7 February 2025
Principal’s Report
Welcome to the start of the year, and a special welcome to all our new families joining our school. We take great pride in providing the best possible education for all our students, fostering growth in literacy, numeracy, the Australian Curriculum, as well as social and emotional development.
📌 School Dress Code
As we commence the new year, it is important that students wear the full school uniform and closed-in shoes. The only acceptable jewellery items are a watch, sleeper, or stud earrings. Long hair should be tied up, and coloured hair or painted/artificial nails are not appropriate for school.
📚 Homework Expectations
Each week, every child will receive homework based on three essential skills that are crucial for their development.
- Reading: At least 10 minutes of reading each night, tailored to your child's age and ability.
- Writing: Daily writing practice, which may be linked to their reading.
- Number Study: Revision of key numeracy concepts.
We understand that after-school commitments can be challenging, but these foundational skills are vital for your child’s learning. If you require further support, please communicate with your child's teacher.
🎯 Attendance Matters
Regular attendance is essential for your child’s education. Arriving late or leaving early can disrupt their learning progress. While we understand that children may fall ill, frequent absences can significantly impact their academic development.
👩🏫 Meet the Admin Team
Our leadership team—Julie Griffin, Kim Creek, and myself—are always available for a chat if you have any concerns regarding your child’s learning. Feel free to approach us when we’re out and about in the school or make an appointment to speak with us.
2025 is set to be a fantastic year of learning, and we are excited to begin it on such a positive note!
Uniform Donations
If your child has outgrown their uniforms or your family is leaving our school community, we would greatly appreciate donations of old uniforms. These donations are invaluable to families in need and help ensure that every student can feel a sense of belonging at school.
Jeff Jepson
Principal
Deputy Principal’s Report
Welcome Back to School: A Great Start for Our Youngest Learners!
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
We hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful break and are ready for an exciting new school year! Our youngest learners can often find returning to school easier if we can help make the transition from home to school smooth and positive.
1. Routine is Key
Young children thrive on structure, so setting a consistent bedtime and morning routine will help them feel ready to learn each day.
2. Be School-Ready
Ensure your child’s school bag is packed with essentials: a labelled hat, water bottle, lunchbox, and other school equipment necessary, for example, homework folder.
3. Talk About the Day Ahead
Spend some time each evening talking with your child about what to expect the next day. Whether it is after you have read a story at night or other bedtime routines, these small conversations can ease worries and build excitement.
4. Foster Independence
Encourage your child to practice simple tasks like unpacking their school bag, tying their shoes, and opening lunch box items. These skills build confidence and help them adjust to classroom routines.
5. Stay Connected
We value the partnership between home and school. Keep an eye on your child’s homework folder or communication app for important updates, and feel free to reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns.
We are so excited to welcome your child back and support their learning journey this year.
Kim Creek
Deputy Principal
Deputy Principal’s Report
Over the first two weeks of school, it has been amazing to see lots of smiling and engaged staff and students building connections with each other, especially through participation in Circle Time. Through Circle Time discussion, staff and students are developing their communication skills, understanding others feelings and opinions, building confidence and reassurance in their ideas, and also helping to promote positive behaviour. Please ask you child what they like about circle time and what is a challenge for them.
A huge shout out to our 20 school captains for 2024 who attended the GRIP Leadership Student Conference this week. Students had fun while building their leadership skills. I am very much looking forward to working with this great bunch of students to help them lead positive change in our school community.
Our Captains and the Student Council Representatives, will receive their leadership badges at the Badge Ceremony on Friday, 28February, at 8.45am in the Hall. We very much welcome our school community to attend. Hope to see you there.
Kind regards,
Julie Griffin
Deputy Principal
Head of Department – Curriculum
Mount Archer State School, along with all state schools across Queensland, is implementing the Australian Curriculum Version 9 for English and Mathematics this year.
Here are the unit descriptions for both English and Maths for Term 1.
English – Term 1 | |
Prep | Sharing thoughts and feelings Students engage with a range of texts that involve familiar themes related to starting school, belonging, family, friendship and getting along. |
Year 1 | Engaging with imaginative stories Students engage with a range of texts that depict characters, settings and events. |
Year 2 | Sharing ideas and responding to imaginative texts Students engage with a range of imaginative texts that use language in different ways to present characters and settings. |
Year 3 | Examining imaginative texts Students engage with a variety of imaginative texts that include some literary devices to enhance and shape the readers’ reaction to the text. |
Year 4 | Exploring imaginative texts Students engage with a variety of imaginative texts that include literary devices and/or deliberate word play to shape meaning. |
Year 5 | Appreciating and responding to literary texts Students engage with a variety of literary texts that support and extend students as independent readers. |
Year 6 | Engaging with and responding to literature Students engage with a variety of literary texts that support and extend students as independent readers. |
Maths – Term 1 | |
Prep | Number, Algebra, Space, Statistics Students develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: use physical and virtual materials to look for and make connections between number names, numerals and quantities learn to recognise repetition in pattern sequences and apply this to creatively build repeating patterns in a range of contexts develop a sense of sameness, difference and change when engaging in play-based activities about patterns develop a sense of sameness, difference and change when engaging in play-based activities describing position and location bring mathematical meaning to the use of familiar terms and language when they pose and respond to questions, and explain their thinking and reasoning explore situations, sparked by curiosity, using physical and virtual materials to represent, collect, sort, quantify and compare data. |
Year 1 | Number, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: develop a sense of equivalence, fairness, repetition and variability when they engage in play-based and practical activities use physical and virtual materials use curiosity and imagination use simple transformations, give directions and follow pathways to move the positions of people and objects to different locations use simple surveys to collect and sort data, based on a question of interest, such as colour of eyes; recognise that data can be represented in different ways such as objects, images, drawings, lists and symbols; compare and discuss data by identifying patterns. |
Year 2 | Number, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: use physical and virtual materials to represent numbers, partition and combine numbers flexibly, recognising and describing the relationship between addition and subtraction and employing part-part-whole reasoning and relational thinking to solve additive problems locate and identify positions on familiar two-dimensional representations, such as maps; and use familiar mathematical language to describe relative position and follow directions and pathways build the foundations for statistical investigations by choosing questions based on interests, such as favourite fruit or game, when collecting, representing and interpreting data, and recognising features of different representations using visual or physical models. |
Year 3 | Number, Algebra, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: recognise that mathematics has conventions and language that enables communication of ideas and results through the mathematical proficiencies manipulate numbers by partitioning and regrouping using physical and virtual materials to build an understanding of place value in the base-10 number system develop, extend and apply their addition and multiplication facts, and related facts for subtraction and division through games and meaningful practice explore maps and determine key features of familiar spaces and use these when creating spatial representations undertake a statistical investigation that is meaningful, allowing decision making about the use and representation of data and communicate findings. |
Year 4 | Number, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: build understanding of number facts, fractions and decimals to deepen an appreciation of how numbers work together using materials and digital tools to recognise line and rotational symmetry and create symmetrical patterns and pictures create and interpret grid reference systems and directions on a map to locate and describe positions and pathways of locations of interest develop and use surveys and digital tools to generate data and conduct a statistical investigation. |
Year 5 | Number, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: use a range of physical and virtual materials and apply understanding of relationships to convert between forms of numbers, units and spatial representations especially with fractions and decimals use materials, diagrams or arrays to become efficient with multiplication facts locate and move positions within a grid coordinate system to pinpoint specific locations recognise what stays the same and what changes when shapes undergo transformations use physical materials and dynamic geometric software to perform transformations plan and conduct a statistical investigation that involves a range of data sets including nominal and ordinal categorical and discrete numerical data; report findings and interpret and compare data representations to make informed decisions. |
Year 6 | Number, Space, Statistics Students further develop proficiency and positive dispositions towards mathematics and its use as they: expand the repertoire of numbers to include rational numbers and the use of integers in practical contexts such as locating points in the four quadrants of a Cartesian plane build fluency of understanding to solve arithmetic problems involving all four operations with natural numbers use combinations of transformations to create tessellating patterns conduct a statistical investigation to determine the mode and range of data, discuss the shape of distributions and communicate findings. |
Literacy Block
The introduction of the Mount Archer Literacy Block at the start of Term 1 has started with a great success. Students and teachers working hard to develop new routines. Has your child spoken about the Literacy Block at home?
Year 5 and Year 6 students have been learning about the history of the English language as they begin their study of Etymology in Spelling. During the review, Madysen in 5/6M asked a curious question: Why do we have rule breakers? We all know the rule, ‘I’ before e, except after ‘c’, but there are some rule breakers, like rein and vein. Both these words come from Old French and their ‘ei’ spelling remains.
Sarah Dohl
Head of Department – Curriculum
Positions Available- Casual Cleaners
Mount Archer has an exciting opportunity to offer.
We currently have casual cleaning positions available.
Applications are sought for:
Casual cleaning positions for on call and holiday work.
Immediate start.
Applicants must be in possession of a current Blue Card and consent to a Criminal History Check.
Education Queensland is an equal opportunity employer and this position will be appointed in accordance with Education Queensland policies and procedures.
Please feel free to call in or phone Robyn (Business Manager) 49 235 222.
Community Hub Coordinator
Thanks,
Hannah Patson
Community Hub Coordinator
‘Away for the Day”
From the beginning of 2024, all Queensland state school students will have their mobile phones switched off and ‘away for the day’.
'Away for the day' will support our school to maintain a strong focus on educational achievement, and student wellbeing and engagement by:
- providing optimal learning and teaching environments
- encouraging increased face-to-face social interactions between students
- promoting the health and wellbeing of students through increased physical activity at break times
- reducing the potential for students to be exposed to the negative impacts of the digital world, resulting from unsafe or inappropriate technology use.
For more information and frequently asked questions, visit the department’s website [link to: https://tinyurl.com/329kup6u] or contact Mount Archer State School on 49 235 222.
Tuckshop
Normal Operating Hours
Operating hours: 8:20am to 1:10pm Opening Days: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
Tuckshop Menu
Tuckshop orders and payments can be handed daily into the tuckshop directly by students in a brown paper bag. Online ordering is also available through the QKR App.
Camille Bayes
Tuckshop Convenor
49 235 222
WHAT IS QPARENTS?
QParents is an online portal that is free for Queensland state schools to use and allows parents at your school to:
- view attendance details, behaviour information, report cards, timetables, invoices and a history of payments
- provide digital consent, reasons for unexplained absences and to notify the school of future absences
- view and pay school invoices online
- update student details including residential and postal address as well as medical conditions.
Read more about QParents at https://qparents.qld.edu.au/#/about
Help and more information
Further help with registering for QParents can be found on the QParents Help page at https://qparents.qld.edu.au/#/help
If you have any other questions or require some assistance with the registration process, please contact the Service Centre on 13QGOV (137468).
Upcoming Events
Community, Sporting and Cultural Events
Port Curtis Road State School
Archer Park Rail Museum
Archer Park Rail Museum is having a family fun day on Sunday 23 February 2025 commencing from 9am! Bring the family as we have tram rides, stalls and so much more! Entry prices are $4 adults; $2 children and tram rides are $2.50 each.
Ultimate Athletics is here for 2025!
Get your Primary School-aged child moving, learning, and having fun with our Ultimate Athletics program!
🏅 This 7-week development program teaches the basics of Run, Jump, and Throw through exciting games and activities.
💰 Cost: $80 per child
🗓️ Program Length: 7 weeks, Start date Friday 21st February, Time: 3:30-4:30pm.
📍 Location: North Rockhampton State High School (Oval)
📝 Register here: Register Now
For enquiries, contact: Keith Webb – State Development Manager at k.webb@laq.org.au
PCYC Rockhampton
Saver Plus
Scottvale Squash Club
Primary Water Polo
Fitzroy Frogs Triathlon Club
The Fitzroy Frogs Triathlon Club is a local, non profit community sports organisation.
We hold a special event for Juniors and Women each year, especially to encourage people to participate in triathlon, and to simply get out & get active.
2025 CQ Health Sport & Recreation Expo
Are you ready to take the first step toward a healthier and happier you?
The 2025 CQ Health, Sport & Recreation Expo is just around the corner, and it promises to be an event you won’t want to miss! This year’s expo is a fantastic opportunity to access a wide range of local health and wellbeing services.
What’s on offer:
- Meet local health and wellbeing providers and learn about the services available in your community.
- Get complimentary health, blood pressure, and skin checks to stay on top of your wellbeing.
- Enjoy a variety of fun activities designed for all ages and abilities, making it a perfect day out for the whole family.
- Treat yourself to tasty food, local produce, healthy options, and freshly brewed coffees as you explore the expo.
- Participate in our exciting Health Passport Game for a chance to win fantastic prizes!
This event is about more than just health – it’s about community, fun, and taking the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle together. Bring your family and friends along and make a day of it!
Event Details:
📅 Saturday 15th February 2025
🕘 9 am – 1 pm
📍 Robert Schwarten Pavilion, Rockhampton Showgrounds
Brought to you by CQ Health and My Health for Life.
Stallholder Registration:
Stallholder registration is still open, so if any local health or fitness providers are interested in joining the expo, please contact Renarta at CQ Public Health on 07 4920 6989 to reserve your spot!
Multicultural Australia
Anglicare Foster Carers Needed
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