ABOUT - Term 1 Week 2 - 12 February 2025

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Leadership is not a position or a title.
It is action and example.

STUDENT LEADERS INVESTITURE MASS

It was a wonderful celebration at Mass yesterday when our Year 6 leaders received their leaders’ badges.  We thank Ruby Schembri, who attended the Mass and gave a wonderful address regarding the attributes of successful leaders.  Congratulations to our Year 6 class and we all look forward to working with them as they lead us through 2025.

School Captains: Charlie Howard and Neve Walker

Vice Captains:  Oscar Medd and Clancy Larkin

Minister for the Environment:  Mitchell Beaton

Minister for Communications:  Caitlin Younghusband

Minister for Health:  Darcy Adams

Minister for Catering:  Estelle Hazelton

Student Leaders: Ryan Faulder, Chloe Heffer, Mack Hutchison, Sophie Lacey, Jakirah McKenzie, Tex Mudford, Braxten Towns, Jackson Towns.

SCHOOL SWIMMING CARNIVAL - Tomorrow, Thursday, 13 February - 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Our swimming carnival will take place tomorrow, Thursday, 13 February with the war cries commencing at 10:30 a.m. followed by morning tea. The length of the pool races for primary children and those infants students who would like to swim a length of the pool, will commence at 11:00 a.m. with the activities for the infants children in the little pool commencing at 11:20 a.m.  

The carnival will conclude at approximately 2:00 p.m. at which time the children will walk back to school.  Alternatively, children may leave from the pool with their parents.  There will be a teacher at the exit of the pool to sign out children.

There are no canteen facilities available at the pool.

All children will need to bring their morning tea and lunch.

Thank you to all of the parents who have volunteered to hand out rods at the conclusion of all the races. Attached is the Roster of Helpers.  We have also sent home a hardcopy to those families who have opted to receive a paper About.  We need another 4 helpers for the 12:00-12:45 primary judging time slot - if you can help out, please do so on the day.

SWIMMING HEATS/FINALS AT THE SWIMMING CARNIVAL

Children have been attending the pool during the last week for swimming heats for the different strokes that will be held at the school swimming carnival tomorrow.  All children have been timed during these heats and the fastest 6 will swim in the final at the swimming carnival.  At the carnival, the first race of each event, will be the final.  Those children who do not make a final will still be given the opportunity to swim in the length of the pool races.

LABEL ALL CLOTHING

It is imperative that all school clothing contains your child's name, especially their sport uniform, swimmers and towel.  This will avoid any confusion at the pool during sport, as well as the swimming carnival tomorrow.  Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

INTERNATIONAL ANGELMAN DAY

Out-of-Uniform Day - Dress in BLUE & Gold Coin Donation

As mentioned in last week's About, we are asking all staff and students to wear the colour BLUE to school and bring a gold coin donation this Friday, 14 February, as we raise awareness and money for Angelman Syndrome, which affects Year 1 student, Ted Johnston.  All money raised will go to Foundation For Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics.

Angelman Syndrome is a rare neurogenetic disorder that affects chromosome 15, resulting in intellectual and developmental delay. It affects about 1 in 15,000 people worldwide.

Some of the challenges Ted faces with having Angelman Syndrome include:

• Mobility & gait impairment
• Balance and coordination issues
• Gross and fine motor issues
• Intellectual disability
• Epilepsy
• Nonverbal communication
• Sleep disturbances
• Anxiety & behaviours
• Feeding & gut issues
• Sensory processing issues.

People with Angelman Syndrome have some distinct behavioural traits, including a happy demeanour, characterised by frequent laughing, smiling and excitability. Many individuals with AS have a fascination with water and take great pleasure in activities like swimming.

You can follow Ted’s journey on facebook by following “Ted’s Angels” or find out more at cureangelman.org.au and support Ted by wearing blue to school on Friday, 14 February.

ST JOHNS COLLEGE VISIT

The Principal of St Johns College, Mr Justin McCarney and Transitions Coordinator, Ms Annabelle Morris, will be visiting our Year 6 class next Tuesday, 18 February at 10:30 a.m. to speak with the students about the college.  If there are any interested Year 6 parents or carers who would also like to attend, please do so.

P & F ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Our P & F AGM will be held at school next Tuesday, 18 February at 5:30 p.m.  Everyone is most welcome and encouraged to attend.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

School photos will be taken on Monday, 3 March (Week 5).  Each child has today been given an envelope with full details regarding price and products available. To order your photos online go to www.advancedlife.com.au before photo day and enter our school code: 7Q9 5JT KQZ at the top of the page.  Then just follow the prompts.  You do not need to return your child’s envelope if ordering online.  You can also make payments by cash or cheque which must be returned in the envelopes provided.  A separate envelope must be used for each child.  ALL PHOTOS NEED TO BE PAID FOR PRIOR TO PHOTO DAY.  The money for photos may be returned to school at any time.  If you have more than one child at school and would like a family photo taken, special envelopes are available from the office.

FAMILY INFORMATION / PERMISSION NOTE

Every child received a Family Information/Permission Note last week.  This form needs to be completed and returned to school by this Friday, 14 February.  Please note, a separate form must be completed for each child.  

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES USER AGREEMENT

A Digital Technologies Student User Agreement was sent home last week with each child. Please take the time to read through this and sign it with your child so they are aware of the rules and expectations at our school regarding the safe use of technology.  A form needs to be completed by each student and returned to the office by this Friday, 14 February.

CANTEEN ROSTER

Thank you to all of our families who have offered to help in the canteen this term.  We still have quite a few shifts to fill before we can send the roster home.  If you can help out, would you please complete the note that was sent home last week, or alternatively click on the below link and complete the form.

We have attached the 'draft' Roster, which shows the dates we need helpers.

MERIT AWARDS

Congratulations to the following students who received Merit Awards at Assembly on Tuesday:

KINDER: Hunter Hutchison for showing kindness to his new classmates, Harrison Hammond for neat and careful colouring and Sophie Howard for being ready to learn and 'Giving Of Her Best'.

YEAR 1: Charlie Freeman for always listening and being ready to learn, Jack Jeffery for awesome work writing numbers before and after and Teddy Kelly for writing a great sentence about a crane.

YEAR 2: Piper Lummis for completing all of her work with care and a smile, Thomas Riley for being a keen worker and Joel Ndlovu and Reyansh Sobti for both settling into the Joey’s family.

YEAR 3: Charlie Budworth for great work skip counting 2's, 3's, 4's and 5's in Maths, Georgie Kirkwood for writing a wonderful recount full of description and Annabelle Foran for creatively designing a new animal in Religion.

YEAR 4: Tiffany Fong, Lochie Thomas, Ryle Walker and Meenakshi Binu for fantastic ‘All About Me’ portraits.

YEAR 5: Mia Buckley for taking time and care to produce beautiful work and Katie Colwell for great results in Statistics and Probability.

YEAR 6: Sophie Lacey for excellent contribution to class discussions and confidently answering tricky Maths questions, Ryan Faulder for settling into St Joey’s so well, demonstrating a positive ‘can-do’ attitude and always 'Giving Of His Best' and Estelle Hazelton for writing an excellent holiday recount and sharing lots of information.

CLASSROOM NEWS

Kindergarten

Everyone in Kinder is so excited about our swimming carnival tomorrow. We can’t wait to join in the fun races and cheer for our house. Please remember to label all your child's belongings clearly to ensure they end up with the correct owner!  In our classroom this week we have been exploring the sounds in our name and discussing capital letters. We have been distinguishing long and short words by stretching and clapping the syllables. We wrote a story about our weekend and in History joined in the actions for a 'Welcome to Country' dance. In Maths we counted, made patterns and sorted objects according to their attributes.  We also enjoyed a beautiful Mass to celebrate our Year 6 buddies receiving their badges.  Wow! What a busy week so far. Go Kurras! Go Cedars!
Mrs Alison Newstead & Mrs Julia Jeffery

Year 1

In Year 1 we have learnt about voiced and unvoiced phonemes and we have made words by combining different onsets and rimes. We also learnt about prepositional phrases by identifying the preposition and underlining the prepositional phrase from sentences in the book, "Our Island" by Alison Lester and Elizabeth Honey. In Sentence A Day we wrote a descriptive sentence about a crane, making sure to include its features and how they might use them. During Maths we put together hundred chart puzzles and added the missing numbers to a hundred chart. We also learnt about odd and even numbers using teddy bear counters to make pairs. Our Science unit is titled ‘Earth and Space, Land and Sky’ and this week we learnt about how seasonal changes affect living things by drawing what trees look like in summer, autumn, winter and spring. We’re very much looking forward to our swimming carnival tomorrow. A huge thanks in advance for all those parents helping out.  Go Gums! Go Kurras!
Mrs Phillipa Haling & Mrs Haylee Barry

Year 2

It has been a great week of learning as we really get stuck into our new units. In Maths we have been looking at whole numbers, time and data and will continue to work on these topics for the next three weeks. We have been delving deep into the text, ‘Welcome to Country’ and discussing ways that different cultures welcome people to their home, church and meeting places. We have enjoyed our house meetings this week and practising our war cries. We are really looking forward to the swimming carnival tomorrow. Thank you to those parents who were able to cover books over the weekend.  Please let me know if the weekends are not a convenient time for you to do so. Homework began this week, it is really important that children read each night.  It is a great time for you to be involved in their learning. Next week children will also complete Maths for homework. Good luck to everyone at the swimming carnival tomorrow and enjoy the rest of the week! Go Cedars!
Mrs Nikkola Thomas

Year 3

We’ve had a fantastic week here in Year 3! Yesterday, we welcomed our 2025 Year 6 school leaders as they received their badges during the Investiture Mass, whilst Spelling saw us looking at homophones and contractions. We identified lots of different homophones and discovered how it can be tricky to decide which word fits best. In Grammar we are learning about 'Direct Speech'. We added the correct punctuation to a group of sentences and watched a video to help us remember. In History  we started our new unit, ‘History Uses Sources to Construct Narratives of the Past’. We looked at aboriginal culture, completed a mind map and watched some videos on what ceremony is and how it is an important part of aboriginal culture. We are all looking forward to the swimming carnival tomorrow. Please remember to wear your house colours and to bring your team spirit. Have a lovely weekend. Go Kurras!
Miss Abigail Dobson

Year 4

We have been busy bees in Year 4 this week. The children are loving our class novel and we are using this to look at the narrative structure and write sections of our own narrative. This week we have rewritten the orientation of the story from Oliver’s perspective. Oliver is a little boy with autism, who has high needs and is non-verbal. It has been interesting to consider situations from his point of view.  We have also begun our history unit titled, 'History Uses Sources to Construct Narratives of the Past’ and we have been learning the reasons why a penal colony was established. During Art we have looked at artworks by American artist, Jasper Johns and created  name artworks inspired by his 'Alphabet’ painting. We are all looking forward to the swimming carnival tomorrow! Go Gums!
Mrs Melinda Morris

Year 5

Congratulations Year 6 on receiving your leadership badges at the Investiture Mass yesterday. We look forward to a fantastic 2025 with you all leading the way. This week in Maths, we investigated place value and reading and writing numbers into the millions. In Grammar, we are identifying declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences and discussed how to make narratives more engaging for our audience in text types. Our Science topic this term is ‘Adaptations’ where we will explore animal and plant behavioural, structural and physiological adaptations. We are very excited about our school swimming carnival tomorrow and I am sure everyone’s enthusiastic participation and good sportsmanship will lead to a great day. Go Gums!! On Friday, everyone will be wearing blue for International Angelman Day, which will be our first fundraiser of the year. Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Meichelle Schier

Year 6

What a busy week this one is shaping up to be! Firstly we would like to congratulate the students on becoming our official 2025 school leaders. They did a wonderful job accepting their badges, receiving their Duty Statements and delivering the Leaders Pledge and Act of Dedictation. We all felt very inspired by our wonderful guest speaker, Ruby Schembri, and thank her very much for giving up her time to attend our Investiture Mass and speak to us about ‘Leadership’. In the classroom we have been working on the ‘aw' or 'au' sound and learning some very tricky spelling words along with identifying declarative, imperative, exclamatory and interrogative sentences. In Maths we have been revising our times tables, basic operations and completing Essential Assessment tasks. In Geography we have started learning about longitude and latitude and the Tropic of Capricorn and Cancer. The excitement is brewing as the swimming carnival approaches and we look forward to a day filled with fun and friendship!  
Mrs Jess Morrissey & Mrs Donna Colwell

ALTAR SERVERS

CANTEEN ROSTER

NOTICEBOARD