AGNES WATER STATE SCHOOL

P.O. Box 238 1 Donohue Drive, AGNES WATER QLD 4677

Ph: 07 49021333 Email: the.principal@agnewatess.eq.edu.au

Calendar of Events

Date Event

Mon 16 May High School Readiness Information

Session – 9:45am Agnes Water

Mon 16 May P&C Meeting

Tues 17 May UNSW Digital Technologies

Thurs 19 May Principal Business Meeting

Fri 20 – Sun

22 May

1770 Festival

Thurs 26 May Bundaberg Show Holiday

Fri 27 May Under 8’s Day

Tues 31 May UNSW Science

Wed 1 Jun Kepnock SHS Overnight Camp

Thurs 2 Jun High School Readiness Information

Session 2 – 2:00pm Agnes Water

Fri 3 Jun Academic Triathlon Debating Day 1

Tues 7 Jun Twilight Teacher PD

Thurs 9 Jun Principal Meeting

Fri 10 Jun Spectra Science Fair

Mon 13 Jun UNSW Writing

Tues 14 Jun A Slice of Vaudeville Performance

Wed 15 Jun UNSW Spelling

Fri 17 Jun Science Fair

Sat 18 Jun Seven Steps in Writing Training (teachers)

Mon 20 Jun P&C Meeting

Wed 22 Jun Report Cards sent home

Wed 22 Jun Celebration Day

Thurs 23 Jun Athletics Carnival Day 1

Fri 24 Jun Athletics Carnival Day 2

Fri 24 Jun Last day of Term 2

Saturday 25 June to Sunday 10 July Winter Vacation

Mon 11 July School Resumes Term 3

13 May 2015

Our Wonderful Head of Curriculum

We are very lucky as a school to have an outstanding Head

of Curriculum that is passionate about developing our

students and staff. Mrs Tankey is always in classrooms

either teaching, modelling best practice, supporting

students or she is working late after school with teachers

and busy making connections to provide awesome extra-

curricular activities for our students. Thanks Mrs Tankey

for the great things you do for our school.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Our school is committed to the

success of all students in our school.

As such we go to great lengths and

expense to ensure our service

provision is exceptional. We invest

heavily in our staffing and develop

strong partnerships with external organisations to

provide opportunities for specialist support that is not

accessible in our local area. One such organisation is

Royal Far West based out of Sydney. Through the use

of web-conferencing tools, students in our school can

access; Speech Language Pathologists, Occupational

Therapists, Paediatric Support and Mental Health

programs. Parents cannot normally access these

services without travelling to Bundaberg or Gladstone.

Having access to this service, while it is at a cost to

parents, enables on-site support and minimises

interruptions to learning caused by student absences.

When we invest in any program of support in our

school, we continually monitor this for value for

money and outcomes for students. Recently we

have been looking at our 12 month outcomes from

our targeted support programs using CogMed

(supporting Working Memory) and Reading

Intervention. These programs in conjunction with

classroom learning have resulted in some outstanding

achievements.

In comparing our student performance between 2014

and 2015 against regional benchmarks, we have seen

a significant improvement in achievement. At the

end of 2015;

There were 70% less Preps, 75% less Year 1s, 72% less

Year 2s and an average of 56% less Year 3-6 students

below Regional Benchmarks in a 12 month window.

We saw an average reading improvement equivalent

to six months of growth in a two month window for

students on reading intervention and through a

consolidated effort between classroom practices and

targeted support our Year 5’s demonstrated an

average 36 month improvement in a 12 month

window.

Not only did we see this improvement for our

students last year, the students who were involved in

support programs have now continued to show age

appropriate improvement.

This achievement is not only ours as a school, but is an

acknowledgement of the effort that parents put in to

supporting their children with daily reading and

regular communication with classroom teachers.

I am very proud of these results and the efforts of all

involved in helping to deliver these outcomes for our

students.

Uniforms

As we enter the cooler months of the year, it is

reminded to parents that school uniform

requirements still apply. Denim does not form part of

our school uniform. Students are also expected to

wear a navy blue jumper. School jumpers can be

purchased from the school and we often have second

hand jumpers available for sale. Target and Kmart

regularly sell plain blue jumpers and tracksuits at very

low costs which are also suitable for school. We had

very few incidences of students being out of uniform

last year during winter and I would like to improve

upon this in 2016. In the office, I have a range of

spare blue jumpers that I am prepared to loan out to

students for the day if they do not have a blue jumper

to wear to school.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to our students during the last three

days of NAPLAN. I am very proud of the effort that

students applied to their testing and their

commitment to giving it a Red Hot Go. The tests are

now sent away for marking and confirmation of

results with individual reports usually released around

late August. The pancake breakfast each day was

definitely enjoyed by the students.

Congratulations Mrs Heenan

Mrs Keryn Heenan has recently been appointed to the

position of Head of Department – Positive Behaviour

for Learning at Northern Peninsula Area State College

in Bamaga. Mrs Heenan’s last day with our school

will be Wednesday 18 May and she will fill this role

until the end of the school year. While it will be sad to

see Mrs Heenan leave for a while, we are very

fortunate to be joined by Mrs Dawn Morton who will

be taking our 2/3B class. Mrs Morton comes highly

recommended with wonderful teaching experience in

the Year 2/3 area. Mrs Morton will begin working

with Mrs Heenan and Mrs Tankey over the coming

days to help ensure a successful transition between

teachers.

GENERAL SCHOOL NEWS

Student Health

In our school we have a couple of students who have

individual health issues, some that can be quite

serious and lead to anaphylactic reactions. While our

school does not prohibit nuts on site, these are one of

the triggers for anaphylaxis. To help support the

wellbeing for all students we regularly remind

students about the importance of not sharing lunches

and making sure they wash their hands after eating. It

is appreciated if parents can assist in reinforcing this

message at home.

Mothers’ Day Stall

We hope every Mother had a wonderful day on

Sunday. Thank you to our families for your support of

our Mothers’ Day Stall and many thanks to our stall

holders for the wonderful gifts for our students to

purchase.

Bundaberg Show Holiday

While our school operates in the Gladstone Regional

Council, it forms part of the Bundaberg schooling area

and is aligned with services that are supported from

Bundaberg, including bus transportation and our

feeder high school of Rosedale. It also aligns with the

Agnes Water Childcare who have operated the

Bundaberg Show Holiday as a public holiday in the

past. Our school investigated the options of moving

our show holiday last year, however the impacts of

this outweighed remaining with the Bundaberg show

holiday as the school has done for the last 25 years.

Agnes Water State School will be closed on Thursday

26 May for the Bundaberg Show Holiday and will be

open in August during the Gladstone Show Holiday.

P&C AGM

Unfortunately not all positions were filled at our P&C

AGM last term. The position of Secretary is still to be

filled and is an important part of ensuring the ongoing

viability of our P&C. We will also be looking for a

treasurer later in the school year. Without a full

executive, we lose all of our P&C Funding, are not able

to undertake fundraising and will have to close our

tuckshop. The P&C is also an important part of

ensuring transparency of school operations in our

school and a valuable way for parents to provide

feedback to the school. If you are able to assist with

our P&C association please do not hesitate to contact

the school as soon as possible. Our next P&C

Meeting will be Monday 16 May at 4:00pm in the

Staff Room.

1770 Festival

Next weekend is the 1770 Festival, commencing at

5:00pm Friday 20 May, with the re-enactment of the

landing at the 1770 Foreshore, followed by the parade

on Saturday 21 May and Family Fun Weekend at the

SES Grounds. Our school will again be participating in

the street march and we encourage all students to

join us for the morning coming dressed as a circus

performer eg. lion tamer or clown. We will also have

a static display set up over the weekend showcasing

the many great achievements of our school. Student

letters will come home on Monday.

HEAD OF CURRICULUM NEWS

Ideas for Writing

You will start to notice in some of our homework

matrixes that children are being asked to complete a

‘Show, Not Tell’ using different ideas. Your child

should be able to tell you all about this fantastic

strategy. It is an activity that we use as part of the

implementation of our school writing program as

discussed in previous newsletters. If they are stuck for

ideas about what to write get them to think of the five

senses associated. For example for a Show, Not Tell

about ‘I am scared’ you could say “My knees were

knocking and my palms were sweaty as I looked inside

the lunchbox that had been in Sam’s bag all school

holidays.” Another great activity you can do at home

to get the ideas flowing is a ‘Paper Conversation’.

While your kids are at waiting for dinner give them a

piece of paper and a pencil and tell them they can’t

talk. They must have a conversation using only writing

– it soon emphasises why we value spelling and neat

writing because they are writing for a purpose and

people need to be able to understand what is written.

These ideas all promote fun and creativity in writing,

getting the ideas flowing and letting them enjoy it.

The staff have all tried these ideas themselves at staff

meetings over the past year, as we know the value of

walking in our students’ shoes.

SPECTRA Science Extension Program

Thank you to all the parents who have been fitting

SPECTRA into your busy home-lives – the students are

so proud of their efforts. I am on a big learning curve –

last week I learnt about a meteor shower that was

happening, I saw a volcanic rock from Japan and I have

a lovely sample of fake snot from one of the Chemistry

students. This extension program is really enhancing

their learning and wonder about the world. Please

remember that you can email me any time for

assistance and I am very happy to print off photos and

work for the students. The Science Fair has been

moved back to Week 10 (Friday 17 June) just to give

everyone a little bit more time. We will send home

more information as it gets closer.

Under Eight’s Day

This year our school is again hosting an exciting Under

Eight’s Day event and we would like to invite parents

and little ones to our school oval on Friday 27 June

from 9:00am to 10:30am for a morning of dressing up,

painting and creating. Please spread the word around

our lovely town – we hope to see you there.

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Tom

Peters

This week I am celebrating the efforts of Mrs Keryn

Heenan, one of our 2/3 teachers. Mrs Heenan can

always be relied upon to make learning fun, and she

finds so many ways to engage her students. We wish

Mrs Heenan all the best on her adventure north and

look forward to writing letters and postcards to keep

in touch.

Special Thanks

Last newsletter I made special mention about the

mums who helped us sew our recycled rug together. I

would also like to thank Mrs Julie Growcott who

dedicated a lot of time to finishing an additional one

for us. The rug has been delivered and when it is a

part of the record attempt we will be sure to show

you pictures. Kim Cooke, a local photographer has

compiled a beautiful collage of the rug makers – it

truly is a work of art.

Please share what you see – we welcome feedback

about your child’s education…email me at

ltank1@eq.edu.au so we can all benefit from the

wealth of knowledge in this lovely community.

Yours in Learning,

Mrs Leigh Tankey

Agnes Water Tennis with Ange Draheim

Tennis lessons before school have now recommenced with Ange at the school. Lessons are also available at Ange’s court on Bicentennial Drive after school on a Tuesday. Lessons are $10 each session. For bookings please contact Ange on 0409 971 401.

Soccer at Captain Creek Soccer has recommenced with Mandy Bassard at

Captain Creek Sport Reserve on Tuesday

Afternoons from 3:30pm to 5pm. The school bus

can drop off at the venue. Please contact Mandy

for registration or further information on:

4974 7186