18 February 2020

Newsletter Articles

Date Claimers

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

Principal’s Report

Maleny State School Focus 2020:

Our primary focus this year is SPELLING – within our reading and writing.

We will continue to focus on writing utilising the skills of our literacy coach Brent Heiniger and additional support of teacher aides to assist teachers and students. All students will have an individual writing goal set by their teachers and we encourage parents to talk to teachers to find out how they can assist their children to improve their writing skills. Our other focus areas include Feedback, Differentiation/Inclusion and Staff Well-being.

In 2014 - 15, our school focus was on reading. We have achieved excellent results and more importantly, have been able to continue to sustain and improve on these results, six years later.

In 2016 we commenced our writing journey (with a focus on punctuation in 2018 and grammar in 2019) achieving excellent results and embedded systems in place for teaching writing systematically throughout the school. We have been able to share our teaching practices and systems with many other interested schools over the last few years.

Major successful strategies utilized:

• Development of explicit, engaging and consistent school processes in how we teach reading and writing.
• Employing a fulltime Literacy Coach to assist in building staff capacity through coaching and professional development.
• Highly skilled and competent teacher delivery of literacy practices.
• Analysing and using data to inform teaching practices.
• Focusing additional teacher aide (partly P&C funded) support on lower school students.
• Targeted use of financial and human resources.
• Engaging parents and our local community in writing events including: Local Authors Visits - ‘Writing Round Up’ and ‘Maleny Writers Trail’ (throughout our town).
• Showcasing students’ work and celebrating their success.

Leaders Induction Ceremony

Congratulations to all of our Yr 6 students who received leadership badges last Friday. A special mention must go to our newly appointed School Captains, Ottilie and William, along with Vice Captains, Indi and Oliver, who all spoke beautifully to a full assembly of parents and students. A big thank you to our State Member Mr Andrew Powell, Maleny State High School Deputy Principal David O’Shea, P&C Representative Jane Jensen and parents that assisted in presenting students with their badges.

It was also great to have past student Kassie Smith, one of the six Maleny State High School Captains, to address students with an inspiring speech on Leadership. A big thank you to Mrs Heiniger, Mr Corkin and Mrs Back for all their organisation and efforts to ensure this was a successful event.

Leadership speeches highlighted our school vision of ‘Connected Learners, Creative Leaders’. Students at Maleny SS have a connection to:

• themselves,
• their school community,
• their local community
• and the wider global community.

We promote that students will make strong relationships within each of these communities and know, if they do this, they will be successful.

Maleny students are also connected positively to their learning, their environment and technology, hence the first part of our vision - Connected Learners.

We want our students not only to be Connected Learners but also to be Creative Leaders and aspire to be lifelong learners, creative problem solvers and forward thinkers. This will prepare our students to become model citizens in Maleny and in our ‘future’ world.

At Maleny State School, we celebrate diversity and difference and we understand that each student is unique and will choose a different life pathway. I am proud to say our staff are focused on achieving our vision for All students, not just those selected as leaders.

To be a true Connected Learner and Creative Leader, students will demonstrate each of our 3 school values by:

• Achieving high expectations set,
• Contributing to our Supportive Learning Culture,
• And becoming a reflective lifelong learner.

We see all of our Yr 6 students as leaders and role models to the younger students within our school and it is for this reason that all of our students receive a senior’s badge.

Attendance

Research clearly identifies the relationship that, in general, the higher the attendance rate of students the higher will be their academic achievement. Our goal attendance for students is 95% for the year. All students achieving an attendance rate of 95% or above will receive a special attendance certificate each term. Each week on assembly, we celebrate classes that have high attendance rates and winning weekly classes are displayed on our Star Attendance wall in the office. Five random students that have achieved 100% attendance for the week are drawn out on parade and awarded a tuckshop voucher each week. In 2019 over 64% of students achieved an attendance rate of 90% or above. Our major concern is for students that have an attendance rate that is 85% or less as this low attendance will impact on students academically, socially and emotionally.

Next P&C AGM Meeting Wednesday 11 March – We need You!

Thank you to the parents that attended the first P&C meeting of the year last Wednesday. New parents are welcome and encouraged to attend as each year we have parents that leave us as their children move on to High School. This year is no different; we will certainly miss some of our long-serving members that no longer have children at our school. We would love to see many more faces come along to our meetings to ensure that our P&C is truly representative of our whole school parent body.

Absentee Line Ph 54998366 and SMS

If your child is absent from school for any reason please call the absentee line (Ph 54998366) before 9:00am. Once all rolls are marked and absentee line calls are processed, an SMS message will be sent to parents advising that your child is absent (unexplained) and asking you to reply to the SMS or call us immediately to explain the absence. This is a safety measure and a mandatory practice of all schools. Thank you for your cooperation here as this is can be a huge job for staff if parents do not use the absentee line.

Parent Teacher Interviews (Yrs 1-6)

This week we encourage all parents to take up the opportunity to meet with their child’s teacher and inform 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. A second interview will be held late in Term 2 where 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.

Note: Parents are welcome to meet with their child’s teacher at any stage throughout the year. Please ensure you make an appointment beforehand with the teacher to enable this to be a productive meeting.

Email Addresses

Ensure you have your teachers email address and they have yours to further facilitate parent / teacher communication.

School Volunteers and RE Volunteers

Last Wednesday we held a number of meetings for those wishing to volunteer within the school. Jodie Kyte, our Learning Support Teacher, conducted an induction program for all adults wishing to volunteer within the school, discussing the role of volunteers, the Code of Conduct, Asbestos Awareness and Student Protection. A big thank you to all parents and community members in attendance. If you missed it you are still welcome to assist and volunteer in classes, please see your child’s teacher or Miss Kyte. All volunteers are required to undertake professional learning and awareness of school processes and if you missed the face to face sessions, hardcopies of this information is available for you to access. Paula Heiniger our Deputy Principal also conducted an induction program for all of our religious instruction teachers.

Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)

Our school is a Positive Behaviour Learning School. This means we teach our children what our rules and routines expectations are and reward them for meeting or exceeding these expectations. The more we can catch children doing the right thing and praise them for it the more likely we will see that behaviour repeated. Now that is a win / win for all. Try it at home. Ensure you praise behaviours you wish to see (explicitly name them, e.g. I love the way you are talking to your sister.) many more times (4 to 1) than using corrective statements (that at times also need to be used). Try keeping count of these for a day to see how you are going. It is quite a challenge, but it works. The things we pay attention to will continue to grow.

Drop Off / Pick up Zone

To ease traffic congestion I ask that parents using the 2 parking bay zone outside the Prep building (just before the crossing) DO NOT LEAVE their car. This will allow a quick turnaround in this area and benefit all. Parents leaving their car do cause frustration for other parents wishing to use this area.

It is important if your children are being picked up from this area they are:

1. There on time otherwise you will need to do a lap of the block and return.
2. Sitting or standing next to the school fence and not on the walkway.
3. Alert and watching for their parent’s car.

Students are not to wait across the road from the school on the brick fence or play in or around businesses situated there.

Tuckshop – Join a special group of Maleny Volunteers

Please consider joining possibly the happiest group in the school at the tuckshop. We desperately need new people to come forward. Even if you can only spend the first hour after drop off, we have the ideal job for you. Please see Gunnar at the tuckshop or give the office a call if you can assist. Your children will love you for it.

Have a Great Week. John

From the Deputy Principal

Why Handwriting is still a useful skill to have?

1. Handwriting Boosts Kinesthetic Learning

As someone practises handwriting, they’re becoming accustomed to the fluid motions designed to craft each letter. Over time, creating these letters becomes an automatic response, much like muscle memory. The more you’ve practised writing, the less you’ll be conscious of the process. This is called automatic handwriting. When you’ve excelled to the level of automatic handwriting, your mind is free to concentrate on other important skills such as spelling and grammar.

2. Handwriting, Reading and Spelling Link Together

Handwriting activates the same regions of your brain used in reading comprehension. Practising your handwriting can strengthen these regions of your brain, making reading easier. Handwriting is like a sport - it needs to be worked on every day or our handwriting muscles weaken. When we use handwriting, or even typing, we're training our muscle memory to remember the shape and movement of words so eventually spelling will seem to write itself.

Paula Heiniger – Deputy Principal

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.

Enrichment Centre News

Inclusive Education

Welcome to the new school year! Every school day, in every state school, our teachers and school leaders are maximising outcomes for students with disability by engaging them in learning and developing their skills to prepare for their future. Making sure all students have access to high quality learning opportunities, focused on their individual needs, is a priority for Queensland State schools. Students experience inclusive education when they can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar-aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet their individual needs. Inclusion is embedded in all aspects of school life, and is supported by culture, policies and everyday practices.

Maleny Special Education Program (SEP) provides special education programs to Maleny State School students verified with a disability. At Maleny State School the SEP operates out of the Enrichment Centre, with a primary focus on providing support within the student’s classroom environment. Our team for 2020 consists of Sharon Furlong (Head of Special Education Services), Greg Barry (SEP teacher), Kate Stassen (SEP teacher) who has joined us from Mornington Island State School, and Marion Pearson, Deena Charles and Kerri Hislop our SEP teacher aides. The Maleny Special Education Program supports students verified with one or a number of disabilities, including: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Hearing Impairment (HI), Intellectual Disability (ID), Physical Impairment (PI), Speech-Language Impairment (SLI) and Vision Impairment (VI). To be verified in any of the above a student must meet Education Queensland criteria.

Sharon Furlong
Head of Special Education Services

PE News

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

Prep A & Prep B

Zero the Hero

What a lot of counting fun we’ve been having at Prep. Each day we count and record how many days we have attended Prep. Last week, everyone was excited to receive a visit from “Zero the Hero,” on day 10 of our prep year. (He will visit every time a number ends in zero). Zero the Hero arrived with a letter, a badge to wear and an exciting activity for us each to make. Everyone enjoyed making a colourful number paper chain. We are looking forward to day 20 when he visits again.

What are you thinking?

We are exploring how changes in facial features communicate emotion in artworks. We will be observing portraits by a range of artists and use these ideas to develop our own portfolio of portraits. Have a look at some of our charcoal self-portraits.

Pause Program

We are using the Pause Program to teach students the importance of recognising the signals in their body that their brain sends them. Pause teaches the students the three key parts of the brain that are responsible for thinking, emotions and long term memory. Pause empowers students to self-regulate their own behaviour by taking notice and acting on the signals they receive from their brain in a positive way. Wellbeing underpins the way children feel about themselves and how they relate to others. Pause improves children’s wellbeing by teaching them about Neuroscience and Mindfulness.

For more information, have a look at a TEDx talk by the teacher who created the program.

Mandy Bauer (Prep A) & Lindy Hicks (Prep B)

Year 1A & 1B

Floating Boats!

In Science, students are learning about properties of materials and they have begun investigations into materials that would make good boats. The children are very excited about this and are very much looking forward to the building and testing part of our unit. Please be on the lookout for a weekly update email home as to when we will need the materials at school to construct our boats (it will be closer to week 6/7).

Teacher Parent Interviews

Thank you to parents who have booked appointments for week 4. If you have forgotten to book, please see Jo or Jenny in person to arrange a time.

Jo Dykes (1A) and Jenny Jenkinson (1B)

Year 2A & 2B

Big Welcome back to school! We have had an incredible start to the year. Students have arrived ready to learn, and proud and proper. It has been wonderful to be part of getting students settled and into a routine for the year.

Rhythm and Rhyme

In English we are reading poetry and learning about the structure of a poem, that it has a title, verses and a rhythm and rhyming pattern. We are exploring the language features used such as, alliteration, repeating words, similes and onomatopoeia. Like all the English units throughout the year there is a huge focus on students being able to identify nouns and verbs within texts. Poems provide a fun way for children to learn about these, as poetry for young children can be very entertaining and sometimes just plain silly. Parents can support their child by reading poetry at home and helping them to point out the nouns and verbs they can hear or read. A great website for very silly and funny poems is Ken Nesbitt’s Poetry4kids.com. If you find a poem that your child would like to share please send it along to school for the whole class to enjoy.

Just a reminder Swimming is Tuesday.

2B parents please note: Music will be every Tuesday afternoon at 2:10 for a 40 minute lesson which will take students through to end of the school day. Students will take their bags to music and they will move on to their pick-up points from there.

Sarsha Anthony, Hayley Chamberlain (2A) & Libby Ferguson (2B)

Year 3A & 3B

We are off to a fabulous start! All the children have settled in very well, including our new students. Thank you, parents and carers, for providing all the items on the booklist. There are just a few children who need to bring in a few items. Our English unit has us investigating, analysing and writing persuasive texts. The children’s efforts have been fantastic. In Maths we are learning about place value and chance and data. In Science we have been talking about how and why scientists group things and we are learning about living, non- living.

Kathryn Brown (3A) & Shelly Chandler (3B)

1-2-3 MAGIC Parenting Course

Understanding our own and our children’s Behaviour.

We would like to invite parents to attend an upcoming series of three workshops designed to help parents with behaviour management strategies. Peta Cave, who is currently working as the Engagement and Well-being Teacher at Maleny State School will be sharing the 1-2-3 MAGIC Programme with parents.

1-2-3 Magic is a group format discipline program for parents of children approximately 2-12 years of age.

The program divides the parenting responsibilities into three straightforward tasks.

• Understanding and dealing with difficult behaviour eg. arguing, fighting, tantrums
• Encouraging good behaviour eg. going to bed, doing homework, eating
• Strengthening your relationship with your child through the use of praise, active listening and shared fun.

The three sessions will be held at Maleny State School in the meeting room within school library on Tuesday the 10th, 17th and 24th of March, 2020. Each session will run 9:00am-12:00pm. Morning Tea to be supplied.

Participants will receive a workbook linked to the programme at no cost.

Please note that the sessions are for all parents, regardless of whether your child attends Maleny State School or not. Arrangements will need to be made for the care of any non-school age child(ren).

Should you wish to attend please contact Maleny State School by emailing or phoning the school office on 07) 5499 8333 or drop in personally to let office staff know you would like to attend.

Friends and family are welcomed.

P & C News

Next P&C AGM Meeting 11 March 2020 @ 6:30

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

Run Your Race

I heard a story over the weekend that initially sounded unbelievable until I did some research. It was so inspiring and thought provoking that I have to share it. Some of you may already know this story but it’s about a 61 year old farmer who competed in the 1983 Ultra Marathon from Sydney to Melbourne. The majority of runners where below 30 years of age and had been training for a long time to complete a race of 875km in distance. Most of them had big name sponsorship and were wearing all the latest athletic wear. You can imagine everyone’s surprise when an elderly farmer wearing nothing but gum boots and overalls stood at the starting line, ready to begin the race. At first people thought it was a joke until they realised that the man was nothing but serious. His name was Cliff Young and he looked like he belonged in a paddock chasing sheep. To make a long story short, not only did this 61 year old farmer complete the race, but he beat everyone else by about 10 hours! He certainly wasn’t the fastest runner, nor did he have a running style that you would boast about, but through sheer will, determination and hard work, his “shuffle/run” brought him across the finish line and made Australian history. His secret was that he lived on a 2000 acre farm as a kid and his family couldn’t afford a horse, so he would round up the 2000 sheep by running all through the night for up to 3 days until he had every last sheep accounted for. He was used to running in gum boots and he had the energy to keep running through the night while all the elite runners took their breaks and slept.

In summing up, I just want to encourage you to achieve those goals you have set your mind too. Do not quit! Keep your eyes on the prize and keep running your race, even when others around you may look like they’re doing better then you or they’re more equipped – keep going and do not give up! You can do it and if you feel like you can’t do it anymore, ask for help. Have an honest conversation with someone who cares and believes in you. Have an awesome week and please speak to me if you feel like you need extra support. This is one of the services of the Chaplaincy

Chappy Becky

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.

Community News

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