Taking Pride in Ourselves, Taking Pride in Our School! 13 March 2018 Issue 8

At Gowrie State School we will strive for at least one year’s growth for one year’s schooling for every student.

Dear Parent/Care givers and members of our school community,

This week marks the eighth week of this ten week term and the rigour of teaching and learning has sustained an admira-

ble momentum. Thank you staff, students and the families of our school community. A high standard of attendance has

enhanced our shared responsibility to progress student learning. Another factor that has also impacted on school perfor-

mance is the high level of positive engagement in every classroom. As I move through the classrooms, visiting with staff

and students, interact during playground and afternoon gate duty, chat with staff, teach in various classes, take small

group instruction, it is visible that teachers are facilitating strong ownership of learning on the part of the student.

To clarify this. In Semester Two of last year, Mrs Cox, invited professionals such as our ARD (Assistant Regional Direc-

tor), Principals from cluster school and myself undertook many learning walks. In these learning walks we asked students

5 questions: What are you learning? How are you doing? How do you know? How can you improve? Where do you go

for help?

Student responses demonstrated the start of our journey for students to be informed drivers of their learning. Student re-

sponses this term, demonstrate a deepening ownership of learning. In response to the question: What are you learning?

There are a good number of students who can articulate past the visible chart on the front wall of the classroom that is

describing the learning goal of the particular lesson. Teachers are breaking down the learning goal into meaningful lan-

guage provided by the students and have students co-construct the success criteria. This is very exciting and is a teaching

and learning practice in progress. Our students are moving forward from the question-What are you learning to telling us

WHY they are learning that specific skill and knowledge.

I encourage you to visit your child/ren’s classroom and ask questions about the learning anchor charts, for example, the

learning goal chart, success criteria chart. Anchor charts prompt students to remember their learning, their work, and the

processes they’ve explored. Most useful are those that are visible in the classroom and that are co-constructed by teachers

and students. I know that there is a great anchor chart in a lower grade classroom that describes student learning about

measurement.

On a final note. Our school and community has made a united commitment in words and actions that there is no place for

bullying. This Friday is National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. WE are coming together as a school to re

-affirm our school pledge, sing our school song with a strong voice, each student sign a banner that says YES to Buddies

and NO to Bullies. We are also planting some plants/tree in our friendship garden which is along the front fence at our

main gate. The P&C are supporting the establishment of this friendship garden-another initiative generated

through student voice. The formal part of our NDA events will be at 2pm in the Hall. You are welcome.

Regards Mandy

EFTPOS To assist parents, the

school has EFTPOS facilities for

fast, efficient payment of school

fees & other payments. No cash

required, $10 min transaction.

Tuckshop Friday 16th March

Coffee and Curriculum Conversation Morning Thursday 15th March

National Day of Action against Bullying Friday 16th March

International Read to Me Day Monday 19th March

School Photos Tuesday 20th March

Gowrie Games Friday 23rd March

Cross Country Tuesday 27th March

Gowrie Pass Day Thursday 29th March

Good Friday Friday 29th March

Parent Corner

Voluntary Contributions for

2018

PREP $50

Years 1 to 6 $15 per child Thank you to the parents who have

already contributed and for the contin-

ued support of our school.

Our next Coffee and Curriculum Conversation Moring will be held on Thursday 15 March 2018 from 10-11am in the Resource Centre. Mandy Principal will be discussing the Gowrie State School Explicit Improvement Agenda. Please let the office know if you would like to attend. We look forward to seeing you for a cuppa and a chat.

Student Absence Line:

To report student absences 4698 6860 Open 24 Hrs Parents are asked to contact the school and provide an explanation on the day of

absence each time their child is absent from school unless previously advised. This

can be a verbal explanation to the school via phone call or visit, or a message on

the Student Absence Line above. This Absence Line is checked every morning.

COLES SPORTS FOR SCHOOLS

We have our box in the office. Please

place any vouchers in there.

Happy shopping and collecting!!

SCHOOL PHOTOS School Photos are scheduled for Tuesday 20th March. An envelope and

letter went home last week.

Advanced Life Photography will be taking our photos again this year.

If possible it is Advanced Life and our preference that ordering be com-

pleted online to reduce administration and potential security issues relat-

ed to the return of cash and envelopes on photo day. If you would like a

sibling photo you can ask for a Sibling Envelope at the office.

*Respect * Resilience * Relationships * Rigour * Responsibility* all lead to a great * REPUTATION

*

Congratulations to our Principal’s Award Recipients

Congratulations Lyndsay and Aliviah

Investing in our Gowrie 5R’s—making these values shine!

A good question from a new parent. What is Gowrie Pass Day?

Our Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students is a whole school action plan for every student, in every classroom,

everyday. It is a guideline that tells staff, students and community what our strategies are for teaching and grow-

ing positive behaviour- (Gowrie has a positive growth mindset approach) and outlines our high expectations for

teaching and learning appropriate social and emotional skills. The guide also outlines the endorsed consequences

of a serious behaviour incident; support and intervention services for students and families and staff to grow better

behaviour for better learning.

Currently our students are ‘caught’ (Gowrie Gotchas) enacting the Gowrie 5R’s (Respect, Responsibility, Rela-

tionships, Rigour and Resilience), demonstrating the 3 ‘rules’ Be safe, Be respectful and Be a learner. (signs

in each classroom, around the school). This year I have asked staff to implement an additional layer of ‘visible

feedback’ by having a selected teacher be challenged each week (challenged by Principal and Student Leadership

team) to ‘issue’ 20 Focus Fuss vouchers to students (not from their class) as a way to get to know every student in

the school, make connections, build trust and acknowledge the ‘golden treasure’ we have here in our students and

Gowrie families regarding the 5R’s

Each week the Student Leaders and Student Council work with me to collect and tally Gotchas and Focus Fuss

Vouchers. We announce each Monday on assembly and showcase in each weekly newsletter.

The Gowrie Pass day is an acknowledgement of student positive behaviour. There are a number of layers of

acknowledgement. For example, students who are referred for major behaviour incidents or continuous reoccur-

ring minor behaviours are supported with an Individual Improvement plan to strive for in the next term.

Each term we have a Gowrie Pass Day (in the last week). It is an activity the school offers to celebrate the

achievement of high expectations and high status of achievement around being safe, being respectful and being a

learner. The P&C support this day through consultation about the type of school wide acknowledgment activity

will be offered, being part of the activity and supporting the funding of the event.

We call it Gowrie Pass Day but it is really only a session. 2017 Gowrie Pass Day activities were a STEAM Ses-

sion (Science Technology Engineering Art and Mathematics fun tasks), Water slide and bouncing castle (usually

term 4). This year we asked for feedback from Student leadership team and Student Council Team and some of

their suggestions are a Multicultural Cook off session (our LOTE teacher planted the idea and it sounds great)

Prior to the day students will be presented with their Gowrie Pass. There are three tiers of activities based on the

positive behaviour data of each student. In last week’s newsletter we shared considerable information about how

positive behaviour is promoted, supported and acknowledged at our school.

It should also be noted that the school’s Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students has been identified as requiring

review and consultation this year.

ANY IDEAS OR INPUT GREATLY WELCOMED -Either come along to our next meeting or make your

thoughts known to one of the executive or email us at pandc@gowriess.eq.edu.au

Next Tuckshop Day is this

Friday 16th March 2018 TUCKSHOP NEWS

Save the date and start warming up as the

Gowrie Games will be held on 23rd March

from 1pm!! This event will commence at 1pm on Friday 23rd

March starting with a BBQ lunch followed by an

opening ceremony march led by our Hughes and

Isaacs Sport Captains.

Students and parents are encouraged to wear their

house colours and bring their community spirit and

cheer.

House Colours

Hughes

Isaacs

Gowrie Games Volunteer Shout Out—

Hands up if you can help! Thank you to those who have volunteered already. We are still looking for a

couple of people to prepare the food if you can help out.

4 food preparers from 12.30pm to 1:45pm

If you are able to spare an hour or two, can you please put your name on the

volunteer list on the P&C Noticeboard. Where is it?? Have a look on our Facebook Page for a

picture. THANK YOU!

Gowrie Games BBQ Lunch Orders will be sent

home with students in their homework folders this

week. Keep an eye out for it.

P&C MEETING TONIGHT 7PM IN THE STAFF ROOM

ALL WELCOME

As you are aware, we have been updating the school website with relevant and current stories to share about our school. We

have written stories regarding a number of important ‘themes’ and it is a timely sharing moment to share with you about the

“What”. What do we teach at Gowrie State School? What is the curriculum?

The Australian Curriculum is implemented at Gowrie State School through the Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) re-

source, which delivers a comprehensive set of whole-school and classroom planning materials for single level and multi-

level classes, students with disability and for students who study through the schools of distance education.

Curriculum into the Classroom (C2C) is the strategy employed by Education Queensland to support its schools with the im-

plementation of the Australian Curriculum and to assist them meet its goal for state schooling - one vision, one curriculum,

one platform, different ways.

Designed as a starting point for school curriculum planning, C2C is essentially a digital resource that can be adopted or

adapted to meet individual student learning needs and to suit local school contexts. C2C materials are regularly reviewed and

refined to align with changes to the Australian Curriculum and in response to feedback from schools and stakeholders.

The following are excerpts are from Information Bulletins for parents, sharing information about the Australian Curriculum.

My child and the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Curriculum is designed to teach students what it takes to be confident and creative individuals and become

active and informed citizens. It sets the goal for what all students should learn as they progress through their school life –

wherever they live in Australia and whatever school they attend.

What are the learning areas of the Australian Curriculum?

From the first year of schooling to Year 10, students develop knowledge and skills in eight learning areas:

English

Mathematics

Science

Health and Physical Education (HPE)

Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)

The Arts

Technologies

Languages

In the early years, priority is given to literacy and numeracy development as the foundations for further learning. As students

make their way through the primary years, they focus more on the knowledge, understanding and skills of all eight learning

areas.

There are three dimensions in the Australian Curriculum:

• learning areas

• general capabilities

• cross-curriculum priorities.

Learning areas

The Australian Curriculum is organised into learning areas and subjects.

Some learning areas bring a number of subjects together: Humanities and Social Sciences includes History, Geography, Civ-

ics and Citizenship, and Economics and Business; The Arts includes Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts;

Technologies includes Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies. There is also a choice of 15 Languages. The Lan-

guage Curriculum at Gowrie State School is Japanese.

Learning areas contain content descriptions that detail knowledge, understanding and skills to be taught each

year or across a band of years. These content descriptions are accompanied by achievement standards that

describe what students will know and will be able to do as a result of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Where can I find more information?

Find more information about the Australian Curriculum on the ‘Parents’ page of the Australian Curriculum website, where

you can: download fact sheets and brochures, which give more detailed information about the Australian Curriculum in the

first year of school (Foundation), Years 1–2, Years 3–4, Years 5–6, Years 7–8, Years 9–10

On behalf of the teaching team at Gowrie, I encourage our school families to ask the questions, talk with your child’s teacher

and be part of their learning.

Meet our 2018 Prep Students. Over the next few newsletters we will be dedicating newsletter space to the

Gowrie Hall of Early learners and introduce our Prep students.

Interview with: Charlie

Where I live: I’m not sure

My Family Braydon, Wyatt, Willow, Mum, Dad

and Charlie

School: The best thing I like about school is….

Playing in the playground

My favourite colour: Green and gold

My favourite food: I like junk food

My favourite game: Racing game

My jobs at home: Washing, help mummy clean and

make green playdough.

My pets: None at the moment.

Interview with: Alyssa

Where I live: I live at Gowrie Junction

My Family: Mummy and daddy and Liam my little

brother.

School: The best thing I like about school is….

Playing with my friends in the playground

My favourite colour: Pink, purple and blue

My favourite food: Wraps and milk

My favourite game: Dominoes

My jobs at home: Get the mail, help mummy make

my bed and her bed. Put the clothes in the washing

My pets: I don’t have any pets.

SCHOOL PRIDE TOTALS Term 1

Coins Uni-

forms

Attend-

ance

Gotchas

Prep 57 271

Yr1 158 4.75 95.71 153

Yr 2 17 4.9 95.00 391

Yr 2/3 5 4.9 96.74 253

Yr 3 33 133

Yr 4 111 4.71 97.62 347

Yr 5 74 4.8 96.15 201

Yr 6RW 147 4.84 97.46 290

Yr 6JG 368 4.8 96.88 220

UNIFORM SHOP

Open Thursdays

2:45 to 3:15pm

Due to the weather we were forced to spend much of the week indoors but this didn’t seem to bother the

children much at all. Craft activities became a big focus of the week, in particular, making rock frogs

which was this week’s ‘Artist of the Week’ theme for school. We had frogs of all colours and patterns,

frogs with top-hats, frogs with flies on their tongues etc. The children really enjoyed this activity.

Bookings - spaces are available each morning and afternoon this week. Please cancel unwanted bookings

in time to avoid being charged for them. Monday mornings and afternoons are our biggest sessions so far

this year but bookings for other days are on the increase.

OSHC is a ‘Not for Profit’ organisation. Please keep accounts up to date. Refer to your statement for

payment details. If you require any information contact us on 46 307 710 between 7:00 and 9:00 am and

2:30 to 6:00 pm. We have 101 message services and routinely check our messages.

The OSHC team Lynell, Leesa, Sharon, Steffica and Lirissa truly enjoy working as a team with you and

your children.

GLENCOE BUS SERVICE

Did you know that your children may be entitled to free bus travel on the Glencoe Bus Service provided by Robert-

son Coaches? The Department of Transport and Main Roads has a School Transport Assistance Scheme and you

may be eligible for FREE bus travel to and from school for your primary or high school students.

Assistance is provided if you live more than 3.2km from the closest primary school & 4.8km from the closest

high school (by the shortest trafficable route)

Assistance may also be provided if you receive some form of government assistance and live closer than 3.2km

from the school

For more information please contact Robertson Coaches or Translink Toowoomba 4639 0727

To assist with

reducing the LARGE

amount of lost property,

can parents please name

their child's belongings.