October 2024 Newsletter
Principal's Report
It has been a wonderful first three weeks for me at Ipswich West State School. I feel incredibly fortunate to be here, working alongside such an incredible team. The warmth and support from staff, students, and the wider community has been overwhelming, and I look forward to all the exciting things ahead.
School Community Updates
Below are updates that I would like to share with the school community.
- I’d like to take a moment to sincerely thank Mrs Sullivan for her dedication and leadership as Acting Principal throughout Term 3. The school was in the very best of hands, and I deeply appreciate the positive impact she had on the students and staff during that time.
- Congratulations to Mr Warner for coordinating a successful swimming carnival. It was a great event, and we’re grateful for the community feedback we’ve received. Your suggestions are invaluable, and we will use them to improve the carnival for 2025, ensuring it's even better next year!
- Based on community feedback, I’m thrilled to share that our school will once again host an end of year concert. This year’s theme is “Wild, Wild West,” and we’re excited to celebrate with you all! We’ll confirm the time and date soon, so stay tuned for more details.
- Unfortunately, the annual Day for Daniel Walk through Ipswich will not take place this year. However, this remains a vital day for all schools to promote key messages around child safety. To recognise this important day, we will hold a special assembly at school (Friday 25 October 2024), where we’ll reinforce the importance of safety and awareness. We encourage all students to wear red on this day to show their support. On this same day, we will celebrate our amazing teaching staff as part of World Teacher's Day celebrations.
- The upgrades on the 2/3 and Year 3 classrooms are now complete and look wonderful.
- We have approved works to upgrade the courtyard outside Admin. We have also approved works to remove the current flagpole and install 3 flagpoles so we can proudly fly the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags every day. I will advise of the start date of these works once known.
- The P&C will be seeking donations from local businesses for the end of year raffle. The raffle will be conducted electronically this year.
- I will continue to keep the community updated regarding the future works on the oval. At this stage, there is no further update to share.
- Our 2025 school leadership process has begun. Based on feedback, we have refined the role of our student leaders and the process. The Year 5 students are busily preparing their nominations and leadership passports. The process has been shared in more detail with Year 5 families so they can support their child through this.
2025
We have commenced planning for 2025 and need to finalise staffing and enrolments as best we can. Can you please use the below link to advise us if your child/ren will not be returning in 2025?
In planning the classes for 2025, please know that staff will use all available information about each child when planning classes. If you have educationally relevant information that you would like to share with the school that may need consideration as part of this process, please email this information through to admin@ipswichwestss.eq.edu.au. Please note, we are not able to accept or honour teacher requests.
Thank you all for your continued support and warm welcome. I’m excited to be a part of this wonderful school community and look forward to the rest of the term!
Please click the below link if your student/s will be leaving Ipswich West State School.
Warm regards,
Karla Black
Head of Department (Curriculum)
Welcome to Term 4! We’re excited to kick off this final term of the year with plenty of engaging activities and exciting learning opportunities. It's shaping up to be a busy and rewarding time for all, filled with fun adventures and important milestones as we wrap up the school year together.
Excursions
Year 2 & 3 Excursion to Beenleigh Historical Village
Our Year 2 and Year 3 students will be visiting the Beenleigh Historical Village on Monday 21 October. This excursion will reinforce the learning they've been doing in HASS from last term. As part of their English assessment, the students will also write a recount of their experience.
Year 6 Japanese Experience
We are encouraging all students in Year 6 to attend an immersive Japanese experience at Ipswich State High School on Wednesday 23 October. This excursion is FREE. The excursion is being funded by the school through funds allocated to Japanese enrichment. Permission notes are due Monday 21 October.
Prep & Year 1 Excursion to Lone Pine
Our Prep and Year 1 students are heading to Lone Pine on Thursday 31 October. They've been learning about animals and their needs, and this hands-on excursion will provide an exciting opportunity to deepen their understanding. Permission and payment are due Thursday 17 October.
Excursions require careful planning, and I’d like to thank our dedicated teachers for organising these valuable learning experiences for our students.
- Kaylee Sullivan
Student Engagement Teacher
Welcome back to the final term of the school year! We hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break and are ready for an exciting and productive Term 4. This term is always a special one, filled with lots of end of year celebrations. Over the past few weeks, we have been talking about RESPECT and how to be respectful to others and our environment. We have been discussing what it looks like to be respectful and how when we are disrespectful it makes others feel.
Gotcha
As you would have already seen we have a new rewards system in place called a ‘GOTCHA’. This is for students that display our school expectations outside of the classroom. Don’t forget to ask your child if they have had a ‘GOTCHA’ yet!
I look forward to working with you during this last term, filled with our end of year celebrations!
- Kellie Hanrahan
Japanese
Term 4
Prep to Year 3
Students will be learning about food and ‘obentou’ (or lunchboxes) specifically. We have learnt how to describe the shapes of the items in their lunchboxes and will soon be able to describe the colours associated with their favourite lunchtime foods. They will also learn how to describe their likes and dislikes regarding their lunchtime foods.
Year 4
Will be continuing their exploration into Japanese schools, stationery and timetables. Last term we learnt all the useful vocabulary around the stationery items they need in class and how to talk about their possessions.
This term we will focus on school subjects, timetables and days of the week culminating in the writing of a weekly timetable in Japanese and a reading assessment about a Japanese student’s day.
Below is a fun link to some objects that can be found around schools and in Japan, in general. If you have some free time, check out the link: https://www.erin.jpf.go.jp/jp/section/what-is-this/
Year 5 and 6
Students will be continuing with their personal profiles in Japanese. So far, they have done a small drawing of themselves with a few short sentences describing themselves in Japanese. The term will culminate in a spoken assessment with students saying their names, nicknames, where they live, their nationality, likes and dislikes, etc in Japanese. They will also do a reading assessment about a Japanese student’s profile.
“Erin’s Challenge” by The Japan Foundation is a great website to “challenge” learners. Please follow this link and have a look around: https://www.erin.jpf.go.jp/jp/lesson/01/basic/
Prize
For a chance to win a prize from Miss Collins, please tell her what this is: https://www.erin.jpf.go.jp/jp/lesson/02/what-is-this/
- Tamasine Collins
P&C
Next Meeting
Our next P&C meeting is Monday 21 October and will be in the school library at 3.15pm. All families are welcome to attend.
Uniform shop
Our Uniform Shop opening hours are Fridays 8.30am - 9.00am.
Fundraiser
The Krispy Kreme doughnuts will be available for collection on Tuesday 22 October between 2.30pm to 3.30pm from the tuckshop (near the office). If your children are picking up the orders, please make sure they bring a bag.
We made an amazing profit of $1000.00. This is such a fantastic effort from our little school. We would like to say a huge thank you to all the families and friends that have supported the Krispy Kreme doughnut fundraiser. Also, a big thank you to Anne Wright (a previous P&C President), who has kindly offered to collect these orders. We really appreciate her generosity.
- Ipswich West P&C
Student Wellbeing Worker
Day for Daniel Event
There have been significant changes to our annual Day for Daniel school event. As many of you know, it has been a long-standing tradition to participate on a community walk as a whole school, around the streets of Ipswich CBD. Due to changes out of our control, this year our event will look a little different.
On Friday 25 October at 9.10am, we will welcome QPS Senior Constable Prince to our school to deliver a Day for Daniel safety message to our students. Throughout the day, our students will have classroom resources/activities available to them.
We invite all students, staff and families to wear red on the day! Students are requested to wear a broad brimmed hat, sleeved t-shirt/polo, dress, shorts, long or 3/4 pants are all acceptable. Closed in shoes must be worn.
Please access resources via this link - The Daniel Morcombe Foundation | Keeping Kids Safe
We thank you all for your ongoing support and commitment in keeping our students safe.
Road Safety Card Pilot Program
We have been invited by QPS Crime Prevention Unit, Department of Road Safety and Neighbourhood Watch, to be the pilot school to launch a new road safety program. This is for our Year 4 and 5 students in Ms Hicks class and Ms Dutta’s Year 5 students' class who do not attend Interschool Sports.
On Friday 25 October at 2.00pm, we will have representatives from Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Neighbourhood Watch, including a motorcycle police officer, come to the school. This will be a soft launch with photo opportunities and each of the participating students will receive a deck of Road Safety Cards to take home.
The aim of the cards is to lessen driver distraction when travelling in a car or bus. Some cards will have facts about road safety etc and other cards will have activities to engage in. Examples: If you could design a car, what would it look like; Spot all the red cars etc. There will also be factual information about The Fatal 5, pedestrian safety, driver fatigue etc.
This is a wonderful opportunity for our school to be part of this wonderful new initiative.
*Details are on the class DOJO. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on email cgrah197@eq.edu.au
We thank the QPS, Department of Road Safety and Neighbourhood Watch for this initiative.
Health Talks for Year 5 and 6 Students
On Thursday 31 October, we will be hosting the annual health talks for our Year 5 and 6 students. These will be presented by Ms Tonkes who is a registered nurse, based at Bremer State High School. The talks will be divided into two groups of male and female students; to lessen any embarrassment and the class teacher and I will be with the students during the talk.
The presentation covers important topics such as: body changes, personal hygiene, emotional changes, puberty, mindfulness and menstruation.
*Year 6 female students will be given a sample pack of Kotex sanitary products to take home.
Sexual health and gender identity will not be covered during the presentation.
Permission notes have been sent home. Please sign and return these to the class teacher by Wednesday 30 October, if you consent for your child to participate. If you need another permission letter sent home, please let me know.
If you have any questions, please let me know: cgrah197@eq.edu.au
STAR Community Services Charity
Once again, we are participating in an end of year charity and will continue to support STAR Community Services.
We are asking for donations of small gifts (suited to our older generation), and non-perishable food items which will be made into gift baskets and handed to elderly Ipswich residents who will be alone during the festive period. Donations can be handed to the class teacher, who will drop them into one of our collection boxes.
**Last day to donate: Thursday 5 December**
Need some ideas on what to donate: Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, biscuits, chocolate, fruit cake, household goods, small gardening items, puzzle books, pamper packs etc.
We thank you in advance for your kind generosity and support.
- Carlotta Graham
Community
