From the Principal This month sees the finalisation of Our Explicit Improvement Agenda through our School Annual Improvement Plan, and Investing for Success agreement. These documents are done in consultation with our staff and our school council. Improvement focus areas for 2020 are: Accelerating Achievement in Reading and Writing through Engagement and Wellbeing. This agenda will continue the work done, and success achieved in 2019. Last Thursday was the census day for enrolment numbers. These numbers then determine the number of classroom teachers we are entitled to from the Departmental allocation for the year. Our numbers continue to grow and as such so will our classes. In the coming weeks we will be looking to recruit additional teachers and in turn create some additional classes to address the oversize numbers in some of our Upper school classes. Classroom teachers will work to determine new classes and if your child is affected a letter will come home to advise. If you have any questions around this process please speak to the classroom teacher. No requests can be made to change/not change a child’s class at this time. We would like to invite you to join the P&C this year. The next meeting will be an Annual General Meeting at 5:00pm on Wednesday March 11th. At this time all executives will step down and voting will commence to elect the executive party for 2020. A general meeting will follow at its conclusion. For further information on P&C’s and the executive roles and responsibilities please go to http://www.pandcsqld.com.au/ For those wishing to introduce themselves prior to becoming a part of the P&C or nominating for an executive role please email dgosl1@eq.edu.au and pandc@pimpamaspc.eq.edu.au. Please submit by Friday 6th of March so these can be distributed prior to the AGM. We look forward to welcoming our new members and continuing to work in together to provide resources and opportunities for our children. Kind regards, Donna Gosling | Principal

We have a number of events and activities to look forward to:

In the coming weeks….

Issue 2 - Week 4 Term 1, 2020

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Friday 21st February—2:00pm Junior School assembly

Monday 24th February School banking

Wednesday 6th March ColourRun

Wednesday 11th March—5:00pm P&C AGM - all welcome

Wednesday 11th March—5:30pm P&C meeting - all welcome

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From the Deputy Principals

Attendance Week 3 Our current attendance rates (school targets 95%)

If families need to raise an issue with the school, the first point of contact is the classroom teacher. Please email them to make an appointment. Teachers will respond within 24 hours to make an appointment. If after interaction with the teacher and you are not satisfied, contact the sector deputy by email and we will get in touch with you. Prep and Year 1 Deputy—Matt Weir mweir15@eq.edu.au Year 2 and 3 Deputy—Kellie Fletcher kflet24@eq.edu.au Year 4, 5 and 6 Deputy—Stuart MacKenzie smack31@eq.edu.au Stuart MacKenzie Matt Weir & Kellie Fletcher | Deputy Principals

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Prep Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

94% 88.4% 91% 91.6% 89.1% 90.8% 88.3%

Every day counts

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This fortnight our PBL focus has been on active listening and communicating kindly and respectfully.

Active listening is an essential skill and is about fully concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively ‘hearing’ a message. Active listening involves listening with all senses. It is sometimes referred to as whole body listening and teachers may frequently remind students that being an active listener involves eyes on the speaker, ears open to listening, voices turned off, legs crossed and hands in the lap.

Communicating kindly and respectfully in the classroom and playground involves using a tone of voice that is honest and tactful whilst choosing words that are appropriate to a situation. Respectful communication ensures turn taking takes place and interruptions are minimised.

Next fortnight our focus is on co-operating with others and being ready to learn.

The PBL Committee | PSPC Sign up for both the 3-6 Choir and the 1-2 Choir is continuing this week due to wet weather last week. A membership commitment form will be issued to students who sign up and it will discuss the commitment expectations of members. Please refer to the timetable below for respective choir rehearsals.

All violin and viola students require their instrument, shoulder rest, rosin, plastic display folder and ‘String Basics Book 1’ for their lessons. Students who are hiring cello and double bass need their ‘String Basics Book 1’ for their lessons. Year 3 Beginner lessons are on Tuesdays and Senior String lessons will be on Wednesdays. Students and teachers have been notified of lesson times. Please refer to the table below for respective String rehearsals. Please note the Strings Tutorial Class is on Thursday at 2nd break and is an optional class open to all students wishing to improve their skills. This class will begin in week 5.

Music Levies: Students who are hiring a school cello or double bass cannot take them home until the music levy and hire fee is paid. Invoices for levies will be sent home in the coming weeks. Please wait until you have been invoiced to pay this levy.

Sheridan Burley| Music Co-ordinator

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From the Music Department

From the PBL Committee

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1st break 3-6 Choir 1-2 Choir

2nd break Beginner

Strings Senior Strings

Strings Tuto-rial (optional)

School Crossing Supervisor – Vacancy (1)

Pimpama State Primary College

Casual rates start at $30.34 per hour, (maximum of 1.5 hours per day)

Work morning and afternoon on school days in all weather conditions If you are successful TMR will provide:

a. Health Assessment b. Blue Card (for working with children) c. Training

Department of Transport and Main Roads is an equal opportunity employer Applications close Wednesday 19 February 2020

If interested, please contact Courtney Argus at southportroadsafety@tmr.qld.gov.au – applications

available from School Office.

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From the Science and Technology team

Pimpama State Primary College students have access to some fantastic online learning tools through the Student Resource Scheme. The learning tools we use are Mathletics and Reading Eggs. Mathletics is a fantastic math learning tool as students can access supportive content set by the class teacher which suits their individual learning needs. Reading Eggs has the same great learning opportunities but focussing on Reading.

Both these learning tools are accessible at school, home and out and about on most mobile devices.

For more information please go to Mathletics - http://www.mathletics.com/au/features/

And Reading Eggs - http://readingeggs.com.au/about/why-it-works

Information regarding the Student Resource Scheme and payments required will be sent home soon. If you choose to opt out of accessing the Student Resource Scheme, your child won’t have access to these learning tools.

David Wilkinson | Technology Teacher and Co-ordinator

Investigation Based Learning in Science

2020 has seen the introduction of Junior Science as a specialist subject. The sessions are based in the Science Room or

the STEM Lab enabling easier access to specific resources.

This term, students in Prep, Year One and Three are spending most lessons

outdoors, exploring biological questions related to living things, their needs,

location and abundance around the school. Year one students will be asked to

identify creatures around the home environment as well as at school.

Students in Year 2 are exploring the chemical science of mixing together liquids and

solids. Most of these sessions involve students working as a small team, predicting,

measuring, mixing and discussing their observations. In the next week, Year Two

students will be asked to observe and record mixtures used in the home, their

ingredients and purpose in and around the home environment.

Science sessions are hands on and investigation based. Please ask your students about their knowledge of the topics

they are currently studying in science.

The introduction of a touch table has been of great

excitement to the students. Currently we have a

sheep skull, wool, a snakeskin and a variety of shells,

coral, seeds and dead bug specimens. If you find

anything of interest for our table please send this

with your students down to the Science Room. We

would love your contribution.

P.S.P.C has registered our school as a site for the annual Clean Up Schools Day 2020. Students will collect

litter in and around our school to help reinforce the importance that all members of the school

community are responsible for its care of the grounds and the environment.

Lucy Fouche | Science Teacher and Co-ordinator

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As the wind howled a haunting tune in the forest, a wolf rushed out of the bushes and killed the rabbit. Cady 3J In the deep dark forest the wolf howled as the wind whirled around the wolf. Ava 3J The wind howled in the deep dark mysterious forest. Halo 3J The wind howled with the wolves on a full moon, in the deep mysterious jungle. Lambros 3J In an old as forest that was 11 years old, the wind howled and frightened the old wolf that lived there. Joseph 3J The wind howled along with the grey wolf as he glared into the sky, facing the icy cold wind. Lataya 3J The wind howled in the haunted, dark forest. Blake 3J Alice fell through the sink into a dark and deep dungeon. Robert 3J Speedily I navigated my way silently to the quiet library to read and explore interesting facts about reptiles, how they live and kill. 4C Slowly I navigated my way to the shiny, golden treasure so I could become a famous ex-plorer for the whole world to know. 4C The torch glowed in the smokey and gloomy trench. Jacob 3M Dylan held a leaf above his wet head in the dark, spooky, scary rainforest. Chloe 3M The bird stared at the creepy parrot at 3am in the pitch black forest. Lilly 3M The bird stared angrily in the foggy scary forest when the sun was setting. Nimrat 3M

The bird stared at the evil flower in the dark gloomy forest when the moon light shined bright. Sienna 3M As I used the magic finger, the horrible family turned into yellow ducks. Demetrius 4M As Mrs Twit pulled out her glass eye, the horrible old Mr Twit drank his beer. Jayani 4M While Mr and Mrs Twit were out buying guns, the colourful birds and brave monkeys turned everything upside down. Laila 4M While Mr Twit smeared the hug tight glue, the smelly old Hag ate the last bit of wormy spaghetti. Cash 4M “Wow”, said the audience while the model walked down the runway looking like an angel but no one knew that underneath that mask was the evil angel. Raukaura 5B On April the 15th 2019, I saw a very rare fossil in an incredible dark cave that I would never forget so I took a picture of it but some evil bird took it and flew away. Julia 5B The strangest thing happened in my dream! I was in a foggy, murky place I’ve ever been and there was a floating donut so I ate it, it was the most delicious glazed donut with choc-olate icing. 5B Prep B