KSS_Newsletter_W6T3
Principal Update
Friday 30th August is a Student Free Day.
The school will be closed on this day.
** Before School Procedures **
Thank you to all of our students who enter the Hall of the morning or wait in the Undercover Area in Prep each morning. We notice that they are doing a really good job of being safe and responsible in the mornings. This really sets the students up to have a successful day, when their day starts smoothly. It is also a great opportunity for staff to pass on messages to students.
I have spoken with some parents and carers already, but I also wanted to remind everyone that parents/carers who are waiting before school with their children are asked to wait in the Library Alcove. This will allow the path to remain clear so that staff and students can enter and leave the Hall of the morning unobstructed. This also allows students, who are waiting with their parent / carer, to join in on the class line as the teachers and classes leave of a morning. This will also allow the entry to the Hall to remain clear, as students and staff can enter and exit the Hall safely. Parents and carers who like to access breakfast at school are still welcome to, but you are asked to do so, then wait in the Library Alcove. Thank you for keeping these areas clear for staff and students to transition safely, as they start their school day.
** Appropriate ways to raise a concern **
In the event that you have a concern that needs addressing, I encourage you to raise it with staff in an appropriate manner. You are requested to contact the staff in the Administration Office so that a message can be passed on to the appropriate person. This will allow for the concern to be addressed and staff to have the time to respond when they are able. Approaching staff in the morning when they are about to start supervision, are in the middle of supervision, or at the end of supervision, is not an appropriate time to do this.
If your concern is of an urgent nature, please contact the Administration Office as soon as possible to make a time to discuss. This will respect your concern by allowing staff the time to address your concern when they are able to do so. I have attached the Parent Community Code of Conduct below to show how parents and carers can support safety by ensuring their communications and conduct at the school is respectful.
Attendance at school matters. We understand that at the moment, there is some sickness in the community. If your child is unable to come to school due to illness, please notify the Administration Office or respond to the daily text messages that get sent from the school.
Robyn Marshall
Principal
Deputy Principal Update
Term 3 Week 6 has rapidly arrived and about to end with lightening speed. The Ekka season appears different without the gusts of winds in the sideshow alley but have been replaced by wet weather. With this in mind we acknowledge the work of our students and teachers using the values of resilience and empathy in their classrooms and around the school as we adjust to the wet weather.
As we move through this term our focus as always is creating a safe learning environment as one of the priority areas at Kingston State School. In creating these environments our PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning) focus has been centred around ‘being respectful’. We have been actively involved with our community partner REBOOT whose director Sarah Ralston has collaborated with staff in supporting students to use social and emotional self-regulation tools to ‘Check in’ on wellbeing and locate their felling on a 1-5 scale.
We will look to deepen this work in Term 4 as we are introduced to the 3 Brains concept. We are excited about this partnership and the impact we believe will occur as we share these tools to support students to participate and engage in their learning.
REBOOT partnership
Sarah Ralston explains that Reboot creates calm brain-friendly learning environments with actively engaged learners. Reboot shifts the focus from behaviour management to behaviour development, and builds the skills critical to learning success; self-regulation, problem solving, metacognition and learning ownership. Help everyone develop the key social and emotional, and learning-how-to-learn skills needed to be both willing and capable of making the most of learning opportunities.
For more information on activities and resources these are available in the link below:
Bullying No Way 2024 ‘Everyone belongs’
The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence has a new name—Bullying No Way: National week of action. Bullying No Way Week, 12 to 16 August 2024, is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative and connects schools and communities to find workable solutions to prevent bullying.
The week gives schools and supporters flexibility to plan activities that suit their schedule—whether it's spreading awareness throughout the week or focusing on an impactful day or two.
Purple is the new hero colour representing Bullying No Way: National Week of Action and our commitment to standing against bullying.
For more information on activities and resources these are available in the link below:
Friday Clubs have landed!!!! Clubs are spaces where student curiosity, kinaesthetic connections, student agency, ability and gifts exploration and teacher student collaboration are but a few values that develop engagement. These values sit behind and drive our clubs where students in Year 3 to Year 6 participate each Friday afternoon in 12 Clubs of choice. This shared opportunity will run for 5 weeks and students then rotate to different clubs for the remainder of the term. Special thanks to our staff and Mrs. Jos (HoDC) for organising this amazing initiative.
Carl Toma
Year 3 - Year 6 Deputy Principal
Head of Department - Curriculum Update
This week we celebrated National Science Week. On Wednesday our classes participated in a range of hands-on experiments and activities to deepen students’ knowledge about animal survival.
Year 6 and Prep explored camouflage and how butterflies and caterpillars use this for survival. In Year 6 designed their own camouflage butterflies for the classroom and our Preppies made camouflaged caterpillars. Year 2 investigated how bees pollenate flowers and Year 4 investigated the human and environmental impacts on the world’s turtle population.
Next week we celebrate Children’s Book Week. This year’s theme is “Reading is Magic” and we look forward to celebrating the magic of reading with your children.
A reminder that our annual Children’s Book Week Character parades will be held on Wednesday, August 21st. The Prep – Year 2 parade will commence at 9:30am and the Year 3 – 6 parade will commence at 11:30am. Both parades will be held in the hall.
If you have a beginning or struggling reader at home, we invite you to attend our reading workshop. This session will provide you with information about how reading is taught at Kingston and how you can help your child at home. Sessions will be run at 9am and 3pm in our library on Thursday 22nd August. We hope to see you there.
We will round off Children’s Book Week with a Teddy Bears’ Reading Picnic on Friday. Students are invited to bring along their teddies and read a book during first break.
We look forward to seeing you all at these events.
Tabitha Jos
Head of Department - Curriculum
P and C Update
AUGUST MEETING: Wednesday 21st August 2024 3pm-4pm held in the P&C Room. Everyone is welcome.
Want to stay up to date with what’s happening within our school in regards to the P&C? Make sure to LIKE and FOLLOW our Facebook page. Check out the link below:
The P and C are the Kingston State School parent and community group.
We wanted to introduce ourselves to you and take the opportunity to build our volunteer base.
The current P&C for the 2024 school year has 7 active members and 3 of those being on the Executive Committee – Sonya, Kirsty and Amalia. We are all supporting the school and the families by volunteering our time. Each of us have children who attend this school and are working together to assist the school in providing feedback on school policies and activities and raising much needed funds for additional resources to be used to enhance student learning.
As volunteers, we work very hard for the children to have positive experiences in and around the school. From organising fun days like Pyjamas Day, discos and Fun Runs to running the tuckshop and uniform shop. We also support the families by subsidising the cost of excursions for example, bus hire for Year 6 camps.
Needless to say this can all get very busy, so we are hoping to grow our volunteer base. This is so we can continue to provide all of our families with nutritious meals in the tuckshop and supporting special events like the upcoming Father’s Day stall.
So we are asking you this, CAN YOU HELP WITH JUST 1 THING?
- Can you spare an hour to help in the tuckshop or Father’s Day stall?
- Can you volunteer your time to help with the Colour Splatacular?
- Are you great at writing grant applications?
- Can you donate non-perishable items to the tuckshop?
- Do you have empty containers lying around your home that you can donate to our containers for change program?
- Do you have a flare for creativity and could make/create items to donate to our stalls to sell for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day?
- Do you have a super talent that can help us but from home or off-site?
Did you know....
- in 2023 we fundraised over $15,000 from Containers for Change and School Run for Fun for the purchase and installation of the chilled and filtered water station outside the library?
- We have big goals for the second half of 2024... but we need more help. Both with events and in our daily operations of the tuckshop (Food prep, taking orders, cleaning... anything helps!)
If you can help in ANY way, please email pandc@kingstonss.eq.edu.au.
Upcoming FUNdraising events:
Get your Colour on, Kingston State School P&C is hosting a Colour Splatacular Run 4 Fun!
Our Colour Splatacular Run 4 Fun will be on Friday 4th October 2024 from 1.30pm.
Students have received a sponsorship book with instructions on setting up their cybersafe, online fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au This is an entirely online fundraiser; all cash donations must be converted to online donations to redeem your prizes.
Extra Incentives to Fundraise!
- Online Golden Coins – complete fun online tasks to redeem an extra $75 towards your prize credit.
- Monty the Monstar’s Bonus Prizes – achieve milestones to unlock Monty’s bonus prizes.
- $10,000 Budget Booster Bonanza Spending Spree for one organisation’s highest fundraising student.
Please contact the P and C if you can help in any way.
Father’s Day Stall
This is a special opportunity for students to purchase a special gift or two for their dads or father figures. The P&C will be hosting our Father’s Day stall Wednesday 28th August and Thursday 29th August. To make this event a success, we NEED your help! We’re seeking volunteers to assist at the stall during the following times Wednesday 9:30am – 1pm and Thursday 9.30am – 1pm. Whether you can spare an hour or the whole day, your help would be greatly appreciated.