Goondi SS Newsletter 08.06.2022

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers,

The next big event on our calendar is next week’s Athletics Carnival.  Our students across all year levels have been practising and training over the last few weeks.  As in previous years, we will run some of the events on Wednesday (June 15^th) and the main carnival will take place on Friday 17^th.  On Wednesday, selected students will run the 200m, 800m and shotput.  On Friday, all other events will be held in the full carnival.  Parents, carers and families are welcome to attend.  On the day, we will meet on the Cavallaro Oval and hold our House War Cries at 8:50am.  The first event, sprints will commence at 9am. 

We are grateful to our P&C who are organising catering for the day.  Please look out for information from the P&C about what food will be available and how to order.  We are all looking forward to a great day. 

In the final week of this term, we will be visited by a team from Education Queensland’s “Education Improvement Branch” or EIB.  They will be spending 3 days at our school and will make recommendations for incorporation to our school improvement plan for the next 4-year period.

Below is some information on school reviews from Education Queensland:

Every Queensland state school is reviewed by the Education Improvement Branch (EIB) at least once every four years. The reviews play an important part in how the department supports school improvement. They provide schools with independent feedback, tailored to their context and needs. Principals use the review findings to work with their school community and assistant regional director (or principal supervisor) to develop clear actions to move the school forward.

Review teams generally consists of two to four reviewers, but the number of reviewers and length of each review depends upon a range of factors, including the size and context of the school. Reviewers look closely at each school’s performance data and speak with a wide range of staff, students, parents and community members to get an accurate picture of the school. Unlike many other review systems, schools aren’t ranked or given a performance rating. Instead, the school is given a comprehensive report for consideration. The report details key findings and recommended improvement strategies to maximise student outcomes. Principals are encouraged to share this information with their staff and school community to help shape the school’s strategic direction. 

At Goondi, the end of this term means teachers are working on assessing each child’s learning progress and on writing comments in preparation for the Semester 1 Student Reports.  Reports will be sent home on Tuesday June 21^st.

We encourage you to talk with your child about their report, discuss their success, their challenges and support them as they look forward to Semester 2.   It is great to be able celebrate accomplishments, but also so important to look at areas where a child can set achievable goals they can plan and aim for and feel success once achieved. 

Regards,

Peter Begemann

Principal

School Calendar

TERM 2 CALENDAR

School Events

Mon 20^th Jun – P&C Meeting at 5:30pm

Sport Events

Wed 15^th Jun – Inter-House 200, 800m, shot-put

Fri 17^th Jun – Inter-House Athletics Carnival

Other School News

We will be hosting a Raising Resilient Children Workshop next Wednesday 15th June here at school in the Arts room, if you would like to come along please book via the SOBS link below  https://eq.sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=70429

PREP ENROLMENTS FOR 2023

This year we will be again offering our Pre-Prep Program and a number of transition and information sessions for prospective Prep students and parents to ensure that our 2023 Prep students have the best possible start to their formal education at Goondi State School.

Is your child, or a child you know, eligible for Prep next year? We are taking enrolments from new students and students who have brothers or sisters attending the Goondi State School. They will automatically be offered a place in our 2022 Prep classes.  

We are also taking Expressions of Interest for children who live out-of-catchment and want to attend Goondi State School.  If there are vacancies, these students will also be offered a place in our 2023 Prep classes.  

Come to the office as soon as possible with your child’s details to complete an Expression of Interest form even if you are in-catchment. Our Pre-Prep program will begin in late August.

We will be holding a Prep information session early in Term 3 for both new and existing families of Goondi State School.  Details of this session will be advertised in this newsletter, Facebook and local media.

ATTENDANCE

As you know, coming to school every day is so important for our students to improve their learning, maintain friendships and feel a sense of belonging to the school and community.  In recent times, attendance has slipped, mainly due to the restrictions in place for COVID-19.  Now that most restrictions have eased, it is a great time to think about ensuring your child comes to school every day, unless sick. 

Our school attendance target is 95%.  At the moment, our actual attendance figure sits at 87%.  We encourage you to make every effort to have your child come to school each day so that they give themselves the best chance for a successful school year and a bright academic future.

INTER-HOUSE ATHLETICS

In case you missed it, here is the information again about next week’s Inter-House Athletics:

200m, 800m and Shot-put Events

The 200m, 800m and shot-put events for 9-12-year-old students will be held on Wednesday 15^th June. The morning will commence at 9:00 AM with the 9-year-old 200m event and conclude with the 800m.  Students are not to wear house colours on this day.

Athletics Carnival

Our Inter-House Carnival will be held on Friday 17^th of June. Please make every effort to arrive at school on to ensure that no student misses an early event. The program for the day is as follows:

8:50am - Students assemble in houses on the oval for war-cries

9:00am - Start

1. Age sprints (5yrs – 12yrs)
2. Tug-o-war ( Junior and Senior teams)
3. Morning Break (10:30 AM – 11:00 AM)
4. Field Events (9yrs - 12yrs) and Year 1-3 ball games
5. Field Events (9yrs – 12yrs) and Year 1-3 relays
6. Afternoon Break (12:30 – 1:00 PM)
7. Ball games Year 4-6 and Year 1-3 field events
8. Relays (9-12yrs)
9. All age relay
10. Parent/Staff relay – If time allows
11. Presentations
12. Clean up and dismissal

Students should wear house colours on the carnival day.  House colours are as follows:

Geraldton – yellow

Palmerston – red

Johnstone – green

Parents are reminded that Friday is a normal school day and all students are required to attend for the full day. If you need to take your child from school early, due to illness or other family commitments, the normal procedures apply and you will have to call in at the office and sign your child out.

REPORT CARDS

Report cards will be sent home in the last week of term on Tuesday 21^st June. As always, you are encouraged to make an appointment with your child’s teacher if you wish to discuss any aspect of the report card. If the report card recommends an interview, then it is critical that you make every effort to contact your child’s teacher and make an interview appointment early next term.

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION

This year, Religious Instruction is offered to our Years 1-2 students in Term 3. Students will be placed in religious instruction classes according to religious instruction consent on enrolment paperwork.

Parents and carers are reminded that religious instruction is not compulsory. Information will be sent home shortly with details of the religious instruction available at this school.

At any time parents/carers can provide written instruction to the principal to change their preference for their child to participate in or be withdrawn from religious instruction.

P and C News

Thank you to all the students who are currently studying hard for the Spellathon, and to the parents, carers and friends of Goondi State School who are supporting them with their practice, and fundraising efforts.  The Spellathon is Goondi’s main fund-raising event each year and the proceeds help the P and C contribute to the cost of important initiatives that make schooling more fun, safe and inclusive for all our students.  

The P and C have been working hard, and so far this year have initiated the Spellathon and funded the iPad prizes, contributed to the cost of the year five camp bus, paid for Young Performers Competition attendance for Years 1-3 and the Senior Choir, and supported life education talks for senior school students.

We have also just funded the purchase of new portable shade structures for use on sports days and at other outdoor events. Our thanks to Mrs Bulstrode and Mr King for researching suitable options that we hope will provide Goondi students with shade for years to come.  

The P and C are preparing to offer pre-ordered catered food from Mourilyan Bakery on sports day, which will be held on 17 June 2022. Pre-order slips will be sent home this Friday to be returned by next Tuesday 14 June. We hope the food will add to the excitement of the day for our staff, students and supporters. If you are available on that day between 10 - 11am and would like to help with processing the orders and delivering food, please get in touch via GoondiSS.PC@gmail.com. 

A reminder that our meetings are held on the third Monday of every month (during term time) in the school library, starting at 5:30pm.  The P and C committee welcome all parents, carers and friends of Goondi State School to attend.

Prep Capers

Week 8 already, the year is flying by.  The preps have all been working hard on assessments over the past two weeks. The end of term brings some exciting events. Sports day is on the 17^th June and we are looking forward to cheering for our house teams.

On the 20^th June we will be going to Daradgee Environmental Education Centre. This excursion will help students with their learning in Term 3 for Science and English. The students are getting excited to experience the farm, snake talk and sensory activities Daradgee has to offer.

Regards

The Prep team

Year 1 Capers

Week 8 is another important week for Year 1 as testing continues in Maths.  The writing assessment task about the Rainbow Fish has been completed and we were very impressed with some of the imaginative sentences and vocabulary choices students came up with.

Keep practising those Spell-a-thon words ready for the test this Friday.  We can see some students are putting in huge efforts at home to learn as many words as they can. A big thankyou to all parents for helping your child learn their words at home too.

In Science, testing of our boats will begin this week.  Students are certainly very excited to see how many marbles their boat will hold and whose boat will be the winning boat!

The Geography assessment task this week requires the students to put their town planner hat’s on and design a park that caters for children, adults and the elderly whilst also including natural, built and managed features.  This has certainly been an enjoyable task for all students.

Have a great week!

Leigh, Hayley, Tayla and Fiona

Year 2 Capers

Hello from Year 2! This week finds us in the middle of our assessment, which will provide the basis for our end of term reporting. During this week, and the beginning of Week 9, we would like to highlight the importance of attendance, as well as sleep and healthy food choices. This is important always, but particularly during a testing period, when we expend a lot of energy through concentration. Reports will be finalised in Week 9, and released in Week 10.

Spellathon is also upon us, on Friday the 10^th. If possible, please practise the words provided to your student, to give them the best opportunity for success. Other upcoming events include our Athletics days on the 15^th (Wednesday) and 17^th (Friday). Please listen to any communications from Goondi State School about these days, so that everything runs smoothly.

Thanks to everyone who supplied materials for our Technology unit this term, we will soon be building our houses, and we look forward to seeing some of the designs!

Nathan Worth, Robyn Scheiwe and Jeanette Spataro.

Year 3 Capers

Congratulations Year 3 for your super performance and 2nd place at Young Performers!

We are getting through our assessment. Attendance is very important at this stage to help us finalise our testing, in order to grade students across all subject areas.

Our Writing lessons have prepared us for our test, which is on Wednesday. In class we have written procedures for washing hands, pepperoni pizzas, jam sandwiches and vegemite and cheese sandwiches. We googled ‘Exact Procedures’ and watched a video to gain a better understanding of the importance to be specific in our instructions.

We had our addition, subtraction and multiplication speed and accuracy tests this week and some of us have made really good progress. This is something we will continue to practise into next term.

Our HASS research projects are coming along, and we are typing our information into a powerpoint presentation. We are hoping to finish these this week. Next week we will present what we have discovered about events to our class. Until next time,

Donna, Janelle, Paula and Lizette.

Year 4 Capers

This term has simply flown by, and we are in the middle of completing our end-of-term testing. Please ensure students have a good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast before coming to school every day as this helps them to concentrate.

In our Genre Writing, our convict character has been sentenced to seven years transportation in the Colony of New South Wales and are on-board one of the six convict transport ships that were part of the First Fleet which journeyed to Australia between 1787 and 1788. In Rio, although they are confined below again, they were captivated by the aroma of spices and delighted in eating tropical fruits never seen or tasted before.  This week they encounter severe storms as they leave Rio toward Cape Town.

Students will begin practising their speaking task this week. Thanks for your support in helping your child research their family member and bring in photos and memorabilia.

In Maths, students have been solving problems, using the properties of odd and even numbers and investigating five digit numbers. They have also investigated tessellations using mathematical language such as rotation, translation and reflection, and identified lines of symmetry.

For Science, students investigated Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion and how to draw force diagrams using arrows to show the intensity of the force acting on an object.

In HASS, students have continued to learn about Australia before, during and after European settlement and the problems faced by the new colony such as food shortages, inappropriate tools, convicts too lazy or ill to work, relationships with the First Australians and how Governor Arthur Phillip responded to the many challenges.

For ICT students are practising their touch typing skills focussing on the fingers on the home row.

Spell-a-thon words will be assessed this Friday. Please continue to help your child practise the words and raise funds. There are many great prizes too be won!                                                                                                               

Until next time, Kath and Kathy

Year 4/5 & 5 Capers

At the end of Week 7, Mrs. Nolan attended a Professional Development session on an interactive, online writing program. We have been lucky enough to have Mrs. Nolan share the strategies and resources from that workshop with both 4/5 Scott and 5B and the student’s have loved experimenting, tracking their progress and looking at individualised feedback! Ask your child about Writers Toolbox (they can login at home!).    

With the end of the term fast approaching, students have been busy finalising assessments across all key learning areas and it has been pleasing to see so much progress since the beginning of the semester. Students are working on combining their Information Reports and science research to create a PowerPoint Presentation about their chosen planet.

We have a jam-packed end of term so her are some key dates for your reference!

• Camp Talk: Students will be involved in an information session at school on Thursday 9^th June (Wk8)
• SPELLATHON: Friday 10^th of June (Wk8).
• Life Education program: Grade 5s 10^th of June, Grade 4s Term 3
• Parent Session Life Education: Friday 10^th of June at 8:15am in 5B
• Athletics: Friday 17^th of June (Week 9)

Please do not hesitate to drop in or contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for your support. 

Cheers for now, Rebecca, Jessie & Janette.

Year 6 Capers

Hello Year 6 families!

The past two weeks have been especially busy for our Year 6 students.

Week 7 and 8 was all about assessments with students working really hard to get ready for assessments. Well done to everyone that has given their best. On top of all the work, students continue to practice hard for the upcoming Athletics Carnival and some students performed at the Innisfail Young Performers Competition. A big congratulations to all our young performers, we are really proud of you. A big thanks to all our students also who continue to work hard to get ready for the Spellathon test on Friday.

In HASS we completed our exploration into how Australia became a nation based on the inquiry-based teaching pedagogy and in Science we completed the designs for our sustainable garden project.

Thank you to all students who have been focusing on getting enough sleep, eating a healthy breakfast, and bringing a healthy lunch to school, to make sure they are fully equipped for learning and assessment each day.

Thank you for your support!

Tjaart Richards, Melanie Worth and Janette McClelland.

LOTE News

Working individually and as classes, Years 5 and 6 students at Goondi State School are developing their Italian knowledge. Speaking, writing, listening to new words, phrases, sentences and questions in Italian is increasing their skill level in the language.  Well done students!

Year 5 students are undertaking their oral assessment task.  Students are having a scripted conversation with their Italian teacher and answering set questions. Year 6 students are continuing with their written assessment task on La mia giornata (My day).  In this task, students are furthering their knowledge of Italian nouns, verbs and adjectives.

The bookwork standard shown in their exercise books is pleasing.  Feedback and assistance is given to students regularly.  Continue encouraging your child to speak Italian with you and discuss what they are learning.

Arrivederci (Goodbye)

Signora Lazzarini

Music News

CONGRATULATIONS GOONDI CHOIRS at the 2022

INNISFAIL YOUNG PERFORMERS’ COMPETITION

JUNIOR CHOIRS over 25 Voices

1^st Place - Year 1 - “Zip-a-dee doo-dah”

2^nd Place - Year 3 - “My Dog Rupert”

PRIMARY CHOIR over 25 Voices

UNISON

1^st Place - Senior Choir - “Spoonful of Sugar”

PART SINGING

1^st Place - Senior Choir - “Rhythm of Life”

SACRED CHORUS

1^st Place - Senior Choir - “Non Nobis Domine”

WINNER of PRIMARY CHOIR AGGREGATE  over 25 Voices - AILSA MOYLE TROPHY

Goondi SS Senior Choir

The Shire Hall was full to capacity on Friday 3 June with over 350 school students from many different schools competing in this year’s IYPC Choir Day. It was wonderful to see so many Goondi parents and grandparents there to support our choirs.

Due to Covid it had been 3 years since the last Choir Day and our students performed extremely well. We didn’t start rehearsing for the competition until the beginning of Term 2, so the standard of our choirs was remarkable. Considering they had just over 6 weeks to prepare, and working around lots of illness, absences and public holidays, our 200 plus students did a fabulous job!

The Senior Choir is to be hugely commended for their commitment. Rehearsals were held at lunchtimes and before school. To achieve such a high level of performance is a credit to them, and their dedication.

Thank you to our wonderful pianist, Mrs Natasha De Faveri who helped us enormously in preparation, and played beautifully for us at the competition. Thanks also to the P & C who donated $1320 to cover all the costs for our students.

Lastly, thank you to the IYPC committee. Due to your efforts, our students had a wonderful, rich learning experience, and will remember it forever.

Kerry Macgillivray

Music Teacher

The Arts News

Instrumental Music News

On Friday May 27, eight bands and ensembles from within the Innisfail area participated in the Far North Queensland Regional Festival for Fanfare at Innisfail State College.

Fanfare is the biennial state-wide festival for bands and orchestras in Queensland state schools. It showcases the instrumental music making that is occurring in school ensembles across the state. More than 1000 ensembles from over 400 schools will participate in the regional festivals this year.

The adjudicator Mr Brad Millard, Lecturer in Music at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), provided feedback to ensembles and conductors on their performance. Ensembles were awarded an overall award of Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.

Both primary and secondary students played well and were recipients of the following awards for their performances:

• Canecutter Cluster Beginner Band Gold
• Canecutter Cluster Concert Band Gold
• Canecutter Cluster String Orchestra Silver
• Goondi String Ensemble Gold
• ISC Concert Band Silver
• ISC Middle School String Orchestra Silver
• ISC Jazz Band Silver
• ISC Intermediate String Ensemble Gold

Community Events

Well Women’s Clinic - Innisfail Hospital

(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)                  Monday 13^th  June 2022

Service includes Cervical Screening Tests (Pap Smears), Sexual Health Screening, Breast Awareness, also info on Contraception, Continence, Menopause, Lifestyle Issues, Domestic Violence, etc.  All services are provided by a specially trained Women’s Health Nurse.

For appointments please phone 4016 1312 / 4016 1435