Term 4 Week 4

From The Principal

Refresh Program

Our school refresh program has commenced this term.

External painting- Our first priority was to have the Undercover Area ready for any end of year events. From the start of Week 5, our students will be able to use the space again. Work on the Prep Building has commenced. Given the poor condition of the exterior of the building, it will require some extra preparation before it is painted. We aim to have a refreshed Prep Building ready to welcome our new Prep students for the start of 2023.We will continue with the external painting of our teaching blocks during 2023.

Prep Shed- Our Preps will have a new shed to store their play equipment in. The reason for the new shed is that until some major infrastructure work is done on drainage, the storage area under the Prep building, will always be at risk of having water running through it. There is no point investing in new play equipment, if it is going to be damaged by water. We are working with our facilities department on a long-term solution to the problem.

Tree work- Further tree management will be done during November. The area behind the undercover area, will be thinned and some of the trees/branches overhanging the Prep building are to be removed or pruned. The area outside Year 4 will also have some tree work so that branches are not overhanging the shade sails. This will complete any work identified in our arborist's report.

 ICT- Orders have been placed for additional interactive projectors, and an upgrade to any recently installed projectors so that they are touch screen by ‘fingers’ (current projectors need a special pen). We have also ordered new whiteboards for classrooms.

School Opinion Survey (SOS)

SOS results are available to the public under Right to Information (RTI) legislation. Principals actually do read them and plan from the results.

Due to covid, there was no SOS survey in 2020.

No student data was collected in 2021 which makes it a little more difficult to monitor trends/changes in student opinions.

Some highlights from the 2022 SOS:

Some of the least positive items from parents/caregivers, still show a growth in agreement from 2021 results. Across the three groups surveyed, items related to school culture showed the strongest growth from 2021.

Based on the 2022 SOS, areas that we have identified to work on in 2023 are: work on based on SOS data:

• School to Parent/caregiver communication.
• Student behaviour management and student sense of safety and well-being.
• Student interest and engagement in work and school.
• Staff well-being and work/life.

We will continue to work through the data to align our 2023 Annual Improvement Plan to target identified areas from the SOS.

2023 Staffing and Classes

All schools are finalising staffing for next year. While, there is still some work to be done, we can announce some of the changes in our staffing for 2023.

Tim Hackney will be leaving us at the end of the year. Tim will be returning to Caloundra State School. While we will do a more formal thank you for Tim later in the year, I just wanted to acknowledge the work Tim puts into the relationships with his class. While the students like to give Tim a hard time, you can tell that there is a great deal of respect both ways. You can see this at lunch time when Tim is training our girls' football team.

We welcome two new staff to Mapleton in 2023: Michelle John from Caloundra SS and Jemma Ward from Moura SS.

Congratulations to Louise Bentley. Louise is now a permanent teacher at Mapleton.

We welcome back Sarah Harold who will be returning from maternity leave in 2023. Sarah will be returning two days per week for the start of next year.

We are working on our class structures for 2023. A conservative model for planning will be used before Day 8 numbers are finalised. By being conservative, we are in a better position, as it becomes a school celebration if we are able to add an additional class, rather than the frustration and disappointment, if we need to lose a class. There will be more information to Mapleton families in the next newsletter.

2023 Planning and Improved Communication

We know that we need to do more to improve our communication with our families as we prepare for 2023. To ensure that families have an overview of planned events, at the start of the year, parents will receive a class brochure which will provide families with teacher contact information, school and class expectations and details (with a cost estimate) of planned activities for the year.

With camps and excursions, we will ‘backwards map’ from the date of the event to ensure that forms and payment reminders are sent to families to ensure clearer communication and allow time for families to set up payment plans if required.

Carparking and Prep

Now that tree work has been completed next to the old Admin Building, we will be encouraging staff to park in the green space. This will hopefully, free up some space in the main carpark for families during afterschool pick up. To ensure our Prep students are safe, for the remainder of 2022, we will be asking that parents not let their children play in the ‘green space’ next to the old Admin Building after school. In 2023, we will clearly state to families that this area is out of bounds.

Parade presentations

Parade Items: We have received incredibly positive feedback from our community seeing our students present at Parade.

Staff Appreciation Day

World Teachers' Day is an opportunity to celebrate and thank Queensland teachers for their important role in our communities and for the positive impact they have on the lives of students.

Queensland celebrates World Teachers’ Day annually on the last Friday in October (28 October 2022).

At Mapleton, we recognise that all of our staff play a role in the education of our children. To reflect this, we celebrated Staff Appreciation Day on Thursday the 27^th of October.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for the wonderful care, dedication and professionalism, shown to our Mapleton students and community.

Mapleton State School principal, Julianne Emmert has extended her leave. I have been asked by the region to continue as Acting Principal until the end of the year.

Prep News

Term 4 Science in Prep

This term in Prep we are having fun investigating how objects move. We have investigated rolling, sliding, bouncing, spinning and vibrating. We are considering the properties of the objects, to determine how that influences an object's movement, particularly shape and what material the object is made from. This week, the Preps conducted a rolling and bouncing test. After testing several objects, they chose one and sorted it according to how it moved, explaining to the class how they made that choice. We have heard some great scientific language from our Preppies!

Year 3 News

This term in English we are reading, writing and performing poetry.

We began our unit by adapting the 2^nd stanza of the poem “My Country” by Dorothea Mackellar.

Here are some of our amazing adaptations:

Dr Conroy visit

Dr Gabriel Conroy has offered his time to take our students to Baxter Creek to study the ecology of the environment and the local cockatoo species.  We are very thankful for this offer and look forward to learning with Dr Conroy on the 7^th November.

Appreciation

The students created ‘Thank You’ cards for the staff at Mapleton State School who help us to learn and care for our school.

We are sincerely appreciative of the efforts everyone contributes.

5/6 News

Some students have written about our 5/6 Ruby League Girls and an account from Regional Sports Day.

Burnside Year 7 Orientation Day

Community Notices

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We have many benefits to offer! Such as Salary Packaging to increase your tax free threshold and kilometre reimbursement. You will also have the opportunity to learn and grow via our training and development program. Just to name a few! We also offer a Sign-on Bonus of $500 (T&C's apply). 

If this interests you in any way, please call us on 5445 7044 or email info@brcg.org.au as we would love to have you join our team!