally celebrated day for World Teachers Day. This morning on parade, I acknowledged that on this day we choose at Bowen State to also acknowledge all school support staff. It is important to note all supporting staff in our school including Admin staff, Our Business Manager, Leadership team, Groundsman, Teacher Aides, Cleaners, our Tuckshop staff and School Crossing Supervisors. We know it takes a village to raise a child and our staff work extremely hard each and every day to make a difference for our students.

Can I thank the wonderful P&C for their kind donation of a shared morning tea for all of our staff. This means a lot and was a great opportunity for all our school staff to connect in a busy term. As educators, we know the important role we play in shaping children’s futures and this day promotes and reminds us of incredible impact we can have.

Parent Teacher Meetings

Last week on Tuesday afternoon, we hosted a wonderful opportunity for our school community to engage with our Term 4 Parent and Teacher meetings. On the evening we saw significant numbers of families connecting in the hall and celebrating the growth in student learning and opportunities to set goals for improvement. Thank you all for your engaging conversations and interest in your child’s learning journey.

Townsville Presentation of the Wellbeing Actions at Bowen State School

On Thursday I was privileged to present in Townsville, the work of our communities of practice & the Health Safety and Wellbeing team. My presentation was entitled “Fostering a Culture of Self-Care and Compassion”. The audience was a mixture of Middle Leadership, Business Managers and Principals across the region. I was able to share the success of the work we are currently undertaking and ways we are looking to support our staff with practical and meaningful strategies to support Staff Wellbeing. The presentation was received overwhelmingly. Such a proud moment to clearly see the audience agreed with the impact we are having and appreciation of my presentation to share our stories. My hope is that another school may take away some ideas to apply new ways of working. The feedback I receive from the audience will be powerful to share with our staff and know that others schools in our region may adopt and trial some of the work and research we are undertaking.

Christien Payne
Principal

1M have been have been very curious little learners this term, investigating different ways of partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have also been polishing up on our skip counting skills and are soon to explore patterns.

Everyone loves a good story book to get the imagination flowing - especially 1M. Our English unit this term allows us to enjoy daily story time which leads us to deeply examine the language features and structure of an imaginative text. This then gives the children the knowledge and understanding to enable them to create a short written recount of the story! We've been using hoola hoops to assist the children with their verbal recount of the story's beginning, middle and end.

2I have been doing drama with Mrs Conway in music. We have been rehearsing a play about a dragon with hiccups. We presented the play on parade last Friday.

1R have been busy writing and drawing retells of some of their favourite stories. They are using visual supports to help them identify nouns and verbs, and including adjectives and adverbs to take their writing to the next level.

Fletcher started his retell of Mr Gumpy's Motor Car by writing:

In the beginning, old Mr Gumpy happily drove his red motor car through the gate and onto the empty, peaceful lane.

This term in Science, 3/4J have been learning about materials. We looked at all different types of gloves, their purpose, the materials they were made of and the properties of that material that made them suitable. On Friday we also revised what made a fair test by undertaking a 'Clothes Relay'. 3/4J decided that it was not a fair test because we changed more than one thing! Friday was a busy day, because we were lucky enough to have a visit from some Indian Runner ducklings! They were very cute, and our favourite was definitely Cowboy.

So far this term we have been working hard reading, comprehending and analysing the New York Times bestseller “The Wild Robot”, while also reading and helping our Prep S buddies with their library session every Friday afternoons. In addition, we are beginning to shape our Sci-Fi imaginative writing through planning and using figurative language to improve our use of complex sentences. We are also looking forward to designing our own alert system to protect the chooks from foxes.

I am sharing a resource that some of you may find helpful.

Momentum (momentumhub.org.au) is a wonderful website that offers tailored online treatment programs to help children and adolescents aged between 7-17 years of age to learn new ways to cope with feelings of anxiety and/or unhappiness.

It also offers help with sleep difficulties, as well as information on well-being and help-seeking. Momentum has been designed in collaboration with young people, parents, Clinicians and various Universities. The program is free to use within Australia and endorsed by Queensland Education and Health.

Thanks,

Danielle Upkett

Spooktacular Halloween Night!

Get ready for a frightfully fun evening at the Bowen Summer Garden Cinema on October 31st, starting at 5:30 PM! Bring the whole family for a delightful night filled with:

Two family-friendly Halloween movies
Free face painting to unleash your creativity
Fancy dress contest—come in your spookiest or silliest costume!
Trick-or-treating for some sweet surprises
Exciting prizes to be won!

Plus, enjoy the convenience of online bookings for easy ticket and dinner purchases. This is a fantastic opportunity for local families to come together and celebrate Halloween in a wholesome, festive atmosphere. Don’t miss out on the fun—mark your calendars and get your tickets today!