2 August 2022

Newsletter Articles

MESSAGES FROM THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

Welcome to Week 4!

We are almost half-way through the term! Learning is well underway and school life feels vibrant and full of energy. Everyone is having full days, and the sun shining is helping us all make the most of our beautiful school and grounds.

Pomona’s Got Talent!

The most anticipated competition has come around again for 2022! This competition is open for Year 3 to 6 learners who would like to deliver a performance of no more than 2 and a half minutes, for the whole school to watch. Performances can come from any areas of the arts: a drama performance, singing, instrumental piece, magic show, dance… all entries are most welcome! The winner will perform at this year’s Pomona in the Park. Letters of participation are available from Mrs Hall, and are all due in by the end of this week. If your child is performing a song, lyrics need to be included in the letter of participation so that suitability of the song for our youngest audience members can be ensured. Heats will be conducted followed by the finals, with dates to be announced shortly. Stay tuned!

Spellathon
Who are Pomona State School’s best spellers?

By the end of this term we will know the answer to this question.

We are holding a Spellathon and fundraiser in one event. Your child will be bringing home information this week along with their spelling list and sponsor book. On offer we have, medallions for our top spellers and great prizes for the top three fundraisers.

School Opinion Survey

The annual School Opinion Survey is once again open and will remain open until 12 August. The surveys will help our school to find out what we are doing well, and where we can improve.

All school families will have received a survey invitation from the Department of Education. The invitation was sent last week, and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. We would love to hear from you!

Uniform Reminders

Leggings can be worn under skirts/skorts or shorts in this cool weather. Hair long enough to touch collars is best tied back each day for learning for all students. It helps to keep it tame in the wind too!

Finance News

SRS Fees have been invoiced and are due by Friday August 5th. Thank you so much to everyone who has finalised payments as these monies go directly toward funding online subscriptions and resources that complement the amazing and creative units of work teachers so carefully plan. After August 5th, all online subscriptions to learning tools such as Reading Eggs, Mathletics, and Typing Tournament will become unavailable for students who have not yet paid these fees, so please get in touch with us as soon as you can to discuss your situation should you need to.

Being On-Time for School

Daily routines for families can help children not only be organised, but also feel safe, calm and develop independence and life skills. They can also buy you more time to spend as a family doing things together rather than rushing about trying to get out the door! The Raising Children Network is a great place to visit for information on routines, and Parent Map is a great, quick read. Both sites are here, let me know what you think!

Whilst it’s great heading to websites and reading to find tools and life-hacks to make our lives easier and more organised, we truly believe the best wisdom lies amongst us as a community of families. Do you have routines, checklists, organisers or tried and true ways of working that make family life easier? Would you like to share your wisdom with everyone? Mel Clare is compiling a resource of parenting hacks and life wisdom that comes straight from all of us here at Pomona State School. No matter how small or large, if you have something that works for your family, please get in touch: mclar415@eq.edu.au.

Afterall, it takes a village to raise a child. So, let’s combine the wisdom of the village of Pomona and create something we can all use, learn from and celebrate!

PARENT LIBRARY BOOK SELECTION

This newsletter’s treasure for parents is Dr. Justin Coulson’s webpage and resource called Happy Families. You may have seen Dr. Coulson on TV segments offering parenting tips and advice. His website is overflowing with webinars, articles, podcasts and videos on a huge range of topics families face each day. The list is long, covering sleep for toddlers and teens, parenting style, getting kids to listen, supporting children with anxiety, family finances and communicating with one another. He holds free events and webinars and has published several books including 10 Things Every Parent Needs to Know and 9 Ways to a Resilient Child. Take a look at his site www.happyfamilies.com.au and let us know what you think.

PROCEDURES FOR………

UPDATING PARENT/CARER CONTACT DETAILS

Please ensure our office have your correct contact details – telephone numbers (for us to contact you – particularly important in the case of an emergency with your child), and email address (for invoices, newsletter, etc). Please also ensure that your child/ren’s emergency contacts are up to date.

ADMINSTERING MEDICATION AT SCHOOL

If your child requires staff to administer medication at school, please contact the school office in the first instance to discuss your child’s requirements.

Please note, school staff will only administer medication that:

• has been prescribed by a qualified health practitioner (e.g. doctor, dentist)
• is in its original container
• has an attached pharmacy label Pharmacy label must show prescribing doctor’s name.

Office staff will ask you to complete and sign Section 1 of the Administration of medication at school record sheet.

School staff are bound by these regulations and we hope that all parents will acknowledge and cooperate with these rules.

HEAD LICE

The presence of head lice is a very common childhood occurrence in the community. The primary responsibility for the management and treatment of head lice in students belongs with parents.

As a school we notify parents via a letter if a parent has reported to the school that their child has head lice. This letter is sent to all the students in the class.

Students who are suspected of having head lice or eggs present in their hair are not excluded from class or school. However, if notified by the school, a parent may choose to remove their child from school to administer immediate treatment to their child.

REGULAR ATTENDANCE

EVERY DAY COUNTS – the message is the same in 2020. The simple fact is, the more regularly your child attends school, the more they learn. Aside from illness and bereavement, for example, attendance is expected every day. Keep an eye out on Facebook for regular videos from Education Queensland. If for any reason your child will be absent from school, please ring our 24/7 absentee line on 54 808 260 prior to 8.45am.

STAFF MEETING DAY - TUESDAY

Parents, please be advised that on Tuesday afternoon I request that all teaching staff attend a meeting which starts at 3:00pm. Staff will leave their rooms quickly once the bell rings to signal the end of the day. If you have anything urgent to discuss with your child’s teacher please leave a message at the office for that teacher

UNIFORM EXPECTATIONS

Clothing. Clothing should fit neatly and be sun safe. It must be suitable for full participation in all curriculum areas and the playground. It should not be inappropriate.

Hair. Hair should be clean, tidy (brushed or combed) with no extreme colours (natural colours) and tied back if below the collar. Fringes must not interfere with a student’s vision at any time.

Jewellery. Students may wear one set of studs or sleeper earrings and a watch. All other jewellery is considered to be a danger to the child’s safety and must be left at home. Students will be reminded to remove unauthorised jewellery worn to school.

Uniforms are available for purchase from the Tuckshop.

DATE CLAIMERS

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

STUDENT RECOUNTS OF RoboRAVE

Fun at RoboRave

On Sunday the 17th of July, the RoboRAVE competition was held at the Sunshine Coast University. I participated in that competition and didn’t get into the finals by a point. We had 21 points.

It was really fun and I think I enjoyed it the most because if you lost, it didn’t matter and you just had fun.

There were also animals from Wildlife HQ and I really liked them. There was a baby alligator, a koala and a python.

Star (our robot) was really good and never let us down. I loved RoboRAVE. I will definitely do it next year.

Oliver G.

“WE HAD A GREAT TIME”

As I drove into the intimidatingly cool USC stadium my brain filled up with excitement and nerves. It was an amazing sight, with massive fields and a great big indoor stadium with seats on every side. Before we began, we had a speech from the mayor, the director of Roborave and a few of the staff. After the welcoming ceremony we went to the pits to get our robot (ATOM) ready. In the qualifying rounds, ATOM won six out of ten sumo battles which is pretty good. After the first qualifying rounds we had first break. I had a sandwich and fairy-floss while sitting with one of the other teams that competed, (DOBBY) consisting of Ramaiah, Finn and Sylvie. After that, our teams went back into the second round of qualifying and ATOM won six of the ten second qualifying rounds. Then, second break was upon us, so I went with my mum to get some pizza. After that we sat down and waited for the winners of the raffles to be announced. Then we went and checked if we were in the finals on the leader board. Unfortunately, we did not make it into the finals. Nevertheless, it was a cracker day and I sure look forward to doing it again next year.

ATOM won six out of ten qualifying matches but were denied entry into the finals. Unfortunately, only one Pomona team made it into the finals but it was a very fun day and we all congratulated the finalists. We hope to win next year.

USC RoboRave 2022

On the 17th of July, 48 children from Pomona State School travelled to the University of the Sunshine Coast to take part in the annual robotics competition. Our school competed in the Sumo category of the competition. Sumo is where the two robots battle and try and push each other off of a ring. We had to code our robot to sense the opponent and drive toward it. It also had to sense the white line around the ring and reverse away from it so it doesn’t fall off.

The year 5 and 6’s spent an hour and a half every Friday for 21 weeks to complete their robots and their codes. It was a huge day which went from 7:30 am - 5:00 pm. There were other categories of challenges that consisted of Line Follow, Maze & Tennis - Ball Collector. There were robots that other people had made on display including a drawing robot, a climbing robot that shot a grappling hook, a huge drone and an echolocation device.

A group of university students had designed and constructed a completely automatic race car and had it on show outside the venue. It had a camera at the front to guide it along the track. People could sit in it and drive it but it could also drive automatically.

There were people at the competition who had made a robot and put them on display at the entrepreneurial voting stations where you had the option to vote for your favourite design.

It was an amazing day and we all had a great time. One team had to drive 7 hours from Yeppoon to compete. We feel really privileged to have been invited to such a wonderful event and got to meet people from schools all around Queensland.

Finn J & Remaiah R

IT’S NEARLY BOOK WEEK TIME AGAIN!!

Children’s Book Week is just around the corner, running during Week 7, 22nd to the 26th August. It is always a very enjoyable week and we celebrate it with a book fair running in the school hall throughout the entire week. The books for the book fair will once again be supplied by Book Warehouse. This company supply a huge range of fictional and non-fiction books for all ages and interests. The books will be available for purchase during the week and this is a great time to make a start on your Christmas shopping. The book fair is a win-win for everyone as Book Warehouse very generously pay a commission to us either in resources or funds.

As usual we will finish the week off with the Book Week Book Character Costume Parade on Friday 26th August in the hall. This is a great opportunity for students to literally ‘let their hair down’ and dress up as their favourite book character. The imaginative costumes never fail to impress me and I am looking forward to seeing what this year brings. The costumes are judged and book prizes for the winners of each year level are on offer. If students need help with ideas for their costumes, they are more than welcome to come and see me in the library.

If you would like to know more about Children’s Book Week, please have a look at the Children’s Book Council of Australia website.

FAST SUCCESS FOR MONTOYA

Montoya S from 3JA, recently won the championship in Junior Quarter Midgets 120R, and came 2nd overall in the whole club. She also won the Encouragement award. Montoya was understandably stoked and her mum and dad are very proud. Montoya is now busy preparing for next season which starts in September.

If your child has an interest out of school you would like to share with the rest of the school community, please feel free to email details and a photo to the school at admin@pomonass.eq.edu.au.

LANDCARE EUCALYPTUS ID WORKSHOPS

We have 2 Eucalyptus ID workshops coming up in August!

Eucalyptus trees are notoriously challenging to differentiate and ID.

Join us for a fun morning learning the tricks of the trade of Eucalyptus ID!

Noosa Landcare will be hosting a half day Eucalyptus ID workshop with botanical gurus, Marc Russell and Phil Moran, on Wednesday 3rd and Saturday 13th August from 9AM-12NOON in Pomona. Location address will be provided to registrants.

The workshop will focus on eucalypt species of the Sunshine Coast, Mary and Gympie regions.

The morning will include a theory session on eucalypt biology, distribution and identification, followed by a ‘walk and talk’ session to identify some local eucalypts in their natural habitat.

Participants provided take home ID resources.

Light refreshments provided.

Please wear enclosed footwear and long-sleeved clothing and bring along a hat and water bottle for the field walk component of the day.

To Book -

Wed 3rd August -

Wed 13th August -

For any enquiries please email: office@noosalandcare.org.