29/01/2025
PRINCIPAL REPORT
Hello Mooloolah Community,
Welcome back to a new year. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed having the kid’s at home for the last 6 weeks. We have had a very smooth start to the year with all students settling into their new classes with lots of laughter drifting from classrooms. We really do have a lovely school here, walking around yesterday there was an air of calmness and excitement around the school.
Thanks to our amazing P&C for shouting a coffee for our new prep families and teaching staff. It was very much appreciated. The staff are still talking about how it really made for a great welcome back. Pressure is on me now for that to continue!
I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new families both in prep and throughout our school and hope you enjoy your time here at Mooloolah. I would also like to welcome to our new and returning staff Beth Ore Prep/1, and Annabel Moffat our new school GO. They are welcome additions to our team and all bring various levels of experience to their roles. They are all super enthusiastic and have fit in so well with our Loolah Team.
This year at MSS, our 2025 priorities are focused on implementing V9 of the Australian Curriculum with a focus on reading and Math. We want to ensure all our students are engaged, challenged and successful. Secondly, we are working on building a strong, inclusive, positive learning culture which is supported by our Student Code of Conduct. This year we will be teaching fortnightly behaviour lessons across the school ensuring that all students know the fortnightly focus. We will be encouraging our students to become Loolah legends with a raft of positive behaviour rewards they can earn. These include “Caught Ya” tickets which go into our weekly draw for a tuckshop voucher, whole school rewards day, excellence and merit certificates for behaviour, and hat badges in recognition of outstanding performance or effort.
This year our classes will have consistency around behaviour processes and language used. All students will receive two reminders around behaviour, if the behaviour continues, they will be asked to move to a space in the room or attend the Hive for a reset. Upon returning to class and they still continue with the behaviour they will be issued a grey card which will come home to inform you of the difficulties they were having throughout the day. This grey card will be both emailed and given to the student, it is our communication to let you know your child had a difficult day. We ask that you sign this card and return it the next day and have a chat with your child around the identified behaviour. Each fortnight I will share various parts of our Code of Conduct with you through our newsletter. We will also publish the new Code of Conduct on our school website in the coming weeks.
On Monday 10 Feb at 9am on parade we will present our school leaders with their badges. If your child or children are leaders, we would love for you to join us for this special occasion. Also lock into your calendar Tuesday 11 Feb 3:30 pm. On this afternoon we will be holding our “Meet the Teacher” for 2025. This year we will be doing it a little differently. We will be holding every class at the same time 3:30- 4:00pm, if you have multiple children you will need to choose which class presentation you attend. Teachers will email out to all parents an overview of the term ahead, a little about themselves and class procedures whether you attended their talk or not. From 4:00 till 4:30 we will host a sausage sizzle for a meet and greet between community and staff. We would love to see you there.
As the school year kicks off it is vitally important, we have your child here when the bell goes. During this time teachers set the tone and give instructions for the day. By being here for that you set your child up for success.
I love getting out around our Loolah kids and having a chat, it was so nice to hear about their holidays and how excited they were to be back at school.
Have a great weekend, we have a magic school.
Cheers
Scott Thompson Principal
HEAD OF CURRICULUM REPORT
Digital Horizons
Our 1:1 device program for Year 4, Mooloolah Digital Horizons, will commence in Term 2 this year. A note has gone out this week providing information and we do need parents to indicate their preferences via returning the note by 7 February to allow us to plan further. A parent information session will be held this term, with the date to be advised shortly.
NAPLAN This term, students in Years 3 & 5 will complete NAPLAN testing (National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy). There are four tests in total for each year level; writing, reading, spelling/grammar and numeracy. The NAPLAN testing period will run over a 10 day period, from Wednesday 12 March - Monday 24 March. Students with a disability may be eligible for reasonable adjustments to these tests. If you feel your child may require adjustments, please talk to your child's inclusion support or classroom teacher to discuss further. A parent information sheet is included in this newsletter with more information, but if you have any other questions, please contact us and we will be happy to answer them.
Parent volunteers - library We are seeking volunteers to assist in our library, including tasks such as covering new books and helping look after resources. If you have some time to spare and would like to contribute in our library space, please contact myself on knoe2@eq.edu.au
KIRSTEN NOE
RAINFOREST WORKING BEE
John Joseph (JJ) and Donna Aspinall will be holding a Working Bee at the school rainforest this weekend.
Saturday 1 Feb 8:30am-12:00pm
I am sure you have heard all about JJ as he was the original teacher who planted out the school rainforest back in 1988.
The weeds have been growing high in the holidays with all this rain and the seating needs to be drilled back on and cleaned and prepped for re-painting. Lots of palms need clearing. The ponds need clearing out too.
If you could spare a set of hands and would like a morning helping out in the rainforest, please come and meet us at the steps of the Rainforest. We will provide everything you need but please bring any of the below items you might have at home to help out.
pruning snips
shovels (to dig out the ponds)
weeding tools
gloves
buckets/flexi tubs
wheel burrows
garbage Bags
sun protection
Many thanks!
Donna Aspinall
Head of Special Education Services
SWIMMING LESSONS
Swimming Lessons commencing 4th February 2025, Years 1-6
It is very important to return student Swimming Permission forms this week, to allow your student to participate in next week’s lessons.
If you require a replacement form, contact the office on 5413 6333 or email admin@mooloolahss.eq.edu.au.
Invoices will be emailed this week ready for pre-payment via BPoint or at the school office.
BUSINESS MANAGER INFORMATION
Student Resource Scheme 2025:
Invoices will be raised this week. If you would like to set up a Payment Plan or Centrelink Deduction Authority, please contact me for assistance.
Linda Rossiter
YEAR 6 SENIOR SHIRTS
P & C NEWS
Welcome to Term 1 2025
The P&C is delighted to welcome all our new and returning families to school. I hope many of you got to enjoy the coffee van we had on site on Day 1 of term and your kids have settled back into school.
With the start of the school year, we would love to see some new faces on P&C this year or volunteering to help at events. There are many ways you can get involved with P&C such as:
- volunteer at tuckshop or uniform shop
- volunteer at one of our events and bbqs
- running an event such as a disco, our big annual trivia night or other event throughout the year
- joining the P&C Committee
- taking on a specific role at our upcoming AGM
At the first P&C meeting in February, we will be planning out key activities for the year and as they say, many hands make light work, so come along and see how you can help out!
A few keys dates from the P&C:
- Rainforest Working Bee Saturday 1 February 8:30am - 12noon (please see Donna Aspinall if you can help out
- Swim Carnival (Years 4-6) BBQ Friday 7th February – if you would like to help cook the bbq or serve whist cheering your child on, please let us know!
- First P&C Meeting of the year - Wednesday 19th February, 6pm
- P&C AGM - Wednesday 19 March 6pm
Information on tuckshop opening days, Subway and uniform shop is also attached to the newsletter.
As always, if you have any questions about the P&C or would like to join, come along to one of our meetings, see Katrina Mills, Katie Tietjen or Themelina Johns at the school at pick up or drop off or email us at pandc@mooloolahss.eq.edu.au
Regards,
Katrina Mills
P&C President
COMMUNITY NEWS
The 2025 Season is LOCKED & LOADED and we can't wait to get started!! While we wait for our official training to start, we invite all our new and returning players to come down to The Manor for Senior & Junior Pre-Season Toad Tag!!
Every Tuesday 4.30pm.
Run off some Christmas cheer, catch up with old mates and meet new ones.
Put the 1st of March in your diary folks!! Our Sign On/Open Day Extravaganza is happening and we have an epic day of fun, prizes and treats planned!
Please keep an eye on our socials for Sign-On links for everyone who is as keen as us to get into some Rugby in 2025!!
