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 2 Week 8 2024
From the Pincipal
Assessment and Reporting Cards
It's been a pleasure visiting classrooms this term and witnessing the exceptional teaching and learning happening all over the school. Our dedicated teachers and hardworking students have truly impressed. Students are currently in the final stages of completing their assessments in preparation for their Semester 1 report cards.
We've had higher than average absenteeism this term due to various factors. If your child is well enough, we encourage their attendance to complete their assessments. If they need to stay home, please contact their classroom teacher for any work they can complete at home. Report cards will be emailed to parents during the last week of school.
5 Nations Soccer
Excitement is building for the 5 Nations Soccer event, which will take place next Thursday, June 13, at Kenilworth State School. Over 50 of our students will participate, and we are looking forward to a day full of sportsmanship and fun. Thank you to Mr. Price for organising this event. Let's cheer on our teams!
2024 P&C Executive
Earlier this term, we held the P&C Annual General Meeting. It is with great pleasure that I introduce the 2024 Executive team:
- President: Chris Becker
- Vice President: Aaron Parsons
- Treasurer (Interim): Heidi Becker
- Secretary: Kate Algar
- Social Media: Elissa Bartholomew
The next P&C meeting will be on Wednesday, June 19, 5pm at the Mapleton Pub. Parents and families are welcome to attend. The treasurer position is still available, and we invite any interested parents or community members to contact Chris or myself. A special thanks to Heidi for continuing to serve as interim treasurer.
Athletics Carnival
The Athletics Carnival will be held on Monday, June 17, on the school oval. Students have been enthusiastically participating in pre-events and preparing for a day full of excitement and school spirit. Please find the attached program for the day's events. The P&C will run a stall where students can purchase food and drinks, so please send them with some money if they wish to buy refreshments. A big thank you to Mr. Price and the team for their hard work in organising this whole school event.
Students who qualify will be invited to the small school’s athletics carnival held in the first week of next term.
Fanfare Success
Congratulations to Ms. Dean and our instrumental students for their outstanding performance at Fanfare last week! Achieving gold standard across all elements is a remarkable accomplishment. Well done!
NAIDOC Week
Our wonderful OSHC providers, KidzMob, have successfully applied for a grant of over $8,000 for NAIDOC week activities. These activities will take place during the first week of next term on Tuesday, July 9. Thank you to Charlie and Charlotte for their support and connections with Tribal Link. We look forward to a culturally immersive experience.
KidzMob Vacation Care Program
KidzMob have a fantastic vacation care program available for families over the winter break, we have sent out details via SZapp and included in this newsletter.
Overdue Library Books
At our recent P&C meeting, we discussed the ongoing issue of any unreturned library books and the importance of maintaining a well-stocked resource centre for all students. To address this, the P&C has agreed to a $20 fee for families if students have any unreturned library books, starting from next term.
Given that this is a new system, we anticipate there may be some initial challenges. We kindly ask for your patience and cooperation as we work through any issues that arise and invite you to politely discuss your concerns with our staff.
Keep an eye on your emails. Parents will receive multiple reminders regarding overdue books and the $20 fee will apply.
We understand the importance of clear communication and will strive to make this transition as smooth as possible. Your support in helping to keep our library resources available for all students is greatly appreciated.
Facilities Update
It has been an exciting and busy term for our facilities team! You may have noticed the vibrant new paint on A Block, part of our preparations for the school's 125 Anniversary next term. This is just one of many projects aimed at enhancing our school environment.
During the upcoming school holidays, the amenities block will undergo a comprehensive refurbishment. This much-needed update will include:
- Replacing the flooring
- Installing new basins
- Upgrading cubicles
- Replacing louvers
Additionally, we are hopeful to begin irrigation work on the school garden, thanks to a generous grant received by the P&C.
A huge thank you to Lois and the facilities team for their dedication and hard work in keeping our school’s infrastructure in top shape. Their efforts ensure that our students have a safe and pleasant environment in which to learn and grow.
125 Anniversary
Next term, Mapleton State School celebrates its 125 anniversary. The celebration will be held on Wednesday, July 17, from 2pm to 4pm on the front lawn near A Block. The event will include historical displays, the opening of a time capsule buried by past students, musical performances, and student work samples. We invite all parents and community members to join us in celebrating this significant milestone.
Cosmic Kids
Cosmic Kids is on at 5:30pm Wednesday June 12 at the Observatory. Please contact school office to book a spot as there is a limit of 20 people only.
Student, Parent & Community Code of Conduct
At a P&C meeting this term we tabled our 2024-2027 student, parent & community code of conduct. The parent and community code of conduct has been included in the newsletter with the student code of conduct readily available via the school website.
We encourage parents and families to familiarise themselves with these documents.
Principal Appointment
This term, the department conducted a state wide recruitment process for the principal position at Mapleton State School on a fixed temporary basis. I applied for the position and am pleased to announce that I have been successful. The current appointment is until the end of Term 3, with the possibility of extension. I look forward to continuing to work with our dedicated teachers, wonderful students, and the wider Mapleton State School community.
Thank you for your ongoing support and involvement in our school community. I would like to wish all our families a great winter break.
Best regards,
Aaron Willis
Principal
Mapleton State School
Prep News
This term in Prep we have been learning all about writing sentences. We are getting very good at using finger spaces, capitals and full stops, and sounding out our words. We have a learning wall with our very own individual writing goals to help us remember what we are focussing on.
We have been studying the external features of animals and plants in Science this term. This week we have had fun creating plants with playdough and representing the different external features, such as roots, stems, leaves etc.
Year 2 News
We have been writing up a storm in Year 2 with a focus on Information Texts. Students have been looking at Australian Animals and below are seriously amazing sentences that students have written on their own.
Platypus
‘A male Platypus has a spur and a baby Platypus is called a puggle.’ Dion
‘They are nocturnal and they also do knuckle walks.’ Bronte
‘A Platypuses back legs are for steering and their front legs are for swimming.’ Quinn
‘It digs with its snout to catch food and then it will swim to the surface to eat it. They bring up their food in their cheek pouches.’ Josephine
Koalas
‘Male Koalas mark their tree with their pheromones from their chest. All Koalas know who’s tree it is because of the pheromones.’ Stella
‘All Koalas are arboreal this means they live in trees.' Maestro
VERY impressive indeed. Bravo for all your efforts Year 2!
Year 3 News
We have been busy completing assessments and demonstrating our best efforts, as always.
We have been researching our topic for our informative text writing in English. Our paragraphs need to include compound sentences, noun groups and topic specific vocabulary.
In Science we have been learning about the rotation of the earth and how this relates to day, night, sunrise, sunset and shadow.
Our maths unit is seeing us use our knowledge of multiplication arrays to design a maze for a BlueBot robot to navigate. We are looking forward to programming the BlueBot through the obstacles.
Also in Maths, we shared the results of our statistical investigation ‘What play equipment do Mapleton students want?’ with the P&C. During this investigation, the Year 3 students designed a statistical investigation and conducted a survey with every class in our school. They then collated this data in a table and graph. They also interpreted the data and worked together to share the results with our school P & C.
Read the response from the P & C below...
Dear Year Three,
Wow - we are just so excited to write back to the incredible mathematicians we have in Year Three at Mapleton State School. We have attached a photo showing our excitement!
Mrs Page attended our recent P&C Meeting. She brought along with her the results and data you collected and displayed showing how you think the money raised from Containers for Change should be spent. We have to say how impressed we are with the detailed and clear information you have presented to us. We love that Lego was the winner (with marble run a close second!).
We are currently talking to the OSHC and the P&C team to get some of these items purchased for you - hopefully this will happen very soon! Thank you for all your great suggestions.
Congratulations again to you all on a job very well done, and thank you for sharing your wonderful maths learning with us.
Love Kate & Bec and all the Mapleton P&C
In Visual Arts...
Year 5 News
Art and Design Technology
We have had a jam-packed term filled with so many exciting activities. Our Art Day was a huge success, our sculptures were taken by Mrs Page to be fired and we have them back, ready to paint. We are looking forward to the end results. Our Design Technology unit allowed the students to choose an edible plant, plant it, then create a package for it. Students also created information sheets and recipe. The plants are growing well and will be brought home at the end of this week.
English
Within our English unit we produced a powerpoint information text on the History of Mapleton. We were able to learn many things about the history of our area. If you would like to see any of these powerpoints. Please contact me and I will email them to you.
Garden
Thank you to The Becker family for the donation of herbs plants. The students were able to weed and plant out the raised garden beds near the chicken shed.
Kids in Action
Yesterday we had a visit from one of the coordinators of the program Mandy Shaw. She came to talk with the students about their ideas for the up-and-coming Kids in Action Conference, at the University of Sunshine Coast in September. Some great discussions were had and the kids have some great ideas…….
Still to come this term
Still to come…Athletics Carnival, Soccer Day at Kenilworth, Pyjama Day and Colour Run. So many things for the students to be involved in. I hope everyone has a lovely break and well-earned rest. Spend time making beautiful memories.
Michelle
Year 6 News
Over the past few weeks Year 6 has been busy designing and creating in many different learning areas. They have designed and created a plant service in Design and Technology. This included a fact sheet about the plant and the packaging for delivering the plant. In Visual Arts students designed and created an animal sculpture out of clay. They had lots of fun getting messy with the clay and made some amazing sculptures. These will be painted later to finish off the project. Finally, in English Year 6 have been busy creating information reports about the history of Mapleton State School. Students have typed up their reports into PowerPoint and then added photographs, tables and timelines. Some students have experimented with transitions and animations to turn the PowerPoint into a video. They are looking forward to being able to share the videos and reports with the school community.
Design and Technology creations
Visual Arts sculptures