Welcome to Term 3- we are excited for 10 weeks of learning

Year 5&6 Camp- 160 students attended camp in Week 1

Funding Support for Chaplaincy- thanks to our P&C for the direct funding support of our school Chappy.  

100 Days of Prep- celebrated in true ‘super hero’ style, congratulations on 100 days of school Preppies!

NAIDOC 2024- last week our students and community celebrated NAIDOC Week.

Life Education- in the coming weeks students in Years 4-6 will partake in Life Education modules. Check your QParents for consent.

School Opinion Survey- Surveys sent from 15 July – have your say about what our school does well, and how we can continue to improve!

Week 3 Highschool Presentation- 3:30-4:30pm Brisbane Bayside Talk for Years 4-6 Parents.

Term 3 Traffic Enforcement- Brisbane City Council will be conducting mobile patrols of our school traffic areas throughout Term 3.

WELCOME TO TERM 3!

We are excited to commence another amazing term of learning here at Wondall. This term we look forward to building on our Semester 1 successes, as we continue to focus on our ACE (Attending, Confident and Engaged) students.

It’s already been a busy fortnight at the school, with Year 5&6 camp and our Athletic events (last Friday and today).

Camp Review by the students of 6A

The Year 5 and 6 students spent a wonderful three days at Maranatha Camp last week. Through activities such as the flying fox, rocket ball and kayaking, just to name a few, students learnt the importance of working as part of a team and supporting each other. We hope you enjoy reading our school captain thank you speeches, as well as some reflections from the students.

School Captains Tess and Kyah wrote a speech to thank both the camp staff and the teachers that attended.

Camp Staff

To all the camp staff, thank you for having us on this wonderful camp. We have really enjoyed our time here and have made great memories with our friends. Fun activities have helped greatly expand our comfort zones and you have been funny, kind and very supportive the whole way through. In all of the fun and games you have made us feel protected and safe. Your friendly, fun and encouraging nature has made us feel happy, cared about and we have all had a marvellous time on camp. Thank you to all the kitchen staff for preparing so much delicious food for us that is full of flavour and gives us so much energy to complete our great activities. Thank you to all the staff for making this a great experience and giving us a memorable three days.

Teachers

Thank you so much to all of our amazing teachers who have chosen to spend their time with us on camp. You guys have made this camp a very enjoyable and fun experience with all our friends. A very special shoutout to our wonderful Mr Haworth, he has spent endless time for us to make this camp memorable and fun. He has organised this all for us and has made the activities more and more fun with just his funny personality, great dance moves and his supportive nature through all our activities. Lastly, he has helped us make stronger bonds with all our friends. Thank you again to all the teachers, we couldn’t have had this camp experience without you!

After returning from camp, students in 6A wrote some reflections using a thinking routine called ‘3, 2, 1 Reflection’. They were asked to list three things they learnt at camp, two questions they have and one challenge they faced. Here are some of their responses:

The camp experience was very enjoyable as I pushed to break through my comfort zone and conquer my fears such as, my fear of heights. I also learned that you can have one sense taken away and still be able to function on your others. The other senses can even be heightened. Learning how to use a slingshot and how a harness works were also part of my experience. I enjoyed having fun with my cabin mates and team mates. Through the activities, I gained a new sense of trust in them for helping me and encouraging me all the way through. I would like to further expand the boundaries of my knowledge and break through my comfort zone again.

By Ashton

Three things that I have Learnt:

1. How to kayak: we went to a beautiful body of water at Sideling Creek.
2. How to step out of my comfort zone: high ropes, even though I hate heights, I gave it a go.
3. Really fun games: Rocket ball, finding Nemo and more.

Learning from these camp instructors has given everyone a go at learning new things and coming to a higher understanding of knowledge. Learning to relax and have fun, but also giving students a chance to work hard and face their fears is really important, and was really important on this fun camp.

Although, I learnt many things on camp, I still have remaining questions such as:

-How do leeches work as medicine?

-How can taking away one sense strengthen another?

These are the questions that I’m still trying to get answered. However, going to camp has given me more knowledge and understanding to so many different things.

A challenge I faced:

A very truthful challenge I faced was stepping out of my comfort zone to have a go and most importantly, have fun. Several activities involved high ropes and I’m afraid of heights. I challenged myself with most of them (the leap of faith and the flying fox) and had so much fun - I never regretted it. Although I had fun with some high rope activities, I didn’t give the Possum Pull a go and instantly wanted to change my mind. It was a lesson to learn (a camp instructor actually told me this): if you’re afraid of something, the best thing to do is face your fears.

By Ella

Things I have learnt:

• I learnt to put on a harness so that I was safe when I was jumping off the leap of faith and the flying fox.

Questions I still have:

• Can I kayak by myself because I went in a double kayak with Mr Flack?

Challenge I faced:

• I fear heights but I still climbed up the tall ladder to the flying fox and went fast along the line. I also did the leap of faith. I jumped off a platform that was so high. I felt nervous but after I felt good.

By Nicholas

Things I have learnt:

• I have learnt how to use and paddle a kayak.
• I have learnt that different people have different comfort zones, and it is okay to step out of your comfort zone as well as giving new things a try.
• I have learnt how to adapt to different places, and to exercise in different ways e.g. bushwalk, tower of tremble etc.

Questions I still have:

• How do you get used to kayaking? Is it the more practice, the better you get, because I found it really difficult!
• How do the instructors have so many kids there at once without going insane? It’s incredible that they do such a great job making everyone safe and teaching everyone.

Challenge I faced:

• I faced a large challenge when doing a few of the high rope activities, due to the fact that I have a fear of heights. I soon figured out to relax take a few breaths and remember that nothing bad is going to happen.

By Sienna

Things I have learnt:

• I have learnt, how to deal with heights, play rocket ball and use a slingshot.

Questions I still have:

• How many metres in the air is the slingshot? How big can a leech get?

Challenge I faced:

• The biggest challenge I faced was my fear of heights (Acrophobia).

By Cameron

Things I have learnt:

• How to safely use a kayak and paddle. We paddled down Sideling Creek to some really interesting trees and a crocodile shaped rock in the water.
• How to properly belay someone on a harness up in the air and how to correctly put on a harness. We had four harness activities so it was pretty important that we were safe.

Questions I still have:

• How tall is the Wappa Dam?
• How old is the camp? (one of the instructors said he went to this camp in school too!)

Challenge I faced:

• Was a walk we did blind folded. Even though it was hard, we still all successfully had a go and worked as a team.

By Rose

Things I have learnt:

• How to use a kayak properly (Including getting on a kayak)
• How to shoot tennis balls at high velocity
• How to put on a harness
• How to lift someone fifteen metres into the air

Questions I have:

• What would it be like to make it to the top and jump off in “Leap of Faith?”
• What would it be like to continue climbing the “Tower of Tremble”?

Challenges I faced:

• Jumping off the ladder from “Leap of Faith”
• Doing a bushwalk with a blindfold on
• Staying on my feet in the bushwalk activity
• Hitting the gong in the “Gong” activity

By Will

FUNDING SUPPORT FOR CHAPLAINCY

A huge thank you to our P&C and community, for the funding support which will allow the continuation of Chappy Lydia, to support our school at 3 days a week.

100 DAYS OF PREP

Congratulations to our Prep students for completing their first 100 days of Prep! Our Preppies celebrated with a ‘Zero the Hero’ superheroes day and completed lots of activities involving the number 100! It is such a massive achievement and we are so proud of our youngest students!

NAIDOC 2024

NAIDOC WEEK AT WONDALL:

During Week 1, our school acknowledged NAIDOC Week with classroom and lunch time events for students. Thank you to the students from Bayside Brisbane College who joined to lead Indigenous games with our students.

LIFE EDUCATION

In the coming weeks, students in Years 4-6 will be participating in age specific Life Education learning modules. An information letter of concepts to be covered with students by the trained presenter has been sent home. Parents, please ensure that your read the respective content, contact the nominated contact if you have any questions about the information to be delivered and provide consent  via the QParents consent module.

We would like to acknowledge and thank our P&C who sponsor the Life Education sessions (approximately $30 per student) so all of our students can participate in these important information lessons.

SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY

Wondall Heights State School is an amazing school, with great students, staff, parents and community! We are proud of our school and the progress we continue to make in enriching the learning opportunities for our students, your children. As a means to collect feedback data on our school in a number of areas, each year, all families, school staff and students in Years 5&6 will be invited to participate in the annual suite of School Opinion Surveys.

The suite of School Opinion Surveys is undertaken each year by the Department of Education to obtain opinions about our school from families, school staff and students in target year levels (5, 6, 8 and 11). The surveys will help identify what we are doing well, and understand where we can improve. The survey invitation will be emailed in the week beginning 15 July and is titled School Opinion Survey for parents and caregivers, 2024.

Each school family will receive one email invitation from the Department of Education to complete the Parent/Caregiver Survey. The survey is anonymous, and the results are reported in ways that an individual’s response can be identified by the school.

Parents/Caregivers are encouraged to complete the survey. The survey can be completed via computers, tablets or smart phones with an internet connection.

For Parents/Caregivers who do not have access to the internet school computers/tablets will be available. Parents/caregivers who experience difficulties accessing the survey can request a new survey from the School Opinion Survey team via email schoolopinionsurvey@qed.qld.gov.au.

 

Can’t find your invitation? If your family has more than one parent/caregiver, check that they haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder.

 

WEEK 3 HIGHSCHOOL PRESENTATION- 3:30-4:30pm Brisbane Bayside Talk for 4-6 Parents

TERM 3 TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT

Brisbane City Council advise our school community of increased patrols within our school traffic zone. Please ensure you are complying with all signed directions around the school, parking and also speeds. There is more information below and attached about what this means for motorists.

Our patrols aim to enhance safety for students, parents, and teachers travelling to and from Brisbane’s schools. Parking and traffic conditions around schools are designed to preserve sight lines and ensure safe drop-offs and pick-ups. Limited parking during these times can lead to poor driver behaviour and dangerous parking practices.

Our officers patrol in highly visible City Safety vehicles, providing education on safe parking and enforcing regulations when necessary. These patrols encourage voluntary compliance to improve safety in school areas. Our goal is to provide a safe environment for children travelling to and from school.

Balancing strong compliance with public expectations, especially around school zones, can be delicate. Please be assured that parking fines are issued in many cases where illegal parking is observed.

The Parking Compliance Team will use several enforcement approaches, including:

• Officers on foot monitoring the area and engaging with the public.
• Mobile Enforcement Technology that identifies alleged offences using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and GPS software.
• Vehicle Mounted Cameras, which are manually operated camera vehicles that capture alleged offences.