Term 1 Week 2 School Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Principal Message

News from the Year 3 - 6 Deputy Principal

Welcome back for 2024. I hope everyone has had a relaxing break and excited about the new school year.

My name is Leanne Bell, I am the Deputy Principal for Years 3 to 6. This is my fifth year at Trinity Beach State School and I look forward to another year working with our highly competent and enthusiastic teaching teams in the upper & middle school, and of course seeing our students back, engaged & learning in our classrooms.

My tips for the start of the year: Lots of sleep, your children have had a long holiday and the mental load of a full day at school will exhaust them which may result in some frustrating behaviours at home. Try to engage in positive conversations about school. Rather than asking ‘how was your day?’ try for a more detailed approach; ‘what was the best thing about today?’, ‘teach me one thing you learned today?’. Throughout their schooling children will face challenges when communicating with peers as they are developing these skills for life. They will make friends and lose friends. The more emotive we are as parents the more they will focus on the uncomfortable minutes of the day rather than the smiles. Always acknowledge the frustration, ask clarifying questions to show you are listening and confirm the next step or plan if there is a reoccurrence. If it is an ongoing issue share these details with the classroom teacher.

Once again, the focus this year in Year 6 will be on getting our students academically and socially ready for the challenges of high school. We have one of the best transitions programs in the state and you will hear more about that throughout the course of the year. We have a strong student leadership team in 2024. Being in the upper school is seen as a time where all students are given opportunities to develop their leadership skills. This is the focus of the Year 6 school camp later in the year and I encourage all students to attend. Our Year 6 students also have the Reef trip to look forward to while our Year 3 – 5’s have the opportunity to participate in curriculum-based excursions. 

Our high achieving Year 5 & 6 students will also be provided with the opportunity to engage in extension programs offered by Smithfield State High School through our partnership in the Tropical North Learning Academy. Letters of offer to Young Scholars have gone out this week. A Young Scholars Parent Information session will also be held later in the term.

I am looking forward to an exciting year and I know that 2024 will be a great year for your child’s education.

News from the Prep - Year 2 Deputy Principal

It is so exciting to be back for the 2024 school year! I love coming in and seeing all the familiar faces ready to start their next year of school. I have been doing the rounds and checking in to make sure everyone is settled with their new teachers and spaces within the school.

It has been super exciting to welcome our newest students, our Prep, to Trinity Beach State School! They have had a fantastic start and have been learning about our school rules and the expectations at school as well as all the curriculum learnings which have started already! A very warm welcome to our Prep families and also to those families that have joined us for the 2024 school year!

My role has changed a little this year. I am lucky enough to continue to work in the Prep to year 2 space again this year, however my focus will be on the teaching and learning happening in our classrooms everyday as well as the kindy transition to school as the two main areas for my work.

This year we will have a focus on making learning visible and giving students the opportunity to put students at the centre and in the ‘driver’s seat’ of their learning and has them working with their teacher to understand the knowledge and skill s required to demonstrate their learning, attain their goals and give feedback.

The photo shows the ‘child friendly I can’ statement for the achievement standard regarding letter formation in Prep term 4 2023

Term Curriculum overviews will be sent out at the end of week 3. These will give parents an overview of what your child will be learning in each learning area for this term. If you have any questions regarding this information please chat with your child’s teacher.

In the next few weeks I am aiming to send out a survey monkey to our 2024 prep families to get some feedback regarding our transition program from Kindy to Prep at Trinity Beach State School. I would really appreciate your feedback so that I can make this transition as smooth as possible for families and most importantly our Kindy/Prep students. Please look out for this in your inbox in the coming weeks.

Thank you for helping your child/ren have such a wonderful start to the school year. For making sure they have everything they need including uniforms, shoes and lunch and making sure they are at school, on time, every day. We really appreciate it!

News from the Wellbeing, Engagement & Inclusion Deputy Principal

It’s great to be back at Trinity Beach State School! 

In my role as Deputy Principal Wellbeing, Engagement and Inclusion, I am looking forward to working together with teachers, students and families of Prep to 6. I have enjoyed visiting all the classrooms and have seen high levels of learning and engagement.  What a great team of teachers and support staff we have to help our students be successful.

I am joined by a very talented and committed team willing to do whatever it takes to support all our young people.

Petai Wilson is Student Engagement Teacher and our youth support workers are Michelle Bernstone and Scott Dedge.

In our next newsletter, we will outline some of programs and initiatives.

Looking forward to working with you all to support your children.

Ms Narinder Singh

News from the Head of Inclusive Education

What a great start to the 2024 school year and thank you for ensuring students are at school ready to engage in our inclusive learning environment.

As Head of the Inclusive Education Team at our school, the Department of Education’s Inclusive Education Policy outlines the continuing the journey towards a more inclusive education system.

Inclusive education means that students can access and fully participate in learning, alongside their similar-aged peers, supported by reasonable adjustments and teaching strategies tailored to meet individual student needs.  Inclusive education encompasses all aspects of school life, and is supported by culture, policies and every day practices.

Inclusion differs from integration where students are placed with their similar aged peers without  adjustments to meet individual needs.  This limits student ability to fully access or participate in learning.  Integration is not necessarily a step toward inclusion.

Reasonable adjustments are measures or actions taken to assist a student with disability to participate in education on the same basis as other students.  Examples of reasonable adjustments are modifications to the classroom or school environment, personalised learning materials and equipment, personal care supports and planning to meet individual student needs. 

Students with additional needs at our school are supported by Inclusive Education Teachers who work alongside class teachers to plan for and make adjustments to ensure all students can access and participate in learning.

2024 Inclusive Education Teachers:

Prep:        Jade Kerkhoven & Deb McPherson

Year 1:     Caroline Houston & Danika Sydenham

Year 2:     Samantha Ilic

Year 3:     Deb McPherson

Year 4:     Jude Doherty

Year 5:     Amanda Harvey

Year 6:     Lisa Croatto

If you would like to learn more about inclusion at our school or discuss reasonable adjustments for your child, please make a time to see me in the Inclusive Education Centre.

Kind regards,

Sam

News from the Head of Department Curriculum Prep - Year 6

I’d like to begin on welcoming everyone to Trinity Beach State School 2024, particularly all of our new families in prep and those who have moved schools. I hope you all had a fantastic break over the Christmas period.

For those who don’t know me, my name is Chris Paterson. I have been teaching at Trinity Beach since 2017 in years 6 and 4 and since the beginning of term four 2022, I have been in the Head of Curriculum role.

This year as Head of Curriculum, my main work will be involve working with our great teachers to assist them in their planning and delivery of the Australian Curriculum.

I will also be co-ordinating our amazing team of specialist teachers and the many events that they run within our school. All of this work will be centred around providing the best possible education for our students.

In the first two weeks of school, I have been in many classrooms across the school and have seen all of our students engaged in their learning with the teachers.

I am looking forward to working with all of our students and staff at our school to ensure that 2024 is a great year at Trinity Beach.

News from the Guidance Officer

Welcome to the 2024 school year!!  For those who don’t know me yet, my name is Jenny Ferguson and I work at the school at the Guidance Officer.  I am usually easy to spot, with my bright pink hair, and my office is in the library.

My role includes working with a small number of students for ongoing support, assisting with educational assessments, and working with external agencies to set up supports for students and families of our school. 

If you feel your child needs support regarding any social / emotional issues, please talk to their class teacher so we can set up a time to meet 😊

Some great news!!

Our school has been successful in applying for a Dignity Vending Machine – providing free period products for students.  This machine has been installed and is located in the toilet in the library, where it is able to be accessed when required. 

Students will be advised of this machine in the coming weeks – sharing information with families first, in case you would like to discuss with your child ahead of time.

For more information about the Dignity Vending Machine, and the organisation responsible for funding this program, check their website at www.sharethedignity.org.au 

Seeking donations…

Our library and Youth Support spaces both have some Lego available for student use (on Lego storage tables).  Using hands-on activities is an excellent way to assist our students to de-escalate when they are stressed or worried, and improves creativity and fine motor skills.

To further build our ‘stores’ of Lego, we would appreciate donations of any Lego in good condition (new or used – either would be amazing).  Any donations can be left at the library or front office – and if you could please make sure to label them with your name, that will allow us to acknowledge donations.

Focus

Week 1

Week 2

Q Parents

To continue to streamline the school’s sale for all items – school fees, excursions, performances, instrumental music we are moving to a cashless school.  This allows our school to reduce the time, effort and expenses required to collect and follow up payments from parents and students.  When you receive an invoice payments can be made online via BPOINT or QParents.

We are proud of being a relatively-cashless school and thank you for moving online with us!

QParents

QP is an online portal helping the school move toward a cashless and paper friendly school. 

• The QP portal allows Parents and Carers to grant participation consent online for activities such as swimming and excursions which reduces our need to print out paper consent forms
• Also, the QP portal enables Parents and Carers to make payment online for school activities and viewing unpaid invoices payment history.

Thank you to all those parents who have registered for QParents. This means every registered parent now has the opportunity to access to their children’s student records at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere. Haven’t received an invitation from us yet? There’s still time! Please let us know immediately. Or if you are simply looking for further information, videos and FAQs on QParents, visit https://qparents.qld.edu.au

We are Hiring

2024 School Calendars now available

The year sure is flying by! That means it’s time to get planning for 2024. Check out the new school calendar, teachers’ calendar and school planner (featuring the weeks of term) available for download on the Education website. https://education.qld.gov.au/about-us/calendarYou can also find an option to download dates to your device through iCalendar!

Phones away for the day

The Department of Education’s ‘Phones away for the day’ will be implemented in all Qld state schools from 2024.This means that all students are required to:

• switch off their phone and hand in to the school office as soon as they arrive at school and collect it at the end of the school day.

• Switch off notifications on Smartwatches and other devices (these can be still worn).

This includes off site school activities such as camps and excursions.In the school bus line, phones must be put away in school bags.If parents need to contact their child/children, a call can be made to our school office and we can send the message to your child’s classroom.If you child needs to access their phone for medical, disability or wellbeing reasons, exemptions will be considered for these reasons on a case-by-case basis by the principal.

Piano Tuition 2024

Book Club

Sports News

Congratulations Adam.

Adam completed in the CFN under 12A cricket tournament from Dec 16-19 just after school finished. This was held in Townsville.

The CFN team took out the competition undefeated!!!

Student of the Week

Week 2

Around the Classroom

Day 1 of Prep was very exciting for our littlest and newest enrolments. There were some tears, mostly from mums and dads as they shared this special moment. Thank you for joining the Trinity Beach State School family as we embark this exciting learning journey together.

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There were smiles for miles at Trinity Beach State School today. We think everyone was excited to see their friends and teachers. The level of respect from the students was impressive.. Big thanks to our families for supporting Day 1. Thank you!

Parades

We kicked it off the first school day with a full school parade at 12noon outlining our Trinity Beach State School global expectations. Our students were extraordinarily courteous and respectful.

Parade Changes for 2024 | P-2 Monday 9am 3-6 Friday 9am

Thank you to our student leaders who kicked off our P-2 Parade on Monday in the Hall. You did an amazing job!

Staff Professional Development

Tuckshop News

Community News