Newsletter Term 3 Week 1

From the Principal

Welcome back to Term 3!

We hope that everyone has had a relaxing break and has come back refreshed for a productive and focused term of learning. I wish to extend a very warm welcome to students joining us this term, and their families. I hope you settle in quickly and soon feel part of the Runcorn school community. As always it will be another incredibly busy and exciting term with a myriad of happenings taking place across the school.

Loose Parts Play Space

Our loose parts play space is now complete and is open every day at first break. This has been thanks to the efforts of Mrs Powell and Mrs Sinnott. I would like to thank both of these ladies for their passion for loose parts play and the sharing of their knowledge with our staff so that this new play space could become a reality for our students. Children see possibilities in everything and this loose parts play space allows them to create something incredible, all with just the power of their imagination. 

A mud kitchen has been added to the space which means students are using the water in their play. If you are worried about your child's school shoes getting wet, please feel free to send a named pair of gum boots along that your child can use each day.

Keep your eyes open for photos on Facebook.

Prep Enrolment for 2025

Our Preparatory Year enrolment process for the 2025 school year has commenced. In terms of the enrolment process, parents are invited to complete an enrolment form and collect an enrolment package from the front office. Our Prep program for 2025 includes opportunities for our new students to join our school in a Pre-Prep program which will be held over four weeks during Term 4. This program will be a great way of connecting and engaging with our school in preparation for next year. We encourage you to enrol your child early, to ensure your place is guaranteed for 2025 and to give us a clear idea about the number of classes we can form. All enrolments require an interview with one of our Prep teachers.

School Opinion Survey

The annual School Opinion Surveys will be conducted in Term 3 and will close on Friday 16 August 2024. All families, school staff and students in the target year levels of 5 and 6 will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve.

An invitation to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey will be emailed to one parent/caregiver per family in the week beginning 22 July.  The invitation will be sent from the Department of Education, not the school, and it will have the subject line School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2024.  Check your junk email folders if you can’t find it.  The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation is received and will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.  Parents/caregivers who do not have access to the internet at home are welcome to complete their survey online at the school. School computers/tablets will be available. Keep an eye out for yours!

Meg McClure

From the Deputy Principal

QParents is now live at Runcorn State School.

This app streamlines many school processes and supports the school community to send and receive information electronically which assists us in time saving and decreased use of paper.

All camp and excursion parent consent and payment will now be sent via QParents, so please register via the email sent to all parents. Please phone 13 74 68 if you require assistance registering for QParents.

3 Way reporting  T3W2

These meetings provide a valuable opportunity for Parents, Students and Teacher to discuss progress so far this year and set goals for the rest of the year.  Please take the time to

Please complete a booking via (please insert the booking link here) by COB Friday 12/07/24.

Dance Day 

Thank you to Omar from Dance Curriculum.com for providing our students with a wonderfully choreographed dance session this week.  We look forward to looking into ways for future Dance Curriculum experiences at Runcorn.

 Roberta Matlock.

From the Head of Department - Curriculum

Goal Setting  

At Runcorn all of our students have differentiated learning goals they work towards achieving at their own pace. Setting challenging but achievable goals helps teachers develop and maintain a culture of high expectations and also allows the students to reflect on their learning and achievements.

When setting goals, students need clarity around what they are working on, how they can work on improving and how they know when they have met the goal. Students are ‘in charge’ of improvement with their learning and are provided opportunities to self-monitor their progress. Goals also provide opportunities for teachers to give explicit feedback to the students and support them in their learning.

When a discussion is had with the teacher about setting their goals it is important that students leave knowing:

- What is my new reading/writing goal?

- How am I going to go about achieving my goal?

- How will I know if I have achieved my goal?

With the start of a new term comes the opportunity for reflection and setting new challenging but achievable goals to be accomplished throughout the term.

Jillian Chittenden

Head of Department - Inclusion

Every year, during Term 3, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• the child’s year of schooling
• the category of disability that best describes the child’s difficulties (one of four categories is chosen by the school team to reflect your child’s greatest area of need: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional)
• the level of adjustment the child receives at school (one of four levels is chosen by the school team to reflect the type of support your child requires: quality differentiated teaching practice, supplementary adjustment, substantial adjustment, or extensive adjustment).

This information assists schools to:

• formally identify the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

Furthermore, the NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

While it is not possible for schools or families to ‘opt out’ of the NCCD, the privacy and confidentiality of all students and their families is treated with utmost importance. Data is collected within each school, and personal details, such as student names and other identifying information, are not provided to local or federal education authorities.

Further information about the NCCD can be found at www.nccd.edu.au/for-parents-guardians-and-carers

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Julie Schooth

Norman's News

A very big welcome back to Term 3. Mrs Schooth and I hope that you had a ‘pawfectly’ wonderful holiday and that you are as excited as we are to be back at school.

I am pleased to ‘repawt’ that I had a relaxing holiday at home but was a little ‘pawplexed’ as to why I couldn’t join my ‘pawents’ and the littlest humans from my house who went on an adventure to Canberra and Sydney and seemed to have lots of fun skiing and meeting up with all sorts of animals at the zoo.

I did enjoy my family Facetiming me from their holiday, but always made sure they could see how much I was missing them. I also sent them regular updates of the TV shows that Harvey and I were watching as well as photos of us going out for walks. I am sure that Mrs Schooth missed me and was glad to be home… and I have a sneaking suspicion that the next holiday she books will be a dog-friendly one so that I can come along as well. Three Woofs. 

Until next time,

Big licks and tail wags,

Norman

Music Matters

Save the date:

Term 3 Week 5 Junior Band on Parade
Term 3 Week 6- Instrumental Music Information Evening- at Runcorn Heights State School
Term 3 Week 7- Singfest (Senior Choir)
Term 3 Tuesday Week 9- Music Showcase Concert Sunnybank SHS (Band, Strings, Choirs)

Instrumental Music

Choir and Instrumental Music rehearsals have begun this week. Please ensure you are in attendance at all rehearsals this term. Our Music Showcase concert is in Week 9 of this term and all ensembles and choirs will be performing.

Strings:
Senior Strings- 7:30am Tuesday                                     Junior Strings- 3-4pm Tuesday

Band:
Senior Band- 7:35am Monday                                         Junior Band- 11:15am Monday

Choir:
Senior Choir- 8am Wednesday

Instrumental Music Recruitment

At Runcorn State School we have a Strings program that commences in Year 3 and a Band program that commences in Year 4. The recruitment process for Strings begins in Year 2 and Year 3 for Band.

We follow a thorough process of recruitment in Term 3 including an expression of interest, an aural skills test, consideration of classroom music results and effort and behaviour in music and general classroom, consultation with the classroom teacher, family support and interest and physical testing for instrument suitability.

Expression of Interest

An Expression of Interest (EOI) form will be sent out this term around Week 3. If you wish for your student to be considered for the IM program this form will need to be returned. Students who do not submit a EOI will be unlikely to be considered.

To access the full recruitment policy document please go to the Instrumental Music Handbook on the Runcorn State School Website or contact Ms Hopper for a copy- mxhop2@eq.edu.au

Instrumental Music Information Evening

If you are interested in being a part of the Strings or Band program in 2025, an information evening will be held at Runcorn Heights State School in Week 6, Monday 12^th August at 6pm. It is highly recommended that you attend this information evening as all information about recruitment will be covered along with opportunities for meeting the teachers and asking questions.

Singfest- Senior Choir

Singfest is coming up for Senior Choir members in Week 7. If you have returned an expression of interest form in Term 1 or Ms Hopper has spoken to you, you will have received a consent from through QParents. You will need to have registered to QParents so please ensure you have done this.

Music Showcase Concert

Our Music Showcase Concert will be held at Sunnybank State High School in Week 9, Tuesday 3^rd September at 6:30pm. Performing at this event will be all Band students, all Strings students, Senior Choir and Year 3 Choir (all Year 3 students). More information will be provided closer to the date for all students.

Term 2 Strings concert

Congratulations to our Beginner Strings and Junior Strings on their fabulous performances at the end of Term 2. You are sounding brilliant and it shows that your hard work and practice pays off.

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

Sports News

Welcome back to Term 3

I hope you and your family had a relaxing holiday. 

This term things start to slow down after last term’s exciting end to the term with both senior and junior school track and field carnivals. 

Congratulations to those students who nominated and competed at the Eastern Taipan trials over Semester 1.  The school is extremely proud of how you stepped out of your comfort zone and gave your best effort.  Whether you made the team or not is irrelevant, the personal growth that you gained from simply attending the trial puts you in good stead for future success.  

Below are photos of the age champions from last terms senior track and field carnival. 

Good luck to the 31 Runcorn Students competing at the district Track and Field trials next week.  It is exciting that we have so many students competing in not just running events, but field events as well.  We hope to continue to grow over the coming years.

Term overview for this term is as follows:

Prep – Helicopters and Lilypad’s
Year 1 and 2 – Rounders
Year 3 and 4 – Touch football
Year 5 and 6 – Netball

Enjoy the start to Term 3

As always, any questions please email me.

Mr Brady
lbrad101@eq.edu.au 

Health Happenings

Welcome back to our wonderful Runcorn Community. I trust that you had a relaxing holiday and that the students are ready to tackle the new term. Our focus at Runcorn State School this fortnight are the Organisation Key and Self-Manager Learning Asset.

Organisation at Runcorn State School looks like:

• Students having all supplies ready to do school work
• Students safely and quickly lining up in their correct area after the music plays in the morning and break times
• Students ensuring necessary stationery and belongings (including books, pencils, hats and water bottles) are ready every day and for each lesson
• Students ensuring bathroom breaks occur before school and during break times
• Students ensuring library books are returned to school on time
• All learning tasks are completed in a timely manner both in and out of school
  
  Effective Self-Managers at Runcorn State School are:

• Resilient
• Responsible
• Reflective

Staff across Runcorn State School will be actively looking for students displaying organisation and self-management skills. Each week, one student per class will be awarded with a certificate to acknowledge their dedication to consistently displaying these skills. 

Sheridan Stirling
sstir16@eq.edu.au

Japanese News

• Year4

On week 1 students learnt a story behind a traditional Japanese event, Tanabata which is known as a Star Festival. They wrote a wish on a colour paper and decorated a bamboo tree.

• Year5

Students discussed and shared ideas on “What builds a good team?”. They learnt what Japanese students do at “Undoukai (Sports Day)”.

As this week is NAIDOC week, students listened to a folktale of AINU who are indigenous people in Japan and discussed similarities with one in Australia.

• Year6

Students listed what they knew about Japanese food in the beginning of the lesson. Then a variety of Japanese food were introduced to them.

Letters from Kokubunji 10^th Elementary school in Japan have arrived. Students were very excited to receive a letter addressed to each one of them. Next week they are going to write a reply letter.

Nagashima sensei
Japanese Teacher

Environment Club News

The Environment Club and Mrs Jenni McNamara

jmcna155@eq.edu.au       

School Photos

2024 School Photos are scheduled for Term 3 Week 4 - Tuesday 30 July and Wednesday 31 July.  A photo schedule will be released at the beginning of Term 3.

From the Administration Office

Student Resource Scheme

We would like to thank all of our families for supporting our Student Resource Scheme.  The monies raised helps purchase learning materials used in each of our classrooms and specialist lessons.  Your assistance enhances our student's learning outcomes.

Attendance

Runcorn State School's Admin team are available between 8.00am and 3.30pm each school day. You can contact us on 3323 8777 if you have any queries.   Student absence texts can be sent to 0429 928 611 or a voice message can be left on 3323 8777 and press option 1.

If students arrive to school from 9.00 am onwards they are to present to the office to collect a late slip.  This ensures that our rolls are marked correctly and prevents parents from receiving incorrect absence texts. 

First Aid Processes

If children are injured or become ill at school they will receive treatment within the classroom or in the Health Room. Parents/Carers will be contacted if necessary. Please note that staff must give Parents and Carers a courtesy contact home for all head related injuries (no matter how minor).   

When a student is considered too unwell to remain at school, parents will be contacted to collect their student in a timely manner.  If a student's condition deteriorates while waiting to be collected an ambulance may be called if deemed necessary. 

If a student presents to the health room with a suspected allergic reaction, parents/carers will be contacted.  As per Education Queensland policy, if a student requires an EpiPen to be administered parents will be notified.  An ambulance must be called and the student will be transported to hospital for further treatment.   Children with known allergies will have their own school based EpiPen.  We also hold a school EpiPen for any unforseen emergencies. 

Medication must be prescribed by a doctor or dentist and may only be administered to students by school staff. The medication must be taken to the school office in its prescription container and administered according to the doctor’s instructions.

Non prescribed oral medication such as Panadol and cough mixtures can only be administered by school staff with a pharmacy label and medical authorisation. Education Queensland prohibits students from carrying their own medication to school and requires Parents/Carers to deliver the prescribed medication to the office and collect after school or before weekends as needed. A school register of all medicines administered is kept.

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.

DID YOU KNOW?..... that using BPoint is a convenient and secure way to pay for your child's school invoices. BPoint is a user-friendly online payment platform that enables you to pay your school invoices quickly and easily, without having to worry about sending cash or cheques through the mail or visiting the school in person. It can also be done by phoning the school on 3323 8777, choosing Option 2 which will redirect you to the BPoint payment platform.

By using BPoint, you can make payments from the comfort of your home or office at any time, day or night. You can also track your payment history and receive email receipts for each transaction, making it easier to keep track of your expenses.

BPoint offers a secure and reliable payment system, ensuring that your personal and financial information is protected. It also helps reduce administrative costs for the school, which ultimately benefits the entire school community.

We strongly recommend giving BPoint a try for your next school invoice payment. It's an efficient and hassle-free way to pay your school fees.

We have also included some easy to follow instructions. If you still require further assistance with the process please contact our friendly Admin team!

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.

P & C Association

“Drumroll, please!

...and the Peak Physique raffle winners are Christal Ticket # Blue B 09), Tasia (Ticket # Blue B 14), and Amy (Ticket # Blue B 14.

Congratulations everyone, we'll be in touch to arrange your prizes.

A big shout out to Peak Physique for supporting us with this raffle and reminding us of the importance of looking after our physical well-being. They are a local yoga studio to our school and we encourage you guys to get in touch with them to check out their awesome studio.

Thank you to all who participated and supported us in the raffle. We raised $213.00 towards Norman's training and accreditation. Your generosity is truly appreciated.”

All Parents and Caregivers are invited to attend our next P&C Meeting in Term 3 Week 2 on Monday 15 July at 4.00pm in the Resource Centre. 

Our online ordering platform is  https://runcorn-state-school-parents-citizens-association.square.site 

Community News

Jabiru offers before and after school care and vacation care at Runcorn State School. Our team includes a range of friendly people who are into craft, sport and outdoor exploration, so there’s something for everyone at Jabiru Runcorn.