3 March 2021

Newsletter Articles

Date Claimers

Timetable for Maleny State School Swimming Program for Term 1, Weeks 2 - 9

Principal’s Report

Maleny SS Vision: Connected Learners - Creative Leaders

Maleny SS School Values

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

Our School’s Supportive Learning Culture

We strive for continuous improvement in all we do at Maleny State School. Last week I outlined our school’s Annual Improvement Plan which has an explicit focus of English. Each year we have an underlying word or phrase that guides us in how to achieve our focus. This year it is the year of ‘Precision in Practice’ (2017 ‘Systemness’, 2018 ‘Alignment’, 2019 ‘Collaboration’, 2020 ‘Clarity’). This is particularly true in the area of creating a supportive learning culture. We are continually praised for the supportive learning culture that we have created at our school; it is a drawing card that many new families joining us this year have quoted as the reason why they have chosen to enrol in Maleny State School.

Ensuring everyone feels like they belong at our school is everyone’s responsibility. Our P&C are very aware of this and I cannot praise them enough for organising our seven Welcome Afternoon Teas for each year level over the last few weeks. Feedback of these events from Prep, Years 2, 3 & 4 has been very positive. This week we continue our Welcome Afternoon Teas for Years 1, 5 & 6.

A huge thank you to our P&C Executive and Tuckshop Coordinators (for catering) who have attended to welcome parents and inform them about how our P&C operates and encourage more parents to become members of our P&C in 2021.

Did you know that at most meetings we are pushing to have 10-15 people attend, of which 5 are staff? Hence, the urgency to increase our parent numbers to ensure decisions made by our P&C are a balanced representation of our parent body.

At Maleny State School our Supportive Learning Culture is inclusive, making sure everyone feels like they belong in our school and are provided with the support they require to be successful. Positive mindsets are used to differentiate and solve challenges with the responsibility being shared by everyone in our school/local community. Together we use a collaborative approach to achieve our school goals. Becoming a member of our P&C is one way you can positively add value to our school and enhance the educational outcomes of your children. Membership forms can be found on our website at the link below.

Completing a membership form and returning for acceptance at our AGM on Wednesday 24 March 6:30pm allows you to become a member without the need to attend this meeting. This is the only time of year this is possible and entitles you to receive agendas and minutes of meetings. Parents also now have the opportunity to Skype into meetings from the comfort of their own homes. I am excited that our P&C membership will grow in 2021 with a number of new positive initiatives that are in place.

Parent Welcome Afternoon Tea’s this Week at 2:00pm Senior Oval.

2021 Voluntary Financial Contribution

Each year Maleny State School asks families for a contribution to assist the school with supplying essential resources for your child/ren’s education and maintenance of school facilities.

The contribution for 2021 is $50 per child or $40 per child for families with three or more children enrolled at our school.

This year, as in past years, we intend to use the family contributions to upgrade our technology resources (iPads, Laptops, Robotics Equipment) allowing greater hands on access for all students in classrooms.

Payment can be made by EFT payment to the school:

Our bank account details are:

BSB: 064-462 Account Number: 10080359
or
In person at the school office.

Please note that as the Contribution is Voluntary no invoices will be issued.

Thank you for your anticipated support.

Have a Magic Week in Maleny. John

From the Deputy Principal

Our Focus this Year – English and precision in the teaching of English

There are a number of Key Ideas in the English Australian Curriculum, one of which is the understanding of what ‘texts’ are. You may have heard teachers talking about texts and your own children and wondered what exactly are ‘texts’.

Texts provide the means for communication. They can be written, spoken, visual, multimodal, and in print or digital/online forms. Multimodal texts combine language with other means of communication such as visual images, soundtrack or spoken words, as in film or computer presentation media. Texts include all forms of augmentative and alternative communication; for example, gesture, signing, real objects, photographs, pictographs, pictograms and braille. Texts provide important opportunities for learning about aspects of human experience and about aesthetic value. Many of the tasks that students undertake in and out of school involve understanding and producing imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, in media, everyday and workplace contexts.

The usefulness of distinctions among types of texts relates largely to how clearly at each year level these distinctions can guide the selection of materials for students to listen to, read, view, write and create, and the kinds of purposeful activities that can be organised around these materials. Although many types of texts will be easy to recognise on the basis of their subject matter, forms and structures, the distinctions between types of texts need not be sharply defined or formulaic. The act of creating texts, by its nature, involves experimentation and adaptation of language and textual elements from many different writing styles and categories of texts. As a result, it is not unusual for an imaginative text to have strong persuasive elements, or for a persuasive text to contain features more typically seen in informative texts, such as subheadings or bullet points.

RI Lessons 2021

Religious Instruction lessons will resume again this year and begin for Yrs 1-5 in week 6 and for Yr 6 in week 7. The Religious Instructors go through Mandatory Training requirements each year and volunteer their time to provide a cooperative arrangement religious instruction program at our school under the provisions of the Act and the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2006.

The instructors deliver a Combined Christianity program using the Christian Education Publications Curriculum. Students who have parental consent are able to participate in the program. If you do not wish for your child to participate in RI lessons and have not indicated this on enrolment, please provide in writing, with your wishes not to participate, to the Office.

Paula Heiniger
Deputy Principal

P&C News

2021 Maleny State School P & C Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 24th March 2021 at 6:30pm in the Meeting Room (Innovation Centre) at Maleny State School.

All members of the school community are invited to attend the AGM.

Nominations for all executive positions for 2021 are open. This year we are looking at adding an additional executive position of Fundraising Coordinator.

2021 P&C Executive Nomination Form

The P & C exists to improve the experiences for all the students of Maleny State School as well as providing support for the present & encouraging a solid future for the school.

Our Principal uses the P & C meetings as the platform for providing whole school information and as the sounding board for some decision-making processes.

As a parent you can be involved with the P & C in many ways:

• Holding an executive position
• Being a committee member
• Helping with fund raising & catering
• Attending monthly meetings

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE IMPORTANT AND VALUED

To become a member of the P & C

Please fill out a membership form available from the School Office, Web Site or from the P & C Secretary & return to the office or by email to John Cassidy: SecretaryPandC@malenyss.eq.edu.au.

To nominate for an executive position or position on a committee

You will need someone to nominate you for the position and a seconder. Nomination forms and membership forms are available from the secretary, John Cassidy: SecretaryPandC@malenyss.eq.edu.au and on the school website.

NOTE: It is a requirement that all positions are held by members.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be immediately followed by a General Meeting. Please come along to support your school. It is only together that we can build a strong community and supportive environment for our kids and staff. All parents and caregivers are warmly welcome. Note there will be no General Meeting on the 10 March.

Future P&C General Meetings are held every 2nd Wednesday of the month during school terms.

Welcome Afternoon Teas:

The School and the P&C are currently running Year-level Welcome Afternoon Teas. Look out for your invitation – we would love to see you there with delicious food and drinks for you and the kids!

Shout Out:

The P&C maintains a core policy of supporting our local community members and businesses. It is with much gratitude that we acknowledge the generous support we have recently received from Maleny Hired Hands. If you need assistance from a friendly local team with great customer service, consider giving them a call on 5429 6666 or 0424 218 495.

We need you!

• We are lucky to have a small group of diverse parents who renew their memberships every year. However, with kids moving on to high school, we really do need current parents to join to ensure that the P&C is truly representing your wishes when deciding on how to spend significant funds and determining which enrichment projects are supported each year.
• We welcome and encourage all parents, legal guardians, grand parents, teachers, school staff and community members who are genuinely interested in what happens at the school.
• The P&C is not a one-way ticket to endless drudgery and weekly activity. You can choose to help at one event, some events or no events. The more people who are members lowers the number of times we need to call on anyone for help.
• There are currently only about 15 members (10 Parents & 5 Staff) out of our 298 families at MSS! We appreciate all of the help we can get!

How can I help if I don’t have the time?

• IGA Community Benefits Club: You can either join or update your existing membership through downloading the below CBC Form, filling out the back page and dropping it into our IGA.
• Containers for Change Scheme: The P&C supports sustainability in practical ways through the school’s Poultry Club and Garden Club. One source of funding to support these activities is through recycling, which is actively encouraged and supported at school. Families and community members can now support these Clubs by recycling cans and bottles in the Containers for Change bag drop-off unit at the back of the Maleny IGA. The School’s Scheme ID is: C10236849. Simply include this code on a piece of cardboard inside your bag of cans and bottles when you deposit it at the drop-off unit.

2021 P&C Membership Application

2021 P&C Enrichment Form

Maleny IGA Community Benefit Fund Form

School Photos

Students of the Week: Week 4

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.

PBL (Positive Behaviour Learning)

New SMART Goal - “STOP, THINK, DO”

For the next four weeks we have introduced our latest SMART goal for non-classroom settings. This gives our whole school the opportunity to fill up our PBL Rocket with balls. Once full, the Rocket will earn the whole school 20 minutes extra playtime!

The BUZZ phrase, “Stop, Think, Do” aims to take the emotions out of problem areas (behavioural, learning, social and moods) and redirect the energy into problem solving.

STOP - Emotions are identified and expressed early.

THINK - Give your brain the opportunity to THINK about options to solve the problem.

DO – Thinking provides motivating and skills for you to DO it.

Being in control of your actions

Taking a moment to reflect when things feel “big”

• Identifying emotions.
• THINK– Is it true? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind.
• Use the High 5.

• Think about how you treat people.

We look forward to working together with our students on Positive Behaviour for Learning and filling up the rocket to earn extra playtime.

PBL Team

Year 4/5C

English Rotation Studies-

In 4/5C we have been looking at Similes and Onomatopoeia to include in our assessment task for English- writing a new chapter for Fing.

Here are some of our favourite examples:

Jack- “as heavy as an ox.”
Latrell- “as fast as the speed of light.”
John- “as big as an elephant.”
Cooper- “as hot as a coyote on the beach.”
Ash- “as fat as my brother.”
Archer- “as annoying as my sister.”
Siaan- “as tall as a giraffe.”
Liam- “as fast as a cheetah.”
Louis- “as slow as a snail.”
Hopi- “sleep like a baby.”
Oliver- “Race like a car.”
Alfie- “as slow as a slug.”

As well as similes we have drawn some examples of onomatopoeia.

Here are some of the examples students have done.

Year 4 Camp

The Year 4 students are very excited about going to camp at the end of this term. For most students this will be their first school camp. Parents, please keep an eye out for notes about “What to Bring”.

Deb Darcy (4/5C)

From Our Tuckshop

The Tuckshop is open three day a week – Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

If you can help, please see Gunnar at the Tuckshop. Your support will be much appreciated.

FlexiSchools is our preferred ordering system and is simple and easy to use.

To register go to:

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 8:30-9:00am 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 9.00am. 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.

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

P&C’s Qld - Click through to view their most recent editions of Parent Talk

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