Newsletter Term 2 Week 3 2024
Principal's Message
Dear Parents, Guardians, and Students
Talofa Lava,
As we stride into the heart of May, I extend a warm greeting to our school community. Here are some important updates and reminders:
Full School Uniform & Wide Brimmed Hats:
A gentle reminder to all students to attend school in their complete school uniform each day. As the weather gets cooler, please ensure that your children are wearing school-coloured jumpers or jackets. Brightly coloured and heavily branded jackets are best kept for after school and the weekends. Please also make sure that any warm clothes are clearly labelled so they can be returned if misplaced. The days are still very sunny, so it's crucial that students wear their wide-brimmed hats during outdoor activities. This ensures their safety and well-being while enjoying our beautiful campus.
Celebrating Participation in After School Auskick:
A round of applause for the many students who have enthusiastically participated in After School Auskick on Tuesday afternoons! Your dedication and sportsmanship exemplify our school's spirit. Keep up the fantastic work, and continue to enjoy the fun and camaraderie it brings.
Public Holiday on Monday 6th May:
Please note that Monday, 6th May, is a Public Holiday in Queensland. Take this opportunity to relax, recharge, and spend quality time with your loved ones. We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and rejuvenated on Tuesday.
As always, thank you for your continued support and cooperation in making our school a vibrant and nurturing learning environment.
Kind regards,
Masina Taule’alo
Principal
Junior Campus Deputy Principal
Helping your child learn to read
At Mabel Park, we believe that reading is one of the most important skills we can teach our children. We use the Simple View of Reading as a tool to understand how students are progressing in two key areas – Word Reading (understanding how letters and sounds go together to form words – from very basic words to words with more complex spelling patterns) and Language Comprehension (understanding the meaning of the text being read).
Students begin to read by learning the letters and the sounds they represent. They then learn to blend these sounds to read words. We call this process “decoding” because written language is actually is a code that our students must learn.
To decode a word, students need to know:
- Which sound or sounds each letter makes, e.g. that ‘c’ sounds like /k/ in ‘cat’ and like /s/ in ‘cell’.
- How to blend these sounds together to read a word. E.g., to read the word ‘hum’ you need to know the sounds that represent ‘h’, ‘u’ and ‘m’ and know be able to put these together to form the word.
- Sometimes two or three (or more) letters can go together to make one sound. E.g., ‘c’ by itself can represent the /c/ sound and ‘h’ by itself can represent the /h/ sound, but when they go together, they make the /ch/ sound. Or the /k/ sound if you are reading words like ‘school’ or ‘choir’.
Alexis Bell
If you would like to help your child with learning to read at home, here are some tips:
- Use magnetic letters to play with letters and sounds, and to make words (they can be real or nonsense words)
- Talk about sounds you can hear in words. E.g., “What sound does Nanna’s name start with?” or “What rhymes with cake?’ This can be a fun way to engage your child when you are out shopping or in the car.
- Read books to your child. Listening to stories being read is a wonderful way for children to build vocabulary and imagination. Ask questions about the story and the characters.
- Listen to your child read. If they are having trouble with a word, ask them to go back and say each sound. Be patient. If you find yourself getting frustrated, try again another time. We want you and your child to both enjoy reading together and if it’s not fun for either of you it’s best to say “I think it’s time for a break. Let’s try again later.”
Logan City Council Libraries have decodable readers on their shelves available for borrowing. It’s worth a trip to your local library to check these out, and to borrow some favourite books to share as well.
Middle Campus Deputy Principal
It’s been a busy start to the term for our Year 5 & 6 students with Anzac Day Parade and getting back into learning. All of our Year 6 students were lucky enough to experience a visit from our local Police Liaison Officers who spoke to them in detail about Cyber Safety. The students were so respectful and gained a lot of knowledge from this experience. We look forward to more experiences like this in the future.
Attendance-Every Day Counts
Every day counts is a state-wide initiative that aims to assist in improving student attendance at school through a shared commitment by students, parents, caregivers, schools and the community.
“Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind.“
Why it’s important
We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes. Each missed day is associated with progressively lower achievement in numeracy, writing and reading.
What we can do
The main reasons for absence are:
Sickness – There are always times when students need to miss school, such as when they’re ill. It’s vital that they’re only away on the days they are genuinely sick, and that you notify the school when this occurs. Setting good sleep patterns, eating well and exercising regularly can have a positive impact in reducing absence caused by illness.
If you’re having attendance issues with your child, please let the school know so we can work together to get your child to school every day. For more information and resources to help address attendance issues, visit: https://education.qld.gov.au/initiatives-and-strategies/initiatives/every-day-counts
Sonya Wright
Teaching and Learning at Mabel
How can you support your child’s learning at home?
In the last newsletter we talked about ways you can help your student improve their reading. Today, the focus is on Maths.
I know a lot of parents have a fear of Maths or don’t like Maths. Did you know that sharing this fear of dislike sets up your child to feel the same way when they go to school?
Maree Martin
Head of Department Curriculum
Here are some ideas to help you help your student to feel more confident with Maths:
Student Services at Mabel
What is your family weekend routine?
Even though everyone enjoys taking it easy on the weekends, our weekend activities can affect our workweek. It may be time to revaluate the family weekend routine if you find family members are feeling worn out and anxious at the beginning of the week.
Even though most of us enjoy sleeping late on the weekends, research indicates that having a lot of variation in our wake and sleep schedules may be harmful to us. Establishing a regular wake-up time each day aids with body clock regulation. On the weekends, sleeping in can make it more difficult to get to sleep and stay asleep the next night.
Because we have home and work obligations to meet, it can be simpler to follow our routines during the school day. Even if there are moments when we just want to "chill" and have nothing planned, this may also lead to the weekend "evaporating" as we stay in, sleep in, or binge watch TV.
It is vital that each weekend we allocate some time to get some fresh air and sunshine. Spending time outdoors has all kinds of health benefits. Ideally, we should get outside in the morning. Scheduling some time for a walk in nature or at the beach not only allows us to get some sunshine and fresh air but also has the benefit of clearing our mind.
Even though most of us like to unwind and have our weekends be less organised than our school days, we may also utilise our weekends to prepare ourselves for the next week's success. When we get that balance right we head into the new week refreshed and ready for what is ahead.
Teresa Radicke, Sarah Williamson and Karen Gardyne
Head of Department Student Services
Are your contact details up to date?
In the event of an emergency or accident, the school MUST be able to contact you immediately by telephone, so we need to have the most up-to-date information on our system.
Please keep us updated with any new home address, telephone number and email addresses.