Kilcoy State School eNewsletter

13.7.2025

Acknowledgment of Country: This newsletter comes to you from Jinibara Land. In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country througho2t 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.

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

2025 Annual Improvement Plan

AIP Focus area 1: The quality enactment of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, leading to measurable improvement in student academic achievement.
AIP Focus area 2: 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.

News from Mrs Nash - Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

Term 3 has arrived and we are ready to go! After a lovely holiday with my family, I'm really looking forward to seeing our staff and students, and hearing about their last two weeks. I've asked our teachers to send home a quick note to let you know if your child has run out of any supplies for their learning, or if they don't have a named school hat. Having the right equipment helps to make your child feel prepared and ensures they can fully participate. Please let your child's teacher know if there is anything preventing this, so we can see how we might be able to help.

Report Cards: This week, the Semester 1 Report Cards will be emailed home. Please take time to consider your child's achievements, looking at their effort and behaviour, as well as their academic results. All three components are important and interrelated in a child's development.

PBL - Positive Behaviour for learning

Our focus for Term 3 is on our third STAR value - ACTIVE LEARNING. Throughout the term, our students will build their ability to:

choose to develop a growth mindset.
have a go at all activities.
show courage and resilience in their learning.
use their own brain power and think before asking.
use the feedback that is given to them.
use the learning wall to help themselves.
make sure they are present, centred, and ready to learn.

In the middle of the term, we will hold a dress YELLOW Day to bring attention to our term focus and celebrate our successes. You can view the full behaviour expectations for our students below.

2025_PBL_MATRIX.pdf

Staffing Update: This term we say goodbye to Mrs McVeigh (our Inclusion Support Teacher) for a while as she heads off to have her new baby! We will be very sad to see her go and will miss her a lot. Good luck Mrs McVeigh! xx In the meantime, we are working with the Education Queensland HR department to secure a replacement staff member to provide support and advocate for all our students with additional needs. We have temporarily engaged additional support staff to offset the time it takes to manage this process. Unfortunately, it's not always as quick as we'd like it to be. Luckily, Mrs McVeigh spent a lot of time in Term 2 updating all her records and finalising paperwork for students on her caseload. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact the school office on 5422 3333.

Spotlight on our recent 2025 School Review.

Domain 1: Driving an explicit improvement agenda.

The Review Team provided affirmations that:

Teaching staff explain how they engage with and provide feedback on the development of the Annual Improvement Plan (AIP). Teachers indicate they appreciate their collaborative role in developing the school’s strategic agenda. The principal discusses how teachers attend regional strategic planning days to support a shared
understanding of regional and system expectations.
The principal indicates that the improvement agenda is discussed with the Parents and Citizens’
Association (P&C), including the school’s current strategic journey and next steps for improvement. They comment how details about the AIP appear in the newsletter and are included in the weekly staff memo.
Leaders discuss how the AIP is reviewed every term with staff and the P&C. They explain this allows for a flexible approach to school planning which responds to student and school needs.

We thank the Kilcoy community and our staff and students for their direct contributions to our school review. The information received helps us celebrate our successes and continue to improve our capacity to provide your child with an outstanding education at Kilcoy State School.

Attendance Check: Our current whole school attendance rate is 90.1%. Our goal is 95%. If your child is reluctant to attend or you would like assistance in this area, please make contact with the office on 5422 3333 to make an appointment.

Kind regards, Mrs Belinda Nash.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

year of schooling
category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy (https://www.education.gov.au/privacy-policy).

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal (https://www.nccd.edu.au).

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

Connecting with community

In order to be able to connect well with our community in a sustainable way, each term is planned to ensure there are multiple opportunities for families to engage in their child's school life while at Kilcoy State School. As our whole school meets every morning to connect and refocus our goals, our routine fortnightly parades have become less crucial for connection and we have revised our calendar to maximise available learning time. You will see some changes below and we urge you to plan ahead to be able to attend as many school events as possible. We'd love you to attend them all but appreciate how busy people's lives are. We will continue to keep the community updated on social media and through the provision of school newsletters as per the timetable below. If your child is to be presented with an award, we will notify you in advance via email so that you may be able to attend.

Date	Term 3 event details/reminders
13/7/25	Wk0/1 School Newsletter
17/7/25	Wk1 P&C Meeting 3.30pm, Resource Centre
21/7/25	Wk2 Prep Vision Screening at school
23/7/25	Wk2 Somerset Council Community Meeting - School Captains attending
25/7/25	Wk2 Yr3-6 Kilcoy Show excursion
31/7/25	Wk3 Parade, 2.20pm
31/7 and 1/8	Wk3 District Athletics
6/8/25	Wk4 PBL ACTIVE LEARNING - Wear Yellow Day!
10/8/25	Wk4 Newsletter
11/8/25	Wk5 Public Holiday - EKKA Show
13/8 and 14/8	Wk5 Science Week Fair
14/8/25	Wk5 Speed Soccer Yr4-6
18/8-22/8	Wk6 Book Week and Book Fair
21/8/25	Wk6 Book Week Character Parade, 9.15am.
TBC	Wk6 Yr3/4 Excursion to ZOO HQ - TBC
25/8/25	Wk7 KSHS Visit for Yr 6 students - Transition to High School
31/8/25	Wk7 Newsletter
1/9/25	Wk8 Father's Day Stall - TBC
4/9/25	Wk8 Parade, 2.20pm
5/9/25	Wk8 Student Free Day - no students at school.
8/9/25	Wk9 Prep Bunyip Hunt excursion
11/9/25	Wk9 Open Classroom Learning Celebration, 2.10pm.
12/9/25	Wk9 Bush to the Beach presentation
12/9/25	Yr3/4 Sleep over at School! - TBC
16/9/25	Wk10 P&C FUN RUN, 12-3pm - times TBC
17/9/25	Valley Champs (League and Netball)

News from Miss Carlile - Deputy Principal

Term Two English saw our students learning how to write information reports. They were extremely busy reading and researching information and then organising the information they needed into a report. Animals were a popular topic across the school and we also had some interesting reports on planets and natural disasters. It is easy to see that our teachers selected focus ideas that were aimed at engaging our students!

In Term Three we will be working together to learn how to persuade- look out parents! The skills your children are about to learn can be used for home matters too! Our Preps start their learning in this area by sharing recounts of events. As the learning moves up to Year 1 and 2 level, students will share their opinions and preferences about a topic. Year 3 and 4 students will learn how to structure their arguments effectively and use a range of strategies to persuade. By Year 5 and 6, we aim for our students to gain mastery of their persuasive skills and understanding of how to structure an argument. They are tasked with creating a very clear persuasive appeal, aimed at convincing a formal audience to agree with their point of view and to act.

There are many aspects regarding persuasion that our students will be learning in order to be successful. At home it can be very interesting to look at advertising and try to determine how the audience is being persuaded. The upper school will be looking at techniques called: Pathos, Ethos, Logos and Kairos. Try watching or reading some advertising with these 4 techniques in mind.

Pathos (Emotional appeal) taps into the reader’s emotions. People are often moved to action when they feel connected to an issue on a personal level, so sharing a story or using emotional language can help strengthen your argument.

Ethos (Ethical appeal) is all about establishing yourself as someone who knows what they’re talking about. When you demonstrate experience or knowledge on a subject, your credibility increases. The person reading your letter is more likely to take you seriously.

Logos (Logical appeal) is the use of facts, statistics, and clear reasoning to make your argument. Logic helps support your case with evidence that can’t be easily dismissed.

Kairos (Timeliness) is about the timing of your argument. If you can show why now is the right time to make the change, you’ll strengthen your case even further.

It is important to know about persuasion techniques as all around us in our world, there are people, organisations etc who are aiming to persuade us to agree with them. Learning about persuasion and some of the techniques used will help our students to be critical thinkers. This is a very important skill and mindset for everyone.

-Miss Pam Carlile, Deputy Principal.

P&C News

Our next P&C Meeting will be held on Thursday 17th July at 3.30pm in the Resource Centre. Please come along and contribute to our school. All community are welcome and encouraged to attend.

-The P&C Team

Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy (STLaN) Update - Mrs Burton.

The Tree of Acknowledgement is now a Forest of Knowledge!

Our creative Year 4 students have been hard at work designing informative posters as part of their English assessment, and the results are now blooming beautifully on our Tree of Acknowledgement. In fact, it’s starting to look more like a forest of knowledge!

These colourful, clever and fact-filled posters cover a fascinating range of endangered animals, including the Baw Baw Frog, the Philippine Dwarf Red Kingfisher, the Amur Leopard, the Andean Flamingo, the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect and the much-loved Red Panda.

Each student selected an animal they were curious about, researched interesting facts and created a poster using paragraphs, diagrams, visuals and eye-catching headings — all to teach, engage, and inspire their audience. The posters are packed with powerful messages and thoughtful writing that showcase just how far our students have come in developing their writing and presentation skills.

Come take a look!

The posters have just gone up in the library to celebrate the culmination of our end-of-semester English work and they’ll still be on display at the start of Term 3. So why not stop by when you return? You’re sure to be impressed — and you just might learn something new!

Well done, Year 4 A! We are so proud of your curiosity, effort and creativity.

~Mrs Karen Burton, Support Teacher of Literacy and Numeracy and EAL/D teacher

Year 4 A Informative Posters – Now on Display in the Library

As I prepare to head off on maternity leave, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you and farewell, for now.

It has been a true pleasure to work in such an amazing school with the fulfilling role of supporting such amazing children. Each day has brought moments of growth, learning, laughter and connection that I will carry with me during this special chapter of my life.

Supporting students in their learning journey: academically, socially and emotionally is something I am deeply passionate about. It has been incredibly rewarding to see so many of our students grow with the right support and encouragement. I am so proud of all they have achieved and look forward to hearing about the continued success of each and every one of them.

Although I will be stepping away from school life for a little while, I know the team here will continue to provide outstanding care and support to your children.

Thank you for your ongoing collaboration, trust and the conversations we’ve shared. I look forward to returning in the future, but for now, I am embracing the exciting adventure of focussing on motherhood for my growing family.

Wishing you and your families all the very best for the rest of the year.

~Mrs McVeigh

Sports News - Mrs Smith

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.

2025, Term 3, Week 0, Kilcoy State School Newsletter