15 February 2023

Newsletter Articles

MESSAGES FROM THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

Welcome Back

Following Day 8 staffing we have had some small changes across the school.

PBB – Bernie Blackmore
P/1JM – Jess MacDonald
1LS – Leslie Saunders and Naomi Norman
2JA – Jess Askew and Jodi Taylor
2/3KL – Romy Papo
3NR – Nicole Roberts
3/4MW – Michelle Whatmough
4SF – Sandra Fahey and Jodi Taylor
5AB – Audrey Brown
4/5CB – Chris Bartley
6LW – Lesley Whitehouse
6CL – Claudia Laird

GO – Kathy Webb
ARTs – Joel Grimish
HPE – Ben Byrne
LOTE – Bianka Erbacher
Instrumental Music – Mark Seay
Support Teacher – Kim Wittenberg-Thompson
Support Teacher – Shirley Savage
Head of Curriculum – Leesa Vacher
Principal – Alyson Covey
Business Manager – Tammy Milligan
Administration Officer – Kim Riddle

Joel Grimish

Thank you to all of the staff and families of Pomona for such a warm welcome. I’m Joel Grimish and the new ARTs Teacher. Personally, I love going to concerts, performing, recording and writing music. I love sport and am currently playing soccer, touch and golf. Professionally, I love challenging students to get the best and most creative results and working collaboratively with students and colleagues. I’m looking forward to working with the school Rock Band and Choir students.

Chris Bartley

I am very excited to be joining the Pomona Community this year. I have just moved here with my family. My wife and I have a 2-year-old daughter and we have just welcomed a baby boy into the world a few weeks ago. I grew up in Coolum and started my teaching career in 2016. My first posting was at Coolum State School and then I was transferred up to Gympie East State School for 2 years. To gain more teaching experience I transferred to Longreach State School in 2019 and for more development I moved to Longreach School of Distance Education to gain new skills in a different schooling environment. I am eager to be a part of the great teaching team at Pomona State School and look forward to working with all students, staff and families to ensure the best outcomes for each individual child.

Naomi Norman

Hello thank you for having me at Pomona State School. My name is Naomi Norman. I come from a wide and varied teaching background ranging from Prep to Year 10. I am an environmental advocate and I enjoy a wide range of the Arts. I have a beautiful daughter named Frankie who is 5. I am looking forward to getting to know the school community this year and would love you to come and say hi.

SCHOOL CROSSING

Today a familiar sight around schools is the School Crossing Supervisor. Their role is to ensure that pedestrians who cross the road at the school crossing do so in a safe manner. Please find attached a video on the school crossing supervisor and how to safely use the crossing.

Help keep our children and our School Crossing Supervisors safe.

FAREWELL GRADUATING CLASS OF 2022

In the final weeks of the 2022 school year students in year prep to 5 had the opportunity to write a farewell message to the graduating Year 6 class. There were some lovely messages written and pinned to the board in the library. We hope all of our students have had a successful start to their high school journey.

On Wednesday 7th December at Year 6 Graduation our special awards were announced. We kindly thank the sponsors of these awards for their continued support of our school – George Real Estate, Alligator Tanks, Camp Australia, The Pennell Family, Stan Topper Bursary and our school Parents and Citizens Association.

We congratulate our special award winners of 2022.

Congratulations to all Special Award winners.

Absences

Don’t forget to get in touch with us to let us know if your child will be away from school for any reason. Leave us a message on the absence line on 54 808 222, and we will ensure your child’s attendance record is updated without having to call you to check in to ensure all is well.

Uniform Expectations

As we all welcome our students to an exciting new school year, these first few weeks are also critical for ensuring that our high expectations in work, behaviour and uniform are conveyed to all students consistently. Uniforms are available for purchase from the tuckshop via the Qrk app. A new addition to the uniform is girls’ shorts, available in sizes 12, 14 & 16. These are shorter in the leg length and offer a different shape/style to the unisex shorts.

A big thank you to all of our parents for your wonderful support in this area.

School Resource Scheme

Students will have received a School Resource Scheme (SRS) letter. Please complete this letter and return to the office or your child’s class teacher. Invoices will be sent shortly for payment. In 2023 the SRS is $80, this can be paid in one payment or spilt over 3 payments.

2023 NAPLAN

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake.

NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time.

NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

Our school has transitioned from paper-based to computer-based assessments. However all Year 3 students will continue to complete the writing assessment on paper.

Online NAPLAN tests provide more precise results and are more engaging for students. One of the main benefits is tailored (or adaptive) testing, where the test presents questions which may be more or less difficult depending on a student’s responses.

Tailored testing allows a wider range of student abilities to be assessed and measures student achievement more precisely. A student’s overall NAPLAN result is based on both the number and complexity of questions they answer correctly. Your child should not be concerned if they find questions challenging; they may be taking a more complex test pathway.

NAPLAN testing will begin on Wednesday the 15th March with the written assessment. Testing will continue until the 22nd March.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our Head of Curriculum – Leesa Vacher via phone or email lvach1@eq.edu.au

Toys and special treasures from home

This past week we have had a number of incidents involving Pokémon Cards, Matchbox Cars and other special toys from home. We kindly ask that students do not bring these items from home to school. These items are best kept at home to ensure they are kept safe and not damaged or lost.

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club will be running again this year on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning before school. All students are welcome to come along to breakfast club. Toast, fruit and Milo are available for students, served from the kitchen area at the hall. Food items are kindly donated by Waves of Kindness and the students are served breakfast by a group of dedicated community volunteers. Wayne our Schools Officer extraordinaire has been coordinating breakfast club with the volunteers and Waves of Kindness for the past year as Chappy Paulette has retired from her Chaplaincy role at our school.

Chappy

Chappy Paulette retired from our school Chaplaincy role in 2022 and we have been on a lengthy recruitment led by Scripture Union to find a new Chappy for our school. In early December 2022 the search was finally over. Chappy William Fratter has been successful in becoming our new school Chaplain. Chappy has been busy over the Christmas break completing his induction with Scripture Union and has now joined our school.

For Term 1 Chappy Will is at our school from 9am – 2pm Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Students and families can find Chappy Will in the Library.

We are excited to announce the introduction of the Chaplain's Mailbox in the library. This mailbox is a safe and confidential space for children to write to our school Chaplain, Chappy Will, about anything on their mind.

Whether it be about school, home life, or just a need for someone to listen, Chappy Will is here for the children. All letters placed in the mailbox will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and care, providing a safe environment for children to share their thoughts and feelings.

We encourage all students to utilise this valuable resource and to write to Chappy Will whenever they feel the need. Our chaplain is a trusted and caring member of our school community, and is here to support and guide the children in any way he can.

We hope that the Chaplain's Mailbox will provide a valuable resource for our students, and we look forward to the positive impact it will have on the wellbeing of our school community.

Sincerely,

William Fratter Pomona State School Chaplain

Upcoming Events

Year 5 & 6 Surf Awareness Program

Students in Year 5 and 6 we will be attending Noosa Surf Club as part of our annual Surf Awareness Program. The program will run for FOUR lessons – FRIDAY 17 and 24 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY 3 and 10 MARCH. Using qualified surf lifeguards, the aim of the program is to give students the skills to be able to approach a beach with confidence and understand surf conditions. Students will be involved in beach and board activities. Information and consent forms will be coming home shortly with all students in years 5 and 6.

DATE CLAIMERS

CONTRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

WRITER’S CAMP

NOOSA SHIRE COUNCIL COME’N TRY SPORTS

BOOKSHELF AT POMONA

COME AND TRY GIRL GUIDES

FIND A FROG