TERM 4 - WEEK 9

Principals message

Hello Families

It’s hard to believe this is the last newsletter for the year. This year has seen some fantastic work happening in our school on many levels and this was validated with the positive affirmations from our School Review this semester.

SCHOOL REVIEW REPORT: Again, I thank staff, students, parents, carers and community partners for your support of our school review this semester. The review report affirms that the work that’s been happening in this school and community for several years has been highly effective in supporting the education and social-emotional growth of the children in this school and the success of this is celebrated in the affirmations in the Review Report.

I invite readers to view the executive summary on our school website at https://cairnswestss.eq.edu.au/. For a full copy of the review report, please contact myself or the school office. These affirmations are a result of the ongoing dedication and commitment of school staff and a community that demonstrates a value of education by sending their children to school every day, attending school events and expecting accountability and high standards for their school. Early next year we will be working with our staff and community to build our four-year strategic plan and annual improvement plan, guided by the Improvement Strategies identified in the review report. This is an exciting and important body of work to continue to build on a strong culture that promotes learning at Cairns West. I look forward to the next phase of improvement.

STAFF NEWS: Unfortunately, our enrolments continued to decline this year. The greatest contributing factor to this has been the Covid pandemic. Fortunately, this term, our enrolments have begun to trend upwards again. This is a positive sign of things to come. Regrettably however, with fewer students, we will have less classes next year which means we will lose some of our staff. Sadly, we say goodbye to Ms Chantal Stanton (Yr 1), Ms Misty Miller (Special Education), Mr Sam Owen (DRT), Ms Sally Johnston (Guidance Officer) and Ms Kate Paul (Pedagogy Coach). I sincerely thank all of these staff for their contribution to our school and wish them every success in future endeavours. They will take great memories and valuable career experience from their time at Cairns West and will be dearly missed by many!

STUDENT DIAGNOSTIC FOLIOS: As we tidy up classrooms and wrap up the year, some teachers will be giving students their `Diagnostic folios’ to bring home. Historically, Cairns West has retained and stored these Diagnostic folios. However, this has been a school-based decision aligned to the Qld Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Framework (QCARF). This year, after consultation with staff, we have decided to no longer retain Diagnostic folios (formative assessments) to alleviate teacher workload and storage implications. There is no legal requirement to retain and store this evidence as the important aspect, the assessment records, are retained by the school. We will continue to retain student summative assessments for five years as per requirements of the Public Records Act 2002. Please contact me or a deputy principal if you would like any further information or clarification around this.

PRESENTATION DAY: Parents are invited to our Presentation Day on Tuesday Dec 5^th from 9:00am. Our year 6 Graduation Ceremony will follow our Award Presentation and will commence after 1^st break at 11:15am. This year, year 6 students will remain at school and participate in a graduation lunch in our school conference room.

Finally, at the holiday season, our thoughts turn to all who have made our progress possible. It is in this spirit we would like to thank you and offer our best wishes. May peace, prosperity and happiness be yours throughout the holiday season and New Year and we look forward to seeing you on Monday January 22^nd, 2024.

Yours in Education, Jason Evert  -  Principal

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Hello CWSS community,
As this is the final newsletter for the school year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your commitment to your child’s education this year and your ongoing support to CWSS.
Being a parent is the toughest yet most rewarding job I have ever had. Ensuring your child has access to high quality education, committing to sending your child to attend school on time every day and supporting your child throughout the school year, is a massive undertaking and one we greatly appreciate at CWSS. When you receive your child’s Academic Report Card (in week 10) and participate in end of year celebrations, be sure to take a moment to reflect on your child’s learning journey and celebrate their success.
CWSS teachers have been incredibly busy completing assessment, moderating student work for consistency of grading and finalising Academic Reports. It has been wonderful to see the teachers’ pride in their students progress over the year. Always remember with education, it is not always the destination but the journey, and acknowledging progress and celebrating success along the way is incredibly important. So be proud of your child and encourage them to be proud of their efforts & set future learning goals together.
The end of the school year is a very busy time of year. Learning is occurring every day until Friday 2:30pm December 8th. Keep up to date with events that are happening in the school through our newsletter, Facebook and letters sent home by your child or feel free to contact our friendly Admin team or Teachers. Tuesday December 5th 9am is our Prep- Year 6 Presentation Day held in the school Hall.
Presentation Day is a time to celebrate student achievement and efforts demonstrated in 2023.There are 4 class awards as follows;
Class awards:
Attendance Encouragement award: Awarded to a student to acknowledge their improvement in school attendance over the year.

Class Encouragement award: Awarded to a student to acknowledge their efforts throughout the year and encourage them to continue striving for excellence.

Best in class award: Awarded to the student who has demonstrated consistent effort and contributed positively to the class throughout the year.
 
Academic Award: Awarded to the student who has achieved the highest academic outcome in the class.

Awards are also presented in Specialist learning areas, Instrumental Music, Hub, Aspire Hockey, ILC & Special Education. Special awards are presented for Sportsperson on the year, All-rounder and Dux. The 2023 student leaders will present their leadership showcase and 2024 Senior Leaders will also be announced at this event. I hope to see many supportive families at this school event.

Please take care of yourself and your family over the summer holidays. Enjoy lots of learning in the home by spending time as a family, playing games, reading & making special memories. I look forward to seeing you all safe and well in the new year and working as learning partners again in 2024

Megan Mitchell  -  Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning

Deputy Principal - Student Services

Hello Cairns West families,

Attached below is the annual 2023 PBL report.  It highlights our achievements and some data to support the successes we are celebrating this year.  I urge you to read it and feel free to contact the school if you have any questions or concerns.  Discuss this with your children and celebrate their achievements as well.

The end of the year is always such a whirlwind of busy times, we have concerts, awards days, graduation, end of year celebrations, reports and lots of emotions.  Once the term ends we always reflect on the year that was, the highlights, low lights and good times.  A high light for me this year is joining this outstanding community that is Cairns West.  Our teachers genuinely care for the children and want them to get the best education.  Your children brighten my day, every day with their smiles, laughs, academic success and you as a community have been so welcoming and supportive.  Thank you for a great year!

I challenge you as a family to think about being mindful and reflective as the term draws to a close.  Think about 3 positive outcomes for the 2023 school year and 1 goal for the 2024 year ahead.  Take time to rest, be present and enjoy the slow mornings and quality time.

I look forward to seeing all of our students back in 2024 ready for another brilliant year.

Take care, have a great holiday

Hayley Lawton - Deputy Principal Student Services

WEEK 10 - Year 6 Event Timetable

Cairns Safer Street Activities - Term 1 2024 TBA

STUDENT OF THE WEEK  -  TERM 4 week 7,8 & 9

TRYFOR5! TERM 4 

Attendance - Term 4 - week  6,7 & 8 students

Cowboys TRYFOR5! is an inter-school challenge, designed to address short and long term impacts of students missing foundation learning in their primary years through poor school attendance.

TRYFOR5! motivates and rewards individual classes and schools for their attendance record during the challenge period, and engages students and families using the club’s profile and ambassadors.

Cairns West State School is very excited about being a part of this initiative.     

                                          Whole School attendance TRYFOR5!  GOAL  = 75.60% 

Try For 5 Winners – Each fortnight 1 class from the Junior school (P-3) and 1 class from the senior school (4-6) class with the Best/Most Improved (alternate fortnight) attendance will be rewarded with a class set of Try For 5! Prizes. The classes will be announced on parade and prizes delivered to classes.

End of Term Grand Prize– Trampoline  

There are *2041 *names in the draw so far! 

VISUAL ART DEPARTMENT

Winners - QTU Peace Competition 2023

Congratulations to the prize winners (pictured above) for the QTU Peace Competition.                                              They were presented with their certificates and gift cards at Parade.

First Prize winners $100                                                                         Highly Commended $50                        

Esme 1A (prep to year 1 category)                                                    Alina 2B (year 2 to 3 category)

Saina 2A (year 2 to 3 category                                                            Elizabeth 3D ( year 2 to 3 category)

                                                                                                                         Akanisi 4B (year 4 to 6 category)

Primary Indigenous Games Carnival

On Friday 17 November, the Year 5 student cohort attended the Primary Schools Indigenous Games Carnival organised by School Peninsula Sport at the Cairns Hockey fields. Attended by Parramatta SS, Yorkeys Knob SS, Mackillop Catholic College, Machans Beach SS and Isabella SS.  

Throughout the day, CWSS students showed great sportsmanship and wonderful manners. 

Four students were chosen as the MVP; one from each class 5C: Tyrick Gibuma;                                                 Blessing Ruzindana - 5C was a lucky door prize winner, receiving a Deadly Choices 

Kumiko and the Dragon - year 3 students

The year 3 students have been working with the text Kumiko and the Dragon this term which has a strong connection to Japanese culture. This week, every year 3 class had a special visitor, Ms Maki, who taught them how to create a guardian dragon using pastels. The students used a variety of techniques to create the artwork before the session was ended with an introduction to a variety of mindful musical instruments. 3D really enjoyed the dragon heart crystal! Arigato, Ms Maki! 

Mrs Maher  -  Year 3D teacher

Radars First Nations Netball Clinic

Last week Cairns West hosted a Netball clinic over two days and were lucky enough to have the very experienced former Australian netball player, Vicky Wilson. 

Vicky is a great mentor who enjoys working with young girls to inspire them, with her knowledge of the game.  

Community Space with Annie

With only days left of the school year, I would like to give thanks and gratitude to all who have made our Community Space such a success.

Many thanks to our Principal Mr Evert for supporting the Community Food Garden and providing the space for our community gatherings.

Big thanks to all of the families who adopted a spot in the Community Garden who gather to grow food for their families and share their knowledge with each other.

Thanks to all the organisations who adopted our school to offer playgroups, exercise and dance programs for seniors and homework programs for our students.

Many thanks to the parents and carers who come to school parent and community meetings to discuss the future of education at our school and to those who just pop in to say hello and have a cuppa.

A big shout out to all the people who adopted a spot in the Running Group.  We stretched together, walked together, we ran together and supported each other. A very deadly group indeed.

Thanks also to those who have gifted and received from the thrift shop.  This is a great little space that has gained traction over time. This provides a space for no longer needed items and a place for those who can use them and a great way to reduce, reuse and recycle.

As the weather has started to warm up, please know the Community Room is usually open in the afternoons and if you arrive early, I am happy for you to sit in the cool and grab a drink of water or a cuppa, browse the second-hand shop and use the computers if you need.

All of the above, or most of the above will be happening next year so stay tuned.

All the best for the festive season.  Enjoy your family and friends, stay safe and I hope everyone gets time to slow down.

Annie - Community Space Co ordinator

School Savvy - by Centacare FNQ

School Savvy Program is for local young people and families who are in need of Essential School resources to get ready for the new school year.