I start this
newsletter with the very exciting news that again this year, the Mareeba State
School Auslan Signing Choir has been invited to participate in the 2023
Creative-Generation – State Schools Onstage performance held in Brisbane later
this year. Our Auslan choir does an
amazing job performing at both school and community events and this will be
another opportunity for our students to shine in this state-wide performance. Special mention to Mrs Wendy Tilse for
coordinating this opportunity for our students and to Ms Susi, our choir
conductor, for her wealth of knowledge and expertise.
This past fortnight has been full of great events and learning for our students with our 4 school leaders attending the TEEC Leadership, students in Years 3 & 5 completing their online NAPLAN practice tests as well as whole school Googabinj performance last week. As we move into the second half of Term 1 more great events are scheduled with our Year 6 students heading off to TEEC this week for their class Leadership Day, our Year 5 excursion to Herberton Historical village this Thursday and Friday, our Year 4 science day next week as well as the Atherton Sports Spectacular that some of our students will be attending with Mr Samanes. Be sure to check out our Term 1 Date Claimer for other events and mark on your calendar our annual cross country on Friday 24th March 9.00am, Parent-Teacher-Student interviews on Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th of March as well as our inaugural Mareeba SS Spelling Bee scheduled for week 10.
Mareeba SS strives to constantly ensure that we are utilising the best teaching practices that are research-proven to support student learning. In order to achieve this, our teachers participate in termly cohort planning days, facilitated by our Heads of Department Curriculum, Mrs Nadine Apps Prep, Mrs Valerie Dayes Years 1-3 and Ms Teresita Nastasi Years 4-6. Next week our planning days will begin, providing an opportunity for teachers to intentionally collaborate to share best practices and to analyse student data to differentiate teaching styles and lessons to best support all of our learners. Whilst these planning days may cause some disruption to daily routines for some students, the commitment and determination of our teachers to make the difference for each of our students is commendable. Planning days for each year level are below. Your child's teacher will let them know of this day and that they will have a different teacher but please feel free to contact your child's teacher to discuss if you have any concerns.
Prep – Tuesday 14th March Year 1 – Wednesday 8th March
Year 2 – Friday 10th March Year 3 – Monday 6th March
Year 4 – Tuesday 7th March Year 5 – Thursday 9th March
Year 6 – Wednesday 15th March 1/2B – Monday 13th March
Family & Specialists – Friday 24th March
I want to acknowledge the importance of our 'I Respect' expectations and the need for school staff and families to work together to ensure we are consistent in our messages around respecting Learning, Safety and Me & You. While we have over 95% of our students following these daily and earning their Respect tokens to purchase rewards, there is a small percentage who are not. This last week was a big week with over 80 incidents (both minor and major) recorded in our playground during play times and over 200 incidents recorded school wide (both playground and classrooms). This has seen a number of students attend Time Out and miss out on their play time, over 100 contacts with families as well as school suspensions. As a school we will continue with our clear expectations and we ask families to do the same.
Finally, special mention to our Mareeba SS P&C and Turchet family who attended our first P&C meeting this month. Our P&C works hard to continue to make improvements for our school and are currently working on applications to secure a playground for our Year 5 & 6 students. The water bottle cooler purchased by the P&C was installed over the holidays has been a huge hit for students who reap the rewards of cold water on these hot days. Our families are asked to become members of our P&C as this assists us when applying for grants throughout the year. P&C membership forms are available from our front office and can be returned via your child's teacher. Don't forget our P&C AGM for 2023 will be on Wednesday 15th March at 5:00pm in the staffroom with pizza and soft drink available for all. Prior to this a quick general meeting will start at 4:30pm and everyone is most welcome. Families are reminded that you don't need to take on a position within the P&C but a donation of time and suggestions is also encouraged.