Leichhardt State School eNewsletter

From the Principal

Welcome to another edition of Leichhardt State School’s newsletter!

End of Term Celebrations – Body, Mind, Character Day

Following what has been a fantastic term at Leichhardt State School, we finished on a high note with the Body, Mind, Character Day on the last day of school!

We started the day with the presentation about Neurodiversity delivered by Trudy Bartlett, teacher from Marsden State High School. Trudy is autistic and has ADHD, so she talked to our Year 5 and 6 students about how she managed when she was school and how she developed strategies to help her achieve her dreams. Trudy is also a very successful sports person who enjoys futsal the most.

Another highlight for our students was the Leichhardt HAS Talent! We all had so much fun with Mark and Gonga as the best MCs I have ever seen! Their wit and humour entertained everyone in the Hall.

Our honourable judges, Ms Curwen and Mr Woodford, were amazing in first choosing the performers from the pool of talent on Thursday, and then doing the final judging today. Big congratulations to the winning performers, 2A class and 6A girls dance group.

Celebrating Success

As you are aware, we have a very strong focus on teaching and learning in our school. To enable this work to progress in the future, we have decided to establish a new leadership role. I would like to congratulate Ms O’Connor, 4B teacher, on being successful in applying for the Head of Department - Teaching and Learning at Leichhardt State School. Ms O’Connor’s mentoring of our early career teachers and her dedication to her students is highly valued and I am sure that she will make a huge difference to our students’ learning.

Facilities Update

The basketball courts are being refurbished at the moment and will be shiny and, almost new, after the holidays! In addition, the concrete work on the Gathering Place is being finalised today and the artwork will start as soon as possible. Aunty Marly is leading this project with the help of other local artists, and in collaboration with the Elders in our community.

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy reading our newsletter!

We are so proud of all of our students and staff for the progress that has been made so far this year. Everyone has applied themselves to making improvements in their identified areas and many students have achieved beyond their goals.

This term in the SEP, we have invested in sensory supports for all students. We have distributed a number of resources to classrooms including leaf canopies for the E block classrooms to create a calming space in each room, wobble cushions for use by students who need a little extra movement when sitting for long times, weighted soft animals for students to provide students with sensory input while they look after and hold them and a relaxing new recliner chair for students to access in the Sanctuary.

We have continued to develop student voice and many students have enjoyed being involved in planning activities and adjustments that will support them to successfully engage with curriculum activities and their peers.

Over the holidays, our Room 1 will have a slight makeover. We will have a wall painted to enable us to use it as a whiteboard and furniture changes to cater to our increasing numbers.

Our main focus areas for Term 4 will be:

All students working in their designated learning areas with their peers;
Continuing to upgrade our learning areas to cater to the needs of all students;
Supporting our Year 6 students in their transition to High School;
Building capability of students: self-regulation, social communication and student voice.

Thank you everyone who continues to support us to build an inclusive community at Leichhardt State School.

Reading @ Leichhardt

‘Highlights of Weeks 9 and 10’

Aunty Marly’s Deadly Reader for Week 9 was….

Assyriah from 4A! and Week 10 was Madison from 2A!

‘Pick of the Week’ student for Week 9 was…

Jethro from 6B! and for Week 10 it was our own ‘Authors in Residence’ with their book, ‘A Turtle’s Journey’!

Well done, Mark (6B), Shyanne (6B), Xavier (6A), Riley (6B), Saolotoga (6A), Lilly (5A) and Ivy (5A)!

Tuesday was ‘Australia Reading Hour’ day. Each year in September, Australians acknowledge the joy of reading through events and activities organised around this day. Over a period of 24 hours, all Australians are encouraged to engage in reading for at least one hour. It was great to see the following students complete their Reading Hour Tracker. Well done, students!

Carmen from Prep B! Mia, Nowah, Zebastyn, Nate and Olivia from 2C!

Fedor and Rosealeigh from 2A!

Andantez, Riley, Coolan, Jennifer-Anne, Ashton and Cianna from 3A!

Tyler and Robbie from 3B!

Zye, Gjai’ Sian, Lucas, Skye, Maci and Miarose from 4A

Keanu, Koree and Kirra-Jane from 4B

Akaisha and LJ from 5A!

Prep Writing

Our Preps are becoming amazing writers as they use their letter-sound knowledge to write words and sentences! Here is Charlee-Rose from Prep B proudly sharing her writing. Well done, Charlee-Rose!

Here is CJ from Prep A proudly sharing his writing. Well done, CJ!

A ‘Book Gift’ for students to enjoy

As a final celebration of ‘Book Week’ and in keeping with the theme of the ‘Australian Reading Hour’, on Thursday each student received a picture book or novel to keep and enjoy! Here are LJ, Akaisha and Serenity from 5A helping ready books to be distributed to classes.

It has been wonderful to see our students striving to build their attendance as we reach the end of our term. Well done to our Prep, Year 4 and Year 6 students who we can see in the graph below have increased their attendance in week 9. Congratulations to our winners of the attendance raffle. 10 students have won a $1 tuckshop voucher for having 100% attendance in week 9!

Our class winners for the highest percentage of attendance

Junior:

3B-81.05%

Prep A 81.11%

Senior:

4A - 89.57%

6B - 91.76%

Curriculum News

The students and teachers have worked extremely hard to finish all their assessments this term. It was wonderful to see the whole school community, including the parents, come together to achieve this. Students were completing assessments in the Outdoor Learning Area, Deadly Room, Sanctuary, Room 1 and even walking around the school. The students have been showing their learning in the most amazing ways and have even made use of the Green Screen Room to put themselves on different planets to talk about the Solar System. It is wonderful to see our curriculum delivery come alive!

Because of the incredible learning taking place this Term, the teachers have completed and sent home the Term 3 reports and we are all very proud of the results the students have achieved. Well done to the whole school community for what we are achieving with our curriculum delivery here at Leichhardt. A community that supports learning can achieve anything!

Learning @ Leichhardt

This week in Prep B we have started to explore what it means to be grateful and proud so we are spending a few minutes each day to write a sentence about our feelings and then adding a drawing. We plan on doing something special with these for the end of the year as a beautiful, positive keepsake of our time in prep.

This was 4B's favourite maths activity this term to consolidate their learning of decimals. The students enthusiastically participated in an outdoor activity by completing questions that had been placed around the outdoor area. They were very proud of themselves for completing them quickly and accurately. 4B created their own teams during the activity. It was great to see the students working together so respectfully!

Red Cross Visit

Students in Years 3 and 4 participated in a disaster resilience education program run by Australian Red Cross, called the Pillowcase Program.

Designed to help children prepare for, cope with and respond to an emergency, the workshop included a discussion about the importance of being prepared, as well as interactive activities to help students prepare their minds for an emergency and consider what to pack in an emergency kit. Each student was given a pillowcase to decorate and take home, to start their own personal emergency kit.

Whether your child participated in the program or not, Red Cross would encourage all of us to get prepared for the emergencies that life throws at us. They have also stressed how important it is to not only make an emergency plan but to discuss and practise that plan with children.

Getting your household prepared:

Red Cross have provided a checklist of actions to prepare our households and children for emergencies. I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to complete these as a household.

All the children in our house know what an emergency is (a serious, dangerous and scary situation where help might be needed)

All the children in our house know how to stay calm by ‘breathing with colour’ (slowly breathing in their favourite colour and then slowly exhaling their least favourite colour to regulate their breathing)

All the children in our house know how and when to call for help (For guidance visit triplezero.gov.au)

We have a safe meeting place outside our house and have practised how to get there

We know who to call if we can’t find each other

We have an emergency kit packed ready to go if we have to leave our house quickly.

For further guidance or to create a household emergency plan you can download Australian Red Cross’ Get Prepared app or visit redcross.org.au/prepare.

Prep 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

If you have a child born between the 1^st of July, 2016 and the 30^thof June, 2017, they are due to start Prep in 2022. With three exciting Prep transition days coming up in Term 4, we strongly encourage prospective Prep families to contact the Office on 3813 3222 to begin the Prep enrolment process as soon as possible. We look forward to meeting our 2022 Preps and their families next term!

Mission Australia Play & Learn Discovery Group

What a great term we have had this term at the Leichhardt Play & Learn Discovery Group learning about Dinosaurs.

Some of the things we have done this term are:

Playing in the sandpit
Made Dino tracks in play dough
Made some great Father’s Day gifts
Sang songs & read some great stories
Hatched Dinosaurs out of ice eggs
Celebrated some Birthdays
Fed a T-Rex
Used our imagination when playing in the Dino sensory tub
Did lots of painting & lots more.

If you would like to join the group in term 4, it is on every Thursday in the Library from 9-11am. It’s for families with children aged between 0-5 years old, is free & tea/coffee & morning tea is provided.

Please contact Channon Schiemer from Mission Australia to find out more information on

0475 798 198.

Next term we are learning about different countries & cultures with some Christmas activities added in at the end of the term.

PLAY A BOOK PROGRAM

Last Wednesday 8^th September there was the ‘Play a Book’ program held in the hall with Channon from Mission Australia running the session.

Channon read a story to them called ‘The terrible plop’ by Ursula Dubosarsky. After the story the children got to make some animal masks, they made red apples from play dough & painted leaves & apples on trees.

All these activities related to the story and after the children finished their afternoon tea (which was food related to the story) they got to play the story using the animal masks & apples they made earlier.

They had fun swaying like a tree, running like the animals in the story & droppong (or plopping) the apples on the ground like in the story.

If you have children 0-5 years old & would like to join in on the next session in term 4, please contact Channon Schiemer from Mission Australia on 0475 798 198.

Ipswich State High School 2022

The on-line form is the easiest option for all families wishing to enrol pupils here for 2022. If you prefer a paper copy, we have some available at the main Administration Office at Leichhardt State School, or we can send one home with your child if they come and pick one up. Paper enrolling packs for Ipswich State High can be returned to our office at Leichhardt, and someone will collect them from here.