Victoria Park State School Newsletter - Week 8, Term 4, 2024

Principal's Report

Week 8 has been a busy week at Victoria Park State School as our students work through end of semester assessment tasks. This newsletter contains information about swimming nominations, an update on our building and infrastructure works, instructions for our new communication platform and information about Week 11. 

Swimming Carnival Nominations

Next week swimming nominations will replace usual swimming lessons for our students in Years 1-6, in preparation for our swimming carnival on December 3. Nominations are timetabled below.

To ensure our nominations run successfully we are in urgent need of parent helpers. Around 8 parent helpers per category is ideal. We have been exceptionally grateful to those who have been volunteering at swimming lessons - we require particular assistance with our 11-12 year old category which has been light on volunteers. Thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to provide.

Building Happenings

One of our temporary classrooms has been declared ready to go. Mr Cousen and 2C have already moved in and made themselves at home in our new space extending from I block. We now move our attention to our next big project as work commences for the installation of a second temporary building which will become our new administration building whilst decisions are still being made about the future of A block. This work will commence shortly near the hall. 

In other exciting news, concreting around the tuckshop area to make our area more accessible has been completed, resulting in the removal of temporary fencing in this space. An unexpected project this week saw the necessary removal of one of our trees along Goldsmith Street after it was completely split in two by Wednesday night's storm. This has resulted in a need to repair fencing adjacent to the stop, drop and go area. Though our students are very familiar with our routines, we appreciate your extra vigilance as these repairs are completed. 

Schoolstream to Schoolzine

We've become aware that unlike our newsletter, content from our 'newsflash' emails does not show up in SZApp. We will look for a way to rectify this going forward. In the meantime, all newsflash content should present intact in your inbox. 

As we near the end Term 4, we are moving closer to our transition to using Schoolzine as our key communication platform from the beginning of 2025. This term we have continued to use schoolstream in addition to the schoolzine app to assist parents with the transition with notices posted on both until the end of the year. From the beginning of next year however, we recommend downloading the Schoolzine App (SZapp) by downloading in the App Store for Apple or on Android's Play Store, searching for Victoria Park State School and using the code 1855 to register. Further instructions for installing the app can be found here. We will cease to use Schoolstream from the beginning of 2025. 

Search: SZApp

Select: Victoria Park State School

Code: 1855

We are very committed to strengthening communication with our families. We understand that there is a learning curve attached to transitioning our communication platforms. If you run into any problems or have any questions about the transition, please don't hesitate to contact our team so that we may assist; admin@victoriaparkss.eq.edu.au 

Week 11

Term 4, 2024 contains an unusual 11-week long school term. State Schools remain open for students until the end of the school year, including week 41. 

Some families have already expressed to us that their child will not be in attendance during Week 11. We ask that families communicate student absences for Week 11 using our usual school processes. 

Save the Date

Our calendar and Year 6 events card below should assist families to plan for our end of term events. We understand that many families need to arrange time away from work to attend our end of year awards ceremonies. To that end, the date claimer below provides our best estimates of timeframes for those looking to plan ahead. All Awards ceremonies will be held in our school hall. 

Sarah Mutton,
Principal

Christmas Fair - Thank you for your support

Celebrating Success

This week we'd like to recognise the success of two students at Victoria Park State School in receiving nominations for the Mackay and District Sports Person of the Year Awards. 

Harvey Geeves was recognised for her outstanding achievements in Basketball and Chloe Potter was recognised for her outstanding achievements in Rugby League. Congratulations girls! 

Date Claimers

Don't forget that you can find key dates in our live calendar linked below in addition to our weekly 'what's happening' card on SZapp and Schoolstream. We've also attached a 'save the date' card for our Year 6 graduation events. 

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Below you'll find links to videos that illustrate our two PBL goals for this fortnight;

• Be mindful of the learning of yourself and others
• Treat Things with Care and Respect
  

PBL Goals of the Week

School Improvement

Our Strategic Plan 2023 - 2026

Our 2023-2026 strategic plan challenges us to R.I.S.E. to the challenge;

R – Responsive Curriculum. We want to ensure that our curriculum is relevant to our local kids, is responsive to modern educational trends and is interesting for our students.

I – Innovative Instruction. We want to capitalise on being Mackay’s first school with laptop classes to ensure that through the use of engaging teaching approaches and clever use of digital technology, every lesson is exciting and engaging for our students.

S – Strengthened Systems. Our 2022 school review revealed that there are strong systems in place with regards to how we operate at VPSS. In deference to the great work that has come before, we want to ensure that we strengthen these to continue our great progress.

E – Expert Educators. We want to ensure that our kids at Victoria Park are learning from the very best educators and have committed to facilitating this.

Awards Criteria

2024's Awards ceremonies are scheduled for Week 10. Awards take into account the academic performance and industry of our students across one full year of learning. Careful formulae inform our award selection. Most are derived from end-of-semester report cards. Victoria Park State School's Awards Criteria for Years 1-6 can be found below. 

Attendance Awards

Each week we celebrate the classes with the highest attendance. Classes compete to win our coveted Attendance Trophies and Sid the Pig mascots. Congratulations to our winning classes for Weeks 3 and 4!

Students of the Week

Week 7

From the P&C

Victoria Park State School is lucky to have an incredible Parents and Citizens Association. Here you can find out all about what our committee is up to. We very much encourage anyone and everyone to get involved - many hands make light work! 

Contact Us

Phase Leaders

To ensure we get to know each and every one of our students, each member of our school leadership team oversees a cohort of students. 'Phase Leaders' are the next step to resolving an issue after the classroom teacher has been contacted. 

ECDP Phase Leader: Ms Roanna Capone - ecapo4@eq.edu.au 

Prep Phase Leader: Mrs Kristi Elworthy - kelwo2@eq.edu.au 

Year 1 Phase Leader: Ms Sally-Anne Rolfe - srolf6@eq.edu.au 

Year 2 Phase Leader: Ms Sally-Anne Rolfe - srolf6@eq.edu.au 

Year 3 Phase Leader: Mrs Jenny Whittington - jwhit211@eq.edu.au 

Year 4 Phase Leader: Mrs Sarah Mutton - samut0@eq.edu.au 

Year 5 Phase Leader: Mrs Sarah Mutton - samut0@eq.edu.au 

Year 6 Phase Leader: Mrs Jenny Whittington - jwhit211@eq.edu.au 

Phone conversations or appointments to speak to Phase Leaders can be made by calling the office (4951 6333). 

Staff List

Email addresses for all teaching staff can be found below. We ask that parents respect teachers' right to disconnect outside of work hours and be reminded that emails may not always be answered immediately - especially during the day when teachers are teaching. Urgent messages should instead be communicated to the office via a phone call (4951 6333).

Victoria Park Community Noticeboard