TERM 3 WEEK 4

Principals message

WELCOME, 2023: 
SCHOOL REVIEW: As communicated in our last newsletter, this week our school participated in the first phase of our quadrennial school review. All Queensland schools undergo a school review every four years and due to the complexity of our demographic, our school is undergoing a new review model called a Partnership Review. This process aims to get more community involvement in the review process and I have approached a number of parents and staff to support with the review by undertaking the role of Community Connectors. I acknowledge and thank those parents who have agreed to be involved in the process.  More information around the Community Connectors and their role will be shared in the next newsletter. The feedback from the reviewers from their two-day visit was extremely positive.

DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS: As parents will have noticed, we are moving more and more of our communications to digital or online platforms. To ensure parents receive all communication from the school it is important we have up-to-date contact details, particularly a current mobile phone number and active email address. Our community room also has computers with free Internet access if parents need any support with accessing any online platforms or services.

SCHOOL OPINION SURVEY: Parent feedback through the annual school opinion survey is really helpful for the school and the education department. It helps us identify areas for improvement and also helps validate strategies that are working well. Parents have been emailed a link to this year’s school opinion survey. So far, 19 of our 320 parents have completed the survey. Please take 5 minutes to complete the survey before it closes on Friday, 18 August 2023. We value and appreciate your feedback.

YEAR SIX END-OF-YEAR CELEBRATION: It’s hard to believe we are planning for end of year celebrations already. Please support our year 6 Krispy Kreme Business Studies fundraiser.                                                            All monies raised goes towards our year six farewell activities at the end of the year.

Yours in Education, Jason Evert

Deputy Principal - Teaching & Learning

Hello everybody,

Thank you to the families that attended our 3-way strong parent teacher interviews last Tuesday or during last week. It was terrific to see how proud the students were to have their teacher talk about their learning progress with their families. At CWSS we value 3-way strong (student + parent + teacher) partnerships to realise the potential of every student. Please contact the school if you ever want to arrange a meeting to speak to your child’s teacher.

Next week our Years 3 and 5 students who sat the NAPLAN testing in March, will receive their individual student reports to take home. NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment and the only national assessment that all Australian children take. NAPLAN allows parents and carers to see how their child has performed in literacy and numeracy against national standards.

When viewing your child’s results, it is important to remember that NAPLAN is a point in time test. It gives one insight into how your child performed in that test, on that day. NAPLAN is just one aspect of a school’s assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress. 

Our teachers will review our school’s NAPLAN data and identify strengths and areas of need in our teaching programs (literacy, numeracy and digital literacy), set targets for our school and identify students who need extra support. Please be sure to acknowledge your child’s efforts for sitting the NAPLAN test regardless of their achievement. Becoming confident in sitting tests is an important learning skill for your child as they progress through their schooling journey and a positive mindset to sitting tests is an important factor.

If you have any questions regarding your child’s NAPLAN report, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher, myself or a member of the Teaching and Learning team. 

Thank you for being a partner in your child's learning journey.

Megan Mitchell  -  Deputy Principal Teaching & Learning 

Deputy Principal - Student Services

Hello Cairns West Families,

Positive Behaviour for Learning:

We have had a brilliant start to term 3 and our behaviour data reflects this also.  We have 3 school rules that all our students know and can recite - Be Respectful, Be Safe and Be a learner.  When teaching students and engaging with students in any area of the school, we as a staff come back to these three rules.  When conferencing with students we reflect on what rule weren't they following and why we have that rule.  I encourage you to discuss these rules with your children and find out what they mean in different areas.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing:

Each fortnight I will continue to share ways we can build our students Social and Emotional Wellbeing at home and as a family.  The latest snapshot is from The Resilience Project and it's around gratitude.  Sharing what we are grateful for and focussing on what we have rather than what we don't have.  When we practise being grateful, we start to scan the world to look for positives – this only takes 21 days! Practising gratitude every day increases our levels of energy, helps us to feel happier and more focused, determined and optimistic. 

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt:

As a family create a scavenger hunt list of things that make you happy or you are grateful for, you can make your own list or use the examples below: 

• Something that makes you happy 
• Something you love to smell 
• Something you enjoy looking at 
• Something that is your favourite colour 
• Something you like in nature 
• Something that is useful for you

Each member of the family uses the list, and has to find as many things as they can. 

You can hunt for things inside or outside, or both. You can hunt for real things, or you can also do this using magazines or pictures from the internet.  

After a set amount of time hunting, come back together, have a look at what each person collected and let them explain why they are grateful for each item. 

Family Habit Builder: Every night at dinner, have each person talk about their favourite thing about that day. 

Parent Action Group:

Thank you to the parents who attended the Parent Action Group on Wednesday and helped to start planning NAIDOC.  We want NAIDOC this year to reflect the voice of the children as they celebrate their elders - which is the theme this year.  If you wish to assist in the planning please get in contact with Ms Annie in the community room.

Take care of yourself and each other

Hayley Lawton - Deputy Principal Student Services                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Cairns West School Song

Mr Jeff Waia (pictured) who now resides on Saibai Island and was a teacher here at Cairns West for many years, wrote a song for our school to sing on parade.  Included are the words to the song which you can practice for our whole school parades held every Thursday, in our hall.

Visual Arts Department

'The Scream' - art works by year 2C and 2B

They have been learning about the famous painting, 'The Scream' by Edward Munch.  These are some of their creations.........

Nirvana 3B, Sewani 3A, Mai 6D are showing their Dragon Eyes which they made in the Art room during their play breaks.

In Visual Art lessons this term, students in prep to year 2 have been creating art with textures. Inspired by one of the Book Week books, Frank’s Red Hat, students have been creating their own penguin and ice art work! Scrunched paper is used to create the ice and some of the hats. These works are from Prep C and 1C. To see more from other classes, visit our library where there are many more on display for upcoming Book Week!
Kathy Laurila  -  Visual Art Teacher

Harald Falge Dog Park

Based on a design inspired by Adarsh Gautam from 5C the Harald Falge Dog Park mural is now complete. The mural was designed during a collaborative project between Cairns Regional Council and Cairns West Visual Art Department teacher Kathy Laurila. 

The project educates communities about the importance of responsible pet ownership by engaging school students through Art. Cairns Regional Council's Animal Education Officer, Matt, and independent artist Violet, visited Cairns West SS for three art sessions to educate, inform and collaborate with students. Cairns West was the first school to be engaged with this project. 

From all feedback from Cairns Regional Council, Violet and the students, this was a very rewarding project that will also help our community regarding pet ownership. The best thing is that it is down the road from our school, and the students of 5C - especially Adarsh and his family - will be able to enjoy this mural for many years to come.

Sam Manestar  -  5C Classroom teacher

STUDENT of the WEEK - 1,2 & 3

TryFOR5! weeks 2 & 3

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% 

Week 1 whole attendance  73%

Week 2 whole attendance 74%

Week 3 whole attendance 73%

The winning classes for week 2 & 3 are

Junior  =  1A + PC       Middle  =  3A + 2C       Senior =  5B (2nd week in a row)

Week 2 & 3 Attendance Winners

100% Attendance Reward Winner – ATTENDANCE STAR!– Each week 1 Student from each year level who has achieved 100% attendance for the week will receive a TryFOR5! Prize. Students will be announced at parade and given their certificate and prize. 100% Attendance Reward Winner – ATTENDANCE STAR!– Each week 1 Student from each year level who has achieved 100% attendance for the week will receive a Try For 5! Prize. Students will be announced at parade and given their certificate and prize. 

TryFor5 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 TryFor5! Prizes. The classes will be announced on parade and prizes delivered to classes.
 
Weeks 1, 2 and 3 – Best Class Attendance
Weeks 4 and 5 – Most Improved Attendance  
Weeks 6 and 7 – Best Class Attendance
Weeks 8 and 9 – Most Improved Attendance 

The class with the BEST ATTENDANCE for weeks 1-3 is 5B with an average of 88% attendance! 

End of Term Grand Prize– 

The Term 3 end of term grand prize has been changed. Yeti has very generously donated a pack that TWO lucky 100% winners will be awarded with at the Big Breakfast next Term.  

Katie Hughes - Head of Department  -  Student Services

"Check'n in with Happy Chappy"

Hey Cairns West Family! 

It’s been a year since I started at this great school of ours as the school Chaplain and yet, I still feel like the new kid on the block :) 

In my role, I get the privilege of supporting students with their emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. In other words, I am someone that our kids can yarn with, spend time with while they reset and get back into class, support them one on one in class, play games with at lunch times, dance battles and running races. This will most likely look different everyday but the highlight for me is being able to spend time with our students and building a relationship with them.

I can truly say that I learn so much from them with the perspective and wonder they have about life. One of the main things I’m learning is how to keep things simple every day. It doesn’t have to be big or a grand gesture, but it does have to be intentional. Every conversation, every interaction is REAL! If our students know that they have people in their corner cheering them on every day to be their best selves, then it sets up a great platform in seeing them grow and learn.

Thankfully, I have met and worked alongside some of these people here in Cairns West in our staff and it’s so fun. Not only are our kids blessed but I also count my blessing to be able to work with such a great team.  Here’s to a great term 3!   God Bless, Chappy Esther!

BOOK WEEK - Dress up day Friday 25/8/23

Fowlers Netball Carnival - Friday 11 August

Fowlers Netball Carnival will be held next Friday 11 August 2023.                Training is during school lunch time - second lunch Wednesday and first lunch Thursday.

Uniforms will be provided on the day and students are to wear their school uniform to the court.  You are to meet at the Maryn Street courts at 8:00am.  Parents/carers will need to arrange their child's transport to and from the venue.  Thank you for your support.

Permission notes need to be given to Ms Luxford asap..........   

Krispy Kreme Donut Fundraiser

Go Nuts for Krispy Kreme donuts!
This term the year 6 Business Studies students are selling Krispy Kreme Donuts to raise money for their end of year celebrations.  Keep an eye out for the order form to be sent out from  Monday 7 August 2023.

The students are using digital technologies to create some awesomely delicious video adds using special effects and superimposing themselves jumping onto donuts, putting themselves inside giant donuts and holding up giant donuts.  The video adds will be available on Facebook in week 5 and 6 for you to enjoy!

In the meantime, Tiannah and Wayne are climbing to get the most delicious donuts from the top of donut mountain while Angel is enjoying how soft and fluffy they are as she bounces to her favourite ones. 

                                                                ORDERS OPEN MONDAY  -  7 AUGUST 2023

Theresa Feletar  -  Digital Technologies Teacher

Our Community Co-creating the here and now through Education & Opportunity

The recent weather which has been a mix of rain and sunshine has helped enormously in the garden.  Plants are producing and being harvested almost every day, see our corn below......

Families gather to tend their plots and compare notes on what is doing well and what is not.  This is a perfect time of year to grow a more diverse variety of vegetable before the heat of summer does limit what we can grow.

There are still a couple of plots in the garden if you and your family are interested or you can come and join in the community plot which a few of us tend together.

The Community Room is coming together nicely and is located right beside the garden.
We now have two desktop computers for community use.  If you need to check your emails, complete an assignment, check in to MyGov or use internet banking you are most welcome.
The computers are serviced by Education Queensland and have strict security which means you may not be able to access all websites and need to agree to the terms and conditions.
The Community Room is open Monday and Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  If the door closest to the garden is open then I am about somewhere.

Please feel free to pop in and have a cuppa, read the school newsletter and check-out the space.  

Annie - Community Connector

Running group

 Our before school Run Group recently participated in the I-CAN fitness program delivered by the IMF (Indigenous Marathon Foundation). 

All the way from Canberra the IMF supported our students through a range of activities and presented our group with a big bag full of goodies which put smiles on all of our faces.

Thank you, IMF and Cairns West runners, for being so awesome!!

Annie  -  Community Connector