26 May 2016

Newsletter Articles

UPCOMING EVENTS

May/ June 2016

PAYMENTS DUE

PRINCIPAL’S NEWS

Aspley State School is a vibrant school where students learn and achieve! I am delighted to advise school community that I have been successful to be appointed as the substantive Principal of Aspley State School. In the weeks that I have been working at Aspley State School I can evidence engaged learners, a strong school community and dedicated, high performing staff. I look forward to leading the school to continue the proud traditions and create innovative futures for the students of Aspley State School.

Independent Public School

Aspley State School is proudly an Independent Public School where the school joins 180 other Queensland state schools to exercise more autonomy within the school, while remaining part of a strong state system. This week I have attended the Independent Public School Alliance Conference which brings the leaders of Independent Public Schools together to learn from each other and share the best educational practices which lead to improved student performance.

School Council Member Election- Term 3

In Term 3 the Aspley State School Council will call for nominations to elect one parent and one staff representative to serve on the school council for a two year period.

On acceptance of election to the Aspley State School Council, members are entrusted with the long term integrity and viability of the School. In return for this trust, members perform their duties always in the best interests of the school, in good faith and with honesty.

As a member of the school council you will be required to:

• Be conversant with the School Council Constitution and the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006
• Be familiar with the Department of Education and Training’s strategic plan
• Be familiar with the school’s strategic plan
• Understand the philosophy and core values on which the school’s services and programs are based
• Demonstrate a personal suite of values aligned to realising harmonious and constructive conversations and decision making
• Offer an array of personal capabilities to assist creative and productive discussions and decision making relative to the strategic responsibilities of the school council
• Be able to work cooperatively with other council members to ensure productive and constructive discussion
• Be able to leave aside personal agendas and bias
• Assist in strategic planning and development
• Understand the difference and the delineation between operational, governance and strategic issues
• Liaise with relevant stakeholder groups to effectively represent views and opinions of staff, parent and community bodies
• Engage in shared leadership
• Work with other council members, school personnel and other decision-making bodies, for the benefit and betterment of all students and the community
• Demonstrate ability to follow through on tasks and meet associated timelines
• Attend council meetings as required
• Represent the school council and support decisions made
• Actively promote and portray a positive image of the school council
• Undertake extra activities or duties as requested by the council or the chair
• Approve key strategic documents, as well as reviewing and monitoring school performance
• Develop strategic initiatives that meet the unique needs of the students of the school
• Keep the broad school community involved in the activities of the school council.

See more information about the role of the school council at:

School Disco

The school disco held last Friday was enjoyed by all the students. A special thank you to the volunteer parents and staff who assisted at the disco. The children enjoyed the event and it was a great fund raiser for the Aspley State School P & C Association.

Students …….Publish Your Writing in an eBook!

With a goal to improve student writing for all students we encourage students to write and publish their writing using an app called Book Creator. This fun App allows children, from 4 years and older, to create great books using their own writing, photographs and voice. Book Creator also has a comic creation tool too! The app is available at App store, Google Play and Windows Store. I look forward to read the great eBooks that children are making!

5O GARDENING

by EAMON LANGTON

This year 5O has been looking after the school garden. First, we started by learning about companion planting, which is finding out about what grows well together. Around the end of March we planted seeds. We planted radishes, carrots, silverbeet, and much more. Our class goes to the garden about three times a week to water and weed the garden beds. Gardening is hard work!

Recently we harvested radishes and went around the school selling them to the teachers. All of the money we make goes towards buying more seeds and seedlings. I think they were the best tasting radishes EVER!

Eamon Langton
5O

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL’S NEWS

Mobile Phone usage by students

We have been made aware that a small number of older students have been not storing their mobiles correctly during the day and a case has been reported of using the phone during break times.

A reminder of the school's expectations regarding mobile phone usage and storage:- Students who bring a mobile phone to school are required to store it securely during the school day (preferably at the Office) and are not permitted to use it during the day.

Any student found using their device during the school day will have consequences applied under our Responsible Behaviour Plan.

Waiting areas for all students

A reminder that we have designated waiting areas for the safety of your children. If children are being picked up at the drop off zone near the hall then that is their waiting area until 3:20pm. The teacher on duty will bring them down to the office for pick up, after that time.

If you have arranged for them to be picked up at the at the Maundrell Terrace pick-up area, then please encourage them to wait on the seats near the 125th tree mosaic. The children will be taken to the office (usually 3:30 pm) after students waiting at the bus stop board the bus.

Please discuss with your class the nominated waiting areas before school (the Eastern Hall) and the waiting areas for parents after school (the Eastern Hall, under A Block and near the Maundrell Terrace entrance).

A number of parents are again waiting around the Amenities Block, Junior Oval, the Year 2 Shed and the new grassed area between B, D and E Blocks.

We would appreciate your support with this.

ARC – 31 May and 1 June

As per your schedule for ARC, please note that due to school photos and ICAS Science, there will be NO ARC on the days above. ARC will continue as normal for the next 2 weeks after that.

Assembly

• Uncle Michael from the Noonga Reconciliation Group, our guest speaker for next week, will address the students on Assembly to share his experiences and the experiences of his family in conjunction with National Reconciliation Week.
• RACQ will be presenting a segment emphasising how to be safe on the road while travelling on your bike, scooter, walking, driving to and from school.

Under 8’s Day

This Friday, we will be holding the Under 8’s Day. Please find attached the program.

Senior Leader Round 2 Investiture

At Assembly on Monday 23 May 2016, we inducted an additional 8 students as Round 2 Senior Leaders for 2016.

Congratulations to Michael Brian, Ethan Donaldson, Oliver Gazenbeek, Cortez Jensen, Harvey Mellor, Jack Sampson, Nina Robinson and Mae-Li Viti on their induction as Senior Leaders.

Please find attached the final order of events in the upcoming Athletics Carnival.

Please find attached the school calendar.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT NEWS

CHANGES TO CHORAL ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS

The Junior Choir will change their Week 9 ensemble choral rehearsal ONLY from Wednesday 8th June to Friday 10th June due to the Education Queensland Band Blitz occurring at Aspley State School on Wednesday 8th June. All students will be reminded of this change over the loud speaker.

ENSEMBLE REHEARSALS

All Choral Ensemble members and Junior Concert Band members are now required to be self-managed in remembering and attending ensemble rehearsal days and times. This change commenced last week (with children being reminded of this new change on last weeks assembly) and I am very proud to say that Junior, Senior and Boys Choral members did a fantastic job at being self-managed and remembering to attend rehearsals. Congratulations! If changes to rehearsals are to occur a reminder will be placed over the loud speaker. Keep up the great work everyone!

SEMESTER TWO MUSIC PERFORMANCE EVENING

The Aspley State School Music Program will hold its Semester One Music Evening at the Aspley State School Hall on Wednesday 15th June, 2016 commencing at 6.30pm. Our children have had a wonderful first semester of music making and we are all very excited to share our achievements with the Aspley Community. All students in the following ensembles have now received a parent information letter regarding this special evening.

The following ensembles - Senior Concert Band, Junior Concert Band, Senior String Orchestra, Senior Choir, Junior Choir and Boys Choir will be performing. All members of these performing ensembles are expected to attend this performance evening.

**Please note – Beginner String Students (students who commenced learning in 2016) are not required to perform at this event.

If your child is not available to participate in the Aspley Music Evening, please contact the school in writing by Wednesday 1st June, 2016. If this information is not received in writing, students will be expected to attend.

We would appreciate parent support with various jobs, both on the day of the music evening and/or during the evening’s performances. If you are available to help, please tick your preferred choice on the tear off slip on the parent information letter and return to the school office by Wednesday 1st June 2016. Please remember to write down a phone number for the music staff to contact you prior to the performance event.

For further information regarding this wonderful evenings performances, please refer to the school website document site or see Mrs McIntyre.

Happy Music Making
The Aspley Music Department

LIBRARY NEWS

What a busy few weeks we have coming up for all things Literary!!

Book Fair

This week is our first Book Fair for the year. The Fair will be here until Wednesday 25 May. It will be open before school from about 8.15 am, and again in the second lunch break, and be open from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm each afternoon. All profits earned in commission will go towards the school.

Scholastic Reading Review Crew

Congratulations to Alexandra Hassall (Year 6) for being selected by Scholastic for their Reading Review Crew for Term 3 and 4. Alexandra will receive pre-release copies of books and possibly manuscripts to review for Scholastic. She then has to write her thoughts or a review within 14 days and submit it to Scholastic. Reviewers often influence the publication of what we read. This is a great achievement and quite an important role for Alexandra. Well done!

Encyclopedia Britannica Trial

I have been considering subscribing to an online encyclopedia for the school for 2017. As a result of research work Year 3 has been doing, I participated in a webinar and the school has been offered a 2 week trial of the resources of Encyclopedia Britannica. Your child will receive the username and password for this from their class teacher. Please make good use of this opportunity. I will be posting a survey for those who did use it, later in the term.

Details of our 14 day trial for Britannica School are below.

username: mayschool
password: Toyota

Students may access this at home as well as at school.

National Simultaneous Storytime

Will be held this week on Wednesday at 11 am. The Story is “I got this Hat” and it will be held in the Library.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Information and record sheets for this went home last week. Please encourage your student to set their own personal goal for this challenge. I will be again creating a display of the books on the current 2016 list as well as titles from previous years for those who are struggling with choosing what to read. Reading commenced on 16 May and will finish on 26 August 2016. Additional forms can be collected from the library or the office.

ICAS Science Competition 31 May 2016. 7.30am for a 7.40 am start A Block Computer lab.

Parents of most students participating in the ICAS competitions this year were emailed with the timetable, venue and some tips and suggestions for participating in the competitions. If you have not received that information, please check here.

Please check the dates and times for your child’s participation. Unfortunately we are unable to offer make-up tests.

Competition Papers are collected at the end of the competition and returned to the students when they receive their results.

Hope Francis
(Teacher-Librarian)

JAPANESE STUDY TOUR

SCHOOL STUDY TOUR 2016

Our school will be hosting a Study Tour this year. A study tour is a group of international students coming to Australia (Aspley SS) to learn English and be immersed in the cultural experience of going to an Australian school and staying with Australian host families. The group of 20 Japanese students aged 14-15 years old, will be arriving on the 21st of August and departing on the 2nd of September. This particular group of students are from a prestigious school in Japan called Ritsumeikan Uji Junior High School, which is located in the Kyoto Prefecture.

An important aspect of Study Tours is in providing “homestay” for the Japanese students. Information about providing “homestay” and the application form follows this message. If anyone is interested in providing “homestay”, please complete the application form and return it to the Administration Office.

I will keep you all up-to-date with any details regarding the Study Tour. Elaine Dooley (6DA) is also an Accredited Officer of Study Tours which is fantastic! She too will be working with me on the Study Tour.

Kind Regards

Rowena Mina (6MV/LOTE Teacher) and Elaine Dooley (6DA)