Bowen State School eNewsletter

Principal Learning Day

Last week I attended a workshop with principals across the Whitsunday region. We heard key messages from the Regional Director of Queensland Education and about the current direction the North Queensland region is taking. We heard about the focus of the new Equity and Excellence road map.

The three focus areas of the Equity and Excellence road map are: Educational Achievement, Wellbeing and Engagement and Culture and Inclusion.

We heard a clear message around knowing our learners, knowing our curriculum and knowing our strategies. We believe at Bowen State, that each student should be moving forward in his/her learning, and that regular feedback and opportunities for the “next steps in the learning” should be regularly discussed.

At Bowen State School, some of the key practices that align to this include academic case management, allocated planning time for teachers and fortnightly opportunities for teachers to discuss the progress of their students. Over the day we heard some of the changes that will occur with the launch of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum commencing in 2024. It is important that we continue to build our teacher capacity around these curriculum changes and how this will positively impact the teaching and learning next year.

NAIDOC Celebrations

Last week on parade our CEC worker Karenne Williams beautifully unpacked, in student friendly language, what the acknowledgment of “National Sorry Day” means to our school, the Bowen community and the nation. The important key messages shared reminded me of how we embrace the important culture and history of the “First Nations Peoples of the Bowen area”. Part of our commitment to our “first nations families” at Bowen State is to ensure there is a positive and accepting culture of inclusion for all students and that there are culturally significant support provisions in place to ensure students feel welcomed, included and valued.

In the last week of this term we acknowledge a day of rich cultural learning of the “First Nations People” as part of our annual NAIDOC Day celebrations. This year we have planned activities for students to commence our “seeds of wisdom” initiative. Part of this is the planting of donated local native and significant bush tucker plants used by “Juru people”. We are so proud to continue the cultural learning opportunities within our yarning circle and I would like to thank the parents and local businesses who have made this happen. Check out our bush tucker garden this NAIDOC Day on Tuesday 20 June.

Christien Payne

Principal

Our attendance target is 93%.

Our whole school attendance for this term is currently 88.71%.

Congratulations to 3D for having the highest attendance for this week.

Fantastic to see these classes having 100% attendance on one day over the past week.

Friday 2^nd June	4G
Monday 5^th June	3D, P/1L
Tuesday 6^th June	3D
Wednesday 7^th June	3D, 5B, P/1L
Thursday 8^th June	6S

THANKS

The sick room beds have been overflowing in the past fortnight, with an increase in students falling sick at school. We appreciate parents coming to collect their child as quickly as possible to reduce the spread of illness. We understand it is difficult to leave work or arrange for alternative care and thank you for working with us.

Karen Weekes
Deputy Principal

This week we have continued our focus of 'Being Respectful' and have been focusing on disruption.

Students have looked at what disruption means and have identified examples of how this can occur in the classroom. Students completed a group activity to identify what disruption looks like, what it sounds like, and what it feels like; then identified what they thought were appropriate consequences for this behaviour. I was quite impressed to notice that many groups had noted down the same identifiers and consequences, which showed that they have a good understanding of this concept and how to identify it when it is affecting their learning.

Next week our focus will remain the same 'Being Respectful', and will continue to focus on disruption. Students will look more deeply at a specific type of disruption that has been identified from our school's behaviour data.

It is understandable that students are getting tired as we near the end of the term, however it is also important to continue upholding our school's four values and adhering to our behaviour focus, so we can all have a safe and enjoyable learning environment.

Miss Chandler

PBL Team Leader

This term in Science, we have been learning about all different types of materials and their properties. The Prep students have been exploring properties of different materials looking at how they feel, the strength of the objects and whether they are waterproof. The Prep students have had to choose specific materials to create a wind chime that can be hung outside. The Year 1 students have been looking at how they can 'physically' change a material to make it stronger, as well as investigating what type of objects will float or sink. The Year 1 students needed to choose a specific material to make a boat that floats. Once students built their boat, they were able to test it in the water and then add two marbles to see if it was going to float or sink.

Design technology is a lot of fun in Year 3. Students have to research how to take a used item like a T Shirt, and repurpose it to something new. The designs 3A discussed included a carry bag, a headband, a rope ball, cleaning cloths and wrist bands. The carry bag was the most popular project. The skills required were joins, cutting and measuring and drawing pattern lines. The creations were such a hit. We finished with a class fashion parade.