Wynnum State School eNewsletter

Principal's Message

The current weather may be good for the plants, dams and the occasional duck, but is has caused issues with some of our end of year events. It was disappointing to scratch the school disco. Please keep a lookout out for school communications regarding the rescheduling of our junior swimming carnival.

It has been pleasing to see the reactions of students engaging in the ‘Step-Up’ afternoons, meeting their teachers and classmates for 2022. The reactions of students have reinforced to us the importance for students to go into the break having knowledge about what is to occur, and the time and space to process this for a bright beginning to next year.

Yarning Circle News

On 19 November, I was pleased to be invited to the Kindy Day at the Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre. At this occasion, I was informed that as well as Welcoming to Country, the Elders in Council members Uncle Norm Enoch, Aunty Merle Cashman and Aunty Becky Thompson were also there to officially open our shared yarning circle. I invited Sue Romeril (who accompanied students at the recent Minjerribah Jarjums) to observe this event and to share the news with students that day. The opening of our yarning circle is great news, as it now welcomes parents to a yarn to discuss our approach in 2022. I am keen to create a ground-up group to best promote First Nations perspectives, as well as act as our consultative group in all aspects to respect and understand our First Nations culture, through the beginnings of Wynnum Barjarra (footprints in Jandai language). I look forward to bringing people together, through the use of the yarning circle, in order to undertake truth telling and gaining consensus on this important work in 2022.

Left to Right: Sue Romeril, Mark Ionn, Aunty Becky Thompson, Aunty Merle Cashman, Uncle Norm Enoch and Di Aylward (Principal of MBEEC).

Aunty Becky and Uncle Norm during the ceremony to open the yarning circle.

Preps 2022

It was with great pleasure to welcome over 100 Prep students to our Orientation Days last week. We have many existing families with young ones starting Prep and also many new families. Our little warriors had an absolute ball visiting the school. With great information presented at these sessions, families can all feel very confident about how ready they are for next year. See you soon little warriors, your wait to get to big school is nearly over.

Staffing

Teachers have been preparing for 2022 in Term 4 planning days and also ready to re-engage in student free days in Term 1 2022 for what promises to be a great year – a year to seek Clarity, Knowledge and Engagement for all learners

With new beginnings also comes some farewells and acknowledge of service to this school.

I would like to acknowledge the following staff who will be leaving our school at the end of the year:

Connie Richards - transferred to Mango Hill S.S.
Eliza Freshwater – Palm Beach S.S.
Kirsten Cooper-Head – Pallara S.S.
Michelle Davis - maternity leave
Sarah Round (Guidance Officer) – Brisbane School of Distance Education

They have all contributed a wealth of talent, knowledge and dedication to Wynnum State School. While they will be incredibly missed here, they will definitely add value to their future communities. We wish them all the very best.

We formally welcome:

Returning from maternity leave: Jayde Allingham; Larissa Billsborough; Christine Woods

Kirsten La Serve – Wondall Heights S.S
Marie Carter – Manly West S.S.
Katrina Shepherd – well known to W.S.S.
Brad Legge - transferred teacher from Seville Road State School to become our Years 4-6 Science Teacher, a newly formed position to enhance our already existing P-3 Science provision.
Amanda Kelleher (Guidance Officer) – North Coast Region
Shane Lacey - Gumdale S.S.

Gifts

Each year the Department reminds us about our obligations related to the receiving of gifts at Christmas. While it is never an expectation, I know some families like to offer a gift to teachers as a thank you for the year. Please be mindful that EQ staff are not allowed to receive items that can be converted to cash (e.g. scratchies) and must declare any gift over the amount of $150 (e.g. the whole class contributes a class gift).

I look forward to my final summary for the year in next week’s special edition newsletter to wrap up 2021. It is with great excitement that I look forward to being involved in next week's Year 6 Farewell and end of year ceremonies.

Until next week,

Mark

Habit of Mind and Loving Literature with Ms Connell

As we finish the school year, we focus not on one particular Habit but on the Five Dimensions of Growth, which represent the ways in which we can improve our skills in the Habits of Mind. This is very timely as Report Cards head home on Wednesday of Week 10 and we talk to our students about the growth they have experienced this year and the growth that will happen in 2022!

Meaning: This is the WHAT of the Habit of Mind. You develop in the dimension of Meaning by increasing the richness, complexity and completeness of your understanding of what the Habit of Mind means.

Capacity. This is the HOW of the Habit of Mind. This dimension is developed by adding and refining strategies to a student’s repertoire. It relates to becoming more skilled and able to engage in the Habit of Mind.

Alertness. This dimension relates to the WHEN of the Habit of Mind. Each Habit of Mind is only needful in certain contexts. Learning to become more attuned to the signals, cues and indicators in the environment that alert us to the opportunity to engage in the Habit of Mind represents growth in this dimension.

Value. This dimension is a reflection of the importance a person places on a Habit of Mind. By learning to recognise the rewards that come from engaging effectively in a Habit of Mind we come to value it more highly.

Commitment. This dimension is about your personal commitment to the Habits of Mind and your ability to engage in this growth. It is reflected in an increasing ability to be self-assessing, self-directing and self-modifying in your evaluation and growth of the Habit of Mind.

For an online book to bring the Dimensions to life, the link below will take you to thousands of books available via the Brisbane City Council Summer Reading program. In this final newsletter message for 2020, I wish all our wonderful Wynnum Warriors and families hours of Summer reading enjoyment!

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/things-to-see-and-do/council-venues-and-precincts/libraries/library-programs/summer-reading

Literacy Update with Ms O'Donoghue

Phonics instruction teaches the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. Children's reading development is dependent on their understanding of the alphabetic principle — the idea that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. "Decoding" is the act of sounding out words using phonics.

As a parent of a beginning reader, it's important to support your child's reading efforts in a positive way and help them along the reading path. Here's a little information about beginning readers, and a few pointers to keep in mind.

A beginning reader:

can name the letters in the alphabet and can tell you many of the letter sounds
understands the concept of a "word"
is beginning to recognize a few words within text or from a list
is beginning to represent the first and maybe last sound of a word when trying to spell

When reading with a beginning reader:

Model finger-point reading. That means to follow the words with your finger from left to right as you read them. Your beginning reader will do the same thing for a while until they become confident in recognising words.
Practice patience! Beginning readers may read slowly. Give your child time to decode the words, and avoid jumping in too quickly.
Encourage attention to letters and sounds. If your child is stuck on a word, prompt them to look at the first letter of the word and make the letter's sound. Of course, only do this for words that can be sounded out! If the word can't be sounded out, just supply the word for them.
Talk about the story. When your child is finished with a book, be sure to talk about what happened in the story, and maybe re-read favourite parts.
Let them know how proud you are! By sharing a book with a child, you're sharing the joys and excitement of reading.

Library Buzz with Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

Hot off the press! Read all about it! Annabel Jackson, our Year 6 student is an author. In March this year, The Team at Saci Books, who publish children's books created, illustrated or inspired by children, ran a competition, open to children and teenagers from 4 years to 17 years old.

The Task – How has 2020 been for you? Do you have a story to tell about this invisible baddie that took over the world, aka coronavirus? Do you think this lockdown and quarantine was really all that bad? What did you do during this year?

Tell us in any written format that you want: a song, a comic strip, a poem, a short story, a paragraph and illustrate if you feel like it.

The competition has resulted in a wonderful book titled, Who Has the Key to Lockdown and Annabel was successful in being one of the 32 children from around the world chosen to have her story called, ONE SEED published! Annabel Jackson is only 11 years old and shared with the Library Team her love of reading, from Harry Potter to stories by Neil Shusterman. She has always had a love for writing, and was fortunate to attend the Brisbane Writer’s Workshop this year which further propelled her into writing stories and has and we think a great future in developing her author skills. Annabel presented the Library with a copy of this very special book. Thank you, Annabel. A magnificent Wynnum Wow!

For the library team, these last eight days are the busiest times on the calendar year, accounting for all books and resources throughout the whole school. Students were given a number of verbal reminders to return books by the 26 November. Last week, overdue notes were sent home. Thank you to parents who have acknowledged these letters with a note or phone call.

This week all students still with outstanding books will be invited to the library to discuss the prompt return of their books and to write a note home with details of missing book/s in order to help with the search! Please help your children in their search and consider organising a designated spot where precious library books can be stored each week. Replacement payments will follow for those books still unaccounted for.

To the Wynnum Warriors in our Library/Science Hub, Ms Sellars, Mrs Lakeman, Mrs Schrodter, Mrs Crowe and IT techs, Mr Saker and Mr Stewart, thank you for ensuring the facilities, equipment, our book collection and spaces are maintained and presented as a vibrant learning space for our students and families to work, create, think and relax.

PS Don’t forget to head down to our own Wynnum Library over the summer break and immerse yourself in their fantastic holiday program. Encourage your family to love reading and continue their literacy skills development during the summer holidays. Reading is habit forming! Enjoy the next six glorious weeks of summer…

Mrs Sutton and the Library Team

P-3 Science News with Mrs Crowe

Can you believe we are in the last weeks of this school year? Are you wondering…Where did this year go? Physics explains everything!
The chronological passage of the hours, days, and years on clocks and calendars is a steady, measurable phenomenon. However, our perception of time shifts constantly, depending on the activities we’re engaged in, our age, and even how much rest we get. Time is happening in the mind’s eye. It is related to the number of mental images the brain encounters and organizes and the state of our brains as we age. When we get older, the rate at which changes in mental images are perceived decreases because of several transforming physical features, including vision, brain complexity, and later in life, degradation of the pathways that transmit information. And this shift in image processing leads to the sense of time speeding up.
So, when you are young and experiencing lots of new stimuli—everything is new—time actually seems to be passing more slowly. As you get older, the production of mental images slows, giving the sense that time passes more rapidly.
Time seemed to stand still recently for our Year Two physicists who were presented with a challenge to invent a toy that used either a ‘Push or Pull’ force. Problems were posed, and solved, as each scientist persisted to design a machine using recycled materials. See their innovative inventions below!
Our Prep scientists actually believed time stood still this week! They all became fully engaged in the Prep STEM Immersion Day at Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre on Tuesday 30th November! The rain did not dampen any spirits as each Prep child walked happily through the muddy puddles to the MBEEC Centre at the back of our school grounds.
Prep scientists investigated the following rotational explorations:
1. Minibeasts
2. Microscope fascinations
3. Pond exploration and water bugs
The use of authentic scientific tools, such as microscopes, magnifying glasses, insect scoops and pipettes, required persistence and working interdependently during exploration of the living environment at the MBEEC centre.

Discovery of sedge frogs, moths, stick insects, and beetles of all colours, in the pond and trees, followed by observing water mites, fish fry, water striders and dragonfly larva in the mini-ponds prompted many spontaneous expressions of wonderment and awe!
So many inquiry questions from every group of environmental scientists continued throughout the day! Enjoy the photos below!

I am in absolute ‘Wonderment and Awe’ at the depth of interest, engagement and knowledge shared by our Wynnum Warriors throughout P-3 Science lessons each week and in whole school Science events each year. I am truly looking forward to yet another amazing year of Science in 2022! Happy Holidays everyone!

On Monday our Senior Swimming carnival saw hundreds of students swimming their best efforts in competition for Individual and house points. The winning house was Mirrigimpa!!

Our best individual results for Age Champion events were:

9yrs Boys – Tuki M. and Finley B. (Tie)

9yrs Girl – Mackenzie G

10yrs Boys – Mitchell A

10yrs Girls – Ciena W

11yrs Boys – Alex B

11yrs Girl – Laiva M

12yrs Boys – Jacob S

12yrs Girls – Emily P

Overall Boys – Alex B

Overall Girls – Ciena W and Emily P (Tie)

Well done to all Age Champions and all those students who participated and gave it their all. Thanks also to all of our volunteers and staff who made for such a successful 2021 Senior Swimming Carnival!!

The Student Council hosted their annual fundraiser last week and they decided to sell Cupcakes. Even though during the first week of ordering we didn’t sell many, there was a huge surge in sales towards the end of our ordering period. We sold a staggering 300 cupcakes and the profit raised goes straight towards the Gift to the School for 2021. We are grateful for the support of the cafeteria staff for helping us store and sell the cupcakes on the day and for Top Pastries and Pies Bakery on Glenora Rd for baking the goods. We look forward to revealing the gift to the school community at the Celebration Ceremony on 9 December.

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.

P&C News

Thank you from the P&C Executive Team

Firstly, thank you for your understanding for the sad, but hard decision of cancelling our school disco. We know that our students had looked forward to a night of dancing and fun with their friends, but unfortunately the weather did not allow us to proceed with the event. We regret that the cancellation has most probably caused disappointment, but we looked forward to another disco in the next year.

Secondly, the Executive Team would like to thank you for your support for the P&C over this school year. All our fundraising events and the Tuckshop would not be possible without you volunteering, helping, and supporting us. It is all of you who help make our school a great place for our students.

The P&C Executive Team would like to wish you a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break.