Wynnum State School eNewsletter

(Acting) Principal's Message with Ms Connell

Principals' Conference

One of the responsibilities over my three Acting Principal weeks has been to spend the past two days attending the State School Principals' Conference. With over 1200 other school leaders, I heard key messages from the Minister for Education and the Director-General of Education as well as other key educational thought leaders. The attending principals were also asked to provide input in the development of the next State Schooling strategic plan. While we are sometime away from seeing the final plan that will guide our ongoing work, it is clear there will be a continued focus on Equity and Excellence, with an added focus on supporting students to be successful during key transition points; into primary school, into high school and then into their post-school choices. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to hear the messages from the leaders of our Department and I am equally grateful to return back to the Bayside and continue working on Equity and Excellence at Wynnum SS.

Request For Support

One of the best things about 2022 has been families again able to come into school grounds. It feels like a true community when we are able to freely meet and mingle. However, the increasing number of students and adults outside of classrooms before school and adults outside of classroom before the end of day bell is an issue we need your help to address. We are making a final heartfelt plea to families to please follow school processes by waiting in the designated areas.

Before school we have Prep students waiting in Mega, Year 1s in K1, Years 2-3 in K2 and Years 4-6 students in K3. Families are welcome to wait together in one of these areas. By waiting in these areas until the first bell rings at 8.40am, you ensure students are adequately supervised, enable our staff members to prepare for the coming day of learning and provide your child/children the opportunity to connect with their classmates and friends before the day starts.

Before the end of day bell at 2.45pm, we ask all 'picking-up' adults to wait at the Boxgrove Ave (front gate) entrance OR in MEGA OR around the back gate into the school grounds from the Stradbroke Avenue staff carpark. Prep parents move to collect Preps when the 2.45pm bell rings. By waiting in these areas, you enable teachers to teach right up until the end of the day and support students’ independence in organising their items to pack away and take home.

We extend our thanks to the majority of families who are already following the school processes and request those who are not able to do so to please be in contact, so we can have the opportunity to address this situation.

Habits of Mind and Loving Literature Link with Ms Connell (DP Years 1-3)

Wynnum State School is an internationally recognised Habits of Mind school. This means, we actively learn about and practice the set of 16 thinking skills that intelligent thinkers use to solve problems in which the answer is unknown. While we seek to integrate and use multiple Habits as needed, this term we will focus on four specific Habits of Mind – Thinking Interdependently, Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision, Thinking Flexibly and Creating, Imagining and Innovating.

This fortnight, we focus on Thinking Interdependently which celebrates that humans are social beings, hardwired to connect and that better decisions come about when we think and work together. The online book to bring this Habit to life is Whoever You Are, not only written by Mem Fox but read aloud by the author as well. Enjoy!

Year 5 Leadership forum

The process for selecting the 2023 school leaders commenced this week, beginning with the Year 5 Leadership Forum. The Year 5 students were visited by some familiar faces to Wynnum State School; Ana S, Caiden B (2019 School Captains) and Koby C (Mirrigimpa House Captain 2017). Ana, Caiden and Koby shared the skills they have gained and their experiences in leadership to the Year 5 cohort. Students were provided with an opportunity to ask questions and advice which they may use as they begin their leadership journey. Following the leadership forum, students will complete an ‘Expression of Interest’ for the 2023 Student Leaders. We look forward to guiding the students through this process.

Science News with Mrs Crowe (Prep-3 Science Specialist)

During the last two weeks of Term 3, all P-3 Science classes engaged in interactive learning for ‘Electricity Safety Week’. Scientists worked in groups to investigate an electrical circuit. Faces lit up with wonderment and awe when their circuit was correctly connected! Interactive learning resources, followed up with posters and reflection tasks, reinforced understanding for extreme safety when using electricity. Louis from PRBA was so engaged he drew a number of detailed diagrams showing electricity coming to his house. Well done Louis!

At the P-3 Celebration of Learnings, it was fantastic to see 2DA and 2SC performing presentations that focused on Science learning concepts. Science supports and integrates many class learning areas from Prep to Year Three. The Year Two’s in 1/2 SC did an absolutely excellent job of their “Water Cycle Rap Song” complete with posters of the scientific vocabulary learned throughout the term. 2DA used authentic props perfectly to demonstrate the importance of making sure we all recycle different our used materials correctly in our coloured bins. I had happy tears in my eyes seeing Science learning come to life in these performances at the Celebration.

Term 4 will be full of scientific questioning, problem solving, thinking flexibly and persisting as each class explores the concepts of Physical Sciences! The children will surely pose the most amazing questions to take their own learning to higher levels every time they visit the Science Lab to investigate all the wonders of our physical world!

Prep: ‘On the Move’ (Physical movement of objects and body)

Year One: ‘Look, Listen’ (Sensing Light and Sound)

Year Two: ‘Push and Pull’ (Force and Gravity)

Year Three: ‘Heating Up’ (Heat Transfer)

Library Buzz with Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

Well hopefully you found some quiet time to curl up with a book over the holidays. Maybe you tried some word searches or crosswords or better still, are you one of the millions around the world who play ‘wordle.’ To think we’re globally solving the same puzzle in the space of 24 hours. Like reading, wordle is a great puzzle craze to bring families together. It doesn’t just have to be for the adults because it helps children increase their vocabulary and build problem solving skills.

Scholastic Book Club Issue 7 is out now

I hope you have a copy of issue 7 to peruse with the family. Remember you can download the issue too. There are pages of quality value books on offer. Tim Minchin has a new book out called, Sometimes you have to be a little bit Naughty, that is worth checking out. Have fun combing through the pages on the lookout for 12 mice hiding among the books in this issue? PS note the mouse attached to the book above. The library is offering a prize for the first student into the library with all mice located!!

You can’t go past the $3 books on offer in this edition. Maybe it’s time to put some away for end of year presents! Definitely worth a look.

And finally, …Enjoy these jokes shared from Miss Leman’s Yr 1 students.

A chicken and a frog walked into the library.

The chicken said…Book Book!

The frog said…Read it Read it! (Blake 1CL)

Where does the horse go when is he is sick?

To the horse…table! (Jimmy 1CL)

Just keep reading…

Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

Teaching and Learning with Ms O'Donoghue (Head of Curriculum)

Oral Literacy is the foundation of all learning

How do we promote oral language at school and in the home?

Talk to children and listen responsively. Ask and answer questions.
Read aloud. Good books expose children to rich vocabulary and sentence structure. This is a major factor for success in learning to read. Talk about the books, what you see in the pictures, how the characters are feeling and what is the message the author is trying to send to their audience.
Role play. Act out stories. Pretending to buy things at a shop, cook in a mini-kitchen, drive a car, grocery shopping or planting a garden.
Look at signs as you drive and talk about what they mean. Read the pamphlets in the mailbox and identify items that are in there and what they are used for.
Make a cake, play a game, do some art, playdough. All of these things involve giving and receiving of instructions and are a great way to build vocabulary.

Maths Matters with Mrs Lentakis (Numeracy coach) and Mrs van Fleet (Maths Intervention teacher)

What’s going on: ‘Maths Team Challenge’ Years 5 and 6 competition

On Wednesday 7 September, our fabulous team of young mathematicians competed against 25 primary state in the MATHS TEAM CHALLENGE competition at Kingston State School. The competition involved working interdependently to solve a variety of challenging problems in both Team and Relay events.

Congratulations to our fabulous team from Years 5 and 6- Leila, Jaxon, James, Caleb, Oskar and Andy who placed 5th overall. What a fabulous outcome and we are all very proud of these Wynnum Warriors!

‘Have a go’ together: from Maths Team Challenge 2022 (answers in upcoming newsletter)

A clock dings once at 1:00pm, twice at 2:00pm, three times at 3:00pm, and up to a maximum of twelve dings, before starting again. How many times will it ding in a one-week period?

Mary has 10 red socks, 12 blue socks and 13 green socks in her chest of drawers. During a blackout, Mary wanted to ensure that she had a pair of red socks. What is the least number of socks that Mary will need to grab from her drawers to ensure she has a pair of red socks?

Sports Report with Mr Blair (PE Teacher)

We begin swimming this week and will be continuing until the end of Week 8. I am again joined by our expert swim teachers, Rachel and Jemima, and we are grateful for their support in implementing a thorough swim program. On Monday, our senior students braved the wind and sought shelter in the heated pool for our first lessons. Let’s hope for some warmer weather as the weeks go on. Please remember to help pack togs (including rashie), swim cap, goggles, towel and clothes to get changed into. We will be learning about the different swim strokes in preparation for the swimming carnivals later this term. Monday the 28^th November for Seniors (years 4, 5 and 6) and Monday the 5^th December for Junior (years 1, 2 and 3).

A brief retraction from my earlier newsletters this year about my AFL prediction. I was confident it was the year of the Lions but unfortunately Geelong put a stop to this. Let us hope for a Back to Back in the AFLW competition!

♫ Musical Notes with Mrs Gordon (Music Teacher)

♫ Instrumental Music

2023 IM Recruitment

Year 3 students are invited to return an Expression of Interest Form (available at the office or in the Music Room) to enter the Instrumental Music Program at Wynnum State School in 2023.

Further information can be obtained by contacting the Instrumental Music Teachers:

Mr Cosic jcosi7@eq.edu.au or Mrs Thomas vthom38@eq.edu.au

Band Performance Date Claimers -

Year 3 Recruitment Evening Thursday 13^th October
Sounds of Spring Concert Thursday 17^th November
Band Tour Day Wednesday 30^th November

♫ Whole School Music

The whole school will sing at Assembly next week (Wednesday 19^th October) the song ‘Where We Begin’. This song was written specifically for group singing in Mental Health Week, highlighting the direct links between Music, Singing and positive mental health.

‘Where We Begin’ is an upbeat, fun song that the students have been learning in Classroom Music.

Here is a YouTube link if you would like to preview the song with your family: https://youtu.be/ZWodU9YysMg

Giggle Day (Student Council)

On the last day of Term 3, the Student Council hosted a magnificent event called Giggle Day. This event invited our Wynnum Warriors and our staff to dress up in their most outrageous and exciting outfits to raise money for the Cancer Council to support families who have children who are going through and being treated for cancer. The community really did step it up this year with some stunning ensembles and really made us all smile with joy. We raised an eye-watering $577. We are grateful for having hosted this event and we look forward to what next year may bring.

The next P&C meeting will be held at 7pm on Thursday 20 October 2022 in the Outside School Hours Care building. Members will be emailed the Agenda and a Microsoft Teams link to the meeting the day before.

We welcome everyone to attend these meetings. If you would like to join, please email Wynnumss.pandc@gmail.com and we can send you membership forms.

Unfortunately, due to the weather forecast and a lack of volunteers, we had to postpone the Movie night. Hopefully we will be able to hold the event in early 2023.

Organising and running fun events for our school community requires people. Without support, these events can’t happen. Please consider whether you can assist in any way, now or into the future.

Tuckshop

Fridays are very busy days in the Tuckshop and volunteers are needed to assist getting lunches prepared and out on time. The busiest period is 10:30-11:30am, when lunches are being prepared and students are also wanting to purchase items over the counter. If you can volunteer, even for one hour, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact June @ wynnumss.tuckshop@gmail.com

Absentee Line

To notify the school of your child's absence please text your childs name and reason for absence to 0429 467 361.

School Bus Services

Just a reminder that we have a bus service that runs from Wynnum State School. Below is a link to both services.

https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/timetables/bus/T/815

https://jp.translink.com.au/plan-your-journey/timetables/bus/t/819/outbound/2022-05-31

A Go Card will need to be purchased to be able to utilise this Translink bus service. The following link lists retail outlets of where to purchase a Go card https://translink.com.au/tickets-and-fares/go-card/locations

Message from the Minister for Transport and Main roads

In a world first road safety initiative, new speed camera technology will soon target speeding drivers at selected school zones. This will involve speed cameras deployed in flashing school zone signs. School children are among our most vulnerable road users. This speed camera will act as a deterrent to drivers, with fines and demerit points to be issued to those who fail to slow down. It is imperative drivers reduce their speed to the signed 40km/h speed limit and be aware of activity by yong children on or near the road.

2022 School Term Dates

Term 4: Tuesday 4 October to Friday 9 December

Upcoming Prep 2023 Transition Days

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.

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Term 4 - Week 2 2022