Message from Shona

B E E S C R E E K

P R I M A R Y S C H O O L

Newsletter 0 9 / 0 3 / 2 0 1 7

89833222

Administration Hours: Monday—Friday 7.30am to 4pm During School Terms

T E R M 1 W E E K 6

Professional Development Ongoing learning is a fact of life for everyone but it’s particularly important for teachers because they have responsibility for the learning of others. The growing evidence about student learning and engaging teachers in highly effective profes-sional learning is very clear – it has profound implications for what is taught, how it is taught and how learning is assessed. Ongoing, targeted professional development is something we will continue to prioritise as a strategy to strengthen our teachers’ (and classroom staff) practice through-out their career. It comes in a variety of forms, including internal teams of teachers being provided time off class to focus on the needs of their students by learning and problem solving together to ensure all students experience success. This term we have been focusing on our student’s reading data, collaboratively working on strategies that will help students progress in their reading. Other forms of professional development include bringing experts into the school and working with teachers. For example this year we have Sue Carter from the Department of Education working with all teachers at set times throughout the year, on an online technology course to upskill our ability to integrate technology in a purposeful and meaningful way. Other forms of professional development see teachers participating in workshops exter-nal to the school. For example, several teachers participated in a whole day behaviour management course at the end of last year, providing the teachers with immediate, hands-on strategies

they could use in the classroom. We also have dedicated, pupil free days throughout the year, like the one we had in week 4 on how to create robust and enduring growth mindsets in our kids. Student Led Conferences We will be running Student Led Conferences towards the end of this term or early in term 2. We will let you know when we have a confirmed date. Student Led Conferences were introduced last year and were a great success – for parents, students and teachers alike. The conferences involve the parent(s) and child sitting together to share his or her reflections on achievements and challenges. Why Conduct Student-Led Conferences? Student Led Conferences: Requires students to evaluate

and reflect upon their work on a regular basis and identify what they do and do not understand about a given subject.

Facilitates students taking more responsibility for their own learning.

Helps students connect relevance of daily work and c o n t r i b u t e s t o t h e i r metacognitive growth.

Allows for ‘individual voice’ for students.

Uniforms It looks like our bucket hats are almost ready for distribution – YAY! We still don’t have an exact date but we have been reassured they will be here for next week. This process has been extremely disappointing and frustrating seeing as we put our order in, well

and truly before the end of 2016! The front office ladies have been measuring student’s heads, so for all those parents who have paid for a hat already – your child will be given a hat next week some-time – all ready with their names written on the inside. Hats will also be available for purchase from next week. Short Length Please be aware that we have also had the uniform policy amended and ratified at our last school council meeting, stating that shorts need to be at least mid-thigh in length. This applies to all our students, from Transition to Year 6. Robotic Assembly Luke the robot and his team of ‘robot handlers’ came to visit us at a special assembly on Tuesday morning. Luke is a personalisable and interactive robot. His human-oid shape and body movements give him life and he was able to demonstrate some of his moves, like performing a whole dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller! We also got to see how spheros work alongside some other robotic equipment. We have our own set of spheros at Bees Creek that we recently purchased, so we are looking forward to introducing them to students soon and giving them opportunities to program them. Hopefully this is just the beginning, and we look forward to bringing more programming and coding into our curriculum. Please turn to back page for photos. Shona Henderson Principal shona.henderson@ntschools.net

W A Y S T O H E L P

Please let the front office know if any of your contact details have changed

D A T E S T O

R E M E M B E R :

Friday 24th March AFL Try Day

Friday 24th March Netball Try Day

Friday 31st March Quiz Night

Friday 7th April Final day Term 1

Monday 17th April Easter Monday

Tuesday 18th April Students resume school

AFL & Netball Try days

Both try days

have been rescheduled for

Friday 24th March.

Reminders will be sent to all

students involved

Tues 14th - Thurs 16th March Transition Three-Way Conferences

P A G E 2

N E W S L E T T E R

We have some new special friends at Preschool, we are showing them all the fun things we do and how we play when we are at Preschool.

Preschool News

Our canteen manager is away next week. CAN YOU HELP. We are urgently looking for someone to help with the canteen next Thursday 16th March. Any help is appreciated, if you are available please contact the office on 89833222.

Once again we are selling the Entertainment Book. The books should be available early April. Why not make an early bird purchase, if you purchase a book before 5th April you will receive over $175 in early bird offers. Drop in to the office for more details or give us a call on 89833222. The Entertainment Book is wonderful value at only $60 for over $20,000 of value.

Please remember that the parking directly in front of the office is a KISS & GO ZONE ONLY. There is plenty of parking behind the kiss & go zone or over behind D Block near the bus stop. Please DO NOT leave your car if you are stopping in this zone.

Tables of 8, or single bookings can be made by returning your booking form, or via the front office. $10 per person, child minding available, and a great night out for everyone with heaps of prizes

to be won. Platters and curries will be avail-able on the night, BYO drinks and brainpower. Get your bookings in soon!!

The social event of the year is coming up

When: Friday 31st March at 7pm

Quiz Night Library News It was a very busy week in the library last week due to the Preschool fundraiser Book Fair. As usual, the children loved buying their own books and having a look. We also purchased some of the titles for the library. Happy Reading! Mrs. Dickson  

Caught Being

Good Last fortnight’s Caught Being

Good winners were:

Zack Atkins B1

Jake Cooper B4

Yianni Glynatsis B3

Well done everyone caught

being good.

Canteen Help Entertainment Book

Kiss & Go

entertainment

P A G E 3

T E R M 1 W E E K 6

Four Parenting Priorities for 2017 ly spruiked? Well, it's true. Physical and mental health are inextricably linked. So this year while we encour-age our kids to practise mind-fulness; get a good night’s sleep and ensure they relax and un-wind, let’s also make sure kids get plenty of physical activity, preferably outdoors. 3. Put the spoon back in the drawer As reported in Fairfax Media recently, “In 1970’s only one in five under-30’s in Australia lived with their parents but now it’s one in two.” This high dependency of children and teenagers on adults is the exact opposite of what adults have done in the past, which is develop their children’s inde-pendence and achieve the most important parenting outcome of all – their own redundancy. In 2017 remove the spoon, put it back in the drawer and make independence building a high priority in your family.

4. Put integrity top of the pedestal of character traits Every parent wants their child to have the strength and forti-tude to do the right thing and not follow the crowd. This is easier for young children be-cause the pull of the group and the allure of the media doesn’t have such a strong hold as it so often does in adolescence. Strong-willed children and those who like to have their own way can also find doing the right thing less of struggle. But the develop-ment of integrity and related traits such as respect, honesty and fairness is an important part of a child’s moral com-pass that will help him/her make smart decisions when you’re not around. Generally, integrity is developed in child-hood and put to the test in adolescence. Special note: I’m thrilled to announce that my latest book Spoonfed Generation: How to raise independent children is out . I t ’ s ava i lab le at parentingideas.com.au

The following four priorities are both current and significant, deserving to be top of the mind for parents as the 2017 school year begins. 1. Time to tackle technology It takes a lot of parental back-bone to swim against the cur-rent all-encompassing technol-ogy tide. You can’t hold it back, but you can slow it down. You can suggest it sits on the metaphorical shelf for a while or at least while you eat dinner together. You can insist that social media isn’t the only way to stay in touch with friends and show them that Dr. Google may be clever but he/she only knows so much and that accurate and current information can be found offline. When it comes to kids and technology, don’t be an onlooker. Make this a year for getting in the game with kids, tech boots on and all.

2. Promote physical and mental health Remember the old ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ maxim that past generations so fond-

School Attendance

Term 1 Week 5

By Michael Grose

“quoted”

Days absent per week Total school time missed by age 15

1 day of school missed per week

2 years of school missed

1.5 days of school missed per week

3 years of school missed

2 days of school missed per week

3 and a half years of school missed

3 days of school missed per week

5 and a half years of school missed

5 weeks of school missed in one term

4 and a half years of school missed

5 days of school missed per term

1 year of school missed

A1 98%

A2 97%

A3 97%

B1 88%

B2 97%

B3 95%

B4 95%

C1 93%

C2 95%

C3 92%

C4 92%

D1 94%

D2 98%

D3 91%

D4 91%

PR1 98%

PR2 77%

Children Must Go To School Every Day What missing one day of school every week add up to?

Late Notes Term 1 Week 5

91

Mega Merit Awards

5 Maxi Merit Awards = 1 Mega Merit

Awards will be handed out at this weeks assembly.

Maxi Awards Emily Kenyon Grace McDonald Isabella Darlington Alex Fuller Mackenzy Smith Taryn Harrower Hunter Lees Kim Aldenhoven Cody Grosvenor Emily Court

Shaun Murphy Jake Doody Daniel Murphy Ethan Gleeson Mega Awards Jessie McCall Olivia Hogbin Cody Grosvenor Shaun Murphy Emily Court

Maxi & Mega Merit Award Congratulations! Well done

everyone!

Maxi Awards 5 Mini Merit Awards = 1 Maxi Merit;

FYI Students from our A1 Walker & A2 Crockett will be

performing for you at this week’s

Assembly.

Meet Luke the Robot

Congratulations

To the following families who won dinner at Hogs Breath for paying

their Contributions by the 17th February

Kiev-Vy, Le-Vy & Nhat-Vy Duong

Bridie McDaid Lachlan Bandias