29 August 2025

ADMIN NEWS

A couple of busy weeks coming up leading into the September school holidays.  Our Father’s Day stall is coming up quickly.  Please look out for the Facebook posts for days and times.

Friday 5^th September is a student free day and the following Friday is Noosa Show Holiday 12^th September.  I’m looking forward to hearing our school rock bands and choir perform at Noosa Show over the long weekend as well as viewing all the entries in the Junior Art section of the pavilion.

CELEBRATING OUR INCREDIBLE TEACHER AIDES

This week at Pomona State School, we shine a spotlight on the wonderful members of our team who so often work quietly in the background but make a powerful difference every single day – our Teacher Aides.

Teacher Aide Appreciation Week is an opportunity for us to pause and recognise the vital role they play in our classrooms and across the school. While their job titles may sound simple, their work is anything but. Teacher aides are at the heart of student support and their impact stretches far beyond the classroom.

Our teacher aides:

• Provide targeted support in literacy and numeracy to help every child progress at their own pace.
• Work with small groups and individual students, building skills, confidence, and independence.
• Assist teachers with preparing engaging resources and setting up purposeful learning environments.
• Support inclusion so that every child, regardless of their background or learning needs, feels safe, valued, and successful at school.
• Offer encouragement and reassurance that helps children believe in themselves and persist when learning feels challenging.

The patience, kindness, and adaptability of our teacher aides allow them to step into many roles – a tutor, a cheerleader, a role model, and sometimes simply a listening ear. They are trusted adults that students look up to, and their calm presence helps create classrooms where children can thrive.

This week, we will also take time as a staff to acknowledge their dedication and celebrate with a special morning tea in their honour. We invite our families and students to join us by showing their appreciation too. A simple smile, kind word, or handwritten note from a child can mean the world.

On behalf of our entire school community, we say a heartfelt thank you to our teacher aides. Your passion and commitment enrich the lives of our students every day. Pomona State School is a stronger, kinder, and more successful place because of you.

STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE

Each year Pomona State School participates in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) academic competitions.  This year students in Years 2 to 6 have selected to compete in Science, Writing, Digital Technologies, Spelling, English and Mathematics.  These competitions are a great way for our students who are doing well to challenge their problem-solving abilities in a test environment.  These competitions also assist students in getting used to the test environment of NAPLAN and secondary education.  The final CAS assessment was held on Tuesday 26^th August.  Congratulations to all students who participated in these assessments.  Thank you to Kathy Lavender and Joel Grimish for organising and facilitating these assessments.

PREP ENROLMENTS

The school is now taking Prep enrolments for 2026.  Please contact the school to organise a school tour or to collect the enrolment information.  Students eligible for Prep are those born between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.  Planning is well underway so if you or any of your friends have a child eligible for Prep in 2026, please contact the office regarding enrolment and adding your name to the mailing list to ensure you receive emails regarding information about upcoming transition days and information sessions.

OUT AND ABOUT AROUND OUR SCHOOL

 It is wonderful to see all the learning in our classrooms.  On Tuesday the 16^th of September our open classroom afternoon is being held 3-3:30pm.  All families are welcome to come into their child’s class.  Students will be able to show their famliy members around their classrooms and describe all their learning throughout this term.  Our school has a focus on English learning and each classroom has a learning wall showcasing the learning of the students in the class.

LEARNING WALLS - ENGLISH

You may notice when entering your child’s classroom their English learning wall.  This is a space in the classroom that students and teachers co create throughout the term.  It contains evidence of teaching and learning of the English unit.  You will find what the task is for the English unit and the marking guide. Students use the learning wall to improve their knowledge and understanding of their English assessment.

HATS

It is coming into spring and the weather is warming up and it is imperative that all students are wearing a broad brimmed school hat at school every day.  Broad brimmed school hats are available for purchase from the uniform shop.  Our school always promotes sun safety with the wearing of broad brimmed hats and sunscreen when children are outside of the classroom, this includes HPE specialist lessons, lunch play times, camps and school excursions. 

SWIMMING

Term 4 will see the commencement of school swimming lessons once again.  Please use the remaining Term 3 weeks to ensure your child will have everything they need for school swimming lessons.  Togs, towel, rashie shirt (long sleeve preferred), goggles (optional) and swimming cap.

Mr Bremner is always looking for parent volunteers, please see your child’s class teacher if you are available to assist in any way.

Alyson Covey
Principal

DATE CLAIMERS

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR AMAZING STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

CHILDREN’S BOOK WEEK

Children’s book week was successfully celebrated with a Book Fair in the school hall and culminated with one of the best Character Costume Parades we have ever seen. 

The book fair was very well supported, and I would like to thank every family who purchased a book or activity item from the fair.  Many students emptied out their money boxes to purchase items and many families took advantage of the convenience of shopping the fair online.  The BookWarehouse very generously donated 30% of the fair takings to the school, so it was a win-win all round.

The Character Costume Parade on Friday was a definite stand-out with the calibre and creativity of costumes setting a new high, and the judges certainly had a very difficult time choosing just two winners from each class There were so many amazing costumes including Dragon Girls, Stormy Normy, The Hungry Caterpillar and A Stack of Alpacas.  Thank you again to all the families who helped their children create such incredible costumes.  

INTERSCHOOL SPORT

Our OzTag and Netball teams represented our school proudly at interschool sport. Both teams showed incredible teamwork, determination, and sportsmanship throughout the day. The OzTag players impressed with their speed and tactical play, while our Netball team demonstrated strong passing, defence, and shooting under pressure. It was fantastic to see students supporting each other and enjoying the competition. Congratulations to all players for their efforts and commitment—you’ve done our school proud!

YEAR 4 CAMP REPORTS

On camp I was in a cabin with Stella, Frankie and Sydney.  I was in Group A with Azalea, Eva and Sydney.  The food was good, and my favourite break was lunch and dinner.  The leaders were Ben, Liv, Kate, Cass, Sam and Jace.  My favourite part was caving, team challenges and the pool.  The activities were caving, team challenges, beach games, canoeing, high ropes, Indigenous games, archery, seeing the sunrise and watching the stars. It was at Currimundi Recreation Center. 

By Zoey

My first camp was amazing!

Firstly, I thought that it would be boring being made from wood and I also thought that the food was going to be horrid, but none of those thoughts were correct.

Secondly, I was happy with my cabin group.  In my group were Sage, Niome, Isla and myself.

Thirdly, I loved the food!  Later, when I got home, I begged my mum to cook the same food 24/7.

Lastly, the activities were awesome!  For archery we had foam tips that looked like marshmallows, and we had to shoot targets.  We also got to do a battle and shoot each other.  My favourite activities were archery and caving.

By Nunyara

On camp I had Sydney, Frankie and Zoey in my cabin.  I liked my cabin because we did not go to sleep.  My two favourite activities were caving and high ropes.  My least favourite activities were Indigenous games and beach games.  It was really fun at camp and on the last day I was kind of ready to go home and see my family. 

The spaghetti was so, so, so good and the archery was awesome.  Mr Campana hit my head with an arrow in archery, and it was lucky I had a helmet on.  The cheeseburgers weren’t the best but most of the other food was pretty good.  The leaders were Liv, Ben Kate, Cass and Myles.  It was far more fun than school!!

By Stella

At camp we did caving, team challenges, beach games, canoeing, high ropes, archery, Indigenous games and watched stars.  In my cabin was Ava, Eva, Azalea, Marleigh and myself.  For breakfast we had spaghetti on toast and bacon for both mornings.  For lunch we had cheeseburgers and curried sausages.  For dinner we had spaghetti, garlic bread, potatoes, sausages and gravy and roast chicken.  For dessert we had apple crumble and cheesecake. 

The leaders were Liv, Kate, Cass, Myles and Ben.  During free time we went to the pool.  The teachers who came were Mrs Covey, Mr Campana, Mr Bremner and Mrs Fahey.  My favourite parts were sleeping, playing in the pool and eating cheeseburgers.  The cheeseburgers were 10/10.  We watched a movie at night.

By Willow

Camp was so fun!  One of the activities was archery, and it was fun but I did hurt my hand.  Caving was my favourite activity.  Stella had to push me into the cave.  During high ropes it was storming in Pomona, but not at camp.

The food was amazing.  I was in a cabin with Zoey, Stella and Sydney.  My favourite part was everything! 

Ms Covey took pictures of us sleeping.

By Frankie

GEM SUPERHEROS VISIT OUR BOOK PARADE

The students at PSS were so surprised to have a flying visit from their favourite GEM superheroes at Book Parade last week.  Each week on parade we discuss a GEM chat that allows the students to share their thoughts and feelings relating to gratitude, empathy, mindfulness & emotional literacy. 

CAMP AUSTRALIA

SPRING FAIR – SATURDAY 18TH OCTOBER

THANK YOU TO SPONSORS OF OUR UPCOMING SPRING FAIR

POMONA COMMUNITY HOUSE