Mapleton State School acknowledges the traditional custodians of the place we now call our school.
We pay our respects to the Elders past and present and are proud to be supporting and encouraging emerging Indigenous leaders every day.
Term 1 Week 4 2024
From the Principal
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you and your young people have had a smooth start to the school year! As I look forward to 2024, I would like to extend a warm welcome to both returning and new families to our school community.
Starting Strong
This term I have had the pleasure of spending time in Prep with Mrs Lynch, Mrs Jones, Mrs Xavier and our newest members of Mapleton State School. In just four weeks it is amazing to see Preps writing their name, creating words, learning new sounds and reading. I look forward to watching them continue to grow and flourish throughout the term.
2023 Results
I would like to take a moment to celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of our students in 2023. I am delighted to announce that an impressive 95% of our students achieved a C or higher in both English and Maths, with over 60% achieving a B or better. This remarkable success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, teachers, support staff and families.
NAPLAN Success
I am also proud to share that our school's commitment to academic excellence was recognised in an article published in the Courier-Mail over the holidays. The article highlighted our school's exceptional performance in the 2023 NAPLAN assessments, ranking us 4th on the Sunshine Coast for overall NAPLAN performance, state and private. Whilst NAPLAN is a point in time test that helps us understand how better to support our students, these results fill us with confidence that students at Mapleton are accessing quality teaching and learning from our dedicated staff and school community.
Our School Priorities for 2024
At the next P&C meeting I will share our schools 4-year strategic plan and annual implementation plan. We have three school priorities that have fallen out of our quadrennial school review, they are noted below.
School priority 1: Improve the proportion of students in P-2 & 3 – 6 achieving a B or better in English and Math.
School priority 2: Enhance capability and confidence of teachers in digital teaching and learning practices that connect all students to digital learning opportunities and improve student outcomes.
School Priority 3: Strengthen community partnerships to ensure a smooth transition and promote the school to ensure a sustainable future.
We look forward to working towards these priorities in 2024 and beyond.
Day 8 Enrolments
As we begin the new school year, I am pleased to confirm that our day 8 enrolment numbers stand at 157 students, including 9 new students who have joined us, welcome!
Campus Opening Times
A reminder to parents that the school campus opens to students at 8:30am each morning. We have had incidents of students arriving before this time and accessing out-of-bounds areas of the school and engaging in unsafe behaviour when active supervision is not in place. For the safety and supervision of all students, I kindly request that parents ensure their children arrive after 8:30am. For those who require earlier drop-off times, our fantastic outside school hours provider, KidzMob, is available to provide care and supervision.
KidzMob: https://kidzmob.com.au/service-locations
Afternoon Pick Up
Students eagerly anticipate reuniting with their grown-ups at the end of the day but please remember teaching and learning occurs right up until 3pm. Parents are more than welcome to attend before this time but to avoid any early distractions we ask parents to wait in the undercover area away from immediate classroom vicinity during this time.
Facilities Update
In facilities news, I am pleased to announce that our toilet block has been approved for a complete refurbishment. The Department will commence work on this project during the course of 2024, enhancing the comfort and convenience of our school facilities for students and staff.
Key Dates
Below are some key dates coming up this term, please see your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
- P&C meeting on the 21st February
- Life Education incursion during Week 7
- NAPLAN Online assessments during Weeks 8 and 9 for our year 3 and 5 students.
- P&C Annual General Meeting on 20th March
- School Cross Country, Tuesday 26th
Furthermore, I am delighted to share that my contract as Principal has been extended through to the end of Semester 1 with the possibility of extension. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in creating a nurturing and enriching learning environment for our students.
Warm regards,
Aaron Willis
Principal
Mapleton State School
Curriculum Corner
How we deliver the curriculum
Our teaching team collaborates to create and provide a whole school approach for delivering the curriculum from Prep to Year 6. Throughout the year, we regularly work together to ensure that we not only meet the needs of the department by delivering the expected curriculum, but that it is done in a way that engages our students, meets their needs and is connected to our unique school context.
All Queensland state schools are required to outline how they are ensuring ‘systematic curriculum delivery’. The curriculum, assessment and reporting requirements for all Queensland state schools are outlined in the P-12 curriculum, assessment and reporting framework (P-12 CARF) External link .
Each year we create a ‘Whole School Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Plan’.
This plan outlines our curriculum delivery from Prep-Year 6.
It also addresses the requirements in the P-12 CARF including:
- Providing the Australian Curriculum in Prep to Year 6
- Assessment in Prep to Year 6, moderation processes and how we report to parents
- A whole school approach to differentiated teaching and learning
- A whole school approach to pedagogy.
This year, our staff will work together to begin implementation of the Australian Curriculum version 9. In 2024 we will implement English and Math, with other subject areas to follow over the coming years.
On the Pupil Free Days earlier this year, all of our teachers reviewed our draft Whole School Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Plan. We then worked together to identify parts that needed to be updated and ways to support and engage our students. The results of this work can be seen all the time at Mapleton, with kids enjoying their learning and making improvements each day.
Prep News
First term in Prep has been busy! The Preppies have settled in so well and are managing the routines confidently. We have learnt several sounds and are blending and segmenting small words. We have had lots of fun with fine motor activities to build our finger strength, while also learning literacy and numeracy concepts. A highlight this week was meeting our Year 6 Buddies!
Year 2 News
Welcome to all our families, new and returning. Students have impressed me with how well they have settled into new routines and are striving to follow the Mapleton Way. Great job Year 2!
Our new super student cape has our classroom friends excited and some have already enjoyed their chance at being the V.I.S (Very Important Student) for the day. Perks include, being first to lunch breaks, big chair at carpet time and questions of the day (just to name a few).
Keep on shining Year 2!
Year 3 News
We have started the year getting to know each other and establishing routines.In Science we have been using Concept Charts to group objects based on observable features.
In Math we are improving our number fact fluency using dice and hundreds charts as well as representing numbers to 10 000 using MAB.
We have also been learning how to...
- conduct an investigation to gather data.
- show that data using tables and graphs.
- interpret the results and solve problems.
Last week we did an investigation to see which was the most popular car colour. The local community gave us lots of smiles and waves as we stood at the fence watching the cars drive by and recording our results. We even got a ‘honk’ from a passing truck, which the kids loved. This week, we will be representing the data we collected in a table using excel spreadsheet software and then a graph.
In art we have been learning about the technique of collage. We are also investigating the work of artist and author Jeannie Baker, who uses collage in her books.
We are looking forward to making our own collages in the coming weeks.
In health we are learning strategies to help us ‘Take a pause’ when we don’t feel calm. These are great strategies for the kids to use at school and even at home.
Mondays - Parade, Music, P.E., library
Tuesdays - Drama
Thursdays -Tech
Fridays - Japanese
Thanks for having your child/ren ready for learning each day.
Mrs Longhurst and Mrs Page
Year 5 News
The Grade 5 Students have all settled into a routine and are all enjoying their fruit break time in the morning at 10am. At this time of the day students have a snack of fruit and a little chat, it helps with their transition from English to Math and also it is a good social time to have discussions and explore each other’s opinions in a safe and nurtured environment.
Year 6 News
Buddies
This week our 2024 Year Six class got their Prep “Buddies”. “Buddies” is a program we do each year. A year sixer will be paired with a Preppie (in the first few weeks) to show them the Mapleton Way and activities we do at our school. It also gives the Preps a chance to see how the year sixers conduct themselves and look up to them as a role-model. The sixers got to do an activity with the Preps to get to know each other better and welcome them to Mapleton State School.
Written by Jacob Shillig
Kids in Action
Yesterday, 15/02/24 I was privileged to attend a teachers information session for “Kids in Action” at the University of Sunshine Coast. So… “What is Kids in Action”?..... Kids in Action is a Sunshine Coast Council environmental education initiative that aims to increase children’s environmental knowledge and understanding , while inspiring and providing opportunities for positive environmental and sustainability action. The program achieves this through the active involvement of students in planning and delivering peer to peer learning experiences on a student-generated environmental project. It also connects participating classes with local environment groups and mentors, creating genuine learning exchanges between current and future environmental custodians. The program focuses on a variety of locally-relevant, curriculum-link environmental themes (such as threatened species, waterways, coastal environments, cultural, heritage and sustainability. Through this process, students develop leadership and active citizenship skills. This year Grade 5 and 6 Students will have the chance to be involved. More details to follow.
Have a great weekend.
SORA
Mapleton State School has registered all enrolled students to have access to Sora. You can access over 80000 eBooks, read-along books and magazines. See the flyer for how to get started.
Photo Day Ordering Process
Book Club
Welcome to a new school year!
For many years now, Mapleton State School has been participating in Scholastic Book Club. Up to twice a term, during the school year, I will send home a Club catalogue with a different selection of books offered for all ages.
It is easy to order. The Book Club LOOP platform for parents allows you to pay by credit card. Your child’s order is submitted directly to school safe and sound and the books will be delivered to class. You can place your child’s order at scholastic.com.au/LOOP or using the LOOP app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
Owning your own books is something special! Each order helps earn free books and teaching materials for our classroom, however there is never any obligation to order.
Thank you for your support,
Renée
Book Club Organiser