Term 2 2024

From the Deputy’s Desk

As Term 2 draws to a close, it’s a pleasure to look back at the activities and celebrate the achievements of our school community. Our Whole School Muster Week was a big hit, bringing together students from primary and secondary. The week was filled with fun and learning, with something for everyone.

Shaun Lethem from Little Athletics led a series of workshops that not only improved our students' athletic skills but also made sure they had a great time participating. His sessions are always a highlight, and this year was no exception.

Creativity was in full swing at Charleville State School where our Prep to Year 2 students enjoyed a lively day filled with engaging activities during the Charleville Under 8s Day. Older students, from Year 2 to Year 4, were not left out as they delved into the world of art under the expert guidance of Carmel Williams. They spent their sessions drawing, painting, and creating vibrant artworks that displayed their budding artistic talents.

Our senior students took part in design technology sessions led by Shane Needer at Charleville State High School. These workshops introduced them to design concepts, helping to bring their creative ideas to life. We extend our thanks to all the guest teachers and presenters whose support and expertise have greatly enriched our students’ learning experiences. Our dedicated staff, parents, and home tutors also deserve a huge thanks for ensuring the success of all these events.

Our P&C outdid themselves by organising an exciting Trivia Night, complete with challenging questions and a mega raffle that kept everyone on their toes. It was great to see our teachers clinch the win this year! Thanks to everyone involved for making the night such a fun and memorable event.

Miss Cash and the Student Council deserve recognition for hosting a successful movie night in our library. A special thank you to Ms. Juniper for bending the rules to allow students to enjoy popcorn and drinks in a space where food and noise are normally off-limits, adding an extra layer of fun to the event.

A big shout-out to our Sports Muster Committee, led by Mrs Thomson, for organising a fantastic Sports Muster. The event was filled with great team spirit and participation. A special thanks to our school leaders who spoke at the event. I encourage any future leaders to start thinking about how they can enhance our sports events and demonstrate strong leadership qualities. Congratulations to Kanyana for being crowned the winning house! While we still need to fine-tune our staff relay team’s training regime, congratulations to the parents for securing another win this year!! Your enthusiasm and participation never fail to add excitement to the event.

A special mention goes to Mrs Scheerer and the Arts and Craft Committee for their exceptional efforts in collecting and displaying our school's arts and crafts. It was wonderful to see so many entries across a variety of sections. Thank you to everyone involved for making this showcase a success and for bringing our community's creative talents to the forefront.

Looking ahead to Term 3, we are thrilled to continue planning for the Year 3 – Year 6 camp. Set for the 9th to the 13th of September, the camp will be held in Brisbane. This exciting week will include 33 CSDE students and 13 from Morven SS. Our itinerary features visits to some of Brisbane’s key attractions, including South Bank, the Queensland Art Gallery, the Museum of Brisbane, the Outback Spectacular, St Helena Island, Urban Extreme, and the Queensland Museum – Rail Workshops, along with a visit to the RAAF Base. Thanks to a generous donation from the P&C, this enriching experience has been made more affordable for all participating families, ensuring that everyone has the chance to enjoy this wonderful opportunity.

As you sit down to look over your child's report card, take a moment to celebrate their successes together and talk about areas where they can grow. It's a great chance to set some goals for the next semester and think about steps to achieve them. If you have any questions or need further insight into how best to support your child's learning, don't hesitate to reach out to their teacher. We are all here to help, and a quick conversation can provide you with valuable guidance and reassurance as you help your child prepare for a successful new term.

We’ve made it through the first six months of the year—well done to all! Now is the perfect time to take a break, refresh, and recharge. Take a moment to be proud of all the hard work and dedication you've put into supporting our students. We look forward to continuing our amazing work together when school resumes on Monday 8th July. Until then, take care and enjoy your well-deserved break!

Head of Department: Secondary and Primary Teaching and Learning

Version 9 Australian Curriculum -Secondary

Staff in the Western Alliance are continuing to work towards the implementation of the Version 9 Australian curriculum.  Progress is being made with planning completed across various year levels and subjects. This work will continue for 2024, with implementation of subjects beginning in 2025.

Version 9 Australian Curriculum -Primary

In the primary setting familliarisation of the English curriculum struture and features continues.  Planning has commenced through the devleopment of quality and curriculum aligned assessments.  Teachers have been participating in collaborative sessions to build capability in preparing for implementation in 2025. 

Secondary

Field Events

Some of our secondary students attended our Whole School Muster and Sports Muster in Week 6. By taking the opportunity to attend our Whole School Muster, students were able to attend skill-building sessions on various track and field events.  These sessions were run by Mr Shaun Lathem from Little Athletics, allowed students to then apply these new skills and techniques at our Sports Muster on Friday.  In between on-air lessons, students also had the opportunity to participate in a variety of fun activities during the week and form friendships and connections with other students.

WA Camp

Next term, WA students will be heading to Magnetic Island for our WA Camp They will travel by bus, via Barcaldine to pick up our Longreach students, and then north to meet our Mt Isa students on Magnetic Island. This will be a week filled with fun and adventurous activities, including stand-up paddle boarding, archery, snorkelling, abseiling, and campfires. This will be a great opportunity for students to meet up with their friends and have some fun.

Primary

Cluster Muster Days

This term’s Cluster Muster Days saw almost 50 students and 17 staff engage in fun activities at Charleville SDE, Cunnamulla State School, Mitchell State School and St George State School.  The theme of the day was science experiments with a touch of Anzac Day wreath making. Students learnt about how water travels in paper towel, flowers and celery.  The transfer of coloured water provided a clear demonstration of the movement that occurs within living things and absorbent materials.  Students also created their own lava lamp, demonstrating what happens when different liquid particles are mixed together. 

Students had an opportunity to learn some common dances, such as the Mexican Hat Dance and Heel and Toe Polka. Science was integrated with monitoring heart rate and how the body responds to different movement intensities. Ball game practice for Sports Muster was also provided with students playing Tunnel Ball and Captain Ball.

Thank you to the students and families who attended, making this day so successful.  Also, many thanks to the staff for their dedication in preparing such a fun filled day and leading the students through the activities.

Next term’s Cluster Muster Day will be on Friday July 26th 2024.

Under 8s Day

During Whole School Muster, students in Prep – 2 participated in the Under 8s Day at Charleville State School.  The theme of the day was “Connecting to Culture through Play.”  Students participated in a range of activities, building, crafting, and learning about the services provided by emergency personnel.     

Term 3 Home Tutor Sessions

Term 3 Home Tutor sessions will be held on Monday 8^th July.  These will be completed on air. More information about times and links to sessions has been shared in morning notices.

PLO Prattle

Public Holidays, Cluster Muster, Whole School Muster, and Sports Muster have made it a packed Term 2, so it’s time to take a breath again. It was wonderful to have 62 students attend Whole School Muster. There was a mix of school work and heaps of fun, with Shaun from Little Athletics coaching the students and staff on the correct way to perform sports activities used at the Sports Muster.

I follow Dr Justin Coulson from Happy Families, who provides insights into parenting and life skills that help us understand our families better. Believe it or not, words of praise can sometimes hinder a child’s motivation and creativity. We may inadvertently create "praise junkies," children who are reluctant to try anything without our approval. So, what should we do? No correction, no praise? What on earth are we meant to say next time our children show us their drawings?

Try this instead:

Narration - Talk through what you see, without judgment, noticing the little details. “I see that you drew a big happy face on the sun in this picture.”

Ask for their opinion - Intrinsic motivation is far more powerful than extrinsic motivation, and we help them get to their intrinsic motivation by prioritising their opinion over ours. “There’s a lot of different colours in this painting, can you tell me why you chose all those colours?”

Express gratitude - A sincere thank you never fails. “You drew this for me? Thank you!”

Say what you see - Describe the emotions you see in your child as a result of what they have done. “You look really happy with the drawing you did.”

Much like sticks and stones, words can be powerful. Through them, we can help our children develop a love of learning, a willingness to experiment, and foster their creativity.

The cooler weather is starting to bite in the mornings, and while I'm not a fan of winter, some people do enjoy it. Enjoy your break and come back to Term 3 refreshed and ready for another busy period.

Digital Discoveries

Microsoft Office

All Education Queensland students have access to a free copy of Microsoft Office. Programs (or Apps) included in the suite are:

• Word – perfect for typing up stories and assignments
• Excel – an essential tool for Maths and Science to present and sort data
• Outlook – be able to send and receive emails to and from your teacher using your school account and have access to a calendar to keep track of all your lessons and due dates
• OneNote – the Desktop App which is preferred by our school for students to complete their work in
• Teams – to be used for on-air lessons in 2025
• PowerPoint – for making slideshows for presentations.

These programs are an essential part of learning through Distance Education and can be accessed using your student’s school email address from the link below.

Microsoft Outlook

Students, with home tutor assistance, are encouraged to use their Outlook calendar (logging in with their school account) to develop their own personal timetable so they never miss a lesson or support session.

Learn more about Outlook Calendars here

Mrs O Trialling Teams

If you have lessons with Mrs O, you will be trialling Teams for your on-air lessons in Term 3 and 4. Keep an eye out for information, including instructions, on how to access Mrs O’s classes during this time and remember to ask lots of questions as we get started. Students will need NEW Teams installed on their computer which is available from:

SORA Reading App

Have you checked out SORA yet? You can access SORA through the quick link in QLearn (same page as the link to On-air lessons). SORA is a collection of digital books, including audiobooks, students can access from home. With a range of collections from C2C texts for English, to popular books and recommended texts for the Premier’s Reading Challenge – there is something for everyone. Simply sign in with your school username.

Tools to Help

Check out these three tools that can help you with your school work.

Internet Advice

Need some advice on what is the best options for accessing the Internet? The Regional Tech Hub is available to give free advice on what is the best type of Internet for your area. Visit https://regionaltechhub.org.au/ for more information.

All About Spotify

Does your child use Spotify to listen to music and watch videos? Do you know what it contains and gives your child access to?

Need More Help?

Digital Learning Facilitator – Sam Owczarek: sowcz1@eq.edu.au or 07 4656 8915

For advice or help with using programs or tools (including QLearn, Microsoft Office and Class Collaborate).

Version 9 Update

Term two brought with it some changes to our team, with use welcoming back Fiona H. We also had Louise from Longreach SDE join us to do some part-time desktop publishing. This brought us to three writers (Anna, Ashleigh and Fiona), a part-time desktop publisher, a HOC and a partridge in a pear tree. In Term 3, we say a fond farewell to Anna who returns back to her teaching position next term, and we know she will just love teaching with the Western Alliance. Morgan joins the team, and we will also have Stephen writing from Longreach SDE.

Term 2 concepts being taught and assessed are Number and Measurement, and Term 3 will focus on Number, Space and Measurement. We continue to use assessment tasks and marking guides from the Curriculum Gateway and are still waiting on monitoring strategies for Term 2 and 3 units – we hope they’ll drop soon.

As part of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, mathematical modelling is one of the four mathematical processes and is an integral part of how our students approach and ultimately, show their understanding of mathematics. Examples below are statements directly from the V9 year level achievement standards and show where mathematical modelling fits in for Years 1 to 6:

One of the ways that our team have embedded this process, is through the use of strategy boards. These strategy boards support our students to understand the problem, plan how to solve it, choose and apply effective calculations, consider how reasonable their response is, then explain, justify or check their solution. Students will be explicitly taught different strategies and are shown how to use strategy boards to effectively solve problems. 

Our knowledge as a collective is growing and we are becoming more fluid in the ways we work as a team to create quality teaching and learning experiences for our families. We are feeling re-energised with the new team dynamic and are ready to tackle Term 3!

From Charleville to Fiji: Bringing Books and Smiles to Namara Village School

Last year, Virginia McDonald, our dedicated Curriculum Teacher Aide, visited Little Wayo Island in Fiji and discovered Namara Village School. Noticing the school was charming yet under-resourced, she saw an opportunity for our community to lend a hand.

Recently, a group of women from Charleville, including Virginia's daughters, travelled back to the island with 50 beloved (culled) books and other educational supplies from our school. These materials, no longer needed here, were ready to start a new chapter in Fiji.

The group didn't just drop off supplies; they spent time engaging with the local village life and understanding the community’s daily challenges. The children’s excitement upon receiving the new books and the appreciation from their teachers clearly showed the positive impact of this initiative. This project beautifully illustrates how simple acts of generosity can connect communities across vast distances.

We thank everyone who supported this initiative. It has enriched the lives of students at Namara Village School and those involved from Charleville.

Cluster Muster

Sports Muster

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