Goondi SS Newsletter 12.10.22
From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome back to school for Term 4. We are looking forward to another great term of hard work and achievement here at Goondi State School.
My name is Mrs Kristina Haigh and I will be the Acting Principal for Term 4. My family and I have been living in the Innisfail area for the past 20 years. I am married and have two sons who attend Innisfail State College. I started my leadership journey many years ago at Mourilyan before moving onto the Principal role at Mundoo State School.
Our students have started the term very positively and are looking keen to ‘Dare to Do Well’. Our teachers and support staff are looking forward to working with every class to make sure Term 4 is the best it can be. As you know, end of semester reports will be sent home in Week 10.
Our administration team is currently planning for the end of 2022 and for the new 2023 school year. We will conduct our own internal school review later this term. This is a time where we reflect on our targets and goals for 2022 and evaluate our successes and challenges. These findings will inform our planning for the commencement of the 2023 school year.
Our Pre-Prep program has commenced this term. It was wonderful to see so many new and enthusiastic students enjoying their time at Goondi. If you know someone who is still considering Prep for 2023 please encourage them to contact the school for more information.
Between now and the end of the year there is much to do, but it will be an exciting time at school and we look forward to working with our community again as we head to the end of 2022!
Regards,
Kristina Haigh
Principal
School Calendar
TERM 4 CALENDAR
School Events
Thurs 5th October – Pre-Prep commences
Fri 14th October - Harmony Day 2-3pm
Week 4 - Swimming commences
Fri 28th October - Day for Daniel
P&C Events
Mon 18th Oct – P&C meeting
Other School News
SWIMMING CLASSES
Learn-to-swim classes are part of the Physical Education Program during fourth term and are offered to all students in Years 1- 6.
This year, swimming has been scheduled over the two-week period from the 25th October – 4th November. Students in years 1-6 will participate in five consecutive lessons over a period of one week.
Week 1 – Years 5,6, 1 and 2 October 24th - 28th
Week 2 – Years 5,6, 4 and 3 October 31st – 4th November
Students will be instructed by the school’s Physical Education teacher, assisted by class teachers, teacher aides and volunteer parents. Without the help of volunteer parents, most swimming classes, particularly in Years 1 – 3, would not be possible. If you are able to help supervise a small group please inform your class teacher and complete the volunteer assistance section of the swimming information letter
Payment
The cost to each student will be $9.00. This amount contributes to the cost of pool fees and bus fares with the school subsidising the rest. Students are to pay the above amount prior to swimming instruction commencing.
Dress
Departmental policy requires that all students participating in swimming lessons must wear a swim shirt. If a child does not have a swim shirt they may wear a t-shirt but parents need to be aware that t-shirts in water can hinder the child’s swimming. All clothing should be named. Togs are NOT to be worn under the school uniform. Sunscreen will be applied before leaving the school. Students must remove earrings before entering the water. For security reasons, it would be advisable that all earrings be left at home. Long hair must be secured to avoid interference with sight or breathing.
Health
If a student suffers from a medical condition that puts that swimmer at risk in the water, written parental consent supported by a medical clearance certificate is required. If your child is a diagnosed asthmatic, please ensure that they have their appropriate medication with them at all times. Students will be excluded from swimming if they suffer from suppurating sores, infections, or suspected contagions.
Swimming permission notes will be sent home this week. These along with the payment must be returned to your child’s teacher.
All swimming lessons will be conducted under COVIDsafe guidelines.
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school.
P&C MEETING
The next general meeting of the P&C will be held on Monday 18th October in our school library commencing at 5:30 pm. All parents are welcome to attend.
PARENT PICK UP
3pm is very busy at the parent pick up gate. There is no need to wait! Parents and carers may pick up children at 3pm. This will help to ease the number of students waiting, some for up to 30 minutes after school has finished. There are parking bays along the entire school and oval frontage available for use.
TERM 4 HEAT
As the year begins to warm up, please remind your children about the importance of sun safety, wearing hat/sunscreen and drinking plenty of water to keep hydrated.
Prep Capers
Year 1 Capers
Year 2 Capers
Welcome back for Term 4! In this final Term we are action packed. Our writing this time will be a Persuasive Text, or Exposition. This aims to have students formulate an opinion on a topic, and then make arguments to try to convince someone they are right. This can be a fun style of writing, and we have already started with “Camping is better than staying in a hotel”. This writing style has a different structure to what they have done in the past so there’s a lot to learn. In Maths we continue our work with Money and Time, and we introduce using arrays to solve repeated addition. This is a precursor to the multiplication that students will be learning in Year 3.
HaSS explores the history of Innisfail, including major cyclones to hit our area, where some of the local names come from, and why our town looks the way it does. Science will be fun this term, as we are exploring Physical Science. While the main focus will be on Push and Pull forces, we look at other forces as well, such as gravity, air resistance, and water resistance. This will link well to our upcoming swimming lessons.
Swimming will be in Week 4, and by now you should have received a note and possibly an invoice. If you have not please contact either ourselves or the office to check. Goondi is a cashless school, so please follow the instructions to pay online.
As we head towards the end of our school year it helps us if everyone remembers the benefits of a good night’s sleep, as well as healthy food both at home and in lunch boxes. This will help with concentration, and can work towards better results for your students.
Nathan Worth, Robyn Scheiwe and Jeanette Spataro.
Year 3 Capers
Year 4 Capers
Year 4/5 & 5 Capers
What an incredible start students have had to their final term as Year 5s. It is wonderful to see so many students putting their heads down to ensure a very productive and successful term.
This term in English the students are concentrating on their reading comprehension skills and writing a variety of paragraphs to suit different genres.
In Maths, the students have been comparing fractions, finding the area and perimeter of regular and irregular shapes and using 24hour-Time to solve word problems.
Science has students participating in a chemical science unit where they will consider properties and how they are used to classify matter.
While in HASS students will examine the effects of a significant development or event on the Australian Colonies-The Gold Rush, Eureka Rebellion, exploration and development of the telegraph and railway.
We also have student leader elections looming in the near future. For those that are interested in the next couple of weeks (date yet to be advised) our Principal will be coming and presenting a leadership talk to the Year 5 students. After which the student will receive a nomination form. Students will need to write a speech which they will present to their peers. This speech will be written at school and then taken home to practise. As soon as we know the dates we will inform you.
We are fortunate this term to be able to welcome our 4th year prac student: Julie Schep.
Hello,
My name is Julie Schep and I am in my last year of studying Primary Education. Over the next four weeks I will be working with Mrs Nolan in the Year 5A class. I am looking forward to working with your children and supporting them in their learning. Thank you Miss Nolan and Goondi State School for having me as a prac student and assisting me in my studies. Julie Schep
Wishing all a productive and happy term. Warm regards,
Jessie, Rebecca, Julie & Jannette.
Year 6 Capers
Instrumental Music
Instrumental Music Camp
On the last three days of Term 3, 50 instrumental music students from across the Canecutter Cluster came together to participate in a three-day music camp at Lake Tinaroo. Nervous as they waited to board the bus on Wednesday morning, the students quickly made new friends and enjoyed completing a range of team challenges and musical activities that brought them close together. On the second day of the camp, the students were joined by Year 6 instrumental music students from local Atherton schools, forming a 70-piece orchestra(!) to work on an exciting piece called Fanfare and Fireworks. The music was challenging, but it was wonderful to see the students working hard to learn new notes and play their best throughout the course of the day. We are looking forward to performing this piece with both the band and strings at our end of year concert in Week 7.
Tired but happy, the students returned from camp on Friday afternoon feeling more confident musically and socially, with new friendships and memories of their time at Tinaroo. It was a pleasure to take these students on camp, and we look forward to watching their musical journey over coming years.
Instrumental Music – Recruitment for 2023. Calling all interested students!
Events like these are just some of the opportunities afforded to students who participate in our instrumental music program. Over the next few weeks, we will be beginning our recruitment process for instrumental music in 2023. The strings program is open to all students in Year 3 and over, and band instruments are taught from Year 4 and up. Our recruitment will focus on current Year 2 and 3 students, but if any older students are interested, please contact tjgil0@eq.edu and I can give you more information and include your child in the recruitment process. We invite anyone who is interested to attend our information night on Thursday of Week 5. This will be held at Innisfail State College at 6:00pm – all welcome. There will be a paper copy of an invitation coming home in the next few weeks so keep your eyes out for this.
Some of the instruments on offer are: violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone and saxophone. It is well established that learning a musical instrument has a profound impact on brain development and is an enriching learning and social opportunity. Please consider allowing your child to participate in 2023. Feel free to email the above address or call 4078 0222 and ask to speak to Tamara Gillard if you would like more information.
The Arts News
Welcome to Term 4 and the world of Media Arts!
This term students will explore the world of digital media to create artworks. Media arts involves creating representations of the world and telling stories through communications technologies such as television, film, video, newspapers, radio, video games, the internet and mobile media. In Media Arts, students will create visual works that communicate, challenge and express their own and others’ ideas, as both artist and audience. Particular highlights this term will include students using iPads and software such as Keynote, Stop Motion Animation and iMovie to create photographic and time-based projects. Already we have explored and learnt about the role of the artist and designer, their contribution to society, and the significance of the media arts as a subject. I look forward to sharing some of their work with you over the term.
Francesca Rosa
Arts Teacher
Lucas, Year 2, Clown Emoji
Sports News
Welcome back to our final term for the year. Swimming notes have been sent home and are due back by 17th of October.
Years 1, 2 will be swimming in Week 4 (24—28 October) and Years 3 & 4 will be swimming in Week 5 (31 Oct.—4th Nov.). Non swimmers from Yrs 5 and 6 will be swimming for both weeks.
The Peninsula Triathlon/Aquathlon trials will be held on Sunday 6th of November. The nomination process for this event is a little different to other Peninsula sports. It is up to the parent/student to nominate themselves to the convenor via email – all details are on the attached form. Also students must complete a Peninsula student booklet as well. All nominations must be in by Monday 24th October.
Please click on the links below to access forms.
Tiffanie Bulstrode
Health and Physical Education Teacher
Music News
At a recent professional development day for Goondi staff, the speaker mentioned how music education greatly supports the learning of reading. I would like to share the following with parents as to the value of your child’s music education here at Goondi State School. We are only one of two primary schools in the whole district that provide a full-time music program for all students.
EXTENSIVE RESEARCH IN THE FIELDS OF NEUROSCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY HAVE STUDIED MUSIC LEARNING AND FOUND THAT IT:
- Improves cognitive connectivity and efficiency
- Improves learning capacity
- Improves social skills and personal wellbeing
- Decreases stress and anxiety
- Heightens empathy and valuing of diversity
- Supports reading and numeracy skills
- Improves self-regulation
- Increases attention, stamina and focus
- Boosts academic performance in English, Maths and Science
Students are currently busy preparing for assessments in all classes. I’m looking forward to a successful and enjoyable final term.
Kind regards
Kerry Macgillivray
MUSIC TEACHER
L.O.T.E News
Bentornati a scuola (Welcome back to school) for Term 4. The years 5 and 6 Italian classes at Goondi State School are focusing on furthering their knowledge of the Italian language by speaking, writing and listening to new words, phrases and sentences.
Year 5 students are continuing learning how to use two tables to understand nouns and adjectives in Italian. They will be applying knowledge of these tables to describe some wild and domestic Italian animals.
Year 6 students are furthering their knowledge of Italian by looking at the months and the seasons and making comparisons between Australia and Italy. Students are learning a song about colours to further their
pronunciation.
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
Community News
Well Women’s Clinic - Innisfail Hospital
(This clinic is available to Medicare eligible clients)
Monday 31st October 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