Weir State School Newsletter

WELCOME TO THIS EDITION – Seven weeks are now behind us and we are getting to the ‘business end’ of the term. Apart from a few small challenges, the students have well and truly lived up to our high behaviour and learning expectations over the term.  I would like to thank staff, parents and students for your support in making improvements to the culture at our school evident. It shows the community working together can achieve GREAT things. Please remember if you have any questions or you have concerns about your child’s learning, contact your child’s teacher or school administration.

BOOKWEEK PARADE  - What a great bookweek parade for Weir State School last Friday. Our kids had a great time showing off their fantastic costumes and showed in true Weir style how to get into the spirit of the event. Thanks to all parents for turning up to support the kids and well done to all of our dedicated school staff for dressing up and helping organise the very popular annual event …….another great Weir event.

SCHOOL DISCO – Last week we held our school disco for term 3. It was a wonderful evening with our students enjoying the great tunes of a hired DJ and some great snacks from our tuckshop. Thanks to all parents who took the time to bring their children and a HUGE thanks to the Weir State School staff for helping out with the great event.

EXCEPTIONAL CLEANERS – Day in day out there are a group of hardworking people that must be thanked – our CLEANERS. We are very lucky to have a great ‘crew’ of cleaners that keep our school and classrooms great. No matter when school is open our rooms, staffroom, floors and toilets are always spot on. Our cleaners keep our school looking wonderful. If you see them out and about, please let them know that they’re doing a super job. Weir State School salutes you.

LUNCHES – What kids bring to school to eat for lunches is of HIGH importance. We are all time poor, however it takes the same time to put an apple or banana in a lunchbox as it does a packet of chips or a sugary snack. The perfect lunch is a sandwich, yoghurt, fruit, nuts or salad. Please also remind your children if they have forgotten their lunch they are to get a sandwich from the office and not to take or ask for other student’s food.

BREAKFAST CLUB – Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and unfortunately 1 in every 4 students have little or no ‘brekky’ before coming to school. We have a breakfast club that supplies brekky most mornings, run by our wonderful staff, so please remind your children that if they have missed their morning meal to visit ‘breakfast club’ which operates from 8am each day.

MATHEMATICS IN OUR LIVES - Mathematics is important in daily living; almost every one of us uses some form of mathematics each day. We repeatedly count, measure, carry out simple calculations and estimate. We use spatial awareness and measurement skills to read maps or to find our way around in new locations. In order to understand weather forecasts, news reports, opinion polls and bank statements we use our knowledge of chance, data and statistics. This knowledge is also applied when we make decisions about loan repayments, superannuation, insurance and buying the weekly lotto ticket.

Our homes are the site of many mathematical decisions and activities that occur regularly. Buying and cooking food, rearranging furniture, building sheds, sewing or knitting garments, paving, administering medications; the list is endless!

Families can take an active role in their children’s mathematical development by:

• Encouraging them to talk about what they are learning in mathematics at school.

• Listening carefully and asking questions when children are explaining their mathematical understandings.

• Reassuring and encouraging their children when they face difficulties.

• Taking opportunities to practise real-life mathematics learning in the home.

• Engaging children in discussions about the useful aspects of mathematics in the home and at work.

• Talking to teachers about their child’s progress in mathematics.

Many jobs require mathematics, but the kind of mathematics people needed fifty years ago is now inadequate. The rapidly changing nature of our jobs and their mathematical needs mean that our mathematical learning does not end with formal schooling. We all need to continue learning for life.

Remember that there are many languages spoken throughout the world but MATH is truly the only ‘universal’ language. (Dr Stephen Hawking, 1995)

This week’s proverb –  “ Those who embrace challenge learn the most!  ”

Thanks for reading  - Mr B  - Principal

Uniform Update… Thank you for the positive response to our recent push in providing spare uniforms to those in need. Can we please clarify that the school is purely offering spare uniforms each day for students to assist them in meeting our school expectation of ‘wear school uniform with ‘pride’.

To help with our focus on building a whole school culture of wearing a school uniform, we will focus our attention on the following 3 areas:

• Weir SS Uniform Shirts… ALL students who come to school without a formal Weir SS Polo or Check (button up) shirt, will be offered a spare shirt from the office
• Weir SS Uniform Pants (Shorts/Skirts/Skorts)… These will be offered to students who come in denim shorts or surf style board shorts

* Please note… While brown is our preferred colour for school pants… supply is VERY limited, so Navy Blue coloured pants are considered an acceptable alternative.

* Please also note… Plain coloured leggings are fine 

• Warm Clothing… As Weir doesn’t have formal warm clothing in its uniform, warm clothing is met with a degree of leniency. Jackets/jumpers and tracksuit pants are fine. However, teachers will exercise judgement as to the warmth of the weather and request students remove such warm items if it is deemed as a safety risk due to heat.

We will keep you informed of any further changes around uniforms as we continue to build school pride and the sense of belonging that comes with meeting this school expectation.

Term 3… Week 8 – Rule of the Week

Positive Behaviour for Learning remains our core approach to behaviour at Weir. Thanks to our PBL team as they work hard monitoring and responding to the behaviour needs of our students. A BIG thank you to our students who continue to do their best to meet the HIGH EXPECTATIONS for behaviour at our great school.  

Be Respectful: Respect property and personal space of others 

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Talking to your child about school… Ever tried to talk with your child about school and ended up getting nothing much back in response?

Listed below are some of the strategies that families can use when asking the ‘What happened at school?’ question:

• Create a family ritual in which everyone shares something about their day at dinner. Start by talking about your day. Make sure that everyone has a chance to talk, but also has the option of ‘passing’ if they don't feel like contributing.

• Rather than posing a general question, ask about a specific event or class. For example… ‘How was the big assembly?’ or ‘What did your class do in sports today?’, Try to phrase your questions to invite more than ‘YES/NO’ answers. Questions that begin with ‘What did you do in ...?’ or ‘What was good about…?’ are more open ended and invite conversation.

• When your child does respond, give them your full attention. Let them know that you're listening by asking clarifying questions, such as ‘Do you mean that...?’ or ‘Let me make sure I understand…’

• Keep open channels of communication with your child's teacher. Teachers are always glad to keep you informed of what's going on in the classroom. You can also grease the wheels of communication by offering to help out in the classroom or on excursions from time to time.

• Respect that sometimes your child won’t want to share their day with you. This is ok. When children don’t feel they are being continually ‘forced’ to talk about their whole day, they will likely want to share more often and recall special parts of their day.

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Mr Coey’s Joke of the Week…

Q: What do you call a fake spaghetti noodle?

A: An Im-pasta!

I am super proud of these ten kids  - Lola , Maria , Jade , Reggie , Malakye , Ashlan , Luella , Hunni and Lennis. They did an amazing job at delivering their speeches in front of a lot of other students and adults. Aaron Harper was there and as he walked past and saw we were getting a photo he said , “Oh Weir can I get in your photo too please?" :)  Please congratulate these kids if you see them around the school or if they are your sons/daughters…they were an absolute credit to our wonderful school…. Not sure I have recovered from the maxi taxi trip back to school though :)

As our wonderful Weir Strong girls near the end of their journey through the NQYEP program (which was written by Mr Burgess) today they are taking on the task of walking the Goat Track on Castle Hill whilst staying connected with a long rope. This program is the most amazing program I have been involved in since I began teaching 30 years ago. We received 35 applications for the girls group that are just finishing the program and yesterday I had a meeting with any boys that were interested for the Term 4 group and I had an astounding 50 boys turn up. Absolutely incredible!! It is going to be a hard task sifting through those applications to choose 10 students to begin the program Week 1 Term 4.

 Our school target for attendance is 92%.

Students with attendance levels below 85%  have been placed on a 5 week attendance improvement plan.

Year level attendance for Week 7

Year Level Attendance Challenge

• Year Level with highest attendance for the week is announced on parade.
• Points are allocated for each year level according to their attendance level.
• Year level with most points at the end of the term wins a pizza party- Tuesday 17th September.

100% Attendance Recognition

• Students with 100% attendance for the term receive an invitation to an ice-cream or Pizza Party- Friday 20th September.

Medical Certificates for absences due to illness

After 3 days of illness parents are required to produce a medical certificate to explain the absence.

We are all looking forward to celebrating great behavior choices with the students.

'We need you'!

Your  Weir State School P&C Association needs you, we are currently looking for a new secretary. This is a valued role within our organisation.

The role includes but not limited to:

Attending P&C meetings

Taking meeting minutes

Looking after our mail

Helping at fundraising events

Becoming part of a great team

Meeting new peopl

If you are interested or would like more information about the role please contact Krystle Lewis – P&C President on 0401 457 699 or email Krystle.evan@gmail.com

We will be holding a special meeting at 6.45pm on Monday 26th August in the Outside School Hours Care Building to endorse and elect our new secretary followed by our General P&C Meeting.

I would like to thank our outgoing secretary Mrs Emma Purdie for the fabulous job that she has done over the last 18months and we thank-you for all your help and support.

 Date Claimer: Next P&C Meeting Monday 26th August 2019

Father’s Day Stall Monday 26th August – Friday 30th August 2019 in at the end of the tuckshop (in front of the new poss).