7 December 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Yours in education,

Leanne Odorico
Principal

Student of the Week

TERM 4 WEEK 8

TERM 4 WEEK 9

Top Kurwongbah Staff

Top Kurwongbah Kids

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

TERM 4 WEEK 8

Top Kurwongbah Kid – Term 4 Week 8

TERM 4 WEEK 9

Top Kurwongbah Kid – Term 4 Week 9

Outstanding Students for Term 4

Each term, teachers nominate an Outstanding Student from their class. The nominee is a student who independently models our school values reflecting pride in themselves, pride in our school and displays care and concern for those around them.

We would like to acknowledge all nominated Outstanding Students for Term 4:

Term 4 2022 Outstanding Students

Date Claimers

Parade Presentations

In week 8, all of our Prep Students performed on Parade. Well done students on your very entertaining performances. Thank you for our Prep Teachers and Teacher Aides for organising the presentation and to the large number of parents who came to watch the performance.

Thanks to the Year 6 students and Teachers for a very entertaining reflection on their 7 years at Kurwongbah during their Parade Presentation last Thursday. The students spoke with such confidence and used humour very effectively. A great way to finish parade presentations for 2022.

Classes for 2023 and Children Leaving Kurwongbah

Students received letters on Monday indicating their Class Teacher for 2023. Parents whose child or children (other than Year 6 Students) who are leaving Kurwongbah at the end of the year please notify the office this week.

Staffing Update for End of 2022

This week we say farewell to a number of our staff who are leaving Kurwongbah at the end of this week. We thank you for your dedication and commitment to our students – just know that you have made a difference and you will be missed. Even though you are leaving you will always be part of the Kurwongbah Family.

Mrs Massie (Class Teacher Year 2) is on leave in 2023 pending retirement. Mrs Massie has been a long-term staff member at Kurwongbah since 2010.

Mrs Sutherland (IEC Teacher) is on leave in 2023 pending retirement. Mrs Sutherland has also been a long-term staff member at Kurwongbah since 2009.

Mrs La Burniy (Behaviour Teacher) leaves Kurwongbah at the end of this year. We wish you well in your travels in 2023.

Year 6 Graduation Ceremony

Last Friday evening, we formally farewelled our Year 6 students. The students received their Graduation Certificates and enjoyed a meal and disco with their friends and Kurwongbah staff. We are very appreciative of the efforts of Year 6 parents and family members who made the night so special for our students – decorations, catering, photo display and clean up. The students will long remember their Year 6 graduation at Kurwongbah State School.

Semester 2 Academic Reports and Academic Awards

Semester 2 Academic Reports were emailed to all parents on Monday. Please take the time to talk through the results with your child and celebrate their successes during 2022 and future goals moving into next year. Parents of students in Year 3-6 who have qualified for Gold or Silver Academic Awards in Semester 2 were contacted recently. The presentation will be on our final parade on Thursday 8th December.

School Uniforms this Week

During the final week school uniforms are to be worn on Monday-Thursday. Friday is clean-up day and students may wear free dress. Clothes must be sun safe.

Farewell Parade Thursday

All students from Prep to Year 6 will attend a special Farewell Parade for Year 6 students in the hall commencing at 8:55am. Year 6 students are asked to wear their Year 6 shirts. All other students are to wear their school uniform on this day. Academic Awards including the Amelia Lurie Award will also be presented on Parade.

School Watch

We are asking our community to report any suspicious activity in our school grounds during the holidays to the School Watch Team on 13 17 88. We take pride in our school facilities and trust you will work with us to prevent any damage occurring during the holiday period. We need to reduce vandalism, theft and arson within Queensland Schools.

School Holidays

The school summer holiday commences at the end of this week. The school office will re-open on Monday 16th January 2023.

2023

NAPLAN 2023

In March 2022, Education Ministers announced that NAPLAN testing would be moved to Term 1 from 2023. The 2023 NAPLAN testing dates are Wednesday 15th March 2023 to Monday 27th March 2023.

NAPLAN is used by governments, education authorities and schools to determine whether young Australians are meeting important goals in literacy and numeracy.

Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to sit the NAPLAN tests, which are held in Term 1 each year.

NAPLAN gives a snapshot of how children are performing in reading, writing, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and numeracy. It complements other effective classroom assessment and reporting practices.

2023 Booklists

Please find below the 2023 Booklist for your child. The list includes specific items that our teachers have found to be good quality and meet the curriculum requirements for the year ahead. Please note that use of the listed supplier 'MySchool Gear' is entirely optional. Families can purchase items individually from any stationery store but we do ask that you purchase the items and quantities listed.

Christmas Card Winner

Ethan was presented with an award by MP Shane King for his prize-winning Christmas Card design. Ethan’s design will grace the front of over 17000 local calendars sent throughout our local community. Thank you, Mr King and congratulations, Ethan.

Thank You

A huge thank you to everyone who has helped throughout 2022. The school could not run as smoothly without you! We have so many wonderful parents and carers that volunteer their time.

Eco-Marines News

This Year the Eco-Marines main goal was to reduce the amount of waste we depose of at Kurwongbah. This was achieved by successfully trialling multi-sort bins with Year 4-6 students. Due to sorting our waste, we managed to compost our garden beds and recycled over 5000 containers for change. Students also entered into the spirit of ‘Waste Free Wednesday’ which encouraged students to bring lunches that were wrapper free and develop good habits. Next year, the role of the Eco-Marines will be to expand the roll out of the multi-sort bins throughout the middle and junior school.

Some of the highlights from throughout the year included:

• Being elected an Eco-Marine and presented with our Eco-Marine shirt.
• Making a video to educate students on how to sort their waste using our new multi-sort bins.
• Our day trip to Tangalooma Island and meeting Eco-marines from other schools and feeding the dolphins.
• Attending the end of year celebration ‘The Wave’ where we were thanked for all our hard work this year.

Kurwongbah would like to acknowledge Asha, Chloe, Reuben and Rory for their commitment to the role as Eco-Marines and thank them for their efforts this year.

Kurwongbah Kids Playgroup

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for joining us in Term 4 for our Kurwongbah Playgroup. It has been a delight to have you and your family, a part of our Kurwongbah community, and we know it is a goodbye and good luck to some of our students entering Prep next year.

Our Kurwongbah Playgroup will be continuing in 2023. We will let you know as the school year begins our starting Friday’s date. It will be an exciting time to welcome you back in the new year.

We wish you a lovely break and special holiday with your family.

Alana Krogh and Melody Cross

Guidance Officer (GO) Greetings

Greetings Kurwongbah families!

Thank you to all the families, staff and students at KSS who have made me feel welcome during my first year at this school. The year seems to have flown by and I’m excited to share that I’ll be continuing as your GO in 2023.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer holiday break! However, sometimes things don’t go as planned... If you need support during the break, some useful contacts are shown below.

Olivia Devereux
Guidance Officer

STEM & Enrichment Education News

Makerspace Lunchtime Timetable

Congratulations to all students who participated in the STEM and Enrichment Education programs this year. Your efforts have been amazing and highly commendable!

KSS - Robotics SUMO Wrestling Competition

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Kurwongbah Robotics Sumo Wrestling Competition this term and to the winning teams of each class group. There were some amazing battles to the end!

Holiday Fun

Looking for some holiday ideas? See the websites below for igniting children’s learning, creativity and inspiration.

STEM Punks

Queensland Museum

Science Centre

First Aid News

Collection of Medication

Reminder for parents to collect your child’s medication from the First Aid Room by Friday 9th December 2022.

Medication 2023

If your child is having medication stored at school next year, please use the Christmas period to arrange a visit to your child’s GP/Specialist and ensure you have the necessary paperwork required by Education Queensland.

All medication you provide for the school to administer to your child must be prescribed by a doctor or other health practitioner such as a dentist or optometrist, including over the counter medications. The medication needs to be correctly labelled by the pharmacy and include the prescribing doctors name, your child's name, dosage and must be in its original container or box. For routine medication (medication taken at the same time every day) the pharmacy label must also reflect the time which the medication is to be taken.

Medication cannot be administered to any child where the appropriate documentation has not been provided as the school will be in breach of the Department of Education Administration of Medication in Schools Procedure.

Requirements for Medication

The Consent to Administer Medication Form is attached below. This form must be completed for any medication that is to be administered at school.

For any medications that are no taken on a daily basis such as antihistamines, allergy creams, topical creams and pain relief and do not require an action or health plan, a Medication Order to Administer as Needed Medication form must be completed by the prescribing health practitioner (Doctor, Dentist, Optometrist). This form is attached below.

Drop Off of Medication in 2023

If your child requires medication at school for 2023, please return the labelled medication and the necessary paperwork to the First Aid Room by Monday 23rd January 2023.

To avoid the congestion on the first day of school returning (Monday 23rd January 2023), First Aid will be open on Thursday 19th January 2023 between 8.30am – 3.00pm and on Friday 20th January 2023 between 8.30am – 10.00am. We highly recommend you take advantage of this to drop off any paperwork and medication.

If you have any questions regarding this or anything else, please call in to see us, ring First Aid on 3481 4335 or alternatively you can email us (see email address below) and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your time and assistance. I would like to wish you a safe and Merry Christmas.

Leigh Taylor
First Aid Officer

Book Club News

Thank you to all our families for your contributions to Book club throughout this year. Your wonderful support has given the Library many rewards throughout the year to purchase new books for our students to enjoy.

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday, looking forward to a great 2023.

Julie Collins
Book Club Coordinator

YMCA OSHC News

Happy end of term and end of school year!

YMCA is preparing for the school holidays coming up and summer holidays are the longest, so our program is packed full of fun. Bookings are open so if you need vacation care for the holidays you can make those bookings now. Please note we are closed from the 23rd December 2022 to the 2nd January 2023 (inclusive).

Miss Channon, Miss Kara and Miss Amy all had a wonderful, emotional time at the Year 6 graduation and wish all of the Kurwongbah Year 6’s good luck in High School, we will miss you all.

For those of you who we will not see over the school holidays, Merry Christmas and have a safe and happy holiday.

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

P&C News

The Kurwongbah P&C would like to thank all our volunteers who supported the P&C through the Fete, ANZAC garden refurbishment, the craft stalls, World Teachers Day, the Mid Year Night of Music, Spring Disco, End of Year Night of Music, the working bee demo day, Tuckshop, Uniform Shop, recycling competitions, Containers for Change, and more. Thank you for making a difference. Thank you for working together to build community spirit, while working towards the benefit of all the children at the school.

Hall Air Conditioning Project

The P&C are very proud to announce that our Hall air conditioning project has been given the green light and will be going ahead over the summer school holidays.

Over the past year, members of the Building Fund Sub Committee and School Leadership Team have been working to secure a Project Manager, scope the project, put the project out to tender, and have the tenders assessed and approved by Education Qld. We have now had our project and recommended builder approved. From Monday 12th December 2022 until Friday 20th January 2023, the Hall will be closed for the air conditioning installation.

This project is a significant contribution of approximately $165,000 in funds, and is an amazing facility upgrade for the school.

The money has been raised by the school community over the past five years through two school fetes, discos, donations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas stalls, pie drives and cookie dough drives.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, attended, ordered, and donated at our events and drives to raise this money. We are so very proud of the Kurwongbah community. It’s time to celebrate this amazing achievement!

Next P&C Meeting

The next P&C Meeting will be help on Wednesday 8th February 2023 at 6.30pm in the school Staffroom. All our interested parents and community members are encouraged to attend. New membership forms for 2023 will be emailed out in early February, and will also be available at the meeting.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Tuckshop News

We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our amazing families for all of your support in 2022. We hope you have a fantastic Christmas break.

Congratulations to our Year 6 students on graduating and wish you the best of luck at High School.

We look forward to seeing all our returning students, and meeting new students in 2023.

Just a reminder the Tuckshop will only be taking over the counter orders on Friday 9th December.

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

Uniform Shop

Parents are welcome to the Uniform Shop during opening hours with no appointment necessary. If you have an hour to spare and would like to volunteer in the Uniform Shop please email or call me, volunteers are urgently needed. We are very busy in Term 4 and any help will be greatly appreciated.

The Uniform Shop will be closed on Thursday 8th December for Stocktake. We will still be available to take calls for appointments for January 2023.

Back to School Appointments

We are now taking back to school appointments for January. Please refer to the below attachment for times available. Any emails send after Thursday 8th December 2022 will not be answered until 14th January 2023.

Second-hand Uniforms

We have a very good range of second-hand uniforms, all in excellent condition currently available in the Uniform Shop. If 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 always have parents waiting for second-hand uniforms.

School Backpacks

School backpacks are available for $50. These backpacks are chiropractic approved and have a guarantee for the full time your child is at school.

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 the link below.

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

Uniform Shop Hours

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

Containers for Change

Community Notices

Pine Rivers St Andrews Hockey Club – Sign on Day

Brothers North Netball

Kids Helpline – Free Program

Soccer X Kurwongbah Program 2023

Orienteering Queensland – 6 Days of Free Orienteering

Sing with Birralee 2023 – Enrolments Open

Joy Connection Program – Moreton Bay Regional Council

See Saw Theatre – Moreton Bay Regional Council