Wynnum State School eNewsletter

Principal's Message

Welcome Back to Term 2

Welcome back to the start of what promises to be a very busy and exciting term of teaching and learning. It was a great delight to start this term without a raft of restrictions or delays. It was like a normal school beginning of term! Our Wynnum Warriors have settled right back into their learning.

ANZAC Day

It is at this time of year where we gather to remember all Australians who served and died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping missions. We do this at our school-based ceremony this Friday at 9.30am in the Auditorium, which families are welcome to attend. We also show our respect by marching and laying a wreath at the Wynnum RSL on Monday. I look forward to joining staff and students on ANZAC Day.

Fiver for the Floods - Official Handover

It was with great pride that Ruben and Kate from the Student Council handed over the raised funds to the Principal and two student captains of Rocklea State School at our whole school assembly this week. Principal of Rocklea S.S, Ms Julia Bailey explained to the assembly the journey the school has been on because of the floods, and the opportunities to build a new future in terms of their infrastructure. The student captains recounted their feelings of being displaced from their school and the trauma natural disasters can bring. However, they were full of gratitude and thanks to our students, staff and community for raising over $1600. Ms Bailey informed the assembly of the intent to put this into an outdoor play area for all students, and invited myself and school captains to their assembly once completed. We immediately agreed and will be happy to share images of the great recovery that has occurred in their school.

I am extremely proud of our efforts and would like to thank Mrs Stephanie Bennet for guiding the Student Council in regards to this great initiative. This was amazing!

New Music Teacher

After a long recruitment and selection process, I am pleased to announce we have secured a music teacher. In Week 3 we will welcome Ms Karen Gordon. Ms Gordon is a highly experienced Music Educator with 20+ years of classroom and Instrumental Music teaching from Pre-Prep to Year 12.

Stranger Danger

The school has received a report of suspicious behaviour of individuals involving students this morning at Primrose Park. The incident was reported to Police. I encourage all families to be vigilant in regards to this area before and after school. The school will be reinforcing our Stranger Danger conversations in homerooms.

Mark Ionn
Principal

2022 School Term Dates

Term 2: Tuesday 19 April to Friday 24 June

Term 3: Monday 11 July to Friday 16 September

Term 4: Tuesday 4 October to Friday 9 December

Habit of Mind and Loving Literature Link with Ms Connell

The Habits of Mind are a set of 16 thinking skills that intelligent thinkers use to solve problems in which the answer is unknown. Created by Arthur Costa and Bena Kallick, these thinking skills or habits, are present in the best decision makers. This fortnight’s Habit of Mind at Wynnum SS is Striving for Accuracy. This Habit encourages us to set high standards and then do our best to achieve them. It also encourages us to check our facts and find ways to improve.

The book to bring this Habit to life is The Dreamer by Il Sung Na. The book is read aloud online by Mr Limata, who will brighten up your day and who actually starts reading the book at around the 6.20 mark. Mr Limata reads the book very enthusiastically and then offers some wonderful advice at the end. Enjoy!

Library Buzz with Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

At our school ANZAC day service last year, Year 3 teacher, Ms Ros MacIntosh read aloud the true story, The Little Stowaway by Vicki Bennett and illustrated by Tull Suwannakit. The story is about a French orphan boy called Honore, who stumbled into an Australian army camp during World War 1 on Christmas Day 1918. Lucky for Honore, often called Henri, he met airman Tim Tovell who devised a plan to bring Henri back to Australia after no members of his family could be found. Another teacher, Mrs Hope, made contact with the author Vicki Bennett to receive permission to film reading this story, to share online with our students. I think everyone should watch this presentation again with your family as it is a wonderful lesson in resilience and why we need to care for others, as we follow Henri’s journey home to Brisbane, Australia.

Please click on the link attached. https://youtu.be/TiSjBbSl54E

Perhaps you could make some ANZAC biscuits while enjoying The Little Stowaway.

ANZAC DAY COOKING

The library team have created a display in the library to commemorate the spirit of the ANZACs – sacrifice, courage and mateship. We welcome students to view the display and participate in some ANZAC activities on Thursday and Friday this week. There are also some beautiful books on display and available for borrowing.

The Library team would like to remind all students that library books must be returned by their due date. There were a number of outstanding books from last term that will be followed up at the end of this week.

Just keep reading…

Curriculum News with Ms O'Donoghue (Head of Curriculum)

Why is this day special to Australians?

When war broke out in 1914 Australia had been a federated nation for only 13 years, and its government was eager to establish a reputation among the nations of the world. When Britain declared war in August 1914 Australia was automatically placed on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula in order to open the Dardanelles to the allied navies. The ultimate objective was to capture Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, an ally of Germany.

Anzac Biscuits by Phil Cummings and Owen Swan is a great story to discuss with the family. We have included a link here to watch it being read, you can press pause to stop and talk about what the author was trying to tell us or some of the interesting things you noticed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k56jsvSkwH8

DID YOU KNOW…

It’s a popular myth that ANZAC biscuits are so named because they were shipped to the ANZAC soldiers during the war. However, while it’s true that they travel excellently and don’t contain any ingredients that easily spoil, the name “ANZAC biscuits” didn’t meet up with these buttery, oaty cookies until the 1920s. In reality, the biscuits were more often made at home to sell for fundraising, or to serve at fetes and other events held to raise money for the war effort, and it’s this connection between the biscuits and the war that led to the use of the name “ANZAC”.

Finance Matters

The school's preferred payment method for all excursions/incursions/camps is now via BPOINT. All parents/carers will recieve an invoice to their nominated email address when a school activity is invoiced to their child's account. This invoice contains a BPOINT link (located on the bottom left hand side of the invoice) which directs you to a secure payment website upon which credit card details can be entered to make payment. Please make contact with the office if you are not recieving your invoices via email.

Administration

Prep - Year 3 Science News with Mrs Crowe

Year One Palaeontology teams from 1CL,1RD,1SC,1LB and 1PC engaged in significant research and exploration for dinosaur fossils in the last week of Term One. An official dig site was identified within our school grounds by ‘drone survey from the Science and Palaeontology Departments of Universities across Australia’ (roleplay).

The Chief Palaeontologist (Mrs Crowe) visited the site as our teams were in action. She was very impressed with each team’s use of their specialised tools to carefully search for the fossilised eggs. Our young Wynnum Warrior palaeontologists displayed their ability to Persist and Strive for Accuracy as each team member focused very precisely on searching for their fossil, delicately removing it from the dig site and brushing it carefully for photographic recording.

Each scientist was able to keep their fossilised egg. All data was sent back to the universities. Exciting and ground-breaking research for our teams of young scientists as you will see in the photos below! More photos on display outside Science Lab this week!

Sienna, one of our studious young scientists from 3MA, investigated and researched 'microbes' in her own time to extend her science knowledge. Sienna independently recorded her summarised information and designed a diagrammatic resource for our P-3 Science Lab! She was so proud of her effort. Mrs Crowe and the P-3 scientists loved her work and are very grateful to receive such a great informational resource. This will be proudly displayed in the P-3 Science Lab for all time!

Term Two will be a hands-on scientific study of Chemical Sciences in the Science Lab:

Prep: What’s it Made of? Observable properties of materials

Year One: Spot the Difference Investigating change in everyday materials

Year Two: All Mixed Up Combining substances and materials

Year Three: Melting Moments Solids and liquids; melting process

Welcome back everyone!

Year 4 - 6 Science News with Mr Legge

This term, students in Years 4-6 will be delving into the realm of Chemical Science.

The Material World unit provides Year 4 students with hands-on opportunities to:

consider why some materials are biodegradable and others are not;
investigate how quickly processed materials will rot;
explore the absorbency of different materials;
investigate the tensile strength of different materials; and
inquire how materials are used to heat things or keep them warm.

In the What’s the matter? unit, the Year 5 students will explore the properties of liquids, including viscosity, identify properties of solids and apply their knowledge to determine if powder is a solid or liquid and investigate air as a gas to find out if it takes up space.

The Change Detectives unit provides Year 6 students with hands-on opportunities to:

investigate if melted or frozen objects can be returned to their original state
observe the factors that make materials melt most quickly
explore factors relating to evaporation
investigate how solids can be dissolved in liquids, if this process is reversible and any reaction that may occur
explore what happens when candles are burnt

It is my hope that the students develop a curiosity around solubility and reactions. As safety is paramount when experimenting, the students will also be learning lab techniques in order to make sure our learning is both fun and safe.

Sport Update with Mr Blair

Mr Blair fishing in Tasmania over the holidays.

Interschool Sports

It is Term 2 which means it’s time for the long-awaited Interschool Sports competition! Wynnum will be sending our enthusiastic Warriors to Netball (held at Gumdale State School), Rugby League (Kitchener Park), boys soccer (Wynnum Memorial Park) and girls soccer (Wondall Heights State School). Students also had the option to elect into a basketball competition involving only Wynnum State School students. Parents are most welcome to come and watch their children play at the designated venues.

Please return permission forms to your child's homeroom teacher.

If your child has tuckshop on Fridays in Years 4, 5 and 6, please remind them that they can only order at first break. The only exception to this are students who are playing basketball at Wynnum State School, who will be able to order first and second breaks.

We wish our students the very best as they begin their interschool sport competitions.

During Physical Education this term, students will be participating in a combination of basketball and athletics units. We are beginning the term with some dribbling, passing, pivoting and shooting activities to learn the fundamentals of basketball.

The 10-12 years District Cross Country will be on Thursday 5 May from 10:45am- 2:30pm. A letter will be sent home shortly if your child is selected in the team.

Whether your team is the Firebirds, Roar, Reds, Bullets or Broncos, I hope you are enjoying the plethora of sport on TV at the moment. Also, Lions for the Premiership in the AFL… you’re hearing it here first.

Wynnum Idol - Friday 24 June

It is now Term 2 which means it is time to get excited because Wynnum Idol is just around the corner! This annual event is where we have the opportunity to glimpse the amazing performing talents of so many of our Wynnum Warriors. All students from Prep to Year 6 are eligible to enter. They may perform solo or as part of a group in one of the five categories - Singing, Dance, Instrumental, Speech or Drama. Auditions are to be digitally recorded and submitted to the school office on a USB. If you have any issues with this, please reach out for assistance.

We are so proud of all the Wynnum Warriors who Take a Responsible Risk and have a go at being part of Wynnum Idol this year. Good luck!

Megan Connell
Acting Idol Coordinator

Year 6 Camp

On the last week of school of term 1, the Year 6 students went to Camp Goodenough in Northern NSW. We were extremely excited to be heading off on our last primary school adventure, testing our skills, taking responsible risks, pushing our limits and expanding our friendships. Although the first day was raining, we still managed to do a few activities. The billy carts was challenging because we had to build it together before we could ride it around the hilly course. The high ropes was really fun and hard at the same time. It was hard for the short people because they couldn’t reach some of the ropes and it was tricky for the tall people who couldn’t crawl through the barrel. With a little team work and encouragement, we all completed the course. The crate stack was hard to keep balance after you got more than six crates high. Most of us couldn’t keep the wobbles away as our feet and legs struggled to keep on top of the stack. The giant swing was exhilarating and an adrenaline pumping fall, as you had to release yourself from a very high distance from the ground. We are very grateful that we were allowed 2 swings each. The last event of the trip was the leap of faith, and my what a leap it was. That was by far the most challenging, with many people becoming scared and overcoming their fears as they jumped into mid-air with nothing between them and the ground metres below their feet. We loved the people, the staff, the food, the camp activities and the night time games. I know that this camp will be memorable for many years to come.

Mrs Bennet
Year 6 Teacher

Inclusive Education News with Mrs Collingwood

The Autism Hub https://autismhub.education.qld.gov.au/ provided by The Department of Education Queensland, works with school leaders, teachers and parents to improve the engagement and education achievement of students with autism in all Queensland schools. They provide information and deliver professional learning that supports educators to include, retain and engage students with autism and empowers parents to partner with schools and teachers in their child's education.

Upcoming FREE online webinars for parents:

Making and maintaining friendships https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-making-and-maintaining-friendships-tickets-310199082807

Strategies to support school refusal https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-supporting-school-refusal-tickets-310184930477

Supporting girls with autism https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-supporting-girls-with-autism-tickets-310186775997

Supporting transition to prep https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-supporting-transition-to-prep-tickets-310205291377

Supporting learning using student preferences https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-supporting-learning-using-student-preferences-tickets-310197638487

Supporting your child in junior secondary https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/parent-webinar-supporting-your-child-in-junior-secondary-tickets-310193165107

Prep enrolments for 2023 now open!

Prep enrolments are now open for 2023. Enrolment paperwork can be dowloaded from the school website https://wynnumss.eq.edu.au/enrolments/enrolling-at-our-school or collected from the school office.

P & C News - Uniform and Tuckshop Update

Welcome to our new P&C Executive Team & Call out for Secretariat position

Thank you to everyone who attended the Annual General Meeting in the last week of Term 1 where a new P&C Executive Team was voted in:

President: Sophia Holt (re-elected)

Vice-President: Angus Gorrie

Treasurer: Marilyn Myers (re-elected)

Secretary: Vacant

With no new nominations for the role of the President and Treasurer, both Sophia and Marilyn kindly agreed to volunteer again and support the school this year. Thank you to our new parent, Angus, who put his hand up to join the Executive Team as the P&C’s Vice-President. With no nominations for the Secretariat role on the night, this position is currently vacant, and the P&C would like to do a call out for a volunteer to join the Committee as the Secretary. If you are interested or would like further information about the role, please do not hesitate to contact the P&C on wynnumss.pandc@gmail.com or join us at our next P&C meeting.

Next P&C meeting Wednesday 27 April at 6pm in the Administrative Building

After another crazy year, the P&C Executive Team is looking forward to working with the school and all of you to raise much needed money for our students! The Executive Team has commenced planning fundraising events for this year, but are keen for your input, so join us at one of the next meetings!

It is not too late to join the P&C for 2022 as a member – please just complete our membership form https://wynnumss.eq.edu.au/Supportandresources/Formsanddocuments/Documents/membership-form.pdf or just attend the next P&C meeting. However, you do not need to be a member to volunteer and help at any of the upcoming events or the tuckshop! (Please note that you will to show proof of vaccination for any volunteering role at the school.)

Tuckshop update

Expressions of interest/Position Vacant

Due to the recent resignation of our Tuckshop Convenor we are asking for any expressions of interest for this position that is now available. If you are interested in finding out more information or wish to apply for the Tuckshop Convenor position please email the P&C at wynnumss.pandc@gmail.com or phone Sophia Holt on 0426863070 to discuss.

Tuckshop closure - Week 2

Please note that due to unforseen circumstances the Tuckshop will be closed during Week 2. Further updates will be communicated to parents/carers as to when the tuckshop will re-open.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Easter Meal Deal and for your understanding of our constraints in the last week of Term due to staff absences. We would like to use this opportunity to make another call out for any new volunteers for the Tuckshop! Your support is very much needed and appreciated, so please do not hesitate to see the ladies at the tuckshop!

Wynnum Wahoos Amateur Swim Club

After a successful season with record number swimmers, the Wynnum Wahoos had their Championship Day for the season 2021/2022 at the end of Term 1. On that day club swimmers competed against each other in their relevant age categories and got awarded for all their hard work over this season. Seeing all the big smiles and hearing the bling of medals, it was evident that a great day was had by all. The club is now in the off season, but is looking forward to seeing all swimmers, old and new, back in the pool in October (Term 4). More info on the next season will be provided closer to its commencement.

QSchools App

Don't forget to download the QSchools App to your Iphone or Android device. The QSchools App is another great way for Wynnum State School families to receive and read our fortnightly school newsletter and also receive important notifications regarding school events. Simply download to your phone and 'star' Wynnum State School as your 'favourite' school.