Volume 3 - 1 March 2024
From the Principal
Mrs Bogicevic - Principal
Last week, our teachers participated in the second professional development twilight session focusing on Leichhardt State School’s 2024 Data Plan. Our data focus continues to highlight outcomes in English, mathematics and attendance, which we regard as the most important indicators of success with learning. We are working to achieve:
- 85% of students achieving A – C in English
- 55% of students achieving A – B in English
- 85% of students achieving A – C in mathematics
- 45% of students achieving A – B in mathematics
- 90% of students attending school every day
As parents and carers, you play a vital role in helping our students achieve their best. Some of the parents have accepted our invitation to support their children’s reading intervention sessions by coming in and spending time in the Library in the morning. We are so grateful for everyone’s support.
We have been identified by the Queensland Police Services as one of the schools who will be allocated a School Support Officer position for one day a week starting Term 2. This position has been described as ‘people with youth-focused skills and qualifications, and will be available to assist in the delivery of age-appropriate programs and rapport-building activities (e.g., sporting carnivals, assembly presentations and parent information nights). School Support Officers will also be available as to complement existing school processes to support school students, and families at risk of disengagement (e.g., conducting home visits under relevant departmental procedures).’ This initiative will be a wonderful support for our school community and we look forward to welcoming them to Leichhardt.
You may have noticed that our school grounds are looking better than ever, and this is partly due to us welcoming an additional School Officer, Matthew Kiely, who has done a great job supporting the clean up of the STEAM area, clearing of the bushes near junior toilets and retouching the paint on the A Block veranda. It is beautiful to see the changes and the care our groundsmen put into looking after our school.
The school has now submitted the Annual Implementation Plan, Data Plan and the Budget for 2024. I look forward to the next P&C meeting where we will go through the documents with our community. I hope you will be able to join us.
From the Deputy Principal
Mrs Finlay-Deputy Principal
NAPLAN 2024
The NAPLAN Practice Session for Years 3 and 5 students at the end of Week 5 ran very smoothly. Students logged on easily and completed the practice tasks. The technology, supporting the practice session, also functioned well. Apart from the Year 3 Writing Task which is a paper task, all NAPLAN assessments sessions will be online.
NAPLAN at Leichhardt State School will commence Wednesday, March 13 and conclude Tuesday, March 19. Please see the schedule below for more details regarding test days and times.
If you have any questions regarding NAPLAN, please contact Mrs Finlay (Deputy Principal – Teaching and Learning) on efinl9@eq.edu.au.
Carmen 3A in her NAPLAN Practice session
Attendance Lion Awards @ Leichhardt!
Each Assembly, the staff and students of Leichhardt State School celebrate the Junior Class (Prep to Year 3) and the Senior Class (Year 4 to Year 6) with the highest attendance for the previous week. Given that ‘Leo the Lion’ is the school’s mascot, the winning classes each receive a lion, either a cuddly toy lion or a lion statue, to acknowledge their achievement. For the last three weeks in a row, Year 3B has won the cuddly Junior Lion Attendance Award. This week their attendance was 87.37%. Well done, 3B!
The Senior Lion Attendance Award was won, yet again, by 4A with an attendance of 92.43%. This is the fourth week in a row that 4A have won the Senior Lion Attendance Award! Well done, 4A!
I wonder if a new junior class and new senior class will take out the attendance award next week?
Please support and encourage your child to be, as Leo says,:
“At school,
On time,
In class,
Every day!”
Head of Department - Teaching and Learning
Miss O'Connor - Head of Department - Teaching and Learning
Teaching and Learning
Our students are strongly encouraged to think about how they can be organised for their day and prepared with their learning equipment as well as how they set their books up for each subject (L.S.S. bookwork expectations). This poster shows how students are expected to set up their books for each lesson. They continue to work hard to set themselves up for success. Well done, Leichhardt!
Well done to the student leaders who proudly represented us at the GRIP Leadership Conference last week. We look forward to seeing your leadership grow throughout this year.
Congratulations to our PBL weekly award winners this week. Our current weekly focus has been understanding how we can be respectful to others by keeping our hands, feet and objects to ourselves. We encourage you to have conversations with your children of how they can be respectful and keep themselves and others safe by keeping hands, feet and objects to themselves in all environments.
Head of Special Education
Ms Rivett - Head of Special Education
External providers can offer a valuable service in supporting individual students. Collaboration between the provider and school can result in more effective support for the student. As part of the external provider’s process of assessing need and supporting students, schools may be requested to provide information regarding a student’s current presentation, progress, functioning and support needs. Given that the information involved is often of a sensitive nature and can rely on specific administration protocols, Leichhardt State School adopts a best practice approach when responding to requests received from external providers. A Consent to Share will also be required to be signed before the school can speak to any external providers.
The Requests for Information and Assessments for External Providers form can be located on the school website or paper copies can be found at the main office.
From the Community Support Coordinator
Ms Ferguson - Community Support Coordinator
Community Support Co-ordinator
Attendance matters at Leichhardt State School, below are just some of the key reasons why it is so important children attend school:
- To learn.
- To have fun.
- To make new friends.
- To experience new things in life.
- To achieve.
- To develop new skills.
- To build confidence and self-esteem.
If there is anyway I can help you and your child with improving their attendance just get in touch with the school or email me pferg18@eq.edu.au
From the Deadly Room
On Wednesday, Leichhardt Early Learning Centre started their Deadly Jarjums visit at Leichhardt State School with children learning songs, dance and creating art work before walking around the OLA with their goannas. Thank you Deadly Jarjums, we are looking forward to the next visit in the forest.
Students in Prep B enjoyed song and dance before we headed out to the gardens with their bug view finders to see what they could find in the garden. They found insects, bugs and plants.
Students in 1B are learning about How the Birds got their Feathers by Mary Albert and created their own special bird. While students in 1A are reading The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsey and will be creating their own Rainbow Serpent next week in the Deadly Room.
The Deadly Room is thriving with lots of dancing, arts and crafts, learning about culture, class activities and fort making. Wonderful to see so many students playing and having fun. Yuggera Traditional owners are learning more about their country and language and it is wonderful to see students engaging and teaching the younger generation.
Performing Arts
Instrumental Music
The instrumental students are exctied to be learning Trumpet and Trombone as part of our program now...
We are looking forward to watching these guys perform a song for us in the near future!
From the Teachers
Prep
The Prep students have been eager to blend all the sounds they have been learning into words. They have been practising saying the sounds and then reading the words. Some of the students have even started to write the words. The Preps have also been experimenting with different patterns. They have been creating AB patterns (for example: blue, red, blue, red, blue, red) and AABB patterns (for example: blue, blue, red, red, blue, blue, red, red). They have been using different materials to create their patterns, including beads, collage materials, straws, and coloured counters. There are so many patterns around in our environment. You could assist your child in identifying patterns around your house.
Thank you to all our families that have donated materials for our Science project. It is greatly appreciated.
Year 1
1A has been learning about graphing. We used tally marks to count how many different colour cars drove past the school. We then turned our data into a pictograph which uses pictures to represent the data. The children had a great time watching all of the cars, buses and trucks drive past.
Year 3
Year 3 students have spent the term learning about where heat comes from and what can and can’t be melted. For their assessment the students melted chocolate directly in the sun. They time the different bags of chocolate and compared what melted quicker: broken pieces or a whole chunk together. Year 3 made predictions before the experiment and then used their knowledge to explain the results. The students were also able to enjoy eating some chocolate afterwards.
Year 5
Maths
Year 5 have been working hard understanding how to place fractions on number lines and work out equivalent fractions. They continue to enjoy learning how to use Education Perfect to complete some tasks and quizzes. We strongly encourage students to do this in their own time! Well done, Year 5.
5A have been busy in English developing their spooky stories. We have also been practising our computer skills by typing them on laptops.
Year 6
It has been wonderful to watch our Year 6's working hard to put together a market stall for the younger year levels. Well done Year 6!
Year 6 Science
Students are learning about how plants grow, which one will grow faster using which type of water.
- salt water
- fertiliser
- water
There are 3 seeds in each cup!
Rugby League Program
Our Rugby League Team have been training every second play from Tuesday to Friday in preparation for their first Gala Day. Their Gala Day is taking place on Thursday March 7 at Ipswich State High School.
A reminder to all parents/caregivers with students in our rugby league program that they will need to be dropped off at ISHS at 9am for the Gala Day and picked up by 2:30pm. A reminder form will be sent out at the start of week 7.
Miss Clio
Over the past month students in Year 5 have been engaging with a technology assessment all to do with designing, building and programming a robotic arm using LEGO. The students have been highly engaged and have showed amazing collaboration, effort and interest in their assessment. Over the next few weeks students will finish their programming, test out their robotic arm and reflect on the process.
In the creative arts elective we have been enjoying lots of different forms of art. We began our term with designing some new school polos, painting valentines' crafts, drawing and sketching lots of different pictures, planning / idea generating for a new school song and even have begun painting symmetrical Easter eggs! It has been great to see so many students engage with so many different art forms.
Electives
Our students are thoroughly enjoying their electives. We are watching our students challenge themselves, make new friends and achieve new goals! Go Leichhardt!!
'Reading with the Kindy Kids'
Creative Arts
Minecraft
P&C News
Please see the lovely Volunteers in our tuckshop for all your Uniform requirements. The opening hours are:
8:30 - 1:30 every Wednesday - Friday.
Tuckshop is following the Smart Choices Guidelines
Healthy eating and regular physical activity are essential to promoting and maintaining good health. The Smart Choices- Healthy Food and Drink suply Strategy for Queensland Schools is all about offering healthy food and drink choices to students in Queensland schools.
From the Community
International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD), on 8 March, is an annual event which highlights the achievements of women and brings to light the work needed to address barriers which continue to perpetuate gender inequality. This year's theme—Count Her In—calls for equal opportunity for women and girls to learn, earn and lead. #CountHerIn
Ipswich Library
Ipswich Libraries invites you to visit one of our five (5) amazing branches to celebrate National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) on Wednesday the 22nd of May 2024 from 11.30 am – 12.30 pm.
Join the Ipswich Libraries Team as they share the NSS Book “Bowerbird Blues” by Aura Parker.
“Bowerbird Blues” blurb:
I am a collector. Always looking, finding ... and keeping!
Bowerbird loves blue. Magnificent cobalt. Brilliant, vibrant blue!
But something is missing. What could it be?
Through participating in an Ipswich Libraries NSS session you will be:
- promoting the importance of reading and literacy
- promoting the value and fun of books
- promoting Australian writers, illustrators and publishers
Find out more HERE
Session information
- Wednesday 22 May 2024 from 11.30 am – 12.30 pm
- Sessions run for 1 hour (approx.)
- Target audience children aged 5-8 years (Prep to Year 3)
- Story Time includes 2x stories, songs, rhymes and games
- A fun activity will precede or follow the Story Time
Follow these 3 simple steps to be a part of Ipswich Libraries National Simultaneous Storytime.
- Complete this easy Expression of Interest Form* and make sure you include the Branch you would like to attend (allocations will be made in order of submission date)
EOI Link: https://www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/?page_id=29704&preview=true EOI submission closes Friday 19 April 2024 @ 5.00 pm.
- Receive a confirmation email from Ipswich Libraries with your allocated branch no later than Friday the 26 April 2024.
- Enjoy your National Simultaneous Storytime Session at Ipswich Libraries.
Session opportunities will be allocated in order of submission date, we cannot guarantee a session.
We can be flexible with times and group sizes.
*Please open forms with Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
Looking forward to receiving your expressions of interest!
Kind regards,
Ipswich Libraries
