RSS Newsletter Issue 10 2024

Principal

Welcome back to Term Four!  

I have been noticing that the weather is swiftly changing, and I have seen teachers remind parents about the importance of ensuring that students have access to water bottles during class time. Teachers value learning time for teaching and are encouraging students to use bubblers and toilets during breaks to make the most out of the learning time this term. Water bottles in classrooms are one-way students can be responsible for their learning.

School Food Funds and Chewsday at Richmond State School 

Early last term Richmond State School applied for a School Food fund to extend the whole school Breakfast Club program. We have been successful in winning a grant of over $20,000 for the 2024-2025 financial year to provide a piece of fruit to every student, every day at school. This means that Richmond State School will provide Fruit Snack for primary students and will have a fruit selection at first break for secondary students. We are expecting to provide mainly apples, bananas and citrus fruits; you may consider supplementing our fruit with other fruits in your student’s lunchboxes each day. 

From the 8th of October, we have also been providing Chewsday Lunches for every student at first break on a Tuesday. While this is currently planned to be a sandwich, across the term we may take the opportunity to shake it up with other lunches, with ideas such as pasta bakes being thought of. While we are providing sandwiches from Week 2, the options may include ham and cheese, corned beef, plain ham, egg and lettuce, as well as a variety of spreads such as vegemite, jam and honey. Please be mindful we will be able to provide a single sandwich or serve of Chewsday Lunch, so please make sure your student still has snacks and food to fuel their brain during the school day. 

Report Card Trials 

Thank you to the parents and staff who responded to our reporting surveys last term. There has been parallels in the feedback from both, and it was interesting to see that parents, carers and classroom teachers really value the face-to-face communication that occurs during parent teacher interviews, and the information in the overall, effort and behaviour comments in the written reports.  

As we move towards the updated expectations in our guiding document – the P-12 Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Framework, we are looking at ways to improve the multiple ways we communicate with parents about student learning progress. 

 The Queensland P-12 Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Framework (CARF) integrates multiple reporting modes, including written reports, assessments, and parent interviews, to build a comprehensive understanding of each student’s progress. Here’s how these components work together to provide a holistic report of the whole child: 

1. Formative and Summative Assessments: These assessments are conducted throughout the year to gauge both ongoing learning (formative) and end-of-unit achievements (summative). Formative assessments inform instructional decisions and help tailor teaching strategies to individual needs, while summative assessments measure how well students meet curriculum standards. 
2. Written Reports: Twice yearly, parents receive written reports detailing their child’s performance across all key learning areas, including academic achievement, engagement, and effort. These reports use a five-point scale and reflect both the student’s successes and areas for improvement. 
3. Parent Interviews: In addition to written reports, parent-teacher interviews play a crucial role in communication. These interviews provide a space for in-depth discussion of a student’s progress, including their academic, social, and emotional development. If a specific learning area is not reported on, in a given semester, parents can discuss their child’s progress with the teacher during these interviews. This personalised interaction helps parents understand their child’s strengths, areas for improvement, and strategies to support their growth. 

By combining assessments, written reports, and parent interviews, the Queensland CARF ensures that parents have a clear and detailed picture of their child’s overall development. Together, these methods capture the full scope of a student’s learning journey, ensuring parents and teachers have a clear picture of their academic progress and overall development. 

As we transition to the updated expectations of the CARF, we are taking the opportunity to trial a written format that takes parent feedback into account. As such, this semester we are trialling a new format where curriculum area comments will be focussed on your student’s effort in the subject area and an improvement strategy relating to the learning area. Commentary on the effort and behaviour of your student will also be refined to reflect the school’s PBL expectations, and what your student demonstrates.  For secondary student reports, these aspects will be combined as the subject area comments. We respect the feedback that the Parent Curriculum Overviews contain class-wide curriculum information.  

As this is a transition strategy, we will be seeking further feedback about the written reports, in the context of the updated P-12 CARF. If parents are interested in knowing more about the changes in our CARF, please let us know so we can organise an information session. 

Playground Expectations 

This is also a great time to remind parents and students that there are many options for play and socialising during first and second break. We have updated the break options to ensure that there are cooler and calmer options for students during this term. Please remind your students that the behaviour expectations of places like the Library and the Computer Lab are different from those of the playground. Students using the Library or Computer Lab are there for cool, calming work. These spaces are quiet and focused on quiet games, reading, or working. Students who have been reminded about these expectations and wish to play loudly will be asked to move to the active play areas. 

Homework Club Reminder 

Homework Club has resumed. We will be continuing with our Homework Club sessions on Monday and Thursday afternoons until the end of Week 9. Thursday November 28th will be our final Homework Club.

Head of Department - Curriculum

Term 4 has started with a buzz around the school as we enter our final term of teaching and learning for 2024. In this newsletter you will find the Parent Curriculum Overviews for each year level, which detail the topics of learning, key vocabulary and concepts, and assessment information and due dates for each subject. If you have any queries regarding a learning area or assessment, I encourage you to make contact with the subject teacher listed. You will find their email address on the Assessment Calendar page, or alternately you can phone our school office on 47 686 333 to make an appointment with any of our teachers. 

While we are ensuring our 2024 learning is completed with fidelity, we are also starting to plan for our incoming students of 2025. Our first Prep Transition Session was held in Week 2 and was a great success. We have 4 more sessions planned throughout Term 4, and all pre-prep students that are eligible to commence Prep in 2025 are invited. Children attending these sessions must have a parent/guardian on school site. 

Parents & guardians of our 2025 Prep students are able to collect enrolment paperwork from our school office, and once this is returned, we will be sharing information regarding Prep Enrolment Interviews.  

Below you will find the dates and times of the transition sessions we have planned for the rest of the term, as well as Ten Top Tips to ensure your child has a successful transition to school.  

If you have any questions about Prep for 2025, please contact our office on 47 686 333, via email – hod@richmondss.eq.edu.au or come and see us in person. We look forward to welcoming our new families to Richmond State School.  

Thank you,
Rachel Evans  

REMINDER: 

If a student is late to school, could you please remind them to go to the office to get a late slip processed. This will avoid unnecessary calls home from Administration.

Student Achievements

Work Experience

Grade 9 and 10 students participated in four days of work experience at various businesses in the town during week 10 of last term. Work experience is a great tool for students to learn about a job they may be interested in after they complete school.

Thank you to the businesses who participated in the program, without your support our students would not have gained such valuable knowledge about the workforce.

5/6 Camp

During week 1, under the supervision of Mrs Pattel, Mrs Evans, Mr Hatfield, Mr Evans. The 5/6 students travelled to Paluma Environment Centre. 

Paluma Camp Sensory Trail - Dustin and Clancy 

At Paluma camp 2024 the 5/6 classes did a sensory trail that we had to do with a partner. One person had a blindfold on and the other person had to lead the person with the blindfold through a trail in the forest. In the trail there were letters on wooden posts that the blindfolded person had to feel and trace.  At the end of the trail, they had to try and put all the letters together and guess the 3 words. The words spelt environmental sensory trail. 

When we were blindfolded, we did not really trust our partner immediately but after a while we did and then we swapped so the other person felt the same. 

As we walked the trail there were several obstacles we had to negotiate, such as a seesaw, bridge and natural obstacles like trees, rocks and tree roots. 

 Archery Tag - Hollie and Lacie

On the second day of camp, we did archery tag. In archery tag there were two teams and we had to try to shoot each other with foam arrows and bows. When we played capture the flag, we had to try and steal the others teams’ flag and take it back to our base without getting shot, if you got shot you were out and swapped your bow for a sub player. We also had to wear masks so if we got shot in the face it would not hurt. On the field there were blow up barriers to hide behind and to sneak up on the other team to steal their flag.

I really enjoyed playing archery tag because you got the chance to shoot classmates, run and dodge arrows as well as try and shoot a teacher.

Night Walk and Insect Hunting – Tyler and Mason

At camp we went on a night walk. While on the night walk, we were looking for lizards and a very special moss that actually glows in the dark. We also did a two hour walk in the rainforest on our final day at camp. The walk took us out to a lookout. On our way to the lookout, we learnt about special trees, the wonders of decomposing vegetation and even did our own very special art piece.

One early morning we did a bird watching activity and a macroinvertebrate activity were fished for tiny insects by lifting up rocks and then collecting the bugs and putting them in jars. Once we had collected the insects, we had an iPad to help us identify the various species.

High Ropes-Payton and Ellie

On our first full day at camp, we did the high ropes. There were 4 activities to do, these were rock climbing on a telephone pole, leap of faith, the ropeswing and high ropes.

Before any of these activities we had to put on our harness, Dustin was used as a display. On the rock climbing we had to climb up the pole and ring the bell. When we did the leap of faith, we had to climb up a telephone pole and jump to hit the red ball and got caught be the rope.

During the high ropes the most challenging part was crossing each other whenever we met. Also, when we had to stand on a small wooden plank at the end of any pole.

Finally, we had the swing, 10 people were holding on a rope that ran back and flung the other person into the air. In conclusion, we all said high ropes was one of the favourite activities during our trip to Paluma.

Amazing Race - Sofia

The final activity of the Paluma camp was the Amazing Race. In groups of 5 or 6 we had to try and find clues scattered around the camp which would help us to solve the mystery word. Once we had collected three letters to the clue word, we had to complete several different challenges.

The two best challenges were moving a person along in an A-Frame using only human strength and ropes. The other funny activity was trying to walk as a group using two planks of wood. One plank had foot straps while the other had rope handles. It was difficult to coordinate the walking together. No team completed this challenge within the time limit.

Cyclone Dan - Miley and Kelsie

One activity that probably required the most teamwork was shelter building. Cyclone Dan is coming for you and you need to build a shelter before it hits camp. You have 4-6 people in your group and a various piece of equipment, including pegs, poles, rope and a tarp.

Once we had made a plan, we had about 20 minutes to build our shelter. Our shelters survived the rain but when it came to wind our shelters did not last long. It was a good job we had nice clean dorms to sleep in or we would have got cold and

Paluma

Sport

Lane travelled to Brisbane with the North-West Representative Athletics Team to compete in the State Athletics carnival. Lane competed in the 100m and 200m events. Lane gained a lot of experience and achieved some PB times.

Congratulations Lane on your achievement.

Positive Behaviour for Learning

Each week students focus on a Positive Behaviour for Learning. These focuses align with one of our four School Values - Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be a Learner. Each fortnight our PBL committee meets to review behaviour data and plan for student activities and staff capability in order to strengthen the positive behaviour in our school. Everyone is invited to these meetings which are held fortnightly on Wednesdays in the library at 2:45pm. Our next PBL meeting is Wednesday 23rd October.

Students receive 'Happy Vouchers' when they are spotted following our behaviour expectations. The students with the highest percentage of Happy Vouchers each week are invited to 'Golden Ticket Morning Tea' with the Principal. "Officer T Bear" spends the week with the class that had the highest percentage of Happy Vouchers for the previous week. Please reach out to our school office if you would like to learn more about PBL.

During the last week of Term 3, students were invited to attend Master Classes. These Master Classes were an extra-curricular activity run by our school staff and community members. Below are photos of last term's Master Classes - which included excursions to Kronosaurus Korner & Dig Site, ball games, cooking, painting, robotics & coding, reviving the gardens in the Ag plot and more! Thank you to our staff for providing these unique activities for our students to engage in as a reward for their positive behaviour throughout Term 3.

Term 3 Master Classes

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Road Safety

During the holidays the front of the school became a safer place for drop offs and collections.

It may not be Abbey Road, but crossing the road in Crawford Street just became safer for everyone as Miss Bec, Miss Smith, Mrs Pattel and Miss Murray demonstrated. Who knows, there might be a hit album in the making.

In addition to the new pedestrian crossing, we also have a 'KISS and Go ZONE'.  This zone is for dropping students off and picking them up in a quick & safe manner - it is not a waiting zone or space to park in while you run into the school.

Thank you to everyone involved in making our school a safer place.

Term 4 Family Calendar

Farm Safe Calendar

Emmy-Lou recently entered the Farm safe calendar competition. 

The Farm Safety calendar competition is open to QLD Primary School students. They are encouraged to channel their creative side and illustrate a picture raising awareness of common hazards on farms and rural properties. Students are to illustrate a picture relating to one of the provided safety messages regarding Electrical safety, Animal safety, Tractor & Machinery safety, Quad bike safety, Water safety and Health & Wellbeing.

Congratulations Emmy-Lou on your wonderful creation and receiving a 'Highly Commended Award' for your entry.

Richmond State School P&C

Chewsday Lunches

All items are subject to change.

Year 6 & 10 Graduation

Awards Presentation Evening

Interhouse Swimming Carnival

Tuckshop

My New Gallery

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2025