Dear Parents/Carers,

STUDENT LEARNING IN ENGLISH

Last week we had 40 visitors from other schools visit our classrooms to look at what we are teaching in our English Units.

A majority of children were very excited to share their learning with our visitors. The visitors commented on how engaged the students were in the classrooms and how settled the school was.

We had outstanding feedback from the teachers. Some of this feedback was:

• Our 'Bump It Up Walls' (examples of what an A,B,C looks like) in our classrooms are age appropriate and simple to read.
• We have consistency of breaking down purpose statement (what we are learning) in all classrooms.
• The focus on 'I can' statements - clear and positive language used.
• Focus and engaged students.
• Children were resilient with people talking to them.
• If students didn’t know an answer, they didn’t panic and they were able to say where they go to get help.
• There was a great use of visual feedback for the students to help them with their learning.
• Students knew what resources to use to achieve their learning goals.
• Third teacher space (the information on the walls for children to access) was excellent.
• Students knew next steps- students had something to go to.
• Students are developing independence and know where to go to improve their learning.

Well done to all our teachers for their hard work. The teaching, learning and supports for the student's learning is wonderful and demonstrates excellent practices to support our children’s learning.

STRIKE ACTION ON WEDNESDAY

Last Wednesday, I sent an email stating that Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) has called a strike for Wednesday 6th August. The majority of our teachers are taking action on Wednesday and will not be present at school. The school is open for supervision only. This means that students who are at school will not be with their normal teacher and will be in mixed aged groups.

As stated in the email on Wednesday, if your child is absent, this does not go against their attendance percentage.

NEW PREP PLAYGROUND

We are excited to announce that we have a new playground in the Prep area. The playground is not only designed for fun and play but it also designed to support children with their motor skills and being able to improve their balance, crossing the midline of their body and cross crawling. These are all important skills to help with learning. It helps the brain to be able to read and write from left to right. It supports stamina, stronger muscle tone and allows for creative thinking.

We continue to enhance and improve the school to support our students.

Through different grants and our P&C (who raised funds over the last 2 ½ years), we have been able to install 3 new playgrounds (Prep, Year 3 and Year 4-6) as well as our basketball courts.

Working with the P&C, we are continuing to improve the play areas for our school.

Thank you to the P&C for their continuing support.

PCL FOCUS

In the last newsletter, I included our PCL focus at present. In the last 2 weeks, we have continued to look at ways we respond when we come up against speed bumps. Knowing how to address speed bumps is a very important life skill and helps us to be resilient when faced with these challenges.

Jamie Tactor

Principal