2025, Term 1, Week 2, Kilcoy State School Newsletter
9.2.2025
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
The commencement of the 2025 school year has been quite a whirlwind for us, with many new enrolments now settling in. We welcome these new families to our school and invite them to become part of our KSS family. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful school, full of fabulous kids and amazing staff who care deeply about the children in our school.
In exciting news, a very recent increase in new enrolments means we are now required to have 12 classes, up one from last year. The allocation of an additional class means that we can offer smaller class sizes, more personalised support, and have room for additional enrolment growth throughout the year. In order to do this, we will need to adjust the existing classes we have, many of which are currently at capacity. As of 17/2/25, a number of students across the school will be placed in different classes, lowering the size of most classes. Parents of these students will be informed later this week, and students will be provided with a supported transition to their new class. We appreciate your patience as we plan carefully for the best outcomes for your child, and the required logistics of the school.
While we understand that moving class after two weeks is not always welcomed, the ongoing benefit of having smaller class sizes shows through in many ways that will directly benefit all students in our school. Parent preferences submitted last year will again be considered as changes are made. If you have any concerns, you are welcome to email them to ClassConsiderations@kilcoyss.eq.edu.au.
Kilcoy State School is currently seeking a cleaner to join our brilliant team! If you, or anyone you know is interested, please direct them to the job link here: https://smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-NCR618831-25P
I invite you to join us at school for a free Sausage Sizzle BBQ outside the hall this Wednesday at 3.15pm, to meet our staff and answer any questions you may have. It's a great opportunity to get to know our school staff in an informal and enjoyable event. Our Kilcoy State School P&C reps will be in attendance and would welcome any new members.
Stop, Drop and Go: If you use this pick up and drop off option, please be mindful that staff may need to ask you to drive a lap of the school and rejoin the queue if your child is not there waiting to be collected. If you need to wait for someone to arrive, you will need to park in one of the many parking spaces surrounding the school. Drivers cannot hold up the queue in the Stop, Drop and Go. If you are picking up a Prep student, you will need to park properly and walk into the school as they are not allowed to walk out by themselves. Again, you cannot park in the Stop, Drop and Go.
Senior Leader Investiture: On Tuesday 18/2/25, we will induct our latest group of outstanding young leaders in a formal ceremony, recognising their leadership achievements in many different capacities so far. Commencing at 9.15am in the hall, we invite parents and carers of all our Year 6 students to attend. Please join us and meet our 2025 School Captains, House Captains, Civics Captain, Instrumental Music Captain, Arts Captain, PBL Captain, Student Representative Council President, First Nations Captain, Student Leaders and 2025 Seniors.
Annual Improvement Plan (AIP): Last week, I was delighted to share our 2025 Annual Improvement plan (draft version) at the P&C Meeting. If you would like to view this, you are welcome to drop into the office at any point. This document is created with our staff and aligned to the Education Department's commitment to providing Equity and Excellence for every child at our school. The two focus areas identified in it are:
- The quality enactment of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, leading to measurable improvement in student academic achievement.
- The development of a school culture which underpins a rich, engaging and consistent learning environment, prioritising excellence in curriculum, teaching and learning, resulting in enhanced staff and student learning and wellbeing.
Calling all parents and carers of sporty kids! - We're inviting you to a Sporting Parents/Carers BBQ in Week 4 on 19/2/25 at 3.15pm. In order to continue to be able to offer the extensive scope of events on the sporting calendar, we really need your help. We can share more about this with you at the BBQ, learning also about your interests and skills.
Volunteers are the backbone of sports and it is no different in our smaller school. If you child enjoys the extra-curricular sporting events offered at our school, please consider offering to help out on one of the days. Mrs Smith would be delighted to teach you what to do if you don't know. Having parent/carers of our students come to help means that we can continue to offer the same events, if not more.
Kind regards, Mrs Belinda Nash.
Upcoming events
| 12/2, Wk3 | Meet our Staff - Free BBQ! 3.15pm start |
| 18/2, Wk4 | Senior Leader Investiture. 9.15am start |
| 24/2, Wk5 | District Swimming |
| 5/3, Wk6 | GREEN Day |
| 6/3, Wk6 | Valley Champs Swimming |
| 12/3, Wk7 | NAPLAN commences - 12/3 to 24/3 |
Lisa Webster - Deputy Principal
Curriculum
Parents and Caregivers will have received a curriculum newsletter from their classroom teacher outlining the learning that is happening for this term. This is our first term of implementing the new version 9 of the Australian Curriculum in English and Mathematics. This term the focus in English is narratives. In Prep the students are sharing ideas about a familiar narrative story. Year 1 and year 2 students are focussing on characters in the story and the character traits respectively, while year 3 students relate ideas and express ideas through a multimodal book review. Students in year 4 will use short films as a stimulus to share and extend ideas, opinions and information for an audience. In year 5 students will share and expand on ideas and opinions about a literary text by creating a podcast for their peers, while year 6 students will form a book club and share and elaborate on ideas about a literary text for an audience.
Communication with your child about what they are learning enhances their success at school. As all students are focussing on narratives, it is a wonderful opportunity for you to get into good reading habits of an evening. Evening routines such as 'Dinner, Bath, Book Bed' help children to good reading habits. One of my favourite quotes is from Aristotle is We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. If we want our children to be excellent in anything, setting up good habits supports them to do this. At Kilcoy State School, teachers are setting up good habits in the classroom.
It has given me great pleasure to be in classrooms this week and listen to students tell me what they are learning about. The prep students are learning lots of good habits and routines. I photographed them during their learning.
If you have any questions about your child's learning or social-emotional development, please contact the classroom teacher. Your teachers are getting to know students and how they learn.
-Mrs Lisa Webster.
Prep and Prep/1 Highlights
1/2A
In 1/2A, we are excited to be back at school and have jumped straight into our learning for Term One. The children are working hard and showing great enthusiasm in all of their activities. I am thrilled to be teaching such an amazing group of students this year and look forward to a fantastic year ahead!
-Mrs. Paige Somerville
P&C News
Hello KSS families!
First off, we like to give a big thank you to all who attended our first P&C meeting of the year this week, it was a very productive meeting and we've started 2025 off on the right foot. Our next meeting will be on the 5th March at 3:30pm in the Resource Centre.
As you know, our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is our biggest meeting of the year and is where we hand over to new team members to run the P&C for the current year. As our current Exec Team are stepping down, we will be excited to meet the new team! All executive positions will be available for nomination and nomination forms can be downloaded from the link below or can be picked up from the office. Please see the picture below that explains the roles and what is expected of you. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at PandC@kilcoyss.eq.edu.au
Our AGM will immediately follow a general meeting and will be on Monday 24th March in the KSS Resource Centre.
- General meeting at 5:30pm
- AGM at 6pm
Sports News
-Mrs Joanne Smith
Inclusion Support
-Mrs Harriet McVeigh
Support Teacher - Literacy & Numeracy
Library Fun: More Than Just Books!
A big hello and welcome back to all our students and families. I am Karen Burton, Literacy and Numeracy and EAL/D support teacher, and I am very excited for the year ahead. It’s going to be a great one!
Our library has already been buzzing with activity as students come together to explore, create, connect and chill. While reading is, of course, at the heart of what we do, the library is also a place where students can challenge themselves with puzzles, build with LEGO, colour in and draw, and most importantly spend time together.
This shared space is more than just a quiet reading nook; it’s a hub for creativity, collaboration, and communication across year levels. As students work on a puzzle together, they are practising problem-solving and teamwork. When they build with LEGO, they are sharing ideas and developing spatial awareness. Colouring and drawing provide a relaxing way to express themselves, sparking conversations and friendships.
Through these activities, students are not just having fun, they’re building essential skills for learning.
It’s wonderful to see our students learning, laughing, and working together already. I look forward to an amazing year ahead. Come and visit the library and say hello!
-Mrs Karen Burton
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.
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