21 July 2021

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Welcome back to Term 3. I hope you all had an opportunity to have some special family time over the school holiday break and that you children are rested ready for the start of a new semester of learning. Mrs Odorico is on long service leave and will return in week 3. We hope she has a well-deserved holiday break.

Semester 1 Academic Report Cards were emailed to all families last Wednesday. This provides parents an opportunity to see how your child is performing in the first half year of learning. It also provides an opportunity to celebrate the successes of your child and refocus on future goals for Semester 2. Class teachers are available over the next three weeks for parent teacher interviews which gives you the opportunity to look in more specific details at your child’s academic strengths and future learning goals. Please contact your child's teacher via email or Class Dojo to book an interview time.

Moving into this semester we will continue our school wide focus on writing so that our children can confidently meet the writing demands of the Australian Curriculum.

Inclusion likewise will continue to be a focus across the school with differentiated learning using high yield strategies personalised to students’ learning needs.

We will also continue our work on the full implementation of the Australian Curriculum with teachers embedding the skills of General Capabilities including ICT Capability and Critical and Creative Thinking.

Thank you also to our parents and school visitors for your excellent response to the Covid 19 restrictions currently in place when visiting our school. Updates will continue to be provided by email to all of our families as restrictions change.

I would also like to acknowledge the following special learning opportunities that our students have been involved in over the last few weeks:-

• At the end of last term our Year 1 students enjoyed a Star Lab Science incursion (mobile planetarium) exploring deepening their understanding of our solar system.
• Our school community acknowledged Reconciliation Week and last week celebrated NAIDOC Week with the theme ‘Heal Country’. We have taken the opportunity to reinvigorate the Indigenous Garden area and have a planting program of local native plants with indigenous relevance allocated for the garden. Thank you to our local MP Shane King who visited our school during our NAIDOC Week celebrations.

• The Year 4 students participated in the inaugural Student Wellbeing Survey developed by the Department of Education. We are seeking to use this data to identify key wellbeing messages from our students and to use this cohort of students to track wellbeing data over time.
• The Australian Early Development Census was completed for Prep students with the data used at a community level of identify and align community resources according to identified areas of developmental vulnerability.
• Our Middle Singers and the Performance Choir performed in the Choral Fanfare Regional Final in Caloundra. Performances were outstanding and our students are to be commended for their achievements. Thank you Mrs Curcuruto and Mr Martin for leading our students to this standard of excellence.
• Our Robotics Teams participated in RoboRave at Sippy Downs University winning the Spirit of RoboRave Team Award. Teams also participated in the local RoboBay competition bringing home a variety of awards from the day. The children have thoroughly enjoyed these challenging experiences. Thank you Mrs Rowley for providing our students with these exciting opportunities.
• Our Year 3/4 and 5/6 Pentathlon Days were hosted in Term 2 with our sprint finals being held last Wednesday afternoon. Students thoroughly enjoyed their sporting opportunities taking time to celebrate their own and peer performances on the day. While there was a slight weather impact for the senior students it worked out in the end. Congratulations to Mundi House for being the overall House Champions in 2021.
• The Term 2 Colour Run PBL celebrations were a huge success with over 95% of all students participating in the events. We are very proud of our students and are often commended on their exemplary behaviour both in and out of the school. Check out this great photo sent in by one of our parents of the culminating colour explosion during the event.

• Term 2 concluded with a visit from the Qld Treasurer, the Honourable, Cameron Dick and Member for Kurwongbah, Shane King. The special guests experienced a school tour including the playgroup, Cooler Schools Program, ramp project, Year 6 GLA and spent considerable time with our Robotics teams and Year 5 Science Expo. I would like to thank the Minister for his visit and time with our school community.

Yours in education,

Craig Waldron
Acting Principal

New Students

A special welcome is extended to Louise (MA2), Samala (SE1), Armani (MB1), Summer-Lea (SF1) and Pearl (JC1) who joined the Kurwongbah School community recently. We hope you enjoy your time at Kurwongbah and we look forward to parent support with P&C and class activities.

Parade Presentation

Well done to the students of Junior F, Mrs Kent, Mrs Bartlett and Mrs Skelson who presented an informative and entertaining parade presentation on the life cycles of meal worms, frogs and butterflies. The students spoke very confidently on the topic and showed detailed understanding of the scientific work they have been learning about in class.

Student of the Week

Top Kurwongbah Kids

Congratulations to the following students who have recently received Top Kurwongbah Kids Awards by showing our School Values:

TERM 2 WEEK 10

Top Kurwongbah Kid – Term 2 Week 10

TERM 3 WEEK 1

Top Kurwongbah Kid – Term 3 Week 1

Date Claimers

Due Dates for Payments

Semester 2 Staff Changes

• Mrs Shirley will replace Mrs Turner in the library for the first 4 weeks of Term 3.
• Mr Hamlin (Percussion) returns from leave during Term 2.
• Mrs Odorico is on leave until 23 July replaced by Mr Waldron. Mrs Davidson is Acting Deputy Principal during this time.
• Mrs Harris (Senior C) is on leave and is replaced by Mrs Mazzer.
• Miss Aland (Senior E) is on leave until the 6th August replaced by Mrs Shesgreen..
• Mrs Hodgson (Middle E) is on maternity leave until 10 Dec replaced by Mrs Neilson.
• Mrs Lane (Senior B) is on leave until 23 July replaced by Mrs Franks.
• Mr Lukac will assist Mr Henry with Facilities Officer duties through until 6th August.

2022 Prep Enrolments

We are now taking names of Prep students for 2022. Children who were born between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017 are eligible to commence prep in 2022. Parents are invited to contact the school office (34814333) if they are intending to enrol their child at Kurwongbah for Prep in 2022. Enrolment interviews for Prep 2022 commence this week. Please contact the school for further information.

Airconditioning Update

School Air-conditioning installations in all classrooms across the school were completed last week. This marks a significant milestone for our school and will certainly assist students to focus on their learning in a comfortable classroom environment when the warmer weather commences.

Term 3 School Opinion Survey

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys are now available online and will close on 30 July 2021. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (5 and 6) are invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve. Year 5 and 6 students will be completing their surveys in class on laptops over the next two weeks.

An invitation to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey has now been emailed to one parent/caregiver per family in the week beginning 5 July. The invitation was sent from the Department of Education, not the school, and it will have the subject line School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2021. Check your junk email folders if you can’t find it. The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation is received and will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.

Semester One Student Academic Reports

Semester One student reports were emailed to all families last Wednesday 14th July. Please take the time to share the report with your child and celebrate their successes and achievements in the first half of the year as well as discussing some future goals that you would like your child to further develop. Class teachers are available over the next three weeks to have a parent teacher interview should you wish to book a time. Please contact your child’s class teacher directly via email or Class Dojo to book an interview time.

Academic Awards Criteria 2021 – Semester 1

The aim of the Academic Awards is to acknowledge excellence in academic results in students from Years 3-6. Awards will be presented to students on Friday parade on the 23rd July. Parents of students receiving awards will have received an invitation to attend over the last few days.

• All awards are based on Semester One achievement results.
• Across the Key Learning Areas, the Arts and Music are combined and averaged as one Key Learning Area. Health and PE are also combined and averaged as one Key Learning Area.
• Awards are calculated on the following points – A = 5, B = 4, C = 3, D = 2 and E = 1.
• Key Learning Areas are: English, Maths, Science, HASS (History and Social Sciences), Technologies, HPE, The Arts, and LOTE (Year 5/6)

The criteria is as follows:-

Voluntary Contribution

Voluntary Contribution is a vital part of the Kurwongbah P&C’s commitment and helps to fund reading books, maths & science consumables, art consumables, digital resources, sporting equipment and positive behaviour learning program resources.

You can make a financial contribution to the school by completing the attached form and forwarding with payment to the school office. The contribution equates to $1 per week for the 40 weeks of the school year.

Kurwongbah Kids Playgroup

Term 2 Overview

Our Kurwongbah Playgroup has grown over this last term. We meet on a Friday morning up near the Sports Hall and walked together down to the Prep Playground for our outdoor activities. At this time, the children utilise the sandpit and obstacle course areas before we return to the Sports Hall and complete our indoor activities that is based around a theme that is celebrated within the school or the community. This last term, we have celebrated our Mothers for Mother’s Day, visited the Library, meet Mrs Rowley and her robots, joined in Music time with Mrs C and enjoyed many fine and gross motor activities.

Term 2 Playgroup Activities

Covid 19 Restrictions

A reminder that Covid 19 restrictions have been extended for a further 7 days and are now in placed until 6am on Friday 23rd July.

• All adults, including parents & volunteers, are required to wear a face mask if they cannot socially distance on school grounds (e.g a gathering of adults in a staff room if they cannot socially distance in the room)
• Students are not required to wear a mask at school or when travelling on school transport.
• School staff are not required to wear masks when working with children.
• Parents/carers are discouraged from congregating in or around the school, in the car park, at drop off and pick up, outside classrooms or at the school gate.
• Remember to stay home if you're sick and get tested if you have any symptoms.
• Students will continue to use hand sanitiser in their classrooms and students will also have access to soap and hand washing facilities.
• Additional school cleaning will occur of high touch areas such as toilet areas and drinking bubblers during the day.
• At this stage, we will continue to hold our Friday assemblies. Due to COVID guidelines, all adults attending our assemblies, please check in using the QLD Check in App which will be on display in the hall and mask up (should you be unable to physically distance from those outside your immediate family). As we are unable to exceed the occupant density limits in our buildings, only invited parents (parents of students receiving awards or classes having parade presentations) are to attend.

National Consistent Collection of Data

Collecting data on school students with disability helps teachers, Principals and education authorities support the participation of students with disability in schooling on the same basis as students without disability.

All Australian Governments have agreed to work together on the annual collection of data on school students with disability.

Please be reassured that the Department will not provide to another organisation any data that can identify an individual student. The only data being collected at the school level to be reported nationally is the:

• number of students in the school who are provided with an adjustment to address a disability;
• level of adjustments we provide for those students; and
• broad category of disability.

Consultation with parents is important not only for the data collection but also to ensure you are aware of the adjustments being provided to support your child. We will therefore continue to consult with you.

While only data that cannot identify your child will be submitted outside of the Department, if you do not wish for your child’s details to be included, please let your child’s teacher know.

Information and fact sheets are available to help you make a decision from the:

• Department’s website: https://education.qld.gov.au/about-us/reporting-data-research/data/disability-data-collection
• Australian Government Department of Education website: http://education.gov.au/nationally-consistent-collection-data-school-students-disability

Alternatively, if you have any queries about the collection or use of this data I encourage you to contact the Head of Inclusive Practice, Cameron Brown, directly.

Safety Tips Online

The 5 R’s:

Realise – people you chat with may not be who they say they are.
Refuse – requests for personal information.
Review – make sure you know all your contacts.
Respond – close the program quickly if you do not feel comfortable.
Report – to a trusted adult any on-line contacts you feel uncomfortable about.

It is important for parents and carers to remind children regularly about these tips for on-line safety.

After School Activities

There are a number of new external companies running programs at Kurwongbah SS after school in Term 3. A summary of these activities,

NAB AFL Auskick

AFL AusKick program will be running at Kurwongbah SS on a Wednesday afternoon in Term 3, starting 28th July.

Richards Football Academy

Richards Football Academy program will be running at Kurwongbah SS on a Tuesday afternoon in Term 3, starting 27th July.

Chess Mates

Do you want your child to experience the benefits of learning chess while still having fun along the way? Designed especially for children in Prep and above, our chess classes are fun, interactive, and tailored by our teachers to suit the students in each class. While your child will still learn that winning can be fun, they’ll also learn a whole lot more! In fact, chess can help your child develop socially, academically, and emotionally.

To book, please go to the link below Kurwongbah State School is under North Brisbane.

To know about what we stand for, our founder Ash did a TEDx talk at UQ last year. Here is a link to it -

Australian Acting Academy

Acting classes to recommence on Friday 23rd July for Term 3:

To book, visit the website below or contact Australian Acting Academy at hello@actingacademy.com.au for further details.

League Stars

League Stars commenced their 6 week program on Monday. To register, visit their website or contact Jesse Naumann on 0447 037 934 or email jnaumann@nrl.com.au.

School Parking Patrol Program – Moreton Bay Regional Council

Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) Local Laws Unit undertakes a School Parking Patrol Program where officers complete scheduled school patrols, both in the morning and afternoon, to ensure that vehicles are parked in a safe and lawful manner. The primary aim of the program is to ensure that students and family members/caregivers are able to safely move around the school area as part of dropping off or picking up students from the school.

The Moreton Bay Regional Council Local Law No.5 (Parking) 2011 and Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1999 control parking or stopping of vehicles on footpaths, bicycle paths, marked yellow lines, shared paths, dividing strips and nature strips, along with vehicles parking across residents driveways and within ‘No Stopping’, ‘No Parking’, and ‘Bus Zones’ and Pick-up / Drop -off zones. Council is legally required to enforce these areas and the School Parking Patrol Program forms part of this process. Drivers are reminded that footpaths and nature strips are in place to promote pedestrian movement in a safe manner along roadsides and that drivers and residents must not stop on a bicycle path, shared path, dividing strip or nature strip. Please also note that vehicles that are parked with two wheels up and two wheels down is not considered as a lawful parking practice.

Local Laws officers conduct enforcement through the issuance of Penalty Infringement Notices as part of each School Parking Patrol. Please be aware that Council officers may take photographic evidence of vehicles stopping or parking illegally with Penalty Infringement Notices to be issued via mail at a later date to the offending vehicle’s owner.

Visit the link below for further guidance on parking restrictions.

For any further information, members of the School community are welcome to contact Moreton Bay Regional Council on 3205 0555.

STEM & Enrichment Education News

Makerspace Lunchtime Timetable

RoboBay Moreton Bay Robotics Competition

Congratulations to the students who attended the RoboBay Moreton Robotics Competition in the last week of Term 2. The students received fantastic results with three teams making it to the quarter finals and the Year 4-5 team, Fearsome Fighters, winning the SumoBot event overall. The Mood Queen team came second in the A-Maze-ing event and the Mighty Dominators won a prize for building their robot to the exact weight limit of 1kg! The teams won some great prizes of a Lego Education Spike Robot and a Merge cube for the school. Thank you also to the parents providing transport and supervision on the day!

Buy $mart

Year 5 enrichment students are participating in a financial literacy competition this term creating projects for their peers to teach them about safe shopping, online scams and budgeting tips. The Office of Fair Trading runs the Buy Smart competition and there are great cash prizes to be won! Kurwongbah has participated in this for many years. Some winning entries have been safe shopping tips presented on a calendar, a video with a rap song about how to shop around and spend wisely and placemats about budgeting. Entries need to be submitted for judging by Week 9 of Term 3. If you would like to participate on your own, please come to library for a competition form.

Premier’s 2021 Coding Challenge

The 2021 Premier’s Coding Challenge is on again! This challenge offers great prizes of coding and robotics kits and an excellent opportunity for students to create some interactive and innovative coding to raise awareness of digital wellbeing.

This can include themes such as:

• work and study life balance
• postural considerations of using technology
• personal security and safety online
• adhering to social media ethics and protocols.

Entrants from Year 3 -6 can develop an app, game, animation or website, and they must submit a short video showcase with their entry.

For more information see the teachers in the library or visit the link below for more details.

Entries close on the 17th September 2021.

Telling Stories Writing Competition

The ‘Telling Stories’ Writing Competition is organised by Mooloolaba Rotary in partnership with the Creative Writing Program from the University of the Sunshine Coast and Voices on the Coast. This competition is on again and open for students from Year 4-6. Students are to write their own story with the title being – ‘I should have waited.’

Entries are due on 23rd August and there are great cash prizes to be won. Please see the Library for an entry form or visit the below website.

Physical Education & Sports News

Term 3 Sports Calendar

Pentathlon Wrap-Up

Congratulations to all students on some wonderful efforts during the Pentathlon days at the end of Term 2. Unfortunately we were unable to schedule our finals at the time or acknowledge our event winners and age champions. These are included below for your reference.

• 8 Years
• 9 Years
• 10 Years
• 11 Years
• 12 Years

Book Club News

Hi Families!

Book Club Catalogues for Issue 5 have been distributed to classrooms. All orders are due back by Thursday 29th July.

How Book Club Helps Your Child’s School

Every time you place a Scholastic order, your School is being rewarded! For example, for every Book Club order you place, Scholastic receives 20% of your total order spend to your school as Scholastic Rewards. This allows the school to purchase books and resources for your child’s classroom and the library, helping students reach their highest potential.

How To Order

The Book Club LOOP platform for parents allows you to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school and the books will be delivered to your child’s class. You can place your child’s order at the link below or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.

Cash orders can be handed into the library. Simply fill out the order form on the back of the catalogue, place the form and the exact cash amount (no change given) into an envelope or clip seal bag and drop off to the LIBRARY ONLY!

Julie Collins
Book Club Coordinator

School Banking News

The Commbank School Banking program has now ceased. Thank you to all the families that have supported the program throughout the years.

A huge thank you also to the volunteers that have assisted with the banking program throughout the years.

YMCA OSHC

Welcome back families! We hope that everyone had an enjoyable break.

The beginning of this term marks the one year anniversary of YMCA Kurwongbah OSHC and we are so excited and grateful for this celebration. We want to take the opportunity to thank the school, families and children for allowing us to be part of this fantastic community. We look forward to many more years of fun times to come!

Last week we had a celebration with cake and party games for our children and towards the end of this term we will be holding a family barbeque for everyone to enjoy. In the meantime, we will return to our play filled mornings and afternoons!

We have reached full capacity on a few afternoons and have very limited places for remaining afternoons. Please email or call the service on the details below for bookings.

We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions, so feel free to email us or drop by the YMCA office for a chat.

The YMCA Kurwongbah Team
Phone: 0448 244 060
Email: akb@ymcabrisbane.org

P&C News

QKR App

A reminder that QKR is the new online ordering system for Tuckshop & Uniform Shop.

You can download the App from the App Store or Google play. Alternatively, you can use the web-based version of Qkr at the link below:

Fundraising News

Kurwongbah 80’s Disco Party

Come along and enjoy the fun. Food and merchandise will be available to purchase at both discos. Further details to follow closer to the event.

Tuckshop News

Welcome to Term 3. We have some exciting meal deals this term.

Term 3 Meal Deals

• Evie’s Swimming Meal $7.50
  Half Chicken Tender Wrap, Chocolate Mousse and Drink
• Shakiya’s Rugby Meal $7.50
  Ham and Cheese Pizza Slice, Watermelon Cup and Drink
• Sierran’s Build A Burger Box $6.00
  Beef Burger (Cheese – extra $1.00), Chocolate Mousse and Drink
• Tilly’s Taco Meal $6.50
  Beef Taco, Brownie and Drink (*Gluten Free Option Available*)
• Waldo’s Toastie Pack $7.00
  Ham and Cheese Toastie, Watermelon Cup and Drink
• Chappy’s Happy Meal $6.70
  4 Dino Nuggets, Brownie and Drink (*Gluten Free Option Available*)
  (Chappy would like to thank the school community for input to create her meal deal with special thanks to 3 yr 6 girls Jordan, Mila and Leila for coming up with the name)

The following meal deals will finish at the end of Week 4,

• Jaspaa’s Eat Me Box $6.50
  Beef pie, Brownie and Drink
• Lucas’s Energy Meal $6.50
  Sausage Roll, Brownie and Drink
• Makayla’s Softball Meal $6.50
  Cheese Pizza, Brownie and Drink

Please note, if you wish to upgrade your drink to flavoured milk, this will cost an extra 50c.

Daily Specials

Pizza Wednesday

• Margarita pizza $5.00
• Ham and Pineapple $5.00
• Mega Meat $5.50

Thursday Special

• Roast Chicken Special
  Roast Chicken, Baked potato, Vegies, Gravy and Garlic Bread $5.50

Ordering

While we are now in the swing of using our new online ordering platform QKR, we would like to offer any families having problems with this system some help. Please come see our friendly staff or email the tuckshop to arrange a phone call and we will talk you through how to order.

The preferred method of ordering is online via the QKR app, as all details of in stock items are available. We also accept over the phone orders and cash orders over the counter.

Cash

Tuckshop is once again accepting cash sales via the bag system and for over the counter items in break times.

Phone Orders

Parents can place a phone order, by phoning the tuckshop directly on 3481 4337 and paying by credit card. Cut off for phone orders is 9:00am.

Online Ordering

Parents can order via the online QKR app. Cut off for online ordering is 8:00am. Please ensure you have your child’s correct class, so your child’s meal is prepared and ready in the correct collection place.

Allergies

We currently cater for many students with allergies. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact our team and we will be able to give you up to date information regarding our products.

Tuckshop Hours

Sandra and Carol
Tuckshop Convenors
3481 4337
tuckshop@ksspca.qld.edu.au

Uniform Shop

The Uniform Shop is currently accepting phone orders Monday and Thursday 8.30am – 10.00am or email orders. Please include phone number. Orders will be packed and delivered on Mondays and Thursdays.

Parents are welcome to the uniform shop, however we still must maintain social distancing with only one family at a time in the shop.

Payment methods accepted Eftpos, credit card, direct deposit, and cash. You can also now order your uniforms online via the Qkr app.

Please see attached order form and price list.

Volunteers

If any parents can spare an hour to help out in the Uniform Shop it will be greatly appreciated. Please call Kay at the Uniform Shop or send an email to the address below.

Winter Orders

Our Winter jackets have arrived in stock, so we now have a full range of sizes. We also have all sizes in our Jumpers and Vests.

Hats

We are currently out of size Medium Bucket Hats. The Bucket Hats are on order and we are hoping to receive them soon.

We also have some size small older style hats which we are selling out at $10.

Second-hand Uniforms

Don’t forget that you can sell your second-hand uniforms through the Uniform Shop with 50% from the sale going to the P&C, which is spent providing better facilities for your children.  We have parents waiting for second-hand uniforms.

Ordering Through Uniform Shop

The following options are available:

1. Email Orders
   Email your order through to uniformshop@ksspca.qld.edu.au. This will be processed next time the Uniform Shop is open.
2. Phone Orders
   You can phone the Uniform Shop during open hours and pay by Credit Card.
3. Qkr! Online Orders
   Download the Qkr! App, or use the web-based version of Qkr at https://qkr-store.qkrschool.com/store

The preferred payment options are by Eftpos either by email order or over the phone by credit card or direct deposit.

Uniform Shop Hours

Delivery days are Monday and Thursday.

Thank you
Kay Mitchell & Kristy Milligan
3481 4323
uniformshop@ksspca.qld.edu.au

Containers for Change

Lawnton Swim Club – Sign On Day

Deception Bay Little Athletics – Sign On Days