18 June 2021

Newsletter Articles

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL’S DESK

Two fabulous days and with great weather!

Congratulations to Lawson as the winners of the 2021 Athletics Carnival. It was a very close call between Lawson and Paterson, also Kendall was not far behind in points. Thank you to those parents who encouraged our students to come to school for the 2 days of sports and be part of their team. Often the difference between one house winning over another is participation points, as these are earned for each student taking part in an event regardless of place.

What’s Happening?

The air-conditioning project is under way and will continue over the 6 to 8 weeks. There will be disruptions to classrooms with some classes moving to other spaces in our school for a short period of time. (Just like going on a holiday.) We are very excited about this project and look out ‘summer’.

The new playground is looking great. Yes, it is really happening! The rubberized surface has been laid (not a job if you have a sore back) and very shortly all the elements will be put in place, hopefully ready for action at the beginning of Term 3.

Focus Forty

Students have covered the following topics this term.

• Time Management – what does it mean?
• Personal Space - its importance to all
• Building-up and Encouraging – what does it sound like?

These topics assist our students in being respectful to each other and consider the fact that every student in our school is expected to be part of the Pomona State School Team.

Please read the following information about the School Opinion Survey and the NCCD, they happening the beginning of Term 3 at our school.

School Opinion Survey Information

The annual suite of School Opinion Surveys will be conducted in Term 3 and will close on 30 July 2021. All families, school staff and students in target year levels (5, 6, 8 and 11) will be invited to participate. We encourage you to take this opportunity to have your say about what our school does well, and how we can improve.

An invitation to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey will be emailed to one parent/caregiver per family in the week beginning 5 July. The invitation will be sent from the Department of Education, not the school, and it will have the subject line School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2021. Check your junk email folders if you can’t find it. The survey can be completed as soon as the invitation is received and will take approximately 5 minutes using a computer, tablet or smart phone.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD)

Collection date - 19th July to 6th August

Every year, all schools in Australia participate in the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD). The NCCD process requires schools to identify information already available in the school about supports provided to students with disability. These relate to legislative requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, in line with the NCCD guidelines (2019).

Information provided about students to the Australian Government for the NCCD includes:

• year of schooling
• category of disability: physical, cognitive, sensory or social/emotional
• level of adjustment provided: support provided within quality differentiated teaching practice - (many school students receive this type of support), supplementary, substantial or extensive.

This information assists schools to:

• formally recognise the supports and adjustments provided to students with disability in schools
• consider how they can strengthen the support of students with disability in schools
• develop shared practices so that they can review their learning programs in order to improve educational outcomes for students with disability.

The NCCD provides state and federal governments with the information they need to plan more broadly for the support of students with disability.

The NCCD will have no direct impact on your child and your child will not be involved in any testing process. The school will provide data to the Australian Government in such a way that no individual student will be able to be identified – the privacy and confidentiality of all students is ensured. All information is protected by privacy laws that regulate the collection, storage and disclosure of personal information. To find out more about these matters, please refer to the Australian Government’s Privacy Policy.

Further information about the NCCD can be found on the NCCD Portal.

If you have any questions about the NCCD, please contact the school.

PROCEDURES FOR……..

DATE CLAIMERS

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR AMAZING STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

PKT - THE THREE LITTLE PIGS GET A HOME!

This term in PKT we have been learning about fairy tales in English and the needs of living things in Science. One of our favourite fairy tales is ‘The Three Little Pigs’! We used our scientific thinking to design and make a ‘healthy habitat’ for the one of the pigs to live in. After studying the 4 essential needs for animals to survive food, water, shelter and air, the children drew their design and created their habitat out of craft materials. Learning in prep can be so much fun!

5NR HAVE BEEN BUSY

#Moonhack 2021 with PKT

5NR enjoy spending time with their buddies from PKT and look forward to this every week. Students from 5NR have started showing our buddies how to log onto a computer and navigate their way to log on and use Reading Eggs. PKT are doing such an awesome job logging on, 5NR decided it was time to challenge them, coinciding with #Moonhack week from May 25-30. 5NR enjoyed showing PKT some basic coding skills using SCRATCH. PKT really enjoyed using SCRATCH and the preppies did a fabulous job creating projects in SCRATCH. 5NR look forward to creating more challenges for PKT on the computers.

5NR FOYER DISPLAY

RoboRAVE COMPETITION 2021

Pomona State School students built and coded Sumo robots to compete in epic battles at the USC Stadium on Sunday 30th May. The robots must search for the opponent. They must be fast and avoid the white edges of the Sumo ring and the winner must survive the best of three battles.

The RoboTREC program is a very popular activity for students in Years 3 to 6. So, it was a large contingent of sixteen teams that participated in the competition in 2021. Competitors experienced successes and challenges but in the end three excited teams, including a team of Year 4 children, participated in the finals. RoboTREC 5 were runners-up in their first year of competition.

Additionally, trade displays and activities were available for students during their breaks. There were snakes, koalas, virtual reality games, robotic dogs and jumping castles. Students had a great time.

We would like to thank the amazing parent volunteers and parents who helped support our teams during the day.

We can’t wait for 2022.

Michelle Whatmough
Year 5/6 RoboTREC Coach

4SF AND FANTASTIC MR FOX

In week 7, the students from 4SF and 4PT put together their Fantastic Mr Fox drama performances. The students put themselves into groups and discussed their favourite parts in the novel. They then wrote a script, practiced it and performed it in front of the classes. The students did a great job and should be very proud of themselves.

LONDON AND RILEY ENJOYED THE MALENY SHOW

At the end of May, Riley and his family took a team of 5 cows and 3 heifers to the Maleny Show. Riley camped at the show with the cows for two nights. A lot of work goes into preparing these dairy cows for the show. They need to be fed (they eat a lot), taken regularly to water to drink, they need to be kept clean by washing and brushing them. They also need to be milked at the right times so they look good on judging day. On judging day Riley led his heifer Riverwood Model around the ring in front of the judge. Model came 2nd in her class and received two 3rds in group classes. Riley did very well leading Model on his own; he even took her out in the Grand Parade for all the visitors at the show to see.

Riley taking care of his cows.

As a side project Riley entered into the Lego Competition. The theme was Every Family Needs a Farmer. Riley's creation got Reserve Champion Lego creation of the show. Well done Riley!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO NATIVES R US

A local plant nursery, Natives R Us, recently donated a selection of plants to Pomona School for planting in our school grounds. Wayne, our very talented Groundsman, was kept busy planting these beautiful natives around the school and they are growing very nicely.

Natives R Us are a local wholesale nursery but they are also open to the public. They produce all their own plants at their nursery in Traveston and everything is grown onsite and raised in their growing areas in the full sun. This ensures that they become hardy plants which do not have to be ‘babied’ when they are planted out. They have a wide variety of high quality Australian native plants; however, they do specialise in Grevilleas, Callistemons, Leptospermums, Melaleucas and Lilly Pillies.

So, if you are looking for native plants, Natives R Us can help. From small suburban blocks up to large farming properties, they have a huge range which is continually expanding. They are located at 97 Thomason Road, Traveston and their opening hours are Monday – Friday 8am to 4pm and Saturday 8am to noon. For more information visit at the link below.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARENTS WITH CATHOLIC CHILDREN REGARDING THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION 2021

Dear Friends

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Friday 3rd September, 2021.

If your child is a baptised Catholic and in Year 3 (Age 8) or older and you believe they are ready to receive this Sacrament, please contact the Parish Office and request an enrolment form. Return the completed form, payment and proof of Baptism as soon as you can. Please note, no enrolment forms will be accepted after Wednesday 21st July 2021.

Parish contact details: Phone 5447 1188

Email: admin.ndcp@bne.catholic.net.au

AT THIS TIME, WE ARE SEEKING ENROLMENTS FOR CONFIRMATION ONLY.

Kind regards
Fr Jason Middleton, Parish Priest