Newsletter Term 1 Week 7

From the Principal

We are well into our term now and it is wonderful to see groups of students working with an adult or working independently and I am encouraged by the language of ‘thinking’ that is being used. The photo is one example of a ‘provocation’ used in 1S. Provocations stimulate children’s imagination and curiosity, help to generate interest and ensure students want to learn more or to become researchers.

Teaching and learning continue to be strong and engaging and students are settled in classrooms. Learning commences at 8:50am each day.  I appreciate how busy mornings can be and thank the parents and family members who are making it a priority to have their child/children at school by 8:40am ready for the day of learning ahead. These routines support student wellbeing and minimise anxiety as students know that they can be ready for the day ahead.

Clean Up Runcorn Day

Students at Runcorn gave up a little time last week to clean up the school. Our school is already mostly litter free but a little extra help goes a long way. Good job everyone and thanks to Mrs McNamara for coordinating this.

We need your input!

We are seeking Community Feedback, to inform our future strategic planning, articulating what we value at Runcorn State School. We would love to hear what you and your child love about our school. We will send out surveys throughout the year to get feedback from as many families as possible. In the meantime feel free to email us at admin@runcornss.eq.edu.au

Tell us:

• STARS - What you love about Runcorn State School
• WISH - What you think we could improve

Respect our Neighbours

We are very fortunate to have neighbours that support our school. During holiday periods they report trespasses for us and keep an eye out over our school. We need to be considerate of them too. They need to be able to move freely from their property at any time of the day. Some of our neighbours have had water pipes broken from cars parking on the footpath or too close to the drain pipes. This is unacceptable.

Please remember:

• Parking in, on or across driveways is illegal
• Cars need to abide by road signs
• It is illegal for the back end or front end of your car to cause an obstruction to a driveway
• Parking up on the footpath is illegal and can cause damage to pipes

Let’s ensure that our supportive community are safe and feel respected.

School Review

The Department of Education regularly reviews Queensland State Schools to ensure they're delivering a quality education to students. All Queensland State Schools are reviewed at least once every 4 years. The school review supports each school to differentiate its improvement journey by building on current strengths and assisting it to respond to challenges. It emphasises continuous improvement and affirms that every student, no matter their background or circumstance, has a right to learn in a school committed to improvement. It maintains that every school can continue to improve. Community feedback is an essential part of the reviews, with staff, parents, students and the community encouraged to have their say.

Runcorn will be having a school review in 2023 from the 16th to 18th of May. As a school we look forward to this process to set our future goals and continue to be the best school we can be. If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact the school administration team.

Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) tender process 2023 

Any agreement with an OSHC provider runs for a period of five years, with the potential to extend for another two, two-year terms. The service provision is required to go out to tender every nine years or more frequently if required, with formal reviews undertaken at key junctures.

Runcorn State School will run this process this year as PCYC have been at Runcorn State School for 9 years. This process is under the direction of Procurement Branch of the Department of Education.  The tender process will be discussed again at the next P and C meeting on March 20. If you would like to provide feedback regarding the current provider or offer suggestions on what you would like the successful provider to offer, please email admin@runcornss.eq.edu.au

Meg McClure

From the Deputy Principal

NAPLAN 2023

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)  is the  national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year and assesses the skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

• Your child will do the NAPLAN tests online as Schools have transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. The online assessments are tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses. Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway
• All Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper  
• A NAPLAN individual student report will be provided by your child’s school later in the year
• The NAPLAN test window starts on Wednesday 15 March and finishes on Monday 27 March 2023.  Wednesday 15 March Writing, Thursday 16 March Writing Catch Up Tests, Friday 17 March Reading, Monday 20 March Language Conventions, Tuesday 21 March Numeracy and 22-24 March Catch Up Testing Time.
• Please direct any questions about NAPLAN and adjustments that are available for students with disability with your child’s class teacher
• Schools will work with parents/carers and students to identify, on a case-by-case basis, reasonable adjustments required for individual students with disability to access NAPLAN. Adjustments should reflect the support normally provided for classroom assessments, so please see your child’s teacher this.
• To find out more about NAPLAN and see the types of questions and tools available in the online NAPLAN assessments parents are invited visit:  https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/public-demonstration-site

  Roberta Matlock

Head of Department - Inclusion

Mrs Jillian Chittenden is the Head of Department Inclusion at Runcorn State School. She has over 25 years’ experience in education with the past 8 of them being in the area of Learning Support and Inclusion. Her role is to promote an inclusive culture within the school community and support teachers to develop high quality teaching practices differentiated to the individual needs of the children.  Jillian also works closely with a small learning support team, the school Guidance Officer and Speech Language Pathologist to further support children with additional needs at Runcorn.

Norman's News

This has “paws-ibly” been my most creative week at Runcorn! I have spent time in classrooms and with small groups of students but have also been fortunate to have been able to read some amazing work that students have been publishing to their ipads, using a combination of typing and “speech to text” technology! It’s “dog-gone” amazing the “opawtunities” our students have for learning.

The Prep students have also been busy learning through play and have been enjoying exploring their oral language during home corner and dress up occassions. As you can see from these photos, I am very patient when the students want to include me in their stories and play-time.

When I am not at Runcorn I have some “down-time” with Mrs Schooth and her family. I know that you miss me when I stay at home on Thursdays, but this is a very important time for me to just “be a regular dog”. I thought that I would share a photo that Mrs Schooth took of me last week when I tried to sneak in the car because I miss you all too when I am not here! Do you think I did a good job at camoflague?!

Until next time, Big licks and tail wags,

Norman        

From the Head of Department - Curriculum

Building Reading Stamina  

The challenge with many students is not to get them reading, but to help them build reading stamina.  A reader with stamina is able to read for long periods of time without becoming distracted.  Students with reading stamina have determination, endurance and staying power.  As your child advances to more complex texts, the reading requirements including volume of text will increase.  Stamina is an integral skill that will benefit learning across all Learning Areas.  Below are some suggestions for how you can support building your child’s reading stamina at home:

-Help you child choose books that are ‘just right’ for their reading ability.  When reading alone, your child should choose a book in which they can independently read or decode all but a few of the words.

-Find a starting point.  Start with the amount of time your child usually reads independently and increase the time by 5 minutes every few days.  You may wish to record every improvement in length of stamina reading. 

- Remember to read daily.  Families are very busy so finding time can be hard.  Your child’s success in reading will pay off over and over as they advance through schooling and enter the ‘real world’

- Change it up sometimes.  An occasional break in routine is refreshing.  You could: Read to your child, ask your child to read aloud to you, take turns reading or even take your child to a special place to read like the local council library, or the park.   

The Big Write

Below are our schoolwide prompts from weeks 6& 7 – Happy Writing!

Rachel La Sala

Music Matters

Save the date:

• Term 2 Week 5 May 15-18th- Karawatha Music Program (Year 4, 5 and 6)
• Evening concert Thursday 18th 6pm RSHS

Instrumental Music 

Instrumental Music Karawatha District Instrumental Music Program The Karawatha Music Program is being held at Runcorn State High School from Monday 15 May through to Thursday 18 May, 2023. The Program will finish with a Showcase Concert on Thursday 18 May from 6.30 to 8.30 pm. All Instrumental Music Students (except Year 3 Beginner Strings) are eligible to attend the Music Program at their ability levels. Instrumental Music Families will be sent information and forms to complete for each student: · Permission Slip and Medical Information form; · Project Consent Form; and · an Invoice for the Music Program that Students attend at the 2023 Karawatha District Instrumental Music Program Workshops. Forms and payment for program are due to the office by Friday 24th March, 2023. Students who have participated in the program in the past have thoroughly enjoyed, benefitted and grown as musicians from the Karawatha experience.

Strings

NO String rehearsals or lessons Week 8 - 14 March, 2023

Mr Biedermann will be away from Runcorn on Tuesday, 14th March, 2023 - Week 8. There will be no rehearsals and lessons on this day. String rehearsals and lessons will resume the following week, Week 9, 21st March, 2023.

Instrumental Music and Choir- Arriving early

Could parents and students please ensure that when arriving for Senior Band, Senior Strings and Senior Choir that they arrive on time and not earlier as there is no supervision provided for students who arrive before start time.

Senior Choir- Singfest

Thank you to everyone who returned their Expression of Interest forms for Singfest. The excursion will be on Wednesday August 30- Week 8 of Term 3. More information about the excursion and payment will be sent out early Term 3.

Ms Mariel Hopper (mxhop2@eq.edu.au)

Cross Country

Cross Country Thursday 30th March 9am – 11am

A permission note was recently sent out regarding the cross country for this term and the dates were incorrect.  An updated note with the correct information has been sent home with students this week.  Please note for your calendar that the Year 3-6 Cross-country Carnival will be held on Thursday the 30^th March from 9am till 11am and all parents are welcome to attend.

 Michael Kraynik
HPE Teacher

National Young Leaders Day

On the 20^th of February the School and Vice Captains traveled to the Brisbane Convention Center in the city to attend the National Young Leaders Day, where leaders from all over the state gather to learn about leadership. Here are their reflections on this amazing experience.

I was honoured enough to be part of the small group that witnessed and heard four speakers, but the one I was most intrigued by was Bryson Klein- Ninja Warrior.

Bryson was different from the rest of the other speakers; he had one focus. Fear. He had an ideology though not for politics, for emotions. Everything Bryson talked about branched from fear. A question at the very start summed up his speech – “Has there been something you wanted to do but were met with fear and doubt?”

We explored Bryson’s life and the struggles he had growing up. He was dyslexic and not very good at school work but he did find passion in rock climbing from a very young age. He gave us useful quotes for example, “You have to conquer fear before it conquers you.”  He had one idea and he stuck with it. After Klein exited off stage, I just thought, "Wow, this guy was serious, but we all understood the message.” Let fear be afraid of you.

Alvin 6J

At National Young Leaders Day we met famous people, and they talked about their lives and experiences.  I was surprised and inspired by Anthony (Harries) Carroll’s life and all of the things he has encountered.

Anthony Carroll is a famous life guard featured in the TV show Bondi Rescue. In the show he is known as Harries. He has loved surfing since he was a child, and lived at the coast in Sydney. He started saving lives on the beach and loved it. He made many friends, and enjoyed talking to them. Since he started rescuing, he has never seen anyone drown on his watch.

Anthony’s proudest rescue was when he saved a baby struggling to breath on the side of the road. Doctors rushed to save the baby, but they couldn’t do anything. Then Anthony was alerted and he approached the baby and it took him hours to save them. He was a hero.

Anthony Carroll raised money for the Sydney children hospital helping many children in need. He was inspired to be a lifeguard when his mother couldn’t swim, and she encouraged him to learn to swim. Now, he has two sons and is giving back to society but still saving lives on his weekends.

 Yuto 5/6M

Gretel Beuta was one of the speakers who shared their story on National Young Leaders Day. Gretel Bueta started off as a basketball player, following in her older brothers’ footsteps, only to change to Netball in 2012. Bueta played for the Australian Institute of Sport in the Women’s National Basketball league during the 2010/2011 season. She played half the season with the Logan Thunder in the 2011/2012 season. Gretel soon was named Rookie of the Year for WNBL in 2011 before pulling out due to glandular fever. In March 2012, Bueta made the switch from Basketball to Netball, registering as a goal attack, AKA goal shooter.

She was selected in the Australian Diamonds squad for the 2018/19 international season. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old has not played for Australia since last year's gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games campaign, where she was among the Diamonds' most dominant players, surprising defenders with her agility, aggression and accuracy.

To have Gretel be a speaker for us, meant a lot to some who might aspire to be like her someday. As a speaker, she really inspired me and the others, telling us to follow our dreams, even when things get in your way. To not be scared and to not let little obstacles beat you. In fact, Australian netball star Gretel Bueta has announced she's pregnant, throwing the Diamonds' World Cup plans into disarray. While it's brilliant personal news for the Queensland Firebirds superstar, she will be ruled out of the upcoming Super Netball season and looming World Cup in late July. Good luck to her!

Renae 6J

School Council

The School Council is seeking a parent representative.  At Runcorn State School, the School Council is responsible for the strategic direction of our school, ensuring that the policies and procedures involved in this planning are discussed and reviewed by both members of staff and the parent community.

Our School Council meets once per term, on a Monday at 3:15pm.  If you would like any further information, please email Jasmin Stewart (jstew445@eq.edu.au).

Environment Club News

The Environment Club has resumed paper and cardboard recycling. This usually happens on a Thursday or Friday. So far, the collection has been going well with most classes remembering to only put paper and cardboard in these bins. Just a reminder that tissues must not be placed in the Recycling Bins.

Collection of plastic bottles, poppers etc for the Containers for Change program will also resume. Year 5/6 students will place clear containers in both junior and senior eating areas each day. We raised $250 worth of much need funds for the school in 2022 and hoping to raise more in 2023. We now have the Wave of Change wheely bins in the school (pictured), and hoping all Runcorn State School families will access the green bins as well. We have also left the Runcorn State School Scheme ID if that is easier to use.

We are also working towards re-establishing the Heritage Garden beds once the construction of the seating is completed. We would like to be able to start producing salad for the Tuckshop and would appreciate any donations of seedlings (not seeds). Lettuce and tomato seedlings are the most frequently used items in the Tuckshop.

Above is some information you may share with your family about where plastic ends up. Sadly, the recycling of soft plastics has been paused, but hope in the future this will return. In the meantime, there may be other ways to recycle or reduce the plastic we use.  We just need to be THINKERS!!

Looking forward to working alongside everyone to make a difference to the thinking around the Environment and Sustainability within Runcorn State School.

The Environment Club

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Anglim

jmcna155@eq.edu.au         sangl1@eq.edu.au    

Japanese News

Year 4 students have learnt about Girl's day (hinamatsuri) which is celebrated on the 3^rd of March. We did the very 1^st origami session in Japanese class.

Year 5 students have learnt how their names in Japanese look like. They are making a bag tag with a shrink plastic.  We can'y wait to see the final product coming out from an oven.

Year 6 students participated in a Teams video call with Kokubunji 10^th Elementary School (Dai Juu shou, Japan).  Dai Juu shou gave some quizzes about Japanese school Runcorn students asked more questions to get to know about school life in Japan.

From the Administration Office

Student Resource Scheme (SRS)

​The SRS provides students with cost-effective resources.  It was unanimously agreed at the P&C Meeting on 20 November 2022  that the cost of the SRS Scheme for 2023 will be a flat fee of $40.00 per student with no family discount as per departmental guidelines.  This is a reduction of $20.00 from the 2022 SRS fee. Forms and invoices will be sent to parents at the commencement of the 2023 school year.

A reminder also, that from 2021, the Participant Agreement Form that Parents/Caregivers sign are valid for the duration of your child's enrolment at Runcorn State School unless Parents/Caregivers inform the school otherwise by completing a new Participation Form.

Incursion/Excursion/Camp Payments

Runcorn State School is now a cashless school.  Thank you for continuing to pay for your children's incursions/excursions/camp payments via our preferred methods:-  BPoint and EFTPOS.  If you require any assistance paying via BPoint, please contact the school office.  Unfortunately we are unable to accept payments over the phone.

Newsletters

Don't forget that you can always collect a hard copy of the current newsletter from the office.  You can also view/download it from our website: https://runcornss.schoolzineplus.com/enews?nid=23  You can also download the Schoolzine App from your App Store.  Once downloaded, search for Runcorn State School and use password 4109, when prompted.  Happy reading.

Scholastic Book Club Catalogue

By now your child should have received their Scholastic Book Club catalogue.  Orders are due back by Friday, 17th March. 

Please note: no cash payments are accepted by teachers. Orders are to be made online only through the LOOP system. 

Happy reading! 

Mrs Bayle, Book Club Co-ordinator 

Mrs Bedford - Crossing Guard for 35 Years

Recently on the 6^th of March, the School Captains interviewed a long-time Crossing Guard for Runcorn State School and many other communities, Mrs Bedford. Though this humble, modest Crossing Guard stands in the same place every day and does the same things she is instrumental in some people’s safe crossing to school and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves her job!

Without crossing guards there’d be many more incidents of unsafe driving which may injure our students traveling to and from school.

In her own words, she says she loves hearing the greetings of young children crossing gleefully to school and being able to assist them. For 35 years she has helped children cross and walk safely to school at numerous schools.

As we walked out after interviewing her we realised that she had dedicated thirty-five years to this job, what an achievement. We also  asked some fun questions like, “What did you originally want to be?” To our surprise she said hairdresser. She also told us she loves working with her colleagues and training new supervisors and assisting them in any possible way.

The experience was educational and Mrs Bedford is essential to our community. We thank her for her for 35 years of dedication!  We should greet and respect these hardworking crossing guards every day. We know we will.

The Captains

P&C News

Year Level Facebook Groups. Press on the link to join now!

Prep 2023 - (1) RSS - Prep 2023 | Facebook

Year 1 - (1) RSS - Grade 1 2023 | Facebook

Year 2 – (1) RSS - Grade 2 2023 | Facebook

Year 3 - (1) RSS - Grade 3 2023 | Facebook

Year 4 – (1) RSS - Grade 4 2023 | Facebook

Year 5 - (1) RSS - Grade 5 2023 | Facebook

Year 6 – (1) RSS - Grade 6 2023 | Facebook

TO KEEP UP TO DATE ON ALL THINGS P&C – FIND US ON FACEBOOK at Runcorn State School P&C Association | Facebook

Message from Graham Perrett MP Federal Member for Moreton

Please join Graham Perrett and Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Finance, Stephen Jones MP, at the Moorooka Social Space for a Scams Forum:

When: Tuesday 14 March

Where: The Social Space, 21 Clifton Street, Moorooka

Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm

This is an opportunity for members of the community group to find out how to protect your personal information, tips on identifying scams, what do to do if you fall victim to a scam and what the Government is doing to protect you and your family from scams.

RSVP today by emailing graham.perrett.MP@aph.gov.au

Community News