14 October 2021

Newsletter Articles

PRINCIPAL’S NEWS

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

Welcome back to the last term of the year and welcome to all our new students and their families who have joined us. WOW, a year like no other. This term is jam packed full of exciting events for your children to enjoy. We have the junior and senior swimming carnivals, our prep transition days for our new prep students in 2022 and the all-important end of year events.

Our Year 5 and 6 students went on camp during Week 2 and will have lots of stories to tell. This week we had a visit from some of our future Prep students. They attended the ‘get set for Prep’ morning on Wednesday and on Thursday we were the destination for the kindy kids from Pomona Early Childhood Centre. Our choir showed off their talent for our visitors.

LOST PROPERTY

At the end of last term there were numerous items of clothing in lost property. Many of these items were not named. I encourage all parents to please label all their children’s clothing especially hats and jumpers. Could all parents please check their child’s hat and jumper to ensure they have not taken home another student’s belongings by mistake.

All lost property will all be gone by next Wednesday 20th October! Come in and have a look or send your child to check if you know they have lost an item at school.

ENGLISH FOCUS

We are continuing our English focus on writing in Term 4 with the employment of extra staff to support students in small groups.

AIR-CONDITIONING

An update to our classroom air-conditioning – These are all installed and operational ready for the summer. Our students and staff will be much more comfortable in the Queensland summer heat.

2022 CLASSES

It is important to understand that classes are planned with great care to provide:

• A balance of the range of academic abilities within each class and across classes
• A balance of students who have learning needs across classes
• A balance of students who are role models in each class and across classes

Classes once formed, are matched to teachers in the attempt to provide the best possible combination to ensure a successful and enjoyable year for all. Specific teacher or non-teacher requests are difficult and undermine our caring, sharing and achieving together ethos. It is difficult to meet individual requests when there are often over 25 students to consider in a class and we are a small school with a small student population. Multiage classes are carefully designed and matched with highly experienced teachers.

Shortly you will receive a yellow form regarding planning for 2022. If you wish to do so please complete this form and return it to the office. You can help us by providing information that focuses on good learning friends, learning needs or support only. We value all children and teachers so please be considerate when completing this form. Pomona State School staff work as a team to promote outcomes and have a strong level of collegiality and expectations about teamwork. We are currently planning 12 classes for next with multiple multi age classes due to the size of our cohorts of students.

ROAD SAFETY TALKS

Next week our students will be involved in road safety talks presented by RACQ. On Friday 22nd October the RACQ Lifeflight helicopter will be landing on the oval and again the message of ‘road safety’ will be experienced by our students.

HATS

Please ensure your child has a broad brimmed school hat at school every day. Broad brimmed school hats are available for purchase from the uniform shop for $15. Our school promotes being sun safe with the wearing of broad brimmed hats and sunscreen at all times when children are outside of the classroom, this includes HPE specialist lessons, lunch play times, camps and school excursions. Coming into summer it is imperative that all students are wearing a broad brimmed hat and sunscreen in applied at home. All classes are supplied with sunscreen for your child to reapply during the day.

DO YOU HAVE A CHILD STARTING PREP IN 2022?

Our school wants to ensure your child and family enjoy a warm welcome to our community and a positive start to school. A successful transition to school is more than a great first day. It is, your child feeling welcome, safe and confident in their new school environment. Please contact Mrs Barbara Harch on (07) 5480 8222 to discuss how we can support your child’s transition to school.

We have a couple of prep transition mornings in the next couple of weeks.

• Thursday 21st October 9:15am-10:30am
• Friday 29th October 9:15am – 10:30am

SWIMMING

It is starting to warm up again and luckily for us here at Pomona we are swimming again in term 4! P.E swimming lessons start up in week 3 of term 4 with our swimming carnival also planned for week 7 on 16th and 17th November.

Students will need to bring:

Togs, swim shirt, swim cap, towel, bag for wet clothes and all jewellery removed. Sunscreen is provided.

Please note: Goggles are not compulsory to swim but are recommended. If children believe they need goggles to swim then they need to bring their own. ALSO, there will be NO BORROWING OF SWIM CAPS. NO CAP NO SWIM. All students are expected to swim as it is part of the school curriculum and is reported on as part of the Semester Two report card.

As always, parental assistance during lessons is a huge help for us and also means your child gets more time in the water. This is especially true for the younger children. Please if you are free during your child’s swim time, come and have a swim and help out. Please email your class teacher or Mr Ben Byrne bpbyr1@eq.edu.au

FOCUS 40

Respecting Others’ Ideas and Building on Others’ Ideas

The understanding of these 2 skills are important for respect, communication and innovation in our society. Listening, sharing and compromise underpin these skills.

EARLY ACT/STUDENT COUNCIL

Early Act and the Student Council have had a busy year with the motto ‘service above self’. Fundraising efforts have seen them support Rotary Against Malaria, Camp Quality and recently the Hunger Drive. In the Hunger Drive ($336) the money raised contributed to purchasing over 500,000 meals for needy families.

The Hunger Drive raised enough money to provide over 500,000 meals for needy families!

There is one last fundraiser for the year and the school will benefit from the next free dress day to be held next week. Watch out for the posters developed by 4SF who have become the marketing designers and production class for the Student Council. Money raised will go towards a shade structure for the upper playground. Also, the Student Council have designed a way to store the skipping ropes in the sports shed in a more user-friendly way. They will also invest in a rechargeable ball pump as the sports shed is not powered, and also mirrors in some of the toilets.

YEAR 6 INFORMATION

All Year 6 students who have enrolled at Noosa District State High School will attend a full day transition on Tuesday 7th December at the Pomona Campus. More information regarding this day will be available closer to the day.

Year 6 Graduation will take place on Wednesday afternoon 8th December in our school hall. More information will be supplied closer to the date.

AWARDS DAY

Our annual awards day ceremony will take place on Monday 6th December in our school hall commencing at 9am. The awards are presented to students in years Prep to Year 5. Year 6 awards are presented at the Year 6 Graduation.

POMONA IN THE PARK – 25th November

The Fabulous end of year spectacular of Pomona in the Park will take place on Thursday evening 25th November at Stan Topper Park. If there are any COVID restrictions in place that prevent us from holding our concert at Stan Topper Park we will make alternative arrangements and hold the performances in our school hall.

JUNIOR SUMMIT PROGRAM

Congratulations to the students who were successful in being selected as part of the Junior Summit Program at Noosa District State High School.

Well done to:

Evie T and Jasmine W – Arts Program
Kineson M, Elija M, Caroline P, Shyla S, Maddy T & Samuel W – Innovation Program
Riley A, Hayley A, Aaron F, Angus H, Jacob M, Jedd P & Asha P – Sports Program
Denzil B, Lincoln C, Kai H, Gemma O & Marley P – STEM Program

Cheers,
Alyson Covey
Principal

PARADE SCHEDULE FOR TERM 4

PROCEDURES FOR………..

WHAT’S ON

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

PRE-PREP SESSION INFORMATION

ICAS

Two distinctions were recently achieved when some of our students completed ICAS testing in Science. The Science participants were Bodhi H, Oliver J, Jago T, Ezra F, Sam T, Finn J, Lola Y and Aaron F. Students also participated in ICAS spelling tests where 2 credits, 1 distinction and 3 high distinctions were achieved. The students participating in the Spelling were Oliver J, Jago T, Ezra F, Cash H, Isla A, Finn J, Aaron F and Rose H. Congratulations to all these students.

WHAT DID PBB GET UP TO IN TERM 3?

PBB have been busy learning how to write the letters that match the sounds we learn!

We learn each sound along with a chant and action, plus, we always do some art work to help us remember the sound. We have attached a picture of our robot, boy and chair art work for you to see. The robot helps us remember that r says ‘r’ as in robot. The boy helps us remember that ‘oy’ is like boy and the chair helps us remember that ‘air’ says air as in chair!

We have also been learning how to write a short rhyme using 4 rhyming words.

Our Home Corner has had a revamp along with new clothes for our dolls. You can see us dressing them in one of the photos!

We have thinking and acting like a scientist by investigating how objects move and what it takes to make something roll, slide and spin.

We finished off a busy term with Book Week and the Colour Fun Run! Term 4 will see us just as active…we will keep you posted!

……..AND ALREADY IN TERM 4.

Food technology saw us designing a healthy salad. We used paper plates and coloured paper to show our finished product. We discussed the fact that the greater the variety of colour, the healthier the salad!

PBB often write in our journals. We plan our writing before we start to write. We write home news and school news. We like to write about our weekends too! We use charts to help us remember how to write letters and sight words.

YEAR 4 CAMP REPORTS

Camp was really fun for me. There was boogie boarding, a movie night, pod party, games, rock climbing and more. My favourite activity was the giant swing. It was about 15 metres high. There was a rope that your classmates pulled and you went as high as you wanted. When you were at the spot you wanted you had to pull a blue ball and then you swung. It was very high. The last thing I want to say about camp is about the cabins. They looked like and felt like apartments. I loved camp and I definitely am excited to go next year!
- May, 4SF

In Week 10 of Term 3 the Year 4 students went on camp to Currimundi Recreational Centre. There were many activities to do there. Camp was a really fun place for most kids. We learnt about safety at camp, like when we went to the beach we learnt how to read the water and identify a rip. I learnt to believe in myself and pushed myself to attempt all the activities.
- Ruby, 4SF

At the end of Term 3 my Year 4 class went on camp to Currimundi Recreational Centre. Camp was a way to have fun with your class with amazing activities like high ropes, rock climbing, giant swing and body boarding. The food was nice and so were our cabins. My class agreed that we would 100% go there again. We learnt to always push ourselves to go a step further and that you can make new friends with people you would not usually be friends with. My favourite part was the mini-Olympics. I hope I get to go there again!
- Anna, 4SF

During our stay at the Year 4 camp we had an amazing time. We participated in many amazing activities including high ropes, giant swing, rock climbing, pool party, mini-Olympics, movie night and body boarding. The food was delicious. We had a brilliant time. The weather was great. We learnt how to deal with annoying people and we learnt good social skills. We were taught how to avoid and escape a rip, which I am sure will come in handy in future life. It was awesome!!
- Finn, 4SF

MONTOYA’S EXCITING HOBBY

We love hearing about our student’s out of school activities. If you have an interesting story and/or photo of your hobby please send it to us to put into the newsletter.

Montoya S races Junior Quarter Midgets in Speedway and during the holidays she won her first feature race. Go Montoya!!

CHAPPY CHAT

It was so good to see the children catching up with their friends again on the first day back after the holidays. Lots of chatting going on about what they did over the break. I visited their 'cool' classrooms to ask the children what their goals were this term.

Here's what they said:

Improve hand writing
Get better grades
Improve my English
High marks
Get an Achievement Award
Improve neatness
Save money for a motor bike
Save money
Save money for shoes
Improve maths
Get Student of the Week
Improve reading

It was very encouraging to hear their dreams.

If you would like to chat about anything at all, don't hesitate to call me!

Blessings
Chappy Paulette
0414 457 451

CAMP AUSTRALIA

POMONA TENNIS CLUB

LEAGUE STARS PROGRAM

BREASTSCREEN IN COOROY

BreastScreen Queensland is the only nationally accredited breast cancer screening service in the State. Appointments are one-to-one with a female health professional and with state-of-the-art equipment. They take less than 30 minutes. Having a regular breast screen every two years is the best way to detect breast cancer early and gives you a better chance of successful treatment and recovery. BreastScreen Queensland also offers free breast screening throughout the year at Noosaville & Gympie. Early appointments starting from 7:50am are available.

Free Breast Cancer Screening at Opal Street Cooroy 19 October - 9 November 2021

This service is free to women aged 40 years and over. Women aged 50-74 years are strongly encouraged to have a breast screen every 2 years. Referrals are not required. Phone 13 20 50 or book online at breastscreen.qld.gov.au

NOOSA REGIONAL GALLERY FREE FAMILY EVENT

The Noosa Regional Gallery has a free family event coming up on Sat 24 October – see link below to Facebook event.

ArtPlay Sunday at Floating Land
Sunday 24 October, 9.30am– 1pm

FREE creative activities featuring Floating Land artists.
Join Kris Martin for coconut leaf weaving, Petalia Humphreys for colourful cube design, Libby Derham with water colour painting and gallery educators for clay creations. Including storytelling with Lyndon Davis of Gubbi Gubbi Dance at 11am.