From the Principal’s Desk

Welcome back to term two everyone, a special

welcome to our new families. A major event on the

school calendar at this time of the year is the Anzac

Day observance. Mr. Les Palmer, a Vietnam War

Veteran was our special guest on the Monday

assembly. Our school community was well represented

at the dawn parade and town march on Wednesday.

Lest We Forget.

Congratulations to the 312 students who received a

Certificate of High Attendance for term one. These

students attended for more than for 97% of the school

days.

Our Year 4 students head off to Camp Kinchant next

week. Enjoy the experience girls and boys. A big thank

you to our staff and parents who will accompany the

students on camp.

Our parent teacher interviews were held recently. It

was pleasing to see parents discussing their students’

progress with staff prior to the end of last term.

We welcome new staff to our school from the

commencement of this term, year one teacher Kirstie

Dittmann and teacher aides Jayden O’Shannessy and

Jacqui Bird.

A reminder that Monday, May 7th is a public holiday,

Labour Day.

Enjoy your week.

Mike Anderson, Principal

May 2-4: Year 4 Camp

May 7: Labour Day Holiday

May 11: Free Dress Day

May 8-11: Mother’s Day Stall

May 15-17: Naplan testing

May 18: Under 8’s day

May 21- 24: Book Fair

May 24-25: School Photos

June 12: Yrs3-6 Field Events

June 14: Junior Athletics Carnival

June 15: Senior Athletics Carnival

June 21: Mackay Show Holiday

June 29: Last day of Term

School contact information

Principal: Mr Michael Anderson

Deputy Principal: Mrs Tracey Adams

Deputy Principal: Mr Peter Robinson

Business Services Manager: Mrs

Dolores Venables

Office hours

8.00 am – 4.00 pm

Telephone and facsimile numbers

Telephone: (07) 4965 6333

Facsimile: (07) 4965 6300

School email address:

the.principal@fitzgerass.eq.edu.au

School

website: www.fitzgerass.eq.edu.au

Student Absence Line:

49656 360

This service is available for parents

reporting their children’s absence

from school. Please clearly state their

name, class, and reason for absence.

All absences are recorded for

teachers.

Fitzgerald State School

26th April 2018

ISSUE NO 6

Diary Dates

Foyer Display

This term, The Erupting Minds, aka Year2/3, are learning about fractions. Fractions show us equal

parts of a whole. Everyone loves pizza so we painted our bases with watercolours and then added

lots of toppings by stamping them onto our pizza. It was a little tricky and required some careful

thought, but we worked out what toppings were on each quarter or half of our pizza. Such a

shame we couldn’t eat it when we were finished! Year 2C have been learning about Line and

Pattern Art.

Facebook Page

Fitzgerald State School now has a Facebook page to keep parents updated

with current school information and to display the great work of our school.

Please like our page to keep yourself informed about school events. Please

read the Department of Education Acceptable Use Guidelines that is placed in

the notes section on the Facebook page. Notes were sent home last week for

parents to sign for each student to allow digital media to be placed on

Facebook, if you have not returned this form please do so, if you have any

questions regarding the Facebook page please contact the school office.

Staff Profile

Introducing Jacqui Bird - Teacher Aide ATSI Support

Hi, my name is Jacqui Bird, I’ve been appointed as ATSI Support

Teacher Aide at Fitzgerald. I will be working at the school on Tuesday,

Thursday and Friday, providing in-class support, working with parents

and community members and organising and participating in ATSI

events. I’m excited to be starting this new role and I am looking

forward to meeting all of you. Friday morning is a good time to call or

meet with me if you have any questions, concerns or great ideas

about how we can work together to help make school a great

experience for your children. My email contact is jbird84@eq.edu.au

Master – Teacher

‘Better, richer, more interesting writing" by Sue Hamilton-Smith, Master Teacher

Our teachers are encouraging better, richer and more interesting writing from students across all

of the year levels. Factual report writing requires powerful research. Persuasive writing requires

point of view with an edge. Narrative writing requires imagination. All writing requires rich

language. All writing needs to make sense and use appropriate writing conventions. Great writers

are interested in people, in words and the world, they read books and keep a journal to record

their thoughts and observations. Great writers write all the time, practicing and improving their

craft. They seek out an audience and purpose to showcase their work. There are several writing

competitions currently on offer for all sorts of writers. It’s time to get writing!

‘Student Writing Competitions’ by Sue Hamilton-Smith, Master

Teacher

- Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival Short Story

Competition for Years 3+

Students are free to respond creatively and originally to a theme or

topic of their choice and there is no limit to the number of entries

allowed by each student. Cash and Timezone prizes. All entries

must be submitted to class teachers or directly to Whitsunday

Anglican School by 3pm Monday 14th May, 2018. Visit

http://www.whitsundayvoices.com.au/short-story-competition-

2018

Independent Education Union's Literary Competition for Years 5+

Students (and their teachers) are invited to submit an original poem, short story or non-fiction

prose by Friday 27 July. First prize is $150, Second prize is $100 and Third prize is $75. Organised

by ETAQ, JCU and Penguin Books. The full details and the entry form can be found at

www.qieu.asn.au

Red Room Poetry Object for Years 3+

Students (and their teachers) are invited to write a 20 line poem with an object as its theme. The

competition prize pack includes publication in the Red Room digital library, a $1000 travel voucher

and VIP tour of the National Museum of Australia. Submissions need to be emailed to Mrs

Hamilton-Smith shami40@eq.edu.au by Friday 28 September. Find out more at

https://redroomcompany.org/about/

Guidance Officer News

Understanding and managing feelings

Ch ildren’s abilities for recognising,

understanding and managing their emotions are

influenced by the ways the adults who care for

them acknowledge and respond to their feelings.

When children learn to manage their emotions

they are also better able to manage their

behaviour. Parents, carers and school staff can provide important support and guidance for

children’s emotional development.

Helpful ways of supporting children’s emotional development

Listen and validate the child’s emotional experience

Listen to what children say and acknowledge their feelings. This helps children to identify emotions

and understand how they work and manage them. You might say, “You look worried. Is something

on your mind?” or “It sounds like you’re really angry. Let’s talk about it.”

View emotions as an opportunity for connecting and teaching how to manage emotions

Children’s emotional reactions provide ‘teachable moments.’ You might say, “I can see you’re really

frustrated about having to wait for what you want. Why don’t we read a story while we’re waiting?”

Encourage problem-solving to manage emotions

Help children develop their skills for managing emotions by helping them think of different ways

they could respond. You might say, “What would help you feel brave?” or “How else could you

look at this?”

Set limits in a supportive way

Set limits on inappropriate behaviour so that children understand that having feelings is okay, but

acting inappropriately is not. You might say, “I know you’re upset that your friend couldn’t make it

over, but that does not make it okay to yell at me.”

To read more about how to support your child’s positive emotional development, go to

https://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/mental-health-matters/social-and-emotional-learning/emotional-

development/suggestions-families

Sporting News

School Rugby League

Congratulations to our Under 12 rugby league team that had a win in the first round of the

interschool rugby league competition defeating Northview 8-4. Well done on a great team effort.

Northern Suburbs Cross Country

Well done to all of our Fitzgerald participants at the recent Northern Suburbs Cross Country trials.

The following students will now represent Northern Suburbs at the Mackay and District cross

country trials: Dayne Barker, Taj Steindl-Corrie, Ciaran Regan, Cohen Frith, Lucinda Grieger, Krystal

Miller and Jack Johns. Extra congratulations to Taj Steindl- Corrie (1st), Jack Johns (3rd) and Ciaran

Regan (3rd) on receiving medallions on the day.

Interschool Touch Football

Congratulations to all of our teams that participated in the term 1 interschool touch football

competition. Extra congratulations to the Fitz Flipflops and the Fitz Fury who were grand final

winners. A big thank you to all parents who assisted with running these teams throughout the

competition.

LOTE News

Library News

We are back in full swing in the Library, following a well-deserved Easter break. Term 2 proves to

be building up to being another exciting time for the students and staff at our school and in our

Library. Students will be invited to participate in our Lunchtime Makerspace Grand Opening on

the Tuesday 1st May! Ten students per week will be offered the opportunity to come into our

Makerspace! Makerspaces foster collaboration, creativity, problem solving and exploration

through a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) focus. We will also

continue our free play lunch time sessions on Tuesdays – Thursdays.

Read more in May is National Family Reading Month! If you would like to enter

the “Read More In May Challenge” please visit this website

http://www.scholastic.com.au/nfrm or come and see Mrs Stuart for more details

and a Reading Log. Remember to also start saving your pocket money, as our

first Book Fair for 2018 will commence on Monday 21st May and run until Friday

morning. Please let your friends and extended family know about our Book Fair

as this is our annual fundraiser to be able to purchase a variety of new book titles

for students to enjoy.

June is also looking to be extremely busy as several of our keen Year 6 readers are enthusiastically

reading several books for the upcoming Readers Cup on 12th June at the Dudley Denny Library. A

huge thanks goes to Mrs Hamilton-Smith and Mrs Ritchie for supporting these industrious

readers! We wish you all the very best of luck!

It has been fantastic to see so many students and their siblings coming to our library each day and

borrowing books and home readers, remember to keep it up all term! Our Year 6 students have

commenced working on their Digital Projects as a part of our annual Young ICT Explorer’s

Showcase during Science Week. We have 40

projects this year and it is proving to be very

exciting and the students are discovering new

ways to solve challenges faced!

Tuckshop News

Welcome back to another year. Thank you to the lovely volunteers who have helped out last term.

If you would like to volunteer please let us know. Lunch is provided.

We do not have eftpos its either cash or on line orders and only have a small float is kept.

ROSTER:

Friday 27th-Mary Maloney, Jayne Farquhar.

Friday 4th May- Maisie Greaves, HELP NEEDED.

Friday 11th May- Anj Brodie, HELP NEEDED.

Thank you

Antoinette and Jean

Music News

26th ANNUAL MACKAY AND DISTRICT CHORAL FESTIVAL:

On Monday 19 March our Senior Choir participated in the 26th Mackay and District Choral Festival.

Rehearsals were held on Sunday afternoon and Monday with the concert being held on Monday

evening. Over 500 choristers from around Mackay and Whitsunday sang in a massed choir event

with guest conductors Dr Debra Shearer-Derie, prominent Australian choral conductor and Mr

William Brown from Brisbane who is one of Australia’s most outstanding young choral composers.

The choirs consisted of 450 primary school students along with 100 high school students and

community based adult singers and teachers. Well done to our own senior choir students who

were rehearsing since the beginning of Term 1 for the event. A great effort resulting in a night of

joyful singing!

Digital Technology News

Year 6

The year 6 students have been exploring the features and components of a Makey Makey. This

Digital Technologies unit connects with our Science unit about electricity.

Makey Makeys are an electronic invention tool where we can combine everyday objects to create

things like a keyboard to play music. We can also use Makey Makeys to bring our coding projects

to life.

As part of our Digital Technologies unit, we are required to complete 8 different challenges. In one

of these challenges we had to connect a LED light into the Makey Makey breadboard and then

light it up by pressing some playdough. Another challenge that we had to complete was to create

a working circuit using people to make the LED light up. Our group used 4 year 6 students and 23

year 3 students. We successfully made a working circuit using 27 students in total.

Written by: Keira Falzon, Aiden Kean and Dakota Williams 6C

The Makey Makey program was complicated, although through teamwork we learnt how to play

‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ through the connections. We learnt to continue trying to ensure that we

completed the challenge successfully. We had splendid fun working on this program!

Written by: Ben Muller 6A

P&C News

Congratulations to Gabye Plumley.

Gabye won our guess the egg competition run by the Grade 6

Student Council leaders. The P & C donated this prize.

Thanks to the

families who supported the Hot Cross bun morning tea last term.

Mother’s Day Stall

Volunteers are needed for the upcoming Mother’s Day Stall on May 8th-11th, if you can spare a few

hours please Contact Julie on 0410 170 875 or the School Office.

Icy Cups

A big thank-you to Belinda Stroud for all the time she has given to the

running of the Icy-cups. We wish her the very best in the future. We will be needing a volunteer

to help with the running of the icy cups please contact the school office for more

information.

ANZAC School Parade On the 23rd April 2018 we held an Anzac parade with our returning guest Mr Les Palmer, Vietnam

Veteran, RSL who explained to us his living conditions during his time in Vietnam. He explained he

had limited food supplies to last him until the next checkpoint while walking all day to his

destination. Mr Palmer

showed us his medals and

his father’s as well. I felt

honoured to sit by a War

Veteran. By Jacob Meikle.

Mr Les Palmer, special guest and student

councillors at our school parade.

Have Your Say on Cyberbullying

Many parents and teachers are concerned about cyberbullying. It is a serious problem that can

hurt young people, families and school communities. Cyberbullying is also a complex problem that

is often invisible to parents and teachers.

In February the Premier appointed a group of Queenslanders who are passionate about stopping

cyberbullying of young people. The Queensland Anti-Cyberbullying Taskforce is chaired by well-

known author and commentator, Madonna King, and includes members with knowledge and

expertise in education, youth health and wellbeing, law, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

communities, disability and families.

The Taskforce needs your help to develop a framework for Queensland to help reduce

cyberbullying of young people. They want to hear from parents, carers, students, teachers and

other experts in schools. In particular, the Taskforce wants to hear about your ideas to:

prevent or reduce cyberbullying

support people affected by cyberbullying of young people.

How to have your say

Email the Taskforce at antibullyingtaskforce@premiers.qld.gov.au

Upload your ideas as a submission on the Taskforce website

https://qld.gov.au/cyberbullyingtaskforce

Come to a public forum in 12 Queensland locations including Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and

Charleville. For information about forums visit https://qld.gov.au/cyberbullyingtaskforce

Everyone can be part of the stand against cyberbullying. Ms King and the Taskforce members look

forward to hearing from you.

Community Notices

Mackay Evangelical Church - A great chance to come and

check out our warm, friendly and welcoming church!! No bells or

smells or crazy stuff. Just a great bunch of young people getting

together to hear from God's word, the bible. Everything will be

explained, you aren't expected to know or do anything. Come

along as you are and if you would like we'd love for you to join

us for morning tea afterward!

FAMILIES:

There is a crèche provided for under 4s (crèche is open from

9:15am for drop off) and Kids Church for 4yr olds - Yr5s from 9:30am. We also have a jumping

castle set up weekly to keep our little ones occupied so you can enjoy a cuppa! Our Yr6s-Yr12s join

in with church and meet on a Tuesday evening to read the bible, have fun and swim!