2025 Term 2 Week 4 Newsletter

Principal's News

EVERYONE is invited to attend our Under 8s Day on Wednesday 21 May from 9.15am - 1.30pm.

There is an incredible number of quality, fun, learning opportunities for children aged 0 - 8 years to experience including:

* Toowoomba Regional Council Mobile Library - come and browse the 'big truck library'!

* Emergency Services including Qld Ambulance Service, Axel, SES

* Teddy Bears Hospital thanks to Rural Medical Education Australia

* Let's Make Tinka - hands on art activity with Polly from Bunnings!

* Nature Play - explore the natural play space at Prep

* Junior Hockey, playing with the Toowoomba Hockey Association

* Pick of the Crop - Kitchen Garden fun including recycling, box construction, investigating plants, water play and more

* Tractors & Trucks - an even bigger display than last year

* ...and all the favourites such as Ten Pin Bowling, music, dance and more!

At 11am, we will all stop for lunch and participate in the "National Simultaneous Storytime" reading of "The Truck Cat". 

A Coffee Van will be on site.

Family support agencies will be set up in the PFC for parents & carers to touch base with including:  Free Kindy Program, Carbal Hearing, Goolburri, AEIOU and the PSS Guidance Officer.

Who will be attending?

At this stage, we have 230 children from:

* Pittsworth State School Prep - Year 23W, St Stephen's Prep, Pittsworth Kindy, Pittsworth Early Learning, Back Plains SS, Jelly Bears Playgroup, Possums Playground, Mainly Music families, First 5 Forever families, community members .......

Walk Safely to School Day:  Friday 16 May 2025

Well it’s that time of year again when our school seriously starts talking about walking!

Walk Safely to School Day asks that we all consider our transport habits and try to incorporate more walking as part of a healthy, active way to get around.

Although walking all the way to school isn’t realistic for many of us, it’s quite easy to figure out how you can build a walk into your family’s daily routine.

You can teach your child the healthy habit of walking more by:

• Walking with them the whole way to school
• If you have to drive, park the car a block away from the school and walk the rest of the way.

Regular exercise like walking with your child not only helps them (and you!) beat chronic problems like obesity, heart disease, behavioural and mental health issues and diabetes. It also gives you a great opportunity to teach your child safe ways to behave around roads and traffic.

Remember, Active Kids are Healthy Kids so get planning your own Walk Safely to School Day journey for Friday 16 MAY 2025!

For more information, visit www.walk.com.au

Aussie of the Month

Aussie of the Month encourages our students to be active citizens.
What does that mean?  Active citizenship simply means getting involved in your community.
Aussie of the Month encourages and recognises the Australian values of fair go, mateship, respect and inclusion.
Fair Go:  same opportunity for all people and having a go
Mateship:  generosity of spirit and compassion for those in need
Respect:  for self, for others, our way of life and the environment
Inclusion:  acceptance of difference, feeling of belonging

Know someone who is eligible for "Aussie of the Month"?  Please email a member of the admin team.

Two Items Offered for Sale by Tender

1. Victa Push Mower

2. Honda Brushcutter. Please see Tender document below.

Curriculum

Premier's Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is not a competition but a way to encourage students to develop a love of reading for life. Students are encouraged to select a range of fiction and non-fiction books suited to their reading ability and record books read during the reading period, between the 6th May to the 22nd August. The reading record and consent form is attached and can also be collected from class teachers if required. . Forms MUST be signed by a parent/guardian.

To complete the challenge:

• Prep to Year 2 must read or experience at least 20 books
• Years 3 and 4 must read at least 20 books
• Years 5 to 9 must read at least 15 books.

The following activities can be counted towards the challenge:

• reading independently
• shared reading
• being read to (Prep – Year 2 for books written in English; and all year levels for additional languages).

The following literature forms can be counted towards the challenge:

• printed books
• e-books, virtual books and digital publications
• graphic novels and comic books
• audio and braille books
• newspapers, magazines and recipe books
• books in additional languages (other than English).

If they have time, students are welcome to read more books than the challenge requirements. These additional books will just need to be recorded on a separate reader record form. All books read will go towards Queensland’s total PRC tally, so the more the better!

 The aim for the 2023 challenge is to engage more students to read than ever before! Last year more than 1.9 million books were read by Queensland students throughout the Premier’s Reading Challenge period.

We would love to see as many Pittsworth State School students participate as possible!

Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing Survey

In Term 2, students in Years 3-6 will be asked to take part in the Queensland Engagement and Wellbeing (QEW) Survey.  We know that wellbeing and engagement are important parts of your child’s life at school. The QEW Survey is designed to measure how students view their wellbeing and engagement across different topics. The information we get from the survey helps us better understand and support our students.

Homework Centre for Years 3-6 students

Register your child today to attend Homework Centre every Wednesday from 3pm – 4.15pm.  Afternoon tea included!

Yr 7 in 2026 PSHS

Please see flyer below with information for Yr 7 in 2026 at PSHS

Sporting News

Senior Track and Field Carnival (9 years - 12years)

FRIDAY 20 JUNE 

Bridgman Oval

*************

NRL Tag Gala Day

On Monday 12 May, 18 students from Years 3 & 4 attended the NRL League Tag Gala Day at Highfields. Students were keen to get on the field and play. Each team played four games each and did extremely well. Students should be proud of themselves winning all their games and showing great sportsmanship by encouraging others, working together and celebrating other schools as well. Everyone had a smile on their face and enjoyed the day.

Sporting Representatives

Tia B, William G and Hayley C made the Inner Downs Team and will be attending the DD Cross Country trials on the 20^th May at Kearney Springs. 

Lilly L made the DD Netball Team and will attend State Netball at the end of the month. 

Brodie T made both DD Basketball and Rugby League and will attend State Trials next month.  

Wishing them all the best! 

Consent & Payment for Sporting Trials

For Parents and Carers nominating children for Qld Schools Sporting Trials (9 years - 12 years):

There is a clear process that parents & carers must follow when nominating their child to participate in a Qld School Sports Trial.

It is the parent's responsibility to ensure the "School Sport Trials Permission & Student Health Information Form" is returned to the school within the specified timeframe.

The Principal or HPE Teacher is required to sign the "School Permission section" of this form to give approval for your child to attend. The form then needs to be returned to you and handed to officials on the day of the trial.

The trial fee must also be paid via Qkr! by the due date for your child to be eligible to attend.  Pittsworth State School cannot see who has paid or not paid, as we do not manage payments and registrations.

Failure to return the form and/or pay the trial fee by the due date will render your child ineligible to attend the trial. This decision is made by the zone convenor and not Pittsworth State School.

No form = No trial

No payment = No trial

As a parent/carer of a sporting child, nomination and payment is your full responsibility.

2025 Inner Downs & Darling Downs School Sport

Please contact Ms Will for further information regarding these events. These events will be open to students that are interested and have experience in these sporting events. Nominations come out a few weeks prior to events so please let Ms Will know closer to the event if your child is interested.  Students will only be nominated for Swimming, Cross Country and Track & Field if they have made qualifying times.  Ms Will’s email: bwill641@eq.edu.au or 46198333

The Arts

Choir:  All students in year one to year six are invited to participate in school choir rehearsals every Wednesday in Bottle Tree Hall (starting at 8.00am). Thank you so much to Mrs Gordon, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Briggs who have offered to provide supervision so weekly choir practices can continue this term while Mrs Wheeldon is away on long-service leave.

Choir Camp: All the videos from this year’s Choir Camp have been uploaded to the Pittsworth State School youtube channel. Check out the highlights movie from the Choir Camp Concert! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STb-5KUhFxE

Visual Arts:  Please see the attached flyer advertising our Art Exhibition which will now be held on Friday 1 August.

CGEN 2025:  Weekly rehearsals continue every Thursday at 7.30am for our Pittsworth Cluster kids in the CGEN Massed Choir.  Thank you to Mrs Dillmann for running rehearsals, and to Mrs Greenwood, Mrs Sacagio and Mrs McEwan for helping out at our rehearsals. Our next big rehearsal will be held at Chandler on Sunday 15 June.  (We will not be attending any other rehearsals prior to the Chandler rehearsal.) Show Week is just nine weeks away!

Pittsworth Amateur Theatrical Society Production: ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’

Congratulations to Emily G who has successfully auditioned for a role in this year’s PATS production. She will be joined in the cast by Mr Santsingh, Mrs Wheeldon, Mrs Grover and Mrs Watts! There are also many past parents and students of Pittsworth State School in the extensive cast. ‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat will be staged at the Pittsworth Town Hall on the weekend of 15 August.

Date Claimer:          

15 June - CGEN Massed Choir Rehearsal at Chandler

1 August - ‘Where the Forest Meets the Sea’ Art Exhibition

15-17 August - ‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’

17-19 July - CGEN 2025 Show Week

P&C Patch

TUCKSHOP

Tuckshop continues to reopen on Wednesdays and Fridays this term.  Orders to be placed via the Qkr! app by 8.30am.

Are you free on Friday mornings? Can you spare a few hours to help us out?  Karla is in DESPERATE need of more Friday volunteers for this term.  If you can spare a few hours on any Friday morning, please contact Karla Trott on 0403 405 327 or via the school office or email psssecretary@outlook.com.  Thank you to those that have already put their name down.

Mother’s Day 2025

Thank you to everyone that donated either money or gifts for this year’s stall.  Also a massive thank you to the wonderful group of mums that helped purchase the gifts, set up the stall and help run the stall on Friday.  A large amount of time goes into organising this activity and we really appreciate anyone that helped in any way.  We hope all of the special ladies in our students’ lives enjoyed their gifts.

While Mother’s Day is over, our Mother’s Day raffle will continue to run until the end of the month.  Purchase your tickets through the Qkr! App for your chance to win a fantastic pampering prize. Thank you to local businesses, Soulfully Wholesome, Alema Studio and Beccalicious Nails for generously donating this fantastic prize.

Art Show

During Term 1, students were very busy in their Art lessons with Mrs Wheeldon, creating their own pieces for our School Art Show.  Be sure to mark this exciting event in your calendars, Friday 1^st August.  More information to come

VOLUNTEERS – MANDATORY TRAINING
There is a small amount of mandatory training that must be completed in order to volunteer at school.   It is quite quick to complete (10-15 minutes).  Please sign the form at the back and return to the school office.

NEXT P&C MEETING

Our next general meeting will be held at 6.30pm, Thursday 12^th June in the Pittsworth Function Centre.

Mandatory Volunteers Training 

P&C Bank Account Details

Download the Qkr! App to order tuckshop

Tuckshop open Wednesdays and Fridays

SRC News/Eco Club News

School Management

Community News

Cost of Living Support

Families and individuals are encouraged to check their eligibility for concessions and other support by visiting:  https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/