2023 Term 3 Week 3
Principal's Report
Welcome to the first edition of our school newsletter for Term 3. As usual, there has been plenty of activity at the school in the first three weeks of term, as well as some new students joining us. Welcome to all of our new students and families!
On Friday, 14 July, our senior students travelled to Brisbane to watch the Creative Generations performance, together with students from Monkland State School. While it involved a long trip, both there and back, all students agreed that it was an incredible experience and well worth attending. Thank you to Ms Broome, Mrs Alford and Mrs Valamis for attending this event.
Students have quickly settled into routines for the term, with lots of learning happening in every classroom. All Year levels are working on poetry in English lessons, with every student learning a particular poem. During Weeks 4 and 5, students from each class will present their poems in front of an audience, vying to be selected as the Amamoor SS representatives at the Mary Valley Poetry Competition in Week 10. This year, the competition will be held at MVSC, Imbil, on Tuesday 12 September, with parents most welcome to attend. Good luck to all of our students!
During the holidays, Dave Hall, our groundsman, worked incredibly hard removing all of our old and well-loved garden beds. He has built four new rectangular beds, complete with irrigation, with another bed due to be constructed next week. New soil was ordered and installed so that our Kitchen Garden programme can continue to provide our students with plenty of fresh herbs and vegetables in the years to come. We are also planning to install some swales with more fruit trees in the near future, as well as extending the concreted area near the garden shed and relocating (and recovering) the shade house.
You may also notice that our new beach volleyball court is taking shape. This full-size court was also constructed during the holidays, with poles and net put in place this week by Dave. It is envisaged that works on this new facility will be finalised next week. A new feature garden is also being created opposite the Library, next to the new Prep classroom. This decorative pebble garden will hopefully house some new art designs, created by our budding artists. With our large chess pieces being used daily, Dave is also constructing a new storage facility for them in the Under Cover Area. It certainly is making a difference now having Dave on site twice a week!
Last weekend, our oval and lawn areas around the buildings were treated extensively for funnel ants. These invasive creatures were causing havoc with our grounds and it is hoped that this first round of treatment will help mitigate their spread. We will attempt to treat the remainding areas later in the term.
Constable Justin, from Imbil police, recently visited our school to talk with students from Years 3 - 6 regarding the issue of Cybersafety. With the internet and social media dominating many lives in contemporary society, this brief was critically important for our young students as they head toward high school.
Amamoor State School has welcomed Miss Lauren Bond to its staff for the next three weeks. Miss Bond is a pre-service teacher from Avondale University in NSW and will be working predominantly in the Year 4/5/6 class, under the expert eye of Ms Broome. Welcome Lauren and we hope you enjoy your time with us.
Next Wednesday, all students from Amamoor SS will be heading off to the Cooroy Campus of Noosa District State High School to enjoy this year's performance of Annie - The Musical! I would like to especially thank our wonderful P&C committee for again supporting our students and providing funds to cover the expense of bus travel.
District athletics are being held this week, on both Thursday and Friday, at Gympie. This event will see the top students from all around the Gympie region compete for regional selection in track and field events. Congratulations to Leila, Brady, Indy, Matilda and Daniel for attending.
As you can see on the calendar, we have many other events coming up in the next few weeks, including RawArt, MVSC Science Fair, Book Fair and another 'whole school' excursion to Caloundra Events Centre to experience 'The Twits!' Again, our P&C has been very supportive and subsidised many of these events. Thank you. If you have not paid for any of these events, please remember that payment may be made by cash, direct deposit or using the Qkr app. If you should have any concerns, please see Amanda in the School Office.
Work on our new groundsman's shed is due to commence soon, with the site for this to be adjacent to the staff carpark. This shed will be double the capacity of our old shed, with two roller doors and plenty of bench space for Dave to store all of his work equipment. Once this is completed, the temporary shipping container storage option will be removed. Still on infrastructure, the temporary fencing near the sports shed is due to be removed next week and the electrical switch upgraded. This will again provide for power and lighting for this area.
Thank you to all of the community members who have been donated goods to our 'Pay it Forward' pantry. This facility provides members of our community with grocery relief during times of need. If you have been 'hit' with a big bill or unexpected expense and just need a little helping hand, please come and see us to see how we can help. Likewise, if you know of anyone who might need some help, please pop in to the School Office and speak to Amanda.
As you would be aware, I am taking some time off this year to do some extensive hiking. During my absence, Mr Mitchell Brown will be looking after the school as Acting Principal. Mitchell is currently looking after Monkland State School as Acting Principal and I am delighted to welcome him to Amamoor. I am sure he will enjoy working alongside our community until I return later in the year.
Today, our P&C is busy working hard at Bunnings Gympie with a sausage sizzle. Thank you to all of the members volunteering their time to raise money for the students of our school. Congratulations to all of the winners of the recent P&C raffle and thank you again to our committee members who gave up their time and effort to organise and run this fundraiser.
Our Instrumental Music programme continues to gather pace, with many senior students now accessing this curriculum area. In conjunction with the P&C, Amamoor State School now has purchased three clarinets, a flute and a trumpet! We have budgeted to purchase another two instruments per year, which will eventually see all students at Amamoor with access to an instrument at no cost to parents.
At Amamoor SS, we are also continuing to invest in ICT infrastructure. Our aim is to have 1:1 ratio of computers throughout the school, enabling all students to have full access. We are also increasing student access to relevant curriculum software applications.
Due to the increasing enrolments at Amamoor, we have restructured our classes for Semester 2 as follows...
- Prep Mrs Meredith / Mrs Story
- 1/2 Mrs Hughes / Mrs Wilson
- 3 Mr Benzie / Mrs Wilson
- 4/5/6 Ms Broome
Altogether, we have 75 students now enrolled at Amamoor SS, with 18 in Prep, 18 in 1/2, 16 in Year 3 and 23 in 4/5/6. With the Prep class now located in P Block, it is a wonderful opportunity on Friday mornings for our youngest students to meet and play with the playgroup children. If you know of any new families in the area with school-age children, please let them know about our lovely little school!
Enjoy looking through the rest of this newsletter and getting a feel for all of the things going on at our school.
Regards,
Tony Benzie
Works in Progress!
Prep
Year 1/2
Year 3
Our newest class has quickly settled in to their new classroom. Mr Benzie is teaching on this class for most of the week, with Mrs Wilson teaching on Thursdays. This term we have been super-busy doing our normal curriculum-focus areas, as well as Visual Arts, Chappy, Choir, Music and Kitchen-Garden.
Here's some photo's of us working in the newly-completed garden beds...
Year 4/5/6
Year 6
PBL
Students of the Week
Congratulations to our most recent winners...
Xanthe, Indy, Oliver, Myah, Shari, Sophie and Lucy!
Library
Playgroup
P&C
Our P&C continues to grow stronger as we reach the end of July and go full steam ahead into August. There is plenty of fundraising happening and lots of people getting involved, which is so good to see. The school and its community are in such a good space at present (thanks Tony!).
A big thank you to our committee members for their efforts in organising the Xmas in July raffle. We had a cool team help out and the fundraiser raised over $1000 so the kids can go to The Twits in Caloundra. A shout out too for the sponsors who donated to the raffle – Beauty by Bec, Paisley and Hearts, Muster, Rattler, Village Green Café, Gympie Cinemas, The Wild Vine Café, Dominos, Playback, Beefy’s and Australia Zoo.
This Friday we have a Bunnings sausage sizzle with a crew ready to go led by Konrad. I’m sure these guys will have an awesome day. This fundraiser has let us try out our new online food ordering system (Woolworths) and electronic payment system (Square). Moving forward!
And next month is Muster. We’ve got 22 people involved for a total of 162 work hours on the roster. That’s incredible. Thank you so much for getting behind our major fundraiser for the year. I’m sure the work teams will have heaps of fun putting up/taking down signs, watching the Muster come to life for another year.
If you want to get involved with the P&C and our awesome Amamoor community then please like our FaceBook page, ask to join the FB chat group, email us at amamoorsspanc@outlook.com, come to our next meeting on 23 August or msg me on 0410586749. We won’t bite, and we won’t even give you a job if you don’t want one 😊
Cheers, Neil.
Uniform
Kitchen/Garden
We continue to plant our new beds and so far we have: peas, beans, radishes and carrots planted. Today we will be making tripods for the beans and giving them all a good drink!
Pick of the Crop
Community
