2023 Edition 12 (27-07-2023)

Principal's Message - Mrs Meyrick

Recognising and Celebrating our student’s EPIC behaviour

In our Semester One report cards this year, 94% of our students achieved an A, B or C for behaviour and also for effort. We are proud of our students and the way they demonstrate our EPIC Learner values of Empowered, Polite, Inclusive and Careful every day in their classroom and our play areas. While only a very small percentage of our students are not there yet, we will continue to support them to grow as EPIC Learners and ask all of our students to continue to be Empowered and be role models for them.

Very soon we will commence our school postal service for our special EPIC Learner postcards. Your child may bring a post card home that their teacher has posted them, I then have the privilege of delivering to them in class. If your child brings home a postcard, be sure to celebrate as a family, as this is a special recognition of them showing our EPIC values in class.

This term, we will also commence our EPIC Learner fortnightly certificates as a school. One student, per class, per fortnight, will be recognised in their classrooms with a visit from their Deputy Principal to celebrate. We will send home a photo for you as a keepsake. We will then publicly celebrate and congratulate these students on assembly by asking them to stand together as a group and receive our applause.

On Wednesdays we proudly wear our House Shirts. To build our team culture, we will introduce a House token rewards system on Wednesdays where students can earn tokens for their house. At the end of the term, the house with the most tokens, have an opportunity to celebrate together.

In our classrooms, Koala Currency will commence. Little vouchers worth one Koala dollar will be handed out to students to put in the class money box. Teachers will hand these out to students who are showing that they are EPIC Learners. When the class reaches their savings goal, they purchase their class chosen reward from our list of available options. Students throughout the year have been offered opportunities to share ideas of what these rewards could be, and the list available this year is a no cost, special time together or with others, way to celebrate.

It was important as a new school for us to develop these ways of recognising and celebrating our students EPIC learning and behaviour together as a school community. During semester one we collected parents input via the whiteboard at the gate, our student council have shared some ideas and thoughts with me, our staff have added input to what they have seen work (and not work) in other school settings, each class has emailed me their ideas and thoughts and our House Captains have generated ideas with Mrs Tolhurst (HPE teacher). Together we have created something special for our school, where we all belong and own our new ways of celebrating and recognising our students who are being Empowered, Polite, Inclusive and Careful. This semester is set to be EPIC!

Mrs Wuanita Meyrick| Foundation  Principal

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Yager

In the past two weeks, we have witnessed an extraordinary wave of creativity and curiosity sweeping through our school corridors. Our teachers and students have begun their journey into the 'Big Idea' of their English units for this term, lending meaningful authenticity to their final assessment tasks.

As we strive for a learning environment that transcends mere engagement, our 'Big Idea' aims to foster empowerment and 'Passion and Purpose,’ triggering real-world application and deep understanding within our students.

Year 1 students, armed with the power of their imagination, are recounting a weather event that significantly influenced their adventures. They will step into the shoes of a news reporter, using greenscreen technology, special effects, and live reporting to share their tales.

Meanwhile, Year 3 is busy spinning enchanting fairytales, bringing their characters to life through dramatic costumes. We can't wait to see them sharing their magical stories with parents and community members at our 'Narrative Fair.'

Our Year 4 students have turned their gaze to the realm of sports, interviewing local sporting stars and writing narratives that reflect these athletes' journeys. Their diligent efforts will culminate in a 'Hall of Fame', where students will share their stories with peers and local sports heroes.

In Year 5, we see a class anthology of fantasy narratives taking shape. This professionally crafted book will be pre-sold to the school community and displayed in our 'Curiosity Centre' for student borrowing, thus blending creativity and enterprise in one unique project.

Last but certainly not least, Year 6 is venturing into the digital world, creating audiobooks of their narratives. They are currently exploring options to upload their work to platforms like Audible or iTunes, taking another stride towards being active contributors to the global digital landscape.

As we continue to breathe life into our English units, we look forward to seeing our students grow not just as learners but as young individuals with a passion for exploration and a sense of purpose in their educational journey.

Mrs Fiona Swadling | Foundation Deputy Principal

Deputy Principal's Message - Ms Swadling

Our Prep Transition program is an active process that fosters familiarity and continuity as children move into their first year of school.  Koala Joey’s is part of our Prep Transition Program, where a small group of enrolled Pre-Prep children and their parents participate in activities at our school.  This will commence in week one of Term 4. (Tues, 3^rd of October, 9-10 am) and will be held at school in one of our classes.  This benefits children, and families in multiple ways.  Parents will take part in an information session to give them some useful information to prepare for school, while your children take part in activities in the classroom and playground. This is a great way to make connections with other parents prior to school commencing and for your children to also meet some of their peers. You must have completed the enrolment process in full, prior to participating in Koala Joey’s program.  Spaces will fill fast so if you haven’t already enrolled, enrolments are now open via our website or forms can be collected from administration.

If you were a part of our Prep Transition Process last year and you haven’t given your feedback via our very quick survey, we would love to hear your suggestions. 

Our three prep classes are in full learning mode and we have our ‘Learning Walls’, or the ‘Third Teacher’, in English in full swing.  Students help to grow their Learning Wall throughout each English lesson, and they can access this at all times during their learning tasks.  The students are learning to write a journal entry about events they have participated in each week at home and at school, like HPE, Music and Art lessons, a Teddy Bears Picnic, and a grand finale, ‘Ballapalooza Event: A spectacular celebration of Ball Games’ at the end of term, where they will compete in a range of ball games and win points for their house.  The students will then write about this event in their journal as their final assessment task. We look forward to seeing their progress in writing over the term. 

Year 2 are creating an ‘Imagination Station Story Time’ where they will embrace their creativity and create an imaginative retell of a familiar story of their choice for other children to read. They are working on a plan as we speak of how they would like this ‘story time’ sharing to occur and wondering what an ‘Imagination Station’ will look like? Maybe our mums and dads have some great ideas of what this might look like as well…think BIG and share them with your child so they can share them with their class!

Mrs Fiona Swadling | Foundation Deputy Principal

Business Manager's Message - Mrs Van Der Zee

HR NEWS

Last week we said goodbye to one of our cleaners, Wayne Sherriff.  Wayne has been a valuable employee over the past term helping to keep our school clean and tidy.    We wish Wayne all the very best in his future endeavours. 

On Monday, 07/08/23 we welcome Tracey Walk who is a cleaner transferring across from another Ipswich school.   We look forward to working with Tracey when she arrives.

Applications have now closed for the position of Defence Mentor.  We are currently reviewing all applications and plan to interview for this role next week.

SRS PAYMENTS OVERDUE

Please note SRS fees are now overdue.  Please ensure your child’s account is up to date to ensure their attendance at any upcoming excursions / camps etc.

Mrs Danielle Van Der Zee | Foundation Business Manager

Tour & Talk

Our next Tour and Talk is scheduled for 3rd August between 4pm-4.30pm. This is for families who are new to the area or moving to the area who would like a tour of our school, information and an opportunity to ask any questions.  You can check your address at the Ed Map website https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/maps/edmap/  There is no need to RSVP, please just meet Mrs Meyrick out the front of administration at the commencement time. 

2024 Enrolments Prep to Year 6 open now!

2024 Enrolments open now!

We are now actively processing enrolments (Prep-Year 6) for 2024!

Start your child/s application now!

-Scan the QR code below

-Visit https://ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au/enrolments

-Visit Administration to collect a paper copy

Stringtacular

Three of our String students, Lilia and Josephine from class 5/6A and Dionne from 2/3A, recently represented our school at the Springfield Stringtacular. This is a wonderful annual event, where over 70 students from local schools come together for an instrumental music enrichment program.

The goal of the Stringtacular is to provide students with ensemble experience and the opportunity to learn from expert guest conductors and tutors. The event wrapped up with a free concert for parents and carers, which allowed our students to showcase the skills they had honed during the workshop.

We are incredibly proud of Lilia, Josephine, and Dionne for their participation and thank our wonderful String teacher Ms Eastman for her support. They approached the opportunity with enthusiasm, showing a great desire to learn and to work collaboratively with students from other schools.

Our String Orchestra has started this term and all our string students are involved in learning ensemble pieces as a group. This rehearsal is held on Wednesday at first break in the instrumental music room.

There are still vacancies in the string program, with two school instruments available for students to hire. Please contact Miss Eastman if you are interested in your child starting string lessons.

Lone Pine Excursion

Our whole school excursion to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is on Thursday 17th August. Permission forms have been sent home and payment is due by Monday 14th August. We are excited to learn more about our school mascot! Any questions, please see your child's class teacher.

Student Free Day

Our school will be closed on Friday 1st September for a Student Free Day (all Qld State Schools). Please make alternative arrangements for your children.

HPE News

Each week, each class has a 30-minute health lesson. I would like to share with you what we are learning this term:

Prep  - Students will explore and practise respectful behaviours (for example: sharing, following directions, using manners, kind talk and actions, cooperation, listening and consent) when cooperating with others. Students will also explore what it means to belong. They will explore how it feels to belong and will identify groups to which they belong to.

Year 1, 2 and 3: Students are learning to identify the qualities of a good friendship such as respect, care and kindness. They will also learn about gender inclusive behaviours and that both girls and boys should be afforded equal rights, respect and opportunities.

Year 4, 5 and 6: Students will understand the relationship between human rights, responsibilities and respect for self and others. Human rights remind us to value ourselves, diversity and to treat others respectfully and equally. Students will also understand the concepts of power, control and coercion and examine the impact of the balance of power on relationships.

The Arts News

Year 4-6

We have continued our journey around the world by visiting New Zealand and the Philippines and the students used props to learning about the cultures. With the Māori culture, the students had to tap, flip and throw small pool noodles and with the Filipino culture, the students were representing the tikling bird and were choreographing movements over two long pool noodles. Over the next two weeks, the students will be learning about the Hawaiian hula and American line dancing.

In music, the students have been learning about popular music and choosing songs which represent different genres. So far their chosen songs have been ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough’ for Soul music, ‘All about the bass’ for Jazz music, and ‘Sunflower’ for Hip Hop music. Over the next two week we will look at Pop music and Big Band music. The students have also started to compose their own pieces of music on MuseScore and learning about the sounds different instruments make and how long different notes are played for. 

Prep- Year 3

Our Preps have being learning songs about a pet show, cats and dogs so far. They have been helping to choose some of the actions for their songs. The also have been learning dancing about elephants and tigers. The year 1s have been learning songs about cookies. They have been learning about movement and exaggeration in drama. The year 2s and 2/3s have been learning songs about sailors and pirates. Year 2s have been looking at camera angles for media arts and year 2/3s have been looking at finger puppets for drama. 

P&C News

Coming up we have our Father's Day Stall being held on Wednesday 30th August. We are asking for Donations for the P&C to sell at our stall. We also have some small businesses coming with a stall as well. If you are a small business and would like to have a stall - please get in touch. 

Bunnings BBQ

The P&C are running the sausage sizzle on Saturday 19th November and will be seeking donations and calling on volunteers to help on the day. More information will follow later on in the year but please save the date. 

The Secretary position on the executive team has become available and we are seeking nominations for the role. If you or someone you know would like to nominate for the position, you will first need to be a member of the P&C. We will be holding a special meeting 10 minutes prior to our general meeting (4:50pm) on Tuesday 22 August to accept any new membership applications for those wanting to be considered.

Should you require any further information on any of the above or if you would like to donate items or volunteer for upcoming events, please contact pandc@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au

Community

Ripley Valley State Secondary College

ICSC Open Day

Contacting our School

Our school phoneline for outgoing calls will come up on your phone as No caller ID, or Private number. We are unable to change this at this point as our phone lines are being diverted until Telstra connection occurs for our standard landline. You can call us on 07 3819 5777  phof if you need to contact us.

Email – admin_@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au  OR for all enrolment matters please email enrolments@ripleycentralss.eq.edu.au 

Phone - 07 3819 5777  (between 8.20am-3.15pm Monday to Friday - or school days) 

Please no longer use the mobile number that we used to use so please delete it from your contacts in your phone.