ATTENDANCE
Birdsville State School completed the year with a final attendance rate of 94.6%. This attendance
rate was below the whole state target of 96%. This year we will look closer at the attendance data
and track every student. Every day off in a small school is magnified, due to such small enrolment
numbers. Every day that one student is away, our daily attendance falls to 80%. This doesn’t
include sick days with a doctor’s certificate provided to the school.
Every day that our students are at school, is another day that our students are learning and
improving. We appreciate your support in our endeavour to achieve improved attendance in 2017.
BEHAVIOUR
2016 was a very successful year for improving student behaviour and school policies around
behaviour management. 2017 will see a continuation of this program and the dedication to our
school rules, be safe, be respectful and be responsible. Students need to receive a Diamond
Certificate to ensure their attendance at the surprise behaviour party.
Parents are encouraged to view their student’s diary daily and sign at the end of the week.
Positive behaviour systems work well when all stakeholders work together.
IMPORTANCE OF READING
Below is a graphic outlining how important it is for a child to read or be read to. Children
develop vocabulary, understanding of grammar, underlying meanings and social skills from
reading. It is an avenue to increase the different situations students may face or help
students to visualize unfamiliar topics. Reading is paramount to a child's development.
Students in Prep and Year One will be able to read to themselves as the year progresses.
Older students will already be able to do this without assistance. Continuing to read
children bedtime stories will encourage children to love reading and will increase the
likelihood that they will read by themselves for enjoyment. Encourage your child to love
reading — it will give them greater opportunities in life.
Birdsville State School
Whole School Target Attendance Rate for 2017
96%
Be SAFE
Be RESPECTFUL
P&C
General Meeting
Wednesday 15th Feb 5.15pm
All Welcome
Be RESPONSIBLE
The Pelican Brief
Issue 1
Monday 23rd of January 2017
In this issue:
 Welcome Back
 Attendance
 Behaviour
 Importance of reading
Date Claimers:
January
Wednesday 25th
First day of Kindy
Thursday 26th
Australia Day Holiday
Friday 27th
Miss Wickstead fly in
February
Thursday 2nd
Miss Wickstead fly out
Friday 10th
Miss Wickstead fly in
Monday 13th
Staff Meeting
Tuesday 14th
Valentine’s Day
Wednesday 15th
P and C Meeting
Thursday 16th
Miss Wickstead fly out
Friday 24th
Miss Wickstead fly in
Monday 27th
Mrs Warner – Conference
Mrs Pursell – Conference
March
Monday 13th
Miss Wickstead back
Staff Meeting
Thursday 16th
Miss Wickstead fly out
Friday 17th
St Patirck’s Day
Friday 24th
Miss Wickstead fly in
Birdsville State School
Welcome Back
Welcome back for 2017, I am very excited to be back for another fabulous year at Birdsville
State School.
This year we welcome back students in years 1, 2, 3 and we welcome our new student
beginning their learning journey in Prep. I am excited for the year ahead! It is going to be a
fantastic year for our students, our staff, our parents and our community.
Last week we travelled to Longreach to work alongside the multitude of teachers and
principals within our Outback Advantage cluster. The week was very successful with the staff
endeavouring to understand the curriculum demands of the 2017 school year, with students
across 4 year levels and varying abilities, this is a major component that ensures we are
meeting the needs of all students when teaching. We also spent time unpacking our strategic
documents and I look forward to sharing this with the parents and community at our first P&C
meeting.
Our students, staff, parents and community all have a role to play in our Strategic Plan and
Annual Implementation Plan for 2017, your role is to believe in the staff and the students.
100% of our staff have the ability to educate your children to a high level and 100% of
students are able to achieve at a high level. If we all work together and ensure we maintain
high expectations of all key stakeholders, Birdsville State School will be unstoppable!
I look forward to sharing with you on various occasions, how your children are improving. This
communication will consist of report cards, parent teacher interviews, informal conversations,
data conversations and happy notes.
This year, we will have our Kindy Program running on alternate weeks. The first week the
Kindy students will be at school 3 days a week, and then the following week, 2 days. We are
looking forward to having them on these days!
Let’s strap ourselves in and blast off at full speed, to ensure Birdsville State School is moving
and improving in 2017.
Curriculum
This term (10 Weeks) students will be working on emotion in picture books and creating a
multimodal retell in English, engaging their personal experiences with each book we read.
In Mathematics student will be working across all 6 strands – Number and Place Value,
Measurement and Geometry, Chance and Data.
Student can also look forward to the other Key Learning Areas (KLA’s) tasks being aligned to
ensure greater fluidity. Science is about living things and Technology is called Grow, Grow,
Grow (produce from farms getting to our plate). Art and Geography will align together (Maps
of Places, maintaining a special place). Health unit is called ‘a Little Independence’, Physical
Education will be a team sport – Hockey.
No Homework for week 1 or week 10.
Mrs Warner will be at a Principal Conference down at the Gold Coast from the 27th of Feb till
the 7th of March. Mrs Pursell will also be at the Gold Coast for a Kindy Meeting from 27th of
Feb till the 2nd of March. Miss Wickstead will be here for the week of the 27th till the 3rd of
March then we will get the district relief teacher for the 6th and 7th of March.
On the 27th and 28th of March Mrs Warner and Miss Wickstead will be in Ilfracombe for our
PBM. Term 1 finishes on the 31st of March.