1. education
2. school

451 Old Cleveland Road East
Birkdale 4159
Ph: (07) 3820 4333
Fx: (07) 3820 4300
Email [email protected]
[email protected]
www.birkdalesouthss.eq.edu.au
Office hours 8am-4pm
Birkdale Sth
Grapevine
Term 1
From the Principal’s desk…
Dear Parents/Caregivers
3 Way Conferences
At our school, we offer 3 Way Conferences twice a year and encourage parents to involve the student in the process.
It is fantastic to see so many conferences booked in for both Monday and Tuesday afternoon. Typically, numbers are strong in the lower grades and this trend appears to be
continuing this year. I appeal to parents of students in the upper school to ensure you
stay in touch with your child’s learning progress. It is very important not to take your foot
off the pedal, so to speak!
Joke
What do you get when you cross a
hen with a kookaburra?
A chookaburra!.
Yours in Education
Craig Douglas
3 Way Conf 3-6pm
Brainways
Wednesday 18 March
“The grass is always greener on the other side,” is an
analogy I’m sure, you have heard before.
Sometimes, we forget how good we have it, and want for
better.
Community support for our school is a good example of this and our P&C demonstrates
this every day!
At last week’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), it was invigorating to see that existing
executive members had developed a strong succession plan to introduce new members to executive roles throughout the year. It was also reassuring to see so many new
faces sitting around the table at the meeting. Many of these parents were parents of
young students in our school.
Whilst other schools struggle to fill positions or even get a corum to meetings, it was evident that our P&C has an abundance of parents wanting to support our school. This
commitment extends to our tuckshop which continues to operate effectively with minimal disruption, calling on volunteers to assist Judy Bagley, five days a week. You may not
be aware, that even schools with student populations of over 900 students, struggle to
get volunteer support and only operate 3 days a week and then, only orders online and
nothing over the counter.
A genuine three cheers goes to Cathy Bidois and her P&C team.
The general rule is:
Never assume anything and stay involved in your
child’s learning.
Tuesday 17 March
Brainways
Thursday 19 March
Chaplaincy LCC 7.30pm
xPad payment due
Friday 20 March
Young Leaders’ Day
(Southbank)
Saturday 21 March
Bush Dance 4-7pm
Monday 23 March
Chess Club 8am
Dist Soccer trials
Parade Q/W Gr 3
Chess workshop 3pm
Tuesday 24 March
Closing the Gap/Harmony Day
Brainways
Gr 3 Bugs Ed (incursion)
Dist Soccer trials
Wednesday 25 March
Brainways
Code a dojo
Thursday 26 March
Brainways
Chess tournament
Friday 27 March
Brainways
X Country
Keeping Parents Informed
16 March 2015
Edition 4
 Be Green! Read from the screen
and think before you print…
Deputy Chat...
Loreyse Agnew-Green
Brainways
A reminder that the Brainways workshops are being held over the next 2 weeks:
March 17/18 Mathematical Patterns; Art of Persuasion
March 24/25 Ecosystems in Your School; Engineering Science
March 26/27 Creative Writing :The Journey; Logic and Critical Reasoning
Students involved are to be in the top covered area at 9am or before for Registration
ICAS Tests
A reminder to those wishing to have their children participate in ICAS testing to please return
the form and funds by 30 March.
Ready Reader Training
There will be 2 sessions – the first on Thursday morning 26/7 at 9am and the second session will
be early in term 2, negotiated with the participants, but likely on a Thursday morning. This is
the follow up from our supported reader inservice for parents and volunteers, who would like
to further their knowledge and understanding of the reading process – with a view to utilise
newly practiced skills as part of our schools student support. There are 4 modules to complete. Please register your interest with Mrs Green – [email protected]
1/2/3 Magic & Emotion Coaching
An excellent parenting program being conducted at Alexandra Hills State School in May.
There will be a flyer attached to this newsletter with all the details. $10 per family for work
booklet. If you would like to inquire please contact Mrs Green – [email protected]
Closing the Gap Breakfast/Harmony Day Celebrations
At school Tuesday 24 March—See Deadly News for more information
Curriculum...
Fiona Lane HOC
This week I’d like to talk to you about the importance of building vocabulary with
your children. Vocabulary is one of the key components needed when children
read, write and speak.
Research tells us that if children know the meaning of a word they are far more likely
to be able to read it and make sense of it within a sentence, and are far more likely
to use it when they write. For the most part, vocabulary is learned indirectly through
repeated exposure to new words in conversations, by listening to stories, by reading
and through media (Senechal, 1997). Some children arrive at school already competent
vocabulary users; others need a little more support around the skill of developing an understanding of how to learn new words.
There are many things we can do to support our children to develop and use a wide variety
of vocabulary. The following strategies can be used at all levels.
The easiest thing to do to develop vocabulary is to talk to them. Use words that make them
think – talk about other words that might mean the same thing, for example: car – also
known as a vehicle, or an automobile.
When reading with our children we can “Tune into Interesting Words” - you might read a
page in a story and at the end of that page ask your child if any words made them stop and
think, or confused them, or sounded interesting. You will be amazed at some of the conversations you can have around just this simple task. Often you’ll discover some misconceptions about the meanings of words you think children already understand.
If you have any questions about other ideas for developing, building and extending vocabulary with your children please talk to your child’s classroom teacher – or drop me an e-mail
[email protected] – please include your child’s name and class so that I can liaise with the
class teacher about strategies provided.
Thanks for taking the time to read HOCs corner, I look forward to sharing more with you in
the future.
Positive Behaviour for Learning...
Megan Willmott
Congratulations to those
classes that have filled a
beehive.
Great Work!
PA
PB
PC
1C
2C
3A
3C
3/4D
4A
4B
5A
5C
6B
6C
(When a class has accumu-
Be Respectful!
PBL is a whole school approach that is gradually introducing change of
behaviours around the school. Last week we trialled a new way to start
parade to help children think about respect for others. Noise has been
a concern at the beginning of parade, so the children are gathering
outside the hall and all entering at the same time from different entry
points. The children then focus on keeping quiet once they come in.
This hopefully will cut down the time children are waiting in the hall trying to be quiet. Parents can come in before the doors are opened for
the children to enter. Otherwise we would appreciate if they could wait
until classes have entered the hall before they go in.
Beehives this week
PA, PB, PC,1C,2C,3A,3C,3/4 D,4A, 4B, 5A,5C, 6B, 6C
Wow so many classes that have filled a beehive!
That’s 1000 positive behaviours for each one of these classes!
Be Safe! Be Responsible! Be Respectful! Be a Learner!
lated 50 bee stings, they get
to put a bee on the hive.
20 bees fill a hive).
Deadly News...
Kim Paulson
Yura everyone, to all Indigenous students in the BSSS Jajams dance group we will be performing at the Birkdale South Child Centre on 24 March for Harmony Day. Students performing will need to be at school by 8.30am on 24 March. We will be practising next Tuesday the
17th March for the following week. Costume articles needed for dancing are: black singlet or
T-shirt (not writing or pictures) and black shorts or leggings.
To jointly celebrate Harmony Day and Closing the Gap Day we will hold a Dress Orange
(Respectful) on Tuesday 24 March. The day will begin in the hall at 7.45am for a Closing the
Gap Healthy Breakfast, the whole school will make paper dolls and our Jajum Dancers will
have their first invitation at Birkdale South Childrens Centre.
OXFAM -National Close the Gap day 19 March. Why is closing the
gap so important? Most Australians enjoy one of the highest life
expectancies of any country in the world — but this is not true for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indigenous Australians
can expect to live 10–17 years less than other Australians. Babies
born to Aboriginal mothers die at more than twice the rate of other
Australian babies, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
experience higher rates of preventable illness such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.
On the Friday the 20th March from 10am-2pm Yulu-Burri-Ba Aboriginal Medical Centre Capalaba (opposite Spotlight) is hold a ‘Closing The Gap’ fun day with food and activities for
the whole family.
Yuwayi, Kim.
Workplace Health and Safety...
Narelle Davy
Washing hands a must
Flu season is nearly upon us, please remind your child how important it is to wash their hands
so we can stop the spread of colds and flus.
Hazards
If you notice any hazards around the school, please contact the school to notify us so we
can rectify the hazard as soon as possible.
Classroom Spotlight...
Lower School— Prep to 3
Year 2
In our Year 2 classrooms at Birkdale South we are learning to…
Explore how characters are depicted and created by authors. We have gained a deeper
understanding that author’s make choices about how they portray characters and events.
We also understand that characters and events can be represented in different ways. Students have been identifying characters in texts and creating alternative character descriptions. We have been working very hard on the construction of simple and compound sentences that are accurately punctuated. We have also been exploring expanded noun
groups in our written descriptions with specific focus on adding adjectives into our writing
tasks. Below is an extract written by: Shari Jarrett (2A)
The Kick-a-Lot Shoes
The witch is nasty and likes to get
her own way. She is wicked and
cruel. She is naughty because she
kicks people. She likes to go down
to the town and kick people until
their bottoms hurt…
Upper School— 4 to 6
Year 6
Science Club
Did you know that gravity does not have exactly the same force everywhere on Earth?
This is one of the many interesting facts that the students who are part of Birkdale South’s Science Club have learnt this term.
We are very lucky to have our very own visiting Scientist in Schools scientist Michelle Neil, who
comes every second Monday during morning-tea to run workshops with students from years 4
to 6. Already this year we have learnt about what scientists do (apparently they don’t all
wear white coats!) and we’ve had a visit from Michelle’s husband, John Mabb to talk to us
about Climate Change. A very exciting program has been organised for the rest of the year
and the students are enjoying the opportunity to extend their learning in an area of the curriculum that they enjoy.
School Leaders’ Report
Last Thursday we attended the GRIP Leadership conference at the Sleeman Sports Complex.
The conference helped show us what potential we have as leaders. It gave us many ideas
and tips that we could use at our school. It was a very beneficial
experience and we came away inspired. Very soon we will be
letting everyone know our exciting plans for the year!
Specialist Hightlights...
The Team
Ellen Gibbs Classroom Music, Joanne Wolfe Instrumental Music, Julie Schmidt Strings
Ryan Sensei Language, Jean Schenk Library and
Dean Johnson and Yvette Butterworth Sports Physical Education
♫♪ Music
Miss Gibbs
Classroom Music Spotlight
This week we are featuring The Boys’ Choir. This
year we have a group of very enthusiastic students who are very excited to be learning lots of
challenging repertoire to showcase their voices.
The boys will also be getting their very own T-Shirt
for Boys’ Choir to wear at performances and
competitions. More information about this will be
coming soon. This will be the first year we are
entering this choir into competitions and the
boys are really looking forward to it.
Practice Times
Junior Choir
Wednesday 1st
Break
Senior Choir
Tuesday 1st Break
Boys Choir
Friday 1st Break
Music Welcome BBQ
Thank you to everyone who came along to our
music welcome BBQ last Wednesday. We would
like to extend a huge thank you to our parent helpers and staff who assisted us with
cooking the BBQ and uniform fittings. Your help is truly appreciated. If your child still
needs to have their music uniform fitted they can see Miss Gibbs in
the Music Room during break times to be fitted.
Senior Strings - Friday 8am
(Group lesson during the day for
both Junior and Senior Strings
Musicians Dress Up Day
A free dress day will be held on Wednesday 1 April to raise funds for
the music program. For a gold coin donation students will be allowed to come to school dressed as their favourite
Junior Band - Thursday
musician. The day will culminate in a special music
(Group lessons during the day)
parade from 2pm in the hall. There will be a fashion
Senior Band - Wednesday 3 to 4pm
parade with prizes for the best dressed musi(Group lessons during the day)
cian in Prep - 3 and grades 4 - 6 as well as
Ms Wolfe
performances by the Senior Band, Senior
(Junior & Senior
Choir and the Teacher band. All parents, family and friends are welBand)
come to attend the parade.
[email protected]
Start thinking about costume ideas now to be in the running for one
Ms Schmidt
of the prizes.
(Junior & Senior String
Ensembles—Choir, Band, String
Choir News
Our first choir performance this year will be for Senior Choir at the
Bush Dance 21 March. The day starts at 4pm and the Senior Choir will
be singing one song at 5pm. They are to meet outside Rainbow Central. A permission and information letter has been given to those students involved. If your child needs a note for this please see Miss
Gibbs in the Music Room.
Ensembles)
[email protected]
Ms Gibbs
(Junior & Senior
Choirs)
[email protected]
Library
Students are to be congratulated for remembering to bring
their library books back. It is great to see many students borrowing every week. Thanks to those who have found their lost
books or paid the replacement fee.
Our Library helpers have been busy at break times showing off
the new BSSS Expectations capes and crowns. Students have
been engaging in creating their Easter crafts. The Little Rascals has been a very popular movie with plenty of laughter.
Everyone from grades 1 – 6 are more than welcome to come
and join in.
Language—Japanese
Japanese students are busy labelling the classrooms and the buildings around our school!
Students are learning about their school environment in Japanese classes. They are now familiar with a variety of terms used in the classroom and the items and furniture that are found
in classrooms. The signs have been written and decorated by the students using their new
script writing skills.
Learning the basic hiragana script is ongoing and lots of practice will eventual make perfect,
just as when students first learnt the English alphabet. So far students have been introduced
to the vowels and the first line of consonants. Please encourage your children to practise.
Sport and Physical Education
Sporting Recognition
We have a huge number of students at Birkdale South who are actively involved in sports
both in and out of the school environment. We would like to acknowledge these students
who are passionate and dedicated to their sports.
Abigail Williams is one of these students and in the few weeks we have been back at school
she has already been involved in a variety of swimming meets.
These include;
Competing in the QLD State Championships
Making it into the district team for 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle
Competing in Met East Trials
Competing in the Metropolitan Championships
Training 5 days a week
We have also asked for parents to let us know of any sporting achievements outside of
school and we will include these in future newsletter articles.
Year 1 in PE
Year 1 have been working on hand – eye coordination and ball skills during PE. We have focused on keeping our ‘eye on the ball’ while bouncing and catching as well as throwing and
catching in a variety of ways. All students have been encouraged to get out a ball and practise as often as they can at home.
PE Reminders
Cross-country training is on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 8am sharp.
Please return Project Consent forms for students selected for district sport trials ASAP.
Finance and Admin
Megan Murphy
Activity
Year Level
P-6
Cost
Due Date
$40
Thursday 19 March 2015
$8
Tuesday 17 March 2015
ICAS
3 incl.
3/4D
P-6
Friday 20 March 2015
School Fees for 2015
Prep
$8.80 per
subject
$110 & $40
Instrumental Music and Choir
Various
Various
OVERDUE
xPad Program
Bugs Ed
OVERDUE
**Please Note – it is very important to bring in the Participation Agreement forms when paying
for the fees not matter the payment method eg online, cash at window
xPads
The xPad subscription due date has been extended to Thursday 19 March.
If you need any information or the participation forms, please see the office.
Absences
Reminder that when away from school parents need to report an absence. Even if just one
day.
Entering absences on the parent app
It’s fantastic how much the parent app is being used to enter absences. We have had a few
inconsistencies with absences longer than a day. Please note that when entering absences
the ‘From’ and ‘To’ dates include the day your child is away.
For Example:
Tim Smith was away on Monday 10th October, Tuesday 11th October and Wednesday 12th
October. In the parent app you would put the ‘From’ date as Monday 10 th October and the
‘To’ date as Wednesday 12th October. If away one day it would be Monday 10th October to
Monday 10th October.
Messages to Students
There have been quite a number of parent messages to their children during the day, especially after school pickups. Students should be prepared for the school day, including who is
picking them up after school. We ask that you please minimise these phone calls as it causes
disruptions to class leaning time.
Support Team
The Team
Danee Cikoja Support Teacher Literacy and Numeracy, Megan Willmott Special Education
Teacher, Dorin O’Sullivan Guidance Officer, Sue Dahl Advisory Visiting Teacher—Behaviour
SEP
The Special Education Program provides support for children who have been verified with
one of 5 disabilities - Hearing Impairment, Vision Impairment, Intellectual Disability, Speech
Language Impairment and Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Children with disabilities at Birkdale South are included in their class with the support of the
SEP staff in the classroom and in the SEP room for programs, such as fine motor, reading,
phonics, just to name a few. Our room is also open during big lunch as a games room for anyone in the school to come to play and socialise.
(Mrs Willmott will be on leave for Week 10, Term 1 and Week 1 Term 2. Mr Kuiri will be replacing her for this time.)
School Banking
Karen Standring
School Banking Day
Every Wednesday
We would like to welcome all our new school banking Savers to the Birkdale South School
Banking Program. We’ve had 17 new activated accounts so far this year which is a great
achievement. Thank you for coming on board. The school banking program includes a
great rewards program that promotes good savings behaviour. Every time your child makes
a deposit at school, regardless of how much, they receive a cool Dollarmites token. These
tokens can then be redeemed for exclusive Dollarmites reward items. The reward items for
this term are:
ET DVD
Planet Handball
In the spirit of the school banking rewards program please explain to your child that Dollarmites tokens cannot be pooled to redeem rewards items.
Understandably, children are eager to get the rewards, however the School Banking program is designed to encourage individual savings behaviour and to help children achieve
their savings goals.
Chappy’s Chat
John Rutter
Well when I accepted the role at Birkdale South as Chaplain, Mr Douglas said that I would
have to hit the ground running; and he was right! Well he could have actually said to hit the
ground “dancing”! Bush Dancing to be more precise… that’s right! The Annual Birkdale South
Community Bush Dance is on again and myself and the Chaplaincy Committee have been
working away preparing for another fantastic event here at our school. If you haven’t already heard about it through the note I sent home with students, the Bush Dance is on this
Saturday afternoon/evening (21 March) from 4 – 7pm out the front of the Chappy Room
“Rainbow Central”. We have so much planned for this evening, you just have to join us.
Wednesday
25th March
The event will start with a petting zoo, pony rides and jumping castle then move on to some
games and competitions including egg and spoon races, sack races, a coin toss and the
highly competitive watermelon eating comp! We will also be judging our colouring in Competition and also Cup Cake decorating competition. Please bring in your Colouring in by
Wednesday 18 and your decorated cake by Friday morning, 20. We also have a fun photo
booth, sausage sizzle, hobbie horses, the Senior Choir performing for us, and let’s not forget
the evening finishing off with Bush Dancing!!
Tickets for the event and to help raise funds for your School Chaplaincy program will be on
sale Monday to Wednesday before School at the Office and also at the door on 21. Tickets
are $7 each or $12 for families of 3 or $15 for larger families. The evening is open to our whole
community, so please bring your friends and neighbours along.
As with previous years, we see this as a great opportunity to come together as a school community for a fun event and we look forward to seeing you all there.
Chappy John
Conratulations to our P&C Committee for 2015
President – Cathy Bidois
Vice President – Rosina Tucker
Vice President – Kristen Perry
Treasurer – Louise Smith
Assistant Treasurer – Karen Standring
Secretary – Lahra Warry
Asssistanst Secretary – Sue Adams
Fundraising and Events Team Cordinators – Rosina Tucker, Liz Rigg, Kalena Padlie
Easter Raffle
All students have received their Easter Raffle tickets.
Books need to be returned to the box at the tuckshop
by Friday March 27. All books must be returned SOLD
OR UNSOLD. More books are available by putting your
child's name in the book at the tuckshop stating how
many books you require. There is a ticket seller's prize
for a child in both the junior and senior school who sells
the most books. Each child who sells a book gets a
small prize. All funds raised benefit our children. Thirteen prizes
up for grabs. You have got to be in it to win it! Thank you for
your support.
Welcome back disco
Thanks to all who supported this event and those who helped in
the canteen. A fun night was had by all.
Rosina Tucker
Fundraising and Events Coordinator
P&C News
President—Cathy Bidois
www.facebook.com/BSSSPandC
[email protected]
Events
Thursday 20 March
National Day against Bullying
Saturday 21 March
Harmony Day
Chaplaincy Bush Dance 4-7pm
Wednesday 25 March
Little Cakes
Book Club
Orders now closed and orders will
arrive in time for easter.
Volunteers Morning Tea
The Volunteers Morning Tea is on 11 May not 20 April.
Uniform Shop News
Dresses are now in stock in sizes 4 - 10 and we also
have 2 only in size 16.
Winter uniforms need to be ordered at the Uniform
shop by 19th March or you may miss out. Long sleeve
polos are custom made and cost from $33.50 each. Red zip jackets are $27.00
each. Girls grey tights are $6.95 per pair with ladies sizes costing $7.95 per pair.
Stationery - We still have a small number of stationery items for quick sale at cost
price. The range includes giant crayons, Twistaz crayons, erasers, sharpeners, whiteboard markers & a paint pallete. We also have the Elementary Maths Mastery
booklets and the Junior version for $2.00 each.
Lost Item
A large black tub approx. 200 / 300 litres which was lent to the second hand stall
during last years Fete has gone misssing. Can we please return this to Leisa Hassall
ph 0434 019 460. Thank you ☺
Tuckshop Roster
Week 8
16/3
17/3
18/3
19/3
20/3
K Standring, R Tucker
K Padlie, L Riggs
S Adams, P Penna
K Padlie, L Riggs
C Clark, D Reed, A McFaul
23/3
24/3
25/3
26/3
27/3
C Bastow
N Lander
S Adams, P Penna
K Padlie, L Riggs, C Seiber
C Clark, D Reed, A McFaul
Week 9
Uniform Shop
Opening Hours
Tuesday and Thursday
8 am to 10am
SOUTH EAST REGION
BEHAVIOUR ADVISORY TEAM
BAT
Behaviour Advisory Team
South East Region
1-2-3- Magic & Emotion Coaching
An opportunity for Parents or
Carers of Early Phase students
(prep to year 2)
This program is designed to help parents
& caregivers gain skills to better manage
Children’s difficult or challenging behaviours.
• Learn a simple technique to get your kids to STOP doing what you don't want them
to do (whining, arguing, tantrums, etc.).
• Learn several effective methods to get your kids to START doing what you do
want them to do (cleaning rooms, going to bed, homework, etc.)
• Learn techniques that reinforce your bond with your children and help them
develop resilience and emotional understandings.
The program is facilitated by trained staff from Education Queensland
South East Region Behaviour Advisory Team
Where:
Alexandra Hills State School SAT Lab
12 Princeton Avenue, Alexandra Hills, 4161. Ph: 3820 0333
When:
Four sessions of 2½ hours each
Tuesday’s 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th May 2015
From 8:30am – 11:00am.
Cost:
$10:00 (per family to cover cost of workbook)
Registration: Please register by paying at the office by no later than
Friday 1/5/15. Places are limited.
☻ Light Refreshments Provided
Please register me to attend the 1-2-3 Magic & Emotion Coaching Program.
My Name:…………………………………………….
Child’s name:………………………………………..
Phone Number:……………………………………………..
Class:………………..
$10 payment enclosed