31 March 2023

Newsletter Articles

MESSAGES FROM THE ADMINISTRATION TEAM

Welcome

As we approach the final days of Term 1, I would like thank the many parent volunteers who have assisted in our classrooms, Breakfast Club and school swimming lessons. With your assistance our students are getting a great start at Pomona State School.

I would like to thank Kym McGregor and Carlene George for their many years of dedication and commitment to our school through their involvement on the P&C Executive. Kym and Carlene stepped down from their executive roles at the recent AGM as we welcomed our new executive members Kate Masters and Sarah Nolan. Kate and Sarah have joined Jess McNamara and Jamie Harrison who have continued in their roles.

School Review

Thank you to all the parents and community groups who engaged with the review team during our school review that involved 128 discussions across our school and community. It was inspiring to hear the affirmations and positive reflections across the week from our review team. We look forward to sharing the outcome of the review and future direction of the school in the near future.

Regional Swimming Trials

Following on from representing Pomona State School at Noosa District swimming trials, Alba Barnes was selected to represent the Noosa District at the Sunshine Coast Regional trials for all her events.

The competitive trials were held at Burpengary Aquatic Centre on Thursday 9th March. Alba had a wonderful day, and achieved 1st place in 100m Backstroke, 2nd place in 100 Freestyle, 50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke, 3rd place in the 200IM and 50m Butterfly, and 4th place in 50m Breast Stroke.

Alba swam times that qualified her to represent the Sunshine Coast Region at the Queensland School State Championships in all 7 events she competed in. She was also selected to swim in the Freestyle and the Medley Relay teams for Sunshine Coast.

Alba competed in Brisbane from the 26th to the 28th March where she swam against the best swimmers from all over the State. We are very proud of the amazing results Alba’s achieved at these State Championships. Her incredible results will be published in the next edition of the newsletter. Congratulations Alba!!

P & C Donation

Through the generous fundraising efforts of our small P&C association and contributions by our school community to these fundraising events, our ROBTOREC program has been able to purchase new SpikePRIME robots.

Safety in our School Grounds

Parents and community members please remember that dogs are not permitted within our grounds unless they are identified as an assistance dog.

We also encourage our students to only enter and exit the school via the designated pedestrian gates. Please help model this to our students. The school driveway is a dangerous place for students to be entering and exiting our school grounds.

NAPLAN

Congratulations to all our Year 3 and 5 students who successfully took part in the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) over weeks 8 and 9. These online tests, which have been permanently moved to Term 1, were expertly organised and managed by Mrs Vacher, Mrs Brown, Mrs Roberts and Mrs Whatmough. These annual tests give students the opportunity to show off their skills in Writing, Reading, Language Convention and Numeracy. The school will receive the results early in Term 3 where we will analyse each student’s data and use this to inform our teaching and learning in the future. With a focus on Writing in 2023 we are looking forward to seeing how our students have achieved in this area.

Early Act Student Council

Congratulations to the newly elected Early Act Student Council Executive Members.

President – Lola Y
Secretary – Ollie P
Treasurer – Edward B

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, 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.

Instrumental Music

Mr Seay has been busy throughout the term working with our instrumental music students. This year we have our biggest intake of Year 4 beginner IM students. Mr Seay currently has 11 Year 5 and 6 IM students and has welcomed 21 Year 4 students into the music program.

We have school instruments available for any Year 5 students who played last year or are interested in joining the IM program in 2023. Please email Mr Seay on masea1@eq.edu.au . Mr Seay is at Pomona State School each Monday.

Uniform Expectations

Our Year 6 students have been leading by example in recent weeks with all students in correct school uniform, School Shirt, School Shorts or School Skort, black or white socks and a school hat.

School Invoices

Thank you to the many families who have paid their outstanding invoices for Term 1, we appreciate your prompt attention to these invoices.

School Watch

Please keep our school safe over the holiday period and report any suspicious activity. Look, Listen, Report. Call School Watch on 13 17 88

Safe and Happy Holidays

To all students, staff and parents please enjoy the two weeks break over the Easter holidays. It has been an extremely busy and quick term so hopefully we all get a chance to recharge and be ready for Term 2. The first day of Term Two is Monday 17th April.

TERM 1 IN PHOTOS

DATE CLAIMERS

CONTRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS OF THE WEEK

RAISING RESILIENT CHILDREN

FREE PARENTING Webinar

Raising Resilient Children – find out more about cybersafety

Thursday 27th April, 7:00 – 8:00PM

Hosted ONLINE by Sunshine Beach State School, Pomona State School, Kin Kin State School and Cooran State School.

Many parents worry about what their kids are doing online but aren’t sure how to best protect them. We all do our best to supervise our children’s online activities, but there are also other steps we can take. That’s why we’re proud to be hosting a Triple P Seminar to help all parents give children useful skills and strategies to manage their emotions, overcome challenges, and handle situations such as unpleasant online interactions. Whatever stage of life your child is at or what challenges you are facing as a parent, the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program can help make raising kids easier, and help you guide them towards a happy and successful adulthood.

Triple P’s Raising Resilient Children Seminar offers tips on how to develop your child’s ability to cope with problems, now and in the future, in real-life and online.

HELP YOUR KIDS COPE WITH LIFE’S UPS AND DOWNS – INCLUDING ONLINE

• Problem-solve with your child, to help them stay safe and manage risks online
• Support your child’s ability to manage emotional ups and downs
• Manage screen time and set age-appropriate boundaries
• Know what actions to take if your child is being bullied online
• Help your child cope with stress and setbacks and stay positive

The seminar is fun and friendly and it’s FREE! It’ll help kids AND parents take the drama out of family life (and screen time) so everyone can deal with issues calmly and more confidently.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE FREE ONLINE SEMINAR: https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/qld-en/contact/find-a-session/2023-04-27/cyberbullying-seminar//111986/ to learn more and book your free spot.

Triple P is a world-renowned program (developed in Queensland!) that has already helped more than 4 million children and their families, and is currently offered free of charge to Queensland parents and carers of children up to 16 years. Triple P also offers other seminars, group workshops and one-on-one consultations, as well as Triple P Online, Teen Triple P Online, and Fear-Less Triple P Online (web-based courses you do in your own time, at your own pace). There are also a range of Stepping Stones Triple P programs, which are tailored specifically for parents of a child with a disability. New Fear-Less Triple P helps parents of anxious children and teenagers.

TERM 1 PE WRAP UP

It’s been a big start to the year in term 1 with lots of district trials for students in the upper school, swimming lessons and water polo in PE as well as some cross-country practise at the back end of the term. Congratulations to the following students who successfully trialled and got selected in Noosa District teams.

Extra special mention to Alba B, Edward B and Macey H who got selected in the Sunshine Coast teams at the Regional Trials and now head to states in term 2.

A big thankyou to all parents and carers who came and helped out at PE swimming lessons this term! It is greatly appreciated and helps things run so much smoother and means so much more time in the water for the little ones. Thank you, so much.

Looking forward, our annual Cross Country is the first big sporting event of the year. I have changed the proposed date for this carnival to Monday the 8th of May (week 4). Fingers crossed for good weather! Students can wear their team colours on the day and we will kick off straight away in the morning at 9:00am, starting with the oldest students and working our way down to the youngest by the end of the middle session, just before second break. The program will come out early next term.

If students want to practice over the holidays their distances will be as follows (by year of birth):

2012 & 2011 – 3km
2013 – 2km
2014 – 1.5km
2015 – 1km
2016 – 800m
2018 & 2017 – 500m

Please note that our School Cross Country is AFTER the Noosa District Cross Country Trials this year. To decide which students represent our school at the district trial I will be holding time trials during PE lessons from weeks 1-2. Noosa District Cross Country is scheduled for Friday of week 3 for successful students turning 10 -12 in 2023. (May 5th).

Our Interhouse Athletics Carnival is also scheduled for term 2 in Week 9 on Tuesday the 13th and Wednesday the 14th of June. Hope to see lots of parents and carers there!

Mr. Byrne

CAMP AUSTRALIA POMONA NEWSLETTER.

These last few weeks have been very exciting for us at Camp Australia Pomona as we have welcomed a new Coordinator, Tiffani and a new educator, Kayla. You may have also noticed some big changes to the service as we have started to move some things around and have brought in some new and exciting resources.

For the next couple of weeks, we will be focusing on sustainability and being environmentally friendly, we have also been learning about the ocean and are gaining an awareness of the impact of human activity on the ocean and what we can do to start to make a change. We encourage our families to bring in any recyclable resources that we can re-use for arts and crafts.

If you have any questions or would like to enquire about enrolling your child, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0450 247 974.

QUEENSLAND ACADEMY OF SPORT

NOOSA COUNCIL EASTER SCHOOL HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

SUPER CAMP SPORTS FESTIVAL

ENROLMENTS ARE NOW OPEN FOR FIRST HOLY COMMUNION IN THE NOOSA CATHOLIC PARISH

If your child has been confirmed and is in Year 4 (age 9) or older and you believe they are ready to take this next step. please contact the Parish Office and request an enrolment form.

Return the completed form, payment and proof of Confirmation before Thursday 27th April as no enrolment forms will be accepted after that date.

Parish Contact details: Phone: 5447 1188 Email: admin.ndcp@bne.catholic.net.au

AT THIS TIME, WE ARE SEEKING ENROLMENTS FOR 1ST HOLY COMMUNION ONLY.

Kind regards,
Fr Jason Middleton, Parish Priest