13 October 2023

COMING EVENTS

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Welcome back to what promises to be another action packed term. I trust you all had an enjoyable holiday and got to spend some time doing the things you enjoy with family and friends. Students have returned to school in a positive manner and we have enjoyed a successful first week of term.

5 Questions for Students

This term, we are really focusing on ensuring our students are assessment literate learners. In every lesson, teachers will be ensuring students understand their Learning Intention (what they are learning about) and their Success Criteria (what they need to do to demonstrate success). Most importantly, we will also be focusing on why we are learning certain skills. We want our students to be able to independently think about what will make their work better, and apply what they have learned to new tasks.

To support this, be sure to ask your child the 5 Questions for Students:

1. What are you learning?
2. How are you going (with the learning)?
3. How do you know?
4. How can you improve?
5. Where can you go for help?

If students know that you will be asking them these questions it will support their engagement with learning in the classroom.

2024 Prep Enrolments

Now is the time to enrol your child for Prep in 2024. Children born by June 30, 2019 are able to enrol in Prep for 2024. The earlier you enrol your child, the more participation they will have with our Transition to Prep Program which will support us in getting to know your child and their interests. We want every child to enjoy a successful start to Prep. Come to our office and fill out an enrolment pack.

Year 6 Students

This is the final term in primary school for our Year 6 students which means now is the time to enrol your Year 6 student in a high school. If you intend to enrol your child in Year 7 at Browns Plains State High School, please be aware that you will have to complete an enrolment form for the high school as it is separate from the primary school. Year 6 students will have the opportunity to particpate in a transition to high school day later this term if they are enrolled at the high school.

New Staff

This term we are welcoming three new staff members to Browns Plains State School. We are welcoming Ms Consiglio, who will be our Head of Department – Curriculum. We are also welcoming Ms Doherty, who is our new Guidance Officer and Ms Wall, who is our Social Worker.

2023 School Priorities

• Reading
• Staff and Student Wellbeing and Engagement
• Teaching and Learning

P&C Meeting

Our next P&C Meeting is at 9am on Tuesday, October 17, 2023. Please come along to hear about what is happening in the school.

Keith Poulter
Principal
Browns Plains State School

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Always Learning – Prep

If one is a snail, two is a person and four is a dog… we must be counting by feet!

Our Prep students have enjoyed using the book, ‘One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab’ to practice their counting-on strategies and early addition skills. Prep B have enjoyed using this text as a stimulus for making representations of numbers in different ways. You can access a recording of the story here to continue the fun at home! You might like to challenge your child to create a picture using snails, people and crabs to represent a number just like the pictures in the book!

Always Learning – Year 1

This term our Year 1 students are learning about the language features and text structure typically used in procedural texts. Our teachers are guiding students through a process of crafting clear and concise instructions, from sequencing daily tasks to creating imaginative recipes and more! A key aspect to the introduction of this English unit has included opportunities to follow step-by-step instructions in procedural texts read and viewed and deconstructing the elements of these informative texts. Our students in 1A and 1B enjoyed making fairy bread last week and discovering the power of precise language and sequenced command sentences.

Students of the Week – CONGRATULATIONS!

Prep Enrolments 2024

Do you have a child born between July 1st 2018 and June 30th 2019?

If so, now is the time to start the enrolment process! Our next round of Prep enrolment interviews are on Monday 16th October with transition events starting on Friday 20th October.

• For families residing WITHIN the school’s catchment area (or already have children attending BPSS), please collect an enrolment pack from our lovely front office staff.
• For families residing OUTSIDE the school’s catchment area, email admin@brownsplainsss.eq.edu.au to be placed on the ‘Expression of interest – Out of catchment waiting list. To ensure the process is equitable, the applications will be recorded in order of receipt, date and time.

You can check your school catchment area using the EdMap website – by searching either your home address or entering Browns Plains State School to see if your home is within our catchment area. To access, visit:

Prep Transition 2024

Starting school is an exciting step for children and a positive transition helps foster their enthusiasm for lifelong learning. Families and carers play a significant role in supporting their children's transition to school. Helping children to make the big move to Prep starts well before, and extends far beyond, their first day. At Browns Plains State School, we aim to make the move to BIG school, smaller, by ensuring a positive transition. This includes our Prep Transition Program commencing in week 3 this term.

Jellybean Playgroup

Our Jellybean Playgroup is back for Term 4! Jellybean Playgroup provides another wonderful opportunity for our Preps for 2024 to become familiar with our school environment. Join us on Wednesdays from 9:15am-10:45am in the meeting room behind the school hall (or meet Mrs Webber at the school office from 9:10am). This program is also completely free and open to all children (0-4 years of age) and their families within our community. Please note there is no registration required to attend Jellybean Playgroup. Don’t forget to bring your child’s hat, drink bottle and a snack!

Emma Webber
Deputy Principal

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Welcome back to Term 4!

Student Leaders for 2024

In week 1 of this term, I spent time talking to the Year 5 cohort to discuss the student leadership positions for 2024. Any Year 5 student can nominate and complete an application. All applicants will meet myself and another leadership team members for an interview. After the interview, shortlisted students will then present a speech to their peers. All students in Year 5 and staff will have the opportunity to vote. Leadership positions will be announced at our Awards Ceremony in Week 10.

Always Learning Year 5

In Year 5, students are already fully immersed in exploring the first three books of ‘The Series of Unfortunate Events’ which they will then write a comparison between the novels and the movie. Students are actively involved in co-constructing their ‘Learning Wall’ as the ‘Third Teacher.’

I was excited to visit classrooms with Mr Poulter to ask students the 5 questions for students;

                       What are you learning?
                       How are you doing?
                       How do you know?
                       How can you improve?
                        Where can you go for help?

Year 6 Farewell Ceremony

Please make note, our Year 6 Farewell Ceremony will be held at 1.30pm till 3pm on Thursday the 7^th of December, 2023. Invites to families of Year 6 students were provided to students this week (Week 2).

Year 7 High School Enrolment – Browns Plains State School

In term four, students in Year 6 will be invited to attend a transition day at their chosen high school. To be able to attend, your child MUST be enrolled prior to the day. Please make contact with your chosen high school to obtain enrolment packs.

Theresa Kooyman
Deputy Principal

LIBRARY NEWS

Don't Forget Your Library Bags!

 We encourage our students to bring a library bag for library borrowing.  Library bags can be cloth, shopping bags or plastic bags.  Using a library bag helps our students learn to look after our library books and helps with getting organised for borrowing day!

ADMINISTRATION NEWS

Contact details

• There are times when we may need to contact parents and carers. Do we have your most up to date contact details?  If not, please contact the school on 3809 6222 or admin@brownsplainsss.eq.edu.au so we can update our records. These details include parent/carer’s name, address, phone numbers, email address and emergency contact details. Please remember to contact the school if any of these details change.

Absence notification process

• Please remember to call the school on 3809 6222 or email at admin@brownsplainsss.eq.edu.au early in the morning if your child is going to be away or late for school so your child’s absence can be recorded correctly.

Same day notification

• Our school will contact parents as soon as practicable on the day if a student is not at school and we don’t know why.  If you are advised by the school that your child is away without a reason, please contact us as soon as possible by 3809 6222 to let us know where your child is. We will follow-up with parents if no response is received.

FINANCE NEWS

Payment Options Available:-

BPoint

Visit the link below and complete steps CRN can be found at the bottom of your statement.

Eftpos

Finance Window open Wednesday and Thursday 8am -10.00am.

CONTACT DETAILS

It is important that your contact details are up to date. This can be overlooked sometimes but can be easily updated on our website.

COMMUNITY NEWS