Every child, every day, learning to be their best Telephone: 3813 5222 Cnr Omar and Keogh Streets, WEST IPSWICH Q 4305 Facsimile: 3813 5200 Absences: absences@ipswwestss.eq.edu.au General Email: admin@ipswwestss.eq.edu.au Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ipswichwest Website: www.ipswwestss.eq.edu.au

26 April 2016

Newsletter

From The Principal High Standards for Learning - Parent-student-teacher partnerships Next week you are invited to attend parent-student-teacher meetings. These are a great opportunity to catch up with your child’s teacher to discuss his/her learning progress, with a special focus on literacy. At these meetings, you’ll receive your child’s literacy learning profile, and attendance and behaviour data. Please bring your child so he/she can also participate in the discussion. High Standards for Attendance

165 students out of 250 met our attendance standard of 95% last term! That is wonderful and a significant advancement on last year’s 127 students. Our overall Term 1 attendance of 94% this year has also increased from last year’s 93.7%. Well done, students, parents and staff! Reliable attendance = a fulfilling, good education and good work habits for the future. High Standards for Literacy - Year 5 and 6 Debating Congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 students debating students who participated in their first ever debate on Wednesday night last week - Adam, Brock, Kendra, Jessie, Stephanie and Toby - and our chairpeople - Eva and Shayne (also last minute timekeeper). The teams competed against West Moreton Anglican College with the topic that we should ban reality TV shows. They showed courage, resilience and intelligence with this challenging task. It’s not easy speaking to an audience of people, let alone thinking of arguments (rebuttal) on the spot. Debating builds valuable skills and confidence, and is well worth pursuing. I was a debater in high school and the skills I developed regularly help me in my work life. Participating in debating is part of our extension program that we have introduced this year to ensure that our students are extended to their full capabilities. A very big thank you to Mr Wilson who prepared the debaters and worked with the support team prior to the debate. Debates take time and effort to organise, so thank you, Mr Wilson, and Miss Horstman who covered Mr Wilson’s class during preparations. Thank you also to our parents and carers who, I’m sure, helped the students rehearse their debates, calmed their nerves, prepared their uniforms so they looked very smart, and got them to the debate on Wednesday night. We have a wonderful school community and the 16 supporters at the junior debate and 19 supporters at the senior debate is testimony to that. The students’ next debate is Wednesday, 4 May, and they are arguing against “That children should not have smart phones." Let us know your reasons for or against on our Facebook page to help them prepare their arguments and pre-empt the opposition’s. High Standards for Literacy and Numeracy - NAPLAN tests Our Year 3 and 5 students will be sitting the annual NAPLAN tests from Tuesday, 10 May to Thursday, 12 May. They assess literacy (reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy. These tests are a useful indicator for us about how our teaching and learning is going. They are not presented in a stressful way to students and are part of their regular school day. I really look forward to confirming that our literacy and numeracy progress is continuing. Preparing our Future Teachers A number of Pre-service Teachers will be joining us this term to learn from our teachers and apply what they’ve been learning at

university. Our teachers play an important role in preparing our future teachers.

Supporting our School Community

Thank you to Councillor Andrew Antoniolli and Ipswich City Council for significantly improving the Kennedy St entry to our school with concrete stairs. We are just waiting on hand rails to then reopen the Kennedy St entrance. Thank you also to Councillor Antoniolli and Mayor Paul Pisasale for kindly donating a book to help our students build their understanding of ANZAC Day. The senior leaders said they really enjoyed reading “Jim’s Letters” and it was a bit sad. The book will be available for borrowing from the library. Our School Community Supporting Us Thank you to the wonderful parents, carers, family members and community members who are helping in the garden, with kitchen skills, in the kitchen, at breakfast club, at uniform shop, at tuckshop and with the P&C. These services rely on the help of volunteers so thank you so much for lending a very important hand. Cate Whiting Principal

2015: 91.9% 2014: 89.7%

GENERAL SCHOOL & PREP SPECIFIC ENROLMENT INFORMATION SESSION

Will your child be eligible to enrol in Prep in 2017?

Do you know a family with a child starting Prep or looking for a new school for 2017?

Please come along to our information session on Monday 16 May at 6pm.

Enrol now at the office!

Year 4/5 Camp to Stanley River Environmental Education Centre (25-27 May) Parent/Carer Information Session will be held on Monday 9 May at 9.30am in Ms Barry‘s classroom. The camp promotes resilience through participation in activities including bushwalking, group challenges, problem solving situations and scientific discovery. Permission slips and payment ($80) due Wednesday 18 May. Year 5/6 Camp to Maroon Dam Outdoor Education Centre (8-10 June—Year 5 and 6-10 June—Year 6) Maroon OEC makes use of the natural and built environments to challenge students and encourage learning through experiences in bushwalking and camping, climbing and roping activities, aquatics, communal and social interaction, role plays and games, environmental and scientific discovery. Permission slips and payment ($80—Year 5 and $160—Year 6) due Friday 27 May.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY Mon 2 May Labour Day (Public Holiday) Wed 4 May 6-8pm Years 5 & 6 Debating at Ipswich Boys’

Grammar, Junior School Precinct 3-5 May Mother’s Day Stall—in the Courtyard Parent-Student-Teacher Meetings—in the Library Thu 5 May 8am Commonwealth Bank “Open Account” Day 10-12 May NAPLAN—Years 3 & 5 Literacy & Numeracy

Testing Fri 13 May Ipswich Show Day (Public Holiday) Mon 16 May Prep & General Information Session for New

Enrolments for 2017—6pm in the Library Tue 17 May 9.30am Fire Brigade Visit—Prep-Year 1 Wed 18 May 6-8pm Years 5 & 6 Debating at Ipswich Boys’

Grammar, Junior School Precinct 25-27 May Camp at Stanley River—Year 4/5 Wed 1 Jun 6-8pm Years 5 & 6 Debating at Ipswich Boys’

Grammar, Junior School Precinct 6-10 Jun Camp at Maroon Dam—Year 6 8-10 Jun Camp at Maroon Dam—Year 5 Fri 24 Jun School Sports Day Last day of Term 2 Recurring Events Assembly 8.45am in the Undercover Area Mondays—Years 3-6 Tuesdays—Prep-Year 2 Garden/Kitchen Skills 9.30am Mondays Student Tuckshop 11am Mondays—Whole school Uniform Shop 2.45-3.15pm Mondays and Tuesdays Breakfast Club 8.00am Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Cooking Classes 1.30pm Thursdays—Years 4 & 4/5 who opted in Tuckshop Fridays Interschool Sport Fridays—Year 5/6

Craft Supplies Needed!

Prep and Prep/1/2 will be making a wind ornament this term. It would be great if parents and carers could bring in old CDs, wool, plastic straws, string, ribbon, lids from jam or vegemite jars, and feathers.

Also, old CDs are needed to complete a project for the junior playground. Please see Mrs Akse or Mrs Weber with your donations. Thank you!

Breakfast Club

Just a reminder we are still looking for

volunteers to help with the Breakfast

Club, which runs on Mondays,

Wednesdays and Fridays from 8am.

P&C News

Mother’s Day Stall: Pre-ordering for Mother's Day is now open. Stock is selling fast, get your orders in to avoid disappointment. Stall will be open (stock permitting) on Tuesday 3 May at 8-8.30am and 2.45-3.15pm, Wednesday 4 May at 9-10.30am (students will visit with their classes at this time), and Thursday 5 May at 8-8.30am and 2.45-3.15pm.

School Banking: Thank you to all those students who have registered their interest in school banking. The Commonwealth Bank will be holding an "Open Account" Day from 8am on Thursday 5 May.

STUDENTS OF THE WEEK & MILESTONE ACHIEVERS Prep Darion, Daneka, Logan P/1 Beau, Kiarra, Daymen, Jaydon, Eva 3 Amelia 4 Samaya, Skye, Xayden, Mason, Imogen, Kitana,

Lydia, Logan, Kai, Tapu, Connor 4/5 Jude, Jackie, Shakira, Toby, Joshua, Ciara,

Aquinnah, Melissa VERY GOOD ATTENDANCE (95%+) Prep, 4, 5/6J, 5/6T 100% ATTENDANCE ON AT LEAST ONE DAY Prep, 2, 2/3, 4, 5/6J, 5/6T

Congratulations and thank you for helping our school

Deafness

Foundation 2016

Butterfly Badge Appeal

The Deafness Foundation designs and

sells Butterfly Badges to raise public

awareness and funds to support the

Deaf and hearing impaired community.

The butterfly is the emblem of the

Deafness Foundation because butterflies, too, are deaf and

are very beautiful and much loved by the community. The

badges are most attractive and have proven to be very

popular and easy to sell.

The badges sell for just $2. There is a choice of five colour

combinations and the designs change each year. Please

buy a badge from Chloe-Ann (5/6T) on Monday, Tuesday

or Fridays for the duration of Term 2. All proceeds will go

to the Deafness Foundation.

Community Noticeboard

The school noticeboard is located on the main kitchen block

wall and has some great community information including,

local events, helpful initiatives for families plus much more.

There is also a brochure holder with flyers so please help

yourself!

Foodbank Qld

Are there really

hungry people in Queensland?

Yes there are, but hunger is largely a

hidden social problem and many

victims suffer in silence. Each year 400,000

Queenslanders experience food insecurity – around half

of them are children. That’s one in every ten people.

Food Drives are a concrete demonstration of willingness

to help feed the needy. They help participants move

from acknowledging hunger in the community to

actually doing something about it and this is where our

school comes into play.

Over the next few weeks, you will see a cardboard box

either inside or on the veranda of the school office.

Over a three week period, we kindly ask you to

consider donating non-perishable food items to this

great cause. As the box fills, our dedicated team of

students will replace it with an empty one. After the

three week period is finished, Foodbank Qld. will collect

the goods and distribute them to their listed charities.

It’s a great way to give back to our community and

those in need. Some examples of food may be tinned

tuna, beans, spaghetti, soup, packets of pasta. As long

as it’s not dairy, bakery items, meats etc.

Thanking you in advance for your kind support.

ANZAC DAY Proceeds from the sale of Anzac biscuits amounted to $40 and this was donated to the Ipswich RSL Sub Branch. Thank you for your generous support!

From Carlotta Graham Community Support Worker