ICAS SUCCESS!

Each year students are identified who have achieved the highest possible result in the ICAS assessment programs and awarded medals. Year 4 student Edward Bowles was awarded an ICAS medal for English for his outstanding achievement in the 2019 ICAS English assessment. Year 2 student Tong Truong- Ba (Tony) was awarded an ICAS medal for 2019 Spelling Bee achievement.

The medal ceremony was held on Monday 2 December at the Brisbane Convention Centre and it was so wonderful to be able to celebrate the outstanding achievements with Edward, Tony and their parents.

INFLATABLE OBSTACLE COURSE

The Yeronga Memorial pool have kindly offered to allow children from Year 3-6 to use the inflatable obstacle course as a replacement for the Fun Mudda, the usual Term 4 Behaviour celebration. Thank you to Yeronga Memorial pool for their generosity in forgoing the entry fees to allow this to happen. Thank you also to Sarah Cordingly for working so hard to negotiate a solution for us – we appreciate your generosity and effort. There are 10 parents who are willingly helping with supervision next Wednesday to help keep costs down also. The school will pay $1200 for Lifesavers to ensure that we are creating the safest environment possible. The joint effort of the community has allowed us to find a great solution.

Please complete the permission note that has been sent home to ensure your child can participate. Given this is a behaviour celebration, there may be some children who will not be attending or will only be participating for some of the time. Class teachers will have been in contact if that involves your child.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT – 2019 AND BEYOND

2019 could definitely be called the year of the air-conditioning as every classroom in the school enjoys the cooler learning environments and we are so grateful for the efforts of our community in providing this. The P&C Presidents and myself are meeting with Member for Miller, Hon Mark Bailey, to discuss air conditioning additional rooms, including replacing the resource centre air conditioning.

The school improvement priorities this year were to focus on improving writing outcomes and to develop an inquiry approach in Science for Year 1-4, whilst continuing our multi-disciplinary approach in Prep, Year 5 and 6. Using split screens to show learning intentions and success criteria that include content and skill development (Learning asset) goals has been a key piece of this work. Over the last few weeks we have been meeting individually with teachers as part of their Annual Teacher Performance Review and celebrating progress they and their students have made against these school improvement priorities. Our children are developing skillsets through this teaching and learning approach that gives them real opportunities to engage with the Australian Curriculum general capabilities. Students are encouraged to think creatively and critically and regularly collaborate with peers, engaging in productive conversations that deepen their understanding of key concepts.

Student agency, voice and choice have improved significantly this year. Class teachers collect pre-assessment data to inform the development of English, Maths and Inquiry units. Children are brought into the planning process at different points in the Inquiry planning schedule. Parents expertise has also been another inclusion in Inquiry planning this year to help increase the rigour of units as we utilise the expertise of other professions to support the learning.

We are excitedly looking forward to 2020 when we will partner with Cam Brooks, University of Queensland researcher, to improve the quality of feedback students receive to help them further improve their performance. Looking forward to 2021 we will have Kath Murdoch, Inquiry consultant working with our school to further grow our work in this area. We are delighted that such high quality experts are willing to work with us to continue to grow the quality of teaching and learning we provide.

CELEBRATING PERMANENCY

Congratulations to Rachael Brown, Ryan Henry, Annabel Wheeldon and Tarnee Southwell for becoming permanent teachers at Yeronga this week. We are so excited to have you as a permanent addition to our team and look forward to working with you all in the coming years.

FAREWELL TO 2019 STAFF

There are a number of staff leaving us this year – Miss Ruby Owen, Mr Keegan Peace, Mrs Danielle Legovic, Mrs Jolie Barrett and Miss Amy Ward are leaving for many different reasons and we wish them well. We were lucky to have them all with us for a short time and we appreciate all they have contributed to the school and done for our children. We wish them all well in their next adventures.

Mrs Gaynor Couchman was the Learning Support teacher at Yeronga State School for many years. Mrs Couchman’s expertise in the learning support area was widely recognised across the region and many of our students were very lucky to have her working with them, encouraging and supporting them as she tried to solve the exact nature of the learning difficulty each child was facing. Mrs Couchman was exceptional at monitoring and tracking progress of cohorts and individual students, ensuring resourcing was targeted where it was most needed. We wish Mrs Couchman well in her retirement and thank her for her contribution to Yeronga State School.

LEARNING CARING GROWING ACHIEVING

It was so lovely to talk to one of our quiet achievers at last week’s swimming carnival who shared that her goal was to complete three races because she was a little worried. Congratulations Cleo for achieving your goal and tackling your fears head on!

2020 STAFFING

We will publish class allocations on Wednesday 22 January however the teacher allocations for Year levels are published below, keeping in mind that changes can happen due to unforeseen circumstances.

Class lists have already been constructed and there will be no changes as shifting children at this stage usually means that other important considerations that informed decision making can be lost.

Prep – Amanda Harland/ Julie Nolan (F), Sharon Prestridge/ Christine Pollock(F), Leanne Ford, Deb Quinn, Sandra Mathias

Year 1 – Annabel Wheeldon, Felicia Chapman, Emma Moller/ Clarissa Fraser (Th/F), Tammy McNeil, Cameron Petersen

Year 2- Vidisha Bhatia/ Sue Holden (F), Rachael Brown, Luke Marchant, Jessica Watkins, Emma Powlett

Year 3- Ronelle Dunn, Kathy Lyons, Joshua Newby, Danielle Martin/ Kathy Wallace (F)

Year 4 – Katie McDermott, Ryan Henry, Lindsay Jobbins, Gemma Chase

Year 4/5 Kal Masselos

Year 5 – Aaron Hartin/ Kate Thomas, Hamish Curness, Nick Landbeck,

Year 5/6 Rachel Wise

Year 6 – Alex McShane, Kate Middleton-Pol, John Quirk

Inclusion Teachers – Lizzy King, Kathy Wallace, Tarnee Southwell, Sonja Wise

Acting Principal – Kate Paynter

Deputy Principal – Tracy Freeman    

Acting Deputy Principal – Louise Vaggs

There are two multi-age classes in 2020- Year 4/5 and 5/6. Whilst multi-age classes are formed in our school due to cohort enrolment numbers, we strategically choose teachers who are keen to teach multi-age, are familiar with both year level curriculum and are excellent teachers. Both teachers are confident and familiar with multi-age teaching and are proactive in maintaining close relationships with individual cohorts. Multi-age provides an opportunity for children to expand their support network into another year level and learn from and with each other in a new setting. Children in multi-age classes participate in the same camps and excursions as the rest of their year level.

SHORT GOODBYE

Thank you all for the good wishes that I have received in the last week as I step away for a short while to Indooroopilly State School. It is an absolute delight to lead such a caring, connected, professional and positive community. Thank you in advance  for the support you will give Kate Paynter and the staff. I look forward to seeing and hearing about all the successes Yeronga has enjoyed in my absence.

Debbie Spanner
Principal

It’s hard to believe that there is just over one week left of the 2019 school year. We look forward to sharing the excitement of the many end of school year events with our students and their families.

Forthcoming Events

We hope to see you at:

• Prep Christmas Concert (Friday 6 December)
• Year 1 and 2 Christmas Concert (Monday 9 December)
• Year 6 Graduation (Monday 9 December)
• Sporting Awards Ceremony (Tuesday 10 December)
• Year 1 and 2 Swim (Tuesday 10 December)
• Year 3-6 Swim (Friday 13 December): this is in addition to the Behaviour Celebrations at the pool on Wednesday 11 December.
  
  

Behaviour Celebrations

During Week 10 those children who have achieved an A, B or C rating for the term in regards to their behaviour standards will participate in the term’s behavior celebrations. This will be a time for student across the year levels to be recognised for consistently meeting the Yeronga State School expectations of doing your best, being responsible, being respectful and being safe. Children who are not participating in the celebrations will be provided with alternative supervision. Class teachers will confirm beforehand if your child is not participating.

Students in Year 3-6 will be taking place in a swim, with the addition of the Yeronga Pool inflatable (woohoo!), on Wednesday 11 December as their end of year Behaviour Celebration. This is a replacement for the usual ‘Fun Mudda’ event, due to the need to restrict water use and be mindful of drought conditions. Students will be going to the pool for one hour with their year level group. There is no cost to take part. Please note the following important information.

Students need to:

• Bring their togs, sun shirt, towel, thongs, goggles and a swim cap (N.B. Students will be required to be wearing a swim shirt and swimming cap in order to go into the water)
• Be wearing sunscreen

A big thank you goes out to Mrs Sarah Cordingley, for making this event happen for our students in Year 3-6. Your assistance is much appreciated.

Report Cards

Please note that report cards for Semester Two will be sent out to parents via email on Wednesday 11 December. Please ensure that the school office has your latest email address on the OneSchool database.

Academic Awards

It will be wonderful to recognise the efforts our students in meeting their learning goals throughout 2019, during the last week of Term Four.

The dates for the Awards Ceremonies are:

Thursday 12 December

9.00am: Year Five and Six

9.45am: Year Three and Four

Friday 13 December

9.00am: Year One and Two         

Lost Property

As we near the end of term, it would be timely to remind your child to have a look in the Lost Property for any items they have misplaced. Junior Lost Property is located underneath the Year One building (in the middle) and Senior Lost Property is located under the stairs in the Administration block.

Enjoy the last two weeks of the school year. It has certainly been another monumental year for the Yeronga State School community and we have felt honoured to be a part of it.

Kate Paynter and Tracy Freeman

Deputy Principals

Hamish Townsend and Kym Mansfield

Yeronga State School P&C Co-Presidents
ysspandcpresident@gmail.com

2020 Office Hours

The School Office will be open from 8am - 3.30pm from the 20th January 2020.

2020 Booklists

The Booklists for 2020 will be released at the end of week 10 and will be available on the Yeronga state school website under quick links and the SZapp under 'Forms and Documents'. 

Behaviour Celebrations & Break Up Day

Next week is a big week of celebrations. Emails have been sent to all families informing them of all the swimming celebrations and Prep safety swim that have been organised for all grades next week. For your student to attend permission must be given for your student to participate. Please see below the notes that were emailed home along with the permission links at the bottom of the note. Please ensure you have provided permission by Monday 9 December.

Yeronga SS will be Cashless in 2020

As Yeronga continues to grow the office does it’s best to make changes to ensure parents can conveniently pay for excursions/incursion is the most efficient way possible. This means as of 2020 Yeronga will no longer be accepting cash payments.

Our methods of payments will be via BPoint or Qparents.

To pay via BPoint you will find all the needed details at the bottom of every invoice. All invoices are emailed to parents and will come from the email address rbenn127@eq.edu.au.

Qparents is another great way to pay your invoices as well as track what you have paid and what is still outstanding. If you do not have access to Qparents please contact the office as soon as possible and we will be able to set you up with an invitation.

Lost and Found

As the end of 2019 is approaching we have a large amount of lost and found items. Please get your students to check if there are any items that belong to them before 2.30pm on Friday 13 December 2019. These items will no longer be available to collect after 2.30pm. We look forward to knowing that all students have collected their belongings over the next week.  

If your student has misplaced an item of greater value such as reading glasses or jewellery please come to the office to confirm if we have your item.

Statements & Outstanding Payments

If you do have any outstanding payments it would be greatly appreciated if you could attend to payment. 

Swimming Lessons Conclude This Friday 06/12/2019

Swimming lessons are being held at the times stated in the permission note. Please remember to refer to the equipment list on the permission note so that your children have everything they need for their lessons. Children should have a complete change of clothes, swimming togs including a rashie for lessons, goggles (essential), towel, sunscreen, bathing cap (essential), deodorant (for older students) and flip flops or thongs (much preferred). Rashies are not required for races at carnivals, but students should cover up when not racing.

Behaviour Celebrations and Free Swims Next Week

Do not forget that children must have their proper swimming kit including a cap in order to swim. Please keep the information part of the note so that you know exactly when your child/ren is/are swimming.

Junior Swimming Carnival

Thank you to, our parents who did a great job officiating, all of our Year 0ne and Two Teachers, Mrs Freeman and our teacher aides for an amazing set of carnivals. A massive thank you to our wonderfull students and student leaders for the best junior carnivals in my memory. It was a wonderful celebration of  some very hard work in swimming lessons.

Senior Swimming Carnival Results

Well done to our outstanding staff, wonderfull parents and fantastic students on a great day of competitive swimming.

Congratulations to the mighty Evans; winners of both the aggregate and percentage house trophies for 2019.

Congratulations to our age champions:

Girls

8 years: Sabine K-H

9 years: Samantha C

10 years: Eady B

11 years: Savannah O

12 years: Georgia M

Boys

8 years: Oliver C & Ben H

9 years: Angus W

10 years: Hayden C

11 years: Joshua S

12 years: Liam C & Cameron W

Congratulations to our Record Breakers

9 Years Girls 50m Freestyle: Samantha C

8 Years Girls 50m Breaststroke: Summer W

12 Years Girls 50m Breaststroke: Georgia M

10 Years Girls 50m Backstroke: Georgie B

9 Years Girls 50m Butterfly: Saskia A

10 Years Girls 50m Butterfly: Eady B

10 Years Boys 50m Freestyle: Hayden C

8 Years Boys 50m Breaststroke: Toby A

10 Years Boys 50m Backstroke: Hayden C

Rebel Sport Community Kickbacks

Just a quick note to publicise our involvement with this scheme and how it works. For some time now Yeronga State School has been part of the above mentioned scheme. The scheme gives the school credit for purchases of equipment at Rebel as anyone who purchases equipment nominates Yeronga State School as the recipient of Community Kickbacks. I have purchased cricket equipment, Footballs and Netballs with this credit. It is an easy way to contribute resources to our school especially if you enjoy spending time and money in sports stores like myself.

Yeronga State School (YSS) District Trial Selection Policy Special Consideration (Years 3 to 6)

The representative pathway for school sport is for children from 10 to 12 years of age. Yeronga is part of a very strong district which consists of 28 schools from Yeronga State School to the Calamvale area. In contact and skill team sports those aged 11 and 12 need to possess the advantages of size and speed, as well as skill on most occasions.  Selectors  will choose those with the skill and the resilience to compete at a higher level. Remember that selectors give up their time for these trials meaning that it is important for us to send only those ready to compete at a higher level. Very seldom is it appropriate to send students for experience. An indicator of readiness for participation at a higher level would be being among the best 3 or 4 players in most games for your club under 12 teams.

In order to be selected to attend a District Trial children should make themselves known to me (Mr Bateman) for either a selection trial with the appropriate teacher or so that they may be given the appropriate forms. Remember that children must give at least two weeks notice that they wish to attend a district trial to allow for a school selection trial to be held in the event of a great deal of interest being shown in a particular sport.

Important Sporting Dates 2020

03/02/2020 – District Swimming nominations close

11/02/2020 – Water Polo Regional Trials (13 years)

12/02/2020 – District Swimming Trial

13/02/2020 – Regional Softball (13 years)

21/02/2020 – Paper Nominations Squash & Golf (10 – 18 years)

02/03/2020 – District Touch Trial

03/03/2020 – District AFL Trial (Boys)

04/03/2020 – District AFL Trial (Girls)

05/03/2020 – District Basketball Trial

06/03/2020 – Gala Day 1 (10 – 12 years)

10/03/2020 – Yeronga Senior Cross Country (Years 3 – 6)

12/03/2020 – Reserve Day: Yeronga Senior Cross Country (Years 3 – 6)

12/03/2020 – District Netball Trial

13/03/2020 – District Volleyball

13/03/2020 – District Hockey (Boys)

18/03/2020 – District Hockey (Girls)

23/03/2020 – District Cross Country Nominations

27/03/2020 – Gala Day Two (10 – 12 years)

01/04/2020 – District Cross Country

Cameron Bateman
Sports Teacher

10 Desktop Computers!

A big thank you to Robin Riley a local Yeerongpilly resident who organised the donation of 10 near new Lenovo Desktop Computers through the company ICON where he is General Manger for Commercial & Operations Qld.

The computers have been placed around the school and are well used for research by our curious learners in their inquiry learning. The staff and students are very grateful for the generous donation.

Yeronga State High School News Update

One of the most important decisions is deciding what high school to attend. Great schools and learning communities are formed on the basis of positive, constructive relationships where the expectation is high; where learning is relevant and real, and where structure and support contribute to great progress. At Yeronga SHS, our school vision ‘Quality Pathways to Success’ is the DNA that underpins our

existence. The vision is supported by three important values of Quality, Harmony and Sustainability which live and breathe everywhere in the school.

This has been a great year for us as we were one of the finalists at the Australian Education Awards in 2 categories:

• Secondary School of the Year – Government
• Department Head of the Year

Do follow us on Facebook to receive updates on

 Y-Tour Information Session, Enrolment I

nterview sessions and school news. https://www.facebook.com/YerongaStateHighSchool/

Y Connect

Yeronga State High School have also just been included in the list of schools described as Australia’s most innovative by The Educator Australia. We are very proud to be one of the top 44 Australian schools demonstrating exceptional leadership in change and innovation in 2019.

The Y Connect project was set up as an intervention to support Learning and Engagement. Collaborative learning context using artists and arts-based pedagogies to re-engage students; enhance their sense of belonging and connection; and improve language, literacy (and numeracy) outcomes as outlined in the Australian Curriculum. 48 educators involved in the program and 90% of teachers participated in professional development.

The results were significant. In NAPLAN, our student gains higher than both State and National averages in most literacy dimensions. The Y Connect project was run with the support of Professor Julie Dunn from Griffith University and arts organisations such as Opera Queensland, QPAC, Circa, and La Boite Theatre.

Yeronga Celebrates

Yeronga Celebrates (a biennial event) was held at Yeronga State High School in August this year. We celebrate the unique cultural diversity that we have here at Yeronga along with every aspect that makes Yeronga State High School special. It's also an opportunity to be unified by pride in our children and to celebrate all the richness and benefits we get from being such a diverse community. Yeronga Celebrates showcases our diversity through music, dance, science, sports, food, art and many other areas. It’s an exciting day for students to participate in various activities that they enjoy throughout the day. These activities include workshops (e.g. drumming, making bees wax wraps, origami and 30 other stimulating workshops!), international concert, food festival, colour run and the parade of nations.

Here are some photos from the event. Do head to our Facebook Page to view the official Yeronga Celebrates video!

Quality             Harmony          Sustainability

Chirst church holiday event

Chirst church holiday event 1.59 MB

Thank you to our Volunteers

Again this year, I have written out hundreds of Certificates recognising the valuable contribution that our wonderful volunteers make to the school community, indicating such strong support of our students.   Our teachers do an amazing job, but so much more is achieved through the help of an army of volunteers.  So thank you for being part of that army, helping, getting involved, and contributing to make a great school community together.  If you haven’t received your certificate as yet, please let your classroom teacher know.  I don’t want anyone to miss out.

Thank you for your support

Looking back at 2019, it’s been very busy but filled with good things, and I feel that I’ve contributed positively into the school community.  Here’s some of what I’ve been up to…

• Being a positive role model and mentor
• Teaching 5 x “Fun Friends” and 5 x “Friends for Life” classes
• Helping many children with pastoral care conversations to provide social and emotional support covering issues such as anxiety, friendship, family breakdown
• Helping families with referrals to other support services and connections
• Providing a supply of emergency school lunches for students without food, and access to food hampers from Foodbank
• Doing hospital and home visits, and attending funerals
• Connecting families with sponsors for the purchase of school resources and uniforms for those in need
• Supporting staff through difficult or challenging issues, and bringing a little cheer through well-being projects, gifts and encouraging words
• Providing spiritual support when requested, connection with community agencies and faith groups, and participation in community prayer gatherings
• Organising and running Chaplaincy programs including Thursday Club, handball competition, Chappy Week, Movie Night, Camp at School, and pop-up Gift Market
• Attending year 4 camp and year 6 RSL visit
• Providing leadership to and organising Harmony Day
• Facilitating the Bridge Builders program with year 5 and 6 students

I look forward to 2020 as my 10^th year here as Chaplain at Yeronga State School, and already have plans underway for some great Chaplaincy events to positively engage and contribute across the school year.

My hope as the year comes to a close, is that you find comfort and much happiness through your family, even with all the challenges that might come your way. I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year filled with much love, joy and peace at this special time of year.  Enjoy the school holidays with your loved ones.

Blessings,

Jennifer Bennett

jenniferb@chappy.org.au