4 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

Date Claimers

Timetable for Maleny State School Swimming Program for weeks 2-9, 2020

Principal’s Report

Welcome Back

It has been an amazing smooth start to the year with a very positive buzz across the school. It was wonderful to catch up with families at the Welcome Banquet last week and we are all looking forward to our Swimming Carnival this Wednesday.

Maleny SS School Values

• High Expectations
• A Supportive Learning Culture
• Being a Reflective Life Long Learner

I congratulate all of our staff who have worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks in creating a supportive learning environment for all students and setting High Expectations by embedding school / classroom rules and routines.

Teachers will be setting individual academic goals with students, particularly in WRITING (specifically spelling), our school’s focus (Spelling in Reading and Writing) for 2020 teaching students skills of how to be a learner for life.

A special welcome to our new Preppies and families that have commenced their first year at Maleny State School. Please ensure you assist us to enact our school values by actively supporting all students and families especially those new to Maleny.

Prep Parents Workshop – “Helping your Child with Reading and Writing at Home!”

Prep parents and other interested parents are invited to attend a workshop this Thursday, 6 February at 9:00am to look at how Prep students learn to read, how we teach them to read at school and how parents can best support their children at home. Paula Heiniger our Deputy Principal will be presenting this workshop. Please contact Paula if you would like any further information.

Maleny State School Volunteer’s Induction

Maleny State School has always had a significant number of Volunteers who assist our staff and students with teaching and learning. We greatly appreciate the support and assistance provided by our amazing Volunteers.

We would like to invite anyone interested in volunteering at Maleny State School in 2020 to a “Volunteer’s Induction and Morning Tea”. The volunteers program includes people working in classrooms, assisting with supervising during swimming lessons, assisting in the Innovation Centre and many other roles you may be interested in.

When: Thursday, 13 February at 9:30am
Where: The meeting room of the Innovation Centre.
What: The induction session will cover the Mandatory Training requirements and the Student Protection Training.

If you are unavailable to attend this session and would still like to Volunteer at the school we can provide you with the necessary policy information to read over and sign. The documentation is required to be completed prior to commencing volunteering.

If you have any queries please contact Maleny State School on 5499 8333.

Swimming Carnival (9yrs-12yrs) –

POSTPONED UNTIL 12 FEBRUARY 2020

Our 2020 Swimming Carnival will be held this Wednesday, 5 February commencing at 9:00 am. Students should ensure they wear their Sports House shirts to promote their team. Please reinforce with your children the importance of reapplying sunscreen throughout the day and drinking lots of water before they leave home. We welcome parents to be a part of this day and encourage all children to participate. If you would like to assist as a timekeeper please see Mr Turner or contact the office. Please note only those Year 3 students turning 9 this year will participate in the carnival. The District Swimming Carnival will be held at Beerwah on Wednesday, 19 February. Students selected for the District Swimming Carnival will be given relevant information this Wednesday.

Welcome Back Banquet

This was a great event last Thursday afternoon. A huge thank you to our P&C who provided the sausages free of charge. It was great to see parents and staff mingle and families catch up and meet new families. Children certainly loved the freedom of games on the oval and playground. Feedback received was that the earlier timeslot straight after school was more convenient. Thank you to all staff for being in attendance and to Kylie for her coordination along with Mandy and Brent for their preparation and excellent BBQ skills.

P&C Meeting

Our first meeting for the year will be held on Wednesday, 12 February at 6:30pm in the Innovation Centre (library). Please join us, new faces are always welcome.

Reminder: Slow down in 40km/h school zones

Police across the Sunshine Coast District are urging all motorists to take extra care, slow down and be on the lookout for pedestrians near schools. The school zone speed limit is designed to ensure motorists have a greater chance to react if something unexpected happens.

Children can be impulsive, unpredictable and inexperienced, which is why motorists need to exercise caution in the vicinity of a school.

Speeding through school zones greatly increases the risk to pedestrians as the faster a vehicle is travelling, the longer it takes to stop and the greater the severity of impact.

For further information on school zones, visit the link below.

Parent Teacher Interviews Yr 1- Yr 6

Each year we have 2 formal occasions where parents sit one on one with their child’s teacher and discuss their child and the progress they are making. Please go on line and book your time slot. If you do not have internet access please call the office and we will be able to assist you.

Interview One (Yrs 1-6)

The first opportunity will be in Week Four Term One to open communication channels between teachers and parents and allow a positive relationship to be developed. On this occasion parents will do the majority of the talking informing the teacher about your child and how they learn best (e.g. what they are good at, interests, motivators, special needs or considerations, medical issues, social abilities, academic challenges, behaviour). Teachers will be able to briefly communicate how your child is settling in and inform you if there are any early concerns noted. Prep parents have their parent teacher interviews in weeks 1 and 2 of Term 1.

Interview Two

These interviews (Prep – Yr 6) will be held late in Term 2. On this occasion teachers will do the majority of talking giving parents more detailed and explicit information around how your child is progressing academically, behaviourally and socially at school. You will also receive your child’s Semester One Report around this time.

Please note parents are welcome to meet with your child’s teacher at any stage throughout the year. Please ensure you make an appointment with the teacher to enable this to be a productive meeting.

Email - Ensure you have your teacher’s email address and they have yours to further facilitate parent / teacher communication.

SWPBS (School Wide Positive Behaviour Support)

This week’s Rule: Be Respectful
Our Buzz Phrase: First Time Every Time (parents love this one, use it at home to reward behaviour when it occurs and you will see more of the desired behaviour displayed.)

Our school is a Positive Behaviour Support School. This means we teach our children what our rules and routines expectations are and reward them for meeting or exceeding these expectations. An important element is making clear what our expectations are. For this reason I have outlined some of our before and after school expectations below.

Before School Routines

Note: Supervision is only provided from 8:30 onwards, students are encouraged not to attend before this time.

• Arrive at school from 8:30 onwards (Preps go straight to classrooms)
• Students may go to the Innovation centre and borrow a library book
• Sit in year level area until the first bell goes
• After the first bell at 8:30 students may play handball on courts in year level area only
• Running or hanging around toilet areas is not permitted
• When second bell goes students line up for class or move directly to classrooms

After School Routines

Walking or Riding

After the 2:50pm bell students are to collect their belongings and move home promptly. Bikes are to be kept in bike racks and scooters in area near staff room. Students must dismount inside the school grounds, footpath and when using the crossing. It is important students are respectful of all other footpath users. Smile and acknowledge our Lolly Pop Lady /Man (It’s Free).

Students waiting for parents in cars (arriving at 2:50)

Students are to wait quietly along the Prep fence or behind the Pedestrian Crossing area on the School side only, not on the fence across the road. Parents can park on this side of the road and students can then meet them when they arrive. (This is for their safety and a courtesy to our neighbours.) If parents are later than the time the Lolly Pop workers have finished, children must move to the office and wait there safely.

Waiting for High School Siblings

All students waiting for older siblings need to wait in the supervised area under B Block with the Bus students. Staff will escort them out on time to meet siblings. No students are to wait on the other side of the road near the crossing.

Bus departures

2:50pm Buses

Students move promptly to the footpath and wait along the fence in front of the appropriate bus and wait for Bus driver to load students. Prep and Year 1 students are collected from their class and directed to the correct areas until they board their bus directed by school staff.

Students need to ensure they are not waiting on the walkway as this impedes pedestrian traffic.

Once loaded onto buses students must remain seated at all times and talk quietly.

Students must follow the QLD Transport Code of Conduct. Bus drivers will enforce this with a three strikes policy.

3:05pm Buses

Students move directly under B Block at 2:50pm and wait quietly in the bus lines.

Staff will take students and load on to buses just after 3:00. This coincides with the time High School students start to walk past our school.

GoodStart – After School Care

Students attending afterschool care must sit and wait quietly under the Year 4 classrooms (computer room) where they will be collected by GoodStart staff and transported by mini bus to the Goodstart Centre.

After School Drop off / Pick up Zone 2:50 pm (to the right of the pedestrian crossing, school side)

Students wait quietly next to the Prep school fence until parents arrive NOT across the road. Students load quickly when parents arrive. Students need to ensure they are not waiting on the walkway as this impedes pedestrian traffic. If parents have not arrived before the Lolly Pop workers have finished students move to the office and wait to be collected.

This is not an area to park and leave the car.

Have a Magic week in Maleny.
John

From the Deputy Principal

2020 A focus on Spelling – within Writing and Reading

This year Spelling becomes our focus, within the areas of Writing and Reading. Spelling a word involves 4 components:

1. Being able to Say the word or pronounce it correctly
2. Being able to Read the word in a sentence
3. Being able Spell the word
4. Being able to Write the word in a sentence of paragraph

Why is Spelling still important in the 21st Century?

We have spell-checkers on our computers, so why is it important that our children learn to spell? Is it important our children learn the spelling rules we learned at school? Remember? "When -ing comes to stay, little e runs away."

Experts point out that teaching spelling systematically dispels the myth that spelling is unpredictable and confusing. That English is too chaotic to make sense is a myth. Sure, spelling is not simple, but when people understand its structure, it can be decoded.

Here are six reasons why spelling is important:

Communication: good spelling facilitates communication. By following the same rules for spelling words, we can all understand the text we read.

Comprehension: good spelling avoids confusion. In a way spelling is a bit like sports. It’s up to the person passing the ball to make sure the receiver actually catches it. The same goes for spelling. If you write with intent and proper spelling, the receiver of that text will understand it.

Future: let’s face it, university applications and job resumes littered with spelling errors don’t make it very far.

Computer error: we can’t rely on computers to check our spelling.

Distraction: poor spelling distracts the reader and they lose focus. It’s hard to read a text for comprehension when it’s full of spelling errors.

Impressions last: when you have people read something you’ve written and that text is full of spelling errors, it does not leave a good impression. We should care about the fundamental part good spelling plays in our language.

Prep Parents Workshop – “Helping your Child with Reading and Writing at Home!”

I will be running a workshop for interested prep parents on how you can help your child/ren with their reading and writing at home, on Thursday, 6 February at 9:00am-9:45am in the meeting room.

Tea/Coffee will be available.

Religious Instructors – Induction Training

Religious Instruction lessons are scheduled to begin week 5 of this term. If you have changed your mind since enrolling your child/ren - regarding your child taking part in religion lessons please email or write a note to your child’s class teacher.

The Induction Training for our Religious Instruction Volunteers will be Thursday, 13 February from 11:40am-12:45am in the Meeting Room.

Paula Heiniger – Deputy Principal

What is PBL?

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) is a whole-school approach to creating a safe and supportive environment that has a strong evidence-base and is used in many Queensland State Schools. It uses preventative, teaching and reinforcement-based strategies to achieve meaningful and durable behaviour outcomes.

Why is SWPBL important at Maleny State School?

• increase teaching time and improve academic outcomes
• reduce rates of inappropriate behaviour across the school
• keep the school's Responsible Behaviour Plan updated and relevant
• improve the way inappropriate behaviour is being managed
• improve the positive feeling climate of the school and classrooms.

Behaviour Flow Chart

The “Choose your behaviour” flowchart assists teachers and students in managing appropriate and inappropriate behaviour. We explicitly teach and encourage students to consider their behaviour by making a choice.

The 4 Be’s

At Maleny State School the behaviour expectations fit under the 4 Be’s:

Students displaying positive behaviours are rewarded with 4 Be cards which are traded for stamps on individual tracking sheets each term. At the end of the term, students participate in rewards according to the club they are in.

This fortnight’s rule is “Be Respectful” and our Buzz phrase is “First time, Every time”. Students are encouraged to follow instructions from staff members “First time, Every time”. This is a way for teachers to establish routines with their new students and set up positive expectations for the year to come. Students will consider what it means to “Be Respectful” and that it is important to listen to and follow instructions or directions from all staff members.

Contact Details – Do we have your most up to date contact details?

There are times when we may need to contact parents and carers. Do we have your most up to date contact details? If not, please contact the school on 5499 8333 so we can update our records. These details include parent/carers’ name, address, phone numbers, email address and emergency contact details. Please remember to contact the school if any of these details change.

Innovation Centre News

RoboRave – Sunshine Coast

Welcome back to 2020. This year is going to be jam packed with events and activities that I hope will really excite and challenge the kids. The above event RoboRave is an international competition that will be held on the Sunshine Coast for at least the next 5 years. These events are huge. Check out their website to get an idea of the sorts of events involved in this robotics competition.

We are planning still on how we will be involved but there are plans of putting 10+ teams across years 3-6 in the event participating in two main challenges.

These are A-MAZE-ing and SumoBot. Check out the challenges here -

Overdue Library Books

Library borrowing is starting this week (week 2) for almost all classes (Year 1 and Year 3 will begin in week 3). In an effort to ensure our library collection is up to date and complete we are hunting for any overdue books from last year. Already many students who forgot to bring books back late last year have already brought them back. For all other overdue books we will be sending overdue slips home. Could you please assist in trying to find overdue books. Any students still with long term overdue books will be receiving an emailed invoice for payment for the lost book as per the Parent Information Booklet i.e. “Replacement costs are charged for overdue, lost or damaged books.”

Technology Clubs/ Activities

This year we will be continuing to offer various clubs throughout the year. GEMS Robotics for Yr 5 & Yr 6 (invitation only), Minecraft Education Edition Coding club for Yr 5 & Yr 6 (interest group) and a Coding Club focusing on Scratch 3.0 for Yr 3 students. New this year will be the RoboRave interest groups. There will be only space for 8 teams with 2-3 students maximum. The focus of this club will be preparing for the RoboRave competition in May. These teams will be competing in the A-MAZE-ing challenge. Keep an eye out for more details in coming weeks.

Adrian Greig- Innovation Teacher

PE News

For 2020, Semester 1, PE News please select the link below.

From the Office

Payments

Payments can be made by any of the following methods.

1. Directly into our bank account noting the invoice number, initial and surname of the student for whom you are paying. Our Bank account details are:
   BSB: 064-462 Account Number: 10080359
2. Credit card using the bPoint reference number that is located on the bottom left hand side of your invoice. Credit card payments can also be made in person at the office.
3. Cash and cheque can be made by placing the cheque/correct change in a payment envelope and depositing it into the drop-safe in the office. Please ensure that the envelope is sealed so the cash does not fall out. Please write the student’s name, class, amount enclosed and what the payment is for, clearly on the envelope.

Office hours are 8:00am to 4:00pm on Monday - Friday.

P & C News

First Meeting for the year will be held on Wednesday, 12 February 2020 at 6:30pm.

Uniform Shop

If you have one hour per month that you may be able to help us out in the Uniform Shop please contact the office on 5499 8333. Open from 8:30-9:30am on Fridays, bring along a friend and be part of our happy team

The Uniform Shop's regular hours are Friday mornings between 8.30am and 9.30am. Payment options are EFTPOS, cash or cheque at the uniform shop only. Alternatively, orders can be placed online at the link below by 5pm Wednesday for Friday pickup or class delivery.

Chappy News

WELCOME BACK

Happy New Year and welcome back to 2020. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and spent quality time with your families. I was awakened to a very rude sound last Tuesday morning – one that I hadn’t heard in at least 5 weeks and it was my alarm going off!

As I was walking my children to their new classrooms on Tuesday, I passed a tiny little Prep student giving his mum a big hug and my heart felt so moved with compassion and memories of doing the same thing only 5 years ago came flooding back. It is such a sobering thing to really acknowledge how fleeting time is and the preciousness of every stage we go through with our children. I was reminded again of how important it is to continue letting our children go – to trust that they are going to be ok without us at various stages in their lives. I know I felt challenged by this through the holidays as my children went on a Camp for 4 days. I had to stop myself from ringing the leaders while they were away and acknowledge that this was yet, another part of their growth development.

So I just encourage those parents who may be feeling that strain to know you are not alone. We are here as a school to support you and your children and any questions you may have can be answered by someone on staff. As a Chaplain I am also here for parents and families, so if you have any concerns or need a listening ear, please feel free to contact the school. I am here on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All the best and I look forward to getting to know you over the coming weeks.

Chappy Becky

Community News

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