2024, T4Wk6, Kilcoy State School Newsletter

10.11.2024

Ang newsletter ng paaralan na ito ay madaling maisalin sa maraming wika. Mangyaring i-click ang drop-down na menu sa itaas upang mahanap ang iyong sariling wika. 

This school newsletter can easily be translated into many languages. Please click the drop-down menu at the top to find your home language. 

Acknowledgment of Country

This newsletter comes to you from Jinibara Land. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples today. We are thankful to be able to work, learn and play on Jinibara land.

KSS Vision & Values

"We believe that all members of the Kilcoy State School community have the right to work, learn and play in a safe and inclusive environment."

Our STAR values are:

SAFETY - Taking Responsibility - Active Learning - Respect

Principal's welcome

Dear Parents and Carers

This week, our 2024 School Leaders participated in their second last leadership workshop for the year. By all reports they engaged very well and found the workshop valuable learning. Developing young leaders is important work, and this starts early at Kilcoy State School. From our Break Buddy program to our Sports Shed Team, our Yr6 Leaders, our Tech Team, and our School Captain Team, our students have a wealth of opportunities to practise their leadership skills with support. 

During this coming week, our current Year 5 aspiring leaders will engage in their formal leadership interview for 2025 positions. The panel consists of myself (principal), Mrs Corby (staff rep), Mrs Kranenburg (P&C rep) and Kaleb O'Doherty (current KSS Student Representative Council president). We wish these students the very best of luck in their interviews on Wednesday 13/11/24.

Please note: Due to the increasingly hot weather, we will hold our final Parade for the year in Week 8 (21/11/24) at 9am, instead of in the afternoon. 

Following on from winter, we have a large amount of lost property in the box outside the admin office, on the hall side. Please check to see if your child's school jumper or belongings have been lost. 

Community Thank You

Each week, our local bakery, Coff & Co, generously donate bread to support our school to provide Toast Club on Wednesday mornings. I'm genuinely in awe of the support offered by our community as a whole.  We hope next year to be able to purchase more bread from Coff & Co using the funding we were granted recently. Despite this, Coff & Co still offered to donate where possible. How lovely! Perhaps you might like to show them your support next time you're passing by.  I can personally confirm they have the BEST bacon and cheese rolls this side of Brisbane! :)

Introducing our newest Staff Member - Mr Mat Zenatti (Youth Worker)

We are excited share with our community that we have employed Mr Mat Zenatti as our school's Youth Worker. Mr Mat provides proactive wellbeing and engagement support to our students, currently two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  He has been warmly welcomed by our students and staff and we look forward to getting to know more about him.  Mr Mat's children also attend our lovely school, so you may have seen him in 'Dad-mode' at drop off or pick up time. 

Mr Mat's formal qualifications are centred around disability care and working with children. He is also currently studying, and we love that he is clearly a great fit for our school as a lifelong learner! Please say hi if you see him around. 

Year 3/4 SeaLife Excursion

On Friday 8/11/24, our amazing Year 3/4 teachers took our students on an excursion to SeaLife at Mooloolabah. Linked to their Science unit, the excursion enhanced our students' understanding of marine ecosystems, animal adaptations, and conservation through hands-on learning experiences. Please enjoy a few photos from their day. 

Remembrance Day - Draw to Remember

On Friday 8/11/24, Mr John Robinson from the Kilcoy RSL, joined forces with our Year 6 students and teachers, Mr Tony Rasmussen and Mrs Megan Corby to deliver part of the RSL driven project: Draw to Remember. In this initiative, our children the chance to learn about the importance of Remembrance Day from local veterans in their area while expressing their learnings or personal stories through art.  

Each year for the past 3 years, our senior students have been involved in this fantastic event. The event starts with our students learning more about Remembrance Day and the sacrifices that Australian Service people have made over the years to protect our way of life and culminates in our students generating visual representations of their understanding, using chalk. These pieces of art are created carefully, with respect and with patience. All very valuable virtues. We thank the Mr Shane Williams and the Kilcoy RSL for working with our students to share their knowledge. Please take a moment to view their work in the gallery below. 

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 41

Next

Upcoming events

Spotlight on Attendance

Lisa Webster - Deputy Principal

I really enjoyed my time as Acting Principal at Peachester State School and learning their way and seeing the wonderful things their school has to offer - every school is different. It is, however, lovely to be back in the Kilcoy State School community. Going away and seeing new things is always exciting, but it also makes us reflect and appreciate the wonderful community we have. 

Sounds Write

Reading opens doors to learning. Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their children to read. At Kilcoy State School, all teaching staff are trained in the gold standard, Sounds Write phonics program. This is the first step to teaching children how to read. Learning how to read is more than just phonics though! Support your child with their reading at home with Sounds Write's FREE course for parents and carers! In this online course, you’ll learn the basics of teaching to blend, segment, and word build – the key skills your child needs to read and write confidently. The course is designed for children aged 4-6, however suitable for any parent interested. Click on the link to access the free course.  https://zurl.co/ALxI

Mistakes - Thank you for saying sorry. 

We all make mistakes! For children who are learning and growing, mistakes are more frequent and expected. At Kilcoy State School, we support children when they make mistakes and help them learn from the mistake and eventually as they mature, they make fewer mistakes. The first step after making a mistake is recognising and owning that mistake. The second part is discussing with an adult what they could have done instead, and what they will do next time. The final stage is apologising if someone is affected by the mistake. Language is really important. When someone apologises for their mistake, most people will say, 'That's okay.' In fact, it is not okay. At Kilcoy State School we teach children to respond to an apology by saying, 'Thank you for saying sorry.' 

P&C News

Hello Families,

At our most recent P&C meeting, we had an additional three members turn up and join in. It was very exciting to see our P&C grow in size and be more representative of our community. We spoke about many new and exciting initiatives and took questions about possibly starting a Kilcoy State School OSHC, a future Kilcoy State School Fete, and possible changes to the current school uniform. the school will be sending out a couple of surveys to gauge community interest so keep an eye out for those. 

Our final P&C Meeting for the year is on Wed 4/12 at 3.30pm in the Resource Centre (Library). We hope to see you there.

- KSS P&C Committee 

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Year 3-4A’s Pumpkin Poetry

This Halloween, Year 3-4A tapped into their spooky side with a special poetry project! Using Halloween icons such as pumpkins, witches, ghosts, and even Frankenstein’s monster, the students let their imaginations run wild. Inspired by all things creepy and fun, they crafted poems that captured the spirit of Halloween. Their work is displayed on the Tree of Acknowledgement in the Library, accompanied by creative, scary pumpkin heads and Frankenstein monster faces. See below some of their poetry ideas and a photo of Year 3/ 4A showing off their own delightfully spooky zombie faces and creepy stares. Be sure to stop by and have a look!

Support Teacher, Literacy & Numeracy

As the Support Teacher for Literacy & Numeracy, I am passionate about helping all students build strong language and learning skills. With a background in Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition, I’ve spent years studying about language and how language develops in children, including those learning more than one language at a time.

Over the past year, many parents and teachers have asked me questions about multilingual learning. Here are some of the most common questions and my answers to each:

• Can young students learn more than one language simultaneously?

Yes, young children are often very capable of learning multiple languages at once. In fact, research shows that children have a remarkable ability to separate and manage multiple languages, which can enhance cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills.

• Why do students from multilingual backgrounds sometimes seem slower to speak?

While some multilingual children may start speaking slightly later, this is typically not a sign of delayed language development. Rather, they are processing multiple languages, which can lead to different patterns of speech. Generally, these students catch up quickly and often excel in both languages over time.

• Is Japanese, the subject studied at Kilcoy State and High School, similar to Filipino?

Japanese and Filipino are quite different languages. Japanese belongs to the Japonic language family, while Filipino is rooted in the Austronesian language family. They differ in grammar, vocabulary, and structure. However, learning any additional language, such as Japanese, can enhance language skills, making it easier to learn other languages in the future.

I hope these answers provide some helpful insight! Please feel free to reach out with any further questions, as we continue to support our students on their multilingual and literacy journeys.

Have a look at the Language Family Tree below to see the origin of the language you speak!

• Indo-European branch includes: English, Russian and Hindi
• Tamil is on another branch called Dravidian
• Japanese and Korean have their own branches
• Austronesian branch includes: Malay, Indonesian and Tagalog
• Sino-Tibetan branch includes Mandarin and Thai

** Indigenous Australian Languages are often studied as a unique linguistic group rather than being placed on a global Language Family Tree. 

Inclusion Support

As the KSS inclusion support teacher I am committed to not only promoting academic excellence but also nurturing the emotional well-being of our students. Recognizing that emotional regulation plays a crucial role in learning and development, I am implementing the Zones of Regulation framework to support students in managing their emotions, behaviours, and social interactions.

This framework encourages students to identify and understand their feelings, regulate their emotional responses, and make positive, thoughtful choices in different situations. By developing these skills, students can navigate challenges more effectively, build stronger relationships and make better decisions even when emotions are heightened.

I am passionate about helping students develop emotional regulation skills, as these abilities will not only empower them throughout their school years but also set them up for success in their future lives. Emotional intelligence is key to building resilience, fostering empathy, and creating a positive learning environment, and I believe these skills are just as important as academic knowledge.

-Mrs Harriet McVeigh

Community News

Thank you for taking the time to engage in your child's school life further by reading this newsletter. We appreciate you staying informed. If you have any newsletter suggestions, please email them to admin@kilcoyss.eq.edu.au.