Killarney eNewsletter Term 2 - Week 5 | 2024

Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Githabul people as the  Traditional Owners of the sky,  waterways and land on which we learn and play. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present. We acknowledge the knowledge, memories, traditions and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit to fostering a culture of learning in the spirit of togetherness.

Date Claimers

From the Principal

Hello Everyone 

In my update I reflect on the recent Women's State of Origin excursion and Prep Mothers Day Morning Tea, talk about painting of Jackson Oval infrastructure and share information about one of our wildly important goals, 'Developing Literate Learners'.

Parents and families of all Under 8 children I look forward to seeing  you at our Under Eights Morning and National Simultaneous Storytime  on Wednesday 22 May (not Monday as I said my video) from  9:15am - 11:00am.

Kind Regards

Ros Hibberd

From the Head of Department

Curriculum

 Term 3 curriculum planning

Across the next few weeks teachers will be working in teams to create plans for the delivery of Term 3 curriculum. Some learning areas are being delivered using the v9 Australian Curriculum (in preparation for the mandated implementation) and the remainder continues using v8.4.

Semester 1 reporting

Working towards the distribution of report cards in Week 10 this term. It is a mandated process to provide parents with written reports twice each year and also to provide opportunities for parents to have face to face communication with teachers.  While this opportunity has been provided this semester, we welcome feedback, questions, queries and celebrations at any time. Thank you for partnering with us to provide the best opportunities for your children to be the best learners.

Junior Secondary News

Canberra Trip: Plans are under way for the annual Killarney-Allora Canberra Trip.  This year the trip is leaving on Monday 9^th September and returning on Friday 13^th September and the staff and students will be combining travel by air and coach.

JS Broncos: Students are getting ready to join Allora and Clifton in the Broncos competition.  We thank the Broncos and the P&C for assisting with transport costs to and from Stanthorpe and Goondiwindi.

Hospitality News

Each week we strive to consolidate learning and demonstrate an understanding for the Design and Technologies learning area.  Our success criteria (what we will see when successful) are:

• I can contribute to a menu to ensure people enjoy our food.
• I can contribute to consistency and quality assurance of service and product.
• I can engage with the development of skills and knowledge of foods and processes.
• I can evaluate, seek and provide feedback to ensure products are aligned with the pre- determined intent.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

ANZAC service

We will remember them…

Footsteps Dance

In week 6 we welcome Footsteps Dance to our school.  Each class will engage in 6 x 35 minute sessions across 3 days.  The intent of organising this incursion for our whole school is to provide our students with an opportunity to engage in the Dance context within the Arts learning area.  This experience will not be formally assessed however evidence of learning across the aspects of the Arts achievement standard in the Media, Music, Visual arts and  Drama contexts continues across our school.

Chappy Week

Next week we celebrate Chappy Week – Thank you Chappy Cel for supporting our school

NRLW State of Origin

Thank you to the staff and students who attended the NRLW State of Origin excursion.  We have reflected with students this morning on assembly and shared that when members of the public take the time to say that our students are respectful and very well behaved it is a time to celebrate and be proud.  The result may not have been what most of us were hoping, but it was an amazing experience.  

Kind regards,

Traecy Bartz

From the Support Teacher

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

This term our teachers will be making preparations for the National Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disability.

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) gives Australian schools, parents, guardians and carers, education authorities and the community information about the number of students with disability in schools and the adjustments they receive. The Australian Education Regulation 2013 requires all schools to report the data collected for the NCCD to the Australian Government on an annual basis.

What is the purpose of the NCCD?

The NCCD collects data about school students with disability who are receiving adjustments across Australia in a consistent, reliable and systematic way. It enables schools, education authorities and governments to better understand the needs of students with disability and how they can be best supported at school.

From 2018, the student with disability loading provided by the Australian Government is based on the NCCD; schools will continue to manage their total resources to meet the learning needs of their students.

How is the data used?

Data from the NCCD is used:

• as an evidence base, to give teachers, schools and sectors information about students with disability and the level of educational adjustment being provided
• to inform policy development and future planning to better equip schools and education authorities to support students with disability
• to improve understanding of the requirements and responsibilities of school teams and the broader community under the DDA and the Standards
• to capture the work of schools under the obligations of the DDA and the Standards, allowing students with disability to access and participate in education on the same basis as other students
• to highlight the individual needs of each student with disability by focusing on the level of educational support provided to them at school.

High level, de-identified information from the NCCD is used in national reporting to inform policy and program planning to support students with disability.

Student information provided to the Australian Government Department of Education and Training for the NCCD does not explicitly identify individual students. For example, student names or student identifiers are not provided.

How does the NCCD assist schools?

The NCCD prompts schools to identify students with disability and to review their processes and practices. It records the adjustments already undertaken in schools to support students with disability to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers.

• Reviewing learning and support systems: The NCCD allows schools to better understand the functional needs of their students with disability. It captures the work of schools in providing personalised learning and support for students with disability who require adjustments due to the functional impact of their disability.
• Providing greater understanding: The NCCD helps schools gain a greater understanding of their students with disability and identify areas of need for both students and staff.
• Developing professional judgement: The professional learning available to support the NCCD process helps build the professional judgement of school teams who are required to provide educational adjustments for students with disability without relying on a medical or clinical diagnosis alone.
• Recognising support and adjustments provided: The NCCD helps to formally and consistently recognise the support and adjustments provided to students with disability as defined in the DDA.

If you would like further information, please contact Melinda Barling through the school office.

Kind regards,

Melinda Barling

Our Wildly Important Goal – Developing Literate Learners

This semester, the Year 3/4 team have been working hard to apply their expanding literacy skills across each of the learning areas.

While reading the novel ‘Fighting Bones’, we used the plough back routine of ‘because, but, so’ to monitor our comprehension of the story. The student responses to ‘because, but, so’ informed the next step for our engagement with the novel.

We have engaged with a variety of Fluency Passages across the semester. Examples include: The life of children in the 1800s; Explaining the structure of narrative texts; Finding unknown values in number sequences; The properties of soil.

When writing sentences, we have attempted to expand our kernel sentences by adding ‘when, where and how’. We have used sentence fragments to write informative sentences which communication facts to audiences.

The Years 5 and 6 class has been working on sentences. They have been starting with  fragments [a group of words that is not a grammatically complete sentence] to build interesting, informative sentences. Students and Mr Henderson collaboratively developed fragments (in bold) about the novel they read, then individually built sentences to show their comprehension of what they read. Spending plenty of instructional time working with sentences is very important. Sentence level work is the engine that propels student writing from the way they speak to using the structuress of written formal language.  

Tensions flared at the Eureka Stockade when the redcoats attacked at dawn; while the rebels fought for their lives. Billie

Mrs Puddleham and Sam watched as the Redcoats charged people money because of mining licenses. Darcy

Themes of injustice and rebellion were evident when miners had to get licenses to continue working. Will

Tensions flared at the Eureka Stockade as a raging inferno left onlookers and miners in its wake. Kaidon 

Year 8 students are supercharged! Well at least, their sentences are.  Miss Kelly has been teaching how to develop and extend a basic sentence to a super charged sentence by  incorporating language features.

School News

On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the Prep to Year 2 students excitedly fastened up their runners for the annual fun run. Laughter filled the air as kids dashed around the track, cheered on by enthusiastic staff and parents. It was a morning of smiles, camaraderie, and healthy competition, as the students joined together to celebrate fitness and fun.

Mother’s Day Morning Tea at PREP

Year 5/6 Camp

In Week 2 the Year 5 and 6 students attended a three-night camp at Numinbah Valley Environmental Education Centre. We were very pleased with how students coped with being away from home and with the challenges of some activities. Joining with Yangan State School presented new experiences for our students, and it was a good opportunity for them to work and play with unfamiliar peers. While they slept in school cabin groups, they spent their days and nights in mixed groups.

The camp was a terrific opportunity for students to experience wonders they simply can’t have at home; a night hike to see the southern hemisphere’s largest glow worm colony,  standing under the night sky beside the Natural Arch waterfall while in full flow, a four-and-a-half-kilometre hike through Gondwana rainforest under and behind waterfalls and through puddles, seeing and learning about Antarctic Beech Trees, relics from when Australia was part of the Gondwana continent. So much learning for all of us!

As well as time spent in the rainforest the children canoed, cooked damper and billy tea, generated alternate energy sources, including pedal power, to run household appliances, went for a night walk and joined in team building challenges.

Most of the children said the 4.5 km hike in the rain through Springbrook National Park was the highlight of the camp, which was a joy to hear!

Parents of Year 5 and 6 students, thank you for trusting us with your children for these few days. It was a delight to see their engagement and enjoyment.

Mr Stew Henderson and Ms Ros Hibberd

Attendance Recognition

Our attendance target is 95%. This means that on  average each child has less than 1 day away per month.  
Students, if you aren’t at school, chances are you are not keeping up with your class work. Be at school and Ready to Learn. 
Effective school attendance has been linked to effective workplace attendance – set your child up for success.                                                              

Remember: Ready to Learn Every Day  

What you can do to help:

1. You can assist your child to be at school on time and ready 
to learn every day.  The first bell is at 8:50am.

2. If your child arrives after 9:00am roll marking, they are to enter 
the school via the office to record their late arrival and reason. 

3. Before 9:00am, provide notification and a reason for                      
your child’s absence;  
 • via the office phone on 4664 6333,  
• text the absence phone via 0428 196 801, 
• via email absences@killarness.eq.edu.au,  
• via a note to your child’s class teacher or  
• in person to the class teacher 

4. Respond to the text message you receive for a student who is away by confirming the absence and providing a reason. 

Keep your contact details up-to-date with our office.  
Being Ready to Learn Every Day really does make a difference! Is your child at school every day ready to learn?  

“Be on time; be at school; that’s the rule.” 

Sports News

Best wishes to the following students who will be participating in the Broncos Cup events in Stanthorpe on the 23rd of May and Goondiwindi on the 29th of May. We extend our sincerest hopes for their success as they proudly represent our school.

Ebony, Josie, Dacia, Sophia, Scarlett, Isla, Lily, Emma, Emalee, Zyrha, Angus and Jason.

P&C News

Parent Talk

Parent Talk is the official magazine of P&Cs Qld.

For more information visit: Parent Talk

Tuckshop Convenor

The P&C is looking for a parent or member of our community who would be interested in volunteering to be our Tuckshop Convenor. The opening times/day would be the choice of the new Convenor. The menu would also be the Tuckshop Convenor's choice, in negotiation with the school to comply with  Healthy Choices guidelines. Please contact the P&C for further information or to express your interest by emailing: pandc@killarness.eq.edu.au.

How to order School Uniforms

New stocks of polo shirts have arrived so we now have all sizes available. Parents may now place a uniform order via email and pay by direct deposit!  We hope this will make purchasing uniforms easier. Students can come and see Mrs Diete during break times to try on uniforms if they are unsure of sizes. 

Community News

JMC Monologue Competition 2024

The 2024 Monologue Competition is open to all New South Wales, Victorian, and Queensland high school students in years 9-12.

You have total creative freedom to deliver this monologue in whatever way you see fit – comedy, drama, musical - go all out! You can sing it, perform it as a comedy, relate it to current societal issues, or deliver it in the context of how/when it was written.

Think about costumes, sets, props, and locations to add a bit of flair to your performance.

Submissions close on 31st July 2024.

For more information visit: https://www.jmcacademy.edu.au/monologue-competition