PREP 2023 Enrolments

Enrolment application forms are due Thursday 4 August.  If you have a child that will be attending  Prep in 2023 and are living in our catchment area or already have a child enrolled at our school, and have not yet submitted your enrolment application, please do so as soon as possible.  Enrolment packs are available from our office, or can be downloaded from our school website.  Please see Alice Harvery's article for further information.

TERM 3 2022

Jingeri families!

As we embark on our learning journey this Semester, I am excited to share the reflections of our work as a school community thus far. We have remained committed to our strategic plans as we continue to strive toward our school vision – Creative, resilient, curious learners empowered to excel. We have committed significant resourcing to our priority area “High Expectations”, including our engagement with the school refresh program to begin an upgrade of classroom spaces, our professional learning aligned to the professional goals of our staff and a continued focus on Learning Walls and Bump It Up walls in every classroom.

We understand that high levels of literacy are key to empowering our learners. This Semester, we are increasing our resourcing toward the instruction of reading school wide. This includes professional learning for teachers, teacher aides and school leaders, professional meeting time dedicated to this work and an investment in resources for student use (specifically increasing our range of texts).

The research base for this work is the Science of Reading, which includes a shift away from sight words and texts that promote “guessing” words. Instead, we move toward the Simple View of Reading model, which focuses on reading comprehension (ability to make meaning from text) as a product of word reading (ability to translate printed text and pronounceable words) and listening comprehension (ability to understand text if it is heard instead of read).

Our school is at the head of the curve, with this shift being part of a wider movement within the South East Region as well as state-wide. As a parent of primary-aged children myself, I have observed the changes in the way their school talks about reading instruction also. What it means for students is that our approach to teaching reading is shifting to a model that is sequential it its approach to teaching word reading called systematic synthetic phonics. The model enables us to more precisely diagnosis and address gaps in learning for individual students.

At home, there are many things we can do to encourage our children as empowered readers. Our Deputy Principal Alice Harvey offers some great suggestions in her newsletter article this week. In my own home, after each of my children read from their selection of home readers, I have been reading them chapters from a more complex book – which leads to many discussions and questions about word meanings, characters and events, and promotes the joy of reading most importantly. At the moment we have been reading The Hobbit together, and have just finished my favourite chapter – “Riddles in the Dark.” This has led to the kids trying to make up their own riddles – a fantastic experiment of language and text structure. While each family environment has different opportunities for promoting reading, I encourage us all to consider how we could enhance this in our own homes.

OHSC Tender Process

A regular systematic process for all schools with an operating Outside Hours School Care (OHSC) program is to run a tender process for the supplier of this service. This is not a reflection of the current service being provided, but rather a necessary requirement of the department. I wish to advise that in the coming Semester, our school will commence this process, and parents will be advised of the successful supplier in due course.

Stacey Wood
Principal

Welcome back to Term 3

Welcome back to all of our students and families to the second semester of learning and growing together at Rochedale South.  This past term has endured the disruptions of the many constraints that have been put upon us, but in spite of that, our students have embraced the new term with a growth mindset to forefront the unit studies ahead. The recent beginning of the Commonwealth games last week in Birmingham has brought with it, the values of striving to do your best despite the disruptions that can get in your way.   

Australia's athletes have topped the medal table at 11 of 19 Games with our biggest gold haul coming at the Gold Coast Games four years ago when the athletes took home 80 Gold, 61 Silver and 60 Bronze. Let's keep our eyes peeled to see what our athletes and students can do in these coming weeks.

Awards Assembly

I am pleased to announce that we have our Semester 1 Awards Parade on Thursday morning of Week 4 where we celebrate the achievements of our high achieving students. Students in Years 1 to 6 will receive Academic Honours if they have 2 or more A’s on their Semester 1 report cards in English, Math or Science. Additionally, they must have one or more A’s or B’s in any other Learning Area. Invitations have been sent to families, so if you have not received an invitation and you believe your child should be receiving one, please contact the school office. Sports award recipients will also be celebrated during this assembly and invitations to families.  

Winter Uniforms

With the first signs of winter appearing last week it is timely to remind families that our school has a P&C endorsed Dress Code. In addition to our summer uniform, students are allowed to wear:

 

• Green track pants
• Navy blue fleecy or zip up jacket (sew on badges also available from uniform shop)
• Bottle Green or Navy Blue plain or ribbed tights may also be worn under shorts.

 

Tights or track pants in any other colour are not acceptable, nor are jeans. Jumpers of varying colours are also not allowed. We would appreciate if you can please ensure your children are dressed appropriately in accordance with our School Uniform Policy.

Choir - Vivo Voices Awarded 1st Place

We celebrated the recent performance of our school choir the Vivo Voices.  Led by the magnanimous Mrs Joanne Cooper, students performed two of their favourite pieces sublimely entertaining the crowd and executing the technical and melodious aspects to be awarded 1st Place.  We congratulate all of our students who represented our school and achieved such a great result this time, as well as thank all of the staff and families who support our choir to practice and perform to reach such lofty heights. Well done, and we look forward to your coming performances in the future.

 

Young Writers Workshop

This past week, select students in Years 5 & 6 were offered the opportunity to work with awarded Brisbane based author Samantha Wheeler.  Our students had an immersive day with the author of 'Smooch and Rose' at the Morton Bay Environmental Centre, with a focus on developing the ideas for their stories, embracing the theme of “Dreaming with Eyes Open”, which is about stepping into your own story, listening to Country as the first storyteller and learning from friends who help you on your way.

I'd like to also pass on the words of encouragement and affirmation from Springwood SHS:

"Can I congratulate each student for their openness and inspiring works they produced. On behalf of Springwood State High School, Mrs Sian Haywood and in my capacity of Head of Department - Development at Springwood State High School, I'd like to thank you for supporting the 2022 Young Writers Program.  We thoroughly enjoyed working with your students; their engagement and behaviour was exemplary."

Yours in Education,

Craig Charles
Deputy Principal (Years 3-6)

 

Language Comprehension

Language Comprehension is fundamental to the success of reading.  There are three components of language comprehension which include:  vocabulary knowledge, background knowledge, and knowledge of text and sentence structures.

At our school, we teach students language comprehension through a range of teaching instruction. One particular strategy is called ‘Conversational Reading.’ Children are active in conversational reading. It develops oral language and develops a child’s ability to deeply understand texts by having questions posed to them throughout the text. Oral language skills are developed by answering questions; oral language continues to be critical to social interactions and class discussions and have significant impact on literacy skills.

Please note: Conversational reading is more complex than just a social interaction. Students need to focus on the requirements of the text, task, instruction or question, and present their thinking about a new topic.

If you would like to know more about Conversational Reading, there is a basic booklet link below.

https://www.collardfamilykindergarten.com.au/uploads/files/3A-Conversational-Reading-Booklet.pdf

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HOME:

• Reading traditional picture story books is beneficial for your child. Getting your child to be the story teller and engage with the story, builds their vocabulary and their oral language will also expand. Listening to stories is useful however, getting your child to answer questions and discuss the rich topics of the storyline helps your child to develop language comprehension.
• Read every night and read the same book again. Your child will reap the benefits of repetitive reading, as it builds their deeper understanding of the story line and it also builds your child’s self-esteem.

I will be offering a workshop later this term online on TEAMS presenting some key strategies and practices to help develop your child’s language comprehension. Please look out for this date of the workshop, should you be interested in attending.

Prep 2023 Enrolments

This term, the school will be beginning to conduct enrolment interviews for our Prep 2023 cohort. I am asking if you have a sibling at school, or are living in our catchment, to come and collect an enrolment pack from our office. Enrolments packs are due by the 4^th of August. The administration team will be in contact with you regarding the date and time of your enrolment interview once handing in your information. If you have any questions, please call the school office on 3340 0777.

Click here for Prep 2023 Enrolment Information flyer.

Special Events Under 8s Day – Now running Tuesday 2^nd August

All students in Prep to Year 2 will celebrate Under 8’s day taking part in a practical workshop, with Megan Forward, exploring how urban design, backyard garden and local communities can embrace sustainability and ecology. All students will read the picture story book, “A Patch From Scratch” before hand in preparation. https://www.facebook.com/meganforwardauthorillustrator

In previous years, Under 8’s day was an open community event, however, due to COVID and natural disasters, we have decided that students would benefit from a lesson that is hands on, facilitated by Megan Forward, that links with the Australian Curriculum. This will be in school learning time.  

Alice Harvey
Deputy Principal Prep-2 

Welcome to Term 3.

Inclusive education means that students 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 school culture, policies and daily practices.

Communication is valued and vital in maintaining appropriate supports for every student. Parents and class teachers communicate and liaise in regard to supports for our students. Parents are encouraged to contact the class teacher at any time in regard to their child.

Quality Differentiated Teaching Practice 

Inclusion requires the rethinking of curriculum delivery and demands a strong understanding and employment of explicit evidence-based teaching practices, that are defined by the whole school pedagogical framework. Our teachers plan for every student to participate and learn, with the support of reasonable adjustments, access arrangements and differentiated curriculum and pedagogy whilst, creating a culture of successful and diverse learners.

Students with disability are supported through active monitoring and adjustments that are not greater than those used to meet the needs of diverse learners. These adjustments are provided through usual school processes, without drawing on additional resources. Students with a medical condition whose learning and support needs are met through usual processes (e.g. whole-school professional learning) and active monitoring by school staff are included in this category. These students may have a plan in place to support monitoring of their condition. Their identified needs would be subject to close monitoring and review.

 Additional Supports and External Services on site visits

Our students participate in subjects and may receive support provisions depending on their ability level, with the guidance and direction of teachers, teacher’s aides, tutors and/or external trainers and assessors.

External service providers are welcome on site with parent consent and Principal Approval. Our school adheres to all safety protocols and training, requiring documentation to be approved by the Principal prior to commencement on site. Please contact your child’s class teacher if you would like more information.

 NDIS Plans. Some students have a current NDIS plan. Parents are encouraged to share any reports with the school to ensure the supports being implemented are current and accurate for the student.

 Nationally Consistent Collection of Data- NCCD

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) takes place every year. The NCCD is a collection that counts

• the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability
• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.

 Students are counted in the NCCD if they receive ongoing adjustments at school due to disability.

This ‘help’ allows them to access education on the same basis as a child without disability.

The NCCD uses the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. All schools provide this information to education authorities.

The data collection will be submitted by the 12^th August.

Yours in Education

Brigette Cannons
Head of Inclusion

2022 Facilities Update

We were fortunate to receive some funding this year in the School Refresh Program and have been working hard on improving learning spaces for our students.

 Over the Winter holidays we had the Year 4 block painted internally and new functional furniture installed to the appreciation of our staff and students in those rooms. The rooms are now lighter and brighter and set up to suit our evolving staff and students needs.

Much needed new carpet was installed in the Prep H and Prep B rooms. They will be painted internally in the next holidays and are also expecting new furniture later in the term.

A new rubber surface for the Prep playground is on order and will be installed later this term, creating an updated look and safer play area for our youngest students.

We have also invested in our grounds this year by adding Greg to our Facilities team, who is doing an amazing job in bringing our gardens back to life and is a great assistant to Floyd our school’s officer.

This all adds to making our learning environment an inviting one for our students to spend time in.

Wendy Grocott
Business Manager

CHAPPY CHAT

Next up regarding RESILIENCE…. gleaned from the work of Maggie Dent in her booklet Building Children’s Resilience - One building block at a time, is the impact of safe and nurturing care within the circle of family.

Build life skills.

All children learn, grow and master life skills at differing rates.  There is no competition in raising children.  The life skills toolkit starts from birth, and somethings the little things, like getting a drink of water when they need to, are the big things.  These small milestones build a child’s belief in their competence to finish tasks, which in turn helps build their self esteem.

Here are some suggestions for building life skills in your young people:

·         Invest time in the early years, teaching your child to dress themselves, clean their own teeth, get their own light snacks, wash hands independently, carry their own school bag.

·         Engage in conversation with your child, don’t talk at them but involve them in a chat

·         All children to experience failure and disappointment before offering comfort

·         Help your child learn appropriate humour, not at the expense of others

·         Expect your children to independently complete simple chores around the home

·         Avoid comparing siblings and never assume a child knows how to do something you think they should know

·         Avoid rescuing your child and be careful about doing too much for them – let them try!

WHAT’S ON…so much to be grateful for!

The Ripple Effect

This is a great opportunity to enjoy a night out with good food, good company, for a good cause!  Tickets are still available for the Ripple Effect fundraising dinner for the Rochedale cluster of school chaplains.  Come along to support Chappy Love (RSthSS), Chappy Em (RSHS), Chappy Vicki and Chappy Greg (RSS) and Chappy Adeline (EMPSS).  Bring a group of friends or colleagues to hear about the great work of school chaplaincy and how your donation can help a young person discover life! https://brushfire.com/sua/dinner/532358

Subway 26 July

The Subway orders were a success last Tuesday, thank you to all who were able to participate.

Colour Explosion Fun Run SATURDAY 27 August 2pm

Register now – limited places left!

Start your fundraising at myprofilepage.com.au

Blessings,

Cassie Love
School Chaplain: cassie.love@suchaplaincy.org.au  

0434 789 465 (direct work line)

ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 

​Well done to all students who participated in our Athletics Carnival days in the last week of Term 2. It was so great to see so many students wearing their house colours and competing with excellent effort and enthusiasm towards their track and field events and so many parents in attendance showing their support. We had some excellent results with 23 students qualifying to compete at the next level, the 10-12yr Logan District Athletics Carnival coming up in August. A big congratulations to Oxley who were the winning house of the Senior Carnival, and Cunningham who were the winners of the Junior Carnival. Below are some photos and results from the two days of competition. 

 Senior Athletics Carnival 

OXLEY     343 points 

LOGAN   290 points 

CUNNINGHAM  260 points 

 Senior Age Champions 

8yr Girls: Adelyn Scott        8yr Boys: Eli Storta 

9yr Girls: Isabella Ruhle      9yr Boys: Devere Hinds 

10yr Girls: Soulara Peters  10yr Boys: Sam Irvin 

11yr Girls: Isabella Stein    11yr Boys: Hendrix Seipel 

12yr Girls: Evie Smith    12yr Boys: Joel Cruickshank & Josiah Burdett

 Junior Athletics Carnival 

CUNNINGHAM  331 points 

OXLEY     314 points

LOGAN   284 points

Junior Sprint Champions 

Year 2 Girls: Lana Alispahic   Year 2 Boys: Aymen Alshahwani   

Year 1 Girls: Lilith Holt           Year 1 Boys: Eli Peters     

Prep Girls: Lillian Sheldrick    Prep Boys: Mateo Milic 

Marcus Stilianos
HPE Teacher    

Dear Parents

Welcome back to Term 3 -  how fast this year has flown by! It has been an interesting couple of years for our school, and also our P&C, as we have navigated the changes made throughout the pandemic.

Some of you may have seen me wandering about, chatting to parents out the front and also along the roadside of an afternoon, asking your thoughts and opinions about how we, as your P&C, can do better.

In doing so, I quickly discovered that many of our parents are still unaware that they can now enter school grounds before and after school, participate in classes as volunteers, assist in tuckshop and special events, etc.

Please, I invite you to once again to become active amongst our school community. Come in, be involved, feel welcome. We truly value our parents input in implementing change, improvements, etc around our wonderful school. We love the assistance from our parents to run the tuckshop, the regular fundraiser stalls through the year, and our bigger events like the sports carnivals, cross country and fun-runs. To volunteer across the school, just chat to our amazing staff in the main office who will direct you to fill out a quick form!

Keep an eye out in the coming days for our mid-year Raffle, with the prizes listed below.  This is an exciting opportunity to win YOUR choice of prize, and the proceeds will be going to our amazing tuckshop, which we are hoping to upgrade so that we can continue to provide an exciting variety of meals for your children.

1. Scooter

2. Girls art pack

3. Boys art pack

4. Picnic pack

5. Quartz wall clock

6. Steam toy train ,10 pass Lollipop’s voucher

Notes have been sent home to families last week. Money can be returned to the Tuckshop Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.  Tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. It will be drawn on the 31 August .

We will be running our Father’s Day stall in Week 8, if you would like to volunteer your time to help out with this, please send me an email at sorams@optusnet.com.au

We also invite you to come along to our P&C meetings. These are held once a month generally, and are a great way to see what we are doing in the school or help to make the changes you wish to see for your children!

The next meeting is Monday 29 August at 7pm in the Staffroom of the Admin Building, and I genuinely hope to see you there.

Danara Blom (secretary) on behalf of
Sarah Haslam
P & C President

UNIFORM SHOP -

Uniform Shop hours:  8:30 - 9:00 Monday & Tuesday 

TUCKSHOP

Trading Hours 8.40-2.30

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday (Closed MONDAY)

Ekka Meal Deal Day will be occuring in Week 6.  Order forms will be sent home next week.

Melissa Treacy
Tuckshop and Uniform Convenor

2022 Enrolments are now available online.

Would you like to enrol or have a tour please contact us.              E: ars@ymcabrisbane.org

M: 0437 332 970        P: 3841 6613                      

Important messages from your Coordinator

Lost Property

Are your kids missing water bottles, hats and jumpers? Chances are we have it. Our lost property treasure chest is bursting at the seams!

Enrolments & Bookings

The enrolment process is now exclusively online via QKEnrol, and bookings can be made via the My Family Lounge App. If you need to make or cancel a booking with us and the app is not working for you, please send us a text or email and we can make changes to your bookings on your behalf. Below you can find some details that will help with the new online process.

New parents or anyone who needs to register for use of QK Enrol or My Family Lounge can access registration through this website below:

https://www.ymcachildcare.com.au/rochedale-south.html

Existing parents can log onto this website below:

https://www.qkenhanced.com.au/webui/Account/Logon

Winter Holidays

The winter school holidays was the perfect example of why they say that time flies when you’re having fun. At Rochedale South we know how to make the most of each day, participating in all the fun and games that are on offer.

Kicking the holidays off with a burst of colour to brighten up the place, we made colour come alive! Our first excursion to Hercules Park in Hamilton was such fun! The kids spent three hours playing Tiggy on the giant playground until we had to tear them off to get back on the bus.

Our visit to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary was literally a real “hoot”, the bird show was spectacular to say the least. The groups loved exploring the parklands and all the wonderful creatures that call the sanctuary their home. The excursion was a great day out and a great end to what would be a wonderful fortnight of fun-filled adventures at Rochedale South YMCA.

The YMCA Rochedale South OSHC Team