Dear Parents and Caregivers 

Last week our State Member for Pine Rivers, Ms Nikki Boyd MP visited our school to share reading time with some of our younger students.  Ms Boyd recently donated $500 worth of new reading books to our school and enjoyed reading these with our students. We wish to thank Ms Boyd for her much appreciated donation to our school.  

Parent Teacher Interviews

Our school offers face-to-face parent/teacher interviews at the end of Term 1 and Term 3. All teachers have communicated their availability for interviews over the coming weeks.  I would encourage each parent to take the time to talk about their child’s progress and development with the class teacher.

NAPLAN  

The 2019 NAPLAN results have been released and I am pleased to advise that our overall results are similar to or better than Queensland and National results.  The tables below outline our results with comparison to Queensland and Australian results. % NMS is the percentage of students at or above the national minimum standard.

Over the past number of years, school improvement has been characterised and driven by the percentage of students moving out of the lower two bands and by the number of students now in the middle and upper two bands.

Students reports will be distributed this week. 

NAPLAN Readiness Testing

In 2020, Dayboro State School students will be completing NAPLAN in an online environment.   Year 3 and 5 students in 2020 will complete the testing program over a number of days using school laptops in our school library. 

For this to be successful our current Year 3 and 5 students will be involved in coming weeks in readiness testing – that is testing our computer systems and capacity to conduct the tests successfully. They will use an online NAPLAN platform and do simulated NAPLAN activities, similar to the real test.

Parents are advised that the test data collected as part of the readiness testing will not form part of any assessment for individual students. 

Garry Drummond

Principal

Dear Families and Friends

Well, it is nearly the end of term and the last few weeks are looking busier than ever. Parent Interviews have started! If you haven’t already made a time please take advantage of this valuable opportunity and organise a time to speak with your child’s class teacher. Just a reminder also that over the next two weeks teachers will again be involved in Curriculum Planning days. Please be aware that there may be different teachers on your child’s classes over the next two weeks while teachers are released off class to collaboratively plan and moderate with their Year Level teams.

Also, please look out for Swimming Notes being sent out this week for Prep- Yr 2 classes. Swimming starts next term in Week 2 of the term for these Year Levels.

As we head closer to the holidays, it is important to remember to remind children to keep focused on their work at school and at home.

Homework, especially reading homework, is an important part of being prepared for learning and revising concepts taught in class, at home, helps children at school.  I would encourage all children to be reading or read to every night! 

Another big thank you to our P&C and their band of helpers for their organisation and holding of our Annual Father’s Day stall. One again the children were very excitedly purchasing their gifts for their Dad’s. We hope all our fathers, grandfathers and special others had a fabulous day. Below are some portraits lovingly painted by some of our Yr 1 students for their Dads. Very special!

Writing at Dayboro

As mentioned last week, at Dayboro we value creative, authentic and engaging writing for a purpose. Our goal for 2019 has been to lift the engagement of our students in writing in all its’ forms and to celebrate successes in writing. Our teachers work hard to embed the teaching of high quality writing practices in their classrooms. Teachers meet regularly to discuss and share writing samples of students and it is pleasing to see our students working so diligently on their writing goals and becoming better writers! Soon we will be showcasing in our newsletter some examples of students reading their creative masterpieces. We will have some Year 1 students sharing their descriptive writing about a character and also some  Year 4 students  reading their Historical Recounts.

A big thank you to all our team here at Dayboro for a putting on a highly successful Prep Orientation session last Wednesday morning. It was wonderful to see so many families, new and old, seeking to enrol their students at Dayboro and coming to hear all about our school. We look forward to meeting your Prep children at the Interview sessions as well as at the Open Mornings being held soon. Please make sure you get your enrolment forms in as soon as you can. Dates as below:

Parent Teacher interview notes have gone home and will start this week.  They have begun and continue until the end of this term. Please make a time to visit with your child’s class teacher as it is an excellent opportunity to check in on your child’s progress in all areas.

We have three weeks left of Dance Fever and the children have been excitedly practicing their dance performances for the Family Dance Night.

DATE CLAIMER: Thursday 12^th September FAMILY DANCE NIGHT 5:30-8:30. See you all there.

Current Invoices

Students have been invoiced for the following activities:

• Year 5/6 Gala Day: $6.00, Due Now 
• Year 5 & 6 Talk About It: $18.00, Due 9^th October 2019
• Year 6 Camp: $380.00, Due 8^th November 2019

If you require a payment plan for any of the above, please don’t hesitate to contact the school.

Payment: Plans & How to Pay

Payment plans are available for all families, whether you are experiencing financial difficulties or you would prefer to pay for excursions / camps in a lengthy timeframe. Payments must be made regularly, and must be completed by 29^th November 2019. This is to ensure all of our excursions are reconciled and meet financial deadlines.

There are several ways to pay for excursions and school activities at Dayboro State School:

• Online payments - BPOINT

By clicking on the BPOINT link on your invoice, it will take you directly to the website to pay.

• Paying by phone.

If you do not wish to process payments online, you are able to pay by phone using a credit/debit card via BPOINT 1300 631 073.

Please quote the CRN and invoice number located at the bottom of the invoice. .

• Paying in person. You can pay in person at the Dayboro State School Administration using EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard or cash.

Paying with Cash

Whilst we are progressing towards becoming a cashless school, we are also phasing out the use of payment envelopes. In Term 4, families who are paying cash for invoices will be issued a receipt at the same time of payment. This means, that we will no longer be utilising the ‘Permissions and Payments Box’ in the front office.

If students are taking the money to school, they will be required to come to the office before school or at lunch times for payments. Ideally, students making payments should be paid to the office before school, between 8am and 8:40am.

Please note, if you are paying by cash please ensure you have the correct change. We do not hold cash on the premises, and therefore cannot provide change.

Facilities Hire

As Dayboro State School has a strong association with the local community, we allow community groups to hire certain areas of the school. Our facilities such as the Hall, Under Covered Area (CSA), Oval and Tennis Court are available to hire at a set cost.

All Facilities Hire arrangements need to be discussed with the Business Manager and are approved by the Principal. All fees go directly into the school, whether that be maintaining our grounds and facilities, or providing additional resources for our students.

For more information on our Facilities Hire, please contact the school office.

Voluntary Contributions

It’s not too late to donate to the Voluntary Financial Contribution Scheme! The below details outline the cost involved, as well as a link to pay online. Payments can be made directly to the school also via Cash or EFTPOS.

The costs involved in the Voluntary Financial Contributions are:

• $50 per student; or
• $100 per family of two or more enrolled students.

The Voluntary Financial Contribution Scheme is approved by the P&C each year, and is aligned to the Department of Education policy requirements. By donating to the Voluntary Financial Contribution Scheme, Dayboro SS is able to provide classroom resources, home readers and other consumables to enhance learning activities for Literary, Numeracy, Science, Art and Technology.

To pay the Voluntary Contributions online, click here for a direct link to BPOINT.

Kind regards,

Clare Ingham
Business Manager

Pizza Parties for the Walkathon Class winners will take place this week on Friday (6 September)

We look forward to treating our class winners for the best dressed class (5H) and the joint class winners who raised the most money (1D and 1L), with their respective parties this week. We also very much would like to acknowledge and thank our local Johnny’s Pizza Place for making the big effort of opening very early in the day to cater for our class winners – thanks Johnny’s! 

Fathers’ Day Stall

Many thanks to Kylie Juleff (and her very helpful daughters) for organising stock and covering first the small stall at our local Kindy on last Monday, and then setting up for the main stall event in our Hall last week. Also, many thanks to the hearty band of volunteers who helped staff last Friday’s successful stall – these events simply cannot succeed without your valuable volunteering time and support. Thanks to all involved!  

Family Dance Night is on Thursday 12 September

There are two sessions for this school dance event, the first is 5.30-6.30pm for Prep through to Year 2, then the second session is 7.00-8.30pm for Years 3 through to 6.

P&C will be doing a meal service during 5.30-6.30pm, and Order Forms outlining both the menu and payment options will be distributed to students early this week. All meal orders will be due in by Tuesday 10 September.  

Our next P&C meeting is scheduled for Monday 9 September. 

We look forward to your attendance and involvement if possible. 

Jeff Hopkins-Weise (P&C President) 

Makerspace

Students now have an opportunity to participate in lunchtime clubs led by our Year 6 STEAM Team leaders.  Mondays have been set aside specifically for Lego Club.  Lego will continue to be available for interested students each day, with challenges and projects initiated and led by the STEAM Team on Mondays at first break. Last week students were working to develop a way to build multi-level mazes for small hexbug robots to navigate.  Students were able to adapt and modify ideas to find more than one solution to this challenge.  This challenge has been very popular and the hexbugs will continue to be available to interested students.

We also have Hama beads available in the Makerspace during lunch break.  The makerspace has been very busy with students creating a variety of interesting and original designs using the small plastic beads on purpose made pegboards that hold the beads still during the design phase.

Overdue Books

We are quickly approaching the end of term.  All students need to return any overdue books they may have as soon as possible.  Students receive verbal reminders about overdue books when they visit the Library with their class before reminder notices are sent home.

Thank you,

Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs H.

Do you have any of these items at home that you no longer use and would consider donating them to our school?  We have some students with additional needs who enjoy playing with these items at lunchtime or after they have completed their learning in the SEP.  We would appreciate donations of Bionicles, Lego, 100 piece puzzles and Board games (such as Rush hour, checkers, chess and trouble).  No other items are required at this stage thank you.

We have a new quiet area in our SEP where students can come to read and calm (see photo).  Students with additional needs sometimes find busy classroom overwhelming and need a few minutes in their day to self-regulate. 

We will touch base with many parents at parent/teacher interview time, however if you have concerns or questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Tracey Hammond (Mon-Fri) and Alicia Tavelardis (Mon, Tues).

Term 3 Parent Teacher Meetings 

At Dayboro State school parents are invited to meet with their children’s teachers twice yearly to discuss student progress.  Parent-teacher meetings help parents and teachers find ways to work together to ensure every student’s success at school.

The teacher will probably show parents some samples of their child's work, and may discuss their child's progress, marks, homework and behaviour. The teacher may also ask parents about any concerns that they have about a student and discuss any extra support, or extension, programs being provided for that student. The meeting is also an opportunity for parents to ask questions about their child's progress and to find out if their child is having difficulty with anything in particular.

Some suggestions to ensure a positive and successful parent-teacher meeting may include:

• Talk with your child about how school is going for them before the meeting
• Prepare a few notes/ questions about what you’d like to discuss with the teacher
• Be on time and stay calm
• Ask for explanations of anything you don't understand
• Respectfully discuss differences of opinion
• Create an action plan
• After the meeting, talk about the conference with your child. Emphasize the positive points, and be direct about problems that were discussed. If you and the teacher created an action plan, explain it to your child. Make sure that your child understands that you and the teacher created this plan to help them. Keep in touch with the teacher.

If you need to, further meetings can be organised with the teacher. At Dayboro we know that teachers and parents working together as a team enhances the chances of school being a happy and successful learning environment for everyone.

Regards, Linda Smith

(Head of Curriculum)

ICAS Competition 2019

Students who have paid to participate in the 2019 ICAS competition online are reminded that they will be held next week (Thursday, Week 8) and in Week 10 (Monday) at the following times:

ICAS Science: Thursday, 5 September at 9:15 am in the Library Resource Rooms

ICAS English: Monday, 16 September at 9:45 am in the Library Resource Rooms

ICAS Maths: Monday, 16 September at 11:50 am in the Library Resource Rooms

Thank you, Linda Smith

(Head of Curriculum)

What’s happening at Helping Hands?

From helping to cook brownies for afternoon tea to Father’s Day craft to games of soccer, last week was a jam-packed week at Helping Hands. Our crafty children decorated their name using leaves found around the yard, explored wet crayon drawings and drew various trees and flowers to get excited for spring. Handball kept many of our children entertained in the afternoon sessions and our morning crew enjoyed games of red rover and stand up, sit down. Inside the house, role playing dolls, teachers and parents proved popular, and many of our children got into the spirit of playing dress ups.

A big congratulations to our new senior co-ordinators Ryanne.T & Samantha.B, and our new junior co-ordinators Isabella P.B & Pippin.G. This week, our educators will be on the look-out for our new sports co-ordinator. This will be awarded to someone who can show leadership in outdoor games and help select sport activities.

Our lost property pile is starting to pile up with jumpers, hats, socks, drink bottles and hair bows. Some of these items have been sitting here for a while and quite a few items are not labelled. Please ensure hats and jumpers have names on them so we can return them to the right child/ren if they get left behind.

Children require a hat for outdoor play each session they attend and with spring around the corner, children are being encouraged to make sure they have a drink bottle. We are happy to re-fill bottles if they come to after school care with no water :)

Homework club happens Monday to Thursday afternoons from 4:30-5:00pm. It’s great to see children getting into the routine of completing this daily with minimal prompting from educators. If you would like your child/ren to be a part of this, please see one of our friendly team.

September vacation care bookings are now open online. Children need to be enrolled into the service prior to bookings. Please see below for how to do this online. We have exciting excursions to Underwater World and the cinemas, as well as learning to make our own movie and a dance incursion at the service.

 Vacancies are available for both morning and afternoon sessions on selected days, and we welcome all children and families to the service. To enrol your child, please visit www.helpinghandsnetwork.com.au, selecting Dayboro as your service and following the prompts to access the iParent Portal. If you have any issues, please contact Jenny at the service on 0459 991 697 or our customer accounts on 1300 612 462.