Term 2 - 2023 Week 1 Newsletter

Principal's Message with Mr Ionn

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.   Our Wynnum Warriors have so much to look forward to this term, including Friday sport for Years 4-6 and Wynnum Idol to name just two of the activities.  

Acting Deputy Principal (Years 4-6)

As Ms Turvey has extended her leave for Term 2, I would like to welcome Miss Morgan Gibbons as acting Deputy Principal for Term 2.  Morgan comes to us from Capalaba State College. Morgan’s experiences both in Australia and England will be a powerful asset for the senior precinct and she joins us on Monday (Week 2). 

ANZAC Day

It is at this time of year where we gather to remember all Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping missions.  We do this at our school-based ceremony on Monday April 24 (Week 2), at 2pm in the auditorium.  As in the past, on Tuesday, we will be marching and laying a wreath at the Wynnum RSL on behalf of Wynnum State School community.  I look forward to joining staff and students for both occasions.  Please see details in the next section in regards to joining us for Tuesday's march.

Wynnum ANZAC March – 2023

It is with great pride that we inform you that Wynnum State School will be marching in the Wynnum ANZAC Day March on Tuesday, April 25. 

Interested students/families are to meet Mr Ionn at 9am at the corner of Bay Terrace and Edith Street wearing full school uniform including school hat, white socks and black shoes (no house shirts). The march will commence at 9:15am.

The march will conclude at the Wynnum RSL car park on Tingal Road. A wreath laying ceremony and service will then be held in the car park commencing at 9:45am, where our school captains will lay a wreath on behalf of the school.  Parents are welcome to collect their children at the conclusion of the march or to stay on for the ceremony. If staying on for the ceremony, your child is encouraged to bring a water bottle, as the carpark is exposed to the sun. 

Children will be released directly to a parent at the conclusion of the march or ceremony. If attending, please do not instruct your child to meet you at another point, as safety is important to us and this is a crowded community event. 

We hope to see our Wynnum Warriors there. 

The Importance of a School’s P&C – A call to support our P&C

Apologies for a large article here, but this is of utmost importance.

P&Cs have established themselves as an important component of the school community.

They assist principals, operate school services, raise funds, build collaborative school communities and establish great school cultures for the benefit of students. 

The P&C’s role is to:

• Promote the interests of the school and help facilitate its further improvement.
• Foster community interest in education and encourage parent involvement in their child’s education.
• Encourage closer cooperation between parents, other members of the community, staff and students to maximise learning outcomes for students.
• May fundraise for the school and assist in providing financial or other resources or services to benefit students.
• Provide fair and balanced advice and recommendations about issues relating to the students of the school, and the general operation and management of the school.
• Contribute to a positive school culture by working with the school community to manage conflicts and promote the Parent and Community Code of Conduct.

Our P&C has done all that and more.  In terms of contribution to resourcing, the P&C has picked up where our systemic allocations end in terms of replacement of laptops, the funding of the new wellbeing measures (wellbeing journals), supporting our great start initiative of Sounds Write in Prep to Year 2 (contributions to decodable readers), as well as many infrastructure projects. 

The connection to building positive relationships has been clear, with great school events such as the Colour Run.  But they do so much more!

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be taking place shortly, and not only are we seeking new members to assist in this great work, but it is fair to say that there will be new opportunities for members to consider some of the executive roles and play an important role in shaping our great school. Our wonderful long-serving members are coming to a time where their own children have moved on to the next phase of learning or other commitments have overtaken their previous commitments.  I understand when this happens and am so appreciative of their commitments to the P&C.

I understand that parents are subject to all kinds of time pressures and constraints, and for prospective members, it can be more attractive to spend precious down-time on other family matters rather than attending meetings or assisting a fund-raising event.

However, one of the best assets a school and its students can have is an active and involved P&C. But this needs more than a handful of people.  I am encouraging all parents and citizens connected to our school to consider making the time and becoming active members.  

The consequences of a school this size not being able to confirm a P&C with executive positions is quite dire.  P&Cs in this instance are then dissolved, with all funds managed within the school.  Schools cannot apply for grants without a P&C and allocations for resourcing would have to be downgraded. 

Therefore, this is a call, especially for parents of children in the P-2 sector of the school to be active and play a role in this school’s future.

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

This week we had the local Library Historian visit our Year 2s to provide information on the Wynnum Wading Pool and the Wynnum Jetty.  These students are looking at the changes that have occurred over time.  They observed pictures of the dirt road that led into Wynnum, clothes they wore in the early 1900s, the opening ceremony of the Wading Pool and old pictures of the jetty.

This links to the Australian Curriculum as the Year 2 curriculum extends contexts for study beyond the personal to the community and to near and distant places that students are familiar with or aware of, exploring connections between the past and present and between people and places. Students examine remains of the past in their local area, coming to understand how connections have changed the lives of people over time and space and how their community values and preserves connections to the past.

Wynnum Wading Pool is a heritage-listed tidal pool on the foreshore of Moreton Bay at The Esplanade, Wynnum, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The shallow oval-shaped pool was built in 1932 by relief workers during the Great Depression and opened to the public in 1933. 

A HUGE thank you to our local Library that is a wealth of information about our local area.

Located at 145 Florence Street, Wynnum. 

Opening hours: Mon – Fri 9am – 6pm and Sat 9am – 4pm

Library Matters with Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

It is so important to keep alive the memory and stories of all our soldiers and what they went through.  Our library has collected many Anzac Day books written specifically with our young students in mind.  Some of these books and other artefacts are on display in the library as we lead up to one of the most historical dates in our country’s calendar.  The theme for this ANZAC Day is, Australia and the Vietnam War.

Some year levels commemorate this occasion by baking Anzac Day biscuits and learn about their history.  Other year levels are making poppies to learn about their symbolism.  3SL will be constructing knowledge about ANZAC Day through their inquiry-based learning of investigation and discovery with Mrs Colledge on Friday afternoons.  Thank you to our wonderful Preps, PCYC staff and some Year 3 classes who are making wreathes for our school service on Monday afternoon at 2pm in the auditorium, to remember those Australians who have served our country. 

Scholastic News…

Don’t forget the new catalogue issue no. 3 is now out for ordering your favourite Scholastic Books.  May the 4^th is the last day for orders through the Library or online.  And yes, for those waiting for the new Bad Guys release, Let the Games Begin! (Episode 17) this catalogue is for you!!!

Just keep reading…

Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

P-2 Science & Technology with Mrs Crowe

Year One Palaeontology teams 1CL,1HA,1LB,1PC and 1SC engaged in significant research and exploration for dinosaur fossils in the final week of Term One.  

An official dig site was previously identified within our school grounds from a ‘drone survey conducted by the ‘Science and Palaeontology Departments of Universities across Australia’. University professors then invited our WSS Year One scientists to conduct the exploratory dig! (Role play 😊) 

The Chief Palaeontology dig Supervisor (aka 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 the data from each team’s dig was recorded and sent back to the universities. Exciting and ground-breaking research for the teams of young scientists as you will see in the photos below! 

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Term Two will be a hands-on scientific study of Chemical Sciences in the Prep to Year Two 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

World Bee Day will be an exciting scientific event celebrated through BEE investigations at school on Friday 19^th May!

Term Two Digital Technology learning will focus on the correct use of digital cameras, learning how to save our images, and typing text, into Word documents and continued practice with laptops and Ipads.

Welcome back everyone!

Senior Science with Mrs Brooks

Welcome back for Term 2! This term students from Year 3 – 6 will be exploring Chemical Sciences. Throughout their units they will be curious, ask questions, observe and conduct experiments to discover more about the materials and world around them.

What will we be learning this term?

The Year 3 students will investigate how heat can affect materials and make them change from a solid to a liquid and from a liquid to a solid. Year 4 students will be exploring the materials around them, their properties and how these properties effect how we use them. For example, in clothing, wool is often used when we want something to keep us warm. The Year 5 students will be exploring the three common states of matter; solids, liquids and gases. Through experiments they will explore the properties of these three states at a particle level.  The Year 6 students will become Change Detectives this term, exploring different observable changes to materials. Such as melting, freezing, condensation, boiling, etc.

Just like last term, to spark curiosity at the beginning of every lesson, students will be shown an image that has been taken with a microscope. Through observations and connections with prior knowledge, students guess what the image might be. Can you guess what some of our recent images were?

QParents- Registration Guide

We have over 60% of our families now signed up on the QParents app. We understand that there are a few steps involved in initially setting up your account (see below), but the benefits of being able to manage student absences, fill out consent forms and make payments via QParents will be worth the effort. While we know there will be some families who are not able to or comfortable to sign up, we are motivating our students to encourage their family to sign up by running a raffle, with tickets for every student whose family signs up, and a pizza party for the class for the highest number of sign-ups. If you have any questions or issues with your signing-up process, please contact the front office. 

P & C News

School Facebook Page

Please visit the page via this link https://www.facebook.com/WynnumStateSchool  and click Like!

Absentee Line

To notify the school of your child's absence, please text your child's 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 

2023 School Term Dates

Community News