Registering your Email to receive the Newsletter every fortnight Don’t forget that you can register with our school office to receive the School Newsletter by email – all you need is an email address. Drop by the school Admin Office counter and one of our admin staff will gladly provide you with a simple registration form.

SCHOOL CONTACTS

Principal : Jonathan Druce

Deputy Principal: Bronwyn Bretz

Office Admin Staff:

Sara Williams BSM

Elaine Newitt AO2

Deb Dayet AO2

Phone 46875333 Fax 46875300

Email admin@harristoss.eq.edu.au

Tuckshop Convenor:

Beryl Nicholson 46875309

P & C Association

Meets 5.30pm 3rd Monday each month

All parents welcome

Harristown Heroes School Values

Responsibility

Respect

Learning

Safety

www.harristoss.eq.edu.au 332 South Street Toowoomba

Qld 4350

HARRISTOWN STATE SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER Success for all through learning, respect, responsibility and safety

Thursday 13th September 2018 “Towards Excellence Together” 15/18

From the Principal’s Desk – Mr Jonathan Druce

READING We are continuing our strong focus on reading improvement and seeing great results. The Prep and Year 1 classes have ramped up their expectations on letter sounds and sight words and the improvement in our students reading is evident! A number of students are receiving small group intervention support and jumping up three or more levels, which is an amazing improvement. It is very exciting to hear about all students that are making progress and especially our Preppies getting off a zero. Even if it is only level one, it’s reading! There are no excuses for students not being able to read and reasons like EALD, disabilities, home disadvantages, absenteeism and behaviour are seen as speed bumps or challenges. An example of this is Salar a Kurdish student in Year 3B who started with us in Term 2 with no English. Salar has worked hard, not only in learning the English language but also in learning to read and write. Salar read a level 1 running record and was beyond proud of himself. GALA / BALLGAME DAY

Thank you to Mrs Williams for the organisation around the gala day and ball games. The day was a great deal of fun for all involved and the students in the interschool sports team enjoyed the challenge of playing against staff!

Thanks to the staff who got involved and made it a fun day!

Ref Stephen making a call and Mrs McLean going to the video referee for a decision.

SWEARING We are continuing to make a stand on swearing and a number of students have been given consequences including suspensions. Swearing is

not acceptable and will not be tolerated at school. PARENT TEACHER INTERVIEWS Thank you to the parents and carers who attended an interview on Monday. It was great to see some parents I haven’t been able to catch up with for a while. I also enjoyed seeing some of the schoolwork displayed around the hall.

HERO DAY Next Tuesday is Hero Day and we look forward to celebrating the positive behaviours of our students. This term we are also including attendance as something the students need to achieve to be able to participate in Hero Day. We have set the bar at 80%, which is very low, equating to 10 days absence in the term. Students need to be attending school every day or as often as possible to be accessing the curriculum and learning! If a child has had an illness or other reason that resulted in a below 80% attendance for the term, this will be considered by the teacher and an exception may be made. If you have any concerns, please contact me through the office.

DRESS LIKE A FARMER DAY On Friday 21st September (last day of term 3) we will be holding a ‘Dress like a Farmer Day’ to raise funds to the drought appeal. Students are invited to dress like a farmer and bring a gold coin donation. Please remember appropriate footwear, no singlets and you must have hats.

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Congratulations to Mrs Bretz who is taking on the Acting Principal role at Wyreema State School next term. We will

all miss Mrs Bretz but know that she will enjoy the opportunity of working with a new school community. The

Acting Deputy Principal position for Term 4 has been advertised and I will notify families of the successes applicant

early next week.

EALD COORDINATOR

Starting next term we will have an EALD coordinator role to assist with the large increase in EALD students. Sandy

Tetzlaf from Wyreema SS will be taking on this role in either a 0.6 or 0.8 capacity. Sandy has been visiting the last

couple of weeks and working with Melissa on some ideas to transform the EALD space and the way we support our

students.

GARAGE SALE

On Saturday the 20th October the Chaplaincy committee will be running a garage sale in the old hall on Warwick St.

This is the Chaplaincy Committee’s largest fundraiser for the year, which goes towards funding Josh’s time here at

school. If you have any items you would like to donate to the chaplaincy committee please see Josh or the office

staff. There will also be a special VIP shopping session for all families on Friday 19th October from 2pm-4pm in the

old hall. This is your chance to come and grab a bargain before the general public are able to view the garage sale

items.

JOSH WILLIS

We wish Chappy Josh all the best and huge congratulations on his forthcoming wedding! Josh will be

getting married next Monday to his fiancé Jess.

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT TEACHER

This term we have created a new role, the Behaviour Management Teacher. Mrs McLean has taken on the role and is

doing a great job in supporting our students and teachers on managing incorrect behaviours. Mrs McLean will assist

in organising Individual Behaviour Plans and resources for students as well as running Classroom Problem Solving

Team meetings and individual student stakeholder meetings. We welcome Mr Flowers, who has taken on the Year 3

B class, to the teaching team.

HOLIDAYS On behalf of the school staff, I wish all families a happy and safe holidays. A reminder that the school grounds are ‘out of bounds’ in the holidays and if children are seen around the building the police will be called. If you notice something suspect please call school watch 131 788 or the police. First day back for Term 4 is Monday October 8th.

Term Overview and Date Claimers

Sept 17th P & C Meeting 5.30pm SSC

2018 School Term Dates:

Term 3: 16th July – 21st Sep (10 weeks)

Term 4: 8th October – 14th Dec (10

weeks)

Sept 18th Hero Day

Sept 21st Dress Like a Farmer Day Fund Raiser for Drought affected Farmers

Deputy News – Mrs Bronwyn Bretz

PBL - POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOR LEARNING

This last fortnight we have focussed on Responsibility – Wear a lanyard when

leaving the classroom – straight there, straight back and stay with your buddy

and Learning- Keep your book work neat and tidy.

Thank you to the many students who have been using kind words and appropriate

language at school. It is wonderful to hear kind words like please and thank you

when walking through the playground.

HERO DAY FOR TERM 3

Hero Day is on Tuesday!!!! It will be a day of jumping and fun for all involved. Hero Morning Tea is on

Thursday. Letters will be sent home on Monday for Hero Day.

The following expectations are in place for Hero Day Term 3:

Students who have consistently demonstrated HSS values and expectations and do not have a behaviour

referral will attend Hero Day.

Students with one major, 3 of the same minors within a week or 5 minors overall, will not attend PBL Hero

Day.

Students who have less than 80% attendance for Term 3 will not be eligible for Hero Day. This is

equivalent to missing 10 school days this term. That is equivalent to 2 weeks. (Unless a medical certificate

is provided and/ or principal discretion).

Teachers will send home notes to advise parents if their child is attending or not attending Hero Day.

FATHER’S DAY BREAKFAST- LOWER PRIMARY

Thank you to the many visitors who came to our first Father’s Day breakfast at HSS. It was wonderful to see the

excitement from all who attended.

PREP 2019

Please return enrolment forms if you have a child starting at Harristown SS in 2019. Prep 2019 interviews will be

held in the first four weeks of next term and then our transition mornings will begin on Fridays (Week 5-8).

Parents and Citizens Association News

UNIFORM SHOP - Alisha Urch ** Parents: There is a lot of unnamed non-school clothing and some school clothing. If you believe that one of these items could be your child’s, please see our Uniform Shop between 8.30 and 9.30am Monday to Friday or by an appointment, as we DO NOT HAVE the storage to keep all the non-school clothing. If it is not claimed by the end of term it will be donated to charity

Tuckshop

Tuckshop opening hours: 8.15am – 1.45pm Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

All orders must be in by 8.50am.

Sorry no late orders are accepted and no phone orders.

Sports News – Mrs Williams

BALL GAMES What a fun day! It was a hard-fought battle between Goolagong, Bradman and Fraser! The winning House will be

announced on Monday during parade. The interschool sports teams played fantastic games between each other and

teachers. The netball girls looked very graceful, but the teachers played hard and Mrs Lindsay-Holley popped goals

from everywhere. The soccer teams were very even and showed great skills. The boy’s league teams tackled hard

and defended better than the Broncos. The girl’s league team was superb. The tackle hits made by Bridie and Mrs E

were impressive. Tamia was fast on the wing and all the girls played so well as a team. Congratulations to coaches

on the skill level that these teams displayed. It was a pleasure to watch how much they have developed since the

start of the term. Good luck everyone for your last game this week.

Wed 19th Sep Thurs 20th Sep Fri 21st Sep

Gail Collie Meryl Ballinger Wendy Wright

Gail Collie

Gail Collie Meryl Ballinger

SWIMMING

Swimming will commence next term, so please start thinking about collecting swim gear for your child. Swimming is

part of the school curriculum and we are extremely lucky to get the length of time we do in our own school pool.

- Togs

- Swim shirt

- Swim cap

- Towel

- Bag

Classroom News – Year 2B Koalas

Year 2 Trip to Amaroo

My favourite activity was the bush walk because I got to pick up a bone. I will look

after and care for living things by taking my rubbish home. An interesting fact I

learnt was that Indigenous people used bull ants to help stitch up bad cuts.

By Michael B, 2B

My favourite activity was the clay animals because it was fun getting to make a

girl emu. An interesting fact I learnt was that termites use poop and mud to make

their homes.

By Dakaida, 2B

I will look after and care for living things by picking up

rubbish. My favourite activity was making a clay animal

because I was trying something new.

By Unique, 2B

My favourite activity was making the clay animals

because I loved the feel of the clay.

By Alicia, 2B

An interesting fact that I learnt was that snakes shed

their skin.

By Michael M, 2B

Classroom News – Prep/1 Turtles

Prep/1 have been learning how to count in 2s, 5s and 10s. We practised our counting by

threading fruit loops in groups of 2.

Library News – Mrs Handley

Do you need help with your homework? Do you run out of time at home?

Homework club is running for 2018!

WHEN: Monday 2nd break

WHERE: Ms. Robarts classroom (year 6 room)

CONTINUING: Term 3

Prep A Dolphins having

fun doing different

science activities.

Community Notices

See Chappy Josh for details on this SU camp, which runs during the September school holidays