16 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

Harmony and Anti Bullying National Day of Action Free Dress $1 donation this Friday 19 March

Join us for a special assembly on Friday morning at 9:00am.

These two events fit beautifully together and, as a school, we will celebrate them both this week. All classes will be participating in a number of activities to promote respectful relationships, build resilience and develop strategies to deal with bullying.

We ask students to wear orange or bright colours as free dress (sun safe) this Friday 19 March to support our anti bullying and harmony day message. Gold coin donations will be collected and be donated to Welcome2Maleny which is a local group that supports refugees on the Sunshine Coast. Welcome2Maleny donates stationary, school uniforms and school supplies to refugee students living on the Sunshine Coast as well as providing resources for the Refugee Learning Centre in Cisarua, Indonesia to support young students with their learning.

All classes will be participating in special activities this week to ensure our children are clear on what bullying is and how harmful it can be as well as developing skills to assist them in reacting appropriately if they are bullied.

Students from Years 1 to 6 will participate in a survey to identify student concerns and knowledge of using the ‘High Five’ strategy. Our Preps will discuss this as a class and share their ideas.

Harmony Day Celebrations

Harmony Day celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Our diversity makes Australia a great place to live.

The Day is held every year on the 21 March and coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The message of Harmony Day is ‘everyone belongs’, the day aims to engage people to participate in their community, respect cultural and religious diversity and foster a sense of belonging for everyone which fits in beautifully with our school and the Department of Education’s Inclusion Policies.

It is important everybody knows what Bullying is and what it is not.

This is because the manner in which bullying is treated needs to be treated differently to get the best outcome. A similar understanding of common language and terms allows us to ensure we minimise any misunderstandings in communication in relation to bullying. Often, anytime someone is nasty to someone else, the term ‘Bullying’ is used, when this may not necessarily be the case, even though the incident may be very serious.

To be classified as bullying the act needs to be:

(some behaviours are hurtful and appalling but are not bullying, often because they are a one off so will be dealt with different to a bullying scenario)

• Harmful
• Deliberate
• Ongoing
• An unfair balance of power is occurring

It is important to identify the roles people play in bullying situations so that you know how to act to prevent potential bullying situations. Ask your children to explain and identify the 3 B’s in various situations you discuss or observe.

The 3 B’s

The Bully - person doing the bullying.

The Bullied - the person being bullied.

The Bystanders - the people present when the bullying occurs.

Bystanders Make A Difference

Once the 3B’s are understood our main focus needs to be on the Bystanders’ behaviour. Research shows that bystanders have the most power in being able to make a difference. Bystanders will make a positive or negative difference.

NAPLAN 2021 (May 11-20 Term 2 Week 4)

Recently, our Deputy Principal Paula Heiniger and myself participated in NAPLAN Online training to enable our Year 3 and 5 students to complete NAPLAN online this year. Previous trial schools have strongly indicated that students have been more engaged in the online tests and have seen it as a positive experience. We have found also that students completing NAPLAN Online familiarisation tasks in past years have indicated they enjoyed the experience. Besides the engagement of the computer medium, the new Online tests have a branching process built in that I believe takes away the stress of the test being too difficult for students not achieving at their year level. Paper tests are unable to provide this feature.

NAPLAN Online allows branching to occur for students after they answer the first 10 questions. This means the student will find themselves answering questions at their ability level rather than struggling and having to answer questions that are well above their current ability level. Similarly, students that are working above their year level ability level will be given the opportunity to challenge themselves with higher level questions. Information in relation to Online Testing will be sent home with all students in Years 3 and 5 soon. If you have any questions please contact Paula or myself.

Maleny State School is an incredibly supportive school and we continually work hard to ensure that everyone feels like they belong here and can experience success. Every child has different strengths and needs and hence different support needs and levels of support are required for different students. This includes academic, social, emotional, physical and behavioural supports, which enhances our ability to create equity and ensure all students can access learning and achieve success. We take into account individual circumstances in all of our decisions of how we support children and may not always be able to share these for confidentiality reasons. Our school, like our town, is made up of people from incredibly diverse backgrounds, which I see as a strength. We welcome different views and strive to continually improve.

P&C AGM Wednesday 24 March 6:30pm (Face to Face Meeting or Skype)

Our P&C Executive have been working tirelessly to engage our parent and community body to increase our 2021 P&C membership before our upcoming AGM next Wednesday night at 6:30pm. I am very grateful for the time and effort they have put into our 7 Welcome Afternoon Teas over the last few weeks to promote the important role the P&C plays in the school and cannot thank them enough.

Please complete a membership form and return to the school before next Wednesday and you will have automatic membership without even having to attend a meeting (available at the office). You will receive minutes and agendas by email to enhance your knowledge on the workings of the P&C for the remainder of the year. An email advertising this meeting and how to Skype in will be sent out at the start of next week to all families and volunteers.

Year 6 Hinterland Instrumental Music Workshop

Year 6 instrumental music students will participate in the Hinterland Instrumental Music Workshop Thursday, 25 March hosted by the Maleny State High School.

This Instrumental music day will bring together Instrumental music students in Year 6 from schools across the Maleny Cluster and students in Years 7-12 in the Instrumental Music program at Maleny State High School.

The aims of the activity are to further students’ playing skills, meet the current members of the program including staff and students and provide them with a large ensemble experience.

At the conclusion of the workshop, there will be a concert for parents and families from 2.00pm on Thursday 25 March at Maleny State High School Waroo Dance Studio (next to the School Hall)

Have a Magic Week in Maleny. John

From the Deputy Principal

Naplan Practice Tests and Naplan Online

Our students in Years 3 and 5 will be undertaking NAPLAN testing online in May this year, at various times from 11th May – 21st May. Moving to NAPLAN online brings many advantages including a test design that offers test items tailored to students’ knowledge and ability.

We will also be participating in national practice tests at various times over the next couple of weeks, see timetable below for details. This is an excellent opportunity to fine tune any technical and logistical needs, as well as familiarise students and teachers with the online testing process.

The practice test provides a familiarity experience ahead of the May tests. It offers two tests - writing (Years 5, 7 and 9) and omnibus (Years 3, 5, 7 and 9). The omnibus test is comprised of sample items from the reading, conventions of language and numeracy test domains. Each test is approximately 45 minutes of testing time. The tailored test design is not applied to the practice test. The cancellation of NAPLAN 2020 means it will be two years since most schools last used the online platform. Therefore, schools are strongly encouraged to participate in this year's practice tests. No student results are available from the practice test.

For further information, please visit Queensland’s NAPLAN Online website , ACARA’s NAPLAN Online website and ACARA’s Assessment Platform . Advice for parents and caregivers about NAPLAN in general is also available.

Parents and caregivers of children in these NAPLAN year levels will need to be aware of important information relating to privacy, which can be found on the NAPLAN Online Queensland website’s parent information page.

All students in Years 3 and 5 would have received an information package regarding the above information with more details about NAPLAN online and the NAPLAN Privacy Notice.

We will keep you up-to-date in the lead-up to May, but in the meantime if you have any questions please contact your child’s class teacher or myself.

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.

Physical Education

2021 Maleny State School Swimming Carnival

Wednesday 10 February presented perfect conditions for the annual Inter House Swimming Carnival. Enthusiastic Year 3 to Year 6 students participated in a number of events to the encouragement of their parents and teammates. Each of the four house groups stood out in their bright house colours and came prepared to have a great day. Loud cheering and war cries from each House spurred on the swimmers in every event. With a high participation rate and great endeavour, students of all abilities swam to help their House earn maximum points.

Many thanks to our volunteer parent helpers and Maleny SS staff who performed official duties on the day. Well done to all our students and congratulations to the 18 swimmers who represented Maleny SS at the Glasshouse District Swimming Carnival on 17 February in Beerwah.

2021 Age Champions and Runner Up Champions

BOYS

GIRLS

OVERALL HOUSE WINNERS

2021 Glasshouse District Swimming Carnival

On Wednesday 17 February, the Glasshouse District Swimming Carnival was held at the Beerwah Pool. Throughout the day, swimmers from fifteen schools swam strongly for their teams. Many excellent performances were recorded during the carnival by swimmers from all schools. Maleny State School swimmers showed great determination and endeavor in the contest for the District Shield. All Maleny SS swimmers swam well and are to be congratulated for their achievements with the school finishing 2nd overall.

Congratulations to the following Maleny swimmers who achieved Age Champion or Runner – Up awards on the day.

10 year old boys Age Champion – Conor
11 year old girls Runner Up Age Champion – Keelee

Congratulations to Keelee, Samson, Hamish, Conor & Riley who were selected in the Glasshouse District Team and competed at the Regional Swimming on 3 March. You represented yourself, the school and our district extremely well.

Shane Turner – PE Teacher

SWPBL (School Wide Positive Behaviour Learning)

SMART Goal - “STOP, THINK, DO”

For the last few weeks, our SMART goal has been “STOP, THINK, DO” for non-classroom settings. This has given our whole school the opportunity to fill up our PBL Rocket with balls. Once full, the rocket earns 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.

The rocket is now over half way. Well done everyone, students are very excited about getting to the top.

High Five and Bullying No Way!

In Week 8, we introduce a new PBL focus using the “High 5”. This coincides with the Anti Bullying National Day of Action on Friday 19 March.

Bullying can be defined by:

• An act that is harmful to another (including online)
• Is deliberate
• Is ongoing

If all three of the above points are not present, it is not bullying, but most likely an argument, aggressive/mean, nasty teasing or exclusion act, all of which are serious and need to be dealt with.

We need to use the three R’s. Recognise React and Respond.

When we respond, we can use the High Five.

Ignore

• Look away and continue what you are doing.
• Make sure you keep a calm and happy expression.

Talk Friendly

• Stay calm and use nice words.
• Talk about the problem.
• Take turns to speak.
• Together think of ways to solve the problem.
• Choose the best option.

Walk Away

• Move away.
• Find a friend or do something else.

Talk Firmly

• Be assertive (use “I…” messages).
• Use a serious voice and don’t yell.
• Don’t use put downs.

Report

• Tell a teacher or a trusted adult what has happened (be honest).

Tell a teacher or a trusted adult what you have tried to do.

From the PBL Team

Book Club

Your child would have received our first Book Club catalogue from their teachers. These catalogues are distributed once per term and all orders (no matter how small) generate Scholastic Rewards which allow us to order free books and resources for Maleny State School.

Orders are distributed directly to your child during school. If you wish to keep your order for a special occasion, then please select the GIFT option when ordering. You will then be contacted directly once the order arrives and pick-up can be arranged from the office or library without your child being aware!

Don’t forget to check out the Gold Coin Books you can find in each catalogue.

*** ORDERS DUE – FRIDAY 19th MARCH ***

Payment can be made by:

1. Credit Card using scholastic.com.au/LOOP

2. Payment by Cheque/Money Order/Credit Voucher

• Cheques made payable to Scholastic Australia
• Cheques/money orders/vouchers are to be attached to the completed order form and returned in an envelope to the white Book Club box in the LIBRARY.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT NO CASH ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Kerri – Book Club Co-ordinator

Prep A & Prep B

Our Learning at Prep

We read the story “The Potato People” by Pamela Allen and had lots of fun making potato people. We wonder what our potato people will look like at the end of term. We have also been growing flowers, herbs and vegetable seedlings. The garden club has given us a section where we can plant our seedlings and watch these grow. We are making hairy caterpillars to watch how grass seeds grow. The Preppies cannot wait for the seeds to grow so they can give them a haircut!

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

Year 2A & 2B

We are well on our way to culminating many activities before the end of the term. Our Science unit assessment will see students creating their lunchboxes and testing them out. These are due by 19 March. We are working our way through Narrative writing at the moment and are looking forward to reading some wonderful stories from our students. Swimming is still on for 2 more weeks. We are also working on our number and data strategies in maths. Please remember hats every day and some fruit for your child when we have our snack break. Photos are also coming up in a few weeks, if you have not received an envelope please see the office.

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

Students of the Week

P & C News

The next P & C Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 24 March at 6.30pm followed by a General Meeting.

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.

Chappy News

Games at Lunch

This year I have been spending every 2nd lunch doing something I have called, “BE BRAVE.” A very important value that everyone needs, sometimes every day is COURAGE. I talk to the students about how each one of them is unique and valuable and how every person has something special or a talent that they can show one another. The group is run in a very structured way, whereby they all set their chairs up in front of the stage and wait quietly while I pick those who are sitting respectfully and waiting patiently for a turn. The first person to be brave on the stage is encouraged to show a talent which could be sing, lip sync, dance, do a funny walk, beat box, make an animal noise and the list is as long as your imagination! Each student must introduce the next student and use encouraging and positive words to describe each other. All students are expected to clap once a person has been on the stage, and ALL students are encouraged to get on the stage, even if it is just to say ‘Hi, my name is....and I like....” The expectation is that they are being brave. It has been a very insightful time as I have come to see hidden talents, and help encourage more confidence in children. So please encourage your child to be brave and come to these sessions. Identify something that they could do on the stage and help them to be courageous enough to show it off. Have a great week

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

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

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