Wynnum State School eNewsletter

Message from our Principal Mr Fehlhaber

Book Week and Science Week Celebrations

It has been such a pleasure to be part of two major celebrations of education at Wynnum State School in recent weeks.

In this week’s newsletter we will showcase our Book Week activities, which were a display of our students’ and families’ love of books reading and culture. Our whole school parade was a chance for students and parents to showcase their favourite characters. We would like to particularly thank Mrs Sutton and our ‘book worm’ year 6 leaders for leading our parade and celebrating each of our year levels, as well as the winners of the Book Week prizes.

Many thanks to Mrs Crowe and Mrs Brooks for their organisation of our 2025 National Science Week activities. The theme for this was Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language. Our students were engaged in activities that invited them to delve into the mysteries of the Universe by exploring the fundamental languages of nature, including mathematics and the groundbreaking field of quantum science. It was wonderful to see students using their breaks to enjoy the range of activities offered, as well as watching their curiosity flourish.

The importance of school attendance

School absenteeism can impact significantly on students' learning and wellbeing. At Wynnum State School we take the issue of school attendance seriously. Dr Doug Fisher describes chronic absenteeism as missing more than 10% of the school year.

Research shows that in Queensland, higher student attendance is associated, on average, with higher student achievement. Additionally, attending school every day helps children to build social and emotional skills such as communication, teamwork and resilience.

Regular school attendance is essential, as classrooms provide students with opportunities to learn both academic and social and emotional skills. Dr Fisher suggests that it is obvious that missing school has a negative impact on learning outcomes. He also argues that missing school does more than impact academic development; it also impacts social and emotional development. When students are absent from schools, they miss out on the guidance and support of caring adults, reducing the chance to form social connections and receive wellbeing supports.

When students are ill, they should stay home. And one reason a percentage of students miss school is because they are sick. While illness is a valid reason for students to miss school, it only accounts for a portion of absences. However, some students may report not feeling well when actually other things beyond their control are prompting the absence, such as when parents call in sick, when they lack transportation or need older children to supervise younger children. In other words, some percentage of student absence is not actual illness, but it’s difficult to uncover the actual numbers. If you are concerned about your child’s absences, please contact the school for support.

PBL Focus Week 7&8

Coming up...

Library Matters with Mrs. Sutton and the Library Team

Book Week 2025: A Celebration of Stories, Costumes & Creativity!

What an incredible celebration of imagination and reading we had during Book Week 2025, Book an Adventure! The school came alive with colour, excitement, and storytelling magic as students and staff dressed up to honour their favourite characters and stories.

A huge shoutout to our fabulous Book Week hosts, Year 6 students, Zoe and Keeyo, our very own bookworms, who did an outstanding job introducing each year level during the Book Week Parade. With confidence and charm, they guided us through a sea of colourful costumes, creative characters, and unforgettable moments. From classic storybook heroes to wild and wonderful fantasy figures, every student brought their character to life with flair. We saw everything from Little Red Riding Hoods, Harry Potters, Hermoine’s and Alice’s, Where’s Wally, Dorothy’s from the Wizard of Oz, Paddington Bears, Wizards to Wild Things roaming our school grounds! Well done, Zoe and Keeyo—you were amazing!

A very big thank you to our wonderful parents and carers for all your support in helping your children prepare their incredible costumes and for coming along to cheer them on at the Parade. Your enthusiasm made the morning even more special for everyone involved. And to those parents from ‘Quiz Night’ who made some amazing props, thank you for letting us install some of them in our library for all to enjoy.

I also want to congratulate all our Brilliant Bookworm award readers from every class who have borrowed and read the most library books so far this year! Your love for reading is inspiring, and we can’t wait to see how many more books you'll explore in the months to come.

A few more Thank You’s…To our teachers and staff, each year you seem to take things up a notch. Your costumes were next level.

To Ms Sellars, thank you so much for all the incredible effort you put into helping me create the magical space of our library for Book Week. It’s always a fun-filled time, and this year was no exception – full of energy, creativity, and dare I say, papier mache!!! To Mrs Lakeman, Mr Henville, Mrs Brookes, Mr Blair and Ms Barnes who helped with activities, decorated spaces, or supported behind the scenes – your enthusiasm and teamwork truly brought the week to life.

We hope you enjoy some of the fabulous photos from the Book Week Parade—a perfect reminder of a week full of laughter, learning, and the joy of reading.

Happy Book Week, everyone! Keep turning those pages

P-3 Science with Mrs Crowe

Wynnum Warriors absolutely LOVE science! National Science Week was a big hit with young scientists from all year levels. On Tuesday, at our “Wynnum Warrior Investigation Day” our enthusiastic young scientists engaged in a variety of inspiring and challenging investigations to “Decode our Universe” (the theme for 2025). This year our Student Councillors organised some of the investigations, created all the posters, helped with the set up and pack down and ran their station during the play breaks. A very big THANKYOU for the excellent effort and involvement throughout the whole day from our awesome student councillors!

The universe, including our world, is full of so many hidden codes, patterns and forces. The students were very keen to find them and test them out through ‘Microscopic Mysteries’, ‘Rainbow Chasing’, ‘Tornado Bottles’, ‘Fruit Clocks’, ‘Human Body Models’, ‘Light Box with Optical Illusions and X-rays’, and ‘Leaf Detectives’ using magnifying glasses with a variety of leaves to compare patterns and shapes. Classes visited throughout the day. Interested students joined in again at both lunch play breaks for an excellent day celebrating science! Enjoy these photos!

Electrical Safety Fortnight happens in weeks nine and ten this term. Junior Science classes will learn about how to be safe around electricity using the “Safety Heroes Program” developed for schools by Ergon Energy. Meet our ‘Safety Heroes’ in the photos! https://www.ergon.com.au/network/safety/kids-safety/school-education-program

Sports Report with Mr Blair

The following students recently competed at the district athletics carnival: Sienna S, Chloe G, Sienna Sc, Cooper O, Memphis W, Keeyo S, Ari H, Michael LW, Lena W, Lennox C and Riley T.

Congratulations to all students who competed, you all did the school proud. Special mention goes to Cooper O who qualified to compete in the long jump and 800m in the district team. Thanks to Jemima Lee for the photos.

The girl's futsal team recently competed in the state championships. In a very tough competition, the girls finished 9^th out of 14 teams in the state. This was an excellent effort for the school’s first entry into this competition and will invigorate future students in competitions in the sport of futsal. A big thank you to teachers Karly Small and Shannon Cousins for all their work in making this opportunity possible for the girls.

In other sporting news some standout individual achievements occurred: Evie D was selected earlier in the year into the Met East Team for AFL. Congratulations to Evie.

Memphis W was selected into the Met east touch team earlier in the term. Congratulations to Memphis.

Henry D was recently selected into the U14 basketball state championships. Congratulations Henry.

Tawhirikura P made it into the Redlands Academy for Netball. Congratulations Tawhirikura.

Qylan T won his Junior State Cup for touch football. Congratulations to Qylan.

Some Wynnum Warriors competed in the Yarrabilba Cup for touch football. The boys WON the competition, and this is the 3^rd year in a row Wynnum State School have won the Yarrabilba cup.

In other touch football news: in the South Queensland All Schools carnival on the gold coast- the girls team came 2^nd and lost in the final in a close game 6 points to 4. Congratulations to the girls for this great effort.

A big thank you to Beau Singleton for his work making this opportunity possible for our students.

Look at this shot from Tyreece S during wellbeing afternoons. With a golf club, Tyreece hit close to the centre of the target from 15 metres away! Great shot!!

Year 5 & 6 Shine at Inaugural Metropolitan East Netball Shield

On Wednesday, 14 August, two Year 5 and 6 teams proudly represented our school at the very first Metropolitan East Netball Shield. It was an exciting day filled with energy, determination, and plenty of school spirit!

For some of our students, this was one of their first times playing in a netball competition, improving with every game. Throughout the day, the teams worked hard on their skills, encouraged each other, and displayed fantastic teamwork. They cheered one another on, stayed positive, and truly embodied what it means to be Wynnum Warriors, never giving up, no matter the challenge. Although we didn’t place this time, we are incredibly proud of our students for giving it their all and showing such resilience and sportsmanship.

A huge thank you goes to our amazing ex-students from WSHS, Ciena and Mackenzie, who volunteered their time to umpire for the entire day. Their support and expertise were invaluable, and the event would not have been possible without them! Well done to everyone involved, what a brilliant start to this new competition!

Karyn McGowan & Shanelle Corten

Prep Paradise Country Excursion

On Friday 15 August the Prep students went on an exciting excursion to Paradise Country at the Gold Coast. Students experienced fun activities such as sheep herding, boomerang throwing, tractor rides, watched educational shows and whip cracking where our own Miss Cox was brave and assisted the rangers. We saw many animals including sheep, a sheep dog, donkeys, a cow, llamas, goats, kangaroos, koalas, meerkats, marmosets, emus, ducks, geese, Tasmanian devils and more. Students even got to pat a snake!! This excursion supported our learning about farms, their features and importance. A great day was had by all, and wonderful memories were made. Thank you to the parent volunteers who assisted us on the day.

Wynnum Early Childhood Development Program (ECDP) is a specialised support program based at Wynnum State School, dedicated to assisting children aged three to five with disabilities.

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to the Aguilera family and the team at J&D Quality Smash Repairs in Murarrie for their generous donation and ongoing support. Thanks to their kindness, we were able to refresh our classroom with beautiful new furniture. The children absolutely love their updated home corner and send their sincere gratitude to J&D Quality Smash Repairs for helping make their learning environment even more welcoming and fun.

CIRCLE OF SECURITY PARENTING (COSP™) PROGRAM – TERM 3, 2025

As parents do you ever struggle with managing challenging behaviour, big emotions and trying to figure out what your child really needs? Do you ask yourself are positive or negative reinforcements, rewards, punishments or consequences actually working? Or do you ever feel overwhelmed, judged and guilty for feeling not good enough?

We are excited to offer parents and caregivers a free opportunity to join the Circle of Security Parenting (COSP™) Program – a supportive and practical course designed to strengthen your relationship with your child.

This internationally acclaimed program helps parents better understand their child’s emotional needs, manage challenging behaviours, and build secure, healthy connections. Whether you're parenting toddlers or teens, the Circle of Security provides tools that make a lasting difference.

Spaces are limited – please contact your child/s class teacher to register your interest. Once you have registered someone from our well-being team will be in contact with you and provide more details.

Let’s work together to support stronger families and confident, connected kids!

P&C News

🧑‍💼🧢🏌️ FATHERS DAY STALL 🎣🧦👷

As Father's Day is almost upon us, the P&C have been working closely with the Student Council to prepare gifts for the special men in your family. Come along and treat your father figure a heartwarming gift.
Stalls will be open from 8 am - 8.45 am, cash and card accepted!

Tuesday 2nd of September - Prep & Year 1 Prep eating area.

Wednesday 3rd of September - Grades 2 & 3 Grade 2 playground.

Thursday 4th of September - Grades 4, 5 & 6 Rear gate area.

10% of profits is donated to the Student Council gift to the school.

To make it all happen, we need wonderful volunteers like you! 💙 Helping out is loads of fun – you’ll get to see the kids’ excitement as they carefully pick their gifts, share a laugh with other parents, and be part of the school community spirit.

👉 Sign up here: https://forms.gle/6hpBFBfFrUBrj45a7

Let’s make this year’s Father’s Day Stall extra special for our kids – we can’t do it without you!

🪙♻️🪙 CONTAINERS FOR CHANGE 🪙♻️🪙

You can continue to support the Student Council's efforts by:

- Bringing in all your 10c recycling to the school

- Using the Wynnum State School P&C Member Number C10062108 when you drop off your recycling at a Containers for Change depot.

Our next meeting is Thursday 16 October at Wynnum Bowls Club and as always everyone is welcome.

Afterschool Activities

From our PCYC

Qparents

Have you downloaded the Qparents app?

QParents is a secure, online portal that has been created to provide parents/carers of Queensland state school students with 24-hour access to their child's information.

Qparents allows you to securely access information about your child and communicate directly with your child's school.

Features of Qparents:

attendance details
report cards
invoices
payment history
excursion permissions

Currently we have roughly 80 percent of parents/carers on Qparents. If you haven’t already made an account with Qparents, new invitation codes have been emailed home this week.

For any additional questions, feel free to contact the school office at 3893 5111 or visit our administrative team in person, who will be happy to assist you with the setup.

School Facebook Page

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

School Bus Services

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

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Term 3 - 2025 Week 7 Newsletter