2024, T1W8, Kilcoy State School Newsletter

17.03.2024

Acknowledgment of Country

This staff memo 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: Mrs Nash

Dear Parents and Carers

We have had a busy past two weeks with representative sporting events and NAPLAN testing commencing. In addition to their Literacy and Numeracy performance in NAPLAN, it was exciting to see the growth in our Year 3 and Year 5 students' learning confidence and improved ICT skills while accessing the online tests. These are lifelong skills which benefit occupational, sporting and personal interest success. Testing will continue on Monday for the small number of students who are finalising catch-up test opportunities due to illness. 

This Thursday (21-3-24) is our Open Classroom Learning Celebration and we hope to see all parents available visiting their child's classroom, to view their term work and celebrate Harmony Day with the class. We have asked for a small amount of food from your home country to be brought in to share with the class. This is a great way to learn about other cultures and celebrate difference. 

We ask everyone to wear Orange on Thursday 21st March to celebrate Harmony Day!

Valley Champs Tee-ball will be held on Friday 22/3/24. We wish all students participating the best of luck, skill and preparation to achieve success. 

The final week of school is brief yet bustling with activity. Not only will we conduct our Annual Easter Hat Parade at 9:30 am in the hall on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, but we will also host our Interhouse Cross Country at the Hopetoun Ovals on Thursday, March 28, 2024. This will mark the conclusion of Term 1.

 Good Friday is on 29/3 - also the first day of school holidays! 

Learning to read is a process that needs step-by-step teaching and plenty of practise at school and at home.

Unlike walking or talking, reading is not a skill that we learn naturally — everyone needs to be taught how to read. Reading requires two very important skills:

1. decoding (reading) the words on the page
2. making meaning from the words, sentences and paragraphs that are read (also called comprehension).

For children to learn how to decode words, they need to understand how sounds and letters link together. They are taught that:

• words can be broken up into sounds (the word ‘cat’ is made up of 3 sounds: c-a-t) and that sounds can be blended to form words (the sounds c-a-t blended, forms the word ‘cat’)
• the sounds in words can be represented by letters or groups of letters.

Children develop their language skills through the language they hear and read. In the early stages of reading instruction while children are developing their decoding skills, it is very important that they are read to often, so they hear lots of new words and learn about new things that they may not yet be able to read about themselves.

How should you help?  Parents and Carers are a child's first and most important teacher. Their ongoing success as a confident and engaged learner starts at home. 

Parents and carers - you play an incredibly important role in helping your child learn to read by both:

• regularly listening to your child read aloud to practise decoding words
• regularly reading aloud to your child to build their understanding of language and literacy.

If your child is struggling with reading, please ask your child's teacher for ideas on what you can do to help them at home. Each child's needs are different and the one-on-one support you give them at home is invaluable. 

P&C Annual General Meeting

On Wednesday the 6th of March, our Parents and Citizen's Association held their Annual General Meeting where all executive positions were declared vacant and available.  We are excited to announce that the 2024 P & C Executive Team includes:

• President: Mrs Dahanda (DJ) Whitley 
• Treasurer: Ma Theresa Sabandal
• Secretary: Mrs Jessica Kranenburg

We encourage all parents and community members to join the P&C to help make our school an amazing place for your child to learn and play. 

Kind regards, Belinda Nash.

Upcoming Events

Deputy Principal: Mrs Webster

Time at school vs Time outside of school

Each year a child spends 13% of their time at school and 87% of their time doing other things. If done well, parent engagement could add the equivalent of 2 or 3 extra years schooling for a child. (Hattie, 2008) At our school, we believe in the power of collaboration between parents/carers and teachers for your child's success. When we work hand in hand, we provide a consistent support system, tailored to your child's individual needs, fostering growth in academics, social, and emotional development. It's important to stay informed about school updates and your child's progress, create a conducive learning environment at home, and encourage open communication with teachers. Your active involvement through attending events, volunteering, and engaging with teachers enriches our school community and supports your child's educational journey.

On Thursday 21st March, all parents/carers are invited into the classrooms to see what work students have covered in Term 1. We would love to see many parents from P - 6 in classrooms from 2.10 - 3.00pm. 

On a recent visit to Prep A, I saw the prep students flexing their muscles to improve their handwriting. Enjoy the photos of some students below! 

Warm regards, Lisa Webster.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

As part of the explicit teaching of our school wide behaviour expectations, each class regularly sets aside time to review and revise their rules. This develops a sense of community in each class, and reinforces how each class has rules that sit within the school wide expectations. 

In Week 7, each class sent through photos to share with the community over the coming weeks. We enjoyed seeing how different they are, as well as how each one links our school values to their day-to-day practice in the classroom. When students take ownership of their behaviour, they hold each other accountable to high standards that promote a strong, motivated and safe learning environment. 

Classroom Rules

P&C Association

We offer a BIG thank you to all parents and caregivers who collected chocolate boxes over the past week. All boxes have now been collected. We apologise to those who requested extra boxes. Unfortunately, when we went to order more, the fundraising team had completely sold out of the Easer Egg boxes. Please remember that all money is due by Friday March 22. 

If you are having trouble selling your chocolates or have an excess that you can't get rid of, please call the office for advice.

Happy selling!

-The P&C Team

Sport

Last week, our school took part in the annual Valley of the Champs Swimming carnival hosted by us and competing with Mt Kilcoy and Woodford schools. We had a very victorious day with Kilcoy taking out the winning spot with 562 points; followed closely by Mt Kilcoy with 490 and Woodford with 283. 

Wade Hutchison and Sienna Evans took out the All Star Swimmers award. 

We offer a very big thank you to DJ Whitley, Tracey Neilsen and Kevin Wade for setting up and Leeanne Kraut for the helping with the squad lessons.

Book Club

If you ordered from the latest bookclub catalogue, know that your books are on the way and should be delivered next week! Thank you so much to all parents and caregivers that made a purchase this term; with every purchase made, the school earns rewards points and we can redeem those points for new resources in the library. The kids love it when the library is filled with new books.

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. If you have any suggestions for content, please forward them to admin@kilcoyss.eq.edu.au