Merry Christmas to all our families

In my last Principal message for the year, I reflect again on another great year at Bowen State School, the growth of our learners, and the collective work undertaken to achieve this. I would like to thank the leadership team for the support provided to our staff and students at Bowen State School this year. I note the patience, professionalism, and passion you have demonstrated throughout your work that you do every day.

Thank you to our wonderful students for your efforts each day and for turning up to school ready to learn. Our goal this year was to ensure you were moving forward in your learning and that you achieved a year's worth of learning for a year's worth of teaching. Congratulations on the results of your hard work and growth within the curriculum you have completed. Enjoy the school break and rest up for a big 2025. To our graduating Year 6's, I was so proud to watch you this week at the various ceremonies with your families. Please continue to lead and model the best you can for your new Principal and staff at the high school next year. Good luck!

To our teachers and support staff, thank you for embracing the new V9 curriculum rolled out to the students in your classes. This year, Bowen SS has invested significant focus on the multi-tiered supports and adjustments for our diverse learners. We have all enjoyed watching our students grow and become great leaders in our school. Our teachers and teacher aides have collectively worked in sync to ensure we offer the differentiated and adjusted supports for our students. Congratulations on your achievements supporting our students, and enjoy a well-earned rest over the holiday period.

Next year, 2025, marks the 160th anniversary of Bowen State School, which we know will be a significant milestone not just for this community but for the history of Queensland itself. Our school, the 10th oldest in Queensland, has a rich and memorable past. On Saturday, 13th September 2025, we will open the gates for an incredible event for all to attend. Our P&C will be seeking community support to plan and organise this event and will be reaching out to our community earlier in the year.

In closing, we wrap up 2024, a huge year of teaching and learning that we have all value-added to. I look forward to leading Bowen State School into a bright and exciting 2025 and know that we will continue to grow and be the school of choice in this community and beyond.

Week 11 at Bowen SS

Traditionally, schools operate on 10-week terms; however, this term will be 11 weeks long, with the last week being more informal. Every 6-7 years, our academic calendar requires a recalibration, adding an extra week to the school year. Normally, we have 10 weeks of learning per term, totalling 40 weeks for the year, but this year we have 41. This is being addressed by extending Term 4 to 11 weeks.

During Week 11, students will be provided with a flexible arrangement focusing on student engagement, cultural, and wellbeing activities. This may see students grouped together with other classes for periods of time to undertake activities and events across the week. This may mean your child will not be with their regular school teacher or in their regular classroom for periods of time in the last week of the term.

Christien Payne
Principal

Last week 3/4J tried our hands at tie dying socks... It was all looking very promising until Miss Turner washed the socks and only the blue dye stuck! We also collected and compared some data on paper cup flipping. This week we have also had a bit of fun re-inventing some classic end of year games. In our version of the 'chocolate game' you must unwrap a lolly wrapper when you roll a six. But there's a catch - you can only use tongs to unwrap each lolly and if the paper accidentally rips trying to unwrap it, Miss Turner gets the lolly!

As a culmination to our learning this term, Year 2 had a Tashi Day. We had been reading a Tashi story for our assessment task and we had to create a new story for Tashi.

On Tashi Day, we had the choice to come dressed up as a Tashi character and we read some more Tashi stories. We shared our Tashi stories with our peers. We all made a Tashi hat to start the day. Then we made a Tashi out of mango ice-cream (thanks Mrs Groves) and we made a dragon from an iced biscuit. We then settled back to watch some episodes of a Tashi series. It was a great day!