Fitzgerald State School

School contact information

Principal: Mrs Tracey Adams

Deputy Principal: Mr Peter

Robinson

Deputy Principal: Mr Tim

Campbell

Business Services Manager: Mrs

Cynthia Allinson

Office hours

8.00 am – 3.30 pm

Telephone: (07) 4965 6333

School email address:

principal@fitzgeraldss.eq.edu.au

School website:

www.fitzgeraldss.eq.edu.au

Student SMS Absence:

0426 305 678

Issue 8 June 17 t h 2020

As this is the final newsletter for Term 2, I would like to thank all parents for your

support across what has been a very different term in the life of our school. As we

move forward towards Term 3, we will keep all parents up to date on the latest

information both via our Facebook page as well as via email and SMS where

possible.

With the easing of Queensland’s restrictions we are looking forward to being able

to recommence participation in both interschool and representative school sport

which will include holding school athletics carnivals and school swimming for Preps

– Year 3. Further information will be forwarded to parents at the start of Term 3.

A huge thank you goes to our school cleaners. On Monday 15 June, we celebrated

School Cleaners’ Day. Our cleaners play an extremely vital role in keeping our

schools safe. This year, in particular, it’s more important than ever to acknowledge

and thank our school cleaners for their efforts in making sure our schools are

protected from the spread of Coronavirus.

We as a school continue to be focussed on

Every Student Succeeding

o Using a case management approach to student improvement to

increase the percentage of students achieving a C or better in the

Semester 2 reporting period to 88%.

o Focussing on approaches to teaching that maximise engagement

including Inquiry and Age Appropriate Pedagogies.

o Ensuring that students have access to information (including feedback)

to articulate the next steps in their learning.

Every Teacher Effective and

o Ensuring that teachers work collaboratively towards consistent

implementation of the whole school curriculum.

o Ensuring that teachers employ high quality, evidenced based

approaches to teaching which are focussed on success for every

student.

o Ensuring that teachers work collaboratively towards consistent

implementation of whole school assessment and reporting practices.

Every Person Safe Valued and Well

o Ensuring that every person feels safe and respected through

consistent implementation of Positive Behaviour for Learning

practices.

o Ensuring that every person is contributing to a positive whole school environment through the Parent and

Community Engagement Framework.

o Ensuring that every person’s wellbeing is considered and encouraged with the construction of the Student

Learning and Wellbeing framework.

Parents and Caregivers are invited to participate in this year’s School Opinion Survey and have a say about schooling

during the COVID-19 lockdown. You are also given the opportunity to provide feedback about our school more

generally.

Participation in the survey is anonymous and you are encouraged to take this opportunity to have your say. The

survey form has been designed so that it can easily be completed on a computer or smartphone. The online survey

will be available until Friday, 17 July 2020, and should take less than five minutes to complete.

To access the survey, please click on the link below or copy and paste it into your web browser:

Parent survey – https://survey.qed.qld.gov.au/form/Parents-HaveYourSay

Please contact the school if you have any questions about the survey.

With the end of the term, we will sadly say goodbye to some of our families. I would like to wish these families all the

best in their new school communities.

This Semester Prep students have been very busy in all learning areas. We have been doing retells in English,

investigating primary colours in Art and partitioning in Maths. The Prep year is a time of investigation, learning and

friendship making. Please enjoy our wonderful display.

My name is Rebecca Finch and I’m sharing a Year 1 class with Ms Paula Pierotti 2

days a week and teaching Health to Prep and Year 1, one day a week. I started my

teaching career in the beautiful Pioneer Valley in 2004 and have since worked in a

number of schools around the Mackay region. After having 2 children of my own, I

have been working in a part time capacity since 2014 and am happy to have joined

the amazing staff at Fitzgerald SS permanently this year.

My time outside of work is spent with my family & friends, keeping active and

more often than not, at the beach swimming, surfing and paddling!

What’s Happening in Music and Drama!

Everything is slowly getting back to normal with our extra-curricular groups. Wakakirri, Eisteddfod, Instrumental

Fanfare and Instrumental Camp have been cancelled as a result of COVID19. Our usual Term 2 Twilight Concert had to

be cancelled but we are hoping that we can run a live concert at the end of Term 3.

We are also going to start preparation for the Spectacular concert

after the holidays and hope to still go to the theatre for a live concert

in November – stay tuned! Many thanks to everyone for their support

and continued practice through the learning from home period.

CHOIR:

Choir rehearsals have resumed. Year 5 and 6 will go back to having

combined senior choir rehearsals after the holidays.

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC:

All lessons have resumed and Concert Band and String Ensemble

rehearsals have resumed at the normal times. Some of our Year 6 students will have the opportunity of attending

SHEP in Term 3.

RECORDER ENSEMBLE:

Recorder Ensemble rehearsals have resumed on Wednesday mornings at 8am.

DRAMA GROUP:

Drama Group rehearsals will resume on Wednesday lunchtimes as of this week.

NEW MENU COMING NEXT TERM.

With only 1 week of school before holidays stock will be limited. We will however substitute where possible.

Thank you to all the lovely volunteers over the last few weeks. Lovely to see new helpers.

Roster:

Thurs 18th: HELP NEEDED

Frid 19th: Emma Cherry, Robyn Adams, Rachael Bingham, Mary Dorante.

Tues 23rd: Shae Cherry, Mary Dorante

Wed 24th: Mary Maloney, Nicole Hurt

Thurs 25th: HELP NEEDED

Frid 26th: Emma Cherry, Mary Dorante, Rachael Bingham, Robyn Adams.

See you all next term. Happy holidays Antoinette

Sports Day!

We are excited to inform you that we will be going ahead with our annual Sports Carnival in week 5, Term 3. We are

unsure at this stage if we are able to have parents and other spectators attend the carnival but we will keep you posted

as we get confirmation from the Education Department.

Sporting Trials

Queensland Sport are considering a number of Sporting Trials to commence in Term 3 however, we are still waiting as

to which sports they will be and the dates that they will be held.

Hats

Please ensure your child has a school hat for their PE lessons. Hats are an essential item of the school uniform. No hat

means no play outside or Physical Education for your child.

Yours in Sport!

Miss Nicole Biddle

Following on from our recycling update in last fortnight’s newsletter – each class and Admin are utilising the recycling

bins provided by the P&C. The school has also now changed their large rubbish supplier which means that all

recyclable products within the school can be recycled! This is a long way to reducing waste across the school. As a

P&C we were pleased to be a part of this and fund such initiatives.

We are keeping in close contact with school Admin and once we are able to hold onsite school events again we will

send around an update for events for the rest of the year.

We thought however this was a great opportunity for all the children to make a picture plate or a plastic or ceramic

mug. Keep an eye out for packs that will be sent home over the next few weeks and we will also provide information

on costs and process over the next week.

Look forward to seeing all of our families in Term 3! If you are interested in becoming a part of our P&C please contact

the school office for details – the more the merrier!

Praise

How praise works

Praise is when you tell your child what you like about her or her behaviour. Praise nurtures your child’s self-esteem,

confidence and sense of self.

By using praise, you’re showing your child how to think and talk positively about themselves. You’re helping your child

learn how to recognise when they do well and to pat themselves on the back.

What to use praise for

You can praise children of different ages for

different things. You might praise a younger child

for leaving the park when asked, or for trying to tie

her own shoelaces. You can praise teenagers for

coming home at an agreed time, or for starting

homework without being reminded.

Descriptive praise

Descriptive praise is when you tell your child

exactly what it is that you like. For example, ‘I like

the way you’ve found a spot for everything in your

room’. This helps your child understand what you

mean. It’s also more genuine than non-specific

praise like ‘You’re a good boy’.

You can’t give too much praise. But praise can lose

its impact if it isn’t specific or if you use it when

your child hasn’t done anything. This might teach

your child that they don’t have to do anything to

be praised.

Using praise to change behaviour

Children are more likely to repeat behaviour that

earns praise. This means you can use praise to help

change difficult behaviour and replace it with

desirable behaviour.

The first step is to watch for times when your child

behaves the way you want. When you see this or another behaviour you like, immediately get your child’s attention.

Then tell your child exactly what you liked.

At first, you can praise every time you see the behaviour. When your child starts doing the behaviour more often, you

can praise it less.

If you’re using praise to change behaviour, you can praise effort as well as achievement – for example, ‘It’s great how

you used words to ask for that toy’.

Encouragement

Encouragement is praise for effort – for example, ‘You worked hard on that maths homework’.

Praising effort can encourage your child to try hard in the future – it’s very motivating. But you can also use

encouragement before and during an activity to help your child do the activity or behaviour. For example, ‘Show me

how well you can put your toys away’ or ‘I know you’re nervous about the test, but you’ve studied hard. No matter how

it turns out, you’ve done your best’.

Some children, especially those who are less confident, need more encouragement than others. When praise is

encouraging and focused on effort, children are more likely to see trying hard as a good thing in itself. They’re also

more likely to keep trying and to be optimistic when they face challenges.

Rewards

A reward is a consequence of good behaviour. It’s a way of saying ‘well done’ after your child has done something

good or behaved well. It could be a treat, a surprise or an extra privilege. For example, as a reward for keeping his room

tidy, you might let your child choose what’s for dinner.

Rewards can make your praise and encouragement work better. Most behaviour is influenced by the consequences

that follow it, so when you praise your child’s behaviour and then reward it, the behaviour is more likely to happen

again. Rewards can work well at first, but it’s best not to overuse them. If you need to use them a lot, it might help to

rethink the situation – are there any other strategies that you could try to encourage the behaviour you want? Or is the

task or behaviour too hard for your child right now?

Note that bribery and rewards aren’t the same. A bribe is given before the behaviour you want, and a reward is

givenafter. Rewards reinforce good behaviour, but bribes don’t.

Sourced from Raising Children Network and Believe PHQ

Mackay North SHS is now accepting enrolments for Year 6 into Year 7 for 2021.

Enrolment packages will be distributed to feeder schools either at the end of this term or early

next term.

Enrolment packages can be downloaded at

https://mackaynorthshs.eq.edu.au/enrolments/open-days or alternatively applications can be

collected fro m the administration office.

Scholarship applications can also be obtained at

https://mackaynorthshs.eq.edu.au/enrolments/scholarships and will be included in enrolment

packages.