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Welcome back
Welcome back all families to an action-packed term four. I hope all families had a great break and enjoyed the beautiful Bowen weather. My family enjoyed spending time in the area and going to the beach and all there is to offer. As we approach the end of the year, we will be conducting a list of modified school events with the easing of COVID restrictions. As these school activities approach, we will communicate with families via Facebook and the school newsletter. Keep an eye on our school sign as this is also a point of information.
As a staff we are looking at reflecting on the work we have undertaken this year and the positive outcomes in the results of our students. Improving the reading and mathematical problem solving outcomes for all students remains a priority. We spoke about the refined and precise work this term and where the next lift might be. We want to see how many students we can get over the line. The recent parent/ teacher and student meetings were a wonderful opportunity for families to share recent assessment and data collection to guide the next steps in the teaching and learning. We will use the remainder of this term to consult with staff and draft our thoughts based on the current data to guide our Explicit Improvement Agenda in 2021
World Teachers Day
On the first day back to school this term we celebrated “World Teachers Day” at Bowen State School. I addressed the staff at a special briefing to acknowledge their tremendous efforts each and every day, improving the outcomes for the students at this school. Each classroom teacher received a new iPad to support their work in the classrooms. The ipads will be used for uploading e- books for professional learning, capturing evidence of students written work and providing collective feedback to all students. Ongoing professional development around these will ensure our teachers can effectively use this handy resource.
Improvements within School Opinion Data
This week I have included data from our pulse survey completed by families. Overall, we did extremely well and the responses from our students, staff and parents are triangulating to give a clear message about this school. Congratulations to everyone within our school community for acknowledging all the hard work undertaken this year to build on and improve outcomes for our students We will be looking to analyse this information and review the feedback in ways we could improve into the future.
Prep playground launch
At the beginning of 2020 we were successful in an application to Abbot Point Operations for a community grant for a new playground for our playgroup which is perfectly located for our Year 1 and Prep students to also access. This week we formally opened the playground and invited special guests to celebrate this momentous occasion.
I believe in: Hard Work Honesty Transparency
Christien Payne
Principal
The relationship between BOOKS AT HOME and student achievement
How many books are you exposing your children to at home?
A 2015 study by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) revealed an interesting correlation between the number of books you have at home and the level of achievement in Australian schools for Maths and Science.
Check out the infographic below!
New Student Incentives to Encourage School Attendance
Unfortunately our overall semester 2 attendance rate has dropped because of poor attendance during the last week of term 3. However, all is not doom and gloom as it has been a brilliant start to the term with almost 93% attendance rate for the first 2 weeks!
You may have recently heard your children talking about a whole class initiative that has been introduced this term to give students an extra incentive to come to school. This term each class has been set a goal to achieve a certain number of days where 100% of their class is at school attending. If the class reaches their goal then a special reward time will be given to them with a staff member of their choice. Classes have decided on their reward and there are a variety of prizes from playing touch footy with Mr Payne to holding a mini ‘In it to win it’ festival with Chappy.
The students have really embraced this concept, hence the amazing attendance rate for the start of this term. One class in particular has had 4 days of 100% attendance already! This class has a goal of 10 100% days, so I can imagine that their reward time will be coming up very soon.
PBL Golden Achievers
Congratulations to our weekly PBL Golden Achievers recipients
Week 1, Term 4
Alaynah, Keyahna, Kai, Noah, Halle, William, Dylan, Destiny, Grace, Seth
Week 2, Term 4
Mavis, Tanicia, Sahara, Sarah, Logan, Roman, Charlotte, April, Levi, Sebastian, Lauren, Riley, Ljay, Claire, Eli, Mikayla, Jedarose, Beau, Jacob
1/2 I
This term Year 1/2I are writing procedures.
We need to include 3 parts in our procedure – title, materials and method. We need our materials to be a list with dot points and our method needs to include numbered steps. The commands in the method need to start with a verb and we need to include adverbs. The year twos are also including compound sentences and noun groups.
Our end goal is to write a procedure of how to make an instrument or a push/pull toy.
4H
Students in 4H are currently reading the novel Rowan of Rin. They are exploring how the author of a quest novel represents the main character in an important event. Students have drawn their representation of the Bukshah, which is a species of domesticated animal in the novel.
Swimming Lessons
Swimming lessons will be starting next week (Week 3) on Mondays and Wednesdays. Lessons will continue until Week 8. Please see timetable below and ensure your child comes to school with their swimmers (including a sun safe shirt), towel, goggles (recommended), hat, sunscreen and thongs to wear to and from the pool.
If your child needs to be excused from a lesson please ensure they bring a written note to be excused.
Swimming Carnival
We are very excited to announce that we will be hosting our whole school swimming carnival again this year. The day will consist of two sessions (morning and afternoon). The morning session will be for students in Prep-Year 2 and the afternoon session will be for students in Years 3-6. Transportation will be provided to and from school like last year. This event will take place on Friday November 27th 2020 (Week 8). Notes will be sent out closer to the date with more information and COVID 19 procedures regarding spectators.
Book Week
We will be celebrating Book Week next week. Students participate in various activities throughout the week.
As the culminating activity, we will have our parade on Friday, 23rd October. Send your child as their favourite book character. Can they fit the theme “Curious creatures, wild minds”. There is no cost for this dress-up.
*** Unfortunately, due to current Covid restrictions, parents cannot not attend this unless you have been invited to attend due to your child receiving a certificate. ***
Mental Health Week
This week we celebrate mental health week here is some of what we got up to
The mindfulness colouring in was our most popular event and something that we will continue once a week in the library.
PCYC Re Engagement Program (PREP)
We have been able to run one leadership/social skilling PREP this year. We kicked off connecting with our community via a hike and meditation up at Mother Beddock this week. This program is partnered with Community Development Officer Rachel Miller, Sargent Michelle O’Regan, community groups and the school. The program is centred around providing alternate learning opportunities for some of our students to learn life long skills to increase engagement and success.
FUN RUN – Colour Splash and Dash
Fundraising is now complete with all online fundraising ceased and cash handed into the school today. Please order your prizes online, if you don’t have an online profile place selection on your booklet and return to school immediately.
Thanks for all your support. I can confirm we will be ordering our sports houses marquees. Wahoooo! Total amount fundraised to be finalised next week. What a fabulous school community we have. These marquees will leave a legacy of the efforts of you all for 2020.
PBL NEWS!!!
Recently our school purchased high vis vests for all staff to wear during duty times. As part of active supervision and being highly visible these vests are not only a great safety item for instant location for children and other staff but a highly effective PBL strategy. The vests promote the fact that we are visible in the playground and children can clearly see there are teachers on duty to talk to or report a problem to. Students can't miss us out there and therefore can't say "I couldn’t see the teacher to report the problem". Encourage your child to seek out the staff member wearing the orange high vis vests for a friendly chat or to ask for help in solving a playground problem.
Pick of the Crop
Congratulations to Olivia Gordon who was the successful applicant in the recent Pick of the Crop recruitment process. Olivia will be the North Queensland Project Officer for Pick of the Crop and will be based at Bowen State School. Olivia will be working with 4 schools within our community for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021. She will assist schools to improve the healthy intake of fruit and vegetables of students and build capacity and knowledge in this area. We are looking forward to working with Olivia on various projects here at Bowen State School in the future. There will be an official launch of the program at our week 3 parade Friday 23 October. Welcome to the team Olivia!
